twigger,a wanton person, a wencher, Marlowe, Dido, iv. 5. 21; orig. perhaps applied to a ram, Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 28.
twigger,a wanton person, a wencher, Marlowe, Dido, iv. 5. 21; orig. perhaps applied to a ram, Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 28.
twiggen,made of osiers; cased with osiers or wicker-work; ‘A large basket or twiggen panier’, Holland, tr. of Pliny, b. xvii, c. 10, 5 § 1; Othello, ii. 3. 152. A Warw. word (EDD.).
twight,to ‘twit’, upbraid. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 12. ME.atwite, to reproach (Laȝamon). OE.ætwītan.
twight,to twitch, to pull suddenly; ‘No bit nor rein his tender jawes may twight’, Mirror for Mag. (Nares); used as pt. t. oftwitch, touched, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 259 (L.tetigit). ME.twykkyn, ‘tractulo’ (Prompt.). OE.twiccian, to pluck, catch hold of.
twin,to separate one from the other. The World and the Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 244. So in Scotch use: ‘We should never twin again, except heaven twin’d and sundered us’, Rutherford’s Life (ed. 1761), 234, see EDD. (s.v. Twin, vb.22).
twin,to be twinned, to be closely united like twins; ‘True liberty . . . which always with right reason dwells twinned’, Milton, P. L. xii. 85; B. Jonson, Hue and Cry after Cupid (Vulcan).
twink,a twinkling. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 312; phr.with a twink, in a moment, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Marcella). ‘In a twink’ is in use in various parts of England and Scotland, meaning in the shortest possible space of time (EDD.). ME.twynkynwyth the eye, ‘nicto’ (Prompt.).
twire,to peep, to peep at intervals, to take a stolen glance at a thing; ‘When sparkling stars twire not’, Sonnet xxviii; ‘To see the common parent of us all, Which maids will twire at ’tween their fingers’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 169; spelttweer, ‘The tweering constable’, Middleton, Father Hubberd’s Tales (ed. Dyce, v. 594). A Wilts. and Berks. word, ‘How he did twire and twire at she!’ (EDD.). Cp. Germ. dial. (Bavarian)zwi(e)ren, to take a stolen glance at a thing (Schmeller).
twire pipe,a term of abuse; ‘An ass, a twire pipe, a Jeffery John Bo-peep’, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iii. 1 (Thomas). Fortwire, see above;pipemay be identified with the Yorks. wordpipe, to glance at stealthily, see EDD. (s.v. Pipe, vb.2) = F.piper, ‘to peke or prie’ (Palsgrave). See Dict. (s.v. Peep, 2). So thattwire pipeis a reduplicated word meaning a sly peeper.
twissell,the part of a tree where the branches divide from the stock; ‘As from a tree we sundrie times espie Atwissellgrow by Nature’s subtile might’, Turbervile, The Lover wisheth to be conjoined, st. 6. See EDD. (s.v. Twizzle, 8). OE.twislian, to fork, branch (Hom. ii. 117); ‘twisil tunge’ (double tongue, Ecclus. v. 14).
twitch-box,said to be the same astouch-box, a box containing powder forpriming; toprimewas to put a little gunpowder into the pan of an old-fashioned fire-arm. ‘Thy flask [powder-flask] and twitch-box’, Damon and Pithias, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 67. Seetouch-box.
twitter-light,twilight. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, v. 1 (2 Court.); Mere Dissemblers, iii. 1 (Dondolo). Cp. the Yorks. expression, ‘He came about the twitter of day’, see EDD. (s.v. Twitter, sb.410).
twone,twined; pp. oftwine. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, ii. 1. 7;twon, id., Sophonisba, iii. 1 (first stage-direction).
twybill,a kind of mattock or double axe. Drayton, Pol. xviii. 77. Seetwibill.
tyall,a bell-pull, string, cord; ‘The greate belles clapper was fallen doune, thetyalwas broken’, Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 172). Seetial.
tydie,some small bird, a titmouse (?), Drayton, Pol. xiii. 79. MEtidif(tydif), a small bird, perhaps the titmouse (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 154).
tyne;seetine.
tyran, tyranne,a tyrant. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 98. Hence,tyranning, acting the part of a tyrant, F. Q. iv. 7. 1. F.tyran, L.tyrannus, Gk. τύραννος.
tysant,barley-water. Turbervile, Of the divers and contrarie Passions of his Love, st. 2. ME.tysane, ‘ptisana’ (Prompt.). F. ‘tisanne, barly water’ (Cotgr.), L.ptisana, pearl-barley, barley-water (Pliny), Gk. πτισάνη, peeled barley, barley-water (Hippocrates).
U
ubblye;seeobley.
uberous,fertile. Middleton, Mayor of Queenb. ii. 3 (Hengist). L.ūber, fertile.
ugsome,frightful, horrible. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 1007. Henceugsomnes, terror, ‘The horrour and ugsomenes of death’, Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 185). These words are still in common prov. use with these meanings in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Ug). ME.ugsom, frightful (Dest. Troy, 877).
ulen-spiegel;seeowl-spiegle.
umbecast,to consider, ponder. Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 25; bk. xviii, c. 21. ME.umbecast; ‘In his hert can umbecast’ (Barbour’s Bruce, v. 552). The prefix isumbe, OE.ymbe, around (see Wars Alex., Glossary).
umbered,embrowned with umber. Hen. V, v, Chorus, 9.
umberere;seeumbriere.
umbles,the ‘numbles’, the entrails of a deer; ‘The umblis of venyson’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1240; Holinshed, i. 204 (Nares);fig.used for a man’s bodily parts, ‘Faith, a good well-set fellow, if his spirit Be answerable to his umbles’, Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii. 1 (Trapdoor). Seenumbles.
umbrana,a delicate fish. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 1 (Duke). Nares says: ‘The name of a fish, called alsoumbra; in English,umberorgrayling; theSalmo thymullusof Linnaeus.’ Ital.ombrina, ‘an ombre or grailing’ (Baretti), cp. F. ‘umbre, an ombre, or grayling’ (Cotgr.). Mod. L.umbrae, ‘tymalli, pisces Hibernis familiares’ (Ducange). Cp. σκίαινα, the name of a sea-fish (Aristotle).
umbratical,secluded; applied to teachers who wrote in their own studies; ‘The umbratical doctors’, B. Jonson, Discoveries, lvii. L.umbraticus doctor, a private tutor (Petronius).
umbratil,belonging to the shade; private, secluded. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iii. 3 (Compass). L.umbratilis vita, a retired, contemplative life (Cicero).
umbriere,the movable visor of a helmet. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 42; iv. 4. 44; speltumberere, Morte Arthur, leaf 169, back, 7; bk. viii, ch. 41 (end). O. Prov.ombriera, that which gives shade, a tree giving shade (Levy), deriv. ofombra, shade, L.umbra.
un-,negative prefix. Often used where mod. E. hasin-; as inun-constant,un-firm,un-ordinate; all in Shakespeare. So also North hasun-honestfordis-honest,un-possible,un-satiable.
unavoided,irrefutable. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, v. 1 (Physician).
unbe,to cease to be. Nero, iii. 3. 26.
unbid,without a prayer. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 54.
unbolted,unsifted, coarse. King Lear, ii. 2. 71. Cp.bolt, ‘to sift flour through a sieve or fine cloth’, in prov. use in the north down to Derbyshire. OF.buleter, to sift (Hatzfeld, s.v. Bluter).
uncandied,dissolved out of a candied or solid condition, Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 115. Cp.discandy, Ant. and Cl. iv. 12. 22.
uncape;‘I warrant we’ll unkennel the fox. Let me stop this way first—so now uncape,’ Merry Wives, iii. 3. 176. Meaning doubtful. Here are three conjectures: (1) to uncouple (hounds) so Schmidt; (2) to dig out the fox when earthed (Warburton); (3) to turn the fox out of the bag (Steevens).
uncase,to undress. L. L. L. v. 2. 707; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 212.
uncharge,to acquit from a charge. Hamlet, iv. 7. 68.Uncharged, pp., unassailed, Timon, v. 4. 55.
unchary,not careful, heedless. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 222.
unclew,to unwind from a clew; hence,fig.to undo, to ruin. Timon, i. 1. 168.
uncoined,not minted; hence, not used as common coin, unconventional, simple. Hen. V, v. 2. 161.
uncouth,unknown, unusual, strange, Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 20; iii. 4. 51; Shep. Kal., Sept., 60. Still in prov. use in this sense in the north country (EDD.). ME.uncouth, strange, uncommon (Chaucer, C. T.A.2497). OE.uncūð, unknown, strange (John x. 5).
underfong,to undertake a work, labour, task; ‘And looser songs of love to underfong’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 22; id., June, 103; to receive, to take surreptitiously, F. Q. v. 2. 7;underfang, Mirror for Mag., Morindus, st. 6. ME.underfongyn, ‘suscipio’ (Prompt.). OE.underfōn, to receive, to undertake a task (B. T.); pp.underfangen. See Dict. M. and S. (s.vv. UnderfonandUnderfangen).
undergo,to experience; to endure with firmness, Cymbeline, iii. 2. 7; to suffer, put up with, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 133; to partake of, to enjoy, Meas. for M. i. 1. 24; to take upon oneself, to undertake, Two Gent. v. 4. 42; to be subject to, ‘Claudio undergoes my challenge’, Much Ado, v. 2. 57.
undermeal,a slight afternoon meal. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 1 (Cokes). See EDD. (s.v. Undern). ME.undermele, ‘post meridies’ (Prompt. EETS. 508);undermele tyde(Trevisa, tr. Higden, v. 373);undermeles, afternoons (Chaucer, C. T.D.875);undern+mele;undern, the time between noon and sunset. OE.undern. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Undern).
underset,to support, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146). ME.undersettynor underschoryn, ‘fulcio, suffulcio’ (Prompt. EETS.).
undertaker,a contractor; ‘Let not the government of the plantation depend upon too many . . . undertakers in the country that planteth’, Bacon, Essay 33; one who takes upon himself a task or business, Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 349; Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 78. Cp. Othello, iv. 1. 224.
undertime,afternoon, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 13. Forundern-time. Seeundermeal.
underwork,to work secretly against any one;underwrought, pp., undermined. King John, ii. 1. 96.
uneath, unneath,scarcely, hardly, with difficulty. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 38; i. 10. 31; i. 11. 4; 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 8;unnethes, Shep. Kal., Jan., 6. ME.uneth(unneth) scarcely (Wars Alex. 2060, 4801), alsounethes(unnethes), id., 4078, 4437; also in Chaucer, see Glossary. OE.unēaðe(Gen. xxvii. 30). See Dict. M. and S. (s v. Uneaðe).
unequal,unjust. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 1 (Mosca); Massinger, Emp. of the East, v. 2 (Theodosius); Ant. and Cl. ii. 5. 101; 2 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 102;Bible, Ezek. xviii. 25 (unequal= Vulg.pravus). See Trench, Sel. Gl. Seeequal.
unexpressive,inexpressible. As You Like it, iii. 2. 10; Milton, Christ’s Nativity, 116; Lycidas, 176.
unfolding;‘The unfolding star calls up the shepherd’, Meas. for M. iv. 2. 218. The star that by its rising tells the shepherd that it is time to release the sheep from the fold. [So Collins in his Ode to Evening, 72, refers to the evening-star as thefolding-star, the star rising at folding time: ‘When thy folding-star arising shows His paly circlet’; cp. Shelley in Hellas, 221, ‘The powers of earth and air Fled from the folding star of Bethlehem’.]
unhappily,unfortunately, with regret be it said. Meas. for M. i. 2. 160; mischievously, with evil result, Lucrece, 8; evilly, King Lear, i. 2. 157; Sonnet 66.
unhappy,mischievous, evil, trickish, All’s Well, iv. 5. 66; ill-omened, Cymb. v. 5. 153; wicked, Peele, Battle of Alcazar, Prologue; waggish, Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 2 (Olympia); unfortunate, Spenser, F. Q. i. 2. 22.
unhatched,unhacked, not blunted by blows. Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 257;unhatcht, unmarked, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, ii. 5 (Oriana). Seehatched.
unhatched,not hatched, not yet brought to light. Hamlet, i. 3. 65; Othello, iii. 4. 141.
unhele, unheale,to uncover. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 64; iv. 5. 10; Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (near end). Seeheal(to cover).
unherse,to take down (arms) from the ‘hearse’, or temporary stand on which they were placed; part of the ceremony ofbaffling. Spenser, F. Q. v. 3. 37. Seehearse.
unhouseled,without having received the last sacrament. Hamlet, i. 5. 77. Deriv. of ME.housel(P. Plowman, B. xix. 390); OE.hūsl(hūsel), the consecrated bread in the Eucharist (Ælfric), Goth.hunsl, ‘sacrificium’ (Matt. ix. 13). See Dict. (s.v. Housel).
unicorn’s horn,a supposed antidote to poison. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). ‘This beast in countenance is cruell and wilde, and yet notwithstanding mixed with a certaine sweetnes or amiablenes. His horne is of a merveilous greate force and vertue against Venome and poyson,’ Blundevile, Exercises; see Bible Word-Book (s.v. Unicorn).
unimproved,not yet used for advantage. Hamlet, i. 1. 96. Seeimprove.
union,a fine pearl. Hamlet, v. 2. 283; Kyd, Soliman, ii. 1. 231. Anglo-F.union(Bestiary, 1482); see Rough List; L.unio, a single pearl of a large size.
unjust,dishonest. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 2. 30;Bible, Luke xvi. 8.
unkind,unnatural. Spenser, F. Q., iii. 2. 43; King Lear, iii. 4. 73.
unlast,pp.ofunlace, to unfasten. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 39.
unlefull,forbidden. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 61. Seelefull.
unlived,deprived of life. Lucrece, 1754.
unmanned,unaccustomed to man, untamed, as a hawk. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, iii. 2 (Karol); Romeo, iii. 2. 14.
unmorris’d,not dressed like a morris-dancer. Fletcher, Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto).
un-napt,not provided with nap, as cloth; hence, unfurnished, unprovided. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, i. 1. 17.
unnethes;seeuneath.
unowed,unowned. King John, iv. 3. 147.
unperegall,unequalled. Marston, Dutch Courtezan, iv. 5 (end). Seeperegall.
unpregnant,unapt for business. Meas. for M. iv. 4. 23;unpregnant of, having no intelligent sense of, Hamlet, ii. 2. 595. Seepregnant(2).
unqueat,unquiet, disquieted. Warner, Alb. England, bk. iii, ch. 16, st. 65. Seequeat.
unquestionable,averse from conversation, uncommunicative. As You Like It, iii. 2. 393.
unquod,unusual, strange; ‘Vnquod manor of crueltee’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Augustus, § 59. A contaminated form, see EDD. (s.vv. Uncouth and Unkid). Inunkidthe-kid= OE. (ge)cȳdd, contraction ofcȳðed, pp. ofcȳðan, to make known. Seeuncouth.
unready,not fully dressed. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 1. 39;to make unready, to undress, Fletcher, Island Princess, iii. 8. 13. See Nares.
unrecovered,irrecoverable. Chapman, Iliad ix, 247.
unreduct,unreduced. Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 1 (Gerardine).
unreproved,irreproachable. Chapman, Iliad i, 87; ii, 785.
unrespective,devoid of consideration, unthinking. Richard III, iv. 2. 29; used at random, without consideration, Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 71.
unrude,rough, violent. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum., iv. 1. Cp. the obs. Scottishunrude(hideous, horrible, vile), given in Jamieson (EDD.). ME.unrüde(Stratmann);unride(unrode), cruel, rough, wanton (Wars Alex.). OE.ungerȳde, rough, violent, cp.ungerȳdu, ‘aspera’ (Luke iii. 5).
unseeled,not fastened up, opened; applied to the eyes. B. Jonson, Catiline, i. 1 (Cethegus). Seeseel.
unshed,not carefully parted; said of hair. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 40. ‘To shed’ is in prov. use in the north country for making a parting in the hair of the head (EDD.). ME.scheden, to separate, to part the hair;schede, the parting of a man’s hair (Cath. Angl.); OE.scēada, the top of the head, parting of the hair,scēadan, to part, to make a line of separation between (B. T.). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Scheden).
unstanched,(of thirst) insatiable. 1 Hen. VI, ii. 6. 83.
unsuffered,insufferable. Chapman, Iliad iii, 6.
untappice,to come out of hiding; ‘Now I’ll untappice’, Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). Seetappish.
untempering,not having a modifying or softening influence. Hen. V, v. 2. 241;temper, to fashion, mould, Richard III, i. 1. 65; Titus, iv. 4. 109. L.temperare, to temper, moderate, qualify.
untented,not to be probed by a ‘tent’; hence, incurable. King Lear, i. 4. 322. See Dict. (s.v. Tent, 2).
untermed,interminable, endless. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii. 3 (Duke).
untewed,not dressed like hemp; hence, not combed out, said of a sheep’s fleece. Lyly, Endimion, ii. 2 (Sir Tophas). Seetew(2).
unthrift,prodigal, wasteful. Timon, iv. 3. 311; a prodigal, good-for-nothing person, Richard II, ii. 3. 122. Cp. the Yorks. expression, ‘He’s a desperate unthrift’, for a thriftless squanderer, a good-for-nothing person (EDD.).
untraded,not commonly used. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 178. Seetrade.
untrussed,partially undressed, with the laces of his hose untied. Middleton, The Witch, v. 1. 2.
untwight,untouched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 345; speltontwight(L.incolumis), id., ii. 88. Seetwight(2).
unvalued,inestimable, invaluable. Richard III, i. 4. 27; Fletcher, Valentinian, i. 2. 19.
unwappered,not jaded, not worn out. Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 10. ‘Wappered’ is a Glouc. word, ‘Thy horse is wappered out’, i.e. tired out, quite jaded (EDD.).
unwares,unawares, unexpectedly. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 18; undesignedly, 3 Hen. VI, ii. 5. 62;at unwares, unexpectedly, Gascoigne (ed. Hazlitt, i. 434).
unwary,unexpected. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 25. The usual ME. form wasunwar; as in Chaucer, used as an adj. unexpected, and as an adv. unexpectedly.
unwist,unknown, unsuspected. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 26. ME.unwist, unknown (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1294).
unwreaken,unavenged. Tancred and Gismunda, v. 2 (Gismunda); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 86. ME.wreken, pp. avenged;wreke, to avenge (Chaucer), OE.wrecan, pp.ge)wrecen.
upbraid,a reproach; ‘He . . . with his mind had known Much better the upbraids of men’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, vi. 389. ME.upbreyd, a reproach (Handlyng Synne, 5843). See Dict.
upbray,to ‘upbraid’, reproach. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 45. In prov. use in north Yorks. (EDD.).
uphild,pp.upheld. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 11. 21.
uppen,to ‘open’, reveal, relate. Golding, Metam. xii. 162; fol. 145, l. 5 (1603). Cp. the E. Anglian expressions, ‘You didn’t uppen it, did ye? Be sewer don’t uppen it ta nobody’, where ‘uppen’ means to disclose, reveal (EDD.).
upright men,‘vagabonds who were strong enough to be chiefs or magistrates among their fellows; one of the twenty-four orders of beggars’ (Aydelotte, p. 27). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 2; Harman, Caveat (New Shaks. Soc, p. 34).
upsey,in the following combinations:Upsey-Dutch, in the Dutch fashion, B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 4 (Subtle), whence the phr.to drink upsey Dutch, to drink to excess, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii 1. 3;Upsey-Freeze, in the Frisian fashion, The Shrift (Nares); Dekker, Belman; id., Seven Deadly Sins (Nares);Upsey-English, in the English way, Beaumont and Fl., Beggar’s Bush, iv. 4 (Higgen). [Cp. ‘Drink upsees out’, in the Soldier’s Song in Scott’s Lady of the Lake, vi. 5.] Du.op zyn:op zyn Engelsch, after the English fashion (Sewel, s.v. Op). Du.zyn(now speltzin) = G.sinn, sense, meaning.
upsitting,a festival when a woman sits up after her confinement. Westward Ho, v. 1 (Mist. Tenterhook); Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Oldrents); Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, ii. 1 (Valere); ‘Relevailles d’une femme, the upsitting’, Cotgrave.
upspring,the name of a dance. Hamlet, i. 4. 9; ‘An Almain and an upspring’, Chapman, Alphonsus, iii. 1 (Bohemia).
ure,operation, action. Esp. in phr.to put in ure, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Porrex); Greene. Alphonsus, Prol. (Venus). OF.ure,eure, L.opera, work, action. See Dict.
ure,destiny; ‘Wherefore he hathe good ure, That can hymselfe assure Howe fortune wyll endure,’ Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1003. Hence, as vb.to be ured, to be invested with as by a decree of fate, ‘Men nowe a dayes so unhappely be uryd’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 6. Seeeure.
usance,interest paid for money, Merch. Ven. i. 3. 46. A rare meaning of the word; it gen. means the same as ‘usage’. ME.usaunce, custom (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 683). Norm. F.usance, ‘usage, mise en pratique, exercice d’un pouvoir’ (Moisy).
uses,practical applications of doctrines; a term affected by the Puritans, and ridiculed by the dramatists. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iii. 1 (Needle); Massinger, Emp. of the East, iii. 2 (Flaccilla).
utas,the period of eight days beginning with a festival; hence, merriment, festivity; ‘Utas of a feest,octaves’, Palsgrave; ‘Old utis’ (i.e. high merriment), 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 22. ‘Utis’ still survives in prov. use in Worc. in the sense of noise, din: ‘The hounds kicked up a deuce of a utis’ (EDD.). Anglo-F.utaves(Rough List); L.octava(dies), eighth day; for ecclesiastical use see Dict. Christ. Antiq. (s.v. Octave). See Dict. (s.v. Utas).
utter,to put forth, put in circulation, offer for sale, put on the market. L. L. L. ii. 1. 16; Romeo, v. 1. 67; Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 330; Fletcher, Captain, ii. 1 (Jacomo); Sir T. Elyot, Governour, iii. 30, § 2; Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 448. Henceutterance, sale, ‘There is no such speedie utterance of rabbets’, Harrison, Descr. of England, bk. ii, ch. 19 (ed. Furnivall, p. 304).
utterance:in phr.to the utterance, to the last extremity, Macbeth, iii. 1. 72. F.à outrance;combat à outrance, a fight to the death; deriv. ofoutre, L.ultra, beyond.
V
vacabonde,a wandering beggar, a ‘vagabond’; ‘Fraternitye of Vacabondes’, Awdeley (title of book, 1565). Norm. F.vacabond, ‘vagabond’ (Moisy); F. ‘vacabonds, vagabonds, rogues’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.vv. VagabondandVagrant).
vacate,to annul, to make void, to make of no authority; ‘That after-act vacating the authority of the precedent’, King Charles (Johnson); to render vain, to frustrate, Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1 (Dorax). Med. L.vac(u)are, ‘inane, irritum et vacuum efficere’ (Ducange), see Rönsch, Vulgata, 171.
vade,to vanish, pass away; ‘Their vapour vaded’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 20; ‘How ever gay their blossome or their blade Doe flourish now, they into dust shall vade’, id., v. 2. 40; Ruines of Rome, xx; Shaks. Sonnets, liv. 14; to fade, ‘Upon her head a chaplet stood of never vading greene’, Niccols, Induction, Mirror for Mag. 559 (Nares); Richard II, i. 2. 20.
vah,an interjection; ‘No, vah! Fie, I scorn it’, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 1 (Eyre).
vail,to lower, to let fall; ‘She vailed her eyelids’, Venus and Ad. 956; Hamlet, i. 2. 70; to bow, to stoop, to do homage, Pericles, iv, Prol. 29. ME.avale, to lower (Gower, C. A. viii. 1619). Anglo-F.avaler, to lower (Gower, Mirour, 10306).
vails,pl., profits or perquisites that arise to servants besides their salary or wages. Pericles, ii. 1. 163; Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii. 311. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Vail, 2).Vailis a shortened form foravail. ME.avayle, ‘profectus, proventus, emolumentum’ (Prompt. EETS. 17).
valance,a fringe of drapery; ‘Rich cloth of tissue and vallance of black silk’, Strype, Eccles. Mem., Funeral Solemnities of Henry VIII; a part of bed-hangings, ‘Valenzana del letto, the valances of a bed’, Florio (ed. 1598). Hencevalanced, fringed, usedfig.of a beard, Hamlet, ii. 2. 442. See Dict.
valew,valour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29; Harington, tr. Ariosto, xiii. 39. F. ‘valuë, worth, goodness’ (Cotgr.).
valiant,worth, amounting to in value; ‘Four hundred a year valiant, worth £400 a year’, Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 1 (Witgood). F.vaillant, ‘a mans whole estate or worth, all his substance, means, fortunes’ (Cotgr.). Cp. Med. L.valens, ‘valor, pretium’ (Ducange).
vall,a vale. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 479. F. ‘val, a vale’ (Cotgr.).
vallies,‘valise’. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (near the end). See Dict.
valure,value, worth. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, p. 506); Pembroke, Arcadia (Nares); Mirror for Mag. 280; hence,valurous, valuable, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2 (Tamb.). See Dict. (s.v. Valour).
vannes,pl.wings, Milton, P. L. ii. 927. Cp. Ital.vanni, ‘the whole wings of any bird’ (Florio).
vance,to ‘advance’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 7.
vantbrace,the ‘vambrace’, armour for the fore-arm, Milton, Samson, 1121; Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 297. F.avant-bras, ‘the part of the arm which extends from the elbow to the wrist; also, a vambrace armour for an arm’ (Cotgr.).
vantguard,the ‘vanguard’, front rank. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 266. ME.vaunt-gard(Holinshed, Chron. Edw. III, ann. 1346; F.avant-garde, ‘the vanguard of an army’ (Cotgr.).
vapour,fume, steam; used, likehumour, to denote a man’s characteristic quality, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii (passim). See full account of this use of the word in Nares (s.v.). Cp. the use of the F. wordvapeurs. ‘On appelleVapeursdans le corps humain, Les affections hypocondriaques & hystériques, parce qu’on les croyoit causées par des fumées élevées de l’estemac ou du bas ventre vers le cerveau’, Dict. de l’Acad. (ed. 1762).
vardingale,a ‘farthingale’. Three Lords and Three Ladies, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 434. This is the form in Cotgrave (s.vv. Vertugalle and Vertugadin). F.verdugale(Rabelais); ‘sorte de cerceau, panier ou jupon bouffant pour seutenir les jupes’ (Jannet’s Gloss.). Span.verdugado, ‘a Petticoat . . . set out below with a small Hoop, below with one wider and so wider and wider down to the Feet, so that it looks exactly like a Funnel’ (Stevens). Seeverdugal.
vare,a wand. Dryden, Absalom, 595. Span.vára, a wand (Stevens.)
vastidity,immensity. Meas. for M. iii. 1. 69.
vasty,vast, spacious. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 52.
vaunt,the beginning; ‘Our play leaps o’er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils’, Tr. and Cr., Prel. 27.Vaunt-courier, a forerunner, King Lear, iii. 2. 25; cp. F.avant-coureur, ‘a fore-runner, avant-curror’ (Cotgr.); seevoward.F.avant, before, used of place and time.
vaut,to ‘vault’, to leap. Ascham, Scholemaster, 64; Drayton, Pol. vi. 51; B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); hencevawter, a ‘vaulter’, tumbler, dancer; used of a wanton woman, Gosson, School of Abuse, 36.
vease,a rush, impetus, great effort, force; ‘Forth his vease he set withall’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 962. See EDD. (s.v. Fease, sb. 6). ME.vese: ‘Ther-out cam a rage and such a vese that it made al the gates for to rese’ (Chaucer, C. T.A.1985); see NED. (s.v. Feeze). Seefeeze.
vecture,carrying, conveying, carriage of goods. Bacon, Essay 15, § 11. L.vectura, a carrying, conveying, transportation by carriage or ship (Cicero).
veget,lively, bright; ‘A veget spark’, Cartwright, The Ordinary, iv. 3 (Shape). L.vegetus, lively.
vegetive,a vegetable. Pericles, iii. 2. 36; Massinger, Old Law, i (Nares); as adj. ‘The tree still panted in th’ unfinish’d part, Not wholly vegetive, and heav’d her heart’, Dryden, Ovid, Metam. bk. i (Daphne).
velure,velvet. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 62;vellure, Beaumont and Fl., Noble Gent. v. 1 (Nares). F.velours, velvet; cp. O. Prov.velos(Levy), L.villosus, shaggy (Virgil); see Hatzfeld.
velvet-tip,the down or velvet upon the first sprouting horns of a young deer. Ford, Fancies Chaste, iii. 3 (Spadone).
vena porta,orgate-vaine(gate-vein), a vein conveying chyle from the stomach to the liver. Bacon, Essay 19, § 11; 41, § 2. L.vena, vein;porta, gate. Seegate-vein.
venditation,ostentatious display. B. Jonson, Discoveries, lxxii, Not. 8 (p. 747). L.venditatio, an offering for sale, display;venditare, to offer again and again for sale.
venerie,hunting. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 22. ME.venerye(Chaucer, C. T.A.166). Anglo-F.venerie(Gower, Mirour, 20314).
Venetians,Venetian or Venice hose. Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 344;Venetian-hosen(described), Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, p. 56).
vengeable,revengeful, cruel, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 6, § 3; Spenser, ii. 4. 30, 46; terrible, ‘Magdeburg be vengeable fellows’, Ascham, Letter to Raven, 381 (Nares); excessively great, ‘Paulus . . . was a vengible fellow in linking matters together’, Holland’s Camden, p. 78 (Davies); excessively, ‘The drink is vengeable bitter’, Gascoigne, Glasse Gov. v. 1 (ed. 1870). See EDD.
vent,a small inn. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Hostess); Shelton, tr. Don Quixote, Pt. I. ii. Span.venta, an inn (Stevens). Med. L.venta, ‘locus ubi merees venum exponuntur’ (Ducange);vendita, see Ducange (s.v. Venda, 1); deriv. of L.vendere, to sell.
vent,to vend, sell. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1. 8; a sale, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146); Tusser, Husbandry, § 19. 27. F.vente, sale. See above.
vent,to snuff up or take in the air; to perceive by scent. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 118; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 75.
vent,to let out, emit, Coriolanus, i. 1. 229; to utter, Ant. and Cl. iii. 4. 8 (common in Shaks.); to give birth to, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xix. 97.
ventages,small holes for the passage of air in a flute or flageolet, to be stopped with a finger. Hamlet, iii. 2. 372.
ventanna,a window. Dryden, Conq. of Granada, I. i. 1 (Boabdelin). Span.ventana.
ventilate,pp.discussed. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 25, § 3. L.ventilatus, pp. ofventilare, to winnow grain, to toss grain into the air in order to cleanse it from chaff (Pliny).
ventoy,a fan. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 2. 4. F. ‘ventau, a fan’ (Cotgr.).
ver,spring. Surrey, Complaint of a Lover, 19 (Tottel’s Misc. 8 and 11); speltvere, ‘The rotys take theyr sap in tyme of vere’, Skelton, On Tyme, 24. O. Prov.ver, ‘printemps’ (Levy), L.ver.
verdea wine,a wine made of a green grape; and sold at Florence. Beaumont and Fl., ii. 1 (Miramont). Ital.verdéa, ‘a kind of white pleasant dainty Ladies wine in Tuscany’ (Florio).
verdugal,a ‘farthingale’; ‘Stiffe bombasted verdugals’, Florio’s Montaigne (ed. Morley, 1886, p. 273). Seevardingale.
verdugo,a Spanish word for an executioner, a hangman (Stevens); hence,his Verdugo-ship, a contemptuous expression for a Spaniard, B. Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2 (Face).
vespillo,among the Romans, one who carried out the poor for burial; a corpse-bearer. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., Pt. I, § 38. L.vespillo(Suetonius).
vex,to be grieved about anything. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1. 7. In prov. use from Worc. to the Isle of Wight, ‘ ’Er little girl died, and ’er vex’d and vex’d so’ (EDD.).
via!,away!, move on! Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 11; Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, ii. 3 (Launcelot). Ital.via, ‘an adverbe of encouraging, much used by riders to their horses, and by commanders; go on, away, go to, on, forward, quickly’, Florio. See Nares.
ViceorIniquity,names for the established buffoon in the old Moralities; ‘How like you the Vice in the Play?’, B. Jonson, Staple of News (ed. 1860, p. 388); ‘Thus like the formal Vice, Iniquity, I moralize’, Richard III, iii. 1. 82. See Schmidt, and Nares (svv. Iniquity and Vice).
vice,an iron press with a screw for holding things fast, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 24; to hold one fast as in a ‘vice’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 416. See Dict.
vide-ruff,an old card-game; obsolete. Heywood, A Woman killed, iii. 2 (Cranwell). Prob.vide=vied, pp. ofvie, a term in card-playing; seevie.
vie,to hazard or put down a certain sum upon a hand at cards;to revie, to cover that stake with a larger sum; after which, the first challenger couldrevieagain; and so on. ‘Here’s a trick vied and revied!’, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 1 (Well-bred);Vie and revie, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, § last; see Gifford’s note. See below.
vie with,to show in comparison or competition with; ‘So with the dove of Paphos might the crow vie feathers white’, Pericles, iv, Prol. 33. ME.envỳe, to show in competition (Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 173, MS. Fairfax). F.envier(au jeu), ‘to vie’ (Cotgr.); Ital.invitare(al giuoco), to vie at any game (Florio); cp. Span.envidar, to invite or open the game by staking a certain sum (Neuman). See Dict.
vild,vile. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 46; v. 11. 18. A very common form in Tudor English.
viliaco,a scoundrel. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum. v. 3 (Sogliardo). Ital.vigliacco, ‘a rascal, a scurvy scoundrel’ (Florio).
vilify,to hold cheap. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 3 (Forobosco). Late L.vilificare(Tertullian).
villatic,belonging to a farm; hence, domestic; ‘Tame villatic fowl’, Milton, Samson, 1695. L.villaticus, belonging to a farm. L.villa, a country-house, farm.
vine-dee,a kind of wine. Mayne, City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). Supposed to represent F.vin de Dieu, or lacrima-Christi.
viol-de-gamboys,a bass-viol, Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 27. Ital.viola di gamba, ‘a violl de gamba’ (Florio). So called because placed beside the leg instead of (like the violin) on the arm. Ital.gamba, the leg. Seede gambo.
virelay,a lay or song with a ‘veering’ arrangement of the rimes. Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 365. See Nares. F.virelay, ‘a virelay, round, freemans song’;virer, ‘to veer, turn round’ (Cotgr.).
virge, verge,a wand. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, v. 3 (Seriben). F.verge, a rod, wand (Cotgr.).
virginals,an instrument of the spinnet kind, but made rectangular, like a small pianoforte. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (2 Citizen); Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 2 (Clown). Also calleda pair of virginals, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, ch. iii. Their name was probably derived from their being used by young girls. Hence,virginalling, lit. playing on the virginals, ‘Still virginalling upon his palm!’, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 125 (a word coined in jealous indignation). See Nares.
visage,to look in the face, gaze on. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, book ii, c. 2, § 3. ‘I vysage, I make contenaunce to one,Ie visaige’, Palsgrave.
visitate,to survey, behold. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 161.
vively,in a life-like manner. Marston, Sophonisba, iv. 1. 154. F.vif.
vives;seefives.
voider,a basket or tray for carrying out the relics of a dinner or other meal. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 3 (Lazarillo); ‘Mésciróbba, any great dish, platter, charger, voider, tray or pan’, Florio; ‘Enter . . . serving-men, one with a voider and a wooden knife’, T. Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (The wooden knife emptied the remnants of the food into the ‘voider’); ‘Piers Ploughman laid the cloth and Simplicity brought in the voider’, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, i; ‘Voyder,lanx’, Levins, Manip. In prov. use for a butler’s tray, or a large open basket; in west Yorks. it is the usual word for a clothes-basket (EDD.).
volary,a great cage for birds; ‘(she sits) Like the forsaken turtle, in the volary Of the Light Heart, the cage’, B. Jonson, New Inn, v. 1 (Prudence). Ital.voleria, ‘a volery or great cage for birds’ (Florio).
voley:phr.on the voley, o’ the volèe, inconsiderately. Massinger, Picture, iii. 6. 1; B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Prudence). F.à la volée, ‘rashly, inconsiderately, at random, at rovers’;volée, flight,voler, to fly (Cotgr.). See Nares (s.v. Volée).
voluptie,sensual pleasure. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 11, § 16; bk. iii, c. 20, § 1. F.volupté.
volvell,an instrument consisting of graduated and figured circles drawn on the leaf of a book, to the centre of which is attached one movable circle or more; ‘He turnyd his tirikkis, his volvell ran fast’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1517. Fully described by Dyce, ii. 336. Med. L.volvella,volvellum; from L.volvere, to revolve.
vor, vore;seeche vor.
vorloffe,‘furlough’. B. Jonson, Staple of News, v. 1 (Picklock). Du. ‘verlof, leave, consent or permission’ (Hexham); Dan.forlov, leave, furlough, cp. G.verlaub, leave, permission.
votaress,a woman that is under a vow. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 123, 163;votress, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 225.
vote,an ardent wish, a prayer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iv. 2 (Alcidon); Massinger, Guardian, v. 1 (Severino). L.votum, a desire, an ardent longing (Horace).
voward,forvaward,vanward, vanguard, North’s Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 29 (in Shak. Plut., p. 142); id., § 31, p. 147. F.avant-garde, vanguard. Seevaunt.
vowess,a widow who made a vow to observe chastity in honour of her deceased husband; ‘In that church (Oseneie) lieth this ladie (Editha, wife of Robert d’Oyly) buried with hir image . . . in the habit of a vowesse’, Harrison, Desc. England, bk. ii, ch. 3 (ed. Furnivall, p. 74); Leland’s Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith, Pt. I, 83, 112, 124). In the church of Shalstone in Bucks. there is a monumental brass to the memory of Susan Kingstone, step-sister of Sir T. Elyot, on which she is described as a ‘vowess’; she died in the year 1540. For the widow’s vow of chastity, see Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, 70, footnote); Fosbrooke, British Monachism, 510.