pensel,a pennon, little banner. Morte Arthur, leaf 244, back, 12; bk. x, c. 43; ‘Pensell, a lytell baner,banerolle’, Palsgrave. Anglo-F.pencel(Didot); OF.penoncel(La Curne). Med. L.penuncellus(Ducange).
pentagoron,a pentagram, a mysterious cabalistic figure supposed to have great magical power. Rowley, Birth of Merlin, v. 1. 49;pentageron, Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 2. 222. Properlypentagonon. Gk. πεντάγωνος, pentagonal, having five angles.
†pentweezle,a term of abuse. Massinger, The Old Law, iii. 2. (Lysander).
pepper:phr.to take pepper in the nose, to take offence, to be vexed. Middleton and Rowley, Spanish Gipsy, iv. 3. 10; Lyly, Euphues, pp. 118, 375. See Nares.
†peppernel,a bump or swelling. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, ii. 2 (Wife). Not found elsewhere.
percase,perchance. Bacon, Colours of Good and Evil, § 3. See Nares.
perceiverance,mental perception. Middleton, The Widow, iii. 2 (Violetta). See Nares.
perche,to pierce. Ascham, Toxophilus, 137, 138. In prov. use in the north, esp. in Yorks., also in Lincoln, see EDD. (s.v. Pearch). ME.perchyn, ‘perforare’ (Prompt. EETS. 44, see note, no. 208);perche, ‘to Thirle’ (Cath. Angl.). Norm. F.percher, ‘percer’ (Moisy).
perchmentier,a maker or seller of parchment. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1095.
perdie,a form of oath = By God!; used often merely as an asseveration. Hen. V, ii. 1. 52; Hamlet, iii. 2. 305; King Lear, ii. 4. 86; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 22. ME.pardee(Chaucer, C. T.A.563, 3084). OF.pardee(F.par Dieu) Norm. F.Dé=Dieu(Moisy).
perditly,desperately. Heywood, Dialogue 3 (Mary); vol. vi, p. 118. Cp. L.perdite amare, to love desperately.
perdu, perdue,a soldier sent on a forlorn hope; one who is in a perilous position or in desperate case. King Lear, iv. 7. 35; Beaumont and Fl., Mad Lover, i. 1 (Cleanthe); Little French Lawyer, ii. 3. 3; Chapman, Widow’s Tears, ii. 1 (Lysander). F.perdu, lost.
peregall,fully equal. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Aug., 8; Skelton, Speke Parrot, 430;no peregal, without an equal; Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2 (Catzo). Seeparegal.
perge,go on, proceed. Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, ii (Ilford); L. L. L. iv. 2. 54. L.perge, imper.
pergit,a pargetting; ‘Painting’s pergit’, the plastering (of a woman’s face) with paint, Drayton, Pastorals, iv. 78. Seeparget.
periapt,an amulet. 1 Hen. VI, v. 3. 2. F. ‘periapte, a medicine hanged about any part of the body’ (Cotgr.). Gk. περίαπτον, a thing fastened round one, an amulet (Plato).
periment,a ‘pediment’ (NED.). A workman’s term. L.operimentum, a covering (Vulgate, Ezek. xxviii. 13). See Dict. (s.v. Pediment).
perish,to destroy. 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 100; Bacon, Essay 27, § 5. Cp. the Yorks. use: ‘If thou goes out to-night it will perish thee’ (EDD.), and the Irish, ‘Ah, shut that door; there’s a breeze in throught it that would perish the Danes’, Joyce, 168.
perk,saucy, pert, brisk, smart. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 8. In gen. prov. use in the North and in the Midlands (EDD.). As vb.,to perk it, to thrust oneself forward, to behave presumptuously; ‘Miriam began to perk it before Moses’, Bunyan, Case Consc. Resolved (ed. 1861, ii. 673);to be perked up, to be made smart, Hen. VIII, ii. 3. 21;to perk up, to stick up, ‘(Hattes) pearking up’, Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 50).
perpetuana,a very durable woollen stuff, sometimes calledeverlasting. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iii. 2 (Hedon); Marston, What you Will, ii. 1. 8. From L,perpetuus, perpetual.
perron, peron,a large block of stone, used as a platform, or a funeral monument, or other purpose. Morte Arthur, leaf 207, back, 28; bk. x, c. 2. F. ‘Perron, an open lodge, passage, or walk of stone raised; some quantity of staires, directly before the foredoore of a great house; also, a square base of stone or metal, some five or six foot high, whereon in old time Knights errant placed some discourse, challenge, or proofe of an adventure,’ Cotgrave. Anglo-F.perrun, a block of stone (Ch. Rol. 12).
perry;seepirrie.
persant,piercing. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 20. F.perçant, pres. pt. ofpercer, to pierce.
perséver,to persevere, continue in. Hamlet, i. 2. 92; King Lear, iii. 5. 23.
perspective,an optical instrument for looking through or viewing objects with; a telescope; ‘The heavens . . . whereof perspectives begin to tell tales’, Sir T. Browne, Hydriotaphia; ‘Whose eyes shall easily . . . behold without a perspective the extreamest distances’, id., Rel. Med., Pt. 1, § 49; Webster, Duchess Malfi, iv. 2 (1 Madman); id. (Bosola), near end; a microscope, ‘A tiny mite which we can scarcely see Without a perspective’, Oldham, 8th Sat. of Boileau, 7 (ed. Bell, p. 203); a picture contrived to produce a fantastic effect; e.g. appearing confused or distorted except from one particular point of view, or presenting different aspects from different points. Rich. II, ii. 2. 18.
perspicil,a telescope, optic glass. B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1 (P. jun.); New Inn, ii. 2 (Frank); Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, v. 2. 2. See Nares. L. (16th cent.)perspicilia, spectacles (Ducange).
perstand,to understand. Gascoigne, Works, i. 78; Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 492, col. 1, p. 499. A blend of two words—perceive and understand.
perstringe,to censure. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, end of ii. 1 (Damplay). L.perstringere.
persue,the trail of blood left by a wounded animal, the ‘parsee’. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 28. Cp. ‘Now he has drawnpursuit[old ed.pursue, i.e. the trail] on me, He hunts me like the devil’; Fletcher, Bonduca, v. 2 (Petillius). Seeparsee.
†persway,to assuage, alleviate. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Overdo). Not found elsewhere.
pert,lively, brisk, sprightly; in good spirits; ‘Trip the pert Fairies’, Milton, Comus, 118; Mids. Night’s D. i. 1. 13. In gen. prov. use in England, see EDD. (s.v. Pert, also Peart).
pert,open, easily perceived. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 162. Short forapert, open. F.apert; L.apertus.
peruse,to inspect, examine. Com. Errors, i. 2. 15; Hen. VIII, ii. 3. 75; peruse over, to read over, King John, v. 2. 5.
pester’d, pestred,crowded together; ‘Pestred in gallies’, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 32 (end); ‘Confin’d and pester’d in this pinfold here’, Milton, Comus, 7; North’s Plutarch (in Shak. Plutarch, ed. Skeat, 175). Forimpestered; ‘Empestré, impestered, intricated, intangled, incumbered’, Cotgrave. See Dict. (s.v. Pester).
pesterous,cumbersome, troublesome. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 196).
pestle,the leg and leg-bone of an animal, most freq. a pig in the phr.a pestle of pork; ‘Pestelles of porke’, Boke of Kervynge (Furnivall, 164). In prov. use in many parts of England (EDD.).The pestle of a lark, usedfig.for a trifle, something very small, Hall, Satires, iv. 4. 29; ‘Rutlandshire is but the Pestel of a Lark’, Fuller, Worthies, Rutland, ii. 346.A pestle of a portigue, used jocosely in speaking of a gold coin (aportigue), as eatable meat, to starving sailors, Fletcher, Sea Voyage, i. 3 (Tibalt).
petar,a petard, bomb, a case filled with explosive materials. Hamlet, iii. 4. 207; Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, iii. 2 (Gunner);petarre, Shirley, Gamester, iv. 1 (Young B.).
peterman,a fisherman. Eastward Ho, ii. 1 (or3) (Quicksilver). In reference toSt. Peter.
Peter-see-me,a kind of Spanish wine. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iii. 1 (near end); Brathwait, Law of Drinking, 80; Philecothonista (1635), 48 (Nares). Sometimes onlyPeeter, Beaumont and Fl., Chances, v. 3 (Song).Pedro Ximeneswas the name of a celebrated Spanish grape, so called after its introducer, see NED. Cp. the spellingPeter-sameenein Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 3 (1st Vintner).
pettegrye,‘pedigree’. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 386. See Dict.
petternel,a ‘petronel’, horse-pistol. Return from Parnassus, i. 2 (Judicio). Hence,petronellier, a soldier armed with a petrenel; Gascoigne, Weeds, ed. Hazlitt, i. 408. See Dict. (s.v. Petronel).
petun,tobacco. Taylor’s Works, 1630 (Nares). F.petun, a native South American name of tobacco (a Guarani word); see NED.; ‘Petum femelle, English Tobacco;Petum masle, French Tobacco’ (Cotgr.). See Stanford.
pewl,to cry as a babe; ‘Here pewled the babes’, Sackville, Induction, st. 74. See Dict. (s.v. Pule).
pex,forpax. Warner, Alb. England, bk. vi, ch. 31, st 16. Seepax.
pheare,a common spelling offere,q.v. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2. 122;pheer, Marmion, The Antiquary, i. 1 (Gasparo).
pheeze;seefeeze.
phenicopter,a flamingo. Nabbes, Microcosmus, iii. 1 (Sensuality). Gk. φοινικ- (from φοῖνιξ), crimson, and πτερόν, feather. Speltphœnicopterus, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. iii, c. 12 (near the end).
philander,a lover, one given to making love to a lady, a male flirt. Congreve, Way of the World, v. 1 (Lady Wishfort); Tatler, no. 13, § 1. This word for a lover became fashionable through the popularity of a Ballad of 1682 about ‘the Fair Phillis’ and her ‘Philander’; see NED. The Greek word ‘Philander’ was misunderstood as meaning a loving man, but φίλανδρος was used originally of a woman, one loving her husband.
Philip,a familiar name for a sparrow. King John, i. 231; Middleton, The Widow, iii. 2 (Violetta). See Nares. Still in use in Cheshire and Northants (EDD.). SeePhip.
Philip and Cheiny,an expression for two or more men of the common people taken at random; Udall, Erasmus, Apoph., Pompey, 1. Also,Philip, Hob and Cheanie, Tusser, Husbandry, 8. Also, name for a kind of worsted or woollen stuff of common quality; ‘Thirteene pound . . . T’will put a Lady scarce in Philip and Cheyney’, Fletcher, Wit at several Weapons, ii. 1 (Lady Ruinous). See NED. (s.v. Philip, 4) and Davies, Eng. Glossary.
philomath,a lover of learning, esp. a mathematician. Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 1 (Sir Sampson). Gk. φιλομαθής.
Phip,a familiar name for a sparrow, a contraction forPhilip, q.v.; Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophel, Sonnet 83; Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 4 (Song).
Phitonesse,the witch of Endor; ‘Heavenly breath, of Phitonessa’s power, That raised the dead corpse of her friend to life’, Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 7. 5; ‘I call In the name of Kyng Saul . . . He bad the Phitonesse To wytchcraft her to dresse’, Skelton, Phylyp Sparowe, 1359. ME.Phitonesse, the witch of Endor (Gower, C. A. iv. 1937);Phitones, Barbour’s Bruce, iv. 753 (see Notes, p. 563);phitonesses, witches (Chaucer, Hous F. iii. 1261). Med. L.phitonissaforpythonissa, a woman inspired by Python (Ducange). Cp. Vulgate, in the story of the witch of Endor, 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 (‘mulierem habentem pythonem’). Gk. πνεῦμα πύθωνα, a spirit of Python, Acts xvi. 16. See note, no. 729 in Prompt. EETS., p. 600, andfitten.
phonascus,a singing-master; ‘Why have you not, like Nero, aphonascus?’, Lee, Theodosius, iv. 2 (Marcian). Misprintedphenascusin The Modern British Drama, i. 329. L.phonascus(Suetonius); Gk. φωνασκός, one who exercises the voice; from φωνή, voice.
phrenitis,a kind of frenzy or madness. Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, iii. 3 (Corax). Gk. φρενῖτις, delirium.
phrontisterion,a place for thinking or studying, an academy or college. Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 3. 10;phrontisterium; Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, iii. 1 (Banausus). Gk. φροντιστήριον, a place for meditation, a thinking-shop (Aristophanes).
physnomy, fisnomy,face, ‘physiognomy’. Shirley, Gamester, iii. 3 (Hazard);fisnomy, All’s Well, iv. 5. 42.
picardil;seepickadil.
picaro,a rogue, knave. Shirley, The Brothers, v. 3 (Pedro); Pickaro, Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez). Span.picaro, ‘a rogue, a scoundrel, a base fellow’ (Stevens).
picaroon, pickaroon,a rogue. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii (Manly); ‘Are you there indeed, my little Picaroon?’, Otway, Atheist, ii. 1; a pirate, ‘A French Piccaroune’, Capt. Smith, Virginia, v. 184 (NED.); a small pirate ship, Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, v. 5 (Brazen).
pick,to waste away, to droop. Middleton, Chaste Maid, i. 1. In prov. use in Lincoln, S. Midlands, and south-west counties, see EDD. (s.v. Peak, vb.2). Seepeak(2).
pick,to throw, Coriolanus, i. 1. 204; ‘I pycke with an arrow,Je darde’, Palsgrave.
pick:in phr.to pick mood, to pick a quarrel; ‘Whoso therat pyketh mood’, Skelton, Against the Scottes, Epilogue, 21.
pick:picked, refined, exquisite, fastidious, King John, i. 1. 193;picking, dainty, fastidious, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 198.
pick,the spike in the middle of a buckler, Porter, Two Angry Women, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 318. Also, a toothpick, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, i. 2 (Sebastian).
pickadil, pickadel,the expansive collar fashionable in the early part of the 17th cent. Blount, Glossogr., 1656; Beaumont and Fl., Pilgrim, ii. 2 (1 Outlaw). Speltpicardill, B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Pug); Underwood (NED.). Seepeccadillo.
pickaroon;seepicaroon.
picke-devant, pickadevant,a short beard trimmed to a point. Heywood, The Royal King, vol. vi, p. 70. Also, a man with a picke-devant, Heywood, Challenge, v. 1; vol. v, p. 68. F.pique-devant, an expression only found in English. See Nares (s.v. Pike-devant).
pickeer,to pillage, plunder; to practise piracy, Fuller, Worthies, Hants (1662, ii. 10); to skirmish, reconnoitre, speltpickear, Lovelace, Lucasta (Poems, 1864, ii. 203); to wrangle, speltpickere, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 448. See NED.
pickle,to deal with in a minute way, lit. to pick in a small way. Ascham, Scholemaster (Arber, 158). Hencepickling, trifling, paltry, Gascoigne, Supposes, i. 2 (Pasiphilo). [R. L. Stevenson uses the word ‘topickle’ in the sense of ‘to trifle’; see Letters (Sept. 6, 1888).]
pick-packe,pick-a-back; ‘He gets him up on pick-packe’, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 6 (Stage-direction); Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 2 (260); scene 2. 89 (W.); p. 156, col. 1 (D.). ‘Pick-pack’ (or ‘a pick-pack’) is still in use in Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Pick-a-back). The German word for ‘pick-pack’ isHuckepack. For numerous forms of this word see NED.
pickthank,a flatterer, a mischief-maker. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 25; Beaumont and Fl., Maid’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Evadne);pickthank tales, tales told to curry favour, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, i. 1 (Lacy). In prov. use in the British Isles (EDD.).
pick-tooth,a toothpick. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 1 (Fallace). In use in Glouc. (EDD.).
piddle,to work or act in a trifling, paltry way. Ascham, Toxoph. (ed. Arber, 117); Fletcher, Wit without M. i. 2; to trifle or toy with one’s food, J. Dyke, Sel. Serm. (1640, p. 292); Pope, Horace’s Satires, ii. 2. 137. In common use in this sense in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Piddle, vb.11).
pie, pye,a magpie. 3 Hen. VI, v. 6. 48. In common prov. use (EDD.).
piece,a piece of money of the value of 22 shillings. Pepys, Diary, March 14, 1660 (N. S.).A piece of eight, the Spanish dollar of the value of 8 reals, or about 4s.6d., B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. ii. 1. 6 (see Wheatley’s note); Alchemist, ii. 3 (Face).
piece,a painting, a picture, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 4); Pepys, Diary, Feb. 27, 1663 (N. S.).
pied,variegated, parti-coloured. Speltpyed, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. i. 5 (Matthew); speltpide, Milton, L’Allegro, 75 (ed. 1632).
pieton,a foot-soldier; hence, a pawn at chess; ‘Pietons, or fotemen’, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 87, back, 6; ‘They [the pawns] be all namedpietons’, id., Game of Chesse, bk. iii, c. 1 (beginning). F. ‘pieton, a footman, also, a Pawn at Chess’ (Cotgr.).
pig,sixpence (Cant); ‘Fill till’t be sixpence, And there’s my pig’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 1 (1 Boor).
pigeaneau,a dupe, a gull. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, iv. 1 (Marquis). F.pigeonneau, a young pigeon, a dupe; dimin. ofpigeon.
pigeon-holes,the name of a game; the same astroll-my-dames,q. v.; ‘Dice, cards, pigeon-holes’, Rowley, A Woman never vext, i. 1 (Old Foster); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 101; ii. 1. 3; in Hazlitt, xii. 120.
pigeon-livered,applied to one incapable of anger; ‘I am pigeon-livered and lack gall’, Hamlet, ii. 2. 605. A pigeon was supposed to have no gall, and so to lack capacity for anger or resentment. ‘Sure he’s a pigeon, for he has no gall’, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 5 (Castruchio).
pight,pt. t.pitched; ‘Under Pomfret his proud Tents he pight’, Drayton, Agincourt, 97;ypight, pp., ‘Underneath a craggy cliff ypight’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 33;pight, Tr. and Cr. v. 10. 24. ME.pighte, pt. t. ofpicchen;y)pight, pp., see Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Picchen).
pigsnye,a darling, a pet, commonly used as an endearing form of address to a girl. Dryden, Tempest, iv. 3; Farquhar, Love and Bottle, i. 1. Speltpigges-nye, Lyly, Euphues, 114. In Butler, Hud. (ii. 1. 560),Pigsneyeoccurs in the sense of a ‘dear little eye’.
pike:in phr.sold at a pike, Kyd, Cornelia, v. 444 (not far from end). Here Kyd translates from F.vendre sous une pique, which refers to the L. phrasevenalis sub hasta, ‘that can be sold by auction’. It looks as if Kyd did not understand the allusion.
pike:in phr.on the pike, ‘a-peak’; used of an anchor, when the cable has been hove in so as to bring the ship just over it. Greene, Looking Glasse, iii. 1. F.à pic, ‘perpendiculairement’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762).
pilch,to pilfer, to filch. Tusser, Husbandry, § 15. 39; ‘Pilche, miche,suffurari’, Levins, Manip. In prov. use in Worc. and Glouc. (EDD.).
pilcher,a term of abuse, prob. meaning one who ‘pilches’; it is sometimes punningly connected with the wordpilchard(see below). B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 4; Fletcher, Wit without Money, iii. 4.
pilcher,a pilchard. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 4. 1; Beggar’s Bush, iv. 1 (Clause).
pilcher,a scabbard. Romeo, iii. 1. 84. Not found elsewhere.
pilcrow,a name for the paragraph-mark, printed as ¶. Tusser, Husbandry, p. 2; speltpeel-crow, Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, v. 1 (Lapet); ‘Pilcrow, paragraphus’, Coles, Lat. Dict.; ‘Paragraphe, Pillcrow’, Cotgrave. Cp. ME.pylcraftin a boke, ‘Asteriscus, Paragraphus’ (Prompt.);pargrafte, paragraphus (Ortus Voc.). See Notes on Eng. Etym., s.v.
pile,the metal head of an arrow. Drayton, Pol. xxvii. 337; head of a dart, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 139; a Roman javelin, Dryden, Hind and Panther, bk. ii, 161. L.pilum, the heavy javelin of the Roman foot-soldier.
pile,a small castle; ‘A little pretie pile or castle’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Antigonus, § 27; ‘Certayne pylys and other strengthis’, Fabyan, Chron., Pt. VII, fol. cxxxvii; repr. (1811), p. 512, l. 16. ME.pile, a stronghold (P. Plowman, C. xxii. 366). See NED. (s.v. Pile, sb.2).
pill,to plunder, spoil, to commit depredation. Richard II, ii. 1. 246; Richard III, i. 3. 159;to pill and poll, Mirror for Mag. 467 (Nares).
pilling,plunder, spoliation. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 445.Pilling and polling, J. Harrington, Prerog. Pop. Govt., ii. 2 (ed. 1700, p. 332). Seepoll.
pilling,plunder, spoliation. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 445.Pilling and polling, J. Harrington, Prerog. Pop. Govt., ii. 2 (ed. 1700, p. 332). Seepoll.
pill,to strip. Merch. Ven. i. 3. 85; Lucrece, 1167. In common prov. use in the sense of peeling, stripping off the outer skin, the rind or bark, see EDD. (s.v. Pill, vb.11).
pillowbeer,a pillow-case. Locrine, iv. 4. 6; Middleton, Women beware Women, iv. 2 (Sordido). ME.pilwe-beer(Chaucer, C. T.A.694);bere, a pillow-case (Boke Duchesse, 254).
pimp-whiskin,a pimp. Ford, Fancies Chaste and Noble, i. 2 (Spadone). Seewhiskin.
pin,a small knot in wood. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 121.
pin,a peg fixed in the very centre of a target. Hence,to cleave the pin, to hit and split this peg, to make the best possible hit. L. L. L. iv. 1. 138; Romeo, ii. 4. 15.
pinax,a tablet, picture. Sir T. Browne, Letter to a Friend, § 32. Gk. πίναξ, board.
pin-bouk,some kind of bucket for liquids. Drayton, Moses, bk. iii, 165. OE.būc, pail. See Dict. (s.v. Bucket).
pindy-pandy,a formula used as equivalent tohandy-dandy, in the game of choosing which hand a thing is hidden in. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iv. 5 (Firk).
piner, pyner,a pioneer; ‘My piners eke were prest with showle and spade’, Mirror for Mag., Aurel. Anton. Caracalla, st. 40; ‘He pyners set to trenche’, id., Burdet, st. 70. See Dict. (s.v. Pioneer). Seepion.
ping,to urge, push. Mirror for Mag., Fulgentius, st. 9. Still in use in the west country, see EDD. (s.v. Ping, vb.21). OE.pyngan, to prick, L.pungere.
pingle,to work in an ineffectual way, to trifle, to ‘piddle’. Women’s Rights, 152 (NED). Hence,pingler, a trifler, Two Angry Women, ii. 2 (Coomes); Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 109). ‘Pingle’ is in prov. use in this sense in Scotland and the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Pingle, vb.12). Cp. Swed. dial.pyngla, to be busy about small matters (Rietz).
pinion,the name of an obsolete game at cards. Interlude of Youth, (ed. 1849, p. 38). See NED.
pink,to stab with any pointed weapon. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2; a stab with a rapier or dagger, Ford, Lady’s Trial, iii. 1 (Fulgoso). Low G.pinken, to strike (Schambach).
pink,a sailing vessel. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 6. 17. See Nares and NED. Du.pinck, ‘a pinke or a fishers boate; a sounding barke’ (Hexham).
pink,to contract, make small (the eyes). Heywood, Spider and Fly (Nares); contracted small (said of the eyes), ‘Plumpie Bacchus with pinke eyne’, Ant. and Cl. ii. 7. 121. Du.pincken, to shut the eyes (Hexham).
pinkany,a small, narrow, blinking eye; a tiny or dear little eye; ‘Those Pinkanies of thine’, Field, Woman a Weathercock, iv. 2 (Wagtail). Applied to a girl, usually as a term of endearment, Porter, Angry Women, iii. 2 (Philip).pink-eyed,having small, narrow, or half-closed eyes; ‘Maids . . . that were pinke-eied and had verie small eies they termedOcellæ’, Holland, Pliny, xi. 335; speltpinky-eyed, Kyd, Soliman, v. 3. 7 (Hazlitt’s Dodsley, v. 359). A Lanc. word, see EDD. (s.v. Pink, adj.14).
pinkany,a small, narrow, blinking eye; a tiny or dear little eye; ‘Those Pinkanies of thine’, Field, Woman a Weathercock, iv. 2 (Wagtail). Applied to a girl, usually as a term of endearment, Porter, Angry Women, iii. 2 (Philip).
pink-eyed,having small, narrow, or half-closed eyes; ‘Maids . . . that were pinke-eied and had verie small eies they termedOcellæ’, Holland, Pliny, xi. 335; speltpinky-eyed, Kyd, Soliman, v. 3. 7 (Hazlitt’s Dodsley, v. 359). A Lanc. word, see EDD. (s.v. Pink, adj.14).
pinnace,a go-between, in love affairs. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Overdo). Afig.sense of ‘pinnace’, a small attendant vessel.
pinner,a ‘pinder’, one who impounds stray cattle. Greene, George-a-Greene, i (Bettris, 1. 236); ed. Dyce, p. 256, col. 1. ‘Pinder’ (or ‘pinner’) is in prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Pind, vb. 1 (1)). ME.pyndareof beestys, ‘inclusor’ (Prompt. EETS. 336, see note, no. 1638). See Dict. (s.v. Pinder).
pinson,a thin-soled shoe of some kind, Withal (ed. 1608, p. 211); ‘Pynson, sho,caffignon’, Palsgrave. ME.pynson, sok (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 1642).
pintas, las,the Spanish name for the card-game called basset; ‘A las Pintas, (playing) at basset’, Adventures of Five Hours, iv. 1 (Diego); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xv. 265. Span.pintas, basset; pl. ofpinta, ‘among Gamesters a peep in a card’ (Stevens).
pion,to dig, trench, excavate. Hencepyonings, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 63.Pioned, trenched, Tempest, iv. 1. 64. OF.pioner, to dig (Godefroy). Seepiner.
pip,a spot on a card; hence, a unit; ‘Thirty-two years old, which is a pip out’, Massinger, Fatal Dowry, ii. 2 (Bellapert). The allusion is to a game calledOne-and-thirty, which differs from 32 by 1. So also in Shirley, Love’s Cruelty, i. 2 (Hippolito). Seepeep.
pipple,to blow with a gentle sound (of the wind). Skelton, A Replycacion, ed. Dyce, i. 207; id., Garl. of Laurell, 676. Hence ‘pippler’, a name for the aspen in Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Pipple).
pique,a depraved or diseased appetite. Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 809. L.pica, a depraved appetite; a F. form (not found).
pirrie, pirry,a blast of wind, a squall. Elyot, Governour, i. 17, § 5; speltperry, Look about You, sc. 29 (Richard), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 482. ME.pyry, a storm of wind (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 1643).
pishery-pashery,trifling talk. Dekker, Shoem. Holiday, iii. 5 (Eyre); finery, fallals, id., v. 4 (Eyre).
pist!,hist!, an interjection, to draw attention. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Sir O. Twi.).
pistolet,a name given to certain foreign gold coins, ranging in value from 5s.10d.to 6s.8d.Proclamation, May 4, 1553 (NED.); in later times = pistole, worth about 16s.6d.‘Each Pistolet exchang’d at sixteen shillings six pence’, Heylin, Examen Hist. i. 268 (NED.); B. Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2 (Face); also calleda double pistolet, Fletcher, Span. Curate, i. 1 (Jamie).
pitch,a vertex, head; also, a projecting part of the body, the shoulder, the hip; ‘His manly pitch’ (used for both shoulders, collectively), Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 1. 11.
pitch and pay,to pay down money at once, pay ready money. Hen. V, ii. 3. 51; Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable; i. 2 (Blurt); Mirror for Mag., Warwicke, st. 14; Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 24.
plaça,a square, parade, public walk. Shirley, The Brothers, i. 1 (Carlos). Span.plaça(plaza).
plackerd,the forepart of a woman’s petticoat; ‘For fear of the cut-purse, on a sudden she’ll swap thee into her plackerd’, Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 3. See NED. (s.v. Placard).
placket,an apron or petticoat: hencetransf.the wearer of a petticoat, a woman, Tr. and Cr. ii. 3. 22; the opening or slit at the top of a skirt or petticoat, King Lear, iii. 4. 100; a pocket in a woman’s skirt, ‘Which instrument . . . was found in my Lady Lambert’s placket’, Hist. Cromwell (NED.).
plage,a region, country. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 4 (Tamb.); 2 Tamb. i. 1 (Orcanes). F.plage, region (Cotgr.). L.plaga, a region.
plaice-mouth,a mouth drawn on one side. Speltplaise-mouth, B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iii. 2 (Epicene).
plaie,wound. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 2. F.plaie; L.plaga.
plain,to complain. King Lear, iii. 1. 39; ‘Plaindre, to plaine,’ Cotgrave.
plain,to plane. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, v. 322. Hence,Plainer, a carpenter’s plane, id., v. 314.
plain-song,a simple melody. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 41; hence, ‘the plain-song cuckoo’, Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1.
planch,to board.Planched, covered with boards, Meas. for M. iv. 1. 30;to plaunche on, to clap on (something broad and flat), Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 2. 12. F.planche, a plank.
plancher,a wooden floor, a flooring of planks; used in pl. Arden of Fev. i. 1. 42; also boards (of a ship); Drayton, Pol. iii. 272. F.plancher, ‘a boorded floor’ (Cotgr.).
plange,to lament, grieve. Warner, Alb. England, bk. v, p. 25, st. 31. L.plangere.
planipedes,pantomimes or entertainments with dancing; ‘The common players of interludes calledPlanipedes, played barefoote vpon the floore’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 15; p. 49. L.planipedes(Juvenal).
plant,the sole of the foot; ‘Knotty legs, and plants of clay’, B. Jonson, Masque of Oberon, song 5. F.plante, the sole. L.planta.
plasma,a form, mould, shape; ‘There is a Plasma, or deepe pit’, Heywood, Iron Age, Part II (Orestes, in a mad speech); vol. iii, p. 424. Gk. πλάσμα, anything formed or moulded.
platic,an astrological term used of an ‘aspect’ of a planet (NED.). B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P. Can.). Speltplatique, Fletcher, Bloody Brother, iv. 2. Med. L.platicus, late Gk. πλατυκός, -ικός, broad, diffuse.
plaudite, plaudity,shout of applause, approval; ‘Cristall plaudities’, Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, ii. 1. L.plaudite, applaud ye.
play-pheer,playfellow. Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 3. 103. Seefere.
pleasant,to render pleasant; ‘Some pleasant their lives’, Manchester Al Mondo (ed. 1639, p. 51); ‘This tedious mortality, pleasant it how man can’, id., p. 62.
plight,to fold, pleat, to intertwine into one combined texture. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 7;plighted, folded, Milton, Comus, 301;pleated, King Lear, i. 1. 283 (Quarto edd.); Greene, Description of the Shepherd, 21 (Dyce, 304). ME.plyte, to fold (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1204). Anglo-F.plit(Gower) = Norm. F.pleit(Burguy), whence E.plait. See Dict. (s.v. Plait).
plompe,a cluster, clump, mass; ‘A plompe of wood’, Morte Arthur, leaf 30, back, 19; bk. i, c. 16 (end);plompes, troops, bands; Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 129. Seeplump.
plotform,a scheme, design, plan, contrivance. Grim the Collier, ii. 1 (Clinton); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 423; a level place constructed for mounting guns, Gascoigne, Art of Venerie, Works (ed. 1870, ii. 304). See Dict. (s.v. Plot), and Notes on Eng. Etym., p. 219.
plough.The parts of a plough are enumerated in Gervase Markham’s Complete Husbandman (1614), quoted in Notes to Fitzherbert’s Husbandry, p. 128, where they are fully explained. I merely enumerate them here. (1)Plough-beam, a large and long piece of timber, forming an arch for the other parts; (2)The skeath(sheath), a piece of wood 2½ feet long, mortised into the beam; (3)Principal hale, the left-handle; also calledplough-tailorplough-start; (4)Plough-headorshare-beam, about 3 feet in length; (5)Plough-spindlesorrough-staves, two round pieces of wood that joined the handles together; (6)Righthand-hale, orplough-stilt, smaller and weaker than the other; (7)Plough-rest, a small piece of wood, fixed to the plough-head and righthand-hale; (8)Shelboard, i.e. shield-board, a strong board on the right side of the plough; (9)Coulter, a long piece of iron in the front, to cut the soil; (10)Share; (11)Plough-foot, orplough-shoe, before the coulter, to regulate the depth of the furrow. The ploughman also had with him aplough-mallor small mallet; and, originally, aplough-stafforaker-staff, for clearing the mould-board when required.
plough-staff,an instrument like a paddle for cleaning a plough, or clearing it of weeds. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 21. In use in Scotland and the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Plough, II (49)).
Plowden.Proverb:The case is altered, quoth Plowden.For various explanations see Grose, Local Proverbs (ed. 1790), Shropshire, and Ray, Proverbial Phrases (under A), ed. Bohn, 147.
ployden;‘A stub-bearded John-a-Stile with a ployden’s face’, Marston, Dutch Courtezan, iii. 1 (Crispinella). Not explained.
pluck:in phr.to pluck down a side, in card-playing, to cause the loss or hazard of the side or party with which a person plays. Beaumont and Fl., Maid’s Tragedy, ii. 1 (Dula). See Nares.
plumb,perpendicularly; ‘Plumb down he drops’, Milton, P. L. ii. 933. In prov. use in various parts of England, also in U.S.A., see EDD. (s.v. Plum, adj.1). F. ‘à-plomb, perpendicularly, downright’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v. Plump).
plume,said of a hawk, to pluck feathers from a bird; also, to pluck, despoil. Davenant, The Wits, ii. 1 (Ample); Dryden, Absalom, 920.
plummet,a leaden bullet, hurled from a sling. North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 23 (in Shak. Plut., p. 190); a sounding-lead, usedfig.a criterion of truth, ‘Lay all to the Line and Plummet of the written word’, Gilpin, Demonology, iii. 17. 140 (NED.).
plump,a troop, flock; ‘A whole plump of rogues’, Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, iii. 2 (Guard); ‘A plump of fowl’, Dryden, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 374; Theodore and Honoria, 316. See Nares. Seeplompe.
plunge,to overwhelm (with trouble or difficulty); ‘(He) was so plunged and gravelled with three lines of Seneca’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med. i. 21.
plunge,a critical situation, crisis, a dilemma. Greene, Looking Glasse, iii. 2. Phr.:to put to a plunge, Middleton, Roaring Girl, iv. 1 (Sir Alexander). ‘Il est au bout de son breviaire, he is at a plunge or nonplus’, Cotgrave (s.v. Breviaire). Cp. the Northants phrase, ‘I was put to a plunge’, see EDD. (s.v. Plunge, sb.1).
Plymouth cloak,a cudgel or staff, carried by one who walkedin cuerpo, and thus facetiously assumed to take the place of a cloak; ‘Shall I walke in a Plimouth Cloake (that’s to say) like a rogue, in my hose and doublet, and a crabtree cudgell in my hand?’, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 2 (Matheo); ‘A Plymouth cloak, that is, a cane or staff’, Ray’s Proverbs out of Fuller’s Worthies (ed. Bohn, 201); Grose, Local Proverbs in Glossary, 1790. See Nares.
pocas palabras,the Spanish for ‘few words’. Wonderfull Yeare 1603 (ed. 1732, p. 46);paucas pallabris, Tam. Shrew, Induct. i. 5. Span.palabra, Med. L.parabola, ‘verbum, sermo’ (Ducange); a parable, similitude (Vulgate, in N. T.) See Stanford.
poinado,a poniard. Heywood, The Royal King, vol. vi, p. 70; Return from Parnassus, i. 2 (Judicio); ‘Poinard, orPoinado’, Phillips, 1658.
poinet, poynet,an ornament for the wrist, a wristlet or bracelet. J. Heywood, The Four P’s, in Anc. Brit. Drama, i. 10, col. 2; Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 351 (altered topoignet). F.poignet, wrist;poing, the fist. See NED.
point,a tagged lace for attaching hose to the doublet, and for fastening various parts where buttons are now used. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 49. Very common, and the perpetual subject of jokes and quibbles; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 238; Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 25.
point:in phr.point of war, a short strain sounded as a signal by a trumpeter. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 52; Greene, Orl. Fur., ed. Dyce, p. 94; Peele, Edw. I, i (Longshanks); ed. Dyce, p. 378. See NED. (s.v. Point, sb.19).
point:in phr.to point[F.à point], to the smallest detail, completely; ‘Armed to point’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 16; Tempest, i. 2. 194; ‘Are ye all fit?’ 1Gent.‘To point, sir’, Fletcher, Chances, i. 4. 2.
point-device(-devyse),completely, perfectly, in every point. Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 176; extremely precise, scrupulous to the point of perfection, As You Like It, iii. 2. 401. ME.poynt devys: ‘Her nose was wrought at poynt devys’ (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1215); Anglo F.à point devis, ordevis à point, arranged to a proper point or degree. See NED.
pointed,pp.appointed. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 12.
poise,a weight (for exercise), a dumb-bell; ‘Poysesmade of leadde’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 16, § 1;poyse, heavy fall; Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 54. Seepeise.
poisure,poise, balance, effect. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, i. 1 (Valentine).
poking-stick, poker,a stick or iron for setting the plaits of ruffs. Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 228; Beaumont and Fl., Mons. Thomas, iii. 2. 2.Poker, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, ii. 1 (Bellafront).
poldavy, polldavy,a sort of coarse canvas; ‘Poldavy, or buckram’, Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 6, p. 54; Howell, Letters, vol. i, sect. 2, let. 10 (1621). See Nares, and NED. Named fromPoldavide, dep. Finisterre, France; near Daoulas, whence E.dowlas(Phil. Soc. Trans., May, 1904). The name is Breton, meaning ‘David’s pool’.
poldron;seepouldron.
pole-ax;seepollax.
polehead,a ‘poll-head’, a tadpole. Marston, What you Will, ii. 1 (Quadratus); ‘Cavesot, a polehead, black vermine wherof frogs do come’, Cotgrave. Still in common use in the North; in Banffsh. the form ispowet(orpowit); see EDD. (s.v. Powhead). ME.polhevede(Gen. and Ex., 2977).
polepennery,extortion of pence; ‘To scrape for more rent is polepennery’, Wily Beguiled, sc. ii (1st quarto, 1606).
politien,a politician. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 4, pp. 158, 159;politians, pl., Lyly, Sappho, i. 3. OF.policien, a citizen, a politician (Godefroy).
poll,to cut off the head of an animal, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 112; to cut short the hair, Greene, Upst. Courtier, D. iij. b. (NED.); to plunder by excessive rent-raising, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 29);to poll and pill, Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, 148); Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 6.
pollard,an animal without horns, either one that has lost its horns, or one of a hornless variety, used jocosely of a man who is not a cuckold. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). See Nares.
pollax, pole-ax,a battle-axe; ‘At hande strokes they use not swordes but pollaxes’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, 141); a halbert carried by the body-guard of a king or great personage, ‘Bec de faulcon, a fashion of Pollax borne by the Peeres of France, and by the French King’s Pensioners’, Cotgrave; ‘Mazzière, a halberdier or poleaxe man, such as the Queene of England’s gentlemen pencioners are’, Florio.
pollenger,a pollard tree. Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 13.
poller,one who exacts fees, an extortioner. Speltpoler, Bacon, Essay 56, 4.
poll-hatchet,a poll-axe; hence, one who wields a poll-hatchet; a term of abuse or contempt. Speltpowle-hatchett, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 613; and see Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 23, l. 29.
polony,a sausage made at Bologna, Italy. In Lord Cromwell, iii. 2. 131, Hodge, writing from Bologna, says that he is ‘among the Polonyan Sasiges’. See Dict.
pomeroy,a variety of apple. Speltpom-roy, Peacham, Comp. Gentleman, c. 1, § 2. See NED.
pomewater,a large juicy kind of apple. L. L. L. iv. 2. 4; Dekker, Old Fortunatus, iv. 2 (Shadow); ‘When a pome-water, bestucke with a few rotten cloves shall be more worth than the honesty of a hypocrite’, Vox Græculi (in Brand’s Pop. Antiq., ed. 1848, i. 17). A Hampshire word (EDD.).
pommado,an exercise of vaulting on a horse with one hand on the pommel of the saddle. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury), where we find ‘the whole, or half the pommado’. Marston haspommado reverso, said to mean the vaultingoffthe horse again. If so, ‘the whole pommado’ may refer to both actions, and ‘the half pommado’ to one of them. F.pommade, ‘the pommada, a trick in vaulting’ (Cotgr.).
pompillion,an ointment made of the buds of the black poplar; ‘Populeon, Popilion or Pompillion’, Cotgrave. OF.populeon(Godefroy, Compl.). See NED.
pompillion,a term applied in contempt to a man. Fletcher, Women Pleased, iii. 4 (Bartello). Not found elsewhere. See below.
pompion,a pumpkin. Tusser, Husbandry, § 41; B. Jonson, Time Vindicated (Fame); ‘Pompon, a pumpion or melon’, Cotgrave. A Lanc. word for a pumpkin, see EDD. (s.v. Pumpion). Du.pompoen, ‘a pompion, pumpkin’ (Sewel).
pon,a pan, hollow, basin. Drayton, Pol. xxviii. 169. The pronunc. of ‘pan’ in the north-west of England (EDD.).
ponder,weight. Heywood, Silver Age, A. ii (Alcmena); vol. iii, p. 102; a heavy blow, id. (Hercules), p. 142.
pontifical,bridge-making. Milton, P. L. x. 313. L.pons(bridge) +facere(to make). It may be noted that L.pontifex(a pontiff) has probably nothing to do with bridge-making. See NED.
pooke;seepouke.
poop-noddie, pup-noddie,cony-catching, the art of befooling the simpleton; ‘I saw them close together at Poop-noddie, in her closet’, Wily Beguiled, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix. 242; see NED.
poor-john,a coarse fish (usually hake), salted and dried. Temp. ii. 2. 28; Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, i. 1. 15. See EDD. (s.v. Poor).
pooter,the same aspoting-stick,q.v. Warner, Alb. England, bk. ix, ch. 47, st. 8.
pope-holy,sanctimonious, hypocritical. Foxe, Martyrs (ed. 2, 205 b, 2);pop-holy, Skelton, Replycacion, 247; Garland of Laurell, 612. ME.pope-holy(P. Plowman, B. xiii. 284). In Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 415,Pope-Holyis used in the sense of ‘Hypocrisy’, being the translation of thepapelardieof the French original.
popering,a kind of pear, brought from Poperinghe in W. Flanders. Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, iii. 2 (Y. Chartley);a poprin pear, Romeo, ii. 1. 38.
popler,porridge (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song);Poppelars, porrage, Harman, Caveat, p. 83;popplar of yarum, mylke porrage, id., p. 86;poplars of yarrum, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song).
popping,chattering; said of one whose talk is mere popping sound; foolish; ‘A poppynge fole’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 234; ‘Pratynge poppynge dawes’, id., Replycacion, 39.
popular,populous; ‘How doth the popular City sit solitary!’, Jackson, True Evang., T. iii. 184; ‘The most popular part of Scotland’, Kirkton, Church History, 215 (EDD.). See NED., and Davies, Suppl. Gl.
porcpisce,a ‘porpoise’. Dryden, All for Love, iv. 1 (Ventidius);porpice, Drayton, Polyolb. v. 235. See Dict.
porpentine,a porcupine. Hamlet, i. 5. 20; 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 363; used by Shaks. seven times, in four of these as the sign of an inn; Ascham, Toxophilus (Arber, 31). See NED.
porret, poret,a young leek or onion. Tusser, Husbandry, § 39. 31; ‘Porret, yong lekes’, Palsgrave. F.porrette, ‘maiden leek, bladed leek, unset leek’ (Cotgr.). Norm. F.poret, see Moisy (s.v. Porrette).
port,to carry. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Compass); ‘Ported spears’, Milton, P. L. iv. 980.
port,deferential attendance. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 517; state, splendid manner of living, Merch. of Ven. i. 1. 124.
port,the gate of a city. Coriolanus, i. 7. 1; v. 6. 6; Great Bible of 1539, Ps. ix. 14 (Prayer-book); Beaumont and Fl., Maid in the Mill, i. 1. 2; Massinger, Virgin Martyr, i. 1 (Sapritius). F.porte, a gate.
portague,a Portuguese gold coin, worth varying according to time between £3 5s.and £4 10s.B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 3. Speltportigue, Fletcher, Rule a Wife, v. 5. 5;portegue, Phillips, Dict., 1658; pl.portagues, Strype, Eccl. Mem. (ed. 1721, i. 18. 138); also,porteguez, Davenant, News fr. Plymouth (NED.). Thes(z) of Span.Portugues, Pg.Portuguez, ‘Portuguese’, was taken as a plural, hence the English formsportegue, &c.
portance,carriage, bearing, deportment. Coriolanus, ii. 3. 232; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 5; ii. 3. 21.
portcannons,ornamental rolls or ‘canions’ round the legs of breeches; seecanion.Butler, Hud. i. 3. 926.
portcullis,an Elizabethan coin, stamped with a portcullis. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 1 (Shift).
porter’s lodge,the place where great men used to exercise summary punishment upon their servants; ‘To the porter’s lodge with him!’, Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, v. 2 (Don Philippo); Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 2 (Graccho).
portesse,a portable breviary which can be taken out of doors.Bible, Translators’ Preface, 9; Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. 1882, 77). ME.portos(Chaucer, C. T.B.1321);portos, ‘portiforium’ (Prompt. EETS. 342, see note, no. 1662). OF.portehors(Godefroy), Church L.portiforium(Ducange). See Dict.
portmantua,a ‘portmanteau’. Middleton, A Mad World, ii. 2 (Mawworm).
port-sale,public sale to the highest bidder; ‘The soldiers making portsale of their service to him that would give most’, North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 18 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 124); ‘Persons were sold out-right in port-sale under the guirland’ (sub corona veniere), Holland, Livy, xli. 1103; see NED. (s.v. Port, sb.2).
possede,to possess. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 3, § 2.
possess,to put one in possession of a fact. Meas. for M. iv. 1. 44; Merch. of Ven. i. 3. 65; King John, iv. 2. 41.
post,as set up before the door of a sheriff or magistrate. Posts were used to fix proclamations on; and were sometimes painted anew when a new magistrate came into office; ‘A sheriff’s post’, Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 157; ‘Worship, . . . for so much the posts at his door should signifie’, Puritan Widow, iii. 4. 12.
post,a messenger, Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 100; v. 1. 46. Also, a post-horse, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 40. Hence,to post, to go with speed, hasten, Richard II, i. 1. 56; iii. 4. 90; v. 5. 59; ‘Thousands . . . post o’er land and ocean without rest’, Milton, Sonnet xix;post over, to hurry over, treat with negligence, 2 Hen. VI, iii. 1. 255.