sherif,a title of the descendants of Mohammed, a title of the chief magistrate of Mecca, and of Morocco; ‘The Sheriffe of Mecca’, Purchas, Pilgrims, iii. 257. Arab.sharîf, noble, of noble lineage, particularly, descending from Mohammed (Steingass). Seexeriff.
sherris,‘sherry’, a Spanish wine, so called from the town Xeres. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 111, 114, 122, 131. The Arabic form of the place-name Xeres wasSherêysh(Dozy, Glossaire, p. 18). The Roman name wasCaesaris Asidona. By the loss of the first syllable,Caesarisbecame on the lips of the Moorssherêysh. For a similar decapitation of the wordCaesar, compare the name of the Spanish cityZaragoça, theCaesaraugustaof the Romans.
shewelle, sewell;‘Asewell, a thing to keep out the deer’, Howell, Lexicon Tetraglotton; ‘Anything that is hung up is called a Sewel; and those are used most commonly to amaze a Deare, and to make him refuse to passe wher they are hanged up’, Turbervile, Hunting (ed. 1575, p. 98); usedfig., ‘Bugbeares of opinions brought, to serve as shewelles to keep them from those faults’, Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia (ed. 1605, p. 267); ‘Shewell’ in the sense of a scarecrow is still in use in Oxfordsh. and Berks. (EDD.). Cp. ME.scheawle, a scarecrow (Owl and N. 1648);a-schewelen, to scare away (Stratmann, pp. 32, 528); deriv. of OE.scēoh, timid, shy.
shift herself,change her dress. Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 1. 8. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Shift, 2).
shine,bright. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 3; ‘Girt my shine browe with sea-banke Myrtle sprays’, Marlowe, tr. of Ovid’s Elegies, bk. i, 1. 34 (Wks., ed. Tucker Brooke, 560). Seesheene.
shirwood= L.lucus. Phaer, Aeneid viii, 342.
shittle,unstable, inconstant; ‘Their shittle hate’, Mirror for Mag., Collingbourne, st. 3; ‘Shyttell, nat constant,variable’, Palsgrave. ME.schytyl, ‘preceps’ (Prompt. EETS. 398), cogn. w. OE.scēotan, to run hastily (Acts vii. 57); see Cook, Biblical Quotations, p. 234.
shittle-cock,a shuttlecock. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iii. 2 (Allwit). ‘Shyttel cocke,volant’, Palsgrave. ME.schytyl, a shuttle (in a child’s game), see Prompt. EETS. 398.
shive,a slice, Titus Andron. ii. 1. 87. In gen. prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, England, and America, see EDD. (s.v. Shive, sb.11). ME.schyveof bred or oþer lyke, ‘lesca, scinda’ (Prompt. EETS. 399). Cp. Icel.skifa, a slice, and G.scheibe.
shock-dog,a rough-coated dog; a poodle. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master, ii. 2 (Hippolyta); Tatler, no. 245.
shoe-the-mare,a Christmas sport. Middleton, Inner-Temple Masque (Plumporridge). ‘Shoe the old mare’ is the name of a kind of sport in Galloway, see EDD. (s.v. Shoe, vb. 10).
shog,to move off, go away. Henry V, ii. 1. 47, ii. 3. 47;shog on, Massinger, Parl. of Love, iv. 5 (near the end);shogd, shook, pushed; Phaer, Aeneid ii, 465;shog, a jog, a shake. Dryden, Epil. to The Man of Mode, 28. In gen. prov. use (EDD.). ME.schoggen, to shake (Wars Alex. 5018).
shold,a shoal, sandbank. Phaer, Aeneid i, 112; Hakluyt, Voyages, iii. 547. ‘Shald’ in various spellings is in prov. use in the north country, meaning (1) shallow, (2) a shoal (EDD.). ME. ‘scholdor schalowe, noȝte depe’ (Prompt.). OE.sceald, shallow (found in place-names); see Dict. (s.v. Shallow).
shoot-anker,sheet-anchor; hence, a means of security. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 1. 28; ‘This saying they make their shoot-anker’, Cranmer (cited in Dict., s.v. Sheet).
shope,shaped, framed; pt. t. ofshape. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 39. ME.shoop, planned, devised (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 207), pt. s. ofshapen; OE.scōp, pt. s. ofsceppan.
shoppini,high-heeled shoes; ‘Those high corked shoes, which now they call in Spaine and ItalyShoppini’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 15; p. 49. Seecioppinoandchoppine.See Stanford (s.v. Chopine).
shore,a sewer. Shirley, Love Tricks, i. 1; ‘The common shore’, A Woman never vext (Mrs. Foster), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 104; ‘Our sailing ships like common shores we use’, Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 558. ‘Shore’, once a common word for a sewer, is still preserved in Shoreditch in London; also named Sewers Ditch; see Stow’s Survey, p. 158. It is in gen. prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and England, see EDD. (s.v. Shore, sb.31).
shoringness,inclination to tilt to one side; ‘A table, of the which the thirde foot was A little shorter then the rest. A tyle-sherd made it even And tooke away the shoringness,’ Golding, Metam. viii. 662; fol. 103 (1603). ‘Shoring’ is in prov. use in E. Anglia, in the sense of slanting, sloping, awry, see EDD. (s.v. Shore, vb.24).
shot,a payment, reckoning; esp. a contribution to the payment of a tavern score; ‘Escotter, every one to pay his shot or to contribute somewhat towards it’, Cotgrave; Two Gent. ii. 5. 9;shot-free, without having to pay, 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 30. In gen. prov. and colloquial use in Scotland, England, and America, see EDD. (s.v. Shot, sb.11). ME.schot, a payment (Stratmann). OE.scot, a contribution (in compounds), see B. T. The Anglo-F. form isescot(mod.écot), whence E.scot, inscot-free, andscot and lot. Seeescot,scot and lot.
shot-clog,a dupe; one who was aclogupon a company, but was tolerated because he paid theshotor reckoning. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Golding); B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Shun.); ‘Ashot-clog, to make suppers, and be laughed at’, B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Ovid senior). Speltshot-log, Field, Amends for Ladies, iii (end).shot-shark,a tavern waiter; because he sharks for (or hunts after) the reckoning or shot. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4. 1.
shot-clog,a dupe; one who was aclogupon a company, but was tolerated because he paid theshotor reckoning. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Golding); B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Shun.); ‘Ashot-clog, to make suppers, and be laughed at’, B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Ovid senior). Speltshot-log, Field, Amends for Ladies, iii (end).
shot-shark,a tavern waiter; because he sharks for (or hunts after) the reckoning or shot. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4. 1.
shotten,lean. Fletcher, Women Pleased, ii. 4. 9. From the phr.shotten herring, a herring that has spent the roe, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 143. ‘As lean as a shot-herring’ is given in EDD. as a Derbyshire saying. ‘Shotten’ is used in Kent of the herring that has spent its roe, see EDD. (s.v. Shot, pp. 5).
shotten-souled,deprived of a soul; soulless. Fletcher, Wit without Money, iii. 4. 2.
shotten-souled,deprived of a soul; soulless. Fletcher, Wit without Money, iii. 4. 2.
shotterell, shotrell,a pike in his first year; ‘An harlotrie [i.e. worthless]shotterell’, Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 4 (Carion); ‘The Shotrell, 1 year, Pickerel, 2 year, Pike, 3 year, Luce, 4 year, are one’, W. Lauson, Comments on the Secrets of Angling; in Arber’s Eng. Garner, i. 197.
shough,a rough dog with shaggy hair. Macbeth, iii. 1. 94; Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, iii. 3 (Grilla). Also in formsshogandshock, ‘Nor mungrell nor shog’, Taylor’s Works, 1630 (Nares); ‘Their little shocks or Bononia dogs’, Erminia, 1661 (Nares).
shough, shoo,interj., away! used to scare away fowls. Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, v. 1 (end).
shoule,a ‘shovel’. Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, iv. 1 (Jack); vol. vi, p. 424. For various forms of ‘shool’, a word which is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles and America, see EDD.
shouler,a bird; the ‘shoveller’ or spoonbill. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 353. Skelton hasshouelar(=shovelar), Phylyp Sparowe, 408.
shovelboard,the name of a game. The game was toshuffleor drive by a blow of the hand a counter or coin along a smoothboard, so as to pass beyond a line drawn across the board near the far end, but so as not to fall off the board; ‘Plaieing at slide-groat or shoofleboard’, Stanyhurst, Desc. of Ireland, ann. 1528;Edward shovel-board, a shilling coined in the reign of Edward VI commonly used in the game of shovel-board, Merry Wives, i. 1. 159. A similar game was calledshove-groat, henceshove-groat shilling, the coin used at the game, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 206; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 5. 17 (see Wheatley’s note). See Nares.
shoyle,to lean outwards on the foot in walking. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 55 (p. 155), says that wild swine never ‘shoyle or leane outwards’, as tame hogs do. Seeshayle.
shraming,making a great noise, screaming; ‘Shraming shalms’, Golding, Metam. iv. 392; fol. 48, back (1603); ‘She shraming cryed’, id., viii. 108; fol. 94.
shrewd,malicious, mischievous, ill-natured, All’s Well, iii. 5. 68; Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 33; bad, nasty, grievous, Merch. Ven. iii. 2. 244; Ant. and Cl. iv. 9. 5. The word is used in Shropshire in the sense of ‘vicious’ (EDD.). ME.schrewyd, ‘pravus, pravatus, depravatus’ (Prompt. EETS. 401).
shrich,to ‘shriek’. Gascoigne, Philomene, ll. 22, 52. ME.schrichen, variantsschriken,skriken(Chaucer, C. T.B.4590).
shrieve,a ‘sheriff’. All’s Well, iv. 3. 213; 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 99. ME.shirreve(Chaucer, C. T.A.359). OE.scīr-gerēfa. See Dict.
shright,pt. t.shrieked; ‘Out! alas! she shryght’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 18; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 32. ME.shrighte(Chaucer, C. T.A.2817), pt. t. ofschrychen(schriken) to shriek. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Schrychen).
shright,a shriek. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 57; vi. 4. 2.
shrill,thin, poor; ‘Age . . . all balde or ouer-cast With shril, thin haire as white as snow’, Golding, Metam. xv. 213. ‘Shrill’ (also ‘shill’) is in prov. use in Bedf. and Northants for thin, poor; also clear, transparent, applied to book-muslin (EDD.).
shrill,to sound shrilly, to resound. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 20; v. 7. 27.
shrimp,a shrunken, wizened man. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 600.
Shrove-Tuesday bird,a cock tied down, at which cudgels were thrown, on a Shrove Tuesday. Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 3 (Lapet; near the end). See Brand’s Pop. Ant. (ed. 1877, p. 37).
shroving,joining in the ceremonies and sports of Shrove Tuesday. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 5 (Eyre); Fletcher, Noble Gent. iii. 2 (Lady). See EDD. (s.v. Shrove, vb.), where it is said that the custom of ‘shroving’, i.e. going round singing for money, &c., on Shrove Tuesday, is known from Oxf. to Dorset.
shrow,a ‘shrew’, a vixen, a scold. A frequent spelling ofshrewin old editions of Shakespeare; and always pronounced so, cp. the rimes in Tam. Shrew, iv. 1. 213; v. 2. 28; v. 2. 188;shroe, Peele, Arraignment of Paris, iv. 1 (Bacchus).
shug,to slip, to wriggle. Ford, Witch of Edmonton, v. 1 (Dog). See EDD. (s.v. Shuck, vb.12).
shuter,a suitor. A common pronunciation ofsuitor; puns onshooterandsuitoroccur often. London Prodigal, i. 2. 42; cp. L. L. L. iv. 1. 110; Puritan Widow, il. 1. 97.
shuttle-brained,thoughtless, flighty. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 6. From the movements of theshuttle.
sidanen,a fine woman; an epithet. Northward Ho, ii. 1 (Capt. Jenkin). Welshsidanen, silken, made of silk; also, an epithet for a fine woman (Owen). Applied sometimes to Queen Elizabeth; so Nares.
siddon,soft, tender, mellow. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, iv. 1 (Piero). Current in west midland counties, chiefly of peas or other vegetables which become soft in boiling, see EDD. (s.v. Sidder). Cp. OE.syde, a decoction, the water in which anything has been seethed or boiled (B. T.). Cognate withseethe, pp.sodden; see Dict. (s.v. Seethe).
side,long, hanging down a long way; ‘Side sleeves’, Much Ado, iii. 4. 21; Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 440; B. Jonson, New Inn, v. 1 (Fly). In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.). ME.syde, as a gowne, ‘defluxus, talaris’ (Cath. Angl.); ‘syde sleeves’ (Hoccleve, Reg. P. 535). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Syde). OE.sīd, ample, wide, large, extensive.
side, to set up a,to be partners in a game. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, iii. 2 (Cent.).
sie, sye,to strain milk. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 146. 10. ‘I sye mylke, or clense’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in Scotland, England down to Glouc. (EDD.). OE.sēon(sīan), to strain; cp.asiende, ‘excolantes’ (Matt. xxiii. 24, Mercian Gloss); see B. T. (s.v.āsēon).
siege,a seat, esp. one used by a person of rank or distinction, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 39; hence, rank, Othello, i. 2. 22; the station of a heron on the watch for prey, Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo); a privy, Phaer, Pestilence (NED.); evacuation, B. Jonson, Sejanus, i. 2; excrement, Tempest, ii. 2. 110. ME.sege, ‘sedes, secessus’ (Prompt. EETS. 404, see notes). Seesege.
sieve and shears,a mode of divination; used for the recovery of things lost. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face); Butler, Hud. i. 2. 848. See EDD. (s.v. Riddle, sb.11 (1)).
sifflement,a whistling, chirping. Brewer, Lingua, i. 1 (Auditus). F.siffler, to whistle, L.sifilare, a dialect form ofsibilare.
sight,pt. t.sighed. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 20; vi. 10. 40. ME.sighte(Chaucer, C. T.B.1035), pt. s. ofsyke, to sigh.
signatures,marks. The medicinal virtues of some plants were supposed to be indicated by their forms or by marks upon them. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 329.
sikerly,certainly, surely. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, last scene (Gammer). Still in prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Sickerly). ME.sikerly(Chaucer);sikerliche(P. Plowman). OE.sicor, sure, safe; certain (B. T.).
silder,less frequently. Tancred and Gismunda, ii. 3 (Lucrece); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 46. Seeseld.
silly,simple, rustic; innocent. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 35; iii. 8. 27; poor, wretched, weak, Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, pp. 491, 533. Seesely.
silverling,a piece of silver; ‘Fifty thousande silverlynges’, Tyndale, Acts xix. 9; so the Cranmer version, 1539, and the Geneva, 1557;Bible, Isaiah vii. 23; here Luther hasSilberlinge. In Marlowe, Jew of Malta, i. 1. 6,silverling= the Jewish coin, the shekel.
†simming,simmering. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 6. 27.
simper,to twinkle, glimmer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iii. 1. 8; ‘I mark how starres above Simper and shine’, G. Herbert, The Church, The Search, l. 14.
simper,to simmer; ‘I symper, as lycour dothe on the fyre before it begynneth to boyle’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in north Ireland, west Yorks., and east Anglia (EDD.).
simper-the-cocket,an affected coquettish air; a woman so characterised, a flirt. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Patrico); Skelton, El. Rummyng, 55;simper de cocket, ‘Coquine, a beggar-woman; also a simper de cockit, nice thing’, Cotgrave; Heywood’s Proverbs, Pt. ii, ch. 1 (ed. Farmer, 52). See Nares.
simple,a simple remedy, as a plant used medicinally without admixture; ‘Where a sycknesse may be cured with symples’, Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helthe, bk. ii, c. 28; to gather simples or medicinal herbs, Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 823.
simulty,a grudge. B. Jonson, Discoveries, cxxii, § 2. F.simulté, a grudge (Cotgr.). L.simultas, a hostile encounter, animosity.
sin,since. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 44. In gen. prov. use (EDD.). ME.sithen, since (Wars Alex.); see Dict. M. and S. OE.sīððan.
single:single money, small change; ‘The ale-wives’ single money’, B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 2 (Subtle); Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 5 (Pedro).
single,in hunting, the tail of a deer; ‘The tayle of Harte, Bucke, Rowe or any other Deare is to be called the Syngle’, Turbervile, Hunting, 243 (NED.); Howell, Parley of Beasts, 63; used of Pan’s tail, ‘That single wagging at thy butt’, Cotton, Burlesque, 277 (Davies). Hence, ‘a boy leasht on the single’, is explained by ‘beaten on the taile’, Lyly, Midas, iv. 3 (Pet.). Still in prov. use in Northants. and west Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Single, sb.19).
singler,a full-grown wild boar. Manwood, Lawes Forest, iv, § 5. Seesanglier.
singles,the claws of a hawk. The middle claws were called thelong singles, and the outer thepetty singles. Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 3 (Sir Francis). Thesinglewas orig. the middle or outer claw on the foot of the hawk (NED.).
†singles,the entrails; ‘The singles (Lat.prosecta) also of a wolfe’, Golding, Metam. vii. 271; fol. 82 (1603). Not found elsewhere.
sink and sise,five and six; at dice; ‘All at sink and sise’, i.e. I have lost all my effects at dice-playing, Like will to Like, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 346.
sinkanter,a term of contempt; ‘One Volanerius, an old sinkanter or gamester and scurrilous companion by profession’, Jackson, Creed, x. 19; ‘Rocard, an overworn sincaunter, one that can neither whinny nor wag the tail’, Cotgrave.
si quis,an advertisement; also called a bill. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 2 (end). From L.si quis, lit. if any one; from the first two words; the advertisement begins: ‘If there be anylady or gentlewoman’, id., iii. 1 (Puntarvolo). Cp. Hall, Sat. ii. 5. 1.
Sir John,a familiar appellation for a priest, becauseJohnwas a common name, and it was usual to prefixsirto a priest’s name. Richard III, iii. 2. 111; Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 2 (Luce). Cp. Chaucer (C. T.B.4000), ‘Com neer thou preest, com hider thou sir John.’ See NED. (s.v. Sir, 4).
sirts of sand,quicksands. Mirror for Mag., Madan, st. 7. Forsyrtes, pl. of L.Syrtis, Gk. Σύρτις, the name of two large sandbanks (Major and Minor) on the coast of Libya. Cp. ‘A boggy Syrtis’, Milton, P. L. ii. 939.
sit,to be fitting, to befit, suit; ‘It sits not’ (i.e. it is unbecoming), Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 30; ‘With them it sits’, Shep. Kal., May, 77; id., Nov., 26. In the north country ‘It sits him weel indeed’ is often said ironically of a person who arrogates to himself more than is thought proper, see EDD. (s.v. Sit, 16).Sitting, suitable, fit, becoming; ‘To the [thee] it is sittynge’, Fabyan, Chron., Part vii, c. 232; ed. Ellis, p. 265; Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 149.
sith,time; alsopl.times. Spenser has ‘a thousand sith’, a thousand times, F. Q. iii. 10. 33; also, ‘a thousand sithes’, Shep. Kal., Jan., 49. OE.sīð, a journey, time.
sith,since. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 95. ME.sith, since (Chaucer, C. T.A.930).
sithence,since. Coriolanus, iii. 1. 47. ME.sithenes, since (P. Plowman, B. x. 257; xix. 15).
six,small beer; sold at 6s.a barrel; ‘A cup of six’, Rowley, A Match at Midnight, i. 1 (Tim).
six and seven, to set all on,‘to risk all one’s property on the hazard of the dice;Omnem iacere aleam, to cast all dice, . . . to set al on sixe and seuen, and at al auentures to ieoperd’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Julius, § 7; ‘Or wager laid at six and seven’, Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 588.
skails,a game like ninepins; the same as ‘kails’. ‘Aliossi, a play called Nine pins or keeles, or skailes’, Florio (1598); North, tr. of Plutarch, Alcibiades, § 1. See NED. (s.v. Skayles).
†skainsmate.Only occurs as spoken by the Nurse in Romeo, ii. 4. 163, ‘Scurvy Knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am none of his skainsmates’. The nurse was no very correct speaker, and in the heat of her anger she has in this case become wholly unintelligible. The guesses of the commentators and glossarists are devoid of probability.
skeen,a knife. Merry Devil, ii. 2. 54;skeane, Spenser, State of Ireland (Globe ed., p. 631);skene, Brewer, Lingua, i. 1 (first stage-direction). Alsoskaine, Drayton, Pol. iv. 384. In prov. use in Scotland and Ireland, see EDD. (s.v. Skean). Sc. and Ir. Gaelic,sgian, a knife.
skelder,to beg impudently by false representations, to swindle (Cant). B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Luscus); ib. (Tucca); iii. 1 (Tucca); Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll).
skellet,a ‘skillet’, a small pot or pan; a small kettle. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 250;skillet, Othello, i. 3. 273. ‘Skellet’ (also ‘skillet’), a small metal pan or saucepan, is in gen. prov. use in the British Isles and America, see EDD. (s.v. Skillet).
skellum;seeschellum.
skelp,to strike with the hand, to smack; ‘I shall skelp thee on the skalpe’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2207. In gen. prov. use in the British Isles; in England in the north and Midland counties, see EDD. (s.v. Skelp, vb.1). ME.skelpe, to smite with a scourge (Wars Alex. 1924).
skew at,to look askance at, to slight. Beaumont and Fl., Loyal Subject, ii. 1 (Putskie); ‘To skewe,limis oculis spectare’, Levins, Manip. ‘To skew’ is in prov. use in the north of England in the sense of to look askance at any one, see EDD. (s.v. Skew, vb.118).
skew rom-bouse,to quaff good drink (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song);a skew, a cuppe; Harman, Caveat, p. 83.
†skibbered(?).
‘What slimie bold presumptuous groome is he,Dares with his rude audacious hardy chat,Thus sever me from skibbered contemplation?’Return from Parnassus, i. 6 (Furor).
‘What slimie bold presumptuous groome is he,Dares with his rude audacious hardy chat,Thus sever me from skibbered contemplation?’Return from Parnassus, i. 6 (Furor).
‘What slimie bold presumptuous groome is he,
Dares with his rude audacious hardy chat,
Thus sever me from skibbered contemplation?’
Return from Parnassus, i. 6 (Furor).
The Halliwell-Phillipps MS. of the play readsskybredd(communicated by Mr. Percy Simpson). Dr. H. Bradley suggestsskyward.
skice, skise,to frisk about, move nimbly, make off quickly; ‘Skise out this way, and skise out that way’, Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1 (Randal). In prov. use—Sussex, Hampshire, &c. (EDD.).
skill,to make a difference; ‘It skills not much’, it makes little difference, Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 134; ‘It skills not’, it makes no difference, Nero, v. 2; ‘It skilleth not’, Lyly, Euphues (ed Arber, 245). Extremely common from 1550 to 1650, see NED.
skillet,seeskellet.
skimble-skamble,rambling, incoherent. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 154. Seescamble.
skimmington,a ceremony practised on unpopular persons in various parts of England; fully described in EDD. See Heywood, Witches of Lancs. iv. 230; Oldham, Satires upon the Jesuits, iv (ed. R. Bell, p. 125). See Brand’s Pop. Antiq., Cornutes (ed. 1877, p. 414), for an account of ‘Riding Skimmington’, where it is described as a ludicrous cavalcade intended to ridicule a man beaten by his wife.
skink,to draw or pour out liquor. B. Jonson, New Inn, i (Lovel); Phaer, Aeneid vii, 133. Hence,Under-skinker, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 26. ME.skinke, to pour out (Chaucer, C. T.E.1722). For full account of this verb see Dict. (s.v. Nunchion).
skipjack,a pert fellow, a whipper-snapper. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 1 (Alph.); also, a horse-dealer’s boy, Dekker, Lanthorne, x; see Nares. ‘Skipjack’ is in prov. use in north of England in sense of a pert, conceited fellow, see EDD. (s.v. Skip, vb.11 (2 a)).
skipper,a barn (Cant). ‘A skypper, a barne’, Harman, Caveat, p. 83; B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman). Possibly Cornishsciber, Welshysgubor, a barn (NED.), Med. L.scopar, ‘scuria, stabulum’ (Ducange).
skirr,to pass rapidly over a stretch of land; ‘Skirre the country round’, Macbeth, v. 3. 35. Of doubtful origin (NED.). In prov. use in the sense of to scurry, rush, fly quickly (EDD.).
skit,skittish, restive. Speltskyt, Skelton, Against the Scottes, 101. See EDD. (s.v. Skit, vb.21).
skoase,to chaffer, barter, exchange. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. vi, ch. 31, st. 64. Seescorse.
skope, skoope,pt. t.ofscape, scaped, escaped, got away. Phaer, Aeneid ii, 458 (L.evado);skoope= escaped to, id., vi. 425;skoope, escaped, id., ix. 545 (L.elapsi).
skoser;seescorse.
skull,a skull-cap, helmet. Beaumont and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 4. 5.
skull;seescull.
skyrgaliard,a wild or dissipated fellow, Skelton, Against the Scottes, 101; id., Speke, Parrot, 427. Seegalliard.
slab up,to sup up greedily and dirtily; ‘Ye never saw hungry dog so slab (printedstab) potage up’, Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 215. See NED. (s.v. Slab, vb.2).
slake,a shallow dell, a glade, a pass between hills. Morte Arthur, leaf 95. 6; bk. vi, c. 5. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and in various parts of England, in the north down to Lincoln, see EDD. (s.v. Slack, sb.31). Icel.slakki, a small shallow dell.
slam,an ungainly person; ‘He is but a slam’, Vanbrugh, The Relapse, v. 5 (Nurse); ‘A slam or slim Fellow is a skragged, tall, rawboned Fellow’, Ray, N. C. Words (ed. 1691, 137), see NED. (s.v. Slam, adj.).
slampant:in phr.to give one the(ora)slampant, to play a trick on; ‘Polyperchon . . . meaning to give Cassander a slampant . . . sent letters Pattents’, North, Plutarch (ed. 1595, 805); ‘Trousse, a cousening tricke, blurt, slampant’, Cotgrave; also in formslampaine, ‘The townesmen being pinched at the heart that one rascal . . . should give them the slampaine’, Stanyhurst, Desc. of Ireland (ed. 1808, vi. 30); also speltslampam, ‘Shal a stranger geve me the slampam?’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 633.
slat,to dash, strike violently. Marston, Malcontent, iv. 1 (Malevole). In prov. use in various parts of England, meaning to throw violently, to dash down water or other liquid, also, to strike, beat, see EDD. (s.v. Slat, vb.31).
slate,a cant term for a sheet. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor); Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Harman, Caveat, p. 61.
slaty,muddy, rainy. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 258. ‘Slatty’ is a Warw. word for muddy, see EDD. (s.v. Slat, sb.41).
sled,a sledge or sleigh used as a vehicle in travelling or for recreation; ‘With milke-white Hartes upon an Ivorie sled Thou shalt be drawen’, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2. In common prov. use for a low cart without wheels, see EDD. (s.v. Sled, sb.11). ME.slede, a dray without wheels, a harrow, ‘traha’ (Prompt. EETS. 415).
sledded,(perhaps) riding in ‘sleds’ or sledges; ‘He smote the sledded Pollax on the ice’, Hamlet, i. 1. 63 (aPolackis a Pole, an inhabitant of Poland). So NED.
sledge,a sledge-hammer; ‘To throw the sledge’, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 2 (Elder Loveless). A Devon word, see EDD. (s.v. Sledge, sb.2).
sleek,plausible, specious. Hen. VIII, iii. 2. 241; Chapman, Eastward Ho, ii. 2. Later variant form of ME.slĭke; seeslick.
sleided silk,sleaved silk, silk ravelled out, divided into filaments. Pericles, iv, Prol. 21.
sleight,a cunning trick, an artifice. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 81; Massinger, New Way to pay, v. 1; 3 Hen. VI, iv. 2. 20; speltslight, Middleton, More Dissemblers, iv. 1; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 747. See Dict.
slent,to slip or glide obliquely; ‘The stroke slented doune to the erthe’, Morte Arthur, leaf 345. 24; bk. xvii, c. 1; to make sly hits or gibes, ‘One Proteas, a pleasaunt conceited man, and that could slent finely’, North, Plutarch (NED.); hence,slent, a sly hit or sarcasm, ‘Cleopatra found Antonius jeasts and slents to be but grosse’, ib., M. Antonius, § 13 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 175). See EDD. (s.v. Slent, vb.1).
slibber-sauce,a nauseous concoction, used esp. for medicinal purposes, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 116);slibber sawces, buttery, oily, made-up sauces, Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 105).
slick,smooth, plausible. Rawlins, Rebellion, iv. 1. 4. Cp. prov.slick-tongued, smooth-tongued, plausible in speech, see EDD. (s.v. Slick, adj.16 (2)). ME.slyke, or smothe, ‘lenis’ (Prompt.). Seesleek.
slick,to make smooth. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, l. 1144; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxiii. 249. In prov. use in England and America (EDD.). ME.slyken, to make smooth (P. Plowman, B. ii. 98).
slidder,slippery. The Pardoner and the Frere, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 213; ‘My tongue is grown sae slip and slidder’, Stuart, Joco-serious Discourse (ed. 1686, 20); see EDD. ME.slydyr, ‘lubricus’ (Prompt. EETS. 416); ‘A slidir mouth worchith fallyngis’, Wyclif, Prov. xxvi. 28. OE.slidor.
slidder,to slip, to slide. Dryden, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 749. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.). OE.slid(e)rian, to slip.
slifter,a cleft or crack; ‘Fente, a cleft, rift, slifter, chinke’, Cotgrave. A north-country word (EDD.). Hencesliftered, cleft, rifted, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). Cp. G. (dial.)Schlifter, gully, watercourse.
slight;seesleight.
slighten,to slight, depreciate. B. Jonson, Sejanus (end).
slip,a counterfeit coin. Often quibbled upon; as in Romeo, ii. 4. 51; Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, iii. 1 (Pickadill). See NED. (s.v. Slip, sb.4).
slipper,slippery. Othello, ii. 1. 246. A west-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Slipper, adj. 1). OE.slipor.
slipstring,a knave; one who has eluded the halter. Gascoigne, Supposes, iii. 1 (Dalio); ‘Goinfre, a wag, slipstring, knavish lad’, Cotgrave. In prov. use the word means an idle, worthless, slovenly person, so in Northants and Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Slip, 3, (22)).
slive,to slice, cleave; to strip off (a bough) by tearing it downward; ‘I slyue a floure from his braunche’, Palsgrave; ‘The boughes whereof . . . he cutting and sliving downe’, Warner, Alb. England, prose addition on Aeneid ii, § 1. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Slive, vb.11). ME.slyvyn, a-sundyr, ‘findo’ (Prompt. EETS. 459). OE. (to)-slīfan, to split.
sliver,a small branch split off from the tree. Hamlet, iv. 7. 174. In gen. prov. use for a slice, a splinter of wood (EDD.). ME.slivere, a piece cut or split off (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 1013).
sliver,to slice off. Macbeth, iv. 1. 28. In prov. use: ‘If you sliver away at the meat like that there’ll be none left for to-morrow’ (Cambridge); see EDD.
sloape,deceitful; ‘For hope is sloape’, Mirror for Mag., Ferrex, st. 18. ‘Slope’ (or ‘sloap’) is in prov. use in Yorks., meaning to trick, cheat (EDD.).
slot,the track of a stag or deer upon the ground. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (John); to follow a track, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 191. OF.esclot, hoof-print of a horse, &c. (Godefroy), probably of Scand. origin, cp. Icel.slōð, a track; so NED.
†sloy,a term of abuse for a woman. Warner, Alb. England, bk. xi, ch. 58, st. 26. Not found elsewhere.
slubber,to sully, Othello, i. 3. 227; to obscure, 1 Part of Jeronimo, ii. 4. 67; see Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 374. In prov. use for obscuring with dirt (EDD.).
slubberdegullion,a slubbering rascal (Burlesque). Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, i. 2. 18; Butler, Hud. i. 3. 886.
sludge,to turn into a soft mass, ‘The flame had sludgd the pitche, the waxe and wood And other things that nourish fire’, Golding, Metam. xiv. 532.
slug,to be lazy, inactive. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 23;slogge, Palsgrave; ‘Another sleeps and slugs both night and day’, Quarles, Emblems (bk. i. 8, Luke vi. 25). ME.sluggyn, ‘desidio’ (Prompt.).
slug,a slow, inactive person; ‘Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he comes not’, Richard III, iii. 1. 22;slugge, a hindrance, ‘Money would be stirring, if it were not for this slugge’, Bacon, Essay 41, § 2. ‘Slug’ is in prov. use in the north country for a slow inactive person or animal; in Somerset, esp. of a slow-going horse; ‘to slug’ in Yorks. means to hinder, to retard progress (EDD.). ME.slugge, ‘deses, segnis’ (Prompt.).
slur,a method of cheating at dice; ‘Without some fingering trick or slur’, Butler, Misc. Thoughts (ed. Bell, iii. 176). Also, a term in card-playing, ‘ ’Gainst high and low, and slur, and knap’, Butler, Upon Gaming. See NED. (s.v. Slur, sb.22).
slurg,to lie in a sleepy state, to lie sluggishly. Phaer, Aeneid vi, 424; id., ix. 190. G. (Swabian dial.)schlurgen, to go about in a slovenly manner (J. C. Schmid).
smack,to savour of, to taste of; ‘This veneson smacketh to moche of the pepper’, Palsgrave;fig., ‘All sects, all ages smack of this vice’, Meas. for M. ii. 2. 5. ME.smakkyn, ‘odoro’ (Prompt.). Seesmatch.
smalach,‘smallage’, wild celery or water parsley, Tusser, Husbandry, § 45. 20. ME.smale ache, ‘apium’ (Sin. Barth. 11), E.small+ F.ache, wild celery, O. Prov.ache,api, Pop. L. *apia, L.apium.
smatch,a ‘smack’, taste, flavour. Jul. Caesar, v. 4. 46; Middleton, The Widow, i. 1 (Martino). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME.smach, taste, flavour (NED.). OE.smæc(c. Seesmack.
smeath,a small diving-bird; the ‘smee’ or ‘smew’,Mergellus albellus. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 67.
Smeck,short for Smectymnuus, a fictitious name compounded of the initials of the five men who wrote under that name, viz. Stephen Marshall, Edward Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow. They are said to have worn particular cravats, which Butler callscravat of Smeck, Hud. i. 3. 1166.
smelt,a name applied to various small fishes, used (likegudgeon) with the sense of simpleton. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Mercury); Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, v. 2 (end).
smelt,a half-guinea (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Hackum).
smicker,elegant, handsome; ‘A smicker Swaine’, Lodge, Euphues (NED.); smirking, gay, Peele, Eclogue Gratulatory, 4 (ed. Dyce, 561). Cp. the obsolete Scotchsmicker, to smile affectedly, to smirk (EDD.). OE.smicer, elegant.
smickly,fine, elegant, smart; or it may be used adverbially. Ford, Sun’s Darling, ii. 1 (Raybright). Cp. Dan.smykke, to adorn, G.schmücken.
smock:He was wrapt up in the tail of his mother’s smock; said of any one remarkable for his success with the ladies (Grose). See Marston, What you Will, v. 1 (Bidet). ‘Il est né tout coiffé, Born rich, honourable, fortunate; born with his mother’s kercher about his head; wrapt in his mother’s smock, say we; also, he is very maidenly, shame-faced, heloe’, Cotgrave.
smoke,to get an inkling of, to smell or suspect (a plot), to detect. Middleton, Roaring Girl (2 Cutpurse); ‘Sir John, I fear, smokes your design’, Dryden, Sir M. Mar-all, 1; see NED. (s.v. 8).
smoky,quick to suspect, suspicious, Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv. 1 (Belfond senior).
smolder,smoky vapour, a suffocating smoke the result of slow combustion; ‘The smolder of smoke’, Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (ed. 1661, 472);to be smoldered, to be suffocated, Caxton, Reynard (ed. Arber, 98). ME.smolder, smoky vapour (P. Plowman, B. xvii. 321).
smoor,to smother. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 44; ‘She smoored him in the slepe’, Coverdale, 1 Kings iii. 19. In prov. use in the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Smoor, vb.1).
smouch,to kiss. Heywood, 1 King Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 40; Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, p. 155). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). Cp. G. (Swabian dial.)schmutz, ‘derber Kuss’ (Schmid).
smug,to smarten up, to make trim or gay; freq. withup, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, x. 568; Drayton, Pol. x. 69; xxi. 73; Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 3 (Firk). ‘Smug’ is in prov. use in various parts of England for smart, tidily dressed: also, as vb., to dress up neatly (EDD.).
smuggle,to hug violently, to smother with caresses, Otway, Ven. Preserved, last scene; line 13 from end. In prov. use in Somerset and Devon, see EDD. (s.v. Smuggle, vb.2).
smug-skinnde,sleek, smooth-skinned. Gascoigne, Herbs, ed. Hazlitt, i. 393.
snache;seesnatch.
’snails,a profane oath, for ‘God’s nails’, i.e. ‘Christ’s nails’ on the Cross. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, v. 1 (Pompey); London Prodigal, v. 1. 222. Cp. Chaucer, ‘By goddes precious herte, and by his nayles’ (C. T.C.651).
snakes:Toeat snakeswas a recipe for enabling one to grow younger. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, i. 2 (Orlando); Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, iv. 4 (Andrew).
snaphance,a flint-lock used in muskets and pistols, Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. 1 (Dromio); a musket or gun fitted with a flint-lock, Capt. Smith, Virginia, iii. 12. 93 (NED.). Du.snaphaan, ‘a firelock, fusee, snaphaunce’ (Sewel).
snaphance,an armed robber, a highwayman. Holinshed, Chron. ii. 684. Du. ‘snaphaan, a Fuselier carrying asnaphaan’ (Sewel), also a mounted highwayman. Cp. G.schnapphahnin 1494,schnapphan, a highwayman (Brant, Narrenschiff);schnapphahnin prov. Germ. has also the meaning of constable, thief-catcher. See Weigand and H. Paul (s.v.). Cp. F.chenapan, ‘mot tiré de l’Allemand, où il désigne un brigand des Montagnes noires; en François, il signifie un vaurien, un bandit’, Dict. de l’Acad., 1762.
snapper,to trip, to stumble. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 15, l. 4; id., Ware the Hauke, 142; ‘I snapper as a horse dothe that tryppeth,Je trippette’, Palsgrave. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Snapper, vb.11). ME.snapere, to stumble: ‘Thi foot schal not snapere’ (Wyclif, Prov. iii. 23);snapir(Wars Alex. 847).
snar,to snarl; ‘Tygres that did seeme to gren And snar at all’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 27. Cp. Du.snarren, to snarl (Hexham).
snarl,to ensnare, entangle. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 17; J. Beaumont, Psyche, ix. 275; Palsgrave. A north-country word for snaring hares or rabbits, see EDD. (s.v. Snarl, vb.22). ME.snarlyn, ‘illaqueo’ (Prompt.).
snatch,a trap, snare, entanglement; ‘The Chevalier . . . being taken in a Gin like unto a Snatch’, Shelton, Quixote, iii. 1; speltsnache, ‘A new-founde snache which did my feet ensnare’. Mirror for Mag., Carassus, st. 43. ME.snacche, a trap, snare (K. Alis. 6559).
sneaker,a sneaking fellow; ‘Clarke is a pitifull proud sneaker’, Reliq. Hearnianae (ed. Bliss, 483); ‘Origlione, an eavesdropper, a listener, . . . a sneaker, a lurking knave’ (Florio).
sneap,to nip or pinch with cold; ‘An envious sneaping Frost’ L. L. L. i. 1. 100; ‘The sneaped birds’, Lucrece, 333. In prov. use in the north of England: ‘They’n do well if they dunna get sneaped wi’ the frost’ (Cheshire), see EDD. (s.v. Snape, vb. 2). Also, to check, repress, reprove, chide, snub, Brome, Antipodes, iv. 9 (NED.); ‘A man quickly sneapt’, Maiden’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Servant), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 428. In prov. use (EDD.). ME.snaip, to rebuke sharply (Cursor M. 13027), Icel.sneypa, to chide (NED. s.v. Snape, vb.1).
sneb,to reprimand sharply, Sidney, Arcadia, xxxiii. 22;snebbe, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 126. In prov. use in Lancashire (EDD.). In Chaucer, C. T.A.525, some MSS. havesnebbe. Swed. dial.snebba(Rietz). Seesnib.
sneck up;seesnick.
snetched,slaughtered; ‘A snetched Oxe’, Golding, Metam. v. 122 (Lat.mactati iuuenci). Not found elsewhere.
snib,to reprimand, rebuke sharply; ‘Christian snibbeth his fellow for unadvised speaking’, Bunyan, Pilgr. Pr. i. 169; Middleton, Five Gallants, ii. 3 (Tailor); Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 372; to snip off, as with snuffers, Marston, Malcontent, iii. 1 (Malevole). In prov. use, in the sense of rebuking sharply, in Scotland and north of England down to Bedford (EDD.). ME.snibben, to rebuke (Chaucer, C. T.A.523). Dan.snibbe. Seesneb.
snick:snick up(used imperatively), be hanged! London Prodigal, v. 1; Middleton, Blurt, Master Constable, iv. 1;Snecke up!, Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 101; also used withgo, ‘Let him go snick up’, Beaumont and Fl., Knt. Burning Pestle, ii. 2 (Mrs. Merrythought); Davenant, Play-House (Works, ed. 1673, 116). ‘Snick up!’, in the sense of ‘Begone, go and be hanged’, is said to be in use in west Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Snickup, int. 4).
†snickfail;‘Whereas the snickfail grows, and hyacinth’, Webster, The Thracian Wonder, i. 2. A misprint forsinckfoil=cinquefoil; cp. Greene, Menaphon (ed. Arber, 36); see NED. (s.v. Cinquefoil). Communicated by Mr. Percy Simpson.
snickle,a running noose. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5 (Ithamar). In prov. use in the north and east, esp. in Yorks. and Linc. (EDD.). Here, for ‘snicle hand too fast’ we should probably read ‘two hands snickle-fast’, see various conjectures in Tucker Brooke’s ed. of Marlowe.
snig,a young eel. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 96. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME.snygge, an eel (Cath. Angl.).
sniggle,to fish for eels by means of a baited hook or needle thrust into their holes or haunts. I. Walton, Angler, ch. x. [In the passage cited by Todd and later Dicts. from Fletcher’s Thierry, ii. 2, ‘I have snigled him’, the correct reading is doubtless ‘singled’, so NED.]
snob,to sob. Puritan Widow, i. 1. 90; Middleton, Mad World, iii. 2. In prov. use in Worc. and Glouc. (EDD.). ME.snobbe, to sob; ‘My sobbyng (v.r. snobbyng) and cries’ (Wyclif, Lam. iii. 56).
snudge,a miser, a mean person; ‘A covetous snudge’, Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, p. 28); Dekker, O. Fortunatus, i. 2 (Shadow); ‘Snudge,parcus’, Levins, Manipulus. See EDD.
snudge,to remain snug and quiet; ‘Now he will . . . eat his bread in peace, And snudge in quiet’, G. Herbert, Temple, Giddinesse, 11. In prov. use in the north country and in E. Anglia (EDD.).
snuff:in phr.to take(a thing)in snuff, to take (a matter) amiss, to take offence at; ‘Mr. Mills . . . should take it in snuffe that my wife did not come to his child’s christening’, Pepys, Diary, 1661, Oct. 6; ‘Who therewith angry . . . Took it in snuff’, 1 Hen. IV, i. 3. 41;to take snuff at, to take offence at a thing, Fuller, Joseph’s Coat (ed. 1867, 51). ‘Snuff’ in these phrases refers probably to the act of ‘snuffing’ as an expression of contempt or disdain, see NED. (s.v. sb.21), and EDD. (s.v. sb.11).
soader,to ‘solder’, cement together. Rowley, All’s Lost, iii. 1. 34;sodder, Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, iii. 1 (Janir).
soar-falcon,a falcon or hawk of the first year that has not moulted and still has its red plumage; ‘Of the soare faulcon so I learne to fly’, Spenser, Hymn Heav. Beauty, 26; Latham, Falconry, 37; see Nares (s.v. Sore-Hawk). F.Faulcon sor, a soar Hawk;Harenc sor, a red Herring (Cotgr., s.v. Sor). Anglo-F.sor, reddish brown (Rough List). O. Prov.sor,saur, Ital.sauro. Seesore(a buck).
sod,boiled;pret.of ‘seethe’; ‘Sod Euphrates . . . sod Orontes’, Golding, Metam. ii. 248. The reference is to the boiling of rivers during the mad career of Phaethon; Ovid has ‘Arsit et Euphrates’, &c.
sodder;seesoader.
soggy,soaked with moisture, soppy; hence, heavy (like damp and green hay). B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 2 (Mitis). In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Sog, sb.23).
soil,a miry or muddy place used by a wild boar for wallowing in; ‘Sueil, the soyle of a wild Bore, the mire wherein hee commonly walloweth;se souiller(of a swine), to take soyle, or wallow in the mire’, Cotgrave. The phr. ‘to take soil’ corresponds to F.prendre souille.Souilleis a deriv. fromsouiller, to soil with mud, Romanic type *soc’lare, deriv. of L.sŭcula, a little sow.
soil,a pool or stretch of water, used as a refuge by a hunted deer or other animal, Turbervile, Hunting, 241;to take soil, to take to the water, as a hunted deer, id., 148; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarl); Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 4. 6. See above.
soil,to expound, explain, to resolve a doubt; ‘I have not learned to soyle no riedles’, Udall, tr. Apoph. 309 (NED.); ‘Souldre, to cleere or soile a doubt’, Cotgrave. Anglo-F.soiler, OF.soldre, L.solvere, to loosen, to explain.
soil,to absolve from sin, ‘I soyle from synne,je assouls’, Palsgrave. Forassoil, Anglo-F.assoiler, to absolve, pardon (Rough List); OF.assoldre, L.absolvere; see Moisy.
sokingly,slowly, gently, gradually; ‘Sokingly, one pece after an other’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Julius, § 32. ME.sokingly, ‘sensim, paulatim’ (Prompt. EETS. 147); ‘By good leyser sokingly, and nat over hastily’ (Chaucer. C. T.B.2767).
Sol,the sun. Peele, Poems (ed. Routledge, p. 601); an alchemist’s term for gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Dol).
sol,a small coin, B. Jonson, Volpone, iv. 2 (Bonario); Marmion, The Antiquary, iii. 1 (Ant.). OF.sol; L.solidus(sc.nummus), a gold coin (in the time of the emperors).
solayne,sullen, melancholy. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 16, 1. 51;soleyne, id., Bowge of Courte, 187;solein, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 213. ME.soleyn, of maners or he þat lovyth no company, ‘solitarius, Acheronicus’. (Prompt. EETS. 421); ‘The soleyn fenix of Arabye’ (Chaucer, Boke Duch. 982).
sold,pay, remuneration, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 6. Med. L.soldum, pay, related to L.solidus, a piece of money; seesol.
soldado,a soldier. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2 (or1) (Downright). Span.soldado, one who is paid; a soldier; deriv. of Med. L.soldum, pay. See above. See Stanford.
soldan,the supreme ruler of a Mohammedan country, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iii. 2. 31; Milton, P. L. i. 764. ME.soldan(Gower, C. A. i. 245); Ital.soldano; Arab,sulṭân.
sole;seesowl.