caveson,a strong nose-piece for a horse, a kind of curb; ‘The Lithuanians, sir, . . . must Be rid withcavesons’, Sir J. Suckling, Brennoralt, iii. 1; ed. Hazlitt, vol. ii, p. 104. F.caveçon, ‘a cavechine or cavasson for a horse’s nose’ (Cotgr.). Ital.cavezzone, augmentative ofcavezzaa halter; Med. L.capitia,capitium, a head-covering (Ducange). See NED. (s.v.cavesson).
cazimi, cazini:in phr.in cazimi, ‘a Planet is in the heart of the Sunne, or in Cazimi, when he is not removed from him 17 minutes’, Lilly, Astrology, xix. 113; ‘In cazini of the sun’, Massinger, City Madam, ii. 2 (Stargaze); Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 5. 6; Selden’s notes to Drayton, Pol. xiv (near the end).
cecchin,a sequin, gold coin. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2. Ital.zecchino, ‘a coin of gold current in Venice’ (Florio). Seechequin.
cedule,a slip or scroll of parchment or paper containing writing. Caxton, Golden Legend, 114; speltcedle, Morte Arthur, leaf 421, back, 5, bk. xxi, ch. 2; speltsedyl(same page). OF.cedule; Med. Lat.cedula,scedula(Ducange), dimin. ofsceda,scheda. See NED. (s.v. Schedule).
cee,a small portion of beer; marked in the buttery-book of a college with the letterc, which denoted one-sixteenth of a penny, or half acue, as being its price. ‘Eatecues, drunkcees’, 1 Part of Jeronimo, ii. 3. 9; see Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 367. ‘Cuesandcees’, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 16, ed. Arber, p. 38. Seecue.
cellar,a case or stand for holding bottles. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iii. 1 (last line).
cemitare,a ‘scimitar’. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 3. F.cimeterre(Cotgr.), Span.cimitarra.
censure,judgement, opinion, Richard III, ii. 2. 144; to form or give an opinion, to estimate, ‘How you are censured here in the city’, Coriolanus, ii. 1. 25.
cent,a game at cards; also speltsaint,sant; it seems to have resembled piquet. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One; Triumph of Death, sc. 5 (Gentille); Shirley, Example, iii. 1 (Confident). So called, because 100 was ‘game’. See Nares.
centener,a centurion. North, tr. of Plutarch, Octavius, § 4 (Shak. Plut., p. 237, n. 2);centiner, id. § 3 (p. 235, n. 2). F.centenier(Cotgr.), L.centenarius, consisting of a hundred; = centurio (Vegetius, fl.A.D.385).
cento,a patched garment; ‘His apparel is a cento’, Shirley, Willy Fair, ii. 2; usedfig., ‘There is under these centoes and miserable outsides . . . a soule of the same alloy with our owne’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. 2, § 13. L.cento, a garment of patchwork.
centre,the centre of the earth, which was supposed to be also the fixed centre of the universe; ‘The firm centre’, Webster, Appius, i. 3 (Mar. Claudius).
centrinel, centronel,a sentinel. Young, Diana, 120 (NED.); Marlowe, Dido, ii. 1. 323 (Venus).
cerastes,a horned snake. Milton, P. L. x. 525. Gk. κεράστης.
ceration,a reducing to the consistency of wax. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Face). L.cera, wax.
cere,to cover with wax, to shroud in a cere-cloth; ‘Then was the bodye . . . embawmed and cered’, Hall, Hen. VIII, ann. 5. L.cerare, to wax;cera, wax.
cere-cloth,the linen cloth dipped in melted wax to be used as a shroud. Merch. Ven. ii. 7. 51; cp.cerements, Hamlet, i. 4. 48. Seesear-cloth.
certes,certainly. Temp. iii. 3. 30; Com. Errors, iv. 4. 77. F.certes, truly (Cotgr.), O. Prov.certas(Levy).
cestron,a ‘cistern’. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 52.
cetywall,seesetwall.
ch,a form ofich,utch, southern form of the first personal pronounI. Cha, I have, More, Heresyes, iv (Works, 278);chad, I had, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 3;cham, I am, Peele, Sir Clyom., Works, iii. 85; B. Jonson, Tale of Tub, i. 1;chave, I have, Peele, Arr. Paris, i. 1 (Pan);chee(forich), I, London Prodigal, ii. 168;I chid, I should, ii. 1. 20;chill, I will, King Lear, iv. 6. 239;chud, I would, ib. See NED. and EDD.
chacon,a slow Spanish dance, or its tune; ‘Chacon: Two Nymphs and Triton sing’, Dryden, Albion, Act ii (end). F.chaconne(Hatzfeld); Span.chacona(Neuman and B.).
†chaflet,(?) a small platform or stage; ‘He satte vpon achafletin a chayer’ [chair], Morte Arthur, leaf 422, back, 2, bk. xxi, c. 3. Only in this passage. Probably the same as OF.chafault, a temporary platform. See NED. (s.v. Catafalque), and Dict. (s.v. Scaffold).
chaldrons,entrails of a calf, &c. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I. iii. 1 (Fustigo). Speltchawdron, Macbeth, iv. 1. 33. Cp. dialect forms,chauldron, Hertford,chaudron, Gloucester,chawdon, Leicester, see EDD. (s.v. Chawdon). OF.chaudun, tripes (Roquefort); cp. G.kaldaunen.
challes,jaws. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 75;chall-bones, jaw-bones; id. § 86. In common prov. use in England as far south as Bedford, see EDD. (s.v. Chawl). ME.chaul(Wyclif, 1 Kings xvii. 35); OE.ceafl.
cham,khan. TheGreat Cham, the Great Khan; commonly applied to the ruler of the Mongols and Tartars, and to the Emperor of China. Much Ado, ii. 1. 277; Fletcher, The Chances, v. 3 (Don John). Turkikhān, lord, prince. See NED. (s.v. Cham, Khan).
chamber,a small cannon used to fire salutes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 57; Massinger, Renegado, v. 8. See NED. (s.v. Chamber. 10 b).
chambering,wanton behaviour in private places.Bible, Romans xiii. 13; Beaumont and Fl., Woman’s Prize, ii. 4 (Citizen). Cp.chamberer, one of wanton habits, Othello, iii. 3. 265.
chamber-lie,seelye.
chamelot,a name originally applied to some beautiful and costly eastern fabric, camlet.Water Chamelot, camlet with a wavy or watered surface. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 45; Holland, Pliny, i. 228; Bacon, New Atlantis (ed. 1650, p. 3). OF.chamelot(Littré).
chamfered,furrowed, wrinkled. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 23. OF.chanfraindre, to chamfer, to furrow, also, to bevel an edge. Possibly forchant-fraindre, which may = Med. L.cantum frangere, to break the edge or side.
champian, champion,the champaign, level open country,Bible, Deut. xi. 30; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xii. 29; Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 173; Gosson, School of Abuse, 29.
chandry, chandrie,short forchandlery, the place where candles were kept in a household; ‘Six torches from the chandry’, B. Jonson, Masque of Augurs (Notch). OF.chandel(l)erie.
changeling,a half-witted person. In Middleton’s play ‘The Changeling’, the reference is to Antonio, who enters ‘disguised as an idiot’, A. i, sc. 2.To play the changeling, to play the fool, Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 1 (Mis. Knavesby). See EDD. (s.v. Change. 8).
chank,to champ, to eat noisily. Golding, Metam. viii. 292 (fol. 97), viii. 825 (fol. 105, back).
channel,the neck. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, 1. 3 (Calyphus). Seecannel.
channel-bone,the collar-bone, clavicle. Chapman, Iliad, xvii. 266; Holinshed, Chron. iii. 805; Kyd, Soliman, i. 4. 55. Seecannel.
chapine,a high-heeled shoe. Massinger, Renegado, i. 2 (Donusa); Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, iii. 5 (last Song). See Stanford (s.v. Chopine). Span.chapin, a woman’s high cork shoes (Minsheu). Seechoppine.
char, chare,car, chariot. Surrey, A Complaint by Night, 4; Sackville, Induction, st. 7. F.char, a chariot (Cotgr.).
character,handwriting. Rowley, All’s Lost, ii. 6. 6; Meas. for M. iv. 2. 208. F.caractere, a form of writing (Cotgr.).
chare,chary, careful. Golding, tr. Ovid, Met. xiv. 336 (ed. 1593); dear, Golding, Calvin on Deut. xxiii. 134.
chare, charre,a turn of work, an odd job or business. Ant. and Cl. iv. 15. 75;Chare, to do a turn of work, esp. in phr. (This)char(re is char’d, this bit of business is done, Sir Thos. More, iii. 1. 118; Marriage of Wit and Science, in Hazlitt’s Old Plays, ii. 375; Peele, Edward I (ed. Dyce 392); ‘Here’s two chewres chewred’, Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, iii. 2 (Bobadilla). See EDD. (s.v. Chare, sb.1). OE.cerr, a turn, ‘temporis spatium’ (B. T.).
charet(t,a car, chariot. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 32;Bible, Exod. xiv. 6; 2 Kings ix. 16;charettes, carts,Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 1 (Erostrato). F.charette, a chariot (Cotgr.).
charm,the blended sound of harmonious notes, as of music, children’s voices or song-birds. Milton, P. L. iv. 642; Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1 (Pomona); Bunyan, The Holy War (Temple ed., 293); Udall, Erasmus (ed. 1548, Luke ii, fol. xxxii a);charme, to make a melodious sound, Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 13. ‘Charm’ is in gen. prov. use in the midland and southern counties in the sense of a confused murmuring sound of many voices, of birds, bees, &c.; see EDD. (s.v. Charm, sb.1). Seechirm.
charm,to control, to silence, as if by a strong charm. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, v. 1 (Russell). Also, to induce to speak, as by a charm, Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, ii. 1 (Rhetias).
charneco, charnico,a species of sweet wine. From a village so called near Lisbon (Steevens). 2 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 63;Charnico, Puritan Widow, iv. 3. 89; Heywood, Maid of West, iii (Wks. ed. 1874, ii. 301). See Stanford.
chartel,a ‘cartel’, a written challenge. B. Jonson, i. 5 (or 4): Bobadil. Span.cartel, Ital.cartello, dimin. ofcarta, paper, letter.
chase,a hunting-ground. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 137; Titus, ii. 3. 255; ‘The chase alwaie open and nothing at all inclosed’, Harrison, Desc. England, ii. 19 (ed. Furnivall, 310). Anglo-F.chace, a hunting-ground, a chase (Rough List).
chatillionte,delightful, amusing. Farquhar, Sir H. Wildair, iv. 2 (Lurewell). F.chatouillant, pr. pt. ofchatouiller, to tickle, to provoke with delight (Cotgr.).
chauf,to chafe, heat, vex. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 18, § 2;chauffed, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 33. OF.chaufer(F.chauffer), to warm.
chave,forich have, I have. Peele, Araygnement of Paris, i. 1 (Pan). Seech.
chawne,a gap, fissure. Holland, Pliny, i. 37; to gape open, id. i. 435; to cause to gape open, to rive asunder, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 1 (Andrugio); ‘Crevasser, to chop, chawn . . . rive’, Cotgrave. ‘Chawn’ is in prov. use in the Midlands for a crack in the ground caused by dry weather, see EDD. (s.v. Chaum). Seechoane.
cheasell,gravel. Turbervile, Epitaph II. on Master Win, st. 5. Cp. the Chesil Bank (Portland), Chiselhurst, Kent. ME.chiselor gravel, ‘arena, sabulum’ (Prompt. EETS. 82), OE.ceosel,cysel, gravel.
cheat,wheaten bread of the second quality. Chapman, Batrachom., 3; Drayton, Polyolb. xvi, p. 959;cheat bread, Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1 (Chough); Eastward Hoe, v. 1 (Mrs. T.);cheat loaf, B. Jonson, Masque of Augurs, vol. vi, p. 123; Corbet, Poetica Stromata (Nares). Bread of the first quality was calledmanchet. See NED. (s.v. Cheat, sb.2).
cheat(Thieves’ Cant), used in general sense ‘thing’, gen. preceded by some descriptive word.The Cheate(=treyning cheate), the gallows, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 28;cackling-cheate, the domestic fowl, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Prigg);grunting cheate, a pig (id.);belly-cheat, an apron, id. ii. 1 (Higgen). See NED. (s.v. Cheat, sb.13). Seebackcheat.
cheator,a cheat. Esp. used of one who lived by cheating at dice; Marston, What you Will, v. 1 (Quadratus).
check(in Hawking), a false stoop, when a hawk forsakes her proper game, and pursues rooks, doves, &c. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 2 (Maria);to fly at check, Dryden, Ann. Mirab. st. 86;check, base game, rooks, &c, Drayton, Pol. xx. 217; Turbervile, Falconrie, 110.
checked,chequered, variegated. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 18; Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 83; speltchequed, ‘The chequed, and purple-ringed daffodillies’, B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniversary (Shepherd).
checker-approved,approved by one who checks, a controller. Ford, Fancies Chaste, i. 2 (Spadone). See NED. (s.v. Checker, sb.11).
checklaton,a cloth of rich material; ‘A Jacket, quilted richly rare Upon checklaton’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 43. OF.chiclaton, alsociclaton(Godefroy). The ME. form wasciclatun(syklatoun); see Juliana, 8, and Chaucer, C. T.B.1924. See NED. (s.v. Ciclatoun).
chedreux,a kind of perruque. Etheredge, Man of Mode, iii. 2 (Sir Fopling); Oldham, tr. of Juvenal, Sat. iii. 191. From the maker’s name. Also Shaddrew (NED.).
chequin,an Italian gold coin, a ‘sequin’. Pericles, iv. 2. 28 (chickeensin ed. 1608); B. Jonson, Volpone, i (last speech but 8 of Volpone). See Dict. (s.v. Sequin), and Stanford. Seececchin.
cherry,to cherish, cheer, delight. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 22. F.chérir, to hold dear.
cherry-pit,a children’s game, in which cherry-stones were thrown into a pit or small hole. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 129; Witch of Edmonton, iii. 1 (Cuddy).
cheve,to bring to an end, to finish; ‘I cheve, I bring to an ende,Je aschieve’, Palsgrave. OF.chever, to finish (NED.).
cheve, chive,to befall, happen to. Phr.foul cheeve him, ill befall him, Sir A. Cockain, Obstinate Lady, iii. 2;foul chive him, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of the Burning Pestle, i. 3 (Mrs. Merry Thought).
cheveril,kid-leather; used allusively as a type of pliability. Twelfth Nt. iii. i. 13; B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). ME.cheverel, ‘ledyr’ (Prompt.), Anglo-F.cheveril(Rough List), deriv. of OF.chevre, a goat.
chevin, cheven,the chub. Book of St. Albans, fol. F 7, back; Drayton, Pol. xxvi. 244; ‘Chevesne, a chevin’, Cotgrave. ‘Cheven’ is a Yorks. word for the chub (EDD.). OF.chevesne; see Hatzfeld (s.v. Chevanne).
chevisaunce,merchandise, gain (in a bad sense). Coverdale, Deut. xxi. 14. ME.chevisaunce(Chaucer, C. T.B.1519). OF.chevissance, ‘pactum, transactio, conventio’. Med. L.chevisantia(Ducange).
chevisaunce(as used by Spenser and his imitators), enterprise, achievement, expedition on horseback, chivalry, F. Q. ii. 9. 8.
che vor:in phr.che vor ye. The meaning seems to be ‘I warrant you’, King Lear, iv. 6. 246, but the relationship or etymology of the wordvorhas not yet been discovered; nothing like it is known to exist in prov. use.Che vore ’un, (?) I warrant him, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Hilts).Cha vore theeis found in The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality, ii. 3 (Tenacity), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 345, ‘What will you give me? Cha vore thee, son . . . Chill give thee a vair piece of three half-pence’. (Here,cha vore theemay be West dialect for ‘I have for thee.’)
chewet, chewit,a chough,fig.a chatterer. 1 Hen. IV, v. 1. 29. F.chouette, a chough, jackdaw (Cotgr.).
chewet,a dish of meat or fish, chopped fine and mixed with spices and fruits. Middleton, The Witch, ii. 1 (Francisca).
chewre,a turn of work; seechare.
Cheyney;seePhilip.
chiarlatan,a mountebank or Cheap Jack who descants volubly to acrowd. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 971;ciarlitani, pl., B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1 (Volpone, Speech, 3). Ital.ciarlatano, a babbler, mountebank, fr.ciarlare, to babble; whence F.charlatan, ‘a pratling quack-salver’ (Cotgr.).
chiaus(e,a Turkish messenger, sergeant, or lictor. Massinger, Renegado, iii. 4; B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 2. 25. Turkishchāush.
chiause, chouse,one easily cheated, a dupe, gull. Newcastle, The Variety, in Dramatis Personae (‘A country Chiause’). [Cp. Johnson’s Dict., Achouse, a man fit to be cheated.]
chiause, chowse,v., to chouse, to cheat. ‘Chiaus’d by a scholar!’, Shirley, Honoria, ii. 3 (Conquest); ‘And sows of sucking-pigs arechowsed’, Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 114, also l. 1010.
chibbal,a young onion with the green stalk attached, Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 2 (Petillius);chibal, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (2 Gipsy). ‘Chibbal’ (‘chibble’) is in gen. prov. use in the Midlands and south-west country, see EDD. (s.v. Chibbole). ME.chibolle(P. Plowman, B. vi. 296). OF. (Picard)chibole(F.ciboule); L.cepulla, dimin. ofcepa, onion.
chibrit,sulphur. B. Jonson, Alchem., ii. 1 (Surly). Also speltkibrit(NED.). Arab.kibrīt, sulphur; cp. Heb.gophrīth, Aramaic,kubrīth.
chiches,chick-peas. B. Jonson, tr. of Horace, Art of Poetry (L.ciceris, l. 249); speltchittes, Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helthe, iv. 10; Udall, Apoph., Diogenes, 47. F.chiches, ‘sheeps-cich-peason, chiches’ (Cotgr.); OF.chiche(Roman. Rose, 6911).
chiefrie,the payment of rent or dues to an Irish chief. Spenser, View of Ireland (Globe ed., p. 663).
chievance,raising of money. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 64). F. ‘chevance, wealth, substance, riches’ (Cotgr.).
child:phr.to be with child, usedfig., to be full of expectation. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 3 (King); also, to long after, desire vehemently, id., Honest Wh., Pt. I, iii. 1 (Viola).
Child Rowland,a young knight; with reference to a scrap of an old ballad. King Lear, iii. 4. 187; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 1. 16.
chilis,a large vein. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 2. 4 (where it is equated tovena cava). Dyce’s note says—‘Out of the gibbosyte . . . of the liuer there issueth a veyne calledconcavaorchilis’, Traheron, Vigo’s Workes of Chirurgerie, 1571, fol. ix. Gk. φλὲψ κοίλη,vena cava.
chill;as inI chill, forIch ’ill, I will. ‘Tell you Ichyll’, Skelton, El. Rummyng, 1. Seech.
china-house,a china-shop. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 2 (Subtle).
chinchard,a niggard, miser. Speltchyncherde, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2517. ME.chinche, a niggard (Chaucer, C. T.B.2793); Norm. F.chinche, ‘mesquin avare’ (Moisy).
chinclout,a muffler covering the lower part of the face. Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 3 (Follywit). Cp.mufflerin Merry Wives, iv. 2. 73.
chine,to divide or break the back of. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 13. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iii. 3. 6; ‘Eschiner(échiner), to chine, to break the back of’, Cotgrave. In everyday use in Suffolk (EDD.).
chink,a bed-bug. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Hostess). Also speltchinch. Span.chinche, a bug; L.cimex.
chink,a piece of money. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 503.
chire,a slender blade of grass, a sprout. Speltchyer, Drayton, Harmony, Song Solomon, ch. ii, l. 3. ME.chire, ‘genimen’ (Cath. Angl.).
chirm,a confused noise, the mingled din or noise of many birds or voices. Speltchyrme, Mirror for Mag., Glocester, st. 5;churm, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 170). Seecharm.
chirr,to chirp like a grasshopper; ‘The chirring grasshopper’, Herrick, Oberon’s Feast, 16.
chitterling,a frill, ruff; esp. the frill down the breast of a shirt. Like Will to Like, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iii. 310; Gascoigne, Delic Diet Droonkardes (NED.). For examples of prov. use see EDD. (s.v. 4).
chitterlings,the smaller intestines of the pig, &c., esp. when fried or boiled. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iii. 1 (Fustigo); Butler, Hudibras, i. 2. 120. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).
chitty-face,one who has a thin pinched face; used as a term of contempt; ‘You half-fac’d groat, you thin-cheek’d chitty-face’, Munday, Downfall of E. of Huntingdon, v. 1 (Jailer), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 188; Massinger, Virgin Martyr, i. 2 (Spungius); ‘Chittiface,puellulus,improbulus’, Coles, Dict. (1679); ‘A chittiface, proprie est facies parva et exigua’, Minsheu, Ductor (1617). OF.chiche-face(chiche-fache), lean face (Godefroy). The word occurs in Rabelais, i. 183 (ed. Jaunet). From this word comes the perverted formchichevache(Chaucer, C. T.E.1188), the name of a fabulous monster said to feed on patient wives.
chival,a horse; ‘Upon the captive chivals’ (in captivis equis), Turbervile, Ovid’s Ep., 148 b; Mucedorus, Induction, 29, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 204; but herechivalmay be for’chieval,achieval, achievement.
chive, cive,a small kind of onion or garlic; ‘Escurs, the little sallad herb calledCivesorChives’, Cotgrave. F.cive(North F.chive), onion; L.cepa, onion.
chive;seecheve.
choane,a cleft, rift, fissure; ‘Fendasse, a cleft, choane’, Cotgrave. Seechawne.
choke-pear,a rough, harsh pear; also, something impossible to swallow or get over. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 321); Mydas, iv. 3 (end).
choplogic,a contentious, sophistical arguer. Awdelay, Fratern. of Vacabondes, p. 15. Shortened tochoploge; ‘Choploges or greate pratlers’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Antigonus, § 27; Roister Doister, iii. 2 (Merygreek).
choppine,a kind of shoe raised above the ground by means of a cork sole or the like. Hamlet, ii. 2. 445; ‘Pianelloni, great pattins or choppins’, Florio; ‘Corke shooes, chopines’, Marston, Dutch Courtezan, iii. 1 (Tissefew). See Stanford (s.v. Chopine). Seechapine.
chreokopia,a cancelling of debts, or of a part of a debt. Massinger, Old Law, i. 1 (2 Lawyer). Gk. χρεωκοπία, a cutting off of debt.
Christ-cross, Chriss-cross, Crisscross,a cross (✠) placed at the beginning of the alphabet in a horn-book. Hence,Christcross-row, the alphabet, Two Angry Women, v. 1 (Mall); shortened tocross-row, Richard III, i. 1. 55. A similar cross was sometimes used (instead of XII) to mark noon on a clock or dial; hence ‘the Chrisse-crosse of Noone’, Puritan Widow, iv. 2. 85; see Nares.
Christ-tide,Christmas. A term for Christmas, used by Puritans, to avoid the use of the wordmass. B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Ananias) See NED.
chrysopoeia,the making of gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle). Gk. χρυσοποιία.
chrysosperm,seed of gold. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Gk. χρυσός, gold + σπέρμα, seed.
chuck,darling; a term of endearment. Hen. V, iii. 2. 20; Macbeth, iii. 2. 45; ‘Hischuck, that is, his wife’, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 68 (ed. Arber, p. 94). See EDD. (s.v. Chuck, sb.14).
chuff,a rustic, a clown. Generally applied opprobriously to any person disliked, esp. a rude coarse fellow. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 93; a churlish miser, Nashe, P. Pennilesse (NED.); Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 1 (Medina). In prov. use in the sense of surly, ill-tempered, see EDD. (s.v. Chuff, adj.11). ME.choffeorchuffe, ‘rusticus’ (Prompt.).
church-book,(1) the Bible; (2) the parish register. Both senses are quibbled upon; Massinger, Old Law, i. 1 (1 Lawyer).
ciarlitani;seechiarlatan.
cibation,a process in alchemy; lit. ‘a feeding’. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Dol). From L.cibus, food.
cinoper,‘cinnabar’. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle). Cp. MHG.zinober.
cinque-pace,a kind of lively dance. Much Ado, ii. 1. 77. F.cinq pas, lit. five paces; Littré givescinq pas et trois visages(five paces, three faces) as the name of an old French dance.
cioppino,a ‘chopine’. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, ii. 1 (Hedon). Seechoppine.
circling:phr.a circling boy, i.e. a kind ofroarer, one who circumvented and cheated his dupes. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 2 (Edgworth). See Nares.
circular,going round-about, indirect. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, ii. 2 (Physician).
circumstance,detailed and circuitous narration; details, particulars; ‘Without circumstance’, i.e. without further details, Romeo, v. 3. 181; ceremony, formality, ‘Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war’, Othello, iii. 3. 355.
citronise,to bring to the colour of citron; a process in alchemy. B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Subtle).
cittern-headed,ugly; because the head of the cittern (a kind of guitar) was often grotesquely carved to resemble a human head. Ford, Fancies Chaste, i. 2 (Spadone). The citterns were mostly found in barbers’ shops.
†city-wires(?); ‘His cates . . . Be fit for ladies: some for lords, knights, ’squires; Some for your waiting-wench, and city-wires’, B. Jonson, Epicoene (Prologue).
civil,sober, grave, not gay; said of colour. Romeo, iii. 2. 10; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 2 (Maria); ‘civil-suited Morn’, Milton, Il Pens., 122.
clack-dish,a wooden dish with a lid, carried and clacked by beggars as an appeal for contributions. Middleton, Family of Love, iv. 2 (Gerardine). Seeclapdish.
clad,to clothe. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 4; Peele, Poems, ed. Dyce p. 602.
cladder,a man of loose and vicious manners. (Cant.) ‘Cladders? Yes, catholic lovers’, Mayne, City Match, ii. 3 (Bright and Aurelia).
clair-voyant,clear-sighted, having good insight.Clara voyant, Buckingham, The Rehearsal, iii. 1 (end).
clamper up,to gather up together hastily. Ascham, Toxophilus, (ed. Arber, 83). [Sir W. Scott uses the expression ‘toclamper upa story’, in a letter to Joanna Baillie (Feb. 10, 1822).]
clap,a sudden stroke of misfortune; a touch of disrepute. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4. 3;to catch a clap, to meet with a mischance, Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, iii. 1 (Wise Woman).
clapdish,a wooden dish for alms with a cover that shut with a clapping noise, used by lepers and other mendicants. Massinger, Parl. of Love, ii. 2 (Leonora); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 1 (Matheo). Seeclack-dish.
clapper,a rabbit-burrow. Tusser, Husbandry, § 36. 25; ‘As a cony . . . in hisclaper’, Fabyan, Chron. pt. vii, an. 1294-5 (p. 395). ‘Clapier, a clapper of conies’, Cotgrave. A Dorset word for a rabbit-hole (EDD.). O. Prov.clapier, ‘garenne privée’ (Levy).
clapperclaw,to beat, to maul. Merry Wives, ii. 3. 67; Tr. and Cr. v. 4. 1. In prov. use in various parts of England, and in Scotland (EDD.).
clapperdudgeon,a cant name for a beggar; a term of reproach. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (P. sen.); Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. i. 4; Greene, George-a-Greene (l. 909), ed. Dyce, p. 265, col. 1; Harman, Caveat, p. 44. Cp.clapper, the lid of a beggar’s clap-dish;dudgeonwas the name of a kind of wood for making handles of knives, &c.
clarissimo,a grandee. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2. 6. A Span. word, lit. most illustrious.
clary, clare,a pot-herb, theSalvia Sclarea, supposed to be good for the eyes, and so by pop. etym. often speltCleare-eie,Clear-eye; ‘Spirits of clare to bathe our temples in’, Davenant, The Wits, v (Thwack); speltclary, ‘Clary quasi Clear Eye’, W. Coles, Adam in Eden, xxiii. 47. See NED. (s.v. Clary, sb.2).
clary,a sweet liquor made of wine, clarified honey, and spices. Congreve, Way of World, iv. 5 (Mirabell); Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iii. 1 (Lord Rake). ME.clarree(Chaucer, C. T.A.1471). OF.claré, that which is cleared or clarified, see NED. (s.v. Clary, sb.1).
classhe.Seeclosh.
claw,to stroke; hence, to flatter. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 186; Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, i. 1 (Piero); Much Ado, i. 3. 18. Phr.claw me, I’ll claw thee, ‘We saye, clawe me, clawe thee’, Tyndal, Expos. John (ed. 1537, 72), see NED.;to claw the back, to flatter, Hall, Sat. i. prol. 11. ‘Claw’ means to flatter in Leic. and Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Claw, vb. 7).
clawback,one who strokes the back; a flatterer; ‘These flattering clawbackes’, Latimer, 2 Sermon bef. King, p. 64; Mirror for Mag., Iago, st. 6; ‘Blandisseur, a flattering sycophant or clawback’, Cotgrave. So in north Yorks. and Leic., see EDD. (s.v. Claw, vb. 10 (b)).
clear,very drunk. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv. 1 (Belfond Senior).
cleave the pin;seepin.
cleaze;seeclee.
clee,a claw; ‘Pied d’un cancre, the clee or claw of a crab’, Cotgrave; ‘The clee of a bittor’, Turbervile, Falconrie, 349;cleazepl., Phaer, tr. Aeneid, viii. 209; Studley, Seneca’s Hercules, 206 b (NED.). See EDD. (s.v. Clee). ME.cle, ‘ungula’ (Cath. Angl.). OE.clēa. Cp.cleye.
cleeves,cliffs; ‘Dover’s neighbouring cleeves’, Drayton, Pol. xviii; Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 62. ME.clefeof an hyll, ‘declivum’ (Prompt.). Due to OE.cleofu, the plural form, or tocleofe, the dat. ofclif. ‘Cleeve’ is very common in place-names in the west of England: Cleeve (Clyffe Pypard) in Wilts.; Church Cleves in Dorset; Old Cleeve, Huish Cleeve, Bitter Cleeve in Somerset.
clem,to starve for want of food. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 1 (Shift); Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). To ‘clem’ (or to ‘clam’) is the ordinary word for starving in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Clam, vb.21). The lit. meaning ofclam(clem) is ‘to pinch’, still used in this sense in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Clam, vb.11. Cp. Dan.klemme, Sw.klämma, to pinch.
clench, clinch,a pun. Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, 83; Prologue to Tr. and Cr. (1679), 27.
clenchpoop,a lout, a clown; a term of contempt. Warner, Albion’s England; bk. vi, ch. xxxi, st. 22;clinchpoop, orclenchpoop, Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 256.
clepe,to call. L. L. L. v. 1. 24; Hamlet, i. 4. 19. The pp. is speltcleepedin Chapman, Gent. Usher, ii. 1 (Pogio); the usual form is the archaicy-clept, spelty-clep’din Milton, L’Allegro, 12. OE.clipian,cleopian, to call; pp.ge-cleopod.
clergion,a young songster,fig.of birds. Surrey, Description Restless State, 22; Poems, 72; in Tottel’s Misc. 231. ME.clergeon, a chorister (Chaucer, C. T.B.1693). F.clergeon.
clergy,clerkly skill, learning. Proverb, ‘An Ounce of Mother-Wit is worth a Pound of Clergy (or Book-learning)’, see NED.; Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 3 (Purge). The privilege of exemption from sentence which might be pleaded by every one who could read; ‘Stand to your clergy, uncle, save your life’, Munday, Death Huntington, i. 3, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 244.Clergy of belly, respite claimed by a pregnant woman. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 1. 884. ME.clergy: ‘Lewdnesse of clergy,illiteratura’ (Prompt. EETS., 261).
cleye,a claw. Marlowe, tr. Lucan, bk. i, l. 36 from end; B. Jonson, Underwoods, Eupheme, ix. 18; ‘The cleyes of a lobster’, Skinner (1671). ‘Cley’ is an E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Clee). ME.cleyof a beast, ‘ungula’ (Prompt. EETS., 85, see note, no. 383). Cp.clee.
clicket,to bemaris appetens, to copulate. Massinger, Picture, iii. 4 (Eubulus); Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, ii. 4 (Leontius); Tusser, Husbandry, § 77. 9. As a hunting term, it had reference to the fox and the wolf; see Turbervile, Hunting, c. 66, p. 186; c. 75, p. 205.
cliffe,a clef, key, in music. Tr. and Cr. v. 2. 11; Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1. 159. F.clef.
clift,a cliff. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 79; p. 90, col. 1;clifte, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 23. The E. Anglian form (EDD.).
clighte;seeclitch.
Clim of the Clough,a proverbially famous archer. Clement of the Glen, in the ballad of Adam Bell. Gascoigne, Flowers, ed. Hazlitt, i. 72; B. Jonson, Alchemist, i (Face).Clem a Clough, Drayton, Pastorals, vi. 36.
clinch;seeclench.
cling,to cause to shrink, shrivel; ‘Till famine cling thee’, Macbeth, v. 5. 40. Cp. prov. use in Ireland and in the north of England, where the word means to wither, contract, also, of cattle, to become thin from want of proper food, see EDD. (s.v. Cling, vb.14). ME.clyngyn, to shrink, to shrivel (Prompt.). OE.clingan, ‘marcere’ (Ælfric).
clip,to embrace. Wint. Tale, v. 2. 59; Coriolanus, i. 6. 29; iv. 5. 115. Still in use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME.clippen(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. lii. 1344). OE.clyppan.
clip,to go fast, to run swiftly. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 86. A Suffolk use; see EDD. (s.v. Clip, vb.211).
clipped,uttered aloud; ‘Thy clipped name’, Middleton, The Witch, ii. 2 (near the end). Seeclepe.
clips, clyps,‘eclipse’. Berners, tr. of Froissart, ch. 130. Common in the north (EDD.). ME.Clyppsof þe son or þe mone, ‘eclipsis’ (Prompt.).
clitch,to bend, clench (the fist). Hellowes, Guevara’s Fam. Ep. 145 (NED.);clighte, pp., Bossewell, Armorie, ii. 119b. Cp. the west countryclitch, to grasp tightly (EDD.). OE.clycchan, pp.geclyht.
clogdogdo,a term of contempt. B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iv. 1 (Otter). A nonce-word.
close fight,a sea term; a kind of screen used in a naval engagement. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). Seefights.
closh, clash,the name of an old game, played with a ball or bowl. Speltclaisshe, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 27, § 8. See Cowell’s Interpreter and Strutt’s Sports.Closhwas orig. the name of the bowl. Du.klos, a wooden Boule (Hexham).
closure,bound, limit, circuit. Richard III, iii. 3. 11; an entrenchment, fortress, Greene, Looking Glasse (ed. 1861, p. 123); Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 296. OF.closure, confine, limits (Dialoge Greg., 74); Late L.clausura, a castle, fort (Justinian).
clote,the yellow water-lily;Nuphar lutea. Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 2. 12. Still in use in the south-west of England, see EDD. (s.v. Clote, (1)). OE.clāte, which was the name of various plants resembling the burdock, see NED.
clottered,clotted. Mirror for Mag., Buckingham, st. 14;‘Congrée, congealed, clottered’, Cotgrave. Du.kloteren, orklonteren, ‘to curdle or growe thick as milke doth’ (Hexham). Seecluttered.
clout,a piece of cloth or linen, a rag. Hamlet, ii. 2. 537; Richard III, i. 3. 177; hence,clouted, patched,Bible, Joshua ix. 5. In prov. use, esp. in the north, see EDD. (s.v. Clout, sb.13).
clout,a square piece of canvas, which formed the mark to be aimed at, at the archery butts, L. L. L. iv. 1. 138; 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 52.
clout,to cuff heavily,Bible, 2 Sam. xxii. 39;clouted, pp. hit, Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, iii. 7. 1. In gen. vulgar use, see EDD. (s.v. Clout, vb.21).
clouted;of cream: clotted, by scalding milk. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 99; Borde, Dyetarie, 267. A Devon word (EDD.).
clowre,grassy surface, turf. In pl.clowres; Golding, Metam. iv. 301. (L.cespite); viii. 756 (L.terram). ME.clowre, grassy ground (Lydgate).
cloy,to prick a horse with a nail in shoeing; ‘I cloye a horse, I drive a nayle in to the quycke of his foote,jencloue’, Palsgrave; to pierce as with a nail, to gore, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 48; to spike a gun, Beaumont and Fl., The False One, v. 4 (Photinus). OF.cloyer(F.clouer), to nail, deriv. of OF.clo(F.clou), a nail.
cloyer,a pick-pocket’s accomplice. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). See Nares.
cloyne,a clown, rustic. Mirror for Mag., Rivers, st. 44. The wordclown(cloyne) was a late introduction from some Low German source, originally meaning ‘clod, lump’, see NED.
cloyne, cloine,to act deceitfully or fraudulently. Bale, Sel. Wks. (ed. 1849, p. 170 (NED.)); to take furtively, to steal away, Phaer, tr. Aeneid, vi. 524; vii. 364. Probably the same word as OF.cluigner,clugner,cluyner(F.cligner), to wink, often as the expression of secret understanding, cunning, or hypocrisy. See NED.
club,a country fellow; ‘Homely and playn clubbes of the countrey’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 14; ‘Hertfordshire clubs and clouted shoon’, Ray, Eng. Proverbs, 310. Cp. ME.clubbyd, ‘rudis’ (Prompt.).
clubfist,a thick-fisted ruffian. Mirror for Magistrates, Sabrine, st. 10.
clubs!A popular cry to call out the London apprentices, who had clubs for their weapons; also, a cry to call out citizens; as in Romeo, i. 1. 80. There are frequent allusions to this cry; ‘Cryclubsfor prentices’, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 2 (All).
clunch,a clodhopper; ‘Casois, a countrey clown, boore, clunch, hinde’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Cumberland, Lancashire, and E. Yorks. (EDD.). See NED.
clunch,to clench; ‘His fist is clunched’, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 20; ed. Arber, p. 41.
clunged,drawn together by the action of cold; ‘By the Northern winds . . . clunged and congealed withall’, Holland, Pliny, i. 513; ‘The Earth made clunged with the cold of winter’, B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (NED.).
cluttered,clotted. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Alberto); ‘Engrommelé, clotted, cluttered, curded thick’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Cheshire and Shropshire (EDD.). Seeclottered.
cly(thieves’ cant), to seize, take; to steal (NED.). Phr.to cly the Jerk, to be whipped, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman); Harman, Caveat, p. 84. In Lower Rhenish dialectklauen(kläuen,kleuen) is used in the sense of ‘steal’. See NED.
coals:phr.to carry coals, to be very servile, to submit to insults. Romeo, i. 1. 2. Seecolcarrier.
coal-sleck,coal-dust. Drayton, Pol. iii. 280. Cp. prov. E.sleck, slack, small coal.
coart,to confine, restrain; ‘Streatly coarted’, Skelton, Why come ye not, 438; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, i. 138. L.co-arctare, to compress, fromarctus, close.
coast, cost(e,the side. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 294; the border, frontier of a country,Bible, Mark vii. 31; Judges i. 18; phr.on even coast, on even terms, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 17. OF.coste(F.côte).
coast,to keep by the side of a person moving. Fletcher and Rowley, Maid Mill, i. 1; to march on the flank of, Berners, Froissart, i. 40. 55; to move in a roundabout course,fig.Hen. VIII, iii. 2. 38; to skirt, Milton, P. L. iv. 782; speltcost, to approach, Spenser, Daphnaida, st. 6; Venus and Adonis, 870.
coat;seecote.
coat-card,a playing card bearing a ‘coated’ figure (king, queen, or knave). In regular use till the Revolution, 1688; afterwards perverted intoCourt-card. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Madrigal). Also,coat, Massinger, Old Law, iii. 1 (Cook); B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1.
coath,to faint, to swoon away. Skinner, 1671 (a Lincoln word); ‘To coath (swoon away),Animo linqui, deficere’, Coles, 1679. ‘Coath’ is still used in this sense in E. Anglia (EDD.). ME.cothe, or swownyng, ‘sincopa’ (Prompt.). OE.coðu, disease; cp.coe, a word for a disease of sheep, cattle in W. Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Coe, sb.11). Seequoth.
cob,the head of a red herring. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II. (Wks., 1873, ii. 147); ‘A herring cob,la teste d’un harang sor’, Sherwood.
cob, cobbe,a wealthy man; a miser; ‘Ryche cobbes’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 149; Stubbes, Anat. Abuses, ii. 27 (NED.).
cobbe,a male swan; ‘The hee swanne is called the cobbe, and the she-swanne the penne’, Best, Farm. Bks. (ed. 1856, p. 122). Hencecob-swan, B. Jonson, Catiline, ii. 1 (Fulvia). ‘Cob’ is still in use in Norfolk (EDD.).
cockal(l,a knucklebone of a sheep, with which boys played ‘knucklebones’. Herrick, The Temple, 59; the game played, Cotgrave (s.v.Tales). See Nares.
cockall,a paragon, a pattern, of supreme excellence; ‘He was the very cockall of a husband’, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2. 6.
cockatrice,a name for the basilisk, a serpent supposed to kill by its mere glance, and to be hatched from a cock’s egg.Bible, Isaiah lix. 5; Romeo, iii. 2. 47; applied to a woman of loose life, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev. iv. 1; Killigrew’s Pandora (Nares). Orig. a name for the crocodile. OF.caucatris(cocatris), crocodile; Med. L.caucatrices, ‘crocodili’ (Ducange); cp. O. Prov.calcatris, crocodile (Levy). See NED.
cock-a-two,cock of two, a cock that has conquered two, a conqueror of two. Little French Lawyer, ii. 3 (La Writ). See Nares.
cockers,leggings, gaiters. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 59. In prov. use from the north country to the W. Midlands and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME.cokeres(P. Plowman, C. Text, ix. 59). Probably the same word as OE.cocor, a quiver.
cocket,a ship’s certificate that goods for export had paid duty. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, ll. 258, 1058. Anglo-F.cokette, app. the seal with which the certificate was assured (Rough List).
cocket,pert, saucy, stuck up. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, ii. 5 (song); Coles Dict. 1677. In prov. use from north country to the W. Midlands, meaning ‘pert, saucy’, also, ‘brisk, merry, lively’ (EDD.).
cockledemois,pl. (perhaps) a natural product of some kind representing money. Chapman, Mask of the Middle Temple, § 2. (Not found elsewhere, except as Cockledemoy, the name of a knave in Marston’s Dutch Courtezan). Dr. H. Bradley suggests that this word may represent Port.coquílho de moeda;coquílho, fruit of an Indian palm;moeda, money.
cockloche,a term of reproach or contempt, a mean fellow, a silly coxcomb. Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 2 (Clare); speltcocoloch, Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Triumph of Honour, sc. 1 (Nicodemus). F.coqueluche, a hood, also a person who is all the vogue. See Dict. de l’Acad. (1762).
Cock Lorel,the name of the owner and captain of the boat containing jovial reprobates of all trades in a sarcastic poem, Cocke Lorelles Bote, printedc.1515; used also allusively with the sense of ‘rogue’; ‘Here is fyrst, Cocke Lorell the Knyght’ (ed. 1843, p. 4); ‘Cock-Lorrell would needs have the Devill his guest’, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metam. (Song). SeeLorel.
cockney,(1) a cockered child, a child tenderly brought up, hence (2) a squeamish, foppish, effeminate fellow. (1) Tusser, Husbandry, 183; Baret, Alvearie, C. 729; (2) Twelfth Nt. iv. 1. 15; a squeamish woman, King Lear, ii. 4. 123. ME.cokenay, an effeminate person (Chaucer, C. T.A.4208);coknay, ‘delicius’ (Prompt.).
cockqueene;the same ascuckquean.