She tore herattirefrom her head, and rent her golden hair.—The Seven Champions, b. ii. c. 13.With the linen mitre shall he beattired.—Lev.xvi. 4. (A. V.)Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyedattireupon their heads.—Ezek.xxiii. 15 (A. V.)The heralds call the Horns of a Stag or Buck hisAttire.—Bradley,Fam. Dict.s. v.
She tore herattirefrom her head, and rent her golden hair.—The Seven Champions, b. ii. c. 13.
With the linen mitre shall he beattired.—Lev.xvi. 4. (A. V.)
Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyedattireupon their heads.—Ezek.xxiii. 15 (A. V.)
The heralds call the Horns of a Stag or Buck hisAttire.—Bradley,Fam. Dict.s. v.
Attorney.Seldom used now except of the attorneyat law; being one, according to Blackstone’s definition, ‘who is put in the place, stead, orturnof another to manage his matters of law;’ and even in this sense it is going out of honour, and giving way to ‘solicitor.’ But formerly any who in any cause acted in the room, behalf, or turn of another would be called his ‘attorney;’ thus Phillips (New World of Words) defines attorney, ‘one appointed by another man to do anything in his stead, or to take upon him the charge of his business in his absence;’ and in proof of what high use the word might have, Ineed but refer to the quotation which immediately follows:
Our everlasting and only High Bishop; our onlyattorney, our mediator, only peacemaker between God and men.—A Short Catechism, 1553.Attorneysare denied me,And thereforepersonallyI lay my claimTo my inheritance of free descent.Shakespeare,King Richard II.act ii. sc. 3.Tertullian seems to understand this baptism for the dead [1 Cor. xv. 29] de vicario baptismate, of baptism by anattorney, by a proxy, which should be baptized for me when I am dead.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 794.
Our everlasting and only High Bishop; our onlyattorney, our mediator, only peacemaker between God and men.—A Short Catechism, 1553.
Attorneysare denied me,And thereforepersonallyI lay my claimTo my inheritance of free descent.
Attorneysare denied me,And thereforepersonallyI lay my claimTo my inheritance of free descent.
Attorneysare denied me,And thereforepersonallyI lay my claimTo my inheritance of free descent.
Attorneysare denied me,
And thereforepersonallyI lay my claim
To my inheritance of free descent.
Shakespeare,King Richard II.act ii. sc. 3.
Tertullian seems to understand this baptism for the dead [1 Cor. xv. 29] de vicario baptismate, of baptism by anattorney, by a proxy, which should be baptized for me when I am dead.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 794.
Authentic.A distinction drawn by Bishop Watson between ‘genuine’ and ‘authentic’ has been often quoted: ‘Agenuinebook is that which was written by the person whose name it bears as the author of it. Anauthenticbook is that which relates matters of fact as they really happened.’ Of ‘authentic’ he has certainly not seized the true force, neither do the uses of it by good writers bear him out. The true opposite to αὐθεντικός in Greek is ἀδέσποτος, and ‘authentic’ is properly original, independent, and thus coming with authority, authoritative.6Thus, an ‘authentic’ document is, in its first meaning, a document written by the proper hand of him from whom it professes to proceed. In all the passages which follow it will be observed that the word might be exchanged for ‘authoritative.’
As doubted tenures, which long pleadings try,Authenticgrow by being much withstood.Davenant,Gondibert, b. ii.Should men be admitted to read Galen or Hippocrates, and yet the monopoly of medicines permitted to some one empiric or apothecary, not liable to any account, there might be a greater danger of poisoning than if these grand physicians had never written; for that might be prescribed them by such anauthenticmountebank as a cordial, which the other had detected for poison.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. ii. c. 23.Which letterin the copyhis lordship read over, and carried theauthenticwith him.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 24.It were extreme partiality and injustice, the flat denial and overthrow of herself [i.e. of Justice], to put her ownauthenticsword into the hand of an unjust and wicked man.—Milton, Εἰκονοκλάστης. c. 28.[A father] to instil the rudiments of vice into the unwary flexible years of his poor children, poisoning their tender minds with the irresistibleauthenticvenom of his base example!—South,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 190; cf. vol. viii. p. 171.Men ought to fly all pedantisms, and not rashly to use all words that are met with in every English writer, whetherauthenticor not.—Phillips,New World of Words, Preface.
As doubted tenures, which long pleadings try,Authenticgrow by being much withstood.
As doubted tenures, which long pleadings try,Authenticgrow by being much withstood.
As doubted tenures, which long pleadings try,Authenticgrow by being much withstood.
As doubted tenures, which long pleadings try,
Authenticgrow by being much withstood.
Davenant,Gondibert, b. ii.
Should men be admitted to read Galen or Hippocrates, and yet the monopoly of medicines permitted to some one empiric or apothecary, not liable to any account, there might be a greater danger of poisoning than if these grand physicians had never written; for that might be prescribed them by such anauthenticmountebank as a cordial, which the other had detected for poison.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. ii. c. 23.
Which letterin the copyhis lordship read over, and carried theauthenticwith him.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 24.
It were extreme partiality and injustice, the flat denial and overthrow of herself [i.e. of Justice], to put her ownauthenticsword into the hand of an unjust and wicked man.—Milton, Εἰκονοκλάστης. c. 28.
[A father] to instil the rudiments of vice into the unwary flexible years of his poor children, poisoning their tender minds with the irresistibleauthenticvenom of his base example!—South,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 190; cf. vol. viii. p. 171.
Men ought to fly all pedantisms, and not rashly to use all words that are met with in every English writer, whetherauthenticor not.—Phillips,New World of Words, Preface.
This used once to be often employed of that whichfeltawe; it is only employed now of that whichinspiresit.
The kings sat still withawfuleye,As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.Milton,On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.The highest flames are the most tremulous, and so are the most holy and eminent religious persons more full ofawfulness, of fear and modesty and humility.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ, part i. § 5.
The kings sat still withawfuleye,As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.
The kings sat still withawfuleye,As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.
The kings sat still withawfuleye,As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.
The kings sat still withawfuleye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.
Milton,On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.
The highest flames are the most tremulous, and so are the most holy and eminent religious persons more full ofawfulness, of fear and modesty and humility.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ, part i. § 5.
Awkward.In its present signification, unhandy, ungainly, maladroit; but formerly7untoward, and that, whether morally or physically, perverse, contrary, sinister, unlucky.
Withawkwardwind and with sore tempest drivenTo fall on shore.Marlowe,Edward II.act iv. sc. 7.The beast long struggled, as being like to proveAnawkwardsacrifice,8but by the hornsThe quick priest pulled him on his knees and slew him.Marlowe,The First Book of Lucan.Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea,And twice byawkwardwind from England’s bankDrove back again unto my native clime?Shakespeare,1 Henry VI.act iii. sc. 2.But time hath rooted out my parentage,And to the world andawkwardcasualtiesBound me in servitude.Id.,Pericles, Prince of Tyre, act v. sc. 1.
Withawkwardwind and with sore tempest drivenTo fall on shore.
Withawkwardwind and with sore tempest drivenTo fall on shore.
Withawkwardwind and with sore tempest drivenTo fall on shore.
Withawkwardwind and with sore tempest driven
To fall on shore.
Marlowe,Edward II.act iv. sc. 7.
The beast long struggled, as being like to proveAnawkwardsacrifice,8but by the hornsThe quick priest pulled him on his knees and slew him.
The beast long struggled, as being like to proveAnawkwardsacrifice,8but by the hornsThe quick priest pulled him on his knees and slew him.
The beast long struggled, as being like to proveAnawkwardsacrifice,8but by the hornsThe quick priest pulled him on his knees and slew him.
The beast long struggled, as being like to prove
Anawkwardsacrifice,8but by the horns
The quick priest pulled him on his knees and slew him.
Marlowe,The First Book of Lucan.
Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea,And twice byawkwardwind from England’s bankDrove back again unto my native clime?
Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea,And twice byawkwardwind from England’s bankDrove back again unto my native clime?
Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea,And twice byawkwardwind from England’s bankDrove back again unto my native clime?
Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea,
And twice byawkwardwind from England’s bank
Drove back again unto my native clime?
Shakespeare,1 Henry VI.act iii. sc. 2.
But time hath rooted out my parentage,And to the world andawkwardcasualtiesBound me in servitude.
But time hath rooted out my parentage,And to the world andawkwardcasualtiesBound me in servitude.
But time hath rooted out my parentage,And to the world andawkwardcasualtiesBound me in servitude.
But time hath rooted out my parentage,
And to the world andawkwardcasualties
Bound me in servitude.
Id.,Pericles, Prince of Tyre, act v. sc. 1.
‘Doll’ is of late introduction into the English language, is certainly later than Dryden. ‘Babe,’ ‘baby,’ or puppet supplied its place.
True religion standeth not in making, setting up, painting, gilding, clothing, and decking of dumb and dead images, which be but great puppets andbabiesfor old fools, in dotage and wicked idolatry, to dally and play with.—Homilies; Against Peril of Idolatry.Babesof clouts are good enough to keep children from crying.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 17.But all as a poore pedler he did wend,Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe,As bells, andbabes, and glasses in hys packe.Spenser,The Shepherd’s Calendar, May.Think you that the child hath any notion of the strong contents of riper age? or can he possibly imagine there are any such delights as those hisbabiesand rattles afford him?—Allestree,Sermons, part ii. p. 148.
True religion standeth not in making, setting up, painting, gilding, clothing, and decking of dumb and dead images, which be but great puppets andbabiesfor old fools, in dotage and wicked idolatry, to dally and play with.—Homilies; Against Peril of Idolatry.
Babesof clouts are good enough to keep children from crying.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 17.
But all as a poore pedler he did wend,Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe,As bells, andbabes, and glasses in hys packe.
But all as a poore pedler he did wend,Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe,As bells, andbabes, and glasses in hys packe.
But all as a poore pedler he did wend,Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe,As bells, andbabes, and glasses in hys packe.
But all as a poore pedler he did wend,
Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe,
As bells, andbabes, and glasses in hys packe.
Spenser,The Shepherd’s Calendar, May.
Think you that the child hath any notion of the strong contents of riper age? or can he possibly imagine there are any such delights as those hisbabiesand rattles afford him?—Allestree,Sermons, part ii. p. 148.
Bacchanal.Used now generally of a drunken reveller or votary of Bacchus; but it was once more accurately applied to the ‘bacchanalia,’ or orgies celebrated in his honour.
Do not ye, like those heathen in theirbacchanals, inflame yourselves with wine.—Hammond,Paraphrase on the N. T., Ephes. v. 18.Sobacchanalsof drunken riot were kept too much in London and Westminster, which offended many, that the thanks due only to God should be paid to the devil.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 165.Well, I could wish that still in lordly domesSome beasts were killed, though not whole hecatombs;That both extremes were banished from their walls,Carthusian fasts, and fulsomebacchanals.Pope,Satires of Dr. Donne.
Do not ye, like those heathen in theirbacchanals, inflame yourselves with wine.—Hammond,Paraphrase on the N. T., Ephes. v. 18.
Sobacchanalsof drunken riot were kept too much in London and Westminster, which offended many, that the thanks due only to God should be paid to the devil.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 165.
Well, I could wish that still in lordly domesSome beasts were killed, though not whole hecatombs;That both extremes were banished from their walls,Carthusian fasts, and fulsomebacchanals.
Well, I could wish that still in lordly domesSome beasts were killed, though not whole hecatombs;That both extremes were banished from their walls,Carthusian fasts, and fulsomebacchanals.
Well, I could wish that still in lordly domesSome beasts were killed, though not whole hecatombs;That both extremes were banished from their walls,Carthusian fasts, and fulsomebacchanals.
Well, I could wish that still in lordly domes
Some beasts were killed, though not whole hecatombs;
That both extremes were banished from their walls,
Carthusian fasts, and fulsomebacchanals.
Pope,Satires of Dr. Donne.
Baffle.Now to counterwork and to defeat; but once not this so much as to mock and put to shame, and, in the technical language of chivalry, it expressed a ceremony of open scorn with which a recreant or perjured knight was visited. [See quotation from Hall,Chron.in N.E.D.]
First he his beard did shave and foully shent,Then from him reft his shield, and it renverst,And blotted out his armes with falshood blent,And himselfebaffuld, and his armes unherst,And broke his sword in twaine, and all his armour sperst.Spenser,Fairy Queen, v. 3, 37.He that suffers himself to be ridden, or through pusillanimity or sottishness will let every manbafflehim, shall be a common laughing-stock to flout at.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part ii. § 3.Alas, poor fool, how have theybaffledthee!Shakespeare,Twelfth Night, act v. sc. 1.
First he his beard did shave and foully shent,Then from him reft his shield, and it renverst,And blotted out his armes with falshood blent,And himselfebaffuld, and his armes unherst,And broke his sword in twaine, and all his armour sperst.
First he his beard did shave and foully shent,Then from him reft his shield, and it renverst,And blotted out his armes with falshood blent,And himselfebaffuld, and his armes unherst,And broke his sword in twaine, and all his armour sperst.
First he his beard did shave and foully shent,Then from him reft his shield, and it renverst,And blotted out his armes with falshood blent,And himselfebaffuld, and his armes unherst,And broke his sword in twaine, and all his armour sperst.
First he his beard did shave and foully shent,
Then from him reft his shield, and it renverst,
And blotted out his armes with falshood blent,
And himselfebaffuld, and his armes unherst,
And broke his sword in twaine, and all his armour sperst.
Spenser,Fairy Queen, v. 3, 37.
He that suffers himself to be ridden, or through pusillanimity or sottishness will let every manbafflehim, shall be a common laughing-stock to flout at.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part ii. § 3.
Alas, poor fool, how have theybaffledthee!
Alas, poor fool, how have theybaffledthee!
Alas, poor fool, how have theybaffledthee!
Alas, poor fool, how have theybaffledthee!
Shakespeare,Twelfth Night, act v. sc. 1.
Banquet.At present the entire course of any solemn or sumptuous entertainment; but ‘banquet’ (O. Fr.banquet, cp. It. ‘banchetto,’ a small bench or table) used generally to be restrained to a slighter repast, to the lighter and ornamental dessert or refection, or the ‘banquet of wine’ (Esth. vii. 2), which followed and crowned the more substantial repast.
I durst not venture to sitat supperwith you; should I have received you then, coming as you did with armed men tobanquetwith me? [Convivamme tibi committere ausus non sum;comissatoremte cum armatis venientem recipiam?]—Holland,Livy, p. 1066.Then was the banqueting-chamber in the tilt-yard at Greenwich furnished for the entertainment of these strangers, where they did both sup and banquet.—Cavendish,Life of Cardinal Wolsey.We’lldinein the great room; but let the musicAndbanquetbe prepared here.Massinger,The Unnatural Combat, act iii. sc. 1.
I durst not venture to sitat supperwith you; should I have received you then, coming as you did with armed men tobanquetwith me? [Convivamme tibi committere ausus non sum;comissatoremte cum armatis venientem recipiam?]—Holland,Livy, p. 1066.
Then was the banqueting-chamber in the tilt-yard at Greenwich furnished for the entertainment of these strangers, where they did both sup and banquet.—Cavendish,Life of Cardinal Wolsey.
We’lldinein the great room; but let the musicAndbanquetbe prepared here.
We’lldinein the great room; but let the musicAndbanquetbe prepared here.
We’lldinein the great room; but let the musicAndbanquetbe prepared here.
We’lldinein the great room; but let the music
Andbanquetbe prepared here.
Massinger,The Unnatural Combat, act iii. sc. 1.
The aristocratic tendencies of speech (tendencies illustrated by the word ‘aristocracy’ itself), which reappear in a thousand shapes, on the one side in such words, and their usages, as καλοκἀγαθός, ἐπιεικής, ‘noble,’ on the other in such as ‘villain,’ ‘boor,’ ‘knave,’ ‘churl,’ and in this ‘base,’ are well worthy of accurate observation. Thus ‘base’ always now implies moral unworthiness;but did not so once. ‘Base’ men were no more than men of humble birth and low degree.
But vertuous women wisely understandThat they were borne tobasehumilitie,Unlesse the heavens them lift to lawful soveraintie.Spenser,Fairy Queen, v. 5, 25.He that is ashamed ofbaseand simple attire, will be proud of gorgeous apparel, if he may get it.—Homilies; Against Excess of Apparel.By this means we imitate the Lord Himself, who hath abased Himself to the lowest degree ofbasenessin this kind, emptying Himself (Phil. ii. 8), that he might be equal to them of greatestbaseness.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 461.
But vertuous women wisely understandThat they were borne tobasehumilitie,Unlesse the heavens them lift to lawful soveraintie.
But vertuous women wisely understandThat they were borne tobasehumilitie,Unlesse the heavens them lift to lawful soveraintie.
But vertuous women wisely understandThat they were borne tobasehumilitie,Unlesse the heavens them lift to lawful soveraintie.
But vertuous women wisely understand
That they were borne tobasehumilitie,
Unlesse the heavens them lift to lawful soveraintie.
Spenser,Fairy Queen, v. 5, 25.
He that is ashamed ofbaseand simple attire, will be proud of gorgeous apparel, if he may get it.—Homilies; Against Excess of Apparel.
By this means we imitate the Lord Himself, who hath abased Himself to the lowest degree ofbasenessin this kind, emptying Himself (Phil. ii. 8), that he might be equal to them of greatestbaseness.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 461.
Battle.Used, not as now, of the hostile shock of armies; but often of the army itself; or sometimes in a more special sense, of the main body of the army, as distinguished from the van and rear.
Eachbattlesees the other’s umbered face.Shakespeare,King Henry V.act iv. Chorus.Richard led the vanguard of English; Duke Odo commanded in the mainbattleover his French; James of Auvergne brought on the Flemings and Brabanters in the rear.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iii. c. 11.Where divine blessing leads up the van, and man’s valour brings up thebattle, must not victory needs follow in the rear?—Id.,A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, vol. i. p. 174.
Eachbattlesees the other’s umbered face.
Eachbattlesees the other’s umbered face.
Eachbattlesees the other’s umbered face.
Eachbattlesees the other’s umbered face.
Shakespeare,King Henry V.act iv. Chorus.
Richard led the vanguard of English; Duke Odo commanded in the mainbattleover his French; James of Auvergne brought on the Flemings and Brabanters in the rear.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iii. c. 11.
Where divine blessing leads up the van, and man’s valour brings up thebattle, must not victory needs follow in the rear?—Id.,A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, vol. i. p. 174.
Bawd.Not confined once to one sex only, but could have been applied to pandar and pandaress alike.
He was if I schal yive him his laude,A theef, a sompnour and eek abaude.Chaucer,The Freres Tale.One Lamb, a notorious impostor, a fortune-teller, and an employedbawd.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 81.A carrion crow he [the flatterer] is, a gaping grave,The rich coat’s moth, the court’s bane, trencher’s slave,Sin’s and hell’s winningbawd, the devil’s factoring knave.P. Fletcher,The Purple Island, c. viii.
He was if I schal yive him his laude,A theef, a sompnour and eek abaude.
He was if I schal yive him his laude,A theef, a sompnour and eek abaude.
He was if I schal yive him his laude,A theef, a sompnour and eek abaude.
He was if I schal yive him his laude,
A theef, a sompnour and eek abaude.
Chaucer,The Freres Tale.
One Lamb, a notorious impostor, a fortune-teller, and an employedbawd.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 81.
A carrion crow he [the flatterer] is, a gaping grave,The rich coat’s moth, the court’s bane, trencher’s slave,Sin’s and hell’s winningbawd, the devil’s factoring knave.
A carrion crow he [the flatterer] is, a gaping grave,The rich coat’s moth, the court’s bane, trencher’s slave,Sin’s and hell’s winningbawd, the devil’s factoring knave.
A carrion crow he [the flatterer] is, a gaping grave,The rich coat’s moth, the court’s bane, trencher’s slave,Sin’s and hell’s winningbawd, the devil’s factoring knave.
A carrion crow he [the flatterer] is, a gaping grave,
The rich coat’s moth, the court’s bane, trencher’s slave,
Sin’s and hell’s winningbawd, the devil’s factoring knave.
P. Fletcher,The Purple Island, c. viii.
We translate σῶμα ψυχικόν (1 Cor. xv. 44) ‘anaturalbody;’ some have regretted that it was not rendered ‘ananimalbody;’ [so R.V. margin, Jude 19.] This is exactly what Wiclif meant when he translated the ‘corpus animale’ which he found in his Vulgate, ‘abeastlybody.’ The word had then no ethical tinge; nor, when it first acquired such, had it exactly that which it now possesses; in it was rather implied the absence of reason, the prerogative distinguishing man from beast.
It is sowun abeestlibodi; it schal rise a spiritual bodi.—1 Cor.xv. 44.Wiclif.These ben, whiche departen hemsilf,beestlimen, not havynge spirit.—Jude19.Wiclif.Where they should have made head with the whole army upon the Parthians, they sent him aid by small companies; and when they were slain, they sent him others also. So that by theirbeastlinessand lack of consideration they had like to have made all the army fly.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 769.
It is sowun abeestlibodi; it schal rise a spiritual bodi.—1 Cor.xv. 44.Wiclif.
These ben, whiche departen hemsilf,beestlimen, not havynge spirit.—Jude19.Wiclif.
Where they should have made head with the whole army upon the Parthians, they sent him aid by small companies; and when they were slain, they sent him others also. So that by theirbeastlinessand lack of consideration they had like to have made all the army fly.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 769.
Bedlam.An old pronunciation of Bethlehem. The Priory known by this name was in 1546 converted into a hospital for lunatics. But it was not the place only, but the unhappy occupants of it, to whom this name used often to be applied. Such a use has now quite died out.
Ha, art thoubedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,To have me fold up Parca’s fatal web?Shakespeare,Henry V.act v. sc. 1.Is not all for thy good, if thou be not abedlam?Rogers,Naamam the Syrian, p. 30.
Ha, art thoubedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,To have me fold up Parca’s fatal web?
Ha, art thoubedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,To have me fold up Parca’s fatal web?
Ha, art thoubedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,To have me fold up Parca’s fatal web?
Ha, art thoubedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,
To have me fold up Parca’s fatal web?
Shakespeare,Henry V.act v. sc. 1.
Is not all for thy good, if thou be not abedlam?
Is not all for thy good, if thou be not abedlam?
Is not all for thy good, if thou be not abedlam?
Is not all for thy good, if thou be not abedlam?
Rogers,Naamam the Syrian, p. 30.
[In Middle Englishbeneficeoften occurs in the senses of kindness, favour, benefit, a gift, gratuity.] Persons are not now ‘beneficial,’ which word is reserved for things, but ‘beneficent.’
Thebeneficesthat God did tham hereSal tham accuse on sere manere.Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 5582.Nowe thanne, Lord, Thou art God, and hast spoke to thy servant so gretebenefices.—1 Chron.xvii. 26.Wiclif.The proper nature of God is always to be helpful andbeneficial.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 600.I wonderThat such a keech can with his very bulkTake up the rays of thebeneficialsun,And keep it from the earth.Shakespeare,Henry VIII.act i. sc. 1.Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name; then shall the righteous come about me when Thou artbeneficialunto me.—Ps.cxlii. 7. Geneva.
Thebeneficesthat God did tham hereSal tham accuse on sere manere.
Thebeneficesthat God did tham hereSal tham accuse on sere manere.
Thebeneficesthat God did tham hereSal tham accuse on sere manere.
Thebeneficesthat God did tham here
Sal tham accuse on sere manere.
Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 5582.
Nowe thanne, Lord, Thou art God, and hast spoke to thy servant so gretebenefices.—1 Chron.xvii. 26.Wiclif.
The proper nature of God is always to be helpful andbeneficial.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 600.
I wonderThat such a keech can with his very bulkTake up the rays of thebeneficialsun,And keep it from the earth.
I wonderThat such a keech can with his very bulkTake up the rays of thebeneficialsun,And keep it from the earth.
I wonderThat such a keech can with his very bulkTake up the rays of thebeneficialsun,And keep it from the earth.
I wonder
That such a keech can with his very bulk
Take up the rays of thebeneficialsun,
And keep it from the earth.
Shakespeare,Henry VIII.act i. sc. 1.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name; then shall the righteous come about me when Thou artbeneficialunto me.—Ps.cxlii. 7. Geneva.
Blackguard.The scullions and other meaner retainers in a great household, who, when progress was made from one residence to another, accompanied and protected the pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils, riding among them and being smutted by them, were contemptuously styled the ‘black guard.’ It is easy to trace the subsequent history of the word. With a slight forgetfulness of its origin, he is nowcalled a ‘blackguard,’ who would have been once said to belong to the ‘black guard.’
Close unto the front of the chariot marcheth all the sort of weavers and embroderers; next unto whom goeth theblack guardand kitchenry.—Holland,Ammianus, p. 12.A lousy slave, that within this twenty years rode with theblack guardin the Duke’s carriage, ’mongst spits and dripping-pans!—Webster,The White Devil.Thieves and murderers took upon them the cross to escape the gallows; adulterers did penance in their armour. A lamentable case that the devil’sblack guardshould be God’s soldiers!—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 12.Where the apologist meets with thisblack guard, these factors for error and sin, these agitators for the Prince of darkness, God forbid he should give place to them, or not charge them home, and resist them to the face.—Gauden,Hieraspistes, To the Reader.Dukes, earls, and lords, great commanders in war, common soldiers and kitchen boys were glad to trudge it on foot in the mire hand in hand, a duke or earl not disdaining to support or help up one of theblack guardready to fall, lest he himself might fall into the mire, and have none to help him.—Jackson,A Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes, b. vi. c. 28.We have neither school nor hospital for the distressed children, called theblack guard.—Nelson,Address to Persons of Quality, p. 214.
Close unto the front of the chariot marcheth all the sort of weavers and embroderers; next unto whom goeth theblack guardand kitchenry.—Holland,Ammianus, p. 12.
A lousy slave, that within this twenty years rode with theblack guardin the Duke’s carriage, ’mongst spits and dripping-pans!—Webster,The White Devil.
Thieves and murderers took upon them the cross to escape the gallows; adulterers did penance in their armour. A lamentable case that the devil’sblack guardshould be God’s soldiers!—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 12.
Where the apologist meets with thisblack guard, these factors for error and sin, these agitators for the Prince of darkness, God forbid he should give place to them, or not charge them home, and resist them to the face.—Gauden,Hieraspistes, To the Reader.
Dukes, earls, and lords, great commanders in war, common soldiers and kitchen boys were glad to trudge it on foot in the mire hand in hand, a duke or earl not disdaining to support or help up one of theblack guardready to fall, lest he himself might fall into the mire, and have none to help him.—Jackson,A Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes, b. vi. c. 28.
We have neither school nor hospital for the distressed children, called theblack guard.—Nelson,Address to Persons of Quality, p. 214.
Bleak.This, a northern form, the equivalent of O.E.blāc(cp. O.N.bleikr, Mod. Germanbleich, pale, colourless), comes out clearly in its original relationship with ‘bleach’ in the following quotations.
When she came out, she looked as pale and asbleakas one that were laid out dead.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs;The Escape of Agnes Wardall.And as I looked forth, I beheld a pale horse, whom I tookfor the universal synagogue of hypocrites, pale as men without health, andbleakas men without that fresh spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus.—Bale,The Image of Both Churches, P. S. p. 321.
When she came out, she looked as pale and asbleakas one that were laid out dead.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs;The Escape of Agnes Wardall.
And as I looked forth, I beheld a pale horse, whom I tookfor the universal synagogue of hypocrites, pale as men without health, andbleakas men without that fresh spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus.—Bale,The Image of Both Churches, P. S. p. 321.
Blunderbuss.In the 17th and 18th centuries a man who blunders in his work, does it in a boisterous violent way; transferred from the name given to a short, wide-mouthed, noisy gun. [This word for a gun is due to the Dutchdonderbus, i.e. thunder-gun, perverted in form from sense association withblunder, perhaps with allusion to its random, casual firing.]
We could now wish we had a discreet and intelligent adversary, and not such a hare-brainedblunderbussas you, to deal with.—Milton,A Defence of the People of England, Preface.Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe,Nor less revere him,blunderbussof law.Pope,Dunciad, b. iii. 150.
We could now wish we had a discreet and intelligent adversary, and not such a hare-brainedblunderbussas you, to deal with.—Milton,A Defence of the People of England, Preface.
Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe,Nor less revere him,blunderbussof law.
Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe,Nor less revere him,blunderbussof law.
Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe,Nor less revere him,blunderbussof law.
Jacob, the scourge of grammar, mark with awe,
Nor less revere him,blunderbussof law.
Pope,Dunciad, b. iii. 150.
The sense of noisy, turbulent, blustering, is a later superaddition on ‘boisterous,’ or ‘boistous,’ as was its earlier form. Of old it meant no more than rude, rough, strong, uncompliant; thus the ‘boisterous wind’ of Matt. xiv. 30, is simply a violent wind, ἄνεμος ἰσχυρός in the original.
No man putteth a clout ofbuystousclothe [panni rudis, Vulg.] into an elde clothing.—Matt.ix. 16.Wiclif.O Clifford,boisterous9Clifford, thou hast slainThe flower of Europe for his chivalry.Shakespeare,3 Henry VI.act ii. sc. 1.Hisboistrousbody shines in burnished steel.Sylvester,Du Bartas’ Weeks, The Magnificence, p. 460.The greatest danger indeed is from those that arestolide feroces, full of thoseboisterous, rude, and brutish passions, which grow as bristles upon hogs’ backs, from ignorance, pride, rusticity, and prejudice.—Gauden,Hieraspistes. To the Reader.The leathern outside,boisterousas it was,Gave way, and bent beneath her strict embrace.Dryden,Sigismunda and Guiscardo, 159, 160.The other thing in debate seemed very hard andboisterousto his Majesty, that sundry leaders in the House of Commons would provoke him to proclaim open war with Spain.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 79.
No man putteth a clout ofbuystousclothe [panni rudis, Vulg.] into an elde clothing.—Matt.ix. 16.Wiclif.
O Clifford,boisterous9Clifford, thou hast slainThe flower of Europe for his chivalry.
O Clifford,boisterous9Clifford, thou hast slainThe flower of Europe for his chivalry.
O Clifford,boisterous9Clifford, thou hast slainThe flower of Europe for his chivalry.
O Clifford,boisterous9Clifford, thou hast slain
The flower of Europe for his chivalry.
Shakespeare,3 Henry VI.act ii. sc. 1.
Hisboistrousbody shines in burnished steel.
Hisboistrousbody shines in burnished steel.
Hisboistrousbody shines in burnished steel.
Hisboistrousbody shines in burnished steel.
Sylvester,Du Bartas’ Weeks, The Magnificence, p. 460.
The greatest danger indeed is from those that arestolide feroces, full of thoseboisterous, rude, and brutish passions, which grow as bristles upon hogs’ backs, from ignorance, pride, rusticity, and prejudice.—Gauden,Hieraspistes. To the Reader.
The leathern outside,boisterousas it was,Gave way, and bent beneath her strict embrace.
The leathern outside,boisterousas it was,Gave way, and bent beneath her strict embrace.
The leathern outside,boisterousas it was,Gave way, and bent beneath her strict embrace.
The leathern outside,boisterousas it was,
Gave way, and bent beneath her strict embrace.
Dryden,Sigismunda and Guiscardo, 159, 160.
The other thing in debate seemed very hard andboisterousto his Majesty, that sundry leaders in the House of Commons would provoke him to proclaim open war with Spain.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 79.
Bombast.Now inflated diction, words which, sounding lofty and big, have no real substance about them. This, which is now the sole meaning, was once only the secondary and the figurative, ‘bombast’ being literally the cotton wadding with which garments are stuffed out and lined, and often so used by our writers of the Elizabethan period, and then by a vigorous image transferred to what now it exclusively means.
Certain I am there was never any kind of apparel ever invented, that could more disproportion the body of man than these doublets, stuffed with four, five, or six pound ofbombastat the least.—Stubbes,Anatomy of Abuses, p. 23.We have received your letters full of love!Your favours, the ambassadors of love;And, in our maiden council, rated themAt courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,Asbombast, and as lining to the time.Shakespeare,Love’s Labour’s Lost, act v. sc. 2.Bombast, the cotton-plant growing in Asia.—Phillips,New World of Words.
Certain I am there was never any kind of apparel ever invented, that could more disproportion the body of man than these doublets, stuffed with four, five, or six pound ofbombastat the least.—Stubbes,Anatomy of Abuses, p. 23.
We have received your letters full of love!Your favours, the ambassadors of love;And, in our maiden council, rated themAt courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,Asbombast, and as lining to the time.
We have received your letters full of love!Your favours, the ambassadors of love;And, in our maiden council, rated themAt courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,Asbombast, and as lining to the time.
We have received your letters full of love!Your favours, the ambassadors of love;And, in our maiden council, rated themAt courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,Asbombast, and as lining to the time.
We have received your letters full of love!
Your favours, the ambassadors of love;
And, in our maiden council, rated them
At courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,
Asbombast, and as lining to the time.
Shakespeare,Love’s Labour’s Lost, act v. sc. 2.
Bombast, the cotton-plant growing in Asia.—Phillips,New World of Words.
Boot.Not the luggage, but the attendants, used once to ride in the ‘boot,’ or rather the boots, of acarriage, for there were two. Projecting from the sides of the carriage and open to the air, they derived, no doubt, their name from their shape.
His coach being come, he causeth him to be laid in softly, and so he in oneboot, and the two chirurgeons in the other, they drive away to the very next country house.—Reynolds,God’s Revenge against Murder, b. i. hist.He [James the First] received his son into the coach, and found a slight errand to leave Buckingham behind, as he was putting his foot in theboot.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 196.
His coach being come, he causeth him to be laid in softly, and so he in oneboot, and the two chirurgeons in the other, they drive away to the very next country house.—Reynolds,God’s Revenge against Murder, b. i. hist.
He [James the First] received his son into the coach, and found a slight errand to leave Buckingham behind, as he was putting his foot in theboot.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 196.
Bounty.The tendency to accept freedom of giving in lieu of all other virtues, or at least to regard it as the chiefest of all, the same which has brought ‘charity’ to be for many identical with almsgiving, displays itself in our present use of ‘bounty,’ which, like the French ‘bonté,’ meant goodness once.
For God it woot that childer ofte beenUnlik her worthy eldris hem bifore;Bountécometh al of God, nought of the streen,Of which thay ben engendrid and i-bore.Chaucer,Clerkes Tale(Morris, p. 283).Nourishing meats and drinks in a sick body do lose theirbounty, and augmenteth malady.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. ii. c. 7.
For God it woot that childer ofte beenUnlik her worthy eldris hem bifore;Bountécometh al of God, nought of the streen,Of which thay ben engendrid and i-bore.
For God it woot that childer ofte beenUnlik her worthy eldris hem bifore;Bountécometh al of God, nought of the streen,Of which thay ben engendrid and i-bore.
For God it woot that childer ofte beenUnlik her worthy eldris hem bifore;Bountécometh al of God, nought of the streen,Of which thay ben engendrid and i-bore.
For God it woot that childer ofte been
Unlik her worthy eldris hem bifore;
Bountécometh al of God, nought of the streen,
Of which thay ben engendrid and i-bore.
Chaucer,Clerkes Tale(Morris, p. 283).
Nourishing meats and drinks in a sick body do lose theirbounty, and augmenteth malady.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. ii. c. 7.
Brat.This word is now used always in contempt, but was not so once.
O Israel, O household of the Lord,O Abraham’sbrats, O brood of blessed seed,O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed.Gascoigne,De Profundis.Take heed how thou layest the bane for the rats,For poisoning thy servant, thyself, and thybrats.Tusser,Points of Good Husbandry.
O Israel, O household of the Lord,O Abraham’sbrats, O brood of blessed seed,O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed.
O Israel, O household of the Lord,O Abraham’sbrats, O brood of blessed seed,O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed.
O Israel, O household of the Lord,O Abraham’sbrats, O brood of blessed seed,O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed.
O Israel, O household of the Lord,
O Abraham’sbrats, O brood of blessed seed,
O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed.
Gascoigne,De Profundis.
Take heed how thou layest the bane for the rats,For poisoning thy servant, thyself, and thybrats.
Take heed how thou layest the bane for the rats,For poisoning thy servant, thyself, and thybrats.
Take heed how thou layest the bane for the rats,For poisoning thy servant, thyself, and thybrats.
Take heed how thou layest the bane for the rats,
For poisoning thy servant, thyself, and thybrats.
Tusser,Points of Good Husbandry.
The ultimate derivation of ‘brave’ is altogether uncertain (see N.E.D.); we obtained it in the fifteenth century, the Germans in the seventeenth, (Grimm [s. v.‘brav’] says during the Thirty Years’ War,) from one or other of the Romance languages, probably from the It.bravo. I do not very clearly trace by what steps it obtained the meaning of showy, gaudy, rich, which once it so frequently had, in addition to that meaning which it still retains.
The habit also and attire of his body, manly and soldier-like, notbravenor tricked up daintily and delicately, much adorned and set him out.—Plutarch,Lives, 695.His clothes [St. Augustine’s] were neitherbrave, nor base, but comely.—Fuller,Holy State, b. iv. c. 10.If he [the good yeoman] chance to appear in clothes above his rank, it is to grace some great man with his service, and then he blusheth at his ownbravery.—Id.ib.b. ii. c. 18.Traffic encreaseth wonderfully here, with all kind ofbraveryand building.—Howell,Letters, i. 6, 36.Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal lustre, not omitting ceremonies ofbraveryin the infamy of his nature.—SirT. Browne,Hydriotaphia.There is a great festival now drawing on, a festival designed chiefly for the acts of a joyful piety, but generally made only an occasion ofbravery.—South,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 285.
The habit also and attire of his body, manly and soldier-like, notbravenor tricked up daintily and delicately, much adorned and set him out.—Plutarch,Lives, 695.
His clothes [St. Augustine’s] were neitherbrave, nor base, but comely.—Fuller,Holy State, b. iv. c. 10.
If he [the good yeoman] chance to appear in clothes above his rank, it is to grace some great man with his service, and then he blusheth at his ownbravery.—Id.ib.b. ii. c. 18.
Traffic encreaseth wonderfully here, with all kind ofbraveryand building.—Howell,Letters, i. 6, 36.
Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal lustre, not omitting ceremonies ofbraveryin the infamy of his nature.—SirT. Browne,Hydriotaphia.
There is a great festival now drawing on, a festival designed chiefly for the acts of a joyful piety, but generally made only an occasion ofbravery.—South,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 285.
‘To bribe’ was to rob, a ‘bribour’ a robber, and ‘bribery’ robbery, once. For an ingenious history of the steps by which the words left their former meaning, and acquired their present, see Marsh,Lectures on the English Language, 1st Series, p. 249.
They that delight in superfluity of gorgeous apparel and dainty fare, commonly do deceive the needy,bribe, and pill from them.—Cranmer,Instruction of Prayer.Woe be to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the utter side of the cup and of the platter; but within they are full ofbribery[ἁρπαγῆς, and in the E. V. ‘extortion’] and excess.—Matt.xxiii. 25. Geneva Version.
They that delight in superfluity of gorgeous apparel and dainty fare, commonly do deceive the needy,bribe, and pill from them.—Cranmer,Instruction of Prayer.
Woe be to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the utter side of the cup and of the platter; but within they are full ofbribery[ἁρπαγῆς, and in the E. V. ‘extortion’] and excess.—Matt.xxiii. 25. Geneva Version.
The distinction between these is perfectly established now: by the first we always intendGreatBritain; by the second, the French duchy, corresponding to the ancient Armorica. But it was long before this usage was accurately settled and accepted by all. By ‘Britany’ Great Britain was frequently intended, andvice versâ. Thus, in each of the passages which follow, the other word than that which actually is used would be now employed.
He [Henry VII.] was not so averse from a war, but that he was resolved to choose it, rather than to haveBritaincarried by France, being so great and opulent a duchy, and situate so opportunely to annoy England, either for coast or trade.—Bacon,History of King Henry VII.The letter of Quintus Cicero, which he wrote in answer to that of his brother Marcus, desiring of him an account ofBritany.—SirT. Browne,Musæum Clausum.And is it this, alas! which we(O irony of words!) do callGreat Britany?Cowley,The Extasy.
He [Henry VII.] was not so averse from a war, but that he was resolved to choose it, rather than to haveBritaincarried by France, being so great and opulent a duchy, and situate so opportunely to annoy England, either for coast or trade.—Bacon,History of King Henry VII.
The letter of Quintus Cicero, which he wrote in answer to that of his brother Marcus, desiring of him an account ofBritany.—SirT. Browne,Musæum Clausum.
And is it this, alas! which we(O irony of words!) do callGreat Britany?
And is it this, alas! which we(O irony of words!) do callGreat Britany?
And is it this, alas! which we(O irony of words!) do callGreat Britany?
And is it this, alas! which we
(O irony of words!) do callGreat Britany?
Cowley,The Extasy.
Brook.This, the O.E.brūcan(cp. Germanbrauchen), has now obtained a special limitation, meaning not so much, as once it did, to use, as to endure to use.
But none of all those curses overtookeThe warlike Maide, th’ ensample of that might;But fairely well she thryvd, and well didbrookeHer noble deeds, ne her right course for ought forsooke.Spenser,Fairy Queen, iii. 4, 44.Forasmuch as manybrookeddivers and many laudable ceremonies and rites heretofore used and accustomed in the Church of England, not yet abrogated by the king’s authority, his Majesty charged and commanded all his subjects to observe and keep them.—Strype,Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, vol. i. p. 412.And, as a German writer well observes, the French kings might well brook that title ofChristianissimifrom that admirable exploit of Carolus Martellus, the next means under God’s providence that other parts of Europe had not Saracen tyrants instead of Christian princes.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. i. c. 26.Let usbruikthe present hour,Let us pou’ the fleeting flouir,Youthheid is love’s holiday,Let us use it, when we may.Pinkerton,Scotch Comic Ballads, p. 149.
But none of all those curses overtookeThe warlike Maide, th’ ensample of that might;But fairely well she thryvd, and well didbrookeHer noble deeds, ne her right course for ought forsooke.
But none of all those curses overtookeThe warlike Maide, th’ ensample of that might;But fairely well she thryvd, and well didbrookeHer noble deeds, ne her right course for ought forsooke.
But none of all those curses overtookeThe warlike Maide, th’ ensample of that might;But fairely well she thryvd, and well didbrookeHer noble deeds, ne her right course for ought forsooke.
But none of all those curses overtooke
The warlike Maide, th’ ensample of that might;
But fairely well she thryvd, and well didbrooke
Her noble deeds, ne her right course for ought forsooke.
Spenser,Fairy Queen, iii. 4, 44.
Forasmuch as manybrookeddivers and many laudable ceremonies and rites heretofore used and accustomed in the Church of England, not yet abrogated by the king’s authority, his Majesty charged and commanded all his subjects to observe and keep them.—Strype,Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, vol. i. p. 412.
And, as a German writer well observes, the French kings might well brook that title ofChristianissimifrom that admirable exploit of Carolus Martellus, the next means under God’s providence that other parts of Europe had not Saracen tyrants instead of Christian princes.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. i. c. 26.
Let usbruikthe present hour,Let us pou’ the fleeting flouir,Youthheid is love’s holiday,Let us use it, when we may.
Let usbruikthe present hour,Let us pou’ the fleeting flouir,Youthheid is love’s holiday,Let us use it, when we may.
Let usbruikthe present hour,Let us pou’ the fleeting flouir,Youthheid is love’s holiday,Let us use it, when we may.
Let usbruikthe present hour,
Let us pou’ the fleeting flouir,
Youthheid is love’s holiday,
Let us use it, when we may.
Pinkerton,Scotch Comic Ballads, p. 149.
[Bullion.This word is now generally used in the sense of metal, specially precious metal in the mass: ‘gold or silver in the lump, as distinguished from coin or manufactured articles, also applied to coined or manufactured gold or silver when considered simply with reference to its value as raw material,’ N.E.D. The word was once frequently used of gold or silver below the standard purity.Bullionhas no connexion etymologically either with Fr.billonor with Lat.bulla; it appears to be identical with Fr.bouillon, Late Lat.bullionem, a boiling, hence, a melting, a melted mass of metal. The Fr.billon, debased metal, meant originally mass, having the same stem asbillet(of wood). No doubt the wordbillonhas influenced the sense of the Englishbullion.]
Basebullionfor the stamp’s sake we allow.Marlowe,Hero and Leander.First Sestyad.For alchymy, though’t make a glorious gloss,Compared with gold isbullionor base dross.William Hodgson,Verses on Ben Jonson.Words, whilom flourishing,Pass now no more, but, banished from the court,Dwell with disgrace among the vulgar sort;And those which eld’s strict doom did disallow,And damn forbullion, go for current now.Sylvester,Du Bartas’ Weeks, Babylon.Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,That underneath had veins of liquid fireSluiced from the lake, a second multitudeWith wondrous art founded the massy ore,Severing each kind, and scummed thebulliondross.Milton,Paradise Lost, i. 699.
Basebullionfor the stamp’s sake we allow.
Basebullionfor the stamp’s sake we allow.
Basebullionfor the stamp’s sake we allow.
Basebullionfor the stamp’s sake we allow.
Marlowe,Hero and Leander.First Sestyad.
For alchymy, though’t make a glorious gloss,Compared with gold isbullionor base dross.
For alchymy, though’t make a glorious gloss,Compared with gold isbullionor base dross.
For alchymy, though’t make a glorious gloss,Compared with gold isbullionor base dross.
For alchymy, though’t make a glorious gloss,
Compared with gold isbullionor base dross.
William Hodgson,Verses on Ben Jonson.
Words, whilom flourishing,Pass now no more, but, banished from the court,Dwell with disgrace among the vulgar sort;And those which eld’s strict doom did disallow,And damn forbullion, go for current now.
Words, whilom flourishing,Pass now no more, but, banished from the court,Dwell with disgrace among the vulgar sort;And those which eld’s strict doom did disallow,And damn forbullion, go for current now.
Words, whilom flourishing,Pass now no more, but, banished from the court,Dwell with disgrace among the vulgar sort;And those which eld’s strict doom did disallow,And damn forbullion, go for current now.
Words, whilom flourishing,
Pass now no more, but, banished from the court,
Dwell with disgrace among the vulgar sort;
And those which eld’s strict doom did disallow,
And damn forbullion, go for current now.
Sylvester,Du Bartas’ Weeks, Babylon.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,That underneath had veins of liquid fireSluiced from the lake, a second multitudeWith wondrous art founded the massy ore,Severing each kind, and scummed thebulliondross.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,That underneath had veins of liquid fireSluiced from the lake, a second multitudeWith wondrous art founded the massy ore,Severing each kind, and scummed thebulliondross.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,That underneath had veins of liquid fireSluiced from the lake, a second multitudeWith wondrous art founded the massy ore,Severing each kind, and scummed thebulliondross.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore,
Severing each kind, and scummed thebulliondross.
Milton,Paradise Lost, i. 699.
Burial.This designates now the act, but formerly the place, of interment, being the O.E.byrgels, a tomb, see N.E.D. (s. v.buriels).
And the kyng seide, What is thisbirielwhich Y se? And the citeseyns of that citee answerèd ento him, It is the sepulcre of the man of God that cam fro Juda.—2 Kin.xxiii. 17.Wiclif.Andbirielisweren openyd, and many bodies of seyntis that hadden slepte rysen up, and thei yeden out of herbirielis.—Matt.xxvii. 51, 52.Wiclif.It happed after that upon theburyelsgrewe a right fayr flourdelis.—Caxton,Legenda Aurea, 151. 2.
And the kyng seide, What is thisbirielwhich Y se? And the citeseyns of that citee answerèd ento him, It is the sepulcre of the man of God that cam fro Juda.—2 Kin.xxiii. 17.Wiclif.
Andbirielisweren openyd, and many bodies of seyntis that hadden slepte rysen up, and thei yeden out of herbirielis.—Matt.xxvii. 51, 52.Wiclif.
It happed after that upon theburyelsgrewe a right fayr flourdelis.—Caxton,Legenda Aurea, 151. 2.
Butchery.Now a massacre where there is little or no resistance on the part of those who are its victims. It was used once as the place where animals were slaughtered. [But see N.E.D. for modern quotations of the word in this latter sense.]
Al thing that is seld in thebocherieete ye, axynge nothing for conscience.—1 Cor.x. 25.Wiclif.Whence came it that they call the shambles orbutcherieat Rome where flesh is to be sold, macellum?—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 869.
Al thing that is seld in thebocherieete ye, axynge nothing for conscience.—1 Cor.x. 25.Wiclif.
Whence came it that they call the shambles orbutcherieat Rome where flesh is to be sold, macellum?—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 869.
Buxom.The modern spelling of ‘buxom’ (it was somewhat, though not much better, when it was spelt ‘bucksome’) has quite hidden its identity with the German ‘biegsam,’ ‘beugsam,’ bendable, pliable, and so obedient. Ignorant of the history of the word, and trusting to the feeling and impression which it conveyed to their minds, men spoke of ‘buxomhealth’ and the like, meaning by this, having a cheerful comeliness. The epithet in this application is Gray’s, and Johnson justly finds fault with it. [See N.E.D. for the two quotations.] Milton, when he joins ‘buxom’ with ‘blithe and debonair,’ and Crashaw, in his otherwise beautiful line,
‘I am bornAgain a fresh child of thebuxommorn,’
‘I am bornAgain a fresh child of thebuxommorn,’
‘I am bornAgain a fresh child of thebuxommorn,’
‘I am born
Again a fresh child of thebuxommorn,’
show that already for them the true meaning of the word, common enough in our earlier writers, was passing away; yet Milton still uses it in its proper sense inParadise Lost,—‘winnowing thebuxomair,’ that is, theyieldingair.
I submit myself unto this holy Church of Christ, to be everbuxomand obedient to the ordinance of it, after my knowledge and power, by the help of God.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.Buxom, kind, tractable, and pliable one to the other.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, 316.[Love] tyrannizeth in the bitter smartsOf them that to himbuxomeare and prone.Spenser,Fairy Queen, iii. 2, 23.
I submit myself unto this holy Church of Christ, to be everbuxomand obedient to the ordinance of it, after my knowledge and power, by the help of God.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.
Buxom, kind, tractable, and pliable one to the other.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, 316.
[Love] tyrannizeth in the bitter smartsOf them that to himbuxomeare and prone.
[Love] tyrannizeth in the bitter smartsOf them that to himbuxomeare and prone.
[Love] tyrannizeth in the bitter smartsOf them that to himbuxomeare and prone.
[Love] tyrannizeth in the bitter smarts
Of them that to himbuxomeare and prone.
Spenser,Fairy Queen, iii. 2, 23.
By.The first clause in the quotation which follows from the Authorized Version of the Bible must often either fail to convey any meaning, or must convey a wrong meaning, to the English reader of the present day. The ‘nil conscire sibi’ is what the Apostle would claim for himself; and the other passages quoted show that this idiomatic use of ‘by,’ as equivalent to ‘concerning’ (it is probably related to ἀμφὶ), but with also a suggestion of ‘against,’ was not peculiar to our Translators.