stint,some kind of bird. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 339. In prov. use for various kinds of birds, the dunlin, the sandpiper, and the linnet (EDD.).
stiponie.‘Stipone, a kind of sweet compound liquor drunk in some ill places in London in the summer-time’, Blount, Glossographia, p. 612. ‘Do you not understand the mystery of stiponie, Jenny?Maid.I know how to make democuana, sir’, Etherege, Love in a Tub, v. 4 (Sir Frederick); also speltstepony, see Dict. Rusticum, Urbanicum et Botanicum, ed. 3, 1726, where the receipt for brewing this sweet liquor is given; see Notes and Queries, 6 S. iv. 155.
stire, styre,to guide, direct. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 7; ii. 5. 2. OE.stȳran, to direct, steer. See Dict. (s.v. Steer).
stirp,a stem, stock, family. Bacon, Essay 14, § 1. L.stirps, a stem.
stitch,a space between two double furrows in ploughed land; a ridge. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xviii. 495; Odyssey, viii. 171. In the latter passage, astitch’slength may mean a furrow’s length or furlong. This word is in prov. use in various parts of England for a narrow ridge of land, as much land as lies between two furrows; a balk or portion of grass-land in an arable field; see EDD. (s.v. Stitch, sb.18 and 9).
stitch,a sudden cramp; hence, a contortion, a grimace. Beaumont and Fl., Captain, ii. 2 (Frederick).
stitchel,a troublesome fellow; a term of reproach. Lady Alimony, v. 3. 13 (Wife). A Linc. word for a troublesome child, see EDD. (s.v. Stetchel).
stithy,an anvil, Hamlet, iii. 2. 80 (some edd. havestith); to forge, ‘The forge that stithied Mars his helm’, Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 255. In prov. use (EDD.). ME.stith, an anvil (Chaucer, C. T.A.2026). Icel.steði. Seestedy.
stoccata,a thrust, in fencing. Romeo, iii. i. 77;stoccado, Merry Wives, ii. 1. 234;stockado, Marston, Sat. i. 132. Ital.stoccata, a thrust, a stoccado given with astócco(a tuck or short-arming sword); see Florio; Span.estocáda, a thrust with a weapon, a stab (Stevens).
stock,to hit with the point of a sword; ‘A chevalier would stock a needle’s point Three times together’, Fletcher, Love’s Cure, iii. 4 (Alvarez); a thrust in fencing, Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (Malevole); Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Matzagente). F.estoc, ‘a rapier or tuck, also, a thrust;coup d’estoc, a thrust, stockado, stab’ (Cotgr.). Seestuck.
stock,nether-stock or stocking. Greene, Description of Chaucer, 3 (ed. Dyce, p. 320). In prov. use in Yorks. and Norfolk (see EDD., s.v. Stock, 18).
stock-fish,dried haddock or cod; ‘Haddockes or hakes indurate and dryed with coulde, and beaten with clubbes orstockes, by reason whereof the Germayns caule themstockefyshe’, R. Eden, Works (ed. Arber, p. 303); Temp. iii. 2. 79; Meas. iii. 2. 116. The reason for the name is uncertain; Koolman gives the Low G. form asstok-fisk, and thinks they were so called because dried uponstocksor poles in the sun.
stoin,to be astonished or astounded; ‘I stoinid’, Phaer, Aeneid ii, 774; iii. 48 (L.obstupui). Seeastonied.
stomach,courage, Udall, Roister Doister, iv. 7. 8, 15; 2 Hen. IV, i. 1. 129; Hamlet, i. 1. 100; proud or arrogant spirit, Hen. VIII, iv. 2. 34; resentment, angry temper, King Lear, v. 3. 75; to resent, to be angry, Ant. and Cl. iii. 4. 12; Marlowe, Edw. II, i. 2. 26. In prov. use for courage, pride, anger, bad temper (EDD.). Cp. Span. and Port.estomago, courage, valour, resolution; L.stomachus, displeasure, irritation,stomachari, to be irritated, out of humour.
stond,a stop, impediment, hindrance. Bacon, Essays 40 and 50. ‘To stand’, to bring to a stop, in prov. use in Surrey and Sussex: ‘I’ve seen a wagon stood in the snow’; see EDD. (s.v. Stand, 7).
stone-bow,a cross-bow from which stones could be shot. Twelfth Night, ii. 5. 51; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2. 9.
stool-ball,a game formerly popular among young women. Middleton, Women beware, iii. 3 (Isabella); Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2. 101; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, vi. 139. The idea of the game was much like that of cricket. A stool was the wicket; the hand was used as a bat, to defend it from the ball. See Strutt’s Sports. The game is still played in many parts of England, and in almost every village in Sussex (EDD.).
stoop,a post, pillar. Tancred and Gismunda, iv. 2 (Tancred), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 66; ‘You glorious martyrs, you illustrious stoops’, Quarles, Emblems, v. 10; ‘Stoulpe before a doore,souche’, Palsgrave;stulpe, Stow, Survey, Bridge Ward Within (ed. Thoms, 79). The word is in gen. prov. use in Scotland and England in various forms:stoup,stowp,stolpe,stulp(e, see EDD. (s.v. Stoop, sb.1). ME.stulp, or stake, ‘paxillus’ (Prompt. EETS. 444, see note, no. 2171). Icel.stōlpi, a post, pillar, cp.Stōlpa-sund, the Pillar Sound, the Sound of the Pillars of Hercules, the Straits of Gibraltar.
stoop,to swoop downwards as a bird of prey on its quarry; ‘The bird of Jove, stooped from his aery tour, Two birds . . . before him drove’, Milton, P. L. xi. 185; usedfig., B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 3 (Lovewit); used trans., to pounce upon, seize, ‘The hawk that stooped my pheasant’, Webster, Northward Ho, v. 1 (Mayberry); ‘Teach it (my spirit) to stoop whole kingdoms’, Fletcher, Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (Demetrius).
stoor,strong, robust, sturdy, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 129. In prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Stour). ME.stoore, or herd, or boystows, ‘austerus, rigidus’ (Prompt. EETS. 439). Icel.stōrr, rough, great. Seestowre.
stooved,kept in a warm chamber; ‘Myrtles, if they be stooved’, Bacon, Essay 46. Fromstoove=stove.
storken,to stiffen, to congeal, coagulate; ‘Storken,congelari’, Levins, Manip. In common use in the north country (EDD.). Icel.storkna, to coagulate. Seestark.
stork’s bill,a gesture of scorn; ‘This sanna, or stork’s bill’, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Amorphus). Cp. L.ciconia, (1) a stork; (2) a derisory bending of the fingers in form of a stork’s bill (Persius).
stound, stownd,time, occasion, moment. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 38; Shep. Kal., Oct., 49. The ‘Glosse’ to Shep. Kal., May, 257, has ‘stounds, fittes’, i.e. attacks of illness. In prov. use (EDD.). ME.stounde, hour, time (Chaucer, C. T.A.1212), OE.stund. Seestowne.
stoup,a stoop, a low bow, a condescending movement. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 2 (Face); ‘Now observe the stoops, The bendings, and the falls’, id., Sejanus, i. 1 (Silius).
stour, stowre,a conflict, battle, contest; trouble, confusion, disturbance; danger, peril. The word is used in all these meanings by Spenser: F. Q. i. 2. 7; i. 3. 30; i. 4. 46; iii. 1. 34; iii. 2. 6; iii. 3. 50; Shep. Kal., Jan., 27. ME.stour, battle, contest (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1270). Anglo-F.estour, combat, battle (Gower, Mirour, 1927), O. Prov.estor,estorn, ‘combat, mêlée’;estornir,estormir, ‘assaillir, attaquer’ (Levy); Ital.stormo, a conflict, combat (Fanfani); of Germ. origin, MHG.sturm, disturbance, combat (Schade).
stover,provisions, fodder for cattle; ‘Our low medowes . . . not so profitable for stover and forrage as the higher meads be’, Harrison, Desc. Brit. 110 (Halliwell); Tusser, Husbandry, November; Tempest, iv. 1. 63; Drayton, Pol. xxv, p. 1158 (Nares). In prov. use in many parts of England for winter fodder or litter for cattle, hence stubble (EDD.). Anglo-F.estover, maintenance, necessary sustenance; allowances of wood to be taken out of another man’s woods (Cowell’s Interpreter); OF.estovoir, to be necessary. Romanic typestopere, a verb formed from L.est opus, it is necessary, so W. Forster, see Gautier’s Ch. Roland, Glossary (s.v. Estoet). See Ducange (s.v. Estoverium).
stover up,to bristle up. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, ii. 1. 2. ‘To stover’ is entered in EDD. as an obsolete west-country word for ‘to bristle up’, probably from ‘stover’, meaning stubble. See above.
stownd,to amaze, ‘astound’, to beat down, Heywood, Golden Age, A. iii (Enceladus), vol. iii, p. 48; to strike senseless, id., Iron Age, A. v (Ajax); p. 343;stound, pp., Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 19.
stowne,an hour, a short time; ‘Whoso love Endureth but a stowne’, Turbervile, The Lover finding his Love flitted, st. 16. Seestound.
stowre,strong, hardy; ‘Constancie knits the bones and makes us stowre’, G. Herbert, Temple, Church-porch, st. 20; ‘Stowre of conversacyon,estourdy’, Palsgrave; Skelton, Against the Scottes, 12;stower, hard, strong, ‘The stower nayles’, Latimer, 7 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber, 185). In prov. use in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Stour). Seestoor.
strage,slaughter, heap of slain men. Heywood, Dialogue 2, l. 16; Dial. 3 (Hellen); vol. vi, pp. 111, 143; Webster, Appius, v. 3 (Appius). L.strages, slaughter.
strain,race, descent, breed; ‘The noblest of thy strain’, Jul. Caes. v. 1. 59; Hen. V, ii. 4. 51. A dialect form ofstrene,q.v.
strain:phr.to strain courtesy, to stand upon ceremony, to refuse to go first, Venus and Ad. 888.
strain,to distrain, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1104. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Strain, vb.3).
strain,to restrain, repress; ‘These stormy windes to straine, or make to blow’, Phaer, Aeneid i, 80.
strake,a particular note blown by a hunter; apparently after the game is killed; ‘To the flyghte, to the dethe, and to strake, and many other blastes and termes’, Morte Arthur, leaf 250, back, 11; bk. x, c. 52; ‘Then [after the death of the game] should the most master blow a mote and stroke’, The Master of Game, ch. 35. Cp. ME.strake, to sound a note, to sound a blast on a trumpet (Wars Alex. 1386).
strake,the hoop of a cart-wheel or chariot-wheel. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xx. 247;Bible, Ezek. i. 18 (margin). In prov. use for a section or strip of the iron tire or rim of a cart-wheel, see EDD. (s.v. Strake, sb.12).
stramazoun,a downright blow. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, iv. 4 (Fast. Brisk);stramison, Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler). Ital.stramazzone, ‘a downright blow’; deriv. ofstramazzare, ‘to kill throughly’ (Florio); cp. F.estramaçon, a stroke given with the edge of the sword (Hatzfeld).
strange,belonging to another country, foreign; ‘Joseph . . . made himselfe strange unto them’,Bible, Gen. xlii. 7 (i.e. acted as a stranger towards them); ‘Strange children’, foreigners, Psalm xviii. 45, 46 (P.B.V.); ‘A strange tongue’, Cymbeline, i. 6. 54;to make it strange, to seem to be surprised or shocked, Two Gent. i. 2. 102; Titus And. ii. 1. 81; B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1 (Subtle). OF.estrange, foreign; L.extraneus.
strangeness,shyness, like that of a stranger. Middleton, The Witch, iii. 2 (Isabella).
strappado,a kind of torture. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 262. The torture consisted in drawing a person up by his arms (fastened together behind his back), and then letting him drop suddenly with a jerk, which inflicted severe pain. The word has been turned into a Spanish-looking form, but it appears to be rather of Italian origin. Ital.strappata, a pulling-up (Florio). Cp. F.strapade(16th cent., Godefroy);estrapade(Dict. de l’Acad., 1762). See Stanford.
strapple,to fasten, bind, Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, iii (Bussy); to impede; id., tr. of Iliad xvi, 438. In W. Yorks. ‘to strapple’ means to bind, make fast with a cord, &c. (EDD.). Cp. ME.strapeles, fastenings of breeches;strapils, Cath. Angl.; see Dict. M. and S.
streak,to stretch. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. viii. 36, 57. In prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Streak, vb.11). ME.streken(Hampole, Ps. lxxix. 12);strekis, stretches (Wars Alex. 1953).
strene,generation, breed, race, lineage; ‘Dame Nature’s strene’, The Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 55; Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 32; vi. 6. 9. ME.streen, race, progeny (Chaucer, C. T.E.157); OE. (Anglian)strēnan(WS.strīenan), to beget, generate. Seestrain(race).
strength,a fortress, a strong defence, Massinger, Renegado, iv. 2 (Donusa); v. 6. (end); ‘Sin (or Pelusium) the strength of Egypt’,Bible, Ezek. xxx. 15.
streperous,noisy. Heywood, Dialogue I, The Shipwrack (Adolphus); vol. vi, p. 101; Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, ii. 6. 6. Cp. L.obstreperus, noisy, clamorous (Apuleius, Florida, 126); deriv. ofstrepere, to make a noise.
strich,the screech-owl. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 36. L.strix, Gk. στρίγξ.
strike:phr.strike me luck, used in striking a bargain, and giving earnest upon it; said by the recipient of the money. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 3 (Young Loveless); Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 540.
strike,to steal (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); to pick a purse, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (1 Cutpurse). See Halliwell.
striker,a libertine (Cant). Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iv. 2 (1 Court.); Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 1 (end).
stringer,a wencher (Cant). Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, i. 1 (Wife).
strip,to outstrip. Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 4; to go very rapidly, ‘The swiftest hound, when he is hallowed, strippes forth’, Gosson, School of Abuse (Halliwell).
†strives(?).‘They [ants] startle forth in troupes of striues’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, bk. xiii. [1583]; fol.U5, back.
stroke,to flatter, soothe, B. Jonson, Masque of the Barriers (Opinion);stroker, a flatterer, id., Magnetic Lady, iv. 1 (Keep). OE.strācian, to stroke, caress, cp. OHG.streichōn, ‘demulcere’.
strommel;seestrummel.
strong,pp.strung, furnished with strings; ‘Playing on yvorie harp with silver strong’, Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 16.
stroot, strout,to swell out, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 402; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 464; to be filled full, id., xxi, line 4 from end. ME.strowtyn, ‘turgeo’ (Prompt. EETS. 468). Cp. G.strotzen, to swell. Seestrut.
strossers,tight drawers. Hen. V, iii. 7. 57; ‘The Italian close strosser’, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook (Nares). See Dyce’s Glossary to Shaks. See Dict. (s.v. Trousers).
strout;seestroot.
stroy,to destroy. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 15. ME.stroyen, to destroy (P. Plowman, B. xv. 387).
strummel,straw (Cant); ‘The doxy’s in the strummel’, Broome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Randal);strommel, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor). Hencestrummel-patched, ‘Strummel-patch’d, goggle-eyed grumbledories’, B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). Perhaps the same word asstrummel, E. Anglian for an untidy rough head of hair (EDD.).
strut,to swell out. Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Pastoral, iv. 25. Seestroot.
stryfull,strife-full, contentious. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 12.
stuck,in Hamlet, iv. 7. 161, ‘Your venom’d stuck’, usually explained as =stoccado, a thrust with a rapier, but it may mean the rapier itself. Cp. Cotgrave: ‘Estoc, a rapier or tuck, also a thrust.’ Seestock.
studde,stock or stem of a tree. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 13. ‘Stud’ is in prov. use for an upright post, an upright piece of wood to which laths are nailed, hence ‘stud and mud’ buildings (Nottingham), the same as ‘wattle and dab’. ME.stode, or stake, ‘palus’ (Voc. 600. 4), OE.studu, a post (Ælfred, Beda, iii. 10); cp. Icel.stoð, a post. See Dict. (s.v. Stud).
stulpe;seestoop(a post).
stum,unfermented wine, must. B. Jonson, Leges Conviviales, st. 5; Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 569; Dryden, The Medal, 270. Hencestummed wine, wine made from unfermented or partly fermented grape-juice, new strong wine, Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 3 (L. Dunce); Prior, Scaligeriana, 2.Stum, to make lively as with new wine, Etherege, Man of Mode, iii. 2 (Dorimant). Du.stom, stum, ‘the flower of fermenting wine’;gestomde wyn, ‘stummed, sophisticated wine’ (Sewel).
stupe,a piece of tow or flannel dipped in warm liquor, and applied to a wound. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, i. 2 (Dorilaus). L.stuppa, tow.
stutte,to stutter. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3 (Tibullus); ‘I stutte,Je besgue’, Palsgrave. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Stutt). ME.stotyn, ‘balbucio’ (Prompt. EETS. 468);stutte, ‘balbutire’ (Cath. Angl.).
sty, stie,to ascend, mount up, rise. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 25; ii. 7. 46; iv. 9. 33; Muiopotmos, 42. ME.stien, to ascend (Wyclif, John xx. 17). OE.stīgan.
styfemoder,stepmother. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 41. 21. Du.stiefmoeder(Hexham).
subact,to subdue. Mirror for Mag., Claudius T. Nero, st. 8. L.subactus, pp. ofsubigere, to subdue, reduce.
subeth.‘You are subject to subeth, unkindly sleeps’, Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 4 (Sweetball). F.subet, ‘a lethargy’ (Cotgr.). Med. L.subitus= L.sopitus, deriv. ofsopire, to deprive of consciousness, to lull to sleep; see Ducange.
sublime,to cause to pass off in a state of vapour. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Mammon).
submit,to let down, lower, allow to subside. Dryden, To Lord Chancellor Clarendon, 139;submitted, lowered, Astrae Redux, 249.
succeed,to follow after. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 8. L.succedere.
success,issue, result (good or bad); ‘What is the success?’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 5. 6; ‘Such vile success’, Othello, iii. 3. 222; descent from parents, succession, ‘Our parents’ noble names, In whose success we are gentle’, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 394.
successive,successful. Lady Alimony, iii. 1 (2 Citizen).
succussation,trotting. Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. iv, c. 6, § 1; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 48. L.succussare, to jolt.
sucket,a dried sweetmeat, sugar-plum. Beaumont and Fl., Sea Voyage, v. 2. 31; Tourneur, Atheist’s Tragedy, ii. 5 (Levidulcia); Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use in Leic., Shropsh., and Devon (EDD.). OF.succade, alsosucrade, ‘chose sucrée, dragée, sucrerie’ (Godefroy); O. Prov.sucrada, ‘sucrée’.
sufferance,pain; Meas. for M. ii. 4. 167; loss, Othello, ii. 1. 23. F.souffrance, ‘sufferance, forbearance, also, need, poverty, penury’ (Cotgr.).
suffragate,to support by a vote, to be subsidiary to, to aid. Dryden, Prol. to the Univ. of Oxford, 31. L.suffragare, to vote for.
sugar-loaf,a high-crowned hat. Westward Ho, v. 3.
sugerchest,the name of a kind of wood; ‘To flesh and blood this Tree but wormewood seemes, How ere the name may be of Sugerchest’, Davies, Holy Roode, Dedication (Davies, Suppl. Eng. Gloss.); Ascham, Toxophilus, pp. 123, 125.
suggill,to beat black and blue; to cudgel. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 1039. L.sugillare.
suitor,pronounced so as to resembleshooter; ‘A Lady . . . hadde threesutors, and yet never a good archer’, Lyly, Euphues, p. 293.
sulk,to furrow, plough, cleave. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 118; ii. 218. L.sulcus, a furrow.
sultanin,an Arabic coin; ‘A thousand golden sultanins’, Dryden, Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Mustapha). Arab,sulṭânîy, belonging to a sovereign; a sultanine (a gold coin about nine shillings), Richardson. Arab,sulṭân, a sultan.
summed,a term in falconry, having all the feathers complete; ‘The muse from Cambria comes with pinions summ’d and sound’, Drayton, Pol. xi, p. 859 (Nares); ‘My prompted song . . . with prosperous wing full summ’d’, Milton, P. R. i. 14; ‘(The birds) feathered soon and fledge . . . summed their pens’, id., P. L. vii. 421; usedfig.of clothes, ‘Till you be summ’d again—velvets and scarlets’, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 4 (Lance).
sumpter,a driver of a pack-horse, King Lear, ii. 4. 219; Sir Thos. More, iii. 2. 43. ME.sumpter(King Alisaunder, 6023), OF.sommetier, a pack-horse driver (Roquefort), O. Prov.saumatier, ‘conducteur de bêtes de somme’ (Levy), Med. L.saumaterius(Ducange, s.v. Sagma), deriv. ofsaumarius,sagmarius, a pack-horse. Seesomer.
supply,to supplicate, beseech. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 49. F.supplier, L.supplicare.
suppose,a supposition, conjecture. Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 120; Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 11.
surantler;seeantlier.
surbate,to tire out the feet with walking. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 34; Turbervile, Hunting, c. 6 (end), p. 15; A Cure for a Cuckold, ii. 4 (Woodroff);surbet, pp., ‘A traveiler with feet surbet’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 22. Hencesurbater, one who wearies another out, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iv. 3 (Metaphor). Cp. Cotgrave, ‘Surbature, a surbating’; also, ‘Soubatture, a surbating, or surbate’.
surcease,prop. a law-term, a delay allowed or ordered by authority; arrest, stop, cessation. Macbeth, i. 7. 8; to delay, to desist, Prayer Book, Ordin. Deacons; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 13; Coriolanus, iii. 2. 121; Lucrece, 1766; Chapman, tr. Iliad, vii. 45. OF.sursis, delay, stop (Littré), Anglo-F.sursise(Laws of William);sursis, pp. of Norm. F.surseër(F.surseoir), to pause, intermit (Moisy), Mod. L.supersedere, to delay (Ducange). In Law L. a writ ofsupersedeasis issued to stay proceedings, L.supersedere, to desist from.Surceaseowes its form to association withcease(F.cesser). Tho original pronunciation of theiinsursisis preserved as incaprice,police,machine,marine.
surcingle,a girth, a girdle. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). OF.sourcengle(Godefroy). L.super, above;cingulum, a belt, girdle, fromcingere, to gird.
sure,indissolubly joined, firmly united. Merry Wives, v. 5. 249; L. L. L. v. 2. 286; affianced, betrothed, ‘A woman he was sure unto’, Records of Oxford,A.D.1530, p. 75.
surfle, surfell, surphle,to wash with sulphur-water or other cosmetic. Marston, Malcontent, ii. 3 (Maquerelle); Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, ii. 1 (Mauruccio). OF.soufrer, to impregnate with sulphur or with sulphur-vapour (Godefroy, Supp.).
surquedry,presumption, pride, arrogance. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 31; Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1 (Rosalaura); Drayton, Owl, p. 1301 (Nares);surcuidrie, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xvii. 20. ME.surquidrie, presumption (Chaucer, C. T.I.403), arrogance (id., Tr. and Cr. i. 213). Anglo-F.surquiderie(Gower, Mirour, 1443), OF.surcuiderie, arrogance; cp.cuider,quider(Ch. Rol.), L.cogitare, to think.
surreined,overridden, that has felt the ‘rein’ too much. Hen. V, iii. 5. 19. Seesooreyn.
surround,to overflow; ‘Surround, or overflow,oultre couler’, Sherwood, so also Cotgrave; ‘By thencrease of waters dyvers londes . . . ben surrounded and destroyed’, Statutes, 4 Hen. VII, c. 7 (A.D.1489). OF.soronder, to overflow, see Burguy and Roquefort, Norm. F.surunder,soronder(Moisy); Med. L.superundare‘abonder’ (Ducange). See Notes on Eng. Etym.
sursurrara,a writ ofcertiorari. Middleton, Phoenix, i. 4 (Tangle). See Stanford (s.v. Certiorari), Nares (s.v. Sasarara), and EDD. (s.v. Siserary).
suscitate,to stir up, Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 26, § 4;suscitability, aptness to move, B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Face). L.suscitare, to arouse.
suspect,suspicion. Comedy of Errors, iii. 1. 87; Rich. III, i. 3. 89; B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 4. Very common in authors of this period. Med. L.suspectus, ‘suspicio’ (Ducange); cp. O. Prov.sospet, ‘soupçon’ (Levy).
suspire,to draw a breath; used of a new-born child, King John, iii. 4. 80; used of a dying man, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 5. 32; a deep breath, a sigh, Massinger, Old Law, v. 1 (Cleanthes); Heywood, Brazen Age (Hercules), in Wks., iii. 249. L.suspirare, to draw a deep breath.
swad,a clown, a rustic. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Hilts); Lyly, Midas, iv. 3 (Petulus). A north-country word for a stupid fellow, see EDD. (s.v. Swad, sb.3). Prob. identical withswad, a sod, a clod, see EDD. (s.v. Sward, sb.21).
swaddle,to beat, cudgel. Fletcher, Captain, ii. 2 (Frederick); Butler, Hud. i. 1. 24; Cotgrave (s.v. Chaperon); ‘To swaddle or cudgel,bastonner’, Sherwood.To swaddle a person’s sides, ‘to beat him soundly’, is a Kentish phrase, Kennett, Par. Antiq. (ann. 1695). See EDD. (s.v. Swaddle, vb.12). See Halliwell, and Nares.
swag,to sway aside; ‘To swag on one side,pencher tout d’un costé’, Sherwood; Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 1 (Harebrain). See EDD.
swage,to ‘assuage’. Milton, Samson, 184; P. L. i. 556; Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 120. In common prov. use in this sense (EDD.). ME.swagyn, ‘mitigo’ (Prompt.).
swale,a cool shade; ‘Trees which gave a pleasant swale’, Golding, Metam. v. 336 (L.umbra); fol. 60, back (1603). An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Swale, sb.1). ME.swale, ‘umbra, umbraculum’ (Prompt. EETS. 444). Icel.sval, a cool breeze; Norw. dial.svala(Aasen).
sward,the hard outer rind of bacon; ‘(He) liveth harde with baken swarde’, Kendall, Flowers of Epigrammes (Nares); ‘The sward of bacon,la peau de lard ou d’un jambon,’ Sherwood. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME.swardof flesh, ‘coriana’ (Prompt. EETS. 445). OE.sweard, rind of bacon, cp. G.schwarte, skin, rind.
swarth,a track, pathway; ‘There is a hardway, and at Binsey the said way is called in one or two placesthe king’s swarth. . . the king’s way’, Hearne, Reliquiae, Feb. 10 and 11, 1728; ‘The king’s swarth (formerly called also Port street), beyond New Parks by Oxford, went over by a bridge the river Charwell’, id., April 23, 1720. OE.swaðu, a track. Seeswath.
swarth,in Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 162, ‘By great swarths’, apparently ‘in great quantities’. In Cheshire they speak of a heavy hay-crop being ‘a good swarth’, see EDD. (s.v. Swarth, sb.1). Probably the same word asswath,q.v.
swarth,black, dark, swarthy. Titus And. ii. 3. 72; Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 2. 27; Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xix. 343. A Kentish form (EDD.).
swarty,dark, ‘swarthy’. Fletcher, Bonduca, iii. 1 (Caratach); Titus And. ii. 3. 72 (in the quarto editions). See Dict. (s.v. Swart).
swash,to strike violently. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 53, 125. In prov. use (EDD.).
swash,a swaggering bully. Three Ladies of London (Fraud), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 254; Britannia Triumphans, 1637 (Nares). Alsoswasher, Hen. V, iii. 2. 30;swashing, blustering, As You Like It, i. 3. 122; tremendous, crushing, Romeo, i. 1. 70. In prov. use ‘to swash’ means to swagger, to walk with a boastful air; ‘a swasher’ is a swaggerer, see EDD. (s.v. Swash, 5).
swash-buckler,one who ‘swashes’ or beats his buckler, Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, v. 2 (Latorch); Faithful Friends, i. 2. 7; ‘Mangia-ferro,Mangia-cadenacci, a devourer of iron-bolts, a swash-buckler, a bragging toss-blade, a swaggerer’, Florio; ‘Bravache, swaggerer, swash-buckler’, Cotgrave. See Halliwell.
swash-ruter,a swaggaring soldier, a swaggerer. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 544. Seerutter.
swath,a row of grass mown; ‘The Greeks fall down before him like the mower’s swath’, Tr. and Cr. v. 5. 25; ‘Grass lately in swaths is meat for an ox’, Tusser, Husbandry. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME.swathof mowing, ‘falcidium’ (Prompt. EETS. 445);swathe, ‘orbita falcatoris’ (Cath. Angl.). OE.swæð, a track, the track of a plough, ‘somita’ (B. T.). Seeswarth(a track).
swathling-clothes,swaddling-clothes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 112 (Q. edd.). ME.swathlen, to swaddle;swaþeling-bonde, a swaddling-band (Cursor Mundi, 1343). See Dict. (s.v. Swaddle).
†swatley.‘Ay mun cut off the lugs and naes [ears and nose] on ’em [of him]; he’ll be a pretty swatley fellow, bawt [without] lugs and naes’, Otway, Cheats of Scapin, iii (Scapin, in a Lancs. dialect). Meaning unexplained.
sweam,faintness, attack of dizziness; ‘The slothfull sweames of sluggardye’, Mirror for Mag., Iago, Lenvoy, st. 1; ‘Sweam or swaim,subita aegrotatio’, Gouldman. ‘Sweem’ is a Somerset word for a state of giddiness or faintness, see EDD. (s.v. Swim, sb.2). Cognate with OE.swīma, dizziness, giddiness (B. T.). Seesweme.
sweet-breasted,sweet-voiced, having a sweet voice. Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, iii. 1 (Alguazier).
swelt,to faint, swoon; ‘In weary woes to swelt’, Gascoigne (Nares);swelt, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 9; vi. 12. 21. Still in use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Swelt, vb.12). ME.swelten, to faint, languish (Chaucer, C. T.A.1356); to die (id., Tr. and Cr. iii. 347). OE.sweltan, to die.
swelter,to exude; ‘Toad . . . that has . . . swelter’d venom’, Macbeth, iv. 1. 8. In prov. use in the sense of a profuse perspiration, see EDD. (s.v. Swelter, 7).
swelth,a whirlpool; ‘A deadly gulfe . . . With foule black swelth’, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 31; ‘Rude Acheron . . . with swelth as black as hell’, id., 69, see Nares. ME.swelthof a water, ‘vorago’ (Prompt. EETS. 445, see note, no. 2179).
sweme,grief; ‘His hert began to melt For veray sweme of this swemeful tale’, Lydgate (Halliwell). ME.sweem, grief (Prompt., Harl. MS.);swem(Gen. and Ex. 1961). Cp. OE.ā-swǣman, to be grieved, ‘tabescere’ (Ps. cxviii. 158 (Lambeth)). Seesweam.
sweven,a dream. Morte Arthur, leaf 27. 1; bk. i, c. 13; Ordinary, Old Play, x. 236 (Nares). ME.sweven(Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 28). OE.swefn.
swill-bowl,a heavy drinker; speltswiel bolle. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 65.
swinge,to beat, thrash, lash, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iv. 5 (Valentine); Two Gent. ii. 1. 91; King John, ii. 1. 288; 2 Hen. IV, v. 4. 21; to lash, as with a long tail, Milton, Nativ. 172; sway, tyranny, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 26. In prov. use in Scotland and England in the sense of to beat, thrash (EDD.). ME.swyngyn, also,swengyn, to shake (Prompt.). OE.swengan.
swinge,to singe. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 26. In common prov. use in Ireland, and in various parts of England (EDD.).
swinge-buckler,a swash-buckler. 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 24.
swink,to toil, labour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 8, 36, 58swinkt, pp., wearied with toil, ‘The swinkt hedger’, Milton, Comus, 293; labour, toil, ‘How great sport they gaynen with little swincke’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 36; Sidney, Arcadia, p. 398 (Nares). ‘To swink’, to toil, work hard, is in use in Galloway, ‘Lord, but he swankit it that day!’ (EDD.). ME.swinken, to toil,swink, toil (Chaucer). OE.swincan.
swithe,quickly. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, ii. 47 (Nares);swithe and tite, quickly and at once, id., i. 4. 13. In common use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Swith). ME.swythe, quickly, immediately (Chaucer, C. T.C.796, andB.637). OE.swīðe, strongly. Seetit.
Switzer,one of a Swiss mercenary guard. Webster, White Devil (Brachiano), ed. Dyce, p. 12; Hamlet, iv. 5. 97;Switzers, inhabitants of Switzerland, Bacon, Essay 14.
swoop,a sweeping movement, rush. Macbeth, iv. 3. 219; Webster, White Devil (beginning); ed. Dyce, p. 5.Swoopstake(old edd.soopstake), drawing the whole stake at once, indiscriminately, Hamlet, iv. 5. 141.
swough,a heavy murmuring sound. Morte Arthur, leaf 83. 20; bk. v, c. 4. Cp. the prov. words, ‘swow’ and ‘sough’ in EDD. ME.swowyn, to make a murmuring sound (Prompt.). OE.swōgan, to make a noise like the wind.
swound,to ‘swoon’. Fletcher, Night-Walker, i. 4. 8; Middleton, Mayor of Queenb. v. 1 (Oliver); a swoon, Dryden, Palamon, i. 537; iii. 982. In gen. prov. use in England and Scotland (EDD.). Seesowne(2).
syke,such. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.). A north-country form, see EDD. (s.v. Such). ME.sike(Wars Alex. 126) OE.swilc(swylc). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Swyche).
symarr,a loose robe for a lady: Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 341. Seecymar.
synnet;seesennet.
synteresis,a word said to have been invented by John Damascene, and used by Aquinas and the schoolmen in the sense of ‘observation’ of the laws of right and wrong as exercised by the conscience, self-reproach. Nabbes, Microcosmus, v (Conscience); Manchester Al Mondo (ed. 1902, 39). Gk. συντήρησις, observation, fr. συντηρέω, to observe strictly (a N. T. word, cp. Mark vi. 20). See C. Bigg’s Introd. to Imitatio Christi, p. 2 on the L.sinderesis, iv. 11 (Magd. MS.). The wordsindérèseis used by French theological writers, Bossuet for example.
sypers,a thin textile material, J. Heywood, The Four P’s (Anc. Brit. Drama, p. 10). Seecypress.
syse,an allowance or settled ration;to keepe the syse, to exercise moderation, Mirror for Mag., Tresilian, st. 10. See Dict. (s.v. Size, 1).