Oxford English Dictionary [2, 2 ed.] 0198612141, 0198611862

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DOM I MINA NVS TIO ii.iv mea

THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY SECOND EDITION

THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY First Edited by

JAMES A. H. MURRAY, HENRY BRADLEY, W. A. CRAIGIE and

C. T. ONIONS

COMBINED WITH

A SUPPLEMENT TO THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY Edited by

R. W. BURCHFIELD AND RESET WITH CORRECTIONS, REVISIONS AND ADDITIONAL VOCABULARY

.

THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY SECOND EDITION Prepared by

J. A. SIMPSON and E. S. C. WEINER

VOLUME II B.B.C.-Chalypsography

CLARENDON PRESS•OXFORD

Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford 0x2

1_ \

(Vi

6dp

Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jay a Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford University Press

© Oxford University Press 1989 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Oxford English dictionary.—2nd ed. I. English language—Dictionaries I. Simpson, J. A. (John Andrew), 1953II. Weiner, Edmund S. C., 1950423 ISBN 0-19-861214-1 (vol. II) ISBN 0-19-861186-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Oxford English dictionary. — 2nd ed. prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner Bibliography: p. ISBN 0-19-861214-1 (vol. II) ISBN 0-19-861186-2 (set) 1. English language—Dictionaries. I. Simpson, J. A. II. Weiner, E. S. C. III. Oxford University Press. PE1625.087 1989 423 — dci9 88-5330

Data capture by ICC, Fort Washington, Pa. Text-processing by Oxford University Press Typesetting by Filmtype Services Ltd., Scarborough, N. Yorks. Manufactured in the United States of America by Rand McNally & Company, Taunton, Mass.

KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION The

pronunciations given are those in use in the educated speech of southern England (the so-called ‘Received

Standard’), and the keywords given are to be understood as pronounced in such speech.

I. Consonants b, d, f, k, 1, m, n, p, t, v, z have their usual English values g as in go (gsu)

0 as in thin (0in), bath (ba:0)

. . hoi (hso) r . run (rAn), terrier ('teri3(r)) (r) ■ . her (h3:(r)) s . see (si:), success (ssk'ses) w . . wear (wes(r)) hw. . when (hwen) j • . yes (jes)

8

h

J

... then ... shop

tf

... chop (tjDp), ditch (ditj)

3

... vision ('vi33n), dejeuner (de3one)

d3

... judge (d3Ad3) ... singing ('sirjirj),

t)

(foreign and non-southern)

(Sen), bathe (beiS)

X as in It. serrag/io (ser'raXo)

(Jdp), dish (dij)

ji

... Fr. cognac (kojiak)

x

... Ger. ach (ax), Sc. loch (Idx), Sp.

9

... Ger. ich (19), Sc. nic/it (ni9t)

think (0ii]k)

qg • •• finger ('flt)g3(r))

frijoles (fri'xoles)

Y

... North Ger. sagen (’zaiyan)

c

... Afrikaans baardmanneijie

H

... Fr. cuisine (kijizin)

('bairtmanaci)

Symbols in parentheses are used to denote elements that may be omitted either by individ ('bDt(3)l), Mercian ('m3:J(i)3n), suit (s(j)u:t), impromptu (im'orDm(p)tju:), father (’fa:S3(r)).

II. Vowels and Diphthongs SHORT

diphthongs, etc.

LONG

i as in pit, -ness (pit), (-ms)

i: as in bean (bi:n)

. .. ae . . . A . .. D .. 0 . .. 3 ... (3) . .. i .. .. e a .. a . .. D . .. 0 . .. 0 ... oe . .. .. u Y . ..

pet (pet), Fr. sept (set)

a:

pat (pset)

d:

putt (pAt)

u:

pot (pDt)

3:

put (pot)

e:

8

another (3'nA6s(r))

e:

beaten ('bi:t(3)n)

a:

Fr. si (si) Fr. be"be'(bebe)

0: 0:

Fr. mari (mari)

oe:

Fr. bdtiment (batima)

y:

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

ei as in bay (bei)

barn (bam)

ai

...

buy (bai)

born (bom)

oi

...

boy (boi)

boon (bum)

ao ...

no (nso)

burn (b3:n)

au ...

G. Schnee (Jne:)

is

...

now (nau) peer (pi3(r))

Fr. faire (fe:r)

63

...

pair (pes(r))

G. Tag (ta:g)

us ...

tour (tos(r))

G. Sohn (zom)

33

boar (boa(r))

...

G. Goethe ('goits) Fr. coeur (kce:r)

ais as in fiery ('faisri)

G. griin (grym)

aos...

sour (’saosr)

Fr. homme (om) Fr. eau (0)

NASAL

Fr. peu (po)

8, x as in Fr. fin (fe, fie)

Fr. boeuf (beef)

a

Fr. douce (dus)

5

G. Muller (’mYbr)

oe

... ... ...

Fr. franc (fra) Fr. bon (bo) Fr. un (oe)

The incidence of main stress is shown by a superior stress mark (') preceding the stressed syllable, and a secondary stress by an inferior stress mark (,), e.g. pronunciation (pr3,nAnsi'eiJ(3)n). For further explanation of the transcription used, see General Explanations, Volume I.

891880

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, SIGNS, ETC Some abbreviations listed here in italics are also in certain cases printed in roman type, and vice versa. a. (in Etym.) a (as a 1850) a. abbrev. abl. absol. Abstr. acc. Acct. A.D.

ad. (in Etym.) Add. adj. Adv. adv. advb. Advt. Aeronaut. AF„ AFr. Afr. Agric. Alb. Amer. Amer. Ind. Anat. Anc. Anglo-Ind. Anglo-Ir. Ann. Anthrop., Anthropol. Antiq. aphet. app. Appl. Applic. appos. Arab. Aram. Arch. arch. Archseol. Archit. Arm. assoc. Astr. Astrol. Astron. Astronaut. attrib. Austral. Autobiogr. A.V. B.C.

B.C. bef. Bibliogr. Biochem. Biol. Bk. Bot. Bp.

adoption of, adopted from ante, ‘before’, ‘not later than’ adjective abbreviation (of) ablative absolute, -ly Abstracts) (in titles) accusative Account (in titles) Anno Domini adaptation of Addenda adjective Advance, -d, -s (in titles) adverb adverbial, -ly advertisement (as label) in Aeronautics; (in titles) Aeronautic, -al, -s Anglo-French Africa, -n (as label) in Agriculture; (in titles) Agriculture, -al Albanian American American Indian (as label) in Anatomy; (in titles) Anatomy, -ical (in titles) Ancient Anglo-Indian Anglo-Irish Annals (as label) in Anthropology; (in titles) Anthropology, -ical (as label) in Antiquities; (in titles) Antiquity aphetic, aphetized apparently (in titles) Applied (in titles) Application appositive(ly) Arabic Aramaic in Architecture archaic in Archaeology (as label) in Architecture; (in titles) Architecture, -al Armenian association in Astronomy in Astrology (in titles) Astronomy, -ical (in titles) Astronautic, -s attributive, -ly Australian (in titles) Autobiography, -ical Authorized Version Before Christ (in titles occas.) British Columbia before (as label) in Bibliography; (in titles) Bibliography, -ical (as label) in Biochemistry; (in titles) Biochemistry, -ical (as label) in Biology; (in titles) Biology, -ical Book (as label) in Botany; (in titles) Botany, -ical Bishop

Brit. Bulg. Bull.

(in titles) Britain, British Bulgarian (in titles) Bulletin

c (as c 1700) c. (as 19th c.) Cal. Cambr. Canad. Cat. catachr. Catal. Celt. Cent. Cent. Diet. Cf., cf. Ch. Chem.

circa, ‘about’ century (in titles) Calendar (in titles) Cambridge Canadian Catalan catachrestically (in titles) Catalogue Celtic (in titles) Century, Central Century Dictionary confer, ‘compare’ Church (as label) in Chemistry; (in titles) Chemistry, -ical (in titles) Christian (in titles) Chronicle (in titles) Chronology, -ical

Chr. Chron. Chronol. Cinemat., Cinematogr. Clin. cl. L. cogn.w. Col. Coll. collect. colloq. comb. Comb. Comm. Communic. comp. Compan. compar. compl. Compl. Cone. Conch. concr. Conf. Congr. conj. cons. const. contr. Contrib. Corr. corresp. cpd. Crit. Cryst. Cycl. Cytol.

in Cinematography (in titles) Clinical classical Latin cognate with (in titles) Colonel, Colony (in titles) Collection collective, -ly colloquial, -ly combined, -ing Combinations in Commercial usage in Communications compound, composition (in titles) Companion comparative complement (in titles) Complete (in titles) Concise in Conchology concrete, -ly (in titles) Conference (in titles) Congress conjunction consonant construction, construed with contrast (with) (in titles) Contribution (in titles) Correspondence corresponding (to) compound (in titles) Criticism, Critical in Crystallography (in titles) Cyclopaedia, -ic (in titles) Cytology, -ical

Diet. dim. Dis. Diss. D.O.S.T. Du. E. Eccl.

Ecol. Econ. ed. E.D.D. Edin. Educ. EE. e.g. Electr. Electron. Elem. ellipt. Embryol. e.midl. Encycl. Eng. Engin. Ent. Entomol. erron. esp. Ess. et al. etc. Ethnol. etym. euphem. Exam. exc. Exerc. Exper. Explor. f. f. (in Etym.) f. (in subordinate entries) F. fern. (rarely f.) figFinn.

fl. Da. D.A. D.A.E. dat. D.C. Deb. def. dem. deriv. derog. Descr. Devel. Diagn. dial.

Danish Dictionary of Americanisms Dictionary of American English dative District of Columbia (in titles) Debate, -s definite, -ition demonstrative derivative, -ation derogatory (in titles) Description, -tive (in titles) Development, -al (in titles) Diagnosis, Diagnostic dialect, -al

Found. Fr. freq. Fris. Fund. Funk or Funk's Stand. Diet. G. Gael. Gaz. gen. gen. Geogr.

Dictionary; spec., the Oxford English Dictionary diminutive (in titles) Disease (in titles) Dissertation Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue Dutch East (as label) in Ecclesiastical usage; (in titles) Ecclesiastical in Ecology (as label) in Economics; (in titles) Economy, -ics edition English Dialect Dictionary (in titles) Edinburgh (as label) in Education; (in titles) Education, -al Early English exempli gratia, ‘for example’ (as label) in Electricity; (in titles) Electricity, -ical (in titles) Electronic, -s (in titles) Element, -ary elliptical, -ly in Embryology east midland (dialect) (in titles) Encyclopaedia, -ic England, English Engineering in Entomology (in titles) Entomology, -logical erroneous, -ly especially (in titles) Essay, -s et alii, ‘and others’ et cetera in Ethnology etymology euphemistically (in titles) Examination except (in titles) Exercise (in titles) Experiment, -al (in titles) Exploration feminine formed on form of French feminine figurative, -ly Finnish floruit, ‘flourished’ (in titles) Foundation French frequent, -ly Frisian (in titles) Fundamental Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary German Gaelic (in titles) Gazette genitive general, -ly (as label) in Geography; (in titles) Geography, -ical

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, SIGNS, ETC. Geol. Geom. Geomorphol. Ger. Gloss. Gmc. Godef.

Goth. Govt. Gr. Gram. Gt. Heb. Her. Herb. Hind. Hist. hist. Histol. Hort. Househ. Housek. Ibid. Icel. Ichthyol. id. i.e. IE. Illustr. imit. Immunol. imp. impers. impf. ind. indef. Industr. inf. infl. Inorg. Ins. Inst. int. intr. In trod. Ir. irreg. It.

(as label) in Geology; (in titles) Geology, -ical in Geometry in Geomorphology German Glossary Germanic F. Godefroy, Dictionnaire de Vancienne langue franfaise Gothic (in titles) Government Greek (as label) in Grammar; (in titles) Grammar, -tical Great Hebrew in Heraldry among herbalists Hindustani (as label) in History; (in titles) History, -ical historical (in titles) Histology, -ical in Horticulture (in titles) Household (in titles) Housekeeping Ibidem, ‘in the same book or passage’ Icelandic in Ichthyology idem, ‘the same’ id est, ‘that is’ Indo-European (in titles) Illustration, -ted imitative in Immunology imperative impersonal imperfect indicative indefinite (in titles) Industry, -ial infinitive influenced (in titles) Inorganic (in titles) Insurance (in titles) Institute, -tion interjection intransitive (in titles) Introduction Irish irregular, -ly Italian

(Jam.) Jap. joc. Jml. Jun.

(quoted from) Johnson’s Dictionary Jamieson, Scottish Diet. Japanese jocular, -ly (in titles) Journal (in titles) Junior

Knowl.

(in titles) Knowledge

1. L. lang. Lect. Less. Let., Lett. LG. lit. Lit. Lith. LXX

line Latin language (in titles) Lecture, -s (in titles) Lesson, -s letter, letters Low German literal, -ly Literary Lithuanian Septuagint

m. Mag. Magn. Mai. Man. Managem. Manch. Manuf. Mar.

masculine (in titles) Magazine (in titles) Magnetic, -ism Malay, Malayan (in titles) Manual (in titles) Management (in titles) Manchester in Manufacture, -ing (in titles) Marine

J-, (J-)

masc. (rarely m.) Math. MDu. ME. Mech. Med. med.L. Mem. Metaph. Meteorol. MHG midi. Mil. Min. Mineral. MLG Misc. mod. mod.L (Morris), Mus.

Myst. Mythol. N. n. N. Amer. N. & Q. Narr. Nat. Nat. Hist. Naut. N.E. N.E.D.

Neurol. neut. (rarely n.) NF., NFr. No. nom. north. Norw. n.q. N.T. Nucl. Numism. N.W. N.Z. obj. obi. Obs., obs. Obstetr. occas. OE.

masculine (as label) in Mathematics; (in titles) Mathematics, -al Middle Dutch Middle English (as label) in Mechanics; (in titles) Mechanics, -al (as label) in Medicine; (in titles) Medicine, -ical medieval Latin (in titles) Memoir(s) in Metaphysics (as label) in Meteorology; (in titles) Meteorology, -ical Middle High German midland (dialect) in military usage (as label) in Mineralogy; (in titles) Ministry (in titles) Mineralogy, -ical Middle Low German (in titles) Miscellany, -eous modern modern Latin (quoted from) E. E. Morris’s Austral. English (as label) in Music; (in titles) Music, -al; Museum (in titles) Mystery in Mythology North neuter North America, -n Notes and Queries (in titles) Narrative (in titles) Natural in Natural History in nautical language North East New English Dictionary, original title of the Oxford English Dictionary (first edition) in Neurology neuter Northern French Number nominative northern (dialect) Norwegian no quotations New Testament Nuclear in Numismatics North West New Zealand

OS. OS1. O.T. Outl. Oxf.

object oblique obsolete (in titles) Obstetrics occasionally Old English (= Anglo-Saxon) Old French Old Frisian Old High German Old Irish Old Norse Old Northern French in Ophthalmology opposed (to), the opposite (of) in Optics (in titles) Organic origin, -al, -ally (as label) in Ornithology; (in titles) Ornithology, -ical Old Saxon Old (Church) Slavonic Old Testament (in titles) Outline (in titles) Oxford

PPalasogr.

page in Palaeography

OF., OFr. OFris. OHG OIr. ON. ONF. Ophthalm. opp. Opt. Org. orig. Ornith.

Palseont.

Publ.

(as label) in Palaeontology; (in titles) Palaeontology, -ical passive participle, past participle (quoted from) E. Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English passive, -ly past tense (as label) in Pathology; (in titles) Pathology, -ical perhaps Persian person, -al in Petrography (as label) in Petrology; (in titles) Petrology, -ical (quoted from) C. Pettman’s Africanderisms perfect Portuguese in Pharmacology (as label) in Philology; (in titles) Philology, -ical (as label) in Philosophy; (in titles) Philosophy, -ical phonetic, -ally (as label) in Photography; (in titles) Photography, -ical phrase Physical; (rarely) in Physiology (as label) in Physiology; (in titles) Physiology, -ical (in titles) Picture, Pictorial plural poetic, -al Polish (as label) in Politics; (in titles) Politics, -al in Political Economy (in titles) Politics, -al popular, -ly (in titles) Porcelain possessive (in titles) Pottery participial adjective participle Provencal present (in titles) Practice, -al preceding (word or article) predicative prefix preface preposition present (in titles) Principle(s) privative probably (in titles) Problem (in titles) Proceedings pronoun pronunciation properly in Prosody Provencal present participle in Psychology (as label) in Psychology; (in titles) Psychology, -ical (in titles) Publications

Qquot(s). q.v.

(in titles) Quarterly quotation(s) quod vide, ‘which see’

R. Radiol. R.C.Ch. Rec. redupl. Ref. refash. refl. Reg.

(in titles) Royal in Radiology Roman Catholic Church (in titles) Record reduplicating (in titles) Reference refashioned, -ing reflexive (in titles) Register

pa. pple. (Partridge),

pass. pa.t. Path. perh. Pers. pers. Petrogr. Petrol. (Pettman), pf. PgPharm. Philol. Philos. phonet. Photogr. phr. Phys. Physiol. Piet. pi., plur. poet. Pol. Pol. Pol. Econ. Polit. pop. Pore. poss. Pott. ppl. a., pple. adj. pple. Pr. pr. Pract. prec. pred. pref. pref., Pref. prep. pres. Princ. priv. prob. Probl. Proc. pron. pronunc. prop. Pros. Prov. pr. pple. Psych. Psychol.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, SIGNS, ETC. reg. rel. Reminisc. Rep. repr. Res. Rev. rev. Rhet. Rom. Rum. Russ.

regular related to (in titles) Reminiscence(s) (in titles) Report(s) representative, representing (in titles) Research (in titles) Review revised in Rhetoric Roman, -ce, ic Rumanian Russian

S. S.Afr. sb. sc.

South South Africa, -n substantive scilicet, ‘understand’ or ‘supply’ Scottish (in titles) Scandinavia, -n (in titles) School Scottish National Dictionary (in titles) Scotland (in titles) Selections) Series singular (in titles) Sketch Sanskrit Slavonic Scottish National Dictionary (in titles) Society (as label) in Sociology; (in titles) Sociology, -ical Spanish (in titles) Speech, -es spelling specifically (in titles) Specimen Saint (in titles) Standard (quoted from) Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words & Phrases

Sc., Scot. Scand. Sch. Sc. Nat. Diet. Scotl. Set. Ser. sing. Sk. Skr. Slav. S.N.D. Soc. Sociol. Sp.

sP. sp. spec. Spec. St. Stand. Stanf.

str. Struct. Stud. subj. subord. cl. subseq. subst. suff. superl. Suppl. Surg. s.v. Sw. s.w. Syd. Soc. Lex.

syll. Syr. Syst. Taxon. techn. Technol. Telegr. Teleph. (Th.), Theatr. Theol. Theoret. Tokh. tr., transl. Trans. trans. transf. Trav. Treas. Treat. Treatm. Trig.

strong (in titles) Structure, -al (in titles) Studies subject subordinate clause subsequent, -ly substantively suffix superlative Supplement (as label) in Surgery; (in titles) Surgery, Surgical sub voce, ‘under the word’ Swedish south-western (dialect) Sydenham Society, Lexicon of Medicine & Allied Sciences syllable Syrian (in titles) System, -atic (in titles) Taxonomy, -ical technical, -ly (in titles) Technology, -ical in Telegraphy in Telephony (quoted from) Thornton’s American Glossary in the Theatre, theatrical (as label) in Theology; (in titles) Theology, -ical (in titles) Theoretical Tokharian translated, translation (in titles) Transaction transitive transferred sense (in titles) Travel(s) (in titles) Treasury (in titles) Treatise (in titles) Treatment in Trigonometry

Trop. Turk. Typog., Typogr.

(in titles) Tropical Turkish in Typography

ult. Univ. unkn. U.S. U.S.S.R.

ultimately (in titles) University unknown United States Union of Soviet Socialist Republics usually

usu. v., vb. var(r)., vars. vbl. sb. Vertebr. Vet.

Vet. Sci. viz. Voy. v.str. vulg. v.w. W. wd. Webster Westm. WGmc. Wks. w.midl. WS. (Y.), Yrs. Zoogeogr. Zool.

verb variant(s) of verbal substantive (in titles) Vertebrate(s) (as label) in Veterinary Science; (in titles) Veterinary in Veterinary Science videlicet, ‘namely’ (in titles) Voyage(s) strong verb vulgar weak verb Welsh; West word Webster’s (New International) Dictionary (in titles) Westminster West Germanic (in titles) Works west midland (dialect) West Saxon (quoted from) Yule & Burnell’s Hobson-Jobson (in titles) Years in Zoogeography (as label) in Zoology; (in titles) Zoology, -ical

Signs and Other Conventions In the listing of Forms

Before a word or sense

1 2 3 5-7 20

f = obsolete II = not naturalized, alien = catachrestic and erroneous uses

= = = = =

before i ioo 12th c. (i ioo to 1200) 13th c. (1200 to 1300), etc. 15th to 17th century 20th century

In the etymologies * indicates a word or form not actually found, but of which the existence is inferred :— = normal development of

The printing of a word in small capitals indicates that further information will be found under the word so referred to. .. indicates an omitted part of a quotation. -(in a quotation) indicates a hyphen doubtfully present in the original; (in other text) indicates a hyphen inserted only for the sake of a line-break.

PROPRIETARY NAMES This Dictionary includes some words which are or are asserted to be proprietary names or trade marks. Their

inclusion does not imply that they have acquired for legal purposes a non-proprietary or general significance nor any other judgement concerning their legal status. In cases where the editorial staff have established in the records of the Patent Offices of the United Kingdom and of the United States that a word is registered as a proprietary name or trade mark this is indicated, but no judgement concerning the legal status of such words is made or implied thereby.

B.B.C B.B.C.

(bi:bi:'si:). Initial letters of British Broadcasting Corporation, a public corporation orig. having the monopoly of broadcasting in Gt. Britain, financed by a grant-in-aid from Parliament; established 1927 by royal charter to carry on work previously performed by the British Broadcasting Company; hence B.B.C. English, standard English as maintained by B.B.C. announcers; so B.B.C. pronunciation, etc. 1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 12/1 It seems to me that the B.B.C. are mainly catering for the ‘listeners’ who own expensive sets. 1925 Punch 22 Apr. 440/1 The daily wireless programme of the B.B.C. 1926 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. I. 454/2 The ‘B.B.C.’ is constituted as a limited company, the share¬ holders being wireless manufacturers and traders. 1928 Times 13 Jan. 8/5 B.B.C. English. Mr. Lawrence omits from his list of solecisms in pronunciation perpetrated by the B.B.C.’s ‘Advisory Committee on Spoken English’ the crowning horror. 1932 Listener 13 Jan. 45/1 Critics who enjoy making fun of what they are pleased to call ‘B.B.C. English might with profit pay occasional visits to the other side of the Atlantic, in order to hear examples of our language as broadcast where there are no official ‘recommendations to announcers’. 1936 W. Holtby South Riding i. 18 She talked B.B.C. English to her employer .. and Yorkshire dialect to old milkmen. 1938 P. Thoresby Jones Welsh Border Country viii. 95 The educated and older local (as opposed to the ‘board-school’ and B.B.C.) pronunciation of the town’s name is Shrozebury, not Shroozbury. 1944 Penguin New Writing XXII. 47 Her accent was impeccably B.B.C. 1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes 11. ii. 338 B.B.C. officials—programme planners, features-producers, poetry readers.

bdellatomy (de'laetami). Med. [mod. f. Gr. /38eAAa leech + -rofcla a cutting.] The name given to the practice of cutting leeches to empty them of blood while they still continue to suck. 1868 Daily News 30 July, When the little blood-sucker has taken his fill and is about to release his bite .. a small incision is made in his side that serves as an outlet for the blood, and he goes on sucking.. Bdellatomy is the name given to the practice.

|| bdellium ('delism). Forms: 4 bidellium, bdelyum, bdellyum, 6 bedellion, 6-7 bdelium, 6bdellium. [a. L. bdellium (Vulgate), ad. Gr. /SScAAiov (according to Dioscorides and Pliny, a plant, and the fragrant gum exuded by it: see senses 1 and 2); used in the Greek versions later then the lxx to translate the Heb. b’dolakh, which Josephus also rendered /3SeAAa. The Greek word is evidently of oriental origin, but whether it has any relation either of etymology or sense with the Heb. is uncertain, as is also the meaning and origin of the latter, which the lxx had rendered in Genesis by avdpai; ‘carbuncle,’ and in Numbers by KpvaraXXos ‘crystal’: the Rabbins and Bochart explain it as meaning ‘pearl, pearls.’] 1. The name given to several trees or shrubs of the N.O. Amyridacese, chiefly of the genus Balsamodendron, from which exudes a kind of gum-resin resembling impure myrrh, of pungent taste and agreeable odour, used in medicine and as a perfume. 1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. xvn. xix. (1495) 614 Bidellium is. . a blacke tre moost lyke to the Oliue and the gumme therof is bryght and bytter. 1596 Lodge Marg. Amer.y The blacke bdellium [bringeth forth] sweete gumme. 1620 T. Peyton Par ad. in Farr’s S.P. (1848) 178 Where can a man.. Find bdelium, that pleasant tree, to grow. [1878 H. Stanley Dark Cont. II. xii. 350 Where the myrrh and bdellium shrubs exhaled their fragrance.]

2. The gum-resin thus procured. 1585 Lloyd Treas. Health Q v, Afterwarde put.. thervnto .. pouder of Masticke, of Castoreum, bdelii, myrre. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 362 The right Bdellium, .being washed and drenched with wine.. is more odoriferous. 1859 R. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. R.G.S. XXIX. 448 The important growths of the interior are frankincense and bdellium.

3. The translation, in the English Bible, of the Hebrew word b’dolakh; see above. 1382 Wyclif Gen. ii. 12 Ther is foundun bdelyum and the stoon onychynus. -Num. xi. 7 Manna forsothe was.. of the colour of bdelii [1388 of bdellyum, which is whijt and bryjt as crista!]. 1535 Coverdale ibid., There is founde Bedellion. - The Manna was., like Bedellion. 1560 Genev. ibid., The Man also was..the colour of bdelium. 1611 ibid., There is bdellium. The colour of Bdelium.

bdellometer (de'lDmit3(r)). [ad. F. bdellometre, f. Gr. jSSeAAa leech + pCpov measure.] A surgical instrument proposed as a substitute for leeches, and fitted to show the amount of blood drawn. 1839 Hooper Med. Diet. 254. 1874 Dunglison Med. Diet., Bdellometer. .consists of a cupping-glass, to which a scarificator and exhausting syringe are attached.

be (bi:), v. [An irregular and defective verb, the full conjugation of which in modern Eng. is effected by a union of the surviving inflexions of three originally distinct and independent verbs, viz. (1) the original Aryan substantive verb with stem es-, Skr. as-, ’s-, Gr. ’to-, L. es-, ’s-, OTeut. *es-, ’s-; (2) the verb with stem wes-, Skr. vas- to remain, OTeut. wes-, Gothic wis-an to remain,

1 stay, continue to be, OS., OE., OHG. wesan, OFris. wes-a, ON. ver-a; (3) the stem beu- Skr. bhu-, bhaw-, Gr. a pu wasre [Rushw. were] under pam fictreowe. c 1300 Havelok 684 Cherl, als thou er wore. at )?ou was wont [Trin. MS. J?ou were] ber in pi hand. 1382 Wyclif John i. 48 Whanne thou were vndir the fyge tree. [1534 Tindale, and all subseq. versions, When thou wast]. a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 178 Thou O vyrgyn .. that were souerayne delyte to god hymselfe.. were ioye to aungels. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. 11. i. 174 Thou wer’t borne a foole. 1617 Hieron Wks. (1628) II. 122 Why did I forget that thou wart an Observer? 1627 Hakewill Apologie (1630) 83 Thou, who werst a Christian before. 1738 Glover Leonidas in. 560 Thou, who once wert Lacedaemon’s chief. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. 204 Wert thou bid to come up? 1820 Shelley To Skylark i, Hail to thee, blithe spirit! Bird thou never wert. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. ser. 11. iv. (1869) 91 Thou wert damned. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 232 Thou wast less friendly far than thou didst seem.

c. plural, were (weo(r), W3:(r), wa(r)). [= OFris. werariy OS. wdrun, OHG. warumes, waruty waruriy ON. VQrurriy varum, vdrud, vdruy Goth, wesurriy wesupy wesun.] Forms: 1 waerun, 1-2 waeron, 2 waeren, 2-5 weren, 3- were; (2 waren, 3-4 weore(n, wore(n, 3-6 ware, 4 warre, wair, quar, 4-6 werne, warn, wer, war, wher, whar, 5 werene, werun, 6 warren, werren.) Also 4- was. Negative 1-3 naeron, neoren, nere. (For were used in the sing, see above, was ^[). ciooo Ags. Gosp. John i. 24 J?a wseron of sundor-haljan. 1160 Hatton G. ibid., pa waeren. 2:1175 Lamb. Horn. 15 J>as la3en weren from Moyses. C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 31 Hie waren swiSe.. ofdredde. Ibid. 143 Seuen awer3ede gostes ware on hire, c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2446 Swilc woren egipte la3es. a 1300 Havelok 717 Hise two doutres, that faire wore. a 1300 Cursor M. (Gott.) 11490 J>ar iesu and his moder warn [v.r. wern, werne]. 2:1340 Ibid. (Trin.) 388 BoJ?e were [v.r. war, ware, was] made sonne and mone. 2:1386 Chaucer Prol. 28 And wel we weren esed atte beste. Ibid. 41 And eek in what array that they were inne. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. x. (Gibbs MS.) J»ei pat werene so noble. 1462 Poston Lett. 453 II. 104 Your brother and Debenham were at words. 1557 Barclay (Paynell) Jugurth 5 b, What tyme ye warre without riches. 1611 Bible Num. xiii. 33 Wee were in our owne sight as grashoppers, and so we were in their sight.

be

3 HThe plural had formerly also was-, almost universally so in i6-i8th c. with you when used as a singular. Still dial, in all persons. C 1340 Cursor M. (Trin.) 944 Into pe world pere pei made was. c 1430 Syr Gener. 5674 Traitoures was him euer loothe. C1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. 108 Whan thay came togeders, thay was.. occupyyd with their own maters. 1588 Shaks. Tit. A. iv. i. 38 There was more then one.. I, more there was. 1671 Wilkins in Grew Anat. Plants Pref., You was very happy in the choice of this Subject. 1684 Bunyan Pilg. 11. 76, I suppose you was in a dream. 1735 Walpole Corr. (1820) I. 3 When you was at Eton. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vi. v, What was you reading when I came in? 1811 Miss Austen Sense & Sens. (1870) II. i. 122, I felt sure that you was angry with me. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxiii, You was to come to him at six o’clock. Mod. dial. They was here.

7. Past Subjunctive. a. 1 and 3 sing, were (wea(r), W3:(r), wa(r)). [ = OFris. were, ON. vseri, OS. and OHG. wari, Goth. 1 wesjau, 3 wesi.] Forms: 1-2 waere, 2were, (2-3 weore, 3-4 wor(e, 4-5 ware, war, 6 weare.) c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 5 Er pis were. 01250 Owl & Night. 1312 3if ich were a bisimere. a 1300 Havelok 1938 Me wore leuere I wore lame, a 1300 Cursor M. 1599 pou he war [v.r. were] wrath it was na wrang. c 1440 Love Bonavent. Mirr. x. 25 (Gibbs MS.) As he were a pore man. i486 Bk. St. Albans Aiiij, As it ware the mawe of a pegeon. 1529 More in Four C. Eng. Lett. 12 What way wer best to take. 1788 Burns Oh, were I on Parnassus’ Hill! 1852 Miss Yonge Cameos I. vi. 42 By my faith it were treason. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola x, If I were only a Theocritus. Mod. Would I were there!

b. 2 sing, wert (west, W3:t), formerly were. [ = OFris. were, ON. vserir, OS. and OHG. warts, Goth, weseis. The final -t in Eng., formerly -est, -st, is on the analogy of the indie.] Forms: 1-2 ware, 2-6 were; 6-7 werest, werst; 6- wert. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 131 Were thou among men. 1535 Coverdale 2 Esdras v. 30 Though thou werest enemye.Ezek. xxviii. 6 As though thou werst God. 1611 Bible Rev. iii. 15, I would thou wert cold or hote [Wyclif, Coverd., Cranmer, Rhem. were, Genev. werest]. 01796 Burns Oh, wert thou in the cauld blast. c. plural, were (wea(r), W3:(r), ws(r)) with grammatical ablaut. [= OFris. were, ON. vserim, -id, -i, OS. warin, OHG. warimes, -it, -in, Goth, weseima, -eip, -eina.] Forms: 1-2 waren, 2- 4 weren, (3 weoren, 3-4 woren, waren), 3were, (3 weore, 4 wore, weere, 4-6 war(e, 6 wer.) 1205 Lay. 50 Out of J>eowedome, freo pat heo weoren [1250 were]. 01300 Havelok 2661 And fouhten so thei woren wode. 1480 Robt. Devyll 10 Ye were better lette me a lone. 1571 Lyndesay MS. Collect., Swownand, lyk as thai war bot life. 1611 Bible John xv. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would loue his owne [So Tindale, etc.] 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Worn. II. viii. 4 Were these extinguished, what were this world? 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. 11. 1153 Were they verily the lady’s own .. she must be the fondest of the frail.

If For the singular, the indicative form was was common in 17-18th c.; it was even used for the plural by writers who used was in the plural indicative. 1684 Bunyan Pilg. 11. 77 As if one was awake. 1713 Beveridge Private Th. 11. (1730) 46 Which certainly would be the greatest Absurdity.. was not they God as well as He. 1760 Sterne Serm. Yorick viii. (1773) 88 A man, of whom, was you to form a conjecture, etc. 1768- Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 85 Was I in a desert, I would find out, etc. 1787 G. White Selborne v. (1789) 11 The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked after.. would swarm with game.

IV. Parts from be only. 8. Past Participle-, been (bi:n, bin). Forms: Southern ? 1-2 jebeon, 2-3 ibeon, ibon, iben, ibi, 3- 4 ibeo, beo, 3-5 ibe, ybe, 4 yben, by, 4-6 be. Northern ? 2-3 beon, 3-7 ben, 4 beyn, buen, 4-7 bene, 5-6 byn(ne, 6-8 bin, 7- beene, 5- been. Not known in OE., where no pa. pple. of any of these verbs (am, was, be) appears. The common literary form in 14-15th c. was be, before the general acceptance of the northern ben, bene. South-western dialects have still a-be = ibe. (In U.S. often pronounced ben.) a 1107 OE. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1096 He heafde gebeon on J?es cynges swiedome. 2:1175 Lamb. Horn. 159 Wel longe ich habbe child ibon [v.r. iben, ibeo]. c 1175 Cott. Horn. 239 bus hit ha8 ibi and is. 2:1200 Ormin 8399 Haffde he beon. Ibid. 2311 Hafde ben. 1205 Lay. 8325 J>u hafuest ibeon [1250 beon] ouer-cumen. c 1230 Ancr. R. 316 Ich habbe ibeon fol. 221300 Cursor M. (Cott.) 14638 War yemed haf I ben [Gott. bene]. C1300 Beket 133 Lute we habbeth togadere I-beo. 2:1300 Harrow. Hell 173 So longe we haveth buen herynne. 1375 Barbour Bruce 1. 527 Thai mycht nocht haiff beyn tane. 2:1375 Wyclif Serm. xliii. Sel. Wks. 1871 II. 346 Trespassours, pat wolden.. have be ever wantoun. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xiv. 95 As it neuere had ybe. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 60 At mortal batailles hadde he be [v.r. ben, been] fiftene. -Merck. T. 1157 A man that longe hath blynd ybe [v.r. ibe, blynde be]. 2:1400 Destr. Troy xii. 8913 pat any dede has be don. c 1420 Sir Amadace xxxix, A mon that hase alle way bynne kynde. c 1450 Merlin xv. 239 Where the battle had I-be. 1455 E. Clere in Four C. Eng. Lett. 5 Nor wist not where he had be, whils he had be seke til now. 1483 Act 1 Rich. Ill, i. § 1 As .. if this Act had not be made. 1526 Tindale John v. 5 Which had bene [1582 Rhem. been] diseased. -xiv. 9 Haue I bene [1611 bin] so long tyme with you?. 1575 J. Still Gamm. Gurton v. ii, Had my hens be stolne eche one. 1579 Lyly Euphues (1636) Eiijb, Had it not bin better for thee? 1560 Jewel Serm. Matt. ix. 37-8 As if they had byn a flock of sheepe. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1726) 23 Having bin so rocked and shaken at

Sea. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 420 You have been as God’s good angel in our house.

B. Signification and uses. [The primary sense appears to have been that of branch II below, ‘to occupy a place’ (i.e. to sit, stand, lie, etc.) in some specified place; thence the more abstract branch I was derived by abstracting the notion of particular place, so as to emphasize that of actual existence, ‘to be somewhere, no matter where, to be in the universe, or realm of fact, to have a place among existing things, to exist.’ Branch III was derived from II by weakening the idea of actual presence, into the merely intellectual conception of ‘having a place’ in a class of notions, or ‘being identical with’ another notion: ‘centaurs are imaginary creatures’ = ‘centaurs have their place in the class of creatures of the imagination.’ Branch IV is an obvious extension of III: cf. ‘it was annoying to me,’ with ‘it was annoying me.’] I. absolutely. To have or take place in the world of fact, to exist, occur, happen. 1. To have place in the objective universe or realm of fact, to exist; also, to exist in life, to live. c 1000 /Elfric Exod. iii 14 Ic com se pe eom ewae)? he.. se 8e ys me sende to eow. c 1340 Cursor M. (Fairf.) 9732 This world.. hast pou made fadir j?orogh me to bene. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Matt. xxii. 105 They beleue.. nothyng to be but that whiche they see. 1587 Golding De Mornay iii. 26 All things that are, or euer were, or shall hereafter bee. 1611 Bible Gen. v. 24 Enoch walked with God: and hee was not, for God tooke him. 1698 Dryden JEneid 11. 438 Troy is no more, and Ilium was a Town. 1732 Pope Ess. Man 1. 109 To Be, contents his natural desire. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ill. i, How are they blotted from the things that be. 1823 Byron Juan ix. xxiv, Tyrants and sycophants have been and are. 1827 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 61 God is, nay alone is. 1837-Fr. Rev. I. i. 6 So much that was not is beginning to be. b. with there. verbs.]

[See there, for its use with

221300 Cursor M. 10783 There bene reasons wretyn sere That god wold she spousid were, c 1386 Chaucer Pers. T. If 21 Ther ben thre acciouns of penitence. 1426 Audelay Poems 16 Ther bene bot feu truly. 1562 J. Heywood Prov.& Epigr. (1867) 86 Thers no redempeion. 221586 Answ. Cartwright 79 There were of the princes that tooke his parte. 1650 Baxter Saints' R. 1. i. (1662) 3 There’s few will deny, that God knows. 1711 Pope Rape Lock 79 Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their face. Mod. There are photographs and photographs.

2. To come into existence, come about, happen, occur, take place, be acted or done. (To become, come about, was the OE. and early ME. sense of beon, while still a distinct vb., before it became blended with am, was.) 2:950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxiv. 3 CueS us, hoenne Sas bi8on. 2:975 Rushw. G. ibid., Saeje us hwaenne pas beo)?. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 177 Hu seal pat bon? c 1350 Will. Palerne 1930 Manly on pe morwe pat mariage schuld bene. 1530 Palsgr. 421/1 Be as be may, vaille que vaille. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 43 Be as be maie is no bannyng. 1775 Sheridan Rivals in Casquet. Lit. (1877) IV. 37/2 Your husband that shall be. 221804 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. II. 457 Marry .. speedily, or the to be Mrs. Berry will have very little of your company. Mod. When is the wedding to be? The flower-show was last week.

3. To be the case or the fact, esp. in the phrases so be, be it that = if it be the case that, suppose that, and the arch, or dial, being, being that = it being the case that, seeing that, since. Hence the adverb howbeit. c 1314 Guy Warw. 203 Bi so that he wille kisse me, Euer eft we schul frendes be. c 1400 Maundev. v. 40 Beso it be not aaenst his Lawe. 1547 Brende Let. in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 380 If so be he will stand. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI, vi. I. 178 Be it so, the Corinthians had no such contentions among them. 1611 Bible Job xix. 4 And be it indeed that I haue erred. 1851 J. Hume Repent, iv. Poems 96 So-be the haunting sense of wrong.. Were loosen’d from his breast. 1528 T. More Heresyes iii. Wks. 214/2 Beyng though they wer but men. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, 11. i. 199 You loyter heere too long, being you are to take Souldiers vp. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 120 They went all for halfe gates, beinge that they coulde not bee discerned. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. 11. Wks. (1851) 61 Being they are Church-men, we may rather suspect, etc. 1659 Pearson Creed To Rdr., Being the Creed comprehendeth the principles of our religion, it must, etc. 1692 Lady Russell Lett. 26 May, I believe your newspapers.. tell you all, but being there is nothing newer, I would do it too. 1815 Scott Guy M. ix, With whom he himself had no delight in associating, ‘being that he was addicted unto profane and scurrilous jests.’

4. To remain or go on in its existing condition; in the archaic phrase let be = let alone, leave as it is; leave off, cease; Sc. omit, leave out. 1297 R. Glouc. 153 Uter let al this be. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 281 Al 3our mornyng lete)? now ben. c 1386 Chaucer Frere's Prol. 25 Telleth your tale, and let the sompnour be. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. v. 174 Let be al 3oure ianglyng. 2:1450 Merlin i. 16 Let me be, and beth in pes. 1513 Douglas JEneis iv. vi. 159 With thi complayntis.. Lat be to vex me. Ibid. ix. Prol. 25 All lous langage and lychtnes lattand be. 153° Palsgr. 607/1 Let be this nycenesse, my frende. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 18 Lett be thy bitter scorne. 1611 Bible Matt, xxvii. 49 Let be, let vs see whether Elias will come. 1775 H. Baillie Lett. I. 51 (Jam.) Morton, Roxburgh, let be Haddington or Stirling, were not of sufficient shoulder. Ibid. I. 170 He had never any such resolution, let be plot.

BE 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xv. (1872) 89,1 thank you; let me be.

b. Here may be included an idiom in which be is practically = ‘continue, remain, ’ though the analysis is not clear, and there is apparently confusion of structure. 1601 Shaks. All's well 11. i. 94 lie fit you, And not be all day neither. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. IV. xn. iv. 151 Town-Officer is some considerable time before he can return [? = It is some considerable time before Town Officer can return. But cf. the following, which have various relations with other senses: 1570 Ascham Scholem. 1. (Arb.) 35, I haue bene longer in describing the nature., of the quicke and hard witte than .. the matter doth require. 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. 11. v. 34 He hath bin all this day to looke you. 1628 Digby Voy. Medit. 1868 7 And they having bin a long time from any port. Mod. I was a long while unable to arise; I was [also, it was] a long while before I could rise. You have been rather long about it. Go, but don’t be long! Cf. also such phrases as ‘We are ten miles, an hour’s drive, two hours, from the nearest railway station,’ which come under 5*1

II. With adverb or prepositional phrase: stating where or how, i.e. in what place or state a thing is. [= Sp., Pg. estar as distinct from ser.] 5. To have or occupy a place (i.e. to sit, stand, lie, hang, etc.—the posture not being specified or regarded) somewhere , the ‘where’ being expressed either by an adverb or a preposition with object. Expressing the most general relation of a thing to its place: To have one’s personality, substance, or presence, to be present, so as to find oneself, or be to be found (in, at, or near a place, with an object, etc.). a 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 298 On swa hwilcum huse swa he bit>. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt, xxviii. 20 Ic beo mid eow ealle dajas. 1297 R. Glouc. 374 Hou mony plou lond, & hou mony hyden al so, Were in eueryche ssyre. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 82 Alle tho that bueth heryne. c 1400 Macndev. ii. 10 Some men trowen that half the Cros .. be in Cipres. 1465 Marg. Paston in Lett. 505 II. 194 Ryght glad that we err ther a mongs hem. 1674 Brevint Saul at Endor 164 He having bin in his Coffin the greatest part of the night after his death. 1722 De Foe Hist. Plague (1754) 6 Terrible Apprehensions were among the People. 1771 Fletcher Check Wks. 1795 II. 194 You are just where you was. 1821 Byron Sardan. in. i. 401 Again the love-fit’s on him. 1861 Thackeray Georges iii. 120 Where be the sentries who used to salute? Mod. Your book is here, under the table.

b. Often used with there, esp. when the subject is introduced to notice: cf. ‘your brother (about whom you ask) is in the garden,’ with ‘there is a cow (something not previously present to the mind) in the garden.’ [1475 Caxton Jason 8 b, And were no more on their side but they two only]. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. i. §2 If there be in you that gracious humility. 1675 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 103 There was not his equal in the whole world. 1821 Byron Sardan. I. i, There be bright faces in the hall.

6. Idiomatically, in past, now only in perfect and pluperfect tenses, with to, and a substantive, or infinitive of purpose: To have been (at the proper place) in order to, or for the purpose of. Cf. Sp. and Pg. fue ‘I was’ in sense of ‘I went.’ CI645 Howell Lett. (1678) 24, I was yesterday to wait upon Sir Herbert Croft. 1747 Lady Shaftesb. in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 51, I was to see the new farce. 1760 Goldsmith Cit. W. (1840) 158, I was this morning to buy silk for a nightcap. Mod. Have you been to the Crystal Palace? I had been to see Irving that night.

b. to be off, be away: a graphic expression for ‘to go at once, take oneself off.’ 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. vi. 352 We had better order our horses and be off. 1873 Black Pr. Thule xii. 186 The stag.. was away like lightning down the bed of the stream. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrost. 65, I must be off into the woods.

c. been and (gone and) -: vulgar or facetious expletive amplification of the pa. pple. of a verb, used to express surprise or annoyance at the act specified. 1836 Dickens Pickw. xxvi, Lauk, Mrs. Bardeil,.. see what you’ve been and done! 1847 Thackeray Van. Fair xv, Sir Pitt has been and proposed for to marry Miss Sharp. 1869 W. S. Gilbert Bab Ballads 218 The padre said, ‘Whatever have you been and gone and done?’ 1891 [see go v. 32c]. 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism 11. i. 61 She’s been and gone and done it. She’s got engaged. 1926 D. L. Sayers Clouds of Witness u. 48, I say, Helen, old Gerald’s been an’ gone an’ done it this time, what?

7. To sit, stand, remain, etc. in a defined circumstantial position, e.g. to be in debt, at one’s ease\ to have one’s existence in a certain state or condition, a. with prep, phrase. c IX75 Lamb. Horn. 7 3ef we beoS under so8 scrifte. c 1340 Cursor M. (Laud MS.) 942 Therfor ye bene in wo and stryfe. Ibid. 10446 When j?ou shuldist be best at ease, c 1430 Syr Gener. (1865) 41 Al men that on live bene. 1531-2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, xvi, One halfe of the price .. shalbe to the use of the seysour. 1535 Coverdale Zech. viii. 2, I was in a greate gelousy ouer Sion. 1540 Hyrde Vive s' Instr. Chr. Worn. (1592) Eij To bee at the lust of the Judge. 1611 Bible Ex. v. 19 They were in euill case. 1666 Marvell Corr. liv. Wks. 1872-5 II. 191 Proposalls that have bin undir deliberation. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 369 f 14 Any one who will be at the pains of examining it. 1866 Kingsley Herew. xvii. 214 The battle.. is more in my way.

b. with adverb. C1350 Will. Palerne 547 Nay best bep it nou3t so. 1463 Plumpton Corr. 8, I trust all shalbe well. 1611 Bible Gen. xliii. 27 Is your father well? [Wyclif saaf; Coverd., Geneva

4 in good health]. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ill. 717 Content to be and to be well. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 171 Asking how his Highness was.

8. To belong, pertain, befall: with dat. or to, = have. Cf. L. est. mihi> Fr. e'est d moi. Now only in exclamations or wishes (where, also, be is often omitted), as Wo is me! Wo be to the transgressor! Success (be) to your efforts! a 1300 E.E. Psalter cxxviii. 2 Wele bes to pe nou. 1382 Luke i. 7 A sone was not to hem. c 1400 Maundev. 36 The kyngdom of Arabye that was to on of the 3 kynges. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxxvii. 2 O well is the, happie art thou. 1602 Shaks. Haml. 11. ii. 124 Whilst this Machine is to him. 1605-Lear 1. i. 68 To thine and Albanies issues be this perpetuall. 1611 Bible Ecclus. xxv. 9 Well is him that hath found prudence. -Eph. vi. 23 Peace be to the brethren. -Rev. i. 4 Grace be vnto you, and peace, from him which is. Wyclif

fb. To pertain as a misfortune, to have befallen to\ to be amiss, be the matter with, ail. Obs. 1297 R. Glouc. 128 Merlyn wat ys the? a 1300 Cursor M. 4395 Leuedi, quat es at 30U? \v.r. what is 30U? what ayles 30U?] a 1300 Floriz Bl. 467 [Thei] axede hire what hire were, a 1300 Havelok 2704 Godrich, wat is pe, pat pou fare pus with me?

III. With adjective, substantive, or adjective phrase; acting as simple copula: stating of what sort or what a thing is. [ = Sp., Pg. sert as distinct from estar.] 9. To exist as the subject of some predicate, i.e. to have a place among the things distinguished by a specified quality or name. a. with adj. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xi. 30 Min geoc is wynsum and min byrSyn ys leoht. £1175 Lamb. Horn. 197 Ne beo ich neuer bliSe. £1340 Cursor M. (Trin.) 3109 pe folke was gode, pe world was clene. Ibid. 12578 Ar he were tuelue 3eer olde. 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) L 9 Now men bep al sad. C1440 Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 74 Wemen are frele. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) xx, Ful drye & ful colde am her hertes. 1534 Tindale^o^w xiii. 11 Ye are not all clene. 1579 Lyly Euphues (1636) Dviij, Neither haue I bin curious to inquire of his Progenitors. 1611 Bible Ps. cviii. 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet. 1652 Needham Selden's Mare Cl. 171 Whose name is very frequent in the mouths of men. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 144 Gaunt are his Sides, and sullen is his Face. 1830 Tennyson Mariana, I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead.

b. with phrase = adj. (closely allied to 7). a 1200 Ormin 2455 best wij?j? childe. a 1300 Cursor M. 10303 Fastinge he was in wille to be. Ibid. 10572 Anna wit child was of a mai. c 1400 Partonope 874 Beth of goode comfort. 1592 West Symbol. 1. 1. §9 Of which sort bin all naturall Obligations. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. in. 260 He was of Memphis. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man 1. i. §1 P46 The Instance above noted is most to this Purpose. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth II. 67 Be of good courage. 1837 Newman Par. Serm. I. xxiv. 365 Religion is said to be against nature. 1867 Times 18 Nov. 7/2 The advices from Adelaide.. are to the 28th September.

c. with sb. (used connotatively). £95° Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. viii. 9 ForSon and ic monn amm under maeht. £1175 Cott. Horn. 219 Hi bae S alle gastes. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 458 Al arn we membrez of Ihesu kryst. C1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. (1871) III. 442 J?ese freres bene men of holy Chirche. 1570 Ascham Scholem. 1. (Arb.) 68 You be indeed makers or marrers. 1626 R. Bernard Isle of Man (1627) 155, I haue alwayes bin a free man. 1678 Bunyan Pilg. 1. 14 Though I have bin An undeserving rebel. 1817 Byron Manfred 11. iv. 133, I feel but what thou art —and what I am. 1850 Lynch Theo. Trin. x. 200 Only by being man can we know man.

d. colloq. With idiomatic repetition of the verb in the following clause. (Further examples in Visser Hist. Syntax I. 55.) Cf. it 4c. 1828 M. Mitford Our Village, III. 202 He’s a sad pickle is Sam! 1928 R. Macaulay Keeping up Appearances iv. §1. 35 She’s very sympathetic, Daphne is. 1930 Belloc Wolsey iv. 58 It is a rare function, is industry upon this level. 1932 R. Knox Broadcast Minds vii. 156 Yes, he is true to type, is Mr. Heard. 1958 P. Gallico Steadfast Man ii. 43 He was an honest man, was Patrick.

10. with sb. To exist as the thing known by a certain name; to be identical with. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xix. 21 Ic eom iudea cyning. c 1160 Halt. G. ibid., Ich em iudea kyning. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 946 God .. es maker of althynge, And of alle creatures pe bygynnynge. c 1400 Gamelyn 583 Hit ben pe Shirreues men. i486 Plumpton Corr. 49 These bent the tydings that I know, c 1530 Redforde Play Wyt & Sc. (1848) 3 Ah! syr, what tyme of day yst? 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. hi. ii. 73 Am I Dromio? Am I your man?. Am I my selfe? 1610 Temp. 1. ii. 434 My selfe am Naples. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. i. 4 ‘Twas clear it was not gaine was his marke. 1805 Foster Ess. ii. vi. 204 Let thinking be reasoning. 1872 Yeats Tech. Hist. Comm. 212 The earth and the atmosphere are the two sources.

11. To be the same in purport as; to signify, amount to, mean. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 5 Vigilate, pax is be6 wakiende. c 1220 Halt Meid. 3 Him jeme hwat euch word bee sunderliche to seggen. C1230 Ancr. R. 58 Best is pe bestliche mon (>aet ne pencheS nout of God. 1302 Wyclif Gen. xli. 26 Seuen oxen fayr, and seuen eerys fulle, seuen 3eris of plentith ben. 1611 Bible Ibid., The seuen good kine are seuen yeares. 1597 Bacon Coulers Good & Evill, Ess. (Arb.) 15 3 The burning of that had bin gradus privationis. 1884 Weekly Times 7 Mar. 4/4 To fall was to die. Mod. I’ll tell you what it is, you must leave.

12. To amount to (something) of moment or importance, to ‘signify’ to a person; to concern. eses life, a 1300 Cursor M. 15665 Bes [v.r. be] wakand ai in orisun. £1400 Maundev. xxiii. 253 Thei trowen..thei schulle be etynge and drynkynge. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 37 Leat vs be trudgeing. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent, Some fleeting beene in floodes. 1653 Holcroft Procopius 29 The Romans being preparing their dinners. 1684 Bunyan Pilg. 11. 227 He was talking of thee. 1727 Vanbrugh Journ. Lond. 1. 1, It’s at the Door, they are getting out. 1750 Harris Hermes (1841) 142 Riseth means, is rising; writeth, is writing. 1774 Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. II. 401, I hope I am not going into a narrative troublesome to the house. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xlv, The bells were still ringing.

b. with passive signification: in such expression as ‘the ark was building,’ the last word was originally the gerund or verbal substantive, and the full expression was ‘the ark was a-building or in building,’ of which see instances under A prep.1 12. 1551 Robinson More's Utop. (1869) 64 Whyles a commodye of Plautus is playinge. 1557 N. T. (Geneva) 1 Pet. iii. 20 While the arcke was [1611 was in] preparing. 1685 R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. ii. 28 Strong preparations being making for wars. Mod. We stayed there while our house was building.

c. The ambiguity of the construction ‘is building’ in the two preceding senses has led in modern Eng. to the use in the latter sense of ‘is being built,’ formed upon the present pple. passive ‘being built.’ [1596 Of Ghostes and Spirits 14 The noyse of a leafe being mooved so affrighteth him. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. 26 Acting and being acted upon by others. 1754 Richardson Grandison III. 46 To sit up late either reading or being read to. 1769 Mrs. Harris in Lett. 1st Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 180 There is a good opera of Pugniani’s now being acted. *779 I- Harris Ibid. I. 410 Sir Guy Carlton was four hours being examined.] 1795 Southey in C. Southey Life I. 249 A fellow.. whose grinder is being torn out by the roots. 1797 Coleridge in Biog. Lit. (1847) II. 317 While my hand was being dressed. 1823 Lamb Elia, Inconv. being hanged, A man who is being strangled. 1846 Newman Ess. Crit. & Hist. II, 448 At this very moment, souls are being led into the Catholic Church, a 1859 De Quincey Wks. IV. 7 Not done, not even (according to modem purism) being done. 1873

BE Huxley Crit. & Addresses 247 The corpuscles enter into the eggs while they are being formed.

16. With the dative infinitive, making a future of appointment or arrangement; hence of necessity, obligation, or duty; in which sense have is now commonly substituted. fa. with infinitive active. Obs. CI200 Tnn. Coll. Horn. 3 Alle po pe habben ben . and alle po pe ben to cumen her after. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xiii. 17, I am to [1388 Y schal] 3yue it to thee. 1382-Eccles. ii. 18, I knowe not whether wis or fool he be to ben. 1622 Massinger Virgin Mart. in. i, A King of Egypt, being to erect The image of Osiris. 1692 Locke Educ. §167 If a Gentleman be to study any Language, it ought to be that of his own Country. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. Ded., If this be not a receiv’d Maxim, yet I am sure I am to wish it were. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 22 Mighty uneasy.. about their being to go back again. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 264, I am to thank you, my dear Miss, for your kind Letter. 1814 Scott Wav. I. v. 55 Had he been to chuse between any punishment.. and the necessity.

f b. Hence, to be to seek: to have to seek, to be obliged to seek, to be in want or at a loss. Obs. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 89 The complete measure of it.. that such as are desirous of knowledge be not to seek in any one thing. 1625 Bacon Usury, Ess. (Arb.) 544 The Merchant wil be to seeke for Money. 1653 Holcroft Procopius I. 4 Being to seek his food he would hunt for it. 1654(12 Sept.) Cromwell Sp. (Carl. 1871) IV. 52 We were exceedingly to seek how to settle things, a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. v. (1702) 454 They were very much to seek, how the Case of Hull could concern Descents and Purchases. 1832 Fair of May Fair III. ii. 278 It was excusable that a man having passed so large a portion of those sixty years in a compting house, could be somewhat to seek in the economy of his social system.

c. with infinitive passive. 1581 Fulke in Confer, in. (1584) Oiiijb, He him selfe being to iudge all men, is to bee iudged of no man. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. 11. 118 Being to be made Earl of Strafford. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 145 Normandy was to be invaded on each side.

17. The same construction is used in the sense of ‘to be proper or fit (to).’ a. with infinitive active, arch, and now commonly expressed by b. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 133 Hit is to witene. c 1340 Cursor M. (Fairf.) 12861 Wat is to do. 1340 Ayenb. 5 pet is to zigge. C1388 in Wyclif s Sel. Wks. 1871 III. 468 Hit ys not to gife dymes to a persoun. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour E v, Suche .. wymmen be to compare to the wyf of Lothe. 1528 Perkins Prof. Bk. i. §36 (1642) 16 Now it is to shew. 1634 Malory's Arthur (1816) II. 308 The four, .is to understand the four evangelists. Mod. Is this house to let? They are not to compare with these.

b. with infinitive passive. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1545 bey be)? to be blamede eft. 1588 j. Udall Demonstr. Discip. (Arb.) 54 If the whole.. be to bee obserued vntill the ende. 1679 Penn Addr. Prot. 11. §2 (1692) 76 Not a Good Samaritan being to be found. 1798 Malthus Popul. (1817) II. 194 It must be to be depended upon.

18. The past subjunctive were with the infinitive makes an emphatically hypothetical condition: cf. the degrees of uncertainty in If I went, If I should go, If I were to go. 1596 Raleigh in Four C. Eng. Lett. 37 If I weare.. to advize my sealf. Mod. If I were to propose, would you accept? Were he to ask me, it would be different.

V. Phraseological combinations. 19. In I were better (best, as good), the nominative pronoun took catachrestically the place of an earlier dative (me were better = it were better to or for me): modern usage substitutes had better, after the analogy of had liefer, rather, etc. Cf. have, lief, rather. (See F. Hall, ‘Had Rather' in Amer.Jnl. Philol. II, No. 7. 1881.) C1300 St. Marg. 180 pe were betere habbe [= it were better for thee to have] bileued atom, pan icome me to fonde. c 1430 Syr Tryam. 399 Sche wyste not whedur-warde.. Sche was best to goone. c 1590 Marlowe yew; of M. iv. iv. 1653, I.. told him he were best to send it. 1597 Lyly Worn, in Moone in. ii. 185 Sirra, provide the banquet, you are best. 1610 Shaks. Temp. 1. ii. 366 Be quicke thou’rt best. 1611 - Cymb. hi. ii. 79 Madam, you’re best consider. 1612 Chapman Widdowes' T. Plays 1873 III. 12 Y’are best take you to your stand. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 57 They were .. better speake plainer English. 1703 Moxon Mech. Ex. 278 You were best to mark the lower Closier in each course.

20. In clauses measuring time: as ‘he came here Monday was a week,’ i.e. he came here on the Monday a week before Monday last: the phrase became a mere adjective clause, whence arose remarkable constructions, as ‘on the evening of Saturday was sennight before the day fixed’ = on the evening of the Saturday a week earlier than the Saturday before the day fixed. Was is now generally omitted: I was in London Monday (was) three weeks. [1449 Paston Lett. 68 I. 85 And as God wuld, on Fryday last was, we had a gode wynd.] 1678 Gunpowder-Treas. 11 The Evening of the Saturday was Sennight before the appointed time. 1684 Baxter Twelve Argts. Post. M, I have been at no Church since August was Twelvemonth. 1691 Land. Gaz. No. 2657/4 Edward Flower..went from his House about last Christmas was 4 years. 1725 Ibid. No. 6447/4 About two or three Days after Holy Rood Day last was Twelve Month. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 343 Did there come no young woman here.. Friday was a fortnight?

21. to be about to: see about A i i, 12. 22. what one would be at: what one aims at; what one means, wishes, or would have.

5 1705 Vanbrugh Confeder. 1. i. (1759) II. 13 What wou’d he be at? At her—if she’s at leisure. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones (1836) I. I. xi. 51 We cannot always discover what the young lady would be at. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. x. (1857) 58 That is very true but not what I would be at. 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIV. 373 What would revolutionising Germany be at?

23. to be for: fa. to be ready, prepared, or a match for a person (obs.); b. to lye bound for, to be making for a place; c. to be ready to act for, to be on the side of, or in favour of, to advocate; d. to be anxious for, to desire, to want {dial.). a. 1622 Middleton, etc. Old Law hi. ii, My young boys, shall be for you. 1631 Massinger Beleeve as you list in. iii, His angrie forhead.. No matter—I am for him. b. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. ii. 6, I was for St. Sebastians, accompanied with one Mr. Pickford. Mod. ‘Where are you for to-day?’ c. 1636 Healey Epictetus’ Man. 147 Like unto beasts, they are all for the belly. 1692 Locke Toleration ii. Wks. 1727 II. 289 You cannot be.. for a free and impartial Examination. 1799 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 268, I am for free commerce with all nations. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 511 He was for going straight into the harbour of Brest. 1878 Bosw. Smith Carthage 219 Scipio. .was for delay. I

24. Many parts of the verb and its tenses are used substantively, adjectively, or adverbially. a 1679 T. Goodwin Wks. (1864) VIII. 231 How slender these hopes.. which these it may bes do afford. 1739 Chesterf. Lett. I. xxxv. 115 May be they were drunk. 1802 G. Colman Br. Grins, Reckoning with Time iii, List then, old Is-Was-and-To-Be. 1819 Byron Venice ii, The everlasting to be which hath been. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. ii. 189 He goes, as Rabelais did when dying, to seek a great May-be. Ibid. III. I. iv. 36 There is a need-be for removing. 1848 Clough Bothie ill. 159 He to the great might-have-been upsoaring.. He to the merest it-was restricting, diminishing. 1852 Tupper Prov. Philos. 173 This would-be god Thinketh to make mind.

be,

variant of bee sb.

be,

obs. and dial, form of by prep.; see next.

be-

prefix:—OE. be-, weak or stressless form of the prep, and adv. bi (big), by. The original Teut. form was, as in Gothic, bi, with short vowel, prob. cognate with second syllable of Gr. dp.fi , L. ambi; in OHG. and early OE., when it had the stress, as a separate word, and in composition with a noun, it was lengthened to bi (bt, bi), while the stressless form, in composition with a vb. or indeclinable word, remained bi-; in later OE., as in MHG. and mod.G., the latter was obscured to be- (also occasional in OE. as an unaccented form of the preposition): cf. OE. bi-geng practice, bi-gangan, be-gangan, to practise. In early ME. the etymological bi-, byregularly reappeared in comp, as the stressless form; but in later times be- was finally restored. (On the other hand, be was used by northern writers as the separate prep., as still in mod. Sc.) In modern use, the unaccented prefix is always be-; the accented form by- (sometimes spelt bye-) occurs in one or two words descended from OE., as 'by-law, 'by-word (OE. bt-lage, bi-word), and in modern formations on the adv., as 'by-gone, 'by-name, 'by-play, 'by-road, 'by-stander. The original meaning was ‘about.’ In prepositions and adverbs this is weakened into a general expression of position at or near, as in before (at, near, or towards the front), behind, below, beneath, benorth, besouth, between, beyond. With verbs, various senses of ‘about’ are often distinctly retained, as in be-bind, be-come ( = come about), be-delve, be-gird, be-set, bestir. In such as be-daub, be-spatter, bestir, bestrew, the notion of ‘all about, all round, over,’ or ‘throughout,’ naturally intensifies the sense of the verb; whence, be- comes to be more or less a simple intensive, as in be-muddle, be-crowd, be¬ grudge, be-break, or specializes or renders figurative, as in befall (to fall as an accident), be¬ come, be-get, be-gin, be-have, be-hold, be-lieve. In other words the force of be- passes over to an object, and renders an intransitive verb transitive, as in be-speak (speak about, for, or to), be-flow (flow about), be-lie, be-moan, be-think, be-wail. Hence it is used to form transitive vbs. on adjectives and substantives, as in dim be-dim, fool be-fool, madam be-madam; also others, in which the sb. stands in an instrumental or other oblique relation, as be-night ‘to overtake with night,’ be-guile, be-witch. Of these a special section consists of verbs having a privative force, as OE. belandian, beheafdian, to deprive of one’s land, one’s head: cf. bereave, and OE. benim-an to take away. Finally, be- is prefixed with a force combining some of the preceding, to ppl. adjs., as in be-jewelled, be-daughtered. Be- being still in some of its senses (esp. 2, 6, 7 below) a living element, capable of being

BEprefixed wherever the sense requires it, the derivatives into which it enters are practically unlimited in number. The more important, including those that are in any way specialized, or that require separate explanation, are treated in their alphabetical places as Main Words. (In the case of ME. words in bi-, by-, all that survived long enough to have be- appear under this spelling; a few that became obsolete at an early date are left under their only extant form in bi-, by-.) Those of less importance, infrequent (often single) occurrence, and obvious composition, are arranged under the following groups (in which, however, the senses tend to overlap each other, so as to make the place of some of the words ambiguous):— 1. Forming derivative verbs, with sense of ‘around’: a. all round externally, on all sides, all over the surface, as in beset, besmear; b. from side to side (within a space), to and fro, in all directions, in all ways, in or through all its parts, thoroughly, as in bestir, bejumble. (Some of these formations appear only in the pa. pple.) bebang, to bang about; fbebass, to kiss all over, cover with kisses; bebaste (with a cudgel, or with gravy); f bebat, to becudgel; bebatter, bebite; beblear, to blear all over; beblotch, fbeboss, bebotch, bebrush; fbecense, to perfuse with incense; bechase, to chase about; becircle; beclart dial., to be dirty; beclasp; becompass, to compass about; becramp; + becrampoun, to set (a jewel); becrimson, becrust; fbecurry, to curry one’s hide, belabour; becurse, to cover with curses; becut, bedamn, bedamp, bediaper; fbedowse, to souse with water; bedrape, bedrift, bedrive, beembroider, befan; befmger, to finger all over; befleck, to cover with flecks; befreckle, befriz; fbefrounce, to frounce or toss about, touzle;

•fbegarnish, begash, begaud, begirdle; fbehale, to drag about; behammer, fbehem; fbehorewe, to befoul; bejig, to jig about; bejumble, fbeknit (OE. becnyttari), belave, belick, bemingle, bemix, bepaste; bepaw, to befoul as with paws; bepen, to pen in; bepommel; fbepounce, to stud; beprank, to prank out or over; bepuddle (e.g. a spring); bepurple; f bequirtle, to besprinkle; berake, to rake all over; fberoll, to roll over; fberound, bescour, beseam, beshackle, fbeshield, beshroud; f beslab, to beplaster; beslash, f beslur; beslurry, to sully all over; besmother, besmudge (fbesmouche); fbesow (OE. besawan), to sow about; fbesperple, to bespatter; bespin, to spin round, so as to cover; bespirt; f besquatter, to bespatter with filth; bestamp, t bestroke, fbeswitch, betinge, fbeturn, beveil, fbewallow (OE. bewalwian), bewash, bewater, bewhiten, bewreath. Also bebar, bedelve, etc., q.v. 1599 Porter Angry Worn. Abingd. (1841) 50 Sheele .. *be~ bang him with drie bobs and scoffes. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 40 Queene Dido shal smacklye *bebasse thee. Ibid. ill. (Arb.) 79 With larding smearye *bebasted. 1620 Rowlands Nt. Raven 29 Tom with his cudgell well *bebasts his bones. 1565 Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse (1846) 133 To be all to- *bebatted and afterward to be beheaded. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. v. (1593) 106 All *bebattred was his head. 1880 Webb tr. Goethe's Faust 11. v. 130 Each, from queen to waiting-maid, is Be-devilled and *bebit! 1609 Armin Ital. Taylor (1880) 196 Eyes *be-bleard with blindnesse. 1807 Southey Lett. (1856) I. 412 Down comes a proof.. *beblotched and bedeviled. 1576 Gascoigne Philomene (Arb.) 90 A snaffle Bit or brake, *Bebost with gold. 1605 Davies Humours Wks. (1876) 44 (D.) Petti-botching brokers all *bebotch. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 30 *Bebrusht with bryers her broosed body bled. 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1836) 113 Having sprinckled and *besensed the good man and his wife. 1639 Ainsworth Annot. Song Sol. iii. 6 *Becensed with Myrrh. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 96 In this Courte, none runneth, but they go all *beechased. 1648 Earl Westmld. Otia Sacra (1879) 128 A grove of Pine *Becircled with Eglantine. 1607 Topsell Serpents 743 He *beclapseth it with his tail, and giveth it fearful blows, c 1230 Wohunge in Cott. Horn. 279 pat spatel pat swa *biclarted ti leor. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., *Beclarted, splashed or bemired. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. 11. (1520) iob/i An Yle..called Albyon.. *becompassed al with the see. 1634 Malory Arthur (1816) II. 257 Him thought there came a man. .all *becompassed of stars. 1666 Fuller Hist. Camb. (1840) 107 Many whose hands are *becramped with laziness. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iv. (Arb.) 99 With.. pure gould neatly *becrampound. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. vn. vi. 369 Why was the Earth .. *becrimsoned with dawn and twilight? 1883 Century Mag. XXVII. 47 The lofty hedge is *becrimsoned with savage roses, a 1834 Lamb tr. Bourne's Ball. Singers Wks. 633 Two Nymphs., in mud behind, before, From heel to middle leg *becrusted o’er. 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence's Andr. 1. ii. (1629) 16/1, I will all to *becurry thee, or bethwacke thy coate. 1553-87 Foxe^. & M.( 1596) 247/1 The legat. .all to *beecurssed the earle of Tholouse, his cities and his people, i860 Reade Cloister H. xlviii. (D.), I was never so *becursed in all my days. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Trav. Twelve P. Wks. 1. 67/2 Me all in

BEpieces they *becut and quartir’d. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) VI. vi. 278 This much *be-damned ‘Sixth of the Line.’ 1870 Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks (1879) II. 328 A mist.. *be-damped me. 1648 Herrick Poems App. (1869) 457 (D.) Fields *bediaperd with flowers, Presente their shappes. 1576 Gosson Spec. Hum. ii, A bruised barke with billowes all *bedowst. 1865 Swinburne Dolores 49 We shift and bedeck and *bedrape us. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1872) III. hi. iii. 109 Poor Orleans.. foolishly *bedrifted hither and thither. 1614 Rich Honest. Age (1844) 26 Some women goe.. to the church .. so be-laced and so *bee-imbrodered. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. Ep. Ded., *Befann’d from next Dogs-day scorchings. 1821 Southey Lett. (1856) III. 233 The dirty and *befingered leaves. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Epist. 135 b, Why blush you? and why with vermilion taint *Beflecke your cheekes? 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Viet. 11. vii, A grassie hillock .. With woodie primroses *befreckell’d. 1772 Songs Costume (1849) 249 *Be-friz it, and paste it, and cut it, and curl it. 1581 Studley Seneca's Here. (Etasus 214 b, All her hayre *befrounced, rent and torne. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 70 What sparagus *begarnishes the dish. 1555 Fardle Facions 11. ix. 196 [They] all to *begasshe his fore-heade and his nose. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 127 Be-gawded with Chains of Gold and Iewells. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pres. 75 Stately masonries.. *begirdle it far and wide. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara Ep. (1584) 310 Also *bee-haileth her by the lockes. 1639 Ainsworth Annot. Pentat. 144 The Hebrew word signifieth stricken .. *behammered. 1598 Sylvester Job Triumph, i. 688 (D.) Armies of pains .. mee round *behem. 1340 Ayenb. 237 pe hand pet is uoul and *behorewed. 1821 Combe (Dr. Syntax) Wife v. (D.) When they *bejigg’d it ’neath the steeple. 1565 Golding Ovid. Met. iv. (R.) Her filthy arms *beknit with snakes about. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 11. iii. (1641) 174/1 Me in Thy Bloud *be-lave. Ibid. (1608) 1002 The happy plains great Phasis streams *belave. 1559 Mirr. Mag. 106 (T.) All his gore *bemingled with this glew. Ibid., Dk. Clarence xliii, *Bemixt my swete with bitternes to bad. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. iv. (1593) 102 Waves of water .. *Bemixed with the purple bloud. 1684 Otway Atheist Bpih, While Rotten Eggs *bepaw the Scarlet Gown. C1230 Ancr. R. 94 Heo beoS her so *bipenned. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 32 Thee beams with brazed copper were costlye *bepounced. 1648 Herrick Hesper. (1844) I. 159 A sheep-hook I will send *Beprank’d with ribands. 1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. (1647) 98 While their tradition was cleare .. and not so *bepudled .. with the mixture of Hereticks. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 37 His sight was yoouthlye *bepurpled. 1771 Muse in Miniature 115 Mossy banks and flower-*bepurpled plains. 1690 Songs Costume (1849) 193 Whole quarts the chamber to *bequirtle. 1685 R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. ii. 51 Their Guns, with which they so *beraked her from side to side, c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 959 A1 *birolled wyth pe rayn, rostted & brenned. 1642 Bridge Serm. Norf. Volunteers 9 Are we not *berounded with many enemies? 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. v. iv. 304 France too is *bescoured with a Devil’s Pack. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLV. 301 Blue tops .. All *beseamed with snow-streaks hoar. 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe 50 Who this king should bee, ♦beshackled theyr wits. 1848 H. Miller First Impressions of Eng. xi. (1857) 172 Venerable dwellings, much *beshrouded in ivy and honeysuckle. 1481 Caxton Reynard (1844) 138 They were *byslabbed and byclagged to their eres to in her owen donge. 1581 T. Newton Seneca's Thebais 44 b, To die this death: or in one part to be *beslashed through. 1635 tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. iii. (1688) 291 To *beslurr their Writings with this so impudent a Lie. c 1614 Drayton Crt. Fairy Wks. (1748) 164 All *be-slurried, head and face, On runs he in this wild-goose chase. 1598 Florio, Carbonare, to besmeare as black as coles, to *besmother. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 508 Their faces.. all *besmouched with cole. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 107 pa sunnan pe deouel *bisaweS on us. 1557 K. Arthur (W. Copland) vi. viii, The grounde .. was all *besperpled wyth blode. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. V. xiii. ix. 92 Was a Nation ever so *bespun by gossamer? 1885 Singleton Virgil I. 171 And on the cattle to *bespirt his bane. 1611 Cotgr., Enfoirir, to besquirt, *besquatter. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. 1834. 256 *Besquatter them on all sides. 1857 Fraser's Mag. LVI. 742 That letter, .much *bestamped, much stained with travel.. is delivered to its owner at Lahore. 1548 Herrick Hesp. Wks. I. 157 ♦Bestroaking fate the while. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 12 ♦Beting’d with glossy yellow. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 110 To their aduises the disdainefull hart, Of this audacious youth, *beturning plies. 1582 Stanyhurst JEneis 11. (Arb.) 55 With darcknesse mightye *beueyled. 1205 Lay. 25989 A1 *biwaled [1250 biwalewed] on axen. 1589 Fleming Virg. Georg, iv. 69 She.. all *bewasht the burning Vesta.. with pure sweet wine. 1648 Herrick St. Distaff's Day, Hesp. (1859) 451 Let the maides *bewash the men. 1593 Barnes Parthen. in Arb. Garner V. 363 Why were these cheeks with tears *bewatered? 1812 Combe (Dr. Syntax) Picturesque xix. 71 The cot that’s all *bewhiten’d o’er. 1598 Gorg. Gallery Invent., Louer weryed tv. Life, About mishap that hast thy selfe *bewrethed. a 1850 Beddoes Song on Water ii, Heart high-beating, triumph- *bewreathed.

2. Forming intensive verbs, with sense of ‘thoroughly (extension of i), soundly, much, conspicuously, to excess, ridiculously.’ (Some of these occur only in the past participle.) f bebait, to bait or worry persistently; bebothered; f bebreech, to breech soundly; bebusied, f becheck; fbecheke, to choke, stifle; bechill (? nonce-wd.); beclamour, becompliment, f becost, becovet, becrowd, becrush, becumber; f bedare, to defy; f bedrown; bedrowse, to make drowsy; bedrug, beduck; f bedunch, to strike against; f be-earn, be-elbow, fbefavour, befilch; fbeflap, to clap; beflout, beflustered, befraught; begall, to gall, fret, or rub sore; f beglose, to deceive; f begrain, to dye in the grain, colour permanently; fbegreet, begut, behallow, t behelp; fbehusband, to economize to the full; bekick, belade, fbelash, belull; fbemar, to injure seriously; bemartyr, bemaze, fbemeet,

BE-

6 bemuzzle, bepaid, beparch, beparody; f bepart, to divide, share; f bepiece, to piece up, patch up; fbepierce; fbepile, to pile up; fbepill, to pillage completely; bepoetize; fbepress, to oppress; fbepride; bequoted, quoted to excess; fberagged, fberinse; besanctify, to besaint; besauce, bescent, bescorch; f bescorn, to cover with scorn; fbescourge, bescrape, beshake; beshiver, to shiver to atoms; beshod, f beshower, beshrivel, fbesinge (OE. besengan); beslap, to slap soundly; besnowball; fbesob, to soak; besoothe; f bespend, to spend, waste; f besplit, besqueeze, fbestab, bestay, besteer; bestock, to stock thoroughly; bestore, f bestrip, besuit, besweeten, fbetalk, fbethreaten, fbetire; f betrace, to mark all over, to streak; f betwattle (dial.), to bewilder; bewasted, wasted away; beweary, bewelcome, bewidow, bewomanize; f bewound, to wound seriously; f bewreak, to revenge. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1865) 61 This syllable [be] is sett before to make yt moore signyficant and of force; as.. for ‘dewed,’ ‘bedewed,’ etc. 1589 Almond for P. 40 It was not for nothing.. that he so ’bebaited his betters. 1866 Harvard Memor. Biogr. I. 263

Seventy miles distant—a long way in this ’bebothered state. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely 11. x. 504 As if his wits were *bebreecht. 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. v. (1632) 490 They are not ’bebusied about Rhetorike flowers. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas II. ii. (1641) 114/1 Brutish Cham.. In scornful tearms his Father thus ’be-checkt. CI175 Cott. Horn. 239 His richtwise deme, pc non ne maie ’bechece, non beswice. 1952 Auden Nones 54 The spreading ache ’bechills the rampant glow Of fortune-hunting blood. 1832 Whately in Life (1866) 1. 150 He whined and ’beclamoured .. but all to no purpose. 1832 tr. Tour Germ. Prince IV. v. 195 The chief magistrate.. thought fit to ’becompliment me by the mission of two of his colleagues. 1513 Douglas JEneis x. viii, 135 Na lytill thyng.. Hes hym ’bycost the frendschip of Ene. 1883 Gd. Words 448 The begrudged, ’becoveted good of half a lifetime, i860 Trollope Framley P. I. xiv. 281 Barsetshire.. is a pleasant, green, tree- ’becrowded county. 1607 Rowlands Fan 1. Hist. 37 Eskeldart Guy’s sword did so •becrush. 1863 G. Kearley Links in Chain iv. 74 Snails, much despised, bekicked, and ’becrushed. 1550 Coverdale Sptr. Perle xxi. Wks. 1844 I. 151 Why should any man .. ’becumber himself about that thing? 1599 Peele David & Beths. Wks. II. 74 The eagle.. emboldened .. to ’bedare the sun. 1584 Hudson Judith in Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 694 You Tyrant.. Who hath ’bedround the world with blood. 1877 J. Hawthorne Garth. II. iv. xxxii. 31 Nor was it the lack of public recognition which had ’bedrowsed him. 1874 Motley Barneveld II. xi. 19 England and France distracted and ’bedrugged. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 42 To the flood he came.. And deepe himselfe ’beducked in the same. 1567 Drant Horace’ Ars Poet. Bvj, Daunce and •bedunche the grounde with fote. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. liv. 244 Her owne ’byearned lot. 1848 H. Miller First lmpr. vii. (1857) 119 Sorely *be-elbowed and be-kneed. a 1633 Munday Palm, of Eng. ii, One of her ’befavoured knights. 1566 Studley Seneca’s Agamemn. (1581) 155 Hercules.. left the groue ’befilched cleane. 1388 Wyclif Lament, ii. 15 Alle men passynge bi the weie ’biflappeden with hondis on thee. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara’s Ep. (1577) 232 You had escaped from thence wounded, abhorred, ’beeflowted. 1864 Morn. Star 25 June 4 Some panting, blushing, ’beflustered honourable member. 1568 T. Howell New Sonn. (1879) 144 For thou in Barke so well •befraught, hast al our ioyes away, a 1656 Bp. Hall Defiance to Snoy (R.) Pines .. *be-gald alone With the deep furrowes of the thunder-stone. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xxi. 383 Jjou .. *By-glosedest hem and [by]-gyledest hem and my gardyn breke. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 204 With full hue of glassy green ’Begrained. 1513 Douglas JEneis vi. vii. 63 With hartly luif’begrait hir thus in hy. 1648 Herrick Poems App. (1869) 433 (D.) Whose head beefrindged with ’behallowed tresses Seemes like Apollo’s. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. xii. 160 A grete philosophre.. whiche coude ’byhelpe hym. 1640 A. Harsnet God's Summ. 388 Bee carefull then to *BeHusband every moment of thy time. 1862 J. Brown in Illustr. Melbourne Post 26 July, Many generations of starved, ’bekicked, and downtrodden forefathers. 1850 Blackie JEschylus I. 197 Friendly men receive The curse•beladen wanderer. 1458 Paston Lett. 311 I. 422 ’Belassch hym, tyl he wyll amend. 1631 Brathwait Whimzies 46 To dandle him in the lappe of securitie, and ’belull him in his sensuall lethargie. c 1400 Destr. Troy XXVI. 10701 Paris., was pricket at his hert, To se his men so *be-mard, & murtherit. 1662 Fuller Worthies 1. 2 He ’bemartyreth such who as yet did survive. 1879 Howells L. Aroostook (1883) II. 174 Stanifrid stood ’bemazed. 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 61 But now the Laicks are a Lay people .. till some Moses *bemeet with them. 1857 Carlyle Misc. iv. 86 (D.) The young lion’s whelp has to grow up all bestrapped, ’bemuzzled. 1838 Hawthorne Amer. Note Bks. (1871) I. 147 A ’bepaid clergyman. 1586 Webbe Eng. Poe trie (1870) 77 Workmen .. with boyling heate so *be-parched. 1828 Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 591 It has been bespouted, bequoted, and ’beparodied. 1531 Elyot Gov. (1580) 7 Hiero. .counsailed him to ’beparte his importable labours. 1578 Florio 1st Fruites 50 A language confused, ’bepeesed with many tongues. 1839 J. Darley in Beaum. & FI. Wks. (1839) I. Introd. 31 Unlike him [i.e. Caesar] ’bepierced and bescratched. 01726 Vanbrugh Journ. Lond. 1. i, Bandboxes ..were so ’bepiled up. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara’s Ep. (1577) 232 You had escaped from thence wounded, abhorred, and also ’beepilled. 1865 Morn. Star 20 Nov., The most ’bepoetised case of crim. con. on record. 1591 in Farr S.P. (1845) I. 141 To rescue me ’beprest I do thee pray. 1690 E. Fowler Serm. Bow-Ch. 16 Apr. 16 They would.. ’bepride themselves the more in their own strength. 1822 Blackw. Mag. II. 64 Bethumbing and ’bequoting their beauties. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Chipault, He is all to ’be ragged and rent. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 1013 Princes Whose rage their realms with., bloud

1826 Scott Woodst. v, *Besanctified as you are. 01674 Milton Moscovia Wks. (1738) II. 147 Rare dishes .. *besauc’d with Garlick and Onions. 1863 A. B. Grosart Small Sins 40 A.. *be-scented, be-ribboned .. little fox! 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 11. (Arb.) 52 Hector., thee Greekish nauye *beskorched. c 1386 Chaucer Pers. T. IP204 *berinses.

Than was he *bescomed, that oonly schulde be honoured.

01300 Cursor M. 17771 Bath bi-scurget and bi-spit. 1865 Athenaeum No. 1951. 375/3 No *bescraped cathedrals. 1664 Cotton Scarron. 24 Have you not seen.. A water-dog .. *Beshake his shaggy pantaloons? 1556 Abp. Parker Psalter xxxiv. 87 God hateth the proud and them *beshenth. 1648 Herrick Noble Numb. Wks. II. 203 That cloude .. *Beshiver’d into seeds of raine. 1850 Clough Dipsychus 11. ii. 69 Hexameters.. *Beshod with rhyme, c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 12 And yf the rayne *beshoure. 1821 Combe (Dr. Syntax) Wife iii. (D.) That *beshrivelled face and mien. 1340 Ayenb. 230 pe prive cat *bezeng|? ofte his scin. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iv. x. I. 488 Philip’s Father, son of the ♦Beslapped. 1611 Chapman May Day Plays (1873) II. 360 ’Twere a good deed, to.. *besnowball him with rotten egges. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxxv. viii. 259 The ground was *besobbed and drenched with the mid-Winter frosts that now thawed. 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Resc. vi. 60 The trembling Lady .. *besoothes him. 1567 Maplet Gr. Forest 96 Ixion *bespent his seede vpon the Cloude. 1614 Chapman Odyss. viii. 398 All his craft *bespent. a 1640 Jackson Creed ix. Wks. VIII. 445 Unless abundance of wit hath *besplitted his understanding. 1600 Rowlands Let. Humours Blood xxiii. 29 Drinke with his dart hath all *bestabbed mee. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1. lxii, Tristrem .. seyd .. How stormes’hem *bistayd. a 1618 J. Davies Sonn. Sir T. Erskin (D.), How blest wert thou that didst thee so *besteere. 1648 Herrick Poems App. (1869) 439 (D.) Lett hym.. Soe good a soile *bestocke and till. 1661 Hickeringill Jamaica 16 *Bestored with all sorts of fruit¬ bearing Trees. 1340 Ayenb. 123 pe holy gost be hise zeue yef^es *bestrepj? pe zeue zennes uram pe herte. 1648 Herrick Hesp. I. 166 Dew.. *besweetned in a .. violet. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xxviii, The same.. *betalk’d on long. j635 Quarles Emb. iii. xi, My rock-bethreaten’d soul. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 17 Like rest to gaine in like *betyred plight. C1460 Towneley Myst. 288 A goost..lyke hym in blood betraced. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies iii. iv. 507 They are *betwatled in their Understandings. 1844 S. Nayler Reynard 29 Poor Bruin thus was sheer *betwattled. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, 1. iii. 221 My.. time- *bewasted light Shall be extinct with age. 1636 Healey Theophrast. 55 Hee.. is all to *bewearied. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iii. (Arb.) 81 King Helenus.. vs.. *bewelcomd. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 127, I shall now feel *bewidowed. 1653 Hemings Fatal Contr., O man *be-womaniz’d! 1422-61 Songs & Carols 15th C. (1856) 87 Many man.. wyste hym wel *bewreke, The hadde wel levere myn hed to-breke.

3. Forming derivative verbs with privative meaning ‘off, away,’ as in bedeal, benim, bereave. A very common use of be- in OE. and ME., prob. originating in words like be-shear, ‘to cut all round,’ whence ‘to cut off or away’; but no longer in living use in forming new derivatives. 4. Making verbs transitive, by adding a prepositional relation; primarily ‘about,’ as in be-speak, speak about (or for, to), be-moan, moan about (or over); which sense can usually be detected under the various against, at, for, to, on, upon, over, by, etc. required by modem idiom: fbebark, to bark around or at; fbecack, to deposit ordure on; bechatter, to environ with chattering, etc.; fbechirm, to chirm (as birds) around; fbechirp, to chirp about; beclang, beclatter; fbecrave (OE. becrafian), to crave for; becrawl, to crawl all over; becroak, to croak round or at; f beery, to cry at, accuse; bedin, to fill with din or noise; bedribble, to dribble upon (e.g. as a dog); bedrivel; bedrizzle; f bedwell, to dwell in or around; fbefleet, to flow round; f befret, to fret or gnaw away; befuddle, to make stupid with tippling; begaze, to gaze at; fbeglide, to slip away from, escape; fbeglitter, to irradiate; begroan, to groan at; f begruntle, to make uneasy; behoot, to hoot at; bejuggle, to get over by jugglery, to cheat; fbelag, to make to lag; f beleap, to leap on, ‘cover’; f bemew, f bemoult, to mew or moult upon; bemurmur, to murmur at or against; f bemute (of birds), to mute or drop dung on; beparse, to plague with parsing; bepiss, to piss on, wet with urine; bepreach, to preach at; bereason, to reason with, overcome by reasoning; fbireme, to cry out upon; beride (OE. beridan), to ride beside, to override; fberow, to row round; t bescumber, to scumber on; beshine (OE. bescinan), to shine on; beshit(e (OE. bescitan) = becack (Obs. in polite use, but common in ME. and early mod.E. literature); beshout, to shout at, applaud; f beshriek, to shriek at; f besigh, to sigh for; f besmell, to smell out; besmile, to smile on; f bespew, to spew on; bestare, to stare at, to make staring; bestraddle, to straddle across, bestride; bestream, to stream over; beswarm, to swarm over; fbeswelter; beswim, to swim upon; bethunder; f betipple, to muddle by tippling; betravel, to travel over, to overrun with travellers: bevomit, to vomit all over; bewhisper, to whisper to; bewhistle, to whistle round.

BE1340 Aycnb. 66 pe felle dogge pet byt and *beberkj? alle po pet he may. 1598 Florio, Incacare, to *becacke. 01618 J. Davies Paper's Compl. Wks. (1876) 75 (D.), He all my breast becackes. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. xxi. 191 If he can’t every step *bechatter. a 1250 Owl & Night. 279 Hi me *bichirmep [v.r. bichermet] and bigredeth. 1600 T. Morley in Lyric P. (Percy Soc.) 51 Every bird upon the bush *be-chirps it up so gay. 1875 A. Smith Burns' Wks. (Globe) Introd. 13 A dingy churchyard hemmed by narrow streets—*be-clanged now by innumerable hammers. 1832-53 Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. 1. 77 Why sae incessantly deave and *beclatter me, Teasing me mair than a body can bide? c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1388 Do3te he, 8is maiden wile ic.. *bi-crauen. 1787 Beckford Italy, etc. II. 19 An oozy beach .. *becrawled with worms. 1861 Temple & Trevor Tannhduser 52 Let., the hoarse chough *becroak the moon! C1440 Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 89 Launcelot of treson he *be-cryed. 1880 Swinburne Stud. Song 192 The darkness by thunders ♦bedinned. 1620 Bp. Hall Hon. Mar. Clergy 1. §8 Wks. (1628) 747 This whelpe of theirs commingit cineros, ♦bedribbles their ashes. 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I, Pref. 4 Why should we *bedribble with our Pens, the Dust that rests there? 1721 Bailey, Bedrawled, bedrabbled, bedrivelled: cf. Bedravel. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 167/1 The *bedrizzled windows of an express train. 1802 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 412 Gentry of narrow income used to *bedwell Montreuil. 1817--- in Month. Mag. XLIII. 236 The marble caves ye now bedwell. 01300 K. Horn 1396 Strong castel he let sette, Mid see him *biflette. 1598 Greene Jas. IV (1861) 207 A constant heart with burning flames *befret. 1802 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 411, I could only.. *begaze the site of Lord Nelson’s misemployment. C1300 in Wright Lyric P. xxx. 87 That ded he shal *byglyde. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 30 Shee turned with rose color heaunlye *beglittred. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. vi. iii. (D.), [He] shall find himself *begroaned by them. 01670 Hacket Abp. Williams 1. 131 (D.), The Spaniards were *begruntled with these scruples. 1838 Emerson Misc. 118 It is travestied and depreciated.. it is *behooted and behowled. 1680 Hickeringill Meroz 12 To *bejuggle and beguile the silly Rabble. 1705-Priest-cr. 11. Pref. Aiij, Bejuggl’d Mob! you are the Tools, That Priests do work with called Fools. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. xlvii. 268 No matter how many .. thou may’st have bejuggled and destroyed before. 1721 Bailey, *Belagged, left behind. 1513 Douglas JEneis vii. iii. 207 Makand his stedis *beleip meris vnknaw. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. 11. 448 So scuruily bescuruide and *bemewde. 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. ix. (1632) 561 Some of Platoes Dialogues: *bemolted with a fantasticall variety. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. iii. iv. II. 231 Beshouted by the Galleries.. *bemurmured by the Rightside. 1875 Lowell Poet. Wks. (1879) 458 She loves yon pine- bemurmured ridge. 1634 A. Warwick Spare Min. (1821) 110 The heron .. *bemuting his enemie’s feathers to make her flagge-winged. 1880 Grant White Every-Day Eng. 270 Grammar that has so weighed down our poor *beparsed English-speaking people. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 6 There he hath *be-pyssed my chyldren where as they laye. 1658 Ford Witch of Edm. iv. i, Ready to bepiss themselves with laughing. 1764 T. Brydges Homer Travest. (1797) II. 16 Ye all bepiss’d yourselves for fear. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. 11. viii. (1849) 130 Our worthy ancestors.. never being *be-preached and be-lectured. 1880 World 13 Oct. 8 She is alternately be-preached and bepraised by middle-aged spinsterhood. 1826 E. Irving Babylon II. vi. 154 We are *bereasoned out of our faith by the intellectual apostacy of the time, c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 29 Nu shalt [£>u].. *biremen him mid euel wordes. 1690 D’Urfey Collin's Walk 11. (D.), Those two that there *beride him, And with such graces prance beside him. 1848 in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. vi. 300 When an insect so beridden is taken up, the mites disperse. 1205 Lay. 20128 He wolde .. aec Bristouwe abuten *birouwen [1250 birowe]. 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie iii. ix. (1764) 218 This.. pedant Mortimers numbers With muck-pit Esculine filth *bescumbers. 1625 B. Jonson Staple News v. ii, Did Block bescumber Statute’s white suit? 1850 Blackie JEschylus I. Pref. 23 The large sweeping sun- *beshone tiers of an ancient theatre. 0 1000 Ags. Gloss, in Wr.-Wulcker Voc. 507 Caccabatum, *besciten. 0 1300 K. Alis. 5485 Bishiten and bydagged foule. 01683 Oldham Wks. & Rem. 81 Flies which would the Deity beshite. 1727 Swift Acc. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. 1. 158, I have been frighted, pumped, kicked ..and beshitten. 1828 Carlyle Misc. I. 156 Betrumpeted and *beshouted from end to end of the habitable globe. 01250 Owl & Night. 67 Alle ho.. the *bi-schricheth and bigredet. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 201 pe sinfulle pe his sinnes .. sore *bisiche5. 1803 Ladies' Diary 26 Colonial settlements I made, And Spain *be-smelt the prize. 1867 Cayley in Fortn. Rev. Nov. 590 The levels *besmile thee of ocean. ci6oo Stow in Three 15th c. Chron. (1880) 162 e howse was mervelously .. *by spewed, c 1220 Leg. Kath. 309 pe Reiser *bistarede hire wifi swi8e steape ehnen. 1780 Beckford Italy, etc. I. 224 That hobgoblin tapestry which used to bestare the walls of our ancestors. 1807-8 W. Irving Salmag. 12 (D.), The little gentleman who *bestraddles the world in the front of Hutching’s Almanack, i860 Pusey Min. Proph. 488 Shall My dwelling-place.. be *bestreamed with rains. 1583 Stanyhurst JE neis 1. (Arb.) 34 Troians with rough seas stormye *besweltred. 1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. III. 59 Rivers which bridges have yoked, and navigation ♦beswims. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. A iiij b, This poysoned Dolldreanche hath *be-typpledd the senses. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ill. ill. iv. II. 229 An explosive crater; vomiting fire, ’bevomited with fire! 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. To Rdr., Self *be-whispers us, that it stands us all in hand to be forgiven as well as to forgive. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. in. vi. (D.), Dumouriez and his Staff.. sprawl and plunge for life, *be-whistled with curses and lead.

5. Forming trans. verbs on adjectives and substantives, taken as complements of the predicate, meaning To make: as befoul, to make foul, orig. to surround or affect with foulness; bedim, to make dim; befool, to make a fool of; besot, to turn into a sot. In modern use, nearly all tinged with ridicule or contempt; cf. to beknight with to knight, a. Formed with adj.: fbebrave (1576), to make brave; bedirty, bedismal, bedumb; fbefast (OE. befsestan), to

BE-

7 fasten; fbegaudy, fbegay, fbeglad, begray, begreen, begrim; fbegrimly, to begrime; f beguilty; fbepale, bepretty, fbered; beshag, to make shaggy; fbeslow, to retard; besmooth, fbesour, bewhite. b. With sb.: bebaron, to make into a baron; bebishop, beclown; fbecollier, to make as black as a collier; becoward; fbedaw (a 1529), to make a ‘daw’ or fool of; bedeacon (1589), bedoctor, fbedolt ( = besot), beduchess, bedunce, befop, beklng, beknight; belion, to make a (society) lion of; beminstrel; bewhig, to convert into a whig. 1842 Miall in Nonconf. II. 33 Be-mitred and *bebaroned bishops. 1576 in Collier’s E.E. Pop. Lit. xvi. 40 Dyvers.. gladly would have mee, And being their wyfe would trimly *bebrave me. 1609 Rowlands Crew Gossips 24 O wretch, O Lob, who would be thus *beclown’d? 1593 Nashe Lent. Stuffe (1871) 60 Too foul-mouthed I am, to becollow, or *becollier him, with such chimney-sweeping attributes. 1831 Heidiger Didon., A lot of fellows so *becowarded by their stay on shore. 01529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche 182 Ye may well be *bedawyd. 1589 Hay any Work 74 The old porter of Paddington, whom John of London *bedeaconed and beminstrelled. 1623 Accident Blacke Friers 12 [They] must run from the pure waters of Shiloe, to *bedirty themselves in the filthy puddels of mens traditions. 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 525 It [a shirt] was .. begrimed and *bedirtied. 1751 Student II. 259 Let us see your next number.. *bedismalled with broad black lines. 1806 Southey Let. (1856) I. 364 Harry will be *bedoctored in July. 1856 Vaughan Mystics II. viii. v. 59 The *bedoctored wiseacres of all the universities of Europe. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 183 Young men without experience.. *bedolted of the thinges of this world. 1804 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Wks. (1812) V. 180 She’s begrac’d and *beduchess’d already. 1615 Bp. Hall Contempl. N.T. iv. ii, Every soul is more deafened and *bedumbed by increasing corruptions. 1611 Cotgr., Philogrobolize du cerveau.. astonied, *bedunced, at his wits end. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 43 Motion, which I think is altogether *befasted to Body. 1866 Reader 24 Feb. 201/i The courtier in his new Court suit *be-fopt. 1640 J. Gower Ovid's Fast. 310 Her breasts with glittring gold *begaudy’d were. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche iii. §75 (R.), Beauteous things.. *Begay the simple fields. 01617 Hieron Wks. II. 199 To *beglad your hearts. 01624 Bp. M. Smyth Serm. (1632) 234 Age .. *begrayeth our head. 1864 D. Mitchell Sev. Stories 300 Hillsides.. *begreened by a thousand irrigating streamlets. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach, xiii. 267 They.. tarnish and *begrim the brightest colours. C1485 Digby Myst. (1882) 11. 105 Ye were so *be-grymlyd and yt had bene a sowe. 1627 Bp. Sanderson Serm. I. 263 Dost.. *beguilty thine own conscience with sordid bribery. 1831 Greville Mem. (1875) II. xiv. 153 He would do anything to be *beking’d. 1794 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Celebration Wks. III. 422 Behold once-Quaker Benjamin *be-knighted. 1808 Scott in Lockhart (1839) I. 11 Many worshipful and *beknighted names. 1837 New Month. Mag. LI. 183 Bescented and *be-lioned petlings! 1640 T. Carew Lady to Inconst. Serv., Those perjur’d lips of thine, *Bepal’d with blasting sighes. 1872 C. King Sierra Nev. x. 210 What has he done but.. belittle and *be-pretty this whole .. country? 1604 Rowlands Looke to it 27 Your head *beshagg’d with nittie lowsie lockes. 1868 Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1879) IV. 201 All *beshagged with forest. 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant, iv. 20 How art thou clogg’d With dull mortality, *beslow’d.. In thine owne frailty! 1615 Chapman Odyss. viii. 495 The Graces.. with immortal balms *besmooth her skin. 01660 Hammond Serm. xv. Wks. 1683 IV. 668 This old leaven that so *besoures all our actions. 1852 James Pegulnillo I. 154 Five-and-thirty years of peace have so betravelled the world. 1832 Southey Q. Rev. XLVIII. 300 Lord Nugent is lamentably *bewhigged. 1678 Ripley Reviv'd, Vision, 12 The Concave of this secret place will be so *bewhited with the fumes.

c. To call, to style, to dub with the title of, etc. Often with a depreciatory or contemptuous force: as be-blockhead, f be-blunderbus, bebrother, be-coward, f behypocrite, be-lady, be-ladyship, belout, bemadam, bemistress, bemonster, berascal, be-Roscius, bescoundrel, bevillain. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 476 He so *be-blockheaded and *be-blunderbust me about as was enough to hurry anybody, and throw them off their guard. 1881 Phillipps-Wolley Sport in Crimea 80 The old gentleman was .. much given to kissing and *be-brothering his friends. 1752 Fielding Covent Gard. Jrnl. Wks. (1840) 712 If another hath kicked you, be sure to *becoward him well. 1612 J. Davies Muse's Sacr. 75 How would'st Thou now *behypocrit man's hart. 1811 E. Nares Thinks I to Myself ii. (1816) 38 (D.), How Mrs. Twist did *be-ladyship my poor mother. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair v. iii. (D.), They do so all to *bemadam me, I think they think me a very great lady. 1605 Camden Rem. 157 He rated and *belowted his Cooke. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. 11. 239/1 Were so ‘bemadam’d, •bemistrist and Ladified by the beggers. 1692 Christ Exalted cxxxix. 105 Not be-heriticking, not *be-monstring Dr. Crisp. 1743 Fielding Jon. Wild 11. iii, She beknaved, •berascalled, berogued the unhappy hero. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Vij, M. Lilly and me, by name he beruflfianizd and *berascald. 1774 Goldsm. Retal. 117 While he was *be-Roscius’d and you were be-prais’d! 1885 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 543/2 Garrick’s generation *be-Rosciused him. 1786 Wolcott To Boswell Wks. 1794 I. 313 Where surly Sam.. Nassau *bescoundrels. 01734 North Exam. (1740) 247 (D.), After Mr. S. Atkins had •bevillained the Captain sufficiently.

6. Forming trans. verbs on substantives used in an instrumental relation; the primary idea being; a. To surround, cover, or bedaub with, as in becloud, to put clouds about, cover with clouds, bedew. Thence, by extension, b. To affect with in any way, as in benight, beguile, befriend. In both sets there is often an

accompanying notion of ‘thoroughly, excessively,’ as in 2. c. An ancient application, no longer in living use, was to express the sense of ‘bereave of,’ as in behead, belimb, etc., q.v. Cf. 3, above. a. fbe-ash, to cover or soil with ashes;

fbeblain, fbebloom, beboulder, bebutter, becap, becarpet, bechalk, becloak, becobweb, becolour; becoom, fbecolme, to smear with coom; becrime, becurtain, fbedot; fbedowle, to cover with dowle or soft hair; bedust, befetter, befilth, beflannel, beflounce, beflour, beflower, befoam, befringe, befume, f beglare, begloom, f begum, behorn, behorror, belard, f beleaf, f beloam; f bemail to cover with mail; bemantle, bemat, bemeal, bemuck, bepicture, bepimple, beplague, bepowder, berust, bescab, bescarf, bescurf, bescurvy, beslime, besugar, betallow, bethorn, betowel, beulcer, bevenom, bewig, fbewimple. b. fbeback, to furnish (a book) with a back; bebed, to furnish with a bed; bebog, to entangle in a bog, embog; f bebrine, to wet with brine; bebutterfly, to engross with butterflies; becivet, to perfume with civet; becomma, to sprinkle with commas; bedawn, beday, to overtake with dawn or daylight; f bedebt, to indebt; bedinner, to

treat

with

a

dinner,

give

a

dinner

to;

fbedown, to fill with down; fbefame, to make famous; f befancy, to fill with fancies; befiddle, to engross with a fiddle; befire; befist, to belabour with the fists; beflea, to infest (as) with fleas; fbeflum (dial.), to deceive; fbefrumple, to crease into frumples or clumsy folds; befume, to affect with fumes; fbegall, to fill with gall, embitter; f beginger, to spice with ginger; t beglew, -glue, to make game of, befool; begulf, to engulf; fbehearse, to place in a hearse; behymn, beice, bekerchief; beladle, to ladle up; belecture, to ply with lectures; beliquor, to soak with liquor, to alcoholize; fbeman, to fill with men, to man; bemissionary, to pester with missionaries; bemole, to mark with moles or dirty spots; bemoon, to moon-strike; bemusk, to perfume with musk; fbenettle, benightmare, be-ode; bepaper, to cover or pester with papers; bephilter, to treat with a philter; bephrase; fbepistle, to inflict epistles on; bequalm, to affect with qualms; fberampier, to surround with a rampart; berebus, to inscribe with a rebus; berubric, to mark with a rubric or red letter; besaffron, to stain or mingle with saffron; beschoolmaster, to furnish with schoolmasters; bescutcheon, to furnish with an escutcheon; besentinel, to surround or guard with sentinels; t besin, to stamp with sin, to stigmatize as sinful; besiren, to charm with a siren; beslipper, to present with slippers; besnivel, besnuff; besonnet, to address or celebrate in sonnets; bespeech; bespy, to dog with spies; besquib; bestench, bestink, to afflict with stench; bestraw, to furnish or fill with straw; betag, to furnish with a tag; betask, to charge with a task; betocsin, betrumpet; betutor, to furnish with tutors; be-urine; beverse, to celebrate in verse; beveto, to put a veto on; bewail, bewelcome; bewhisker, to adorn with whiskers; bewinter, to overtake or affect with winter; bewizard, to influence by a wizard (cf. bewitch)-, beworm, to infest

with

worms;

pass,

to

breed

worms;

beworship, to honour with worship. (Some of these are used only in the passive voice.) 1530 Palsgr. 444/2 You have *beasshed your gloves. 1599 H. Buttes in Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) App. 93 The leaues *be-ashed or warmed in imbers and ashes. 1858 Reeves fef Turner's Bk. Catal. Dec. (No. 278) Folio, newly *bebacked. 0 1300 Havelok 420 He hem ne dede richelike *bebedde. 1605 J. Davies Humours Wks. (1876) 43 (D.), *Beblaine the bosome of each mistres. 1585 Hunnis Handf. Honisuck. Gen. xl. 8 In the Vyne were Braunches three That al *bebloomed were. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 458 His feet were fixed in Ireland, where he was not *be-bogg’d. 1862 H. Marry at Sweden II. 341 The country, though greatly *bebouldered, is wild like fertile Skaane. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. xi. lxviii. 202 Thou peul’st, not to repent, but to *bebrine thy woes. 1611 Cotgr., Embeurrer, to butter or *bebutter. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy 11. iii, The souls of connoisseurs .. have the happiness.. to get all bevirtued.. *be-butterflied, and be-fiddled. 1821 Combe (Dr. Syntax) Wife v. (D.), He thus appear’d .. *Becapp’d in due conformity. 0 1800 Cumberland Mem. II. 364 (L.), A floor .. splendidly *bechalked by a capital deseyner. 1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. III. 46 The distilled perfume of the bookmaker’s style, which bemusks and *becivets every London composition. 1598 Sylvester Batt. Ivry in Du Bartas (1608) 1096 Fire and Smoak As with thick clouds, both Armies round *becloak. 1611 Cotgr., Emmantele .. *becloked .. wrapped as in a cloke. 1788 Burns Let. 9 Sept., Throw my horny fist across my *becobwebbed lyre.

BEI8SI Carlyle Sterling n. iv, Anywhere else in this much ♦becobwebbed world. 1567 Maplet Gr. Forest 57 b, To make black and ♦becolour the Caruels as it were most browne. 1881 Academy 14 May 355 The senseless ‘♦becommaing’ of many Shakespere texts, a 1300 K. Horn 1064 He makede him a ful chere, And al ♦bicolmede his swere. 1882 Pall Mall G. 18 Apr. 2 A ship’s fireman all *becoomed and besmoked. 1844 E. Warburton Cresc. & Cross xiv. (1859) 144 Every man of any nation, who has so *becrimed himself as to have no country of his own. 1878 H. Phillips Poems 71 The heaven with clouds *becurtained. 1827 Blackw. Mag. XXI. 783 [He] exclaimed, with visible apprehension of being *bedawned, ‘Methinks I smell the morning air.’ 1882 G. Macdonald Cast. Warl. III. xxvii. 374 My spirit is the shadow of thy word, Thy candle sun♦bedayed! 1513 Douglas JEneis vm. vii. 20 Albeit that to the childring of Priame King I was ♦bedettit. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. 11. v. x. II. 81 They are harangued, ♦bedinnered, begifted. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. 380 Can he do nothing for his Burns but.. lionise him, *bedinner him? 1620 Sir J. Davies Past. W. Brown What though time yet have not ♦bedowld thy chin. 1611 Cotgr., Enduvetter, to ♦bedowne; to fill.. with downe. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. (1584) 280 Aristrato.. most *befamed the art of phisick. 1567 Turberv. Ovid’s Ep. nob, For everie point I was ♦Befancide well. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ’s Viet, in Farr’s S.P. (1847) 64 How thou ♦befanciest the men most wise. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. 11. 1. x. I. 268 The mute representatives of.. *befettered, heavy-laden Nations. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy 11. iii, Be-pictured, be-butterflied, and ♦befiddled. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 115 The Buck, hauing *be-filtht himselfe with the female. 1613 F. Robartes Revenue Gosp. (title-p.), A sparke vnseen .. *Befir’d her neast, and burnt vp all her wealth. 1718 Motteux Quix. (1733) I. 284 Sancho..rent his Beard .. *befisted his own forgetful Skull. 1859 M. Scott Tom Cringle's Log xi. 228 Men who.. whenever a common cold overtook them.. caudled and *beflanneled themselves. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. (1873) 283 The savages by whom the continent was *beflead rather than inhabited. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. 1. (1863) 202 Miss Phoebe.. is said to have becurled and *beflounced herself at least two tiers higher on.. holidays. 1598 Florio, Farinare, to *beflowre or *bemeale. 1814 Scott Wav. lxxi, Then .. I *beflumm’d them wi’ Colonel Talbot. 1700 Dryden Fables 106 Froth .. ♦befoams the Ground. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Flocquer, To hang forth loose, to sit bagging, flagging, or ♦befrumpled, as an ouer-wide garment. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 809 If such a folly have *befumed your Brain. 1598 Gilpin Skial. i, Play the scold.. ♦Begall thy spirit. 1611 Cotgr., Gingembre, *begingered; seasoned .. with Ginger. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. 111. xvi, The countenance of the *beglared one. 1835 Beckford Recoil. 46 A square.. *begloomed by dark-coloured painted windows, c 1430 Lydg. Minor P. 115 They went from the game begylyd and *beglued. a 1813 A. Wilson Foresters Wks. 246 *Begulfed in mire we laboured on. 1730 Swift Lady's Dress.-room, ♦Begumm’d, bematter’d, and beslim’d. 1611 Cotgr., Encrasser, to ♦begryme.. bedawbe with slouenlie filth. 1594 Peele Batt. Alcazar 88 In fatal bed ♦behearst. *577 HelloWes Gueuara's Ep. 314 An Oxe.. so *behorned. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. 11. 109 She. .did *behorne his head. 1857 Thackeray White Squall (D.), The Turkish women.. Were frightened and *behorror’d. 1863 N. Brit. Daily Mail 13 Oct., *Be-iced in Melville Bay, and presumed to be lost. 1620 Shelton Quix. m. xiii. I. 247 The Curate would not permit ’em to veil and *bekerchief him. 1885 Spectator 8 Aug. 1043/1 They were..rather unpleasantly *belarded. 1862 Thackeray Four Georges i. 37 The honest masters of the roast ♦beladling the dripping. 1631 Brathwait Whimzies, Ruffian 83 So *beliquored and belarded, as they have oyle enough to frie themselves. 1611 Cotgr., Enfueiller, to *beleafe; to stick or set.. with leaues. 1598 Florio Smaltare ..To *belome..to ouercast with mortar or loame. 1594 Nashe Terrors of Nt. Gij b, Their armes as it were *bemayled with rich chaynes and bracelets. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 23 J?ah an castel beo wel *bemoned mid monne. 1620 Shelton Quix. IV. vii. 47 A white long gather’d Stole, so long that it did .. *bemantle her from Head to Foot. 1820 Combe (Dr. Syntax) Consol. ii. (D.), The straw-roof d cot.. With spreading vine ♦bemantled o’er. 1868 Morn. Star 3 Feb., The chaste hall so scrupulously hearthstoned and ♦bematted. 1623 Favine Theat. Hon. 11. xiii. 208 The idolatry of the Syrians.. was planted among the ./Egyptians, who ♦be-mealed the Greeks therewith. 1656 Earl Monm. Advt.fr. Parnass. 118 As much ♦bemealed as those millers who keep there day and night. 1884 in Pall Mall G. 31* May 2 Till the end of his days he is *bemissionaried by the society which has made him what he is. 1362 Langl. P. PI. B. xiv. 4 Children J?at wolen *bymolen it many tyme maugre my chekes! 1866 Lond. Rev. 23 June 697/2 If you get *bemooned on a shoemaker’s holiday, you had best return home at once. 1530 Palsgr. 306/1 ♦Bemooked, breneux. 1611 Cotgr., Emmusquer, to *bemuske, or perfume with muske. 1611 Cotgr., Enortier, To ♦benettle; to sting., rub ouer, with nettles. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xiii, All his warriorguests .. Were long ♦be-nightmared. 1814 Southey Life & Corr. (1850) IV. 78 Present copies to the persons *be-oded. 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 356 His well *bepapered cranium. 1861 M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France 93 French administration is *bepapered to death. 1690 Seer. Hist. Chas. II & fas. II, 36 The King .. had so *bephiltered them with his potions of Aurum potabile, that they passed another act to his heart’s desire. 1853 F. Hall Ledlie's Miscell. II. 171 Englishmen.. are not easily bephrased to death. is zachari.. Becummen was o leui sede. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Justine 137 a, A country.. wherof became the Ryuer so called.

f3. To come about, come to pass, happen; to fall to one’s lot, befall, a. with dative or to. Obs. £888 K. Alfred Boeth. xxxix §9 Swa hit hwilum gewyrp pact paem godum becymp anfeald yfel. £1250 Gen. & Ex. 2227 Wei michel sor3e is me bicumen. 1556 Lauder Tractate (1864) 1 And quhat sail becum to Kyngis that contynewis in Iniquitie. 1655 Jennings Elise 147 What became this woman, when she heard this news?

fb. without construction; often impersonally. £1210 Leg. Kath. 1563 Bicom [to] pat te king maxence moste fearen. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1577 Quad esau, grot sal bi¬ cumen. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour F ij, It becam ones that the good man made semblaunt to goo oute. 1530 Palsgr. 445/2 It becometh, it happeneth, it chaunseth.

4. become of (after ‘what’) was used formerly in sense of ‘come out of, result from,* but has also taken the place of ‘where is it become,’ etc., in 1 b., in reference to the later locality, position, or fate of a person or thing. 1535 Coverdale Ex. xxxii. 1 We can not tell what is become [1382 Wyclif, what is befallyn; 1388 what befelde] of this man Moses. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. 11. ii. 37 What will become of this?.. My state is desperate. 1611 Bible Gen. xxxvii. 20 We shall see what will become of his dreames. 1663 Butler Hud. 1. iii. 263 Nor do I know what is become Of him more than the Pope. 1707 Freind Peterboro’s Cond. Sp. 211 It is no Matter what becomes of the Town. 1790 Paley Horae Paul., Rom. ii. 18 [St. Paul] is telling what was become of his companions. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. 11. v. §56 (1875) 183 What becomes of this element at either extreme of the oscillation?

clout.] trans. To cover with a clout or cloth; to

II. To come to be. (Closely related to sense 2.) 5. To come to be (something or in some state). fa. with to, into. Obs.

dress up; chiefly fig. a 1230 Ancr. R. 316 bis nis nout naked schrift.. biclute pu hit nowiht. 1873 T. Cooper Par ad. Martyrs (1877) 299 The mimesters who beclout themselves anew with rags of Rome.

c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 215 To lure hit bi-kumefi of hwuche half so hit fallefi. a 1250 Prov. Alfred 383 in O.E. Misc. 126 Werldes welpe schulle bi-cumen to nouhte. c 1305 St. Kenelm 129 in E.E.P. (1862) 51 To a litel fo3el he bicom.

beclout (bi'klaot), v.\ also 3 biclute.

[f. be-

+

BECOMED 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour Ai, The..myrthe was soone falle doune and.. become in to grete trystesse. 1657 Howell Londinop. 51 The rest of the ground is become into smal tenements. 1683 Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) II. 28 The Church of God, being now become, from a private family .. to a great and numerous nation,

b. with subst. or adj. complement. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 47 J?a bicom his licome swiSe feble. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 21 And )?us bicam ure lafdi mid childe. C1350 Will. Palerne 881 He cast al his colour and bicom pale. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. lxii. (1495) l7% Goddis sone bycame man and dwellyd among vs. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 135/4 So wyse a man is such a foie becomen. 1549 Compl. Scot. 2 The vniuersal pepil ar be cum distitute of iustice. 1611 Bible Gen. xix. 26 His wife looked backe.. she became a pillar of salt. 1625 Bacon Ess. (Arb.) 479 Their Boughs w^re becommen too great. 1717 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlvi. 30 The asmack, or Turkish veil, is become .. agreeable to me. 1774 Chesterf. Lett. I. 11 Unfortunately for her, she became in love with him. 1810 Henry Elem. Chem. (1840) II. 699 When., more largely diluted with water, it becomes hot. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 4 When first they became known to the Tyrian mariners. 1876 Green Short Hist. vi. §4. 298 Florence., became the home of an intellectual Revival. 6. To come into being or existence. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 1. i. (1641) 1/2 In the instant when Time first became. 1876 Hamerton Intell. Life 11. ii. 56 The powers given us by Nature are little more than a power to become.

III. To agree or accord with; suit, befit, grace. 7. trans. To accord with, agree with, be suitable to; to befit (object orig. dative). a 1230 Juliana 7 He wes freo boren, and hem walde bicumen a freo boren burde. 1564 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) i. 51 They should doe such things as becommed their shape. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. v. 57 Softstilnes and the night Become the tutches of sweet harmonic. 1611 Bible Heb. vii. 26 Such an high Priest became vs.-Prov. xvii. 7 Excellent speech becommeth not a foole. 1723 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 171 A book would become his hands better than a hoe. 01778 Anecd. W. Pitt (1792) III. 29 A tone of modesty.. would become them better. 1810 Wordsw. Sonn. Liberty 11. xxv, A garland.. Becomes not one whose father is a slave. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby 11. ii. 62 He had that public spirit which became his station. 8. impers. (now usually with it).

fa. (absol., with to, /or, or clause.) To be congruous, appropriate, fitting. Obs., replaced by ‘it is becoming.’ CX175 Lamb. Horn. 45 Nu bi-comeS hit..to uwilchen cristene monne..to hal^eri penile dei. 1297 R. Glouc. 36 Do)? hem alle wel an horse, as a kyng bi come)? to. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. iv. 266 Hyt by-cometh for a kyng..To 3eve men mede. 1535 Coverdale 2 Macc. xii. 14 Speakynge soch wordes as it becommeth not. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 25 It became that the high mysteries of the gods should be reuealed and taught. 1591 Shaks. j Hen. VI, v. iii. 17 Set this Diamond safe.. as it becomes.

BED

44

fbe'comed, ppl. a.

Obs. rare *. [f. become (sense 8) + -ED1.] Befitting, becoming. If Became in Spenser F.Q. I. x. 66, may perh. be equal to becomed: but it may also, of course, be the pa. t. of the vb. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. iv. ii. 26, I.. gaue him what becomed Loue I might.

fbe'comely, a. and adv.

Obs.

bicumelic, -lich; adv. bicumeliche.

Forms: 2-3 [f. become +

-ly.] A. adj. Becoming, fitting, acceptable. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. i29 Him )?uhte bicumelic pet we weren .. alesede. C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 127 Swo )?at he was bicumelich to his wuninge.

B. adv. Becomingly, properly. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn, 9 We gon a dai bicumeliche.

becross (bi'kros, -o:-), v. [f. be- -F cross.] trans.

becoming (bi'kAmirj), vbl. sb. [f. become v.] 1. The action of befitting or gracing; that which befits or graces, rare. c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. 150 Whence hast thou this becomming of things ill. 1606-Ant. & Cl. I. iii. 96 My becommings kill me, when they do not Eye well to you.

2. A coming to be, a passing into a state. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xi. 139 Everything else is in a state of becoming, God is in a state of Being, i860 Pusey Min. Proph. 613 Our life is a ‘becoming’ rather than a simple ‘being.’

be'coming, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] 1. Befitting, suitable, having graceful fitness. 1565 Sc. Metr. Ps. cxxxiii. 1 How good a thing it is and how becoming well. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. ii. i. 67 Within the limits of becoming mirth. 1686 W. de Britaine Hum. Prud. §4. 19 Let your Behaviour, like your Garment, be .. fit and becoming. 1713 Guardian No. 1 |f 1 Coming up to town in a very becoming periwig. 1833 Ht. Martineau Cinn. U Pearls i. 4 He spoke with becoming indifference of all meaner accomplishments.

2. the becoming: a. that which is befitting or proper; decorum. 1842 Realities of Life 207 Some of whom.. study the becoming in their own persons. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 540 Selfcommand and a fine sense of the becoming,

b. that which is coming into existence.

C1314 Guy Warw. 4 The kirtel bicom him swithe wel. c 1400 A. Davy Dreams 11 A Coroune of gold Bicom hym wel. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 297 Nothing in the world could worse haue becomen them. 1605 Shaks. Macb. 1. iv. 7 Nothing in his Life became him, Like the leaning it. 1642 Fuller Holy& Prof. St. iv. i. 240 Bluntnesse of speech hath becom’d some, and made them more acceptable. 1716 Addison Drummer 11. i, Her Widow’s weeds became her. 1824 Coleridge Aids Reft. 53 So anxious to have their dress become them.

c. Of a person: To grace or adorn his surroundings, place, or position, to occupy or wear with fitting grace. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. 11. 260 Did euer Dian so become a Groue As Kate this chamber? x6io-Temp. 111. ii. 112 She will become thy bed. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. II. vi. 162 Which place he became well. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 21 IP 7 A graceful man .. who became the dignity of his function.

d. Hence, To look well in (a dress, etc.). 1660 Marvell Corr. iii. Wks. 1872-5 II. 19 The youth of your own town .. become their arms much better than any soldiers. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 75 If 9 The splendour which I became so well. 1874 Helps Soc. Press, i. 23 She with her dark hair did most become that yellow gown.

To mark with the sign of the cross; to surround or decorate with crosses. Hence becrossed ppl. a. 1565 Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse (1846) 79 Your spiritual fathers, all to becrossed about their beds. 1581 in Confer, iv. (1584) Ziij, Campion becrossed himselfe on the forehead. 1799 W. Taylor Month. Mag. VII. 139 A becross’d, beblest.. bag of holy sackcloth. 1880 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 243 Officers much be-medalled and much be¬ crossed.

becrown (bi'kraun), v. [f. be- 2 + crown ?;.] To crown. 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis in. (Arb.) 87 Father Anchises a goold boul massye becrowning. 1800 W. Taylor Month. Mag. VIII. 806 The cool And shadowy forest, which becrowns the isle. 1850 Lynch Theo. Trin.vni. 145 Gabriel, perhaps .. disports himself.. becrowned with roses.

becudgel (bi'kAd33l), zi. [f. be- + cudgel®.] To cudgel soundly. 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1836) 67 You shall see .. their shinnes thus becudgelled and bebasted every morning. 1881 A. Duffield Quix. 34 To think I will return to mine [home] until I have becudgelled Don Quixote, is vain.

becuffed, becumber, becurry, becurse, becurtain, becushioned, becut, etc.: see be-

1856 Ferrier Inst. Metaph. xvii. xvii. 349 The usual synonym for this was the Becoming (to yiyrd/xtrov), that is, inchoate existence.

pref.

be'comingly,

f. Tupi bicuiba, bicuhyba.] A Brazilian timber tree, Virola bicuhyba-, used attrib. in becuiba nut, the fruit of an aromatic Brazilian tree (Myristica bicuhyba) of the nutmeg family; becuiba tallow or fat, a balsamic product of the becuiba nut.

[f. prec. + -ly.] In a becoming manner; befittingly; with graceful fitness. adv.

1624 Heywood Gunaik. hi. 131 Her nose somewhat (but most becomminglie) hooked. 1694 Kettlewell Comp. Persecuted 145 To act.. in all things, wisely and becomingly. 1884 Black Jud. Shaks. xiii, She was becomingly dressed.

suitability; graceful propriety or fitness. 1657 W. Dillingham in Sir F. Fere's Comm. Pref. Aiv, The becomingness of the stile did much affect me. 1690 Norris Beatitudes (1692) 214 A kind of Congruity or Becomingness on God’s part so to do. 1866 Felton Anc. fsf Mod. Greece I. i. 283 A propriety and becomingness of demeanour. 1876 Miss Yonge Womankind xv. 116 Taking questions of complexion and becomingness into account.

b. Said, esp. of an accessory, property, attribute, quality, or action, suiting or gracing its owner or subject. At first with an adv. (well, etc.), but afterwards also without one.

becripple (bi'krip(3)l), v. [f. be- 2 or 5 + cripple.] To make lame, to cripple.

1656 Du Gard Gate Lat. Uni. §673. 287 You may bee adorned .. with bashfulness .. becomness, faithfulness.

a 1230 Juliana 55 Wel biseme# )?e to beon and bikime# [v.r. bicume#] to beo streon of a swuch strunde. c 1300 Beket 1179 Uvele Bicom him to gon afote. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxliv. 295 To play with tenys balles become hym better. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 192 It had becommed them a great deale better, to haue punished their seruant. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1140/1 We haue begun, as becommed vs. 1644 Direct. Publ. Worship 17 Gravely, as becommeth the word of God. 1661 Marvell Corr. xxviii. Wks. 1872-5 II. 66 There are nakednesses which it becomes us to cover. 1788 Priestley Led. Hist. v. xxxvi. 276 It becomes men.. to make provision for rectifying their mistakes. 1826 Scott in Lockhart (1839) VIII. 230, I thought it became me to make public how far I was concerned. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 95 He was fonder of hunting than became an Archbishop.

£1300 Beket 2351 Wel bicom the brighte gold, upon the rede blod.

BE-.

1660 H. More Myst. Godl. vi. xix. 277 Those who you do bedwarfe and becripple with your poisonous medicines. 1755 Bp. Warburton Lett. (ed. Parr 1809) 180 Bringing himself down to a lame becrippled world.

becomingness

fa. absol. To look well (i.e. in its place); to be comely or becoming. Obs.

becram, becrampoun, becrave, becrawl, becrime, becrimson, becripple, becroak, becrowd, becrush, becrust, beery, etc.: see

f be'comeness. Obs. rare—1. [f. become pa. pple. + -NESS.] = BECOMINGNESS.

b. with object, (orig. dative) To befit; to be proper to or for.

9. Hence, To look well (on or with), to set out.

Mar. 60A/2 Among the Si’s derived units with special names are those for . . radioactivity (the becquerel, or spontaneous nuclear transitions per second) and absorbed dose of radiation (the gray, or joules per kilogram). 1986 Times 7 May 7 The Agriculture Minister insisted that his official figures for iodine radiation in milk showed levels up to 60 becquerels a litre, ‘miles below’ the safe limit of 1,000.

(bi'kAmirjms).

[f.

as prec.

+

-ness.] The quality of being becoming; fitness,

fbe'comse, v. Obs. rare—1,

[f. be-

+

becuiba (bi'kwi:bo). Also bicuiba. [Pg. bicuiba,

1842 Dunglison Diet. Med. Sci. (ed. 3) s.v. Ibicuiba 371/2 Becuiba, or Becuiba nux, a species of nut from Brazil, the emulsive kernel of which is ranked amongst balsamic remedies. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 744/2 Becuiba tallow. [Source] Myristica Becuhyba. [Principal use] medicine; candles. 1889 Cent. Did., Becuiba-nut. 1934 Webster, Becuiba, a Brazilian timber tree (Virola becuhyba), family Myristicaceae. 1955 Nomencl. Commerc. Timbers (B.S.I.) 88 Bicuiba.

becum, -in, -cummen, obs. ff. become v. becure, obs. var. of beaker.

comse,

begin,

becurl (bi'karl), v. [f. be- + curl ®.] To cover

c 1350 Will. Palerne 2523 f>e kolieres bi-komsed to karpe kenely i-fere.

1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue v. 201 Judith .. Becurles her Tresses. 1624 Milton Paraph. Ps. cxiv, To hide his frost-becurled head. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. 1. (1863) 202 Miss Phcebe.. is said to have becurled .. herself at least two tiers higher, i860 A. Windsor Ethica vii. 352 Questions .. discussed by becurled young declaimers.

syncopated commence.

becon, -age,

for

commence.]

To

or deck out with curls. Hence becurled ppl. a.

obs. f. beckon, beacon, -age.

becoom, becost, becovet, becoward: fbe'cover, v. Obs. 1. To recover.

see be-.

[f. be- + cover ®.]

trans.

c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1327 Jtat he ful clanly bi-cuv-er his carp bi pe laste.

2. To cover over. CI325 Coer de L. 3925 Alle becoveryd wer feeldes and pleynes With knyghtes. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 63 That great one seene with blacke becouered so.

Becquerel ('bekrsl).

[The name of a French physicist, Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852-1908).] 1. Used attrib. in Becquerel(’s) rays, formerly a general term for the radiation from radioactive substances. 1896 S. P. Thompson in Phil. Mag. July 105 While agreeing with the Rontgen rays in the property of penetrating aluminium [etc,], the Becquerel rays differ in the circumstance that they can be refracted and polarized. 1897-Light Visible & Invis. 279 Becquerel’s rays possess .. the property of diselectrifying charged bodies. 1898 Physical Rev. Apr. 239 Becquerel rays, or uranium rays, as Becquerel himself called them. 1931 Discovery July 212/2 When X-rays and the Becquerel rays from uranium were discovered it was demonstrated that these rays could make air into a conductor.

2. (Written becquerel.) The SI unit of radioactivity, equal to one disintegration per second (superseding the curie, equal to 3 7 x io10 becquerels). Symbol Bq. 1975 Physics Bull. Mar. 105/1 The CIPM will recommend to the CGPM that the SI unit of activity should be given the name ‘becquerel’, symbol Bq. 1976 Sci. Amer.

beewethe, obs. form of bequeath. bed (bed), sb. Forms: (1-2 bed(d), 3 baed, 3-6 bedd, 5-7 bedde, (4 bidd, 3-7 bede, 6 beed), 3bed. [Com. Teut.: OE. bedd, bed, neut., OS. bed, MDu. bedde, bed, bet, Du. bed, OHG. betti, MHG. bette, bet, mod.G. bett, Goth, badi (gen. badjis):—OTeut. *badjo-(m) neut.; cf. ON. bedr, masc.:—OTeut. *badjo-z. Referred by Franck with some probability to Aryan *bhodh~, whence L. fod(i- to dig, as if orig. ‘a dug out place,’ a ‘lair’ of beasts or men: but this primitive notion had quite disappeared in Teutonic, in which the word had only the two senses ‘sleeping-place of men’ and ‘garden-bed’: it is uncertain whether the latter came independently from the root idea of ‘dig,’ or whether it was a transference from a bed for sleeping, with reference to its shape or purpose.] I. The sleeping-place of men or animals. 1. a. A permanent structure or arrangement for sleeping on, or for the sake of rest. In some form or other it constitutes a regular article of household furniture in civilized life, as well as part of the equipment of an army or expedition. It consists for the most part of a sack or mattress of sufficient size, stuffed with something soft or springy, raised generally upon a ‘bed-stead’ or

BED support, and covered with sheets, blankets, etc., for the purpose of warmth. The name is given both to the whole structure in its most elaborate form, and, as in ‘feather-bed,’ to the stuffed sack or mattress which constitutes its essential part. (A person is said to be in bed, when undressed and covered with the bedclothes.) < 995 Will in Cod. Dipl. VI. 132 An bedreaf eal 6aet to anum bedde gebyreS. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John v. 8 Aris: nim pin bed [c 1160 Hatton G. bedd] and ga. 1205 Lay. 6701 J?e king ltei in his btedde [1250 bedde], a 1300 Cursor M. 12392 He suld him mak a treen bedd [Fairf. MS. a bed of tree], CI300 St. Brandan 125 Beddes ther were al 3are y-maked. 1382 Wyclif Mark ii. 9 Ryse, take thi bed and walke. c 1400 Destr. Troy XXIX. 11933 Buernes in hor bednes britnet all naked. 1424 E.E. Wills (1882) 57, I wul pat ilk of my said childre haue a bed, pat is to say, couerlide, tapite, blankettis, too peyre schetes, matras, and canvas. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxlii. 277 He was in his bed and a slepe on a fethyr bedde. 1562 Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 16 In house to kepe housholde, whan folks wyll needis wed, Mo thyngs belong, than foure bare legs in a bed. 1611 Bible i Sam. xix. 15 Bring him vp to me in the bedde. 1648 Jenkyn Blind Guide iv. 115 Sollid matter lodgeth in his great booke of words, as a childe of two days old in the great bed of Ware. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xv. 51, I carried my own bed with me. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy II. xxix. 142 An old .. chair .. stood at the bed’s head. 1851 Tennyson May Queen iii. 23 Sit beside my bed, mother.

b. Often used somewhat elliptically for the use of a bed for the night, the condition or position of being in bed, sleeping in bed, the time for sleeping, etc. Cf. also the phrases under 6. 1474 Ord. R. Househ. 28 Make him joyouse and merry towardes his bedde. 1666 Pepys Diary 12 Aug., We began both to be angry, and so continued till bed. 1769 Wesley Jrnl. 19 Apr., Archdeacon C-e.. desired I would take a bed with him. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain §1. 20 The traveller should immediately on arriving secure his bed. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 50 Let a man walk for an hour before bed. 1879 M. Pattison Milton 151 Bed, with its warmth and recumbent posture, he found favourable to composition.

c. bed and board: entertainment with lodging and food. Of a wife: full connubial relations, as wife and mistress of the household. c 1403 York Manual (1881) Pref. 16 Here I take pe N. to be my wedded wyfe, to hald and to haue at bed and at borde, for fayrer for layther, for better for wers.. till ded us depart. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. x. 51 She [should be] receivd againe to bed and bord. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 17 There is no city.. better supplied for dress, carriage, bed and board. 1823 Galt Entail II. xv. 135 What.. was due for bed and board. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. 11. 1287 Pompilia sought divorce from bed and board.

d. fig. The ‘sleeping-place’ attributed to things personified; that on which persons figuratively ‘repose.’ a 1600 in 1001 Gems of Song (1883) 3 The merrie home wakes up the morne To leave his idle bed. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. viii. 285 The treaty with Hyder was the bed on which the resentments of the Directors sought to repose. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. 74 The money.. ’ull be a bad bed to lie down on at the last. e. spec. = hospital bed s.v. hospital sb. 6; also with qualifying adj.; cf. pay-bed s.v. pay- i d. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 307/2 In New York there is a large amount of hospital accommodation—about 6000 beds, or about 1 in 1500 of the population. 1914 Surg., Gynecol. & Obstetr. XIX. 114 (title) Demonstration of a universal extension apparatus applied to a surgical bed. 1930 A. Flexner Universities 88 Certain professors in medicine., have a few beds at one hospital or another. 1943, etc. [see orthopaedic bed s.v. orthopaedic, -pedic a.]. 1969 Times 14 Aug. 2/2 Twenty beds have been closed at the 52-bed post¬ operative Courtaulds Hospital. 1985 New Statesman 27 Sept. 5/1 Every day since 1 October last year they have picketed the 700 bed hospital.

f. Chiefly bedroom.

BED

45

used

as

an

advertising

term:

1926 R. Macaulay Crewe Train 11. ix. 172 How many bed and recep.? 1939 [see bath sb.1 12]. 1961 Wodehouse Ice in Bedroom xxii. 177 A joyous suburban villa equipped with main drainage,.. four bed, two sit and the usual domestic offices.

g. bed and breakfast: (a) the provision of a bed for a night and breakfast the following morning: an arrangement offered by hotels, boarding houses, etc.; also attrib. 1910 Bradshaw's Railway Guide Apr. 1125/1 Residential Hotel... Bed and breakfast from 4/-. 1930 Morning Post 17 June 18/5 (Advt.), Married couple for bed and breakfast house; Kitchen Man and House-Parlourmaid. 1936 J. L. Hodson Our Two Englands x. 174 It is true that I have seen the signs ‘Bed, breakfast and garage’—a new form which the historian should make a note of. 1967 Listener 10 Aug. 178/1, I had previously booked bed and breakfast somewhere in Bloomsbury.

(b) spec, in financial contexts, used attrib. to designate a transaction in which shares are sold late in the day and bought back early the next morning so as to gain a tax advantage. Hence as v. trans., to sell and rebuy (shares) in this way; becLancLbreakfasting vbl. sb. 1974 Observer 17 Feb. 15/4 Bed and breakfast operations .. allow investors to establish a gains tax loss yet effectively remain in the same shares on which losses have accumulated... Bed and breakfasting has become more and more popular over the years. 1980 Daily Tel. 29 Mar. 24/5 Investment trust shareholders who are sitting on large gains or have some disposals in mind .. are well advised to sell or ‘bed-and-breakfast’ their shares before April 5. 1982 Observer 18 Apr. 18/5 Confusion still reigns with investors

over the demise of bed and breakfast operations. 1984 Daily Tel. 31 Mar. 19/4 We will do a bed and breakfast transaction, but we don’t encourage it. 1986 Times 8 Mar. 27/1 The Bed & Breakfasting ploy of selling the shares late one day and buying back early the next is cheaper than a normal Stock Exchange transaction.

2. transf. a. As the place of conjugal union; hence matrimonial rights and duties. c 1200 Ormin 2447 Hu..J>att I ma33 ben wipp childe I min ma33phad, i clene bedd. c 1305 St. Edmund Conf. 106 in E.E.P. (1862) 73 Hire clones he dude of anon: as hit is lawe of bedde. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xlix. 4 Thow has defoulid the bedde of hym. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. iii. iv. 42 False to his Bed? 1611 Bible Hebr. xiii. 4 Mariage is honorable in all, and the bed vndefiled. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. iv. 78 No God shall crown the Board, nor Goddess bless the Bed. 1711 Steele Sped. No. 51 IP7 He betrays the Honour and Bed of his Neighbour.

b. As the place of procreation and child-birth; hence parental union, parentage; also birth, progeny. 11430 Lydg. Bochas 11. xxii. (1554) 58 a, Socrates .. Of ful lowe bed .. was discended. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. 1. 9 George, the eldest son of this second bed. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. 1. 485 And hoped, when wed, For loves fair favours, and a fruitful bed. 1832 Sir E. Brydges Geneva iii. 104 A younger brother.. One of a numerous bed.

3. gen. A sleeping-place generally; extemporized resting-place for the night.

any

a 1300 Cursor M. 902 In cald sal euer be pi bedde. c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. 4 Encresing of his peyne in pe bed of hell. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. 11. ii. 39 Finde you out a bed, For I vpon this banke will rest my head. 1598-Merry W. iii. i. 20 There will we make our Beds of Roses. 1877 Bryant Odyss. v. 579 Ulysses heaped a bed Of leaves.

4. fig. The grave: usually with some qualification, as narrow bed, or contextual indication. a 1300 Cursor M. 6962 Iosep banis.. pai haue graued in erj?e bed. 1535 Coverdale Job xvii. 13 The graue is my house, and I must make my bed in the darcke [Wyclif In dercnessis I beddede my bed]. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. iv. iv. 52 If in your Country warres you chance to dye, That is my Bed to. 1793 Burns Scots wha haet Welcome to your gory bed, Or to victorie. 1817 Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore v. 1 As we hollowed his narrow bed.

5. The resting-place of an animal, esp. one strewed or made up for a domestic beast. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 813 The Water-Snake., lyes poyson’d in his Bed. 1726 Thomson Winter 831 He makes his bed beneath th’ inclement drift. 1831 Youatt Horse vi. (1872) 126 The bed of the horse, viz. wheat and oat straw. 1853' Stonehenge’ Greyhound 242 Clean straw.. for her [a greyhound] to make her bed on.

6. Phrases and locutions belonging to prec. senses: a. Qualified by an adj. or attributive sb., as bridal bed, nuptial bed, the bed in which a newly-married pair sleep; narrow bed, the grave; wedlock bed = marriage-bed, q.v. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 710 With flow’rs.. Espoused Eve deck’d first her nuptial bed. 1796 Scott Will. & Helen xli, To-night I ride, with my young bride, To deck our bridal bed. 1819- Noble Moringer i, In wedlock bed he lay. 1854 Househ. Words VIII. 427 There is another bed to come —the grave. .Poetry names it the ‘narrow bed.’

b. Qualified by prep, phrase, as bed of death = death-bed, also used as synonymous with next; bed of dust, the grave; bed of down, flowers, roses, (fig.) a delightful resting-place, a comfortable or easy position; bed of honour, honour’s bed, (spec.) the grave of a soldier who has died on the field of battle; bed of pleasure-, bed of sickness (cf. sick-bed) that upon which a person lies during illness; bed of state, a superb and finely decorated bed for show, or for laying out the corpse of a distinguished person (see state-bed). 1549-59 Bk. Com. Prayer, Visit. Sick, Look down .. upon this child now lying upon the bed of sickness. 1604 Shaks. Oth. 1. iii. 232 Custome.. Hath made the flinty .. Coach of Warre My thrice-driuen bed of downe. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Connub. Flor., Go then discreetly to the bed of pleasure. Ibid. To Mrs. Eliz. Herrick, Thy bed of roses. 1663 Butler Hud. 1. iii. 147 If he that in the field is slain Be in the bed of honour lain. 1676 C. Jeaffreson in Young Squire (1877) Those [English] behaved themselves gallantly, and were most of them layd in the bed of honour. 1713 Bond. Gaz. 5099/1 The Corps of the late King is expos’d in a Bed of State. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 408 Smooth the bed of death. 1747 Gent. Mag. XVII. 326 In that Bed of Dust, I leave him to repose till a General Resurrection. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 86 These rocks by custom turn to beds of down. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. v. Wks. (1831) 890/1 Am I now reposing on a bed of flowers? 1806 Ld. Castlereagh 3 Apr. in Cobbett's Pari. Debates (1806) VI. 707 The present administration may be considered as on a Bed of Roses. 1834 Mary Howitt Sk. Nat. Hist. (1851) 105 That soldiers die upon honour’s bed! 1838 T. Jackson E. Meth. Preachers (1846) I. 377 My death-bed is a bed of roses.

c. Verbal phrases: to bring to bed, a-bed, formerly = put to bed; now generally passive, to be delivered of a child; also fig. (see also abed); to die in one's bed: to die at home or of ‘natural causes,’ as opposed to violent death in war, persecution, etc.; to go to bed: (a) to go to lie down to sleep; (b) fig. (of a newspaper, journal, etc.), to go to press (cf. sense 11), start printing; also, to see, put (a paper) to bed; (c) colloq., to have sexual intercourse (with), have a sexual relationship (with someone); f to have one's

bed: to give birth to a child, ‘lie in’; to keep one's bed: to remain in bed through sickness or other cause; to leave one's bed: to recover from sickness; to make a bed: to put a bed in order after it has been used; to lie or sleep in the bed one has made (fig. extension of prec.): to accept the natural fruits or results of one’s own conduct; to make up a bed: to prepare sleeping accommodation not previously available; to take a bed, to bed = ‘bring to bed’ (see above); also fig.; to take to one's bed: to become confined to bed through sickness or infirmity. C1320 Seuyn Sages (W.) 525 An even late, the emperowr Was browt to bedde with honour, c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 540 Florence was brought a bed, and had a fayre sonne. 1649 Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII, 66 The Queene .. being brought to bed of a daughter. 1685 Gracian's Courtier's Orac. 161 There are some artificial men, that.. are brought to bed of mistakes. 1742 Jarvis Quix. 1. 1. vi, The knights eat, sleep, and die in their beds. 1205 Lay. 711 A peon time .. J>onne men gafi to bedde. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. Prol. 43 In glotonye, god it wote gon hij to bedde. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. 11. iii. 7 To go to bed after midnight, is to goe to bed betimes. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 35 For the ‘Times’—the mighty ‘ Times’ — has ‘gone to bed’. 1933 M. Lutyens Forthcoming Marriages 197 He nearly always had to stay on at the office till after midnight when the paper ‘went to bed’. 1945 A. Huxley Time must have Stop iv. 46 How much less awful the man would be.. if only he sometimes lost his temper,.. or went to bed with his secretary. 1962 J. Wain Strike Father Dead vi. 264 ‘If you go to bed with a man, he won’t marry you,’ she used to say. ‘Every girl knows that.’ 1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex v. 44 A young doctor.. may think it all right to propose ‘going to bed’ to a nurse he has only just met. 1848 Mrs. Gaskell M. Barton (1882) 1 My Mary expects to have her bed in three weeks. 1534 Tindale Acts ix. 33 A certayne man whych had kepte hys bed viii. yere. C1590 Marlowe Faust. (2nd vers.) 981 All this day the sluggard keeps his bed. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xvi, To speak plainly, she keeps her bed. 1742 Jarvis Quix. 1. 1. vii, Two days after, when Don Quixote left his bed. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 1. iv. 102, I wash, ring, brew.. make the beds, and doe all my selfe. 1745 Swift Direct. Servants Wks. 1756 VII. 404 Your master’s bed is made .. lock the chamber door. 1832 Hone Year Bk. 1301 He would not allow his bed to be made oftener than once a-week. 1883 Flor. Nightingale in Quoin's Diet. Med. s.v. Nursing, A true nurse always knows how to make a bed, and always makes it herself. 1753 Hanway Trav. I. iii. xxxi. 136 They might sleep in the bed which they had made. 1878 Lady Barker Bedr. & Boudoir iii. 42 This could be removed at night, and the bed made up in the usual way. 1951 M. Dickens My Turn to make Tea iii. 31 We went to press, or, as we liked to say in our nonchalant Fleet Street jargon, we put the paper to bed. 1899 Daily News 30 Sept. 6/1 Night by night he remained at the office till the last, seeing the paper to bed (to use the old-fashioned phrase), and examining the first copies printed. 1883 Harper's Mag. Dec. 135 By-and-by he took to his bed.

d. Prepositional phrases: in, to, out of bed. 1382 Wyclif Luke xi. 7 My children ben with me in bed. 1742 Jarvis Quix. I. I. vii, They found him already out of bed. 1761 Churchill Night, Poems (1769) I. 78 ’Till vain Prosperity retires to bed. 1790 Mrs. Adams Lett. (1848) 349 She has not been out of bed since. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 129 Prodicus was still in bed.

7. bed of justice (Fr. lit de justice)-, a bed adorned in a particular way in the French king’s bedchamber, where he gave receptions; spec, the throne of the king in the Parliament of Paris; also, a sitting of this parliament at which the king was present. As the king sometimes convened the parliament to enforce the registration of his own decrees, the term came to be chiefly or exclusively applied to sessions held for this purpose. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl., Bed of justice.. is only held on affairs relating to the state. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. II. (1859) 251 The King has been obliged to hold a bed of justice, to enforce the registering of new taxes. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. ill. iv. 102 On the morrow, this Parlement.. declares all that was done on the prior day to be null, and the Bed of Justice as good as a futility. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xv. 265 The .. bed of justice, in which the king .. solemnly attested the decisions.. put in form by parliament.

II. The flat base or surface on which anything rests. 8. A level or smooth piece of ground in a garden, usually somewhat raised, for the better cultivation of the plants with which it is filled; also used to include the plants themselves which grow in it. ciooo Sax. Leechd. I. 96 Deos wyrt..bi6 cenned..on wyrtbeddum. Ibid. 98 Deos wyrt.. bi8 cenned .. on hreodbeddon. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 70 The gardyns .. rengid withe beddis bering.. divers herbis. 1535 Coverdale Song Sol. v. 13 His chekes are like a garden bedd. 1632 Milton Allegro, Beds of violets blue. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. 11. xxix. (1695) 198 If I believed, that Sempronia digged Titus out of the Parsley-Bed, as they use to tell Children, and thereby became his Mother. 1727 Swift Country Post Wks. 1755 III. 1. 175 Not a turnip or carrot can lie safe in their beds. 1847 Tennyson Princess ii. 416 The long hall glitter’d like a bed of flowers. fig. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobbler 22 The bed of Truth is green all the yeare long.

9. The bottom of a lake or sea, or of the channel of a river or stream. 01586 Sidney in Sel. Poetry (Parker Soc.) I. 67 On sea’s discovered bed. 1610 Shaks. Temp. v. i. 151,1 wish My selfe were mudded in that oozie bed. c 1645 Howell Lett. IV. xix, Rivers., have still the same beds. 1779 Phil. Trans.

BED

46

LXIX. 609 While the volume of water in the bed of a river increases. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles in. xii, A wild stream.. Came crawling down its bed of rock. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 85 Donati explored the bed of the Adriatic.

Medicene breaks the bed of Worms. 1692 R. Lestrange Fables 209 (1708) I. 228 Apt to run., into a Bed of Scorpions. 1731 Bailey, Bed of Snakes, a knot of young ones.

10. An extended base upon which anything rests firmly or securely, or in which it is embedded; a basis, a matrix.

b. esp. A layer of shell-fish covering a tract of the bottom of the sea.

1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. xvi. (1821) 175 Ready to make a bed for the placing of the powder. 1676 Grew Luctation ii. §2 Bolus’s are the Beds, or as it were, the Materia prima, both of opacous Stones, and Metals. 1803 Wellington Mem. in Gurw. Disp. I. 487 A bed for the boat ought to be fixed on each axle tree. 1839 Hooper Med. Diet. (ed. 7) 1218 Shock .. sufficient to shoot off an ovulum from its bed. 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. V. 477/1 In the dog and cat the bed of the claw is laminated as in man.

11. A level surface on which anything rests, e.g. the level surface in a printing press on which the form of type is laid; the flat surface of a billiard-table, which is covered with green cloth; etc. 1846 Print. Appar. Amateur 10 The press.. consists of two stout blocks of mahogany; the lower piece called the bed .. the upper piece called the platten, which closes upon the bed.

12. In various technical uses (from 10 and 11): a. Gunnery. The portion of a gun-carriage upon which the gun rests; formerly spec. a movable block of wood laid under the breech to give the general elevation, quoins being driven between it and the gun. b. Arch, and Building. The surface of a stone or brick which is embedded in the mortar; the under side of a slate. c. Mech. Any foundation, framework, or support, which furnishes a solid or unyielding surface upon which to rest a superstructure, or execute a piece of work. d. Carpentry. A support or rest, e.g. for a ship on the stocks, for the lodging of a bowsprit, etc. e. Railway-making. The layer of broken stone, gravel, clay, etc., upon which the rails are laid. f. The body of a cart or wagon, dial, and U.S. a. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. iii. 135 Certaine cariages, or beds for the Artillery. 1694 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 387 The new mortars.. are laid in beds of brasse. 1811 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. VII. 569 Have the carriages of the 24 pounders, as well as the mortar beds and howitzer carriages.. put in a state to be fit for service. 1816 C. James Mil. Diet. s„v., Sea-Mortar-beds are.. made of solid timber .. having a hole in the center to receive the pintle or strong iron bolt, about which the bed turns. 1862 F. Griffiths Artill. Man. (ed. 9) 127 A 13-inch mortar, and its bed, require each a waggon. b. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 245 The bed of the Brick, (viz. that side which lies in the Morter). 1816 C. James Mil. Diet. (ed. 4) s.v. Bed of Stone, The joint of the bed is the mortar between two stones placed over each other. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 384 Bed of a Brick.—The horizontal surface as disposed in a wall. 1842 Gwilt Archit. (1876) 655 The bed of a slate is its under side. Ibid. 1194 In general language the beds.. are the surfaces where the stones or bricks meet. c. d. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §201 It is beat by iron¬ headed Stampers upon an iron bed. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 242 [In a Plane] the bed .. is the aperture in the stock, upon which the iron is laid, and secured by the wedge. The angle of the bed.. is generally from 42 to 45 degrees. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 198 Cut the nails out with a bed and punch. 1881 Mechanic §581 A good working lathe with strong wooden standards and wooden 3 ft. bed. c i860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 74 Where it rests on the stem is the bed. f. c 1700 Kennett B.M. MS. Lansdowne 1033, Bedd of a cart, the body of it. 1851 Mayhew London Lab. I. 26/2 Other commodities are laid in the bed of the cart. 1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northampt. Words, BedL.. 3. The body of a cart or waggon. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxiv. 491 In this [bayou] we encountered dangerous whirls and jumpoffs, the wagon often plunging in up to the bed. 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters xviii. 270 Some of these beds will hold more than a hundred bushels. 1952 S. Cloete Curve & Tusk (1953) i. 21 The hen stood near the truck because when they cleaned its bed, bits of meat often fell out on the ground.

III. A layer or bed-like mass. 13. a. A layer, a stratum; a horizontal course. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 407 Lay them orderly in a vessel, hauing in the bottome of it a bed of Sauorie.. laying a bed of Sauorie, and a bed of Cherries. 1672 T. Venn Compl. Gunner xxxi. 51 Two foot high of Earth, bed upon bed, unto eleven foot high. 1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 449 The stake now glow’d beneath the burning bed. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) 1, A bed of Sand, &c. stratum. 1833 Tennyson Poems 84 Clusters and beds of worlds, and bee-like swarms Of suns. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts II. 373 The filter-beds.. are large square beds of sand and gravel.

b. Geol. A layer or stratum of some thickness. 1684 Ray Philos. Lett. (1718) 166 That Bed of Sand and Cockle Shells found in sinking a well. 1793 Smeaton Edy stone L. §106 The bed or stratum of freestone worked here. 1863 Ramsay Phys. Geol. Gt. Brit. (1878) 254 In the Bembridge beds there has also been found the Anoplotheroid mammal. 1874 Lyell Elem. Geol. xxi. 355 The lowest ‘bed’ of the Lias. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 28 The pervious substance being thus enclosed between two impervious beds, one forming its floor and the other its roof.

14. a. A layer of small animals, especially reptiles, congregated thickly in some particular spot. Cf. nest in a similar sense. 1608 Shaks. Per. iv. ii. 155 Thunder shall not so awake the beds of eels. 1666 J. H. Treat. Gt. Antidote 10 This

1688 R. Holme Armory 11. xiv 325 A Bed of Oysters, Muscles, and Cockles. 1865 Parkman Huguenots ix. (1875) 152 The channel was a bed of oysters. 1879 Cassell’s Techn. Educ. IV. 97/1 The spat.. drifted. . from the natural beds.

IV. Various transferred uses. 15. A division of the ground in the game of ‘hopscotch,’ also called locally the game of ‘beds.’ 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iv. 339 A parallelogram.. divided into compartments, which were called beds.

f 16. The placenta or after-birth. Obs. 1611 Cotgr., Arguelette, their bed, or after birth .. is more grosse.

17. The ‘silver side’ of a round of beef. 1864 Derby Mercury Dec., Good beef (beds and rounds taken off at the joints).

V. Comb, and Attrib. 18. General relations: a. attrib., as bedapparel, -blanket, -board, -bolster, -bottom, -candle, -cap, -carriage, -case, -clothing, -curtain, -damask, -flea, -foot, -frame, -furniture, f -glee, -hangings, -head, -hour, -house, f -joiner, -knob, -mat, -mate, -pal, -place, -quilt, -rite (-right), -rug, f -sabbath, (a sabbath in bed), -sheet, -stand, -steps, -stuff, -tester, -thane, b. objective gen. with verbal sb. or pple., as bed-bound, f -presser; -making, f -spreading. 1822 Byron Werner 1. i. 264 Madame Idenstein.. shall furnish forth the *bed-apparel. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3696/4 Fine Flannel ‘Bed-Blankets. 1530 Palsgr. 197/1 ‘Bedde borde, sponde. 1684 I. Mather Remark. Provid. v. 104 When the man was .. a bed, his bed-board did rise out of its place, a 1000 ALlfric Gloss, in Wr.-Wiilcker Voc. 124 Plumacius, ‘bedbolster. 1922 Daily Mail 30 Nov. 14 It is often, however, a problem to know what to choose that will most amuse the girl or boy who is ‘bed-bound. 1961 Guardian 30 June 8/3 Another bed-bound reader edits the religious page. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis II. xv. 146 Martha from Fairoaks appeared with a *bed-candle. 1858 Trollope Dr. Thorne I. xi. 240 The doctor, taking his bedcandle .. left the room. 1864 Mrs. Gaskell French Life i, in Fraser's Mag. Apr. 438/1 When we return from our party .. we.. light our own particular bed-candles at the dim little lamp. 1820 Missouri Intell. 18 Apr. 4/1 Bed Caps. 1921 W. de la Mare Crossings 39 In a high frilled *bed-cap, swaying balloon-like skirts. 1869 Trollope He knew he was Right II. xcv. 354 We got a "bed-carriage [on a train] for him at Dover. 1889 F. F.. Gretton Memory's Harkback iv. 65 He never walked again, but was drawn about lying at full length in a sort of bed-carriage. 1557 Lane. & Chesh. Wills 71, I bequethe all my harnes and all the "bedcasis, etc. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin xxxii, A tattered blanket., formed his only *bed-clothing. 1774 Phil. Trans. LXV. 274 We have seen .. *bed-fieas .. swarming at the mouths of these holes. 1483 Cath. Angl. 24 A *Bedfute,/tt/*rwm. 1670 Cotton Espernon hi. xii. 647 He had.. a Crucifix fastned to his Beds-feet. 1865 Swinburne Poems & Ball., Xmas Carol 46 The bedstead shall be gold two spans, The bedfoot silver fine. 1815 Scott Guy M. xliv, Iron "bedframes and straw mattresses. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 993 The "bed-furniture requires changing. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iv. (Arb.) 91 Had not I such daliaunce, such pipling *bed-gle renounced. 1566 Eng. Ch. Furnit. (1866) 100 Fyve banner clothes.. and he haith made *bedd henginges therof. 1864 Chambers's Jrnl. 8 Oct. 642 Hair like the fringe to bed-hangings. 1579 Fulke Confut. Sanders 649 He worshipped toward the "bedshead. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. v. (1856) 35 The temptation to avoid a regular *bedhour was sometimes irresistible. 1881 Du Chaillu Land Midnt. Sun II. 276 A larder and a separate "bed-house. 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6385/4 Richard Beardsley.. "Bed-Joyner. 1927 W. de la Mare Stuff & Nonsense 74 A visage, with eyes like brass "bed-knobs. 1931 J. Mockford Khama xxxi. 222 The women-folk follow after, balancing "bed-mats and food-baskets on their heads. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis in. (Arb.) 75 With iealosie kindled Orestes For los of his •'bedmate. 1850 Blackie JEschylus I. 157 He was thy bed-mate living, Be then his comrade, dead. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 40 Papa’s little *bedpal. Lump of love. 1566 T. Nuce Seneca's Octavia (1581) 177 Fasten Poppie sure in our *bed-place. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 362 Retired to my standing bed-place in the cabin. 1598 Shaks. j Hen. IV, 11. iv. 268 This sanguine Coward, this "Bed-presser. 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. (1632) xviii, Fame never knew a perpetuall Bedpresser. 1765 in E. Singleton Social N. Y. (1902) 334 Knoting for *Bed Quilts or Toilets. 1803 Mrs. E. Bowne Let. 8 July (1888) 164 One poor bed quilt is all I have towards housekeeping, a 1847 Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor vi. 193 A patch-work bedquilt. 1610 Shaks. Temp. iv. i. 96 No "bed-right shall be paid Till Hymens Torch be lighted. 1647 >n Probate Rec. (Essex Co., Mass.) (1916) I. 78 An old Straw bed and Creadle Rugg with an old "Bed Rugg. 1850 Knickerbocker XXXVI. 73 Open the door and the gentle breeze from without will waft aside the blue woollen ‘bed-rug’. 1684 P. Henry Diaries & Lett. (1882) 323, Feb. 23, a "Bed-Sabbath, few such, cup’d and blister’d. 1481-90 Howard Househ. Bks. 274, Iiij. peirschitz for my Lord, [and] ij. "bedschitz. o pet be-uleap pe poure uolk. 1393 Gower Con}. III. 183 Out of his skin he was beflain All quick.

fbe'flee, i>. Obs. [OE. befleott, f. be- 4 -t- fleon (pa. t. fleah flu$on, pa. pple. flogen) to flee, q.v. for forms.] trans. To flee from, flee, avoid, shun. c 1000 Ags. Ps. lxi. 6 Ne rmfj ic hine ahwaer befleon. c 1315 Shoreham 36 And the ferste hys that he by-fle Chypeans of sennes rote.

beflounce, beflour, beflout, befluster: see be-. fbe'flow, v. Obs. [OE. beflowan f. be- i + flowan to flow, q.v. for forms.] a. To flow by, about, or around, b. To flow all over, overflow. a 1000 Wife's Lament 49 Wine werijmod, waetre beflowen. c 1250 Lay. 25738 An o^er hulle was par heh, pe see hine biflojede [1205 bifledde] swi)?e neh. 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 133 After pat he [Nilus] hap so biflowe and iwatred pe lond.. pe water iaWep into pe chanel a3e.

beflower (bi'flau3(r)), v. [f. be-6 + flower s2».] trans. To cover or deck with, or as with, flowers. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 53 She trimmes her selfe and golden hed Beflowres with Roses culd in Paradize. 1628 Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 99 Their bodies.. reddish livid and beflowerd with little pimples. 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Pindar. Wks. 1812 IV. 188 Damask well beflower’d with blue.

f be'fly, v. Obs. [OE. befleogan f. be- 4 + fleogan to FLY, q.v. for forms. (Not separated in ME. from beflee, the pa. tenses being identical.)] trans. a. To fly about, b. To fly from, shun, escape. £2890 K. Alfred Baeda in. x, p>a spearcan beflugon paes huses hrof. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 169 Wi8 pet pe mihte helle pine bi-flien and bi-sunien. 1340 Ayenb. 77 \>e greate filosofes pet pise guodes beulo3e.

Hence, be'flying vbl. sb., shunning, avoiding. 1340 Ayenb. 121 Be pe beuliynge of kueade.

befoam (bi'fsum), v. [f. be-6 + foam sb.] trans. To cover with foam. a 1618 Sylvester Handy-Cr. Wks. 463 Th’ angry Steed.. Befoams the path. 1697 Dryden Ovid's Met. viii. (R.) And art he [the boar] churns and part befoams the ground. 1863 arnes Poems Dorset Dial. 50 The clear brook that did slide .. befoam’d white as snow.

g

befog (bi'fog), v. [f. be- 6 + fogs6.] trans. To envelope in fog; fig. to obscure, confuse. 1603 Harsnet Pop. Impost. 134 What time that popish mist had befogged the eyes of our poore people. 1850 W. Irving Goldsmith 249 The wine and wassail.. befogged his senses. 1879 Cornh. Mag. Dec. 695 He befogs the whole matter wih a cloud of abuse.

Hence, befogged ppl. a. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heauen 254 You are altogether befogd and benighted in this question. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer II. 13 The pale, faintly befogged moon overhead. 1882 Standard 6 Oct. 2/1 A benighted or befogged wayfarer.

fbe’fold, v. Obs. [OE. befaldan, -fealdan, f. be1 + f(e)aldan (pa. t.feold, pa. pple. f(e)alden) to fold.] trans. To fold up, wrap up, envelope. a 1000 /Klerk: Gen. xxvii. 16 And befeold his handa mid ptera tyccena fellum. 1340 Ayenb. 8 Zuich wrepe long yhyealde and byuealde ine herte. CI400 Le Freine 172 Therin she leyed the childe, for cold, In the pel as it was bifold.

fbe'fong, v. Obs. Forms: 1-3 befon, 3 bifon, -von; 1-3 be-, bifeng. Pa. pple. 1-3 be-, bifongen, 3 biuonge. [OE. befon:—*befa(n)han (pa. pple. befangen), f. be- about + *fanhan, fon to seize, grasp. Corresp. to mod.G. befangen, OHG. pifahan, MHG. bevan to comprehend.] 1. trans. To lay hold on, seize, grasp, catch. a 1000 Csedmon's Gen. 374 (Gr.) Habbap me helle clommas faeste befangen. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. Matt. xxii. 15 Hyo wolden panne Htelend on his sprace befon. 1250 Lay. 830 per Brutus bifenge* al pat him bifore was.

2. intr. To take hold on, begin or commence upon. (Cf. Ger. anfangen.) c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 143 bo pe hadden here sinnes forleten and bet, oSer par-on biuonge. 3. trans. To encompass, enclose, comprehend. 971 Blickl. Horn. 5 God Faeder Sunu, pone ne mason befon heofon and eorpe. 1205 Lay. 24748 Mid sene bende of olde." tele hafde his haefd biuonge. a 1225 Ancr. R. 76 be .ouerd, pat al pe world ne muhte nout biuon.

f

befool (bi'fufl), v. in 4-5 befole. [f. be- 5 + fool sb.] 1. trans. To make a fool of; to dupe, delude. I393 Gower Conf. III. 236 Many wise Befoled have hem self er this. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. in. (1682) 220 Befooling him with as glorious Titles. 1673 H. Stubbe Furth. Vind. Dutch War App. 81 The old Rumpers were befoold by Cromwel. 1765 Wesley Wks. (1872) XII. 323 Be temperate in speaking: else Satan will befool you. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. 11. iii. 260 One age he is hagridden, bewitched; the next, priestridden, befooled.

2. To treat as a fool, call ‘fool.* 1612 W. Sclater Sick Souls Salve 33 That rash censuring and befooling others. 01617 Hieron Wks. II. 166 Who is hee, whom Salomon doth so often be-foole in his Prouerbs? 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. 11. 180 They, .befooled themselves for setting a Foot out of Doors in that Path. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 590 Being much befool’d and idioted By the rough amity of the other. 3. To squander foolishly, ‘fool away.' rare. 1861 Smiles Engineers I. 468 In this way Sir Thomas seems to have befooled his estate, and it shortly after became the property of the Alsager family.

Hence, be'fooled, be fooling ppl. a.; be'fooling vbl. sb.; be'foolment sb. 1677 Gilpin Dsemonol. (1867) 197 Either of these ways Satan makes use of for the befooling of men. 1681 Baxter Search Schism, iii. 44 A transitory befooling dream. 1842 Miall Nonconf. II. 8 Ah! we are a befooled people. 1881 Pall Mall G. 14 May 11/2 For the general befoolment of those easy souls.

tbe'force, v. Obs. rare. [f. be- 2 -I- force u.] 1. trans. To force, ravish. c x375 ? Barbour St. Theodera 556 me beforsit be his slycht.

monk Theoderus..

2. ? To impose by force, to enforce. 1532 Dice Play (1850) 33 If there be broad laws beforced aforehand.

before (bi'foajr)), adv., prep., and conj. Forms: 1 bi-, beforan, 2-4 bi-, beforen, 4- before. (Also 3 biuore(n, biforenn, byuore, biforr; 4-5 bi-, byforne, bifor(e, 4-6 byfore, 4-7 beforn(e, 5 befoore, 5-6 Sc. befoir, beforrow, 7 arch, beforen, biforn, 8 arch, beforne.) [OE. beforan (cogn. w. OS. biforan, OHG. bifora, MHG. bevor, also bevorne, bevorn), f. bi-, be- by, about + for an adv.:—OTeut. *forana from the front, advb. derivative of fora, for. Cf. also fore, afore, atfore, tofore. Primarily an adverb; its relation to a sb. was expressed by putting the latter in the dative, ‘in front as to a thing,’ whence it passed into a preposition (cf. B 2, quot. 971). Elision of a relative particle has given it also the force of an adverbial conjunction e.g. in ‘think before (that) you speak.’] A. adv. 1. Of sequence in space. 1. Of motion: Ahead, in advance, in front. a 1000 Beowulf 2829 He feara sum beforan gengde wisra monna. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 41 Mihhal code biforen and Poul com efter. c 1350 Will. Palerne 3193 And bifore went william and afterward pe quene. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 245 Thai that war went furth beforn. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 322 Euur feraunce by-fome & pat other aftur. 1590 Shaks. Midi. N. v. i. 397, I am sent with broome before, To sweep the dust behinde the door. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 1. 3 Nor Twins, the horned Bull of Crete, untimely go beforn. 1740 Johnson Sir F. Drake Wks. IV. 403 Advertised by two Symerons, whom he sent before. 1859 Tennyson Enid 863 Not at my side. I charge thee ride before, Ever a good way on before.

2. Of position or direction: In front, in or on the anterior or fore side. 01300 Cursor M. 16637 h3* hailsed him be-for, bihind. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xxxviii. 64 Full of eyen byfore and behynd. 1420 E. E. Wills (1882) 53 A habirgoun of Mylen, opyn be-for. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cliii. 183 Bare a starre on his bonet and on his mantell before. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. in. ii. 56 His horse., neere leg’d before. 1605- Macb. v. viii. 46 Had he his hurts before? 1635 Pagitt Christianogr. 1. ii. (1636) 77 His upper garment., buttoned before. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6088/3 Has lost a Tooth before. 1855 Owen Teeth 302 Counting the molars from before backwards. fig. 1821 Shelley Skylark, We look before and after, And pine for what is not. f 3. Before the face of men; openly. Obs.

c 1000 Andreas 12.12 (Bosw.), Wundor on eorJ?an he beforan cypde. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 41 pe pet spekeC faire biforen and false bihinden.

f4. In a position superiority to. Obs.

of

pre-eminence

or

1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xx. 23 For is no vertue by fer • to spiritus temperancie [C. text reads by-fore to, to-fore, by 3er, by fer, be ver, so fair as]. 1382 Wyclif Gen. i. 26 Bifore be he [man] to the fishis of the see.

II. Of sequence in time or order. 5. a. In time previous or anterior to a time in question, previous to that or to this, earlier, sooner; hence beforehand; already, heretofore, in the past. Often with adverbs or advb. phrases of time, as long before, three years before, the week before, etc. 01225 Ancr. R. 240 Vor pi, mine leoue sustren, beo6 biuoren iwarre. 1258 Prod. Hen. Ill, Alse hit is beforen iseid. 1297 R* Glouc. 443 Roberd .. les pat lyf Aboute pre 3er byoure. 01300 Cursor M. 8523 Dauid .. spak .. O cristes birth sua lang be-fom. 1340 Ayenb. 260 Ase ich habbe beuore yzed. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 2 Whyche book I had neuer seen before. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, xi, Everything.. byfore rehersed. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 38 As our mother sayd to the byforne. c 1560 A. Scott Counsale Wanton W.,Ye trest to find thame trew That nevir wes beforrow. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 104 For ought may happen that hath bene beforne. c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. xl, What hast thou then more then thou hadst before? 1610-Temp. iii. ii. 2 When the But is out we will drinke water . not a drop before. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. ix. (1806) 44 The conversation at this time was more reserved than before. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. II. 47 The Mariners all return’d to work As silent as beforne. 1848 Macaulay Hist. I. 153 Charles the First, eighteen years before, withdrew from his capital.

fb. In Scotch, of before = of aforetime, formerly. c 1505 Dunbar Gold. Targe xxiv, Scho semyt lustiar of chere .. Than of before. 1513-75 Diurn. Occurr. (1833) 109 Sho past a lytill of befoir to vesie hir sone.

c. Used in contrast with after in various locutions to designate a set of two contrasting pictures, cartoons, etc., esp. illustrating the efficacy of a remedy, product, etc., alleged to produce a remarkable change for the better. Hence allusively. 1768 W. Hogarth in Trusler's Hogarth Moralized (Index), A List of Prints published by Mr. Hogarth... Before and After. 1846 Punch XI. 243/1 (captions) Before. After. Ibid., Here are two portraits, both of myself: the one before, the other after the cold Brandy-and-Water Cure. 1853 Ibid. XXV. 45 {title of cartoon representing a difference of opinion between cabman and fare) Before and after. 1889 Puck 3 July 307/1 I’m working a ‘before and after’ racket for a hair-renewer advertisement. 1902 Little Folks II. 432/1 Those restaurants which advertise by means of lookingglasses labelled ‘before’ and ‘after’. As you go in you behold yourself very thin.. as you go out., fat and well-satisfied. 1938 N. Marsh Artists in Crime iii. 24 You’re not doing a ‘before and after’, like a strip advertisement.

B. prep. I. Of sequence in space. 1. a. Of motion: In advance of, ahead of. ciooo ^lfric Ex. xiii. 21 And Drihten for beforan him and swutelode him j?one wej. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 5 Al pe hebreisce folc pe eode efter him and biuoren him. 1388 Wyclif Ex. xiii. 21 Forsothe the Lord 3ede bifore hem to schewe the weie. 1436 Test. Ebor. 11. (1855) 75 Pore men berand.. torches before my cors. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531)4 Theyr gyde .. to go before them, and conducte or leade them. 1611 Bible Josh. viii. 10 And Ioshua.. went vp; he, and the Elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 1843 Macaulay Armada 20 Behind him march the halbardiers; before him sound the drums.

b. Driven in front of, hurried on by; e.g. in the phrase before the wind: said of a ship sailing directly with the wind; also fig. 1598 W. Phillip Linschoten's Trav. in Arb. Garner III. 23 We got before the wind to the Cape of Good Hope. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 822 Tisiphone .. Before her drives Diseases and Affright. 1726 Thomson Winter 171 Before the breath Of full exerted Heaven they wing their course. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) Arriver, to bear away before the wind. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xviii, He had been only the leaf before the wind. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i, Kept the boat in that direction going before the tide. Mod. A man who carries everything before him.

c. Hence, with distinct causal force. 1535 Coverdale i Sam. viii. 33 Smytten before their enemies. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. iii. ii. 423 Thou runst before me. 1593-2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 37 Our enemies shall falle before us. 1599-Hen. V, iii. Cho. 34 Downe goes all before them. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems I. 4 Recoil before that sorrow, if not this sword.

2. a. Of position or direction: In front of. [971 Blickl. Horn. 15 [He] gehyrde myccle menigo him be¬ foran feran.] 0 1200 Moral Ode 44 in E.E.P. (1862) 25 He is buuen vs & bi-ne^en . biforen & bi-hinde. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2272 Al 60 briCere.. fellen bi-forn Cat louerd-is fot. c 1340 Cursor M. 15023 (Trin.) Biforn her kyng childre cast braunches broken of bow3e. c 1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 776 He caryed al this harneys him byforn. c 1450 Merlin xv. 237 He dide after many feire chiualries be-fore the castell. 1593 Hooker Eccl Pol. 11. iv. §5 Wks. 1841 I. 240 When many meats are set before me. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 96 Wee decree that every Man possess his Vestibula or Seas lying before his lands. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. viii. (1806) 42 On the grass-plot before our door. 1871 Black Dau. Heth xviii, Peering over the edge of the rock before him. fig. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 84 Great statesmen who looked far behind them and far before them.

b. In front of, at the beginning of (a writing). I535 Joye Apol. Tindale 19 Tindals incharitable pistle set before hys newe Testament.

64

BEFOREHAND c. before the face or eyes: — 3. CI175 Lamb. Horn, hi J?ine welan forrotia8 biforan pine eh3an. 1611 Bible Ps. xxxi. 22, I am cut off from before thine eies. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 12 f 2 The Mistress..

scolds at the Servants as heartily before my Face as behind my Back. 1832 Tennyson Talking Oak 3 Once more before my face I see the moulder’d Abbey-walls.

d. before the mast: a phrase said of the common sailors, who are berthed in the forecastle in front of the fore-mast. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 39 The Boatswaine, and all the Yonkers or common Sailers vnder his command is to be before the Mast. 1840 R. Dana (title) Two years before the mast.

3. a. In front of so as to be in the sight of; under the actual notice or cognizance of; in presence of. c IOOO /Elfric Ex. xi. to [Hi] worhton ealle pa wundru .. beforan Faraone. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 53 pe speket alse feire biforen heore euencristene. 01300 Cursor M. 13137 Bifor pis king in his palis, His broper doghter.. Com.. for to bale. c 1450 Henryson Tale of Dog 22 This summond is made befoir witnes. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 156b, Though the kynge were before hvm in his robes of golde, he wolde lytell regarde his royalte. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. Eng. 398 Preaching at Sittingborne before a great auditory. 1611 Bible John xii. 37 Though he had done.. miracles before them. 1883 Gilmour Mongols xvii. 209 Those who will confess Him before their countrymen.

b. spec. Said in reference to a tribunal, of the persons or matters of which it has cognizance. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt, xxvii. 11 Da stod se Haelend be¬ foran pam deman. c 1200 Ormin 6901 Wre3edd Biforr pe Romanisshe king. 1512 Ad 4 Hen. VIII, x, Any office or offices found before Eschetour or Eschetours. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. Eng. 451 Both of them being.. before the Pope, they fell.. into by matters and articling one against another. 1712 Steele Sped. No. 270 f 1 As ill an Action as any that comes before the Magistrate. 1838 Arnold Hist. Rome (1848) I. 17 The appeal was tried before all the Romans. 1883 Law Rep. xi. Q. Bench Div. 595 The proceedings before the police court.

c. with the added idea of deference toward. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague 1. i. 30 No knee .. hath bent before its altar. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 146 The military power now humbled itself before the civil power.

4. In the (mental) view of; in the opinion, regard, or consideration of. arch. c 1000 ./Elfric Ex. iii. 21 Ic sylle pison folce jife beforan pam Egiptiscean folce. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xv. 22 Faeder ic syngude on heofon & beforan $e. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 15 Eour eyper sune3a$ biforan drihten. c 1200 Ormin i 17 Te33 waerenn biforenn Godd Rihhtwise menn. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. 11. 14 Though this be not theft before the world, nor punishable by penall lawes. 1611 Bible Gen. xliii. 14 God Almightie giue you mercie before the man.

5. a. Open to the knowledge of, displayed to or brought under the conscious knowledge or attention of. Hence, as an asseveration, before God! = As God knows, by God. [c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xii. 28 Swa hwylc swa me andet beforan mannum, pone mannes sunu andet beforan godes englum. c 1160 Hatton G. ibid., Beforen mannen .. beforen godes angles.] 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xvi. 139 By-for erpetuel pees • ich shal preoue pat ich seide, And a-vowe y-for God. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, v. ii. 149 Before God, Kate, I cannot looke greenely. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 9 IP4 That of the Georges, which used to meet at the sign of the George.. and swear ‘Before George.’ 1712 Steele ibid. No. 284 If 6, I shall therefore with your Leave lay before you the whole Matter. 1815 Scribbleomania 234 The subject having been so recently before the public in all the diurnal rints. 1857 Buckle Civilis. I. xii. 671 The accusations rought against these great men are before the world.

b. Claiming the attention of. ow schalt not haue bifore me alyen Goddis. 1450 Q. Margaret in Four C. Eng. Lett. 8 To do you worship by wey of mariage, bifore all creatures lyvyng. 1611 Bible 2 Sam. vi. 21 The Lord, which chose me before thy father, & before all his house. 1653 Walton Angler i. 16 Action is..to be preferr’d before Contemplation. 1742 Young Nt. Th. (1751) 243 Why then is health preferr’d before disease? a 1884 Mod. They would die before yielding. 1897 C. Garnett tr. Turgenev's Torrents of Spring xliv. 240 Then Gemma.. wished him before everything peace and a tranquil spirit. 1911 D. H. Lawrence White Peacock 11. ii. 231, I was a good animal before everything, and I’ve got some children.

12. In comparison with, in respect to. Spect. No. 98 If 1 The Women were of such an enormous Stature, that we appeared as Grashoppers before them. 1832 Tennyson St. Agnes ii, So shows my soul before the Lamb, My spirit before Thee.

BEFOREHAND By the ‘beforemention’d Opinions of Sir Christopher Wray. 1815 Encycl. Brit. V. 781/1 The queen.. takes all the steps of the ‘before-mentioned pieces. 1467 Bury Wills (1850) 48 The ferme of the seide londys, medews, and pasture *bee-for-namyd. a 1626 Bacon New Atl. in Sylva (1658) 12 All the Nations ‘beforenamed. 1864 Times 13 Oct., A dry chapter on the ‘before-named science. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 127 The mattock, ‘beforenoticed, is used to grub up..the surface. 1786 Burke W. Hastings Wks. XII. 399 In consequence of all the ‘beforerecited intrigues. 1697 Snake in Grass (ed. 2) 288 Like Fox s Apology ‘beforetold. 1825 Bentham Ration. Rew. 123 A new and ‘before-unknown splendour. 1382 Wyclif 2 Chron. xxx. 5 As in the lawe it is ‘befornwriten.

b. The prep, in comb, with a sb., used attrib. 1865 C. M. Yonge Clever Woman of Family II. xiii. 248, I have just lighted on poor little Rosie’s before-breakfast composition. 1898 Daily News 28 Sept. 5/1 The ‘before luncheon’ rehearsal. 1902 M. Barnes-Grundy Thames Camp 83 These before-breakfast expeditions. 1919 Wodehouse Damsel in Distress iv, A fellow with the appearance of a before using advertisement of an anti-fat medicine. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Glad Ghosts 64 The tender before-dawn freshness of a new understanding. 1966 ‘W. Cooper’ Memoirs of New Man iii. ii. 214 We were going upstairs to have our before-dinner drink in the library. 1968 D. Torr Treason Line 24 He had had his first before¬ breakfast swim of the year.

c. The prep, in comb, with a sb., as before-life. 1927 D. H. Lawrence Morn. Mex. 154 They were the lords of shadow, the intermediate twilight, the place of after¬ life and before-life.

f2. In many obsolete compound verbs and vbl. sbs. etc., esp. in Wyclif, representing L. prse- and ante-, some of which have mod. representatives with fore-: as before-bar, to preclude, foreclose; before-casting, forecasting, pre-calculation; before-come, to prevent; before-cut; before-gird; before-goer, a predecessor; before-graithe, to prepare, make ready beforehand; before-had, held previously; before-know; before-passing, excelling; before-ripe, premature; before-runner; before-say, to predict, foretell; before-sayer, -speaker, a prophet; before-see; before-set, to promote, set over; before-show; before-sing; before-stretch, to extend forth; before-take, to anticipate; before-taste; before-tell; before¬ walling, antemurale, outer defence; beforewarn; before-weave, to fringe, hem in, preetexere; before-witting, foreknowledge.

1711 Addison

c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. i. 477 What euer religioun lettith and ‘biforbarrith. Ibid. v. i. 478 Alle.. letten and ‘biforebarren, 3he and forbeden, thilk religioun to be doon & usid. 1388 Wyclif Ex. xxi. 14 If ony man sleeth his nie3bore bi

C. Conj. or conjunctive adv. 1. Of time: Previous to the time when. a. orig. with that: now arch.

‘beforecastyng. 1382-2 Macc. xiv. 31 As he knew3 hym strongly ‘byforecummen of the man. - Dan. iv. 11 ‘Bifore-kitte 3e the braunchis therof. -Ps. xvii. 33 God that ‘befor-girte me with vertue. -Gal. i. 17 Nether I cam to Ierusalem to my ‘bifore goeris apostlis. c 1388 in Wyclif s Sel. Wks. 1871 III. 476 He pat is ‘biforegoar be he as a servant. 1382 Wyclif Ps. lxxxviii. 5 In to withoute ende I shal ‘beforgreithe thi seed. Ibid. 15 Ri3twisnesse and dom ‘beforgreithing of thi sete. - Gen. xl. 13 Pharao shal restore thee to the ‘biforehad gree. 1388-Gen. xv. 13 God ‘biforeknew also the things to comynge. 1382-2 Pet. i. 16 The vertu and prescience, or ‘bifore knowing.Ecclus. xxxiii. 23 In alle thi werkes ‘beforn passende be thou [1388 be thou souereyn]. 1388 - Num. xiii. 21 The ‘before rijp grapes. 1382-Ex. xxxiii. 2 Y shal sende an aungel, thi ‘before renner.-Isa. xlviii. 5, I ‘befom-seide to thee fro thanne, er thei camen I shewede to thee. Deut. viii. 19 Loo! now y ‘before seye to thee, that vtterly thow schalt perishe. 1388-Eccles. iv. 13 That cannot ‘bifore se in to tyme to comynge, 1382-Ecclus. xvii. 14 Into eche folc of kinde he ‘beforn sette a gouemour. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 28 ‘Before sette, prefixus. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xii. 11 A sweuen ‘biforeshewynge of thingis that ben to comun. 1388-Ps. cxlvi. 7 ‘Bifore synge 3e to the Lord. -Ex. xv. 21 With the whiche she beforesonge. c 1400 —— Ex. vii. 1 (MS. B), Profete, that is, interpretour other ‘biforspekere. 1382 - Ps. xxxv. 11 ‘Beforstrecche thi mercy to men. -Ps. lxxviii. 8 Soone shul ‘befortaken vs thi mercies. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 150 A ‘before tastynge of the ioye and glory of heuen. 1382 Wyclif Ps. xlix. 6 Heuenes shulen his ri3twisnes ‘beforetelle. -Isa. xxvi. 1 The wal and the ‘biforwalling. -Wisd. xviii. 19 The viseouns.. these thingus ‘bifomwameden. -Job xxxvi. 28 The cloudis.. that ‘beforeweuen alle thingus theraboue. c 1400 Test. Love iii. (1560) 298 In the chapitre of Gods ‘beforneweting.. all these matters apertely may be founden.

c 1200 Ormin 964 Biforenn patt te Laferrd Crist Wass borenn her to manne. a 1300 Cursor M. 10603 Beforn pat sco was of hir moder born. 1382 Wyclif John viii. 58 Bifore that Abraham was maad, I am. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 280 a, Neither did he repaire vnto Sylla before that he had .. vanquyshed diuerse capitaines of enemies. 1611 Bible John i. 48 Before that Philip called thee.. I saw thee.

b. without that. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 529 On oure byfore pe sonne go doun. c 1400 Maundev. 18, 2000 3eer before oure Lord was born. 1503-4 Act ig Hen. VII, xxxvi. Pream., Sir William .. lay both at Surgery and fesyk.. by the space of ij yeres .. byfore he was able to ride. 1588 A. King Canisius' Catech. 76 The day befoir he sufferit. 1658 Ussher Ann. 405 Seleucus was dead before he came. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 1 If 2, I threw away my Rattle before I was two Months old. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague 1. ii. 90 Ay, she intends to look before she leaps.

fc. Formerly also with ere (than), or. Obs. 1297 R. Glouc. 40 Fyf hundred 3er.. bifore Er pan oure Lord .. on erpe was ybore. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9 Be¬ fore ar anythyng was wroght. c 1400 Maundev. 83 Before or thei resceyve hem thei knelen doun.

2. Of preference: Sooner than, rather than. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. iii. ii. 303 Treble that, Before a friend.. Shall lose a haire. Mod. I will die before I submit.

D. Used as adj. and sb. 1. quasi-ad/. = Anterior; previous. 1382 Wyclif i Esdras ix. i Risende up Esdras fro the beforn porche of the temple, c 1400 Test. Love 1. (1560) 279 I rehearse thy before deed. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, iv. i. 179 Men are punisht for before breach of the Kings Lawes.

2. quasi-si. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxvi. 3 Oh, if indeed that eye foresee Or see (in Him is no before) In more of life true life no more. 1897 Daily News 6 Mar. 6/1 One who has witnessed the before and after of the abolition of pain.

E. Comb. 1. a. In combination with participles where the hyphen has merely a syntactical value, showing that before is an adverbial qualification of the following pple., with sense of ‘previously, formerly’; as before-created, -going, -mentioned, -named, -noticed, -recited, -told, -written, before-said. W. Hastings Wks. XII. 360 The pernicious consequences of his ‘before-created unwarrantable, and illegal arrangements. 1606 Hieron Wks. I. 44 Let vs remember the ‘before-deliuered matter. 1382 Wyclif Rom. iii. 25 Remiscioun of ‘bifore goynge synnes. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 1. iv. 99 Somewhat which hath been before said touching the Question ‘before-going. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. ill. xi. §9 Wks. 1841 I. 331 Till the time ‘beforementioned was expired. 1671 F. Philipps Reg. Necess. 534 1786 Burke

beforehand (bi'foahsnd), adv. (and a.) Also 3-4 biforen hond(e, 4-6 before hand(e, 4 bi-, by-, Se-forhand, biforand. [Originally two words, before hand, also before the hand, perhaps from the idea of one working before the hand of another, and so in anticipation of his action. But cf. L. prse manu, manibus, ‘at hand, in readiness, in hand,’ used in ME. as = ‘beforehand.’] A. adv. 1. In anticipation of something so as to be ready for it; in advance. a 1225 Ancr. R. 212 Heo beo6 pe lesse te menen, pet heo biuoren hond leomefi hore meister to makien grimme chere. *534 Tindale 2 Cor. ix. 5 To come before honde [Wyclif bifor] vnto you for to prepare youre good blessynge. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. Pref., He..was so skylfull in Astronomie, and coulde tell before hande of Eclipses. 1611 Bible Mark xiii. 11 Take no thought before hand what ye shall speake. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 86 f 1, I thought it proper to acquaint you before-hand .. that you might not be surpriz’d therewith. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. iv. 78 Prepare beforehand for your part.

BEFORENESS b. spec, in reference to payment in advance. *393 Langl. P. PL. C. IV. 301 [Ich halde hym ouer-hardy oper elles nouht trewe, Jjat pre manibus ys payed.] c 1450 Henryson Tale of Dog 88 Ane soume I payit haif befoir the hand. X552 Huloet, Before handes, prae manibus. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. 11. 32 To pay a yeere or two yeeres rent before hande. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 129 He demanded two ducats for the job, and they paid him beforehand. Mod. maxim. There are two bad payers—he that pays beforehand, and he that never pays at all.

c. to be beforehand -with: to anticipate, to be earlier than; to outstrip or forestall in action. (In this and the next, often used adjectively.) *595 Shaks. John v. vii. 111 Let vs pay the time but needfull woe, Since it hath beene before hand with our greefes. 01619 Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 30 Then was he before-hand with Pope Alexander.. promising likewise to hold it..of the Apostolique Sea. 1701 W. Wootton Hist. Rome i. 203 If you are not before-hand with them, you will perish. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. ix. 222 Like Napoleon, he knew the value of being beforehand with an enemy.

d. to be beforehand, to be beforehand with the ■world, to have something beforehand: to have more than sufficient to meet present demands; to have money in hand for future contingencies; to have the balance on the right side. So to bring, get beforehand. All arch. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 133 He wyll.. labour diligently to brynge hym selfe beforehande agayn, & to recouer his losse. 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1857) >3 [They] regard not to lay up anything, or to haue it before hand. enne p\i ende. C1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 78 Charite schuld bigyne at hemself. 1458 MS. in Dom. Archit. III. 41 The kynge bad hem begynne apon Goddes blissing. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 314 With als grit anger that tyme as tha culd, Tha left the mater war than tha beguld. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. 11. iv. 32, I know it wel sir, you alwaies end ere you begin. 1612 Dekker If not good Wks. 1873 I. 276 Well to begin, and not to end so were base. 01762 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. lxxx. 132, I do not know how to begin.

c. spec. To begin a speech, to start speaking, to speak. 1563 Mirr. Mag. Induct, xix, My spirits returnd, and then I thus begonne:.. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 83 To whom th’ Arch-Enemy .. Breaking the horrid silence, thus began:..

BEGIN 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 82 Soft-whispering thus to Nestor’s son .. young Ithacus begun:..

d. Const, to begin at (formerly from): to start from a point, to begin with (formerly at, from, by): to start with an action or thing affected; to begin by doing something, to begin with, (withal obs.), advb. phr.: At the outset, as the first thing to be considered. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 546 Bygyn at pe laste pat standez lowe, Tyl to pe fyrste pat hou at-teny. C1380 Wyclif Tres Tract. 24 Bigynne we at the freris, the whiche he brou3te laste inne. 1382-Luke xxiii. 5 Bigynnyng fro Galilee til hidur [Tindale, at Galile even to this place; Rhemish, from Galilee euen hither; 1611 from Galilee to this place]. 1531 Tindale Expos. & Notes (1849) 220 And, to begin withal, they said Confiteor. 1536 R. Beerley in Four C. Eng. Lett. 35 Sume cum to mattens, begenynge at the mydes, and sume when yt ys allmost done. 1562 Foxe A. & M. I. 452/2 First, beginning with that godly man.. the Author of the Book. 01563 Bale K. Johan (1837) 47 Fyrst to begyne with, we shall interdyte the lond. 1611 Bible Matt. xx. 8 Beginning from the last vnto the first [Wyclif, to; Geneva, at the laste til [to] the firste]. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §2. 182, I will begin with the Assaulter, who is.. said to be Amalek. 1697 Dryden Alexander's Feast ii, The song began from Jove. 1739 Chesterf. Lett. I. xxxix. 124 The Spaniards began their conquests.. by the islands of St. Domingo and Cuba. 1774-Ibid. 2, I am told, Sir, you are preparing to travel, and that you begin by Holland. 1819 Byron Juan 1. vii, My way is to begin with the beginning. 1843 Carlyle Past & Present 324 The noble Priest was always a noble Aristos, to begin with, i860 Mill Repr. Govt. 278 It is obvious, to begin with, that all business purely local.. should devolve upon the local authorities.

e. Usu. with preceding negative: To make any (or the least) approach to, to come anywhere near, colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1833 Niles' Reg. XLIV. 348/1 The one in Bleecker street .. cost ten thousand dollars, and that does not begin to be as expensive as this. 1865 Congress. Globe Feb. 664/1 New York does not begin to have sixty-nine thousand square miles. 1888 Harper's Mag. Sept. 545/2 He got Bret to take her picture,.. and he said it didn’t begin to do her justice. 1907 Howells Through Eye of Needle 43 Often there’s a .. dinner that you couldn’t begin to get for the same price anywhere. 1915 W. Raleigh Let. 30 Mar. (1926) II. 420, I can’t begin to tell about America. 1957 R. W. Zandvoort Handbook Eng. Gram. 1. ii. 27, I felt I did not begin to understand her. {footnote) American, but spreading in England. 1963 Listener 24 Jan. 168/2 The Aeneid is not an Augusteid, because Augustus could not begin to embody Virgil’s feelings. 1968 Observer 22 Dec. 8/5 Dollar for dollar, man in space does not begin to be cost-effective.

f. To compare in any degree with. U.S. 1862 O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 47 There is no other man whom I would be so much pleased to have taken as .. Floyd. Jeff Davis wouldn’t begin. 1877 ‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Nov. 590 There ain’t a book that begins with it. 1897 - Following Equator xxxviii. 347 Indeed, our working-women cannot begin with her as a road-decoration. 2. a. trans. (in same sense) with a vbl. sb., or

other noun expressing action; also ellipt. with any sb. treated as a piece of work, as to begin (writing) a letter, to begin (reading) a book. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 93 pet weorc wes bigunnen on-3en godes iwillan. a 1300 Cursor M. 266 Now J?is prolouge wil we blin, In crist nam our bok begin. 1307 Elegy Edw. /, viii, Bringe to ende that thou hast by-gonne. 1433 Caxton G. de la Tour E vj b, He began werre to his neyghbours and to his Barons. 1513 Douglas JEneis v. ii. 36 This sacrifice quhilk I begunnyn haif. 1699 Bentley Phal. ii. 62 They begun their Reigns at the same time. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6051/1 His Royal Highness began the Ball with the Princess. 1751 Chatham Lett. Nephew ii. 6, I rejoice to hear you have begun Homer’s Iliad. 1835 Crabbe Par. Reg. 1. 276 With evil omen, we that year begin.

b. intr. To begin on or upon: To set to work upon, begin to deal with. 1808 Southey Life (1850) III. 163, I will not begin upon it till I come to a stop in Kehama.

3. trans. To start (anything) on its career, to give origin to, bring into existence, create; to be the first to do or practise. Of works, practices, or institutions, lasting through time. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 59 Alle pe scafte pe he bi-gon. C1250 Gen. & Ex. 447 Dis Lamech was pe firme man 8e bigamie first bigan. C1385 Chaucer L.G. W. 1007 Dido.. This noble toun of Cartage hath bygunne. 1704 Pope Windsor For. 61 Proud Nimrod first the savage chace began. 1846 Grote Greece 1. xviii. II. 14 Archelaus .. alleged to have first begun the dynasty of the Temenid Kings.

4. intr. To enter upon its career, come into existence, take its rise, originate; to arise, start, a. in reference to time. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 236 Here first name 8or bigan. a 1300 Cursor M. 5342 par lijs adam, pe formast man, And eue of quam we all bigann. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 26 And than a newe [world] shal beginne. 1513 More Rich. III. (1641) 235 If the world would have begunne as I would have wished. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 1. i. (1641) 2/1 Eternally before this World begun. 1602 Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 28 All perfection, goodnes, and iustice beginneth at him. 1611 Bible Num. xvi. 46 There is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. (ed. 5) Sup. 405 The greatness of the Prussian monarchy begins with Frederick II. 1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. 386 All life begins at the Amoeboid stage.

b. of order in a list or series, place in a book, etc. a 1225 St. Marher. 1 Her beginnefl pe liflade and te passiun of seinte Margarete. 1382 Wyclif Matt, ad fin., Here endith the gospel of Matheu and bigynneth the prolog of Mark. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 3 Here begynnen the chapytres and tytles of this book folowing. Mod. A new

story begins in the present number. The paragraph begins about the middle of the page.

c. in reference to space. 0 1300 Cursor M. 1035 J>is flummes four \>at par biginnes, thoru out all oJ?er contres rinnes. 1517 Torkington Pilgrimage (1884) 23 At this Jaffe begynnyth the holy londe. Mod. The pine-forests begin at an elevation of two thousand feet.

,

5. Phrases, ^to begin the board dais, etc.: to sit at the head of the table, f to begin a toast: to propose a toast, f to begin to a person: to pledge, toast that person, to begin the world: to start in life, to begin upon a person (colloq.): to attack or assail a person. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 52 Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bygonne Aboven alle naciouns in Pruce. c 1430 Syr Tryam. 1636 Quene Margaret began the deyse. 1493 Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 85 b, That they sholde bere them to hym that began the table [at Cana]. 1628 Earle Microcosm, lxxvi. 157 That is kind o’er his beer, and protests he loves you, And begins to you again. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 36 Can yee drinke of that bitter cup wherein I shall begin to you? 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 117 At Sancroft’s consecration dinner, he began a health, to the confusion of all that were not for a war with France, c 1825 Mrs. Sherwood Houlston Tr. II. xxxii. 4 All the company began upon her, and bade her mind her own affairs. 1833 Ht. Martineau Br. Farm iv. 53 Do you know.. with how much land Mr. Malton began the world?

t begin (bi'd^n), v,2 Obs. Forms: 3- bygynne, 4 bigin, bigyn, biginn(e, begyn, begin,

[f. be-

+

gin, a trap.] trans. To entrap, ensnare. c 1250 O.E. Misc. 79 Ure wyperwine J>at penche)? vs to bigynne. 01300 Cursor M. 3880 Allas for sinn, qua wend he wald pus me biginn.

fbe'gin,

sb. Beginning.

Obs.

rare—1.

[f.

begin

zi.1]

1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 21 Let no whit thee dismay The hard beginne that meetes thee in the dore.

begin, begink,

BEGLOOM

70

BEGIN

obs. f. beguin, biggin, begunk.

beginger, etc.: see

be- pref.

beginner (bi'gin3(r)). [f. begin v.1 + -er1.] 1. One who begins; an originator, founder. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 436 Blessed bygynner of vch a grace. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxxxvii. 117 Of the whiche abbay he was begynner and foundour. 1547 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr. 1564) x. v, The most gracious and mighty beginner is God, which in the beginning created the world. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. iii. i. 146 Where are the vile beginners of this Fray? 1790 B«s :ke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 49 All the beginners of dynasties. 1863 (16 June) Bright Amer., Sp. 130 The South, which was the beginner of the war.

2. spec. a. One beginning to learn; a novice, a tyro. 1470-85 Malory Arthur 11. xlv. (1634) 367 But young beginners. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 156 b, Suche that be vnlerned in religyon.. as nouyces or yonge begynners. 1601 Holland Pliny vm. xlviii. (R.) New beginners (namely, young souldiours, barristers, and fresh brides). 1780 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. vii. (R.) The very enumeration of its kinds is enough to frighten a beginner. 1807 Byron Granta xx, A band of raw beginners. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 139 For the use of the young beginner.

b. Phr. beginner's luck: the good luck supposed to attend a novice at betting, games, etc. 1897 Kipling Capt. Courageous iii. 55 ‘Beginner’s luck,’ said Dan... ‘He’s all of a hundred [5c. pounds, in weight].’ 1902 A. Bennett Anna of Five Towns x. 227 ‘You have covered yourself with glory.’.. ‘How?’ ‘By not being ill.’ ‘That’s always the beginner’s luck.’ 1966 J. Potts Footsteps on Stairs ix. 115 Beginner’s luck. It went smooth as silk all the way.

f 3. He who or that which goes or comes first, or takes the lead. Obs. r 1613 Rowlands More Knaues 35 Being set to dinner, A legge of mutton was the first beginner. Next he deuoured vp a loyne of veale.

4. Arch. The lower part of a mullion worked on the stone forming the sill. 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge II. 514 The mullions of the four-light window.. do not correspond with the ‘beginners’ on the sill.

beginning (bi'giniq), vbl. sb. Also bi-, bygyn(n)yng; 2-3 -unge. [f. begin v.1 -I- -ing1.] 1. The action or process of entering upon existence or upon action, or of bringing into existence; commencing, origination. 01225 Leg. Kath. 289 As euch ping hefde beginnunge of his godlec. 0 1300 Cursor M. 838 par pai biginning gan to tak. r 1400 Maundev. 316 Withouten begynnynge and withouten endynge. 1570 Billingsley Euclid 1. def. iii. 2 A line hath his beginning from a point. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. (1618) 288 Maximilian then being come to Trent, to giue beginning to the warre. 1635 Swan Spec. M. (1670) 17 The world .. was not for everlasting, but took beginning. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. 11. i. 171 The beginning of change, like the beginning of strife, is like the letting out of water.

b. viewed as a definite fact belonging to anything extended in time or space. 01225 Ancr. R. 18 Et te biginnunge of pe Venite. C1530 R. Hilles Comm.-pi. Bk. (1858) 140 All thyngs hath a begynyng. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. 9 The beginnynge is halfe the hole. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 21 Of a good begynnyng comth a good end. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. v. i. 111 That is the true beginning of our end. 1780 J. Harris Philol. Enq. (1841) 421 A beginning is that, which

nothing necessarily precedes, but which something naturally follows. 1836 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) IV. 99 As was shrewdly intimated, in respect of the question of Primogeniture this is only ‘the beginning of the end.’

11. xxxv, Breasts begirt with steel! i860 Adler FaurieVs Prov. Poetry xv. 399 Begirding the young warrior with the sword.

2. The point of time at which anything begins;

c890 K. Alfred Beeda 1. v. He pxt ealond begyrde and sefestnade mid dice, a 1225 Ancr. R. 378 3unge mipen me bigurt mid pornes. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. 11. (1682) 114 A Demi-Island begirt with rocks. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 581 Vthers Son Begirt with British and Armoric Knights. 1814 Cary Dante's Inf. xviii. 11 Where..many a foss Begirds some stately castle. 1846 Longf. Occult. Orion 33 Begirt with many a blazing star. fig- 1633 G. Herbert Sinne in Temple 37 Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us round! 1876 Miss Sidgwick Live & let Live 62 With what blessings has.. Providence begirt labor!

absol. the time when the universe began to be. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 81 pis bitacneS pe world pet wes from biginnegge. 1388 Wyclif Gen. i. 1 In the bigynnyng God made of nou3t heuene and erthe. 1535 Coverdale Hab. i. 12 Thou o Lorde.. art from the begynnynge. 1611 Bible i John ii. 13 Yee haue knowen him that is from the beginning. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. vi. (ed. 5) 77 Germany proclaims the era of a.d. 843 the beginning of her national existence.

3. That in which anything has its rise, or in which its origin is embodied; origin, source, fount. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 73 pe shame pe pe man hauefl of his sinne .. is pe biginnigge of fremfulle sinbote. 0 1225 Ancr. R. 54 Biginnunge & rote of pis ilke reouSe. i486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. Aj b, Adam the begynnyng of man kynde. 1611 Bible Col. i. 18 The head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the first borne from the dead. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. 11. i. (1838) 101 Thy true.. Beginning and Father is in Heaven.

f b. A first cause, first principle. Obs. 1587 Golding De Mornay vi. 63 The Magies held three beginnings, whom.. they called Oromaces, Mitris, and Ariminis, (that is to say) God, Minde, and Soule.

c. concr. The head or chief extremity. 1483 Cath. Angl. 26 Begynnynge, caput. 1578 Banister Hist. Man iv. 62 The second Muscle begynneth at the same Tubercle .. with a sharpe begynnyng.

4. The earliest or first part of any space of time, of a book, a journey, etc. 1297 R. Glouc. 399 In pe bygynnynge of Jule pys batayle was ydo. C1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 385 As Lyncolnyence saip in pe bygynnynge of his dictis. 1473 Warkw. Chron. 11 In the begynnynge of the moneth of Octobre. 1549 Bk. Com. Pr., 3rd Collect Grace, Who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day. 1611 Bible Num. x. 10 In the beginnings of your monethes, ye shall blow with the trumpets ouer your burnt offerings. 1743 J. Morris Serm. ii. 35 He explains himself in the begining of this chapter.

5. The initial or rudimentary stage; the earliest proceedings. Often in plur. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 83 perfore wurfi here ende werse pene here biginninge. 1340 Ayenb. 72 pane dyap pet is to pe guoden begynnynge of Hue. 1548 Coverdale Erasm. Par. Gal. 14 Vnder the grosse beginnynges of this worlde. 1611 Bible Job viii. 7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. 1690 W. Walker Idiom. Ang.-Lat. Pref. i, A considerable encrease to my beginnings. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. 1.1. x. 132 Great fortunes acquired from small beginnings. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 39 The beginnings of confusion with us in England. 1876 Green Short Hist. ix. §1. (1882) 597 The beginnings of physical science were more slow and timid there.

f6. An undertaking. Obs. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. xxiv. 192 In alle begynnynges and in all operacions the name of god ought to be called.

be'ginning, ppl. a. [f. begin zl1 + -ing2.] 1. a. That comes into existence or begins its course; incipient, commencing. 1576 Grindal Custom & Ver. Wks. (1843) 72 The primitive and beginning church. 1650 Jer. Taylor Holy Living (1727) 201 He helpt my slow and beginning endeavours. 1775 De Lolme Eng. Constit. 11. xvii. 293 He peaceably weathered the beginning storm. 1829 S. Turner Mod. Hist. Eng. III. 11. xviii. 540 [She] waited for her parliament to be the beginning innovators.

b. spec. Of a course of study, book, student, etc.: preceding others in a series; elementary. N. Amer. 1923 E. M. Roberts (title) The beginning telegrapher. 1928 Almack & Lang (title) The beginning teacher. 1962 W. S. Avis et al. (title) Dictionary of Canadian English. The Beginning Dictionary. 1962 S. E. Martin in Householder & Saporta Problems in Lexicography 153 In a sense, the beginning student needs something very similar. 1964 Amer. Speech XXXIX. 51 It is intended as a textbook for a beginning course.

2. Coming first or in front; leading the way. 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. 40 Euery Beginning Note without a tayle, if the second Note ascend, is a Breefe.

Hence f beginningly, Obs. in 4 begynandly, initially, at the beginning. 0 1340 Hampole Psalter cxviii. 152 Bigynandly . that was fra bigynynge of mannys kynd . i . knew that thou hight the kyngdome of heuen till thi lufers.

be'ginningless, a. [f. beginning vbl. sb. + -less.] Without beginning; uncreate. Hence

be'ginninglessness. 1587 Golding De Mornay ix. 119 And that time should be beginning lesse, what els is it to say, than that time is not time. 1602 J. Davies Mirum in M. (1875) 16 All wise, all good, all great, beginninglesse. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 158 A beginningless, endless now. 1832 Carlyle in Froude Life II. xii. 271 All speculation is beginningless and endless. 1865 Ginsburg Kabbalah, Proc. L'pool. Lit. Phil. Soc. XIX. 299 On the beginninglessness of the first and necessary first Emanation.

begird (bi'g3:d), v. Pa. t. and pple. begirt. [OE. begyrdan (= OHG. bigurten) f. bi-, be- i + gyrdan:—OTeut. *gurdjan to gird.] 1. trans. To gird about or around; chiefly used of fastening a girdle or belt round the body, or of fastening on a sword by means of a belt. Also fig. riooo Ags. Ps. xvii. 37 J>u me begyrdest mid mEejenum. C1315 Shoreham 51 Hym with a touwayle schete Ihesus.. by-gerte. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 28 My deere sisters with quiuer closelye begyrded. 1768 Beattie Minslr.

2. To encircle, encompass, enclose, with,

|3. spec. To beset in hostile array, to besiege. Obs. as a spec. use. 1587 Greene Arcad. (1616) 62 Melicertus begirt the Castle with a siege. 1618 Bolton Floras 11. xvi. 139 Now the City it selfe was begirt with a siege. 1643 [Angier] Lane. Vail. Achor 32 Lancaster called aloud for relief, having been begirt twenty dayes. 1791 Cowper Iliad II. 885 The Epean host had round Begirt the city.

be'girding, vbl. sb.

[f. prec. + -ing1.] action of girding about or enclosing.

The

1641 C. Burges in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxvi. 10 The begirding or binding of it in on every side.

be'girding, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That begirds or encloses all round. 1877 Wraxell Hugo’s Miserables v. xviii. 11 The masonry of the begirding drain.

begirdle (bi'g3:d(3)l), v. [f. be- i + girdle.] trans. To encompass or bind like a girdle or belt. 1837 Caryle Fr. Rev. III. vii. iii. 368 Like a ring of lightening, they.. begirdle her from shore to shore. 1850 - Latter-d. Pamph. viii. (1872) 285 Restless gnawing ennui.. begirdles every human life so guided.

Hence, be'girdled ppl. a. 1813 Scott Rokeby 11. i, Rock-begirdled Gilmanscar.

begirt (bi'g3:t), v.; also 7 begirth. [f. be- i + girt i>., a late secondary form of gird, taken apparently from the pa. pple. girt, or perhaps from girt, obs. f. of girth r6.] trans. To surround, encompass, enclose. (It has not the literal sense of begird.) 1608 Hieron Wks. I. 747 Begirt vs with Thy fauour. 1658 Ussher Ann. 530 He had begirthed the place with a triple wall. 1720 Strype Stow’s Surv. II. vi. 87 The Parish of St. Martin’s.. begirteth it on all Parts. 1862 Dana Elem. Geol. 733 The lofty mountains and volcanoes which begirt it.

Hence be'girt, be'girting ppl. a., be'girting vbl. sb. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1851) 233 With a begirting mischief. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. v. xvi. 198 The begirting of the holy City by numerous armies of Gog and Magog. 1790 Cowper Iliad 11. 681 Sea-begirt /Kgina

beglad, beglare, etc.: see be- pref. beglamour (bi'glaem3(r)), v.

[f. be- 6 + glamour 56.] trans. To invest with glamour; = glamorize v.\ also, to deceive or impress with glamour. So be'glamour(iz)ed, be'glamouring ppl. adjs. 1840 Fraser's Mag. XXI. 8 A new Pactolus.. seemed to the beglamoured eyes of the prosperity-men to have over¬ flowed the land. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. July 437/2 He’s beglamoured her—she worships courage—and he’s a brave man. 1932 F. R. Leavis New Bearings i. 16 The appropriate metaphor would suggest something not only beglamoured, but also ritualistic and religiose. 1948 A. Waugh Unclouded Summer xii. 231 It had been a bondage, yes, but a beglamoured bondage. Ibid. xiv. 246 It was the very fact that they had not been equal that had so beglamoured him. 1953 H. P. Collins in Ess. in Crit. Jan. 61 The passion, the Protestant fury, the beglamouring naturalism of Charlotte Bronte. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Feb. 101/2 The city is beglamourized.

begle, obs. form of beagle. ! beglerbeg (‘begtabeg). Also 6 bellerbey, 6-9 7 beglarbeg. [a. Turk, beglerbeg bey of beys; cf. beg (of which begler is plural).] The governor of a province of the Ottoman empire, in rank next to the grand vizier. Hence begler-beglic, -lik, -luc, the district beglerbey,

over which a beglerbeg rules, the dignity or office of a beglerbeg. Also beglerbegship. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 631 Neither doth any other sit there but the twelve bellerbeis. 1602 Carew Cornwall 126a, A Turkish Beglerbey of Greece. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 945 Itisnow one oftheTurkes proud Beglerbegships. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 377 BeglerBeg is Lord of Lords, that is one which hath vnder his gouernment diuers Begs of lesser Prouinces. And Begluc is the Dignitie of the one, Beglarbegluc of the other. 1624 Massinger Renegado iii. iv, What places of credit are there? .. There’s your beglerbeg. 1813 C. Hobhouse Journey 162 Reckoned the eighth under the Beglerbey of Romania.

'beglic(k, variant of beylic. beglide, beglitter, beglose, etc.: see be- pref. begloom, (bi'glu:m), v. [f. be- + gloom.] To render gloomy, to overshadow with gloom. x799 Corry Sat. Lond. (1803) 197 Sometimes., melancholy begloomed his mind. 1835 Beckford Recoil. 46 The refectory.. begloomed by dark-coloured painted

BEGLUE

fbe'glue, v. Obs. Also 7 beglew. [f. be- 2 + glue i>.] trans. To fix with glue, or by gluing. 1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 1067 The Spider either new weaves them, or else beglewes them anew. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. 1. 5 She can..be-glew herself to the plain she walks on.

b. ? To ensnare, delude, cheat. (But there may be some error in the quotation; or is it = illusi from glewen to play?) c 1430 Lydgate Min. Poems 115 Thus they went from the game, begylyd and beglued.

begnaw (bi'no:), v. Pa. pple. 6 begnawn. [OE. begnagan, f. be- i + gnagan to gnaw.] trans. To gnaw at; to corrode; to nibble. et isich .. his emcristene.. mid sicnesse bigan. C1380 Sir Ferumb. 3429 A1 pe contre.. ful by-gon wyp enymys. c 1400 Warres of Jewes in Warton Hist. Poetry (1840) II. 106 Whippes.. bywent his white sides. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 363 Bremcia, and Daira .. were begone seuerally within three yeares.. vnder two Saxons named Ida and Ella.

f4. To get round with craft, to talk over. Obs. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. 11. 24 Gyle hap bigon hire so heo grauntep al his wille. CI380 Sir Ferumb. 2013 Many ys pe manlich man .' pat porw womman ys by-go. 1387 Trevisa Higden VI. 213 pe queene by3ede here housbonde.

f5. To surround, environ, furnish. Obs. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 227 He was wel begone With faire doughters manyone.

f6. To dress; to clothe, attire, deck, adorn. Obs. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1614 J>e engles .. smireden hire wunden, and bieoden swa pe bruchen of hire bodi. c 1325 Coer de L. 5661 Hymself was rychely begoo, From the crest unto the too. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 45 The sadels were .. With perle and gold so well begone. Ibid. 228 His moder to him tolde [the cause] That she him hadde so begone, c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. 1. 630 All golde begoon his tail. 1513 Douglas JEneis vi. i. 28 The .. hous of brycht Appollo gold bygane.

f7. passive. infected.

BEGRUDGE

7i

windows. 1855 Singleton Virgil II. 369 Sirius.. doth arise, And with disastrous light beglooms the sky.

To

be

permeated,

tainted,

1205 Lay. 19773 ha wes pa welle anan al mid attre bigon. CI430 Syr Gener. 4195 The ground was al begoon with bloode.

8. To beset as an environment or affecting influence, good or evil; to affect as one’s environment does. Now only in pa. pple. in woe¬ begone ‘affected by an environment of woe,’ and the like. (The original phrase was ‘him was wo begone,’ i.e. to him woe had closed round; but already in Chaucer we find the later construction in ‘He was wo begone’; need-begone is in Barbour.) c 1300 Vox Wolf 53 Go wei, quod the kok, wo the bi-go! CI314 Guy Warw. 120 Yuel ous worth than bigo. C1375 ? Barbour St. Alexis 92 Al pat he saw ned-begane. C1386 Chaucer Man of Lawes T. 820 Wo was this wrecched womman tho bigoon. - Wife's Prol. 606, I was.. riche and yonge and wel begon.-Miller's T. 472 Absolon that is for loue alwey so wo bigon. a 1400 Sir Perc. 349 The lady was never more sore bygone, c 1440 Lonelich Grail xlviii. 373 Elies ben we ful evele be-gon. c 1440 Sir Gowther 435 Ful wel was him by gone. 1593 T. Watson Sonn. (Arb.) 197 My hart doth whisper I am woe begone me. 1794 W. Blake Songs Exper., Little Girl Found, Tired and woe-begone. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. 310 It appears sad and woe-begone.

begob (bi'gob), int. Also begobs.

= begorra.

1889 St. James's Gaz. 1 Aug. 7/1 It’s Irish, begobs! 1892 Barlow Irish Idylls ii. 34 No begob; I’ll just be keepin’ the feel of it in me hand for this night. 1907 G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Island iv, Begob, it just tore the town in two. 1958 Betjeman Coll. Poems 70 The feast is spread out, and begob! what a sight.

fbe'god, v. Obs. rare. [f. be- 5 4- god.] trans. To make a god of, to deify. 01576 Grindal Fruitful Dial. Wks. (1843) 48 Caused men to kneel and crouch down and all-to be-god him. 1656 H. More Enthus. Tri. Wks. (1712) 27 Tho’ they have so deify’d, or (as they phrase it) begodded themselves.

Hence be'godded ppl. a. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. vi. xviii. 273 This begodded Mock-Prophet. 01716 South Serm. xix. (1843) II. 329 Setting up .. begodded tutelar saints.

begone (bi'gon), ppl. a.: see bego

v.

8.

begone (bi'gDn), v.\ also 7 begon. [Really two words be gone (cf. be off), long used without analysis in the imperative as expressing a single notion, and so written as one word; recent writers have extended this, without any good reason, to the infinitive. But cf. the similar beware.] a. c 1370 Robt. Cicyle 52 He stode, And callyd the portar, ‘Gad’lyng, begone!’ 1610 Histrio-m. iii. 99 Begone yee greedy beefe-eaters. a 1719 Addison (J.) Begone! the goddess cries with stern disdain. 1853 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 89 Begone, and remember I am impatient for your return. b. [1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. i. 61 He bad him be gon and fly from his Fathers wrath.] 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague 1. i. 265 Let us begone, the day is wearing fast. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1873) II. 135 Kaiser’s Ambassador.. is angrily ordered to begone.

HUsed for the word or command ‘Begone!’ 1820 Scott Abbot xi. My Lady made me brook the ‘Begone.’

H Formerly sometimes for be (= been) gone. J. Shirley Dethe K. James (1818) 17 The Kyng.. denyd that they had all begone [been gone]. 1440

begonia (bi'gaunia). [Named by Plumier after Michel Begon, a French promoter of botany, 1638-1710.] A genus of succulent under-shrubs and herbaceous plants, mostly of tropical nativity, having flowers without petals but with coloured perianths, and often richly-coloured foliage, for the sake of which many species are cultivated as ornamental plants. Said by Loudon to have been introduced into Great Britain from Jamaica in 1777, but little cultivated before 1840. 1751 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. The great purple begonia with auriculated leaves. 1881 Miss Braddon Asph. I. 304 All the tribe of begonias, and house-leeks, newly bedded out. 1883 Mall G. 7 Sept. 4/1 The well-known Begonias and Fuchsias; which have.. withstood the late storms better than any of their rarer rivals.

fbe'gore, v. Obs.; also 6-7 begoar. [f. be- 6 + gore.] trans. To besmear with gore. Hence be'gored ppl. a. c 1500 Cocke Lorelles B. (1843) 2 A bocher.. All be gored in reed blode. 1573 Twyne JEneid x. Ggj, The corps he liftes, begoaring all with blood. 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Resc. vi 156 The Sword Which had so oft the groaning Earth begor’d. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 445 To think of putting those be-gored Gobbits into our Mouthes.

begorra (bi'gDra), int. Also begarra, begorrah. Anglo-Irish alteration of the expletive by God (see god sb. 13); cf. begar, and dial. begor(z. Rarely heard in current speech. 1839 Carleton Fardorougha xvi, Begarra, Captain dear, it seems that good people is scarce. 1843 Lever J. Hinton ii, ‘Begorra, you’re in it’, was the answer. 1856-Martins of Cro' M. x, Be gorra! when a man would give four hundred for a bull, there’s no saying what he’d stop at. 1895 J. Barlow Strangers at Lisconnel i, Fine company they’d be for anybody begorrah.

begotten (bi'gnt(3)n), ppl. a.; also 4 bigetun, 5 bygoten, 5-6 begot(e. [pa. pple. of beget u.] f 1. Gotten. (With right-, etc. prefixed.) Obs. CI200ORMIN 1645 Rihhtbi3etenn ahhte. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. (1525) 63 A glad gyuer. .of true begoten goodes.

2. Procreated. (Usually with only-, first-.) 1382 Wyclif John iii. 16 His oon bigetun sone. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxvi. 232 Edward his first bygoten sonne. 1587 Golding De Mornay vi. 66 [Plato] calleth him the begotten Sonne of the Good. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xlviii. §5 The only begotten Son of God. 1602 Warner Alb.

Eng. x. lix. 261 [Ammon] his Issue first-begot.

b. absol. 1382 Wyclif John i. 14 The glorie as of the oon bigetun of the fadir. 1611 Bible Rev. i. 5 The first begotten of the dead. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. i. 8 With the Hebrews called the Son or Begotten.

beg-'pardon, sb. Austral, and N.Z. colloq. [f. phr. to beg pardon: see beg v. 3 and pardon sb.1 6.] An expression of apology. 1906 E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands xv. 198 ’Twas quick business down below here, *n’ no beg-pardons with Bunyip. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee i. 11 Then without a ‘beg pardon’, off she goes again. 1965 F. Sargeson Memoirs of Peon vi. 187 Tony, after a maternally-directed beg pardon .. rapped out a command. 1967 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 8 Jan. 6/2 There were no beg-pardons about Mrs. Hodges (or Debbie, as she insisted I call her). 1969 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 13 July 45/7 Rucking was heavy and there were no ‘beg pardons’ as each pack used its weight.

begrace (bi'greis), v. [f. be- 5 c + grace.] To address as ‘y°ur grace.’ c 1530 More De quat. Nouiss. Wks. 86/1 They knele and.. at euerye word barehed bigrace him. 1586 J. Hooker

Girald. Irel. in Holinsh. II. 86/2 You are begraced and belorded, and crouched & kneeled vnto. 1802 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Gt. Cry & Lit. Wool Wks. 1812 V. 180 She’s begraced and beduchess’d already.

begrain, begray, begreen, begreet:

see be-.

fbe'grave, v. Obs. Forms: i be-, bigrafan, 4-6 bi-, by-, be-grave, (Sc. begraif). Pa. t. 5 begrove. Pa. pple. 6 begraven. [Comm. Teut.: OE. bi-, begrafan, cogn. w. OHG. bigraban, to bury, Goth, bigraban to dig a ditch round, mod.G. begraben; f. be- + graban, in OE. grafan to dig.] 1. trans. To bury (a corpse, treasure, etc.). a 1000 Elene (Gr.) 835 Roda aetsomne greote begrafene. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 98 At Winchester.. that king bigrauen wes. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 197 They.. have Her gold under the erth begrave. C1450 Lonelich Grail li. 122 They him begroven as he desired him-selve. 1528 Roy Rede & be nott wrothe (Arb.) 45 His dedde coors rychly to begraue.

2. To engrave; to ornament with graved work. c 1325 Coer de L. 62 Every nayl with gold begrave. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 127 With great slighte Of werkmanship it was begrave.

begrease (bi'griis),

v. [f. be- i trans. To besmear with grease.

4-

grease

v.]

1565 Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse (1846) 175 The marrowbones of their matter; wherewith they did so begrease themselves, a 1641 Bp. Mountagu Acts & Mon. 426 They.. held him polluted who had been so begreased. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) 1, To begrease the fat sow in the tail.. locupletem donis cumulare.

fbegrede, v. Obs. Forms: 3-4 bigreden, -graden, 5 begreden. [ME., f. be- 4- greden, OE. graedan to cry.] 1. To cry about, to weep for. C1300 K. Alis. 5175 The gentil men Bigradden, and wepden her ken.

2. To cry out against; to upbraid, reproach, accuse. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 69 And shameliche hem bigredefi. and fule shendeS. c 1320 Seu. Sages (W.) 1518 Lohtliche driuen & bigrad Ase a thef. c 1440 Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 57 Launcelot of tresson they be gredde.

fbe’grey,prep. Obs. rare—'. [? Corruption of F. bon gre; or f. be- = by + gre, gree ‘liking,’ a. F. gre. But the sense is doubtful, and it may be for malgre.] 1614 J. Davies Eclog. Wks. 1876-8 II. 20 And wrap hem in thy loue begrey their wils.

begrim, begrimly, begroan,

etc.: see be- pref.

begrime (bi'graim), v. [f.

be- 6 + grime.] trans. To blacken or soil with grime, or dirt which sinks into the surface, and discolours it.

a 1553 Udall Roister D. (Arb.) 48 All to begrime you with worshyp. 1603 Holland Plutarch 215 (R.) Enjoyning men to begrime and bewray themselves with dirt. 1853 Sir J. Herschel Pop. Lect. Sc. i. §21 (1873) 15 In your eyes, in your mouth, begriming every pore.

Hence be'grimed ppl. a. be'grimer sb. 1604 Shaks. Oth. iii. iii. 387 My name that was as fresh As Dians Visage, is now begrim’d and blacke As mine own face. 1611 Cotgr., Patrouilleur, a smeecher, begrimer, besmearer. 1865 Sat. Rev. 8 July 48/1 The blackened and begrimed people who had worked so hard.

fbe'gripe, v. Obs. Forms: i begripan, 2-3 bi-, begripen, 4 bigrype(n, 4-7 begripe. [Comm. WGer.: OE. begripan, f. be- + gripan to gripe = OHG. begrifan, mod.G. begreifen, Du. begrijpen.] 1. trans. To catch hold of, apprehend; to seize and hold fast. Also fig. CI175 Cott. Horn. 237 Al se middennard was mid senne begripe. £1220 Bestiary 516 in O.E. Misc. 16 De grete mai3 he no3t bigripen. CI340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 214 pe stele of a stif staf pe stume hit bi-grypte. 1470-85 Malory Arthur (1816) II. 295 This sword.. shall never no man begripe.

2. To take in, contain, hold, comprehend. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 102 Asie, Aufrique, Europe .. Begripeth all this erthe round, c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. 11. 278 Let stand as feel as may thi land begripe.

3. To take to task, reprehend. a 1000 Ags. Gloss, to Psalm xv. 7. c 1200 Ormin 19857 Sannt Johan haffde pe king Bigripenn off hiss sinne.

fbe'griple, v. Obs. [Cf. grip, grapple.] 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 178 The Crow with his talons so be-gripling the Foxes mouth that he could not bark. begrown (bi'graun), ppl. a.; also 3-4 bi-, begrowe, 6 begrowen. [f. be- i 4- grown ppl. a.] Grown over with, covered with a growth. a 1250 Owl Night. 27 Mid ivi al bi-growe. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 358 Of Timolus which was begrowe With vines. 1558 Phaer JEneid vii. T iij, Ouer all begrowen with snakes. 1812 W. Taylor in Month. Mag. XXXIV. 210 Land begrown with trees.

begrudge

(bi'grAd3), v.; also 4 bi-, bygrucche(n,

[f. be- 4- grudge, ME. grucchen to murmur.] To grumble at, show dissatisfaction with; esp. to envy (one) the bygroch, 7-8 begrutch.

possession

of;

to

give

reluctantly,

reluctant.

a. trans., and with inf. obj.

to

be

1362 Langl. P. PI. A. vii. 62 And make him murie with pe Corn • hose hit euere bigrucchej?. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. 11. xix. 125 Our Souldier.. begrutcheth not to get to his side a probability of victory by the certainty of his own death. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. n. xxv. 149 Begrudge not your labour you bestow. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. hi. ill. (1852) 551 To begrutch the cost of a school. 1711 Shaftesb. Charac. III. 290 They will.. begrudg the pains of attending. 1861 National Rev. Oct. 413 They did begrudge to pay the smart. 1862 Trollope Orley F. xiii. 91 He had begrudged her nothing.

b. intr. rare. Obs. 1690 Penn Rise & Progr. Quakers (1834) 69 And not begrudge at one anothers increase.

Hence be'grudged ppl. a. R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxi. 117 Our common beverage — ‘water bewitched, and tea begrudged.’ 1840

begrudgingly (bi'grAdjnjli), adv. [f. begrudging ppl. adj. + -ly2.] In a grudging manner or spirit. 1853 Fraser's Mag. XLVIII. 159, I looked begrudgingly on them as they occupied the whole pool. 1878 Hardy Ret. Native vi. iv, The original owners .. cackled begrudgingly at sight of such a quantity of their old clothes. 1890 Illustr. Lond. News 29 Nov. 686/1 It was a narrow little way begrudgingly left between these sullen hedges. 1968 Listener n July 44/1 Begrudgingly, the situation was accepted.

begruntle, etc.: see be- pref. begrutten (bi'grAt(a)n), ppl. a. Sc. [f. be- 4 + grutten, pa. pple. of greet v. to weep.] Marred or swollen in face with much weeping. 1805 A. Scott Poems 85 (Jam.) A hopeless maid of fifty years Begrutten sair, and blurr’d wi’ tears. 1820 Scott Monast. viii, Poor things .. they are sae begrutten.

begry, obs. form of beggary. f 'begster. Obs. Also 4 beggestere. [f. beg v. + -ster: cf. trickster.] A beggar (Jem. and pejorative).

BEGYN

72

BEGRUDGINGLY

was wroth to see his stroke beguil’d. atttall Iudisskenn preost wass swa Bihenngedd all wipp belless. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 3549 Eueri strete Was behonged.. With mani pal and riche cloth. *553-87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 114/2 A faire palace richlie behanged. 1601 Holland Pliny i. 255 Our dames and gentlewomen must haue their eares behanged with them.

fbe'hap, v. Obs. [f. be- 2 + hap t;.] To befall, happen. Const, with dative obj. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xiii. 26 What so behapped him in oni chaunce. Ibid. Iv. 417 It behappede that kyng Lambors And this kyng Varlans .. assembled were, a 1450 Knt. de la Tour vi. 9 And this behapped her. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week, Thursd. 125 Behap what will.

chiefly said of children or young people, who might possibly misbehave themselves. 1691 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 209 The French King hath given large gratuities to Mr. Vauban and other officers that behaved themselves before Mons. Mod. colloq. If you cannot behave yourself, you had better stay at home. Mod. Sc. maxim, ‘Behave yourself before folk.’

c. transf. of things: To comport itself in any relation, to act (towards other things). 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 Bj b, Euery thyng that behaueth it wel and is accordyng to nature. 1650 Fuller Pisgah 1. xi. 36 If these three Provinces be., compared together, they behave themselves as followeth. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 54 How the Worlds vastness behaves it self towards Gods Immensity.

f2. trans. To handle, manage, wield, conduct, regulate (in some specified way). Obs. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1366 Without crafte nothynge is well behavyd. 1557 North Gueuara's Dial. Pr. (1585) 277 These pinchpenies do behave their persons so evil, etc. 1596 Spenser F.Q. 11. iii. 40 Who his limbs with labours and his mind Behaues with cares, cannot so easie mis. 1607 Shaks. Timon iii. v. 22 With such sober and vnnoted passion He did behaue [printed behooue] his anger.

3. intr.: in same senses as 1 a and b (which it now to a great extent replaces). 1719 Young Revenge 1. i, As you behave, Your father’s kindness stabs me to the heart. 1812 Ld. Cathcart in Examiner 12 Oct. 649/1 Those who were engaged behaved well. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 678 He behaved like a man of sense and spirit. 1866 Kingsley Herew. vii. 129 She behaved not over wisely or well. 1872 Ruskin Eagle's N. §161 You must very.. thoroughly know how to behave.

b. to behave towards or to: to conduct oneself in regard to, act, deal with, treat (in any way). *754 Chatham Lett. Nephew iv. 24 As to your manner of behaving towards these unhappy young gentlemen. 1875 Plato (ed. 2) I. 51 Did you ever behave ill to your father or your mother? Mod. They have behaved very handsomely to you.

Jowett

c. transf. of things. .1854 Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc. Chem. 463 It combines violently with water, behaving like the bichloride of tin. 1871 B. Stewart Heat §38 Glass will also behave in a very different manner according as it is annealed or unannealed.

fbe'have, sb. Obs. [f. prec.] =

behaviour. Odyss. xxn. 545 Only there were twelve that gave Themselves to impudence and light behave. 1615 Chapman

behaved (bi'heivd), ppl. a. [pa. pple. of behave: fbe'happen, v. Obs. [f. be- 2 + happen.] To befall, happen. unto.

Const, with dative obj., or to,

1515 Scot. Field 97 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 217 Care him be-happen! 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. xi. 52 That is the greatest shame.. Which unto any knight behappen may. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 201 Many remarkable occurrences behappened this Martyr.

Behari, var. Bihari a. behate, early form of behote sb., behight v. fbe'hate, ppl. a. Obs. Also 4 by-, [f. be- 2 + hate.] To hold in hatred, to hate greatly, detest. C1340 Cursor M. 11962 (Laud MS.) Why he makyth vs for his maners by-hatid [v.r. be hated] pus. C1374 Chaucer Boeth. in. iv. 75 Al was he byhated of all folk. 1474 Caxton Chesse 89 He was sore behated. 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 34/1 Through false informations wrongfullie behated.

behave (bi'heiv), v. Pa. t. behaved (in 6 behad.) [Formed, app. in 15th c., from be- 2 + have v., in order to express a qualified sense of have, particularly in the reflexive ‘to have or bear oneself (in a specified way),’ which answers exactly to mod.G. sich behaben. (OE. had behabban = OHG. bihaben, f. be- about + habban to hold, have, in senses ‘encompass, contain, detain’; but there was no historical connexion between that and the 15th c. behave.)) 1. reft. To bear, comport, or conduct oneself; to act: a. with adv. or qualifying phrase, expressing the manner. (Formerly a dignified expression, applied e.g. to the bearing, deportment, and public conduct of persons of distinction; in 17-18th c. commonly used of the way in which soldiers acquit themselves in battle; but now chiefly expressing observance of propriety in personal conduct, and usually as in b. The intr. sense 3, preserves the earlier use.) c 1440 Bone Flor. 1567 To lerne hur to behave hur among men. 1474 Caxton Chesse 74 Ony man that wylle truly behaue hym self, a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 241 Yet in all her trybulacions she behad her so paciently. 1533 Bellenden Livy 1. (1822) 15 The mair princely that he behad him in his dignite riall. 1611 Bible j Chron. xix. 13 Let vs behaue our selues valiantly for our people. 1665 Manley Grotius' LowC. Warres 303 The Sea-men .. would be ready to mutiny for their Pay, and threaten to behave themselves as Enemies. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 2 f 4 He was some Years a Captain, and behaved himself with great Galantry in several Engagements. 1715 in Lond. Gaz. No. 5390/2 The Clans behave themselves with great Insolence. 1733 Pendarves in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 39 Let me know if I have behaved myself right. 1823 Scott F.M. Perth III. 303 The Chief had behaved himself with the most determined courage.

b. Without qualification: To conduct oneself well, or (in modern use) with propriety. Now

cf. learned, well-read, etc.] Conducted, mannered; usually with qualifying adv., as wellbehaved, ill-behaved. 1602 Shaks. Ham. ill. i. 35 And gather by him, as he is behaued, IPt be th’ affliction of his loue or no. 1713 Guardian No. 6 IP 4 Their servants well behaved. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. iv. 167 The brown-locked, lightbehaved, fire-hearted Demoiselle. 1858 W. Ellis Vis. Madagascar iv. 89 Well-behaved scholars.

behaving (bi'heivirj), vbl. sb. [f. -ING1.] Conduct, behaviour.

behave v.

+

c 1450 Merlin 49 And I will also that ye tweyn prively in counseile knowe my condicions and my behavynge. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 47 Wyth an enarrabulle gestur and behauing of gladnes. 1495 Act 2 Hen. VII, ii. § 5 To take suertie of the kepers of ale houses of their gode behavyng. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xiv. 14 All his vsages, and euyll behauyngis. 1817 Frere K. Arthur 1. x, For fine behaving King Arthur’s Court has never had its match.

behaviour

(bi'heivi3(r)), sb. Forms: 5-6 6-7 behauiour(e, -ior, 6 behauer, -eour(e, behauyour, 7 behauor, behavier, ? 6behaviour. [f. behave v., by form-analogy with havour, havyoure, common 15-16th c. forms of the word which was orig. aver sb. (q.v.), aveyr, also in 15th c. avoir-, really OF. aveir, avoir, in sense of ‘having, possession,’ but naturally affiliated in Eng. to the native verb have, and spelt haver, havour, haviour, etc. Hence, by analogy, have: havour, -iour: behave: behavour, -iour. The formation might be confirmed by the (apparently) parallel demeanour, from demean (oneself). For the -iour see havour.] 1. a. Manner of conducting oneself in the external relations of life; demeanour, deportment, bearing, manners. behauour(e,

1490 Caxton Eneydos xxxi. 120 For hys honneste behauoure [he] began to be taken with his loue. 1530 Bale Thre Lawes 53 In clennes of lyfe and in a gentyll behauer. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. iii. iv. 202 The behauiour of the yong Gentleman, giues him out to be of good capacity, and breeding. 1754 Chatham Lett. Nephew v. 32 Behaviour is of infinite advantage or prejudice to a man. 1797 Godwin Enquirer 1. xiii. iii Their behaviour is forced and artificial. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. 11. i. §36 Special directions for behaviour in the nursery, at table, or on the exchange. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 226 His courage is shown by his behaviour in the battle.

b. Also in pi. 1538 Bale Comedy in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 211 Your fastynges, longe prayers, with other holy behauers. 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. 1. ii. 42 Which giue some soyle (perhaps) to my Behauiours. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 1. iv. § 19. 366 To observe the actions, manners and Behaviours of men. 1763 ‘ Geo. Psalmanazar’ Mem. (1764) 186, I could see.. thro’ all his artifices and different behaviours. 1959 Camb. Rev. 7 Mar. 405/1 We must surely accept that the pattern of associated behaviours first noticed by Weber was one of the most brilliantly successful suggestions in the whole history of intellectual endeavour.

BEHAVIOURAL -fc. The bearing of the character of another; personification, ‘person.’ Obs. *595 Shaks .John i. i. 3 Thus speakes the King of France, In my behauiour, to the Maiesty.. of England heere.

fd. ‘External appearance grace.’ Johnson. Obs.

BEHEMOTH

74

with

respect

to

01586 Sidney (J.) He marked, in Dora’s dancing, good grace and handsome behaviour. 1639 Fuller Holy War 1. vi. (1840) 8 [Mahometanism] having neither real substance in her doctrine, nor winning behavior in her ceremonies to allure professors.

e. absol. Good manners, elegant deportment. 1591 Lambarde Arch. (1635) 91 A man of behaviour and countenance. 1701 De Foe True Born Eng. Wks. (1841) 24 Strong aversion to Behaviour. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 119 IP 1 By Manners I do not mean Morals, but Behaviour and Good-breeding.

2. Conduct, general practice, course of life; course of action towards or to others, treatment of others. 1515 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (1847) 70 All people of good behavour By rightwise battayle, justice and equitie. 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. xiv. 35 His godly behauoure, and faithfulnesse which he kepte vnto them. 1584 Powel Lloyd’s Cambria 88 By his rich gifts and princely Behauior. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. Temp. 11. 124 The blamelesse behaviour of the Christians. 1719 Young Revenge 1. i, This severe behaviour Has, to my comfort, made it sweet to die. 1768 Blackstone Comm. IV. 251 Recognizances, for the peace, and for the good behaviour. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 36 Henry’s early behaviour to James.

3. Phrase, to be (or stand) on or upon one's behaviour, or one’s good behaviour: to be placed on a trial of conduct or deportment, to be in a situation in which a failure in conduct will have untoward consequences; hence, to behave one’s best. 1538 Starkey England 196 And much bettur hyt were that they schuld stond apon theyr behavyour. 1698 Norris Prad. Disc. IV. 261 Man.. is now upon his Behaviour in order to a Better World. 1689 Sherlock Death i. § 1 (1731) 20 Adam .. was but upon his good Behaviour, was but a Probationer for Immortality. 1779 Burke in Boswell Johnson III. 172, I should be obliged to be so much upon my good behaviour. Mod. Tell the children to be on their best behaviour.

|4. Handling, management, disposition of (anything); bearing (of body). Obs. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. i Peter 8 Welfavourednes of beautie, and behaviour of apparel. 1563 Homilies 11. Fasting (1859) 281 Both with words and behavour of body to shew themselves weary of this life. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 262 Your misplacing and preposterous placing is not all one in behaviour of language.

5. transf. The manner in which a thing acts under specified conditions or circumstances, or in relation to other things. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 82 All local habitude or behaviour must be between two things or more, in a place so or so. 1866 Argyll Reign Law ii. 67 In Chemistry the behaviour of different substances towards each other, in respect to combination and affinity. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 135 To watch .. the behaviour of the water which drains off a flat coast of mud. 1882 Daily Tel. 4 May, The behaviour of the vessel during her maiden voyage across the Atlantic. 6. attrib. and Comb., esp. in Psychol., as

behaviour-cycle, data, -study, -system, -trend;

behaviour pattern, a set or series of acts regarded as a unified whole; behaviour segment, a part of a behaviour pattern; behaviour therapy, a method of treating neurotic disorders (see quots.). 1921 B. Russell Anal. Mind iii. 65 A ‘‘behaviour-cycle’ is a series of voluntary or reflex movements of an animal, tending to cause a certain result, and continuing until that result is caused, unless they are interrupted by death, accident, or some new behaviour-cycle. 1913 J. B. Watson in Psychol. Rev. XX. 158 On this assumption, ‘behavior data (including under this term everything which goes under the name of comparative psychology) have no value per se. 1926 Psychol. Rev. XXXIII. 51 Is this modification of activity the result of environmentally conditioned learning or of the maturing of certain innate ‘behavior patterns or ‘instincts’? 1929 B. Russell Marriage & Morals ii. 19 Where human beings are concerned we do not have the precise behaviour-patterns which are to be found among other animals. 1956 Evolution X. 421 {title) A gene mutation which changes a behavior pattern, i960 20th Cent. Apr. 372 As far as behaviour patterns are concerned, I feel.. a greater affinity with the working-class Briton than with the middleclass man. 1934 H. C. Warren Diet. Psychol. 31/1 ‘Behavior segment. 1936 J. Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. vi. 74 B.. now becomes speaker. His speaking behaviour constitutes his second linguistic behaviour segment, his first being his audient response. 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World vii. 64 A man who does not have the patience simply to sit and watch for hours, days,.. is not the type of man to undertake a ‘behaviour-study. 1927 G. A. de Laguna Speech vi. 132 The ‘behavior-system of one species differs from that of another. 1938 A. N. Whitehead Modes of Thought i. 20 There is no one behaviour-system belonging to the essential character of the universe, as the universal moral ideal. 1958 A. R. Radcliffe-Brown Method in Social Anthrop. 1. iv. 103 Psychology is here taken to mean the study of the mental or psychic systems—if you will, the behaviour systems—of organisms. 1959 H. J. Eysenck in Jrnl. Mental Sci. CV. 66, I have called these methods [of treatment] ‘‘behaviour therapy’ to contrast them with methods of psychotherapy. .. Psychoanalysts show a preoccupation with psychological methods involving mainly speech, while behaviour therapy concentrates on actual behaviour as most likely to lead to the extinction of the unadaptive conditioned responses. 1961 Guardian 12 May 6/6 This new approach, which owes much to J. B. Watson,. .and to J. Wolpe, the well-known South

African psychologist, has been christened Behaviour Therapy... Behaviour therapy.. tries to understand neurotic symptoms .. in terms of.. experimentally established facts of human and animal behaviour. 1949 G. Ryle Concept of Mind iv. 110 To explain an action as done from a certain motive is.. to subsume it under a .. ‘behaviour-trend.

behavioural (bi'heivjarel), a. [f. behaviour + -al.] Concerned with, or forming part of, behaviour. Hence be'haviourally adv.

1873 H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. vii. 156 We beheaded 2000 fellahs, throwing their headless corpses into the Nile. fig. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. xiv. §7 To repair the decays thereof by beheading superstition. 1726 M. Henry Wks. II. 370 It adds to our grief to see a family beheaded.

2. Of things: To deprive of the top or foremost part. rare. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Pari. 271 Maister Heskins beheadeth the sentence. 1796 Marshall Garden. §20 (1813) 400 Graffs of last year, cut to a few eyes, behead as at 98. Mod. Beheaded and curtailed words.

a 1927 E. B. Titchener Systematic Psychol. (1929) iii. 263 All biological facts, we propose to say, are ‘behavioural’. 1936 J- Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. xv. 213 Vocabulary phenomena.., though remote from things,., operate behaviourally in a definite adjustmental manner. 1946 C. W. Morris Signs, Lang. & Behavior i. 4 A behavioral theory of signs. Ibid. i. 21 Vagueness shows itself behaviorally in an uncertain and hesitant response to an object to which the organism has been directed by a sign. 1956 Camb. Rev. LXXVII. 301 Some contrasting of C and I behavioural and linguistic patterns is possible. 1958 New Statesman 6 Sept. 300/2 The so-called ‘behavioural sciences’.. —sociology, social psychology, social anthropology—have been much pushed by the foundations.

beheadal (bi’hedal). [f. prec. +

f be'havioured, a. Obs. [f. behaviour sb. + -ED2.] Conducted, mannered, behaved.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 184 Nolde me tellen him alre monne duskest, pet forsoke.. ane nelde prikunge, uor ane bihefdungf. 1541 R. Copland Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., Whan he had a deade body by beheadyng or other wyse. 1585 Thynne in Animadv. Introd. 75 The duke of Buckinghams beheadding. 1586-7 Churchiv. Acc. St. Margaret's, Westm., (Nichols 1797) 21 Paid for ringing at the beheading of the Queen of Scotts. 1615 Hieron Wks. I. 664 That story, which reports his beheading at Rome. I732 Lediard Sethos II. VII. 54 The easiest and shortest of all deaths, beheading. 1863 Thackeray in Cornh. Mag. Jan., Battles and victories, treasons, kings, and beheadings. fig. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. v. (1851) 115 For if the type of Priest be not taken away, then neither of the high Priest, it were a strange beheading.

1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 157 Men ciuill and graciously behauoured and bred. 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xlii. lxv, A well behavioured knight. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 123 They haue seene many English Ladies worse fauored, proportioned and behauiored.

behaviourism (bi'hervj9riz(3)m). Psychol,

[f. behaviour + -ism.] A theory and method of psychological investigation based on the study and analysis of behaviour. Hence be'haviourist, one who practises this method; also attrib.; behaviou'ristic a., of or belonging to the behaviourists; characterized by behaviourism; also gen., pertaining or relating to behaviour; behaviou'ristically adv.\ behaviou'ristics sb. pi., the study of the responses of organisms to their environment. 1913 J- B. Watson in Psychol. Rev. XX. 158 Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Ibid. 166, I feel that behaviorism is the only consistent and logical functionalism. 1914 E. G. Titchener in Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. LI 11. 3 Most of the essential problems with which psychology as an introspective science now concerns itself are open to behaviorist treatment. Ibid. 13 The facts of psychology.. are also to be carried, by way of behavioristic substitution, to the bodily periphery. 1916 Boston Even. Transcript 26 July 116 A behavioristic psychology. 1920 A. N. Whitehead Concept of Nature ix. 185 Our attitude towards nature is purely ‘behaviouristic’. 1921 Edin. Rev. Apr. 351 Psychologists are divided into several camps, one of which, the American ‘Behaviourists’, cares very little for the social aspects of the subject. 1922 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 July 478/4 The determinist is logically driven to ‘behaviourism’. 1924 J. B. Watson in Psyche July 11 Behavioristic psychology. 1933 MindXLll. 381 The Communist studies religion, as asocial henomenon, behaviour istically. 1936 E. E. Evansritchard Ess. Soc. Anthrop. (1962) viii. 196 We treat them [sc. the ideas] behaviouristically as ritual responses and do not attempt to create for them an ideology that will explain them by seeming to cause them. 1940 Bryant & Aiken Psychol, of English i. 5 The English language and grammar are the products of the group thinking of billions of people whose minds have worked psychologically rather than logically; and the fruit.. is a system which reflects behavioristic patterns rather than formal regularity. 1941 O. Neurath in Proc. Arist. Soc. XLI. 128 There is a trend to build up a Lingua Franca, .which would enable us to pass from the theory of behaviour (‘behaviouristics’) to geology, biology and mechanics without any alteration of the type of our expressions. 1945 Mind LIV. 193 Scientific psychology is either behaviouristic or physiological. 1953 J. B. Carroll Stud. Lang. iii. 107 The kind of analysis suggested by Miller and Frick (1949) in their paper on what they call ‘statistical behavioristics’. Statistical behavioristics is the theory of stochastic processes applied to the study of sequences of responses, i960 Times 5 Feb. 3/6 The third difficulty was that some mosquitoes were developing what is technically known as behaviouristic resistance to insecticides. What this means is that, after entering a house and feeding on the occupants, they escaped to outdoor resting places, thus avoiding the lethal effects of the insecticide sprayed on the walls of the house.

behead (bi'hcd), v. Forms: i beheafdi-an, 2 behaefdien, 2-3 bihaued-en, 3 biheafdin, bihafdi, 3-4 bihefden, 4 biheueden, 4-5 behevede(n, bi-, byhede(n, -heede, 4-6 behede, -heede, 5-6 be-, byhedde, 6 beheadde, 6- behead. [OE. beheafdian, f. be- 3 (with privative force) + heafod head; cf. MHG. behoubeten in same sense, mod.G. enthaupten.] 1. trans. To deprive (a man or animal) of the head, to decapitate; to kill by cutting off the head. ciooo Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiv. io He asende pa and beheafdode Iohannem. cn6o Hatton G. ibid., behsefdede. 1205 Lay. 26296 pat heo us wulle bihafdi. a 1225 Juliana 40 To bihefden [v.r. beheafdin] pawel. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xiv. 10 He sente, and bihedide [u.r. byheuedede] Joon in the prisoun. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xlvii. 155 Beheveded on aftyr anothir. 1474 Caxton Chesse 36 Other said that they shold be beheded. 1513 More Rich. III. Wks. 54/1 To bee byhedded at Pountfreit. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 102 Take him away and behead him. 1781 Gibbon Decl. Gf F. II. xlvi. 719 A great number of the captives were beheaded.

-al2 5, which see. Apparently in no Diet, hitherto.] Beheading, execution by decapitation. 1859 Wingfield Tour Dalmatia 6 The drums announcing Mary’s beheadal. 1881 Besant & Rice Whittington ii. 54 The beheadal of Sheriff Richard Lions. 1882-3 Schaff in Herzog's Encycl. Rel. Knowl. II. 1191 The reason for the beheadal was jealousy at John’s preponderant influence with the people.

beheading (bi'hedit)), vbl. sb. [f. behead v. + -ING1.] The action of cutting off the head; spec. of execution by decapitation.

be'heading, ppl. a.

[f. as prec. + -ing2.] That severs the head or decapitates. 1845 Browning Soul's Trag. i, The beheading axe!

be'hear, v. Obs. (Pseudo-archaic.) To hear. a 1600 R. Hood Guy Gisborne 187 That beheard the sheriffe of Nottingham. 01700 Childe Waters in Evans O. Ball. II. xxxv. 214 And that beheard his mother deare.

behearse, behelp, behem, beheast, f

etc.: see be- pref.

obs. form of behest.

be’heaven. v. Obs.

[f. be-6 + heaven.] trans.

To endow with celestial bliss, to beatify. 1601 W. Parry Sherley's Trav. (1863) 4 Such a man., woulde be beheavened with the joy. 1609 J. Davies Holy Roode Wks. 1876 I. 7 O faire Jerusalem.. Yet wast beheau’nd through blessed Bethelem.

behecht, -heet, -height, behefe,

obs. var. of behight.

variant of biheve.

beheft,

for behaved. a 1637 B. Jonson Underwoods (1692) Wks. 587 But he was wiser, and well beheft, For this is all that he hath left.

fbehele, v. Obs. Also bihele. [OE. behelian, f. be- + helian to cover: see hele.]

To conceal,

cover, envelop, lit. and fig. c 1000 /Elfric Gen. vii. 19 W’urdon ta behelede ealle ta hehstan duna. C1275 in O.E. Misc. 91 Al t>es world is biheled myd he^ene-hode. c 1325 Coer de L. 5586 As snowgh lygges on the mountaynes, Behelyd were hylles and playnes, With hawberk bryghte and helmes clere.

t behem, v. Obs. behemm. [f. be- i round, lit. and fig.

Forms: 3 bihemmen, 6-7 + hem.] trans. To hem

a 1250 Ouil & Night. 672 He mot bihemmen and bilegge. 1567 Maplet Gr. Forest 44 Those I call coates which are as it were on both their sides behemmed and parted. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 993 Her musky mouth..a swelling welt of Corall round behemms.

behemoth (bi'hiimaO, -o:0). Forms: 4-5 bemoth, behemot, 6- behemoth. [Heb. b'hemoth, used in Job xl. 15. In form the word is the plural of b'hemdh ‘beast,’ and might be interpreted ‘great or monstrous beast’ (plural of dignity). But most moderns take it as really an Egyptian word p-ehe-mau, which would mean ‘water-ox,’ assimilated in Hebrew mouths to a Hebrew form.] An animal mentioned in the book of Job; probably the hippopotamus; but also used in modern literature as a general expression for one of the largest and strongest animals. Cf.

LEVIATHAN. 1382 Wyclif7o6 xl. 10 Lo! bemoth [1388 behemot, 1611 behemoth] that I made with thee. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy II. xvii, Whom the Hebrues .. call Bemoth that doth in latin playne expresse A beast rude full of cursednesse. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 471 Behemoth biggest born of earth. 1727 Thomson Summer 710 The flood disparts: behold! in plaited mail, Behemoth rears his head. 1818 Keats Endym. III. 134 Skeletons of man, Of beast, behemoth, "and leviathan. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. i. 310 The might Of earth-convulsing behemoth. 1857 Emerson Poems 306 Be swift their feet as antelopes, And as behemoth strong. fig. 1592 G. Harvey Pierces Super., Will soone finde the huge Behemoth of conceit to be the sprat of a pickle herring 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv. 140 He’s a perfect behemoth.

BEHEMOTH I AN behemothian (bihii'mauBisn), a. Chiefly poet. [f. behemoth + -IAN.] Monstrously large; of or

belonging to a large animal.

75

BEHIGHT

fbe'hete, sb. Obs. [f. behete, one of the forms of behight, v.: cf. the earlier behote, and parallel behight rfi.] A promise, a vow.

1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars iii. 47 A behemothian bull-Elephanto. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queedi. 3 Down the street came a girl and a dog, rather a small girl, and quite a behemothian dog. 1946 H. Read Coll. Poems 145 Faced by the behemothian jaws.

c 1460 Towneley Myst. 159 Thise prophetys. .That have knowyng of his behetys. 1470 Harding Chron. cxl. xi, Traytour he was, and false of his behete.

Ilbehen ('biihen).

fbe'heter,

Also behn, been, ben. [a. med.L. behen (found in other mod. langs.), app. corruption of Arab, bahman, behmen, a kind of root, also a dog-rose.] 1. A name which the old herbalists had received apparently from Arabic sources, without knowing to what plant it belonged, and which different authors consequently tried to identify with many different plants. In England it was chiefly affixed to the Bladder Campion (‘White Behen’), and Sea Lavender (‘Red Behen’). 1578 Lyte Dodoens in. xxii. Called .. of herboristes at this day Behen, or Been album. 1682 Grew Atiat. Seeds i. §7 The Seed also of Ben or spatling Poppey is somewhat like a Kidney. 1769 Sir J. Hill Fam. Herbal (1812) 33 Red Behen, a wild plant about our sea coasts.. also called by some sea lavender. 1721 Bailey, Behen, Behn, the root of Valerian, either red or white. 1783-Behen, Behn, there is the white and red; the first is likewise called .. Bladder Campion; the other is also called .. Sea Lavender. 2. = BEN.

behenetic, behenic:

see benic.

beheouen, obs. form of

behove v.

f be’heretic, v. Obs. [f. be-5 + heretic.] trans. To call, stigmatize, or treat as a heretic. *539 Taverner Gard. Wysdome n. 16b, Some, we beheretike, we call Lutheranes, and all that naught is. 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 13 Would you that Prelacy and Priesthood should .. be-heretick and sect you?

behest (bi'hest), sb. Forms: i behses, 2-3 bihese, biheaste, 2-6 bi-, byheste, 3-6 beheste, 4-5 be-, bi-, byheest(e, 4-6 bi-, byhest, 6-7 beheast, 4behest. [OE. behaes fern. (acc. behaese) was the regular repr. of OTeut. *bihait-ti-, abst. sb. f. bihait-an, in OE. behatan to behight (see Sievers, Ags. Gr. §232); thence, early ME. bihese, soon altered to bihes-te, by form analogy with words in -te, OE. -t. For full phonetic history see hest. The OE. bihses, like the vb. bihatan, occurs only in the sense of ‘promise, vow,’ but in ME. biheste acquired the sense of the simple hees, hest, f. hatan ‘to command’; see hight. Cf. the equivalent behote, OE. behat neut., with its ME. variants behete, behight.] f 1. A vow, promise. Very common in the phr. land, of behest land of promise. Obs. a 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 61 But [we] lesten ure bihese. 1205 Lay. 1263 He bi-heihte hire biheste. c 1230 Hali Meid. 39 Ich habbe ihalden mine biheaste £>ruppe. C1300 St. Brandan 76 Bifore the 3ates of Paradys in the Lond of Biheste. C1386 Chaucer Frankl. Prol. 26 Breken his biheste. 1388 Wyclif Heb. xi. 9 Bi feith he dwelte in the loond of biheest. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iv. xxvi. 193 Why is this commaundement gyuen with a byhest of helthe. 1562 Foxe A. & M. I. 454/1 He behight to him and to his Heirs the Land of behest. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 89 She made a large behest, Of gold that she would franklike give. 1634 Malory's Arthur (1816) I. Prol. 13 Duke Joshua, which brought the children of Israel into the land of beheast.

2. A command, injunction, bidding. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 33 }>u scoldest halden cristes biheste. 1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xxiv. 33 Moises comaundide a lawe in the comaundementis of rbtfulnessis.. and biheestis to Israel. 1528 More Heresyes 1. Wks. 157/2 That thei should kepe his byhestes. 1591 Spenser Ruines Time 73 To fall before her feete at her beheast. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 238 Us he [God] sends upon his high behests. 1857 Buckle Civilis. iii. 140 We see the subtlest.. of all forces .. obeying even the most capricious behests of the human mind.

fbe'hest, v. Obs. Also 2 bihaste, 6 beheast; pa. pple. 6 behest, [f. prec. sb.] trans. (or with subord. cl.) To vow, promise. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 185 Jju .. bihastest us wip pon pet we neomen hit heouenliche blissen. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas II. xii. (1554) 51 God hath behested to Dauid and his lyne .. In Jerusalem how they shal succede. c 1440 Promp. Pare. 29. 1477 Marg. Paston in Lett. 809 111. 215 The gyrdyl that my fadyr be hestyt me. 1519 Horman Vulg. 3 b, I haue behest a pygge to saynt Anthony. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xiii. 3 Thou haddest euen vowed and beheasted thy selfe to utter ruine. 1566 Gascoigne Jocasta Wks. (1587) 92 As much as late I did behest to thee.

fbe'hesting, vbl. sb. Obs. rare~x. [f. prec. + -ING1.] Bidding, command. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iv. (Arb.) 1x5 We rely toe thyn hautye behestings.

behet,

obs. pa. t. of behight

behete, variant of behight

v.

to promise.

beheeter. Obs. [f. behete behight v. + -er: cf. behighter.] A promiser. 1382 Wyclif 2 Macc. x. 28 Hauynge the Lord biheeter [v.r. behetere] of victorie. -Heb. vii. 22 Jhesu is maad biheter of the betere testament.

f be'heting, vbl. sb. Obs. [f. as prec. + -iNGhcf. behoting.] Promise, promising. *303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11220 x, 3e shende hyt [wedlock] wyp 30ure fals behetyng. 1400 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 242 A fals by-hety[n]g.

t be'hew, v. Obs. Pa. pple. behewen, behewe. [f. be- 1 + hew v. Cf. OE. beheawan to hew off.] trans. To hew about, to carve.

byhetuth alle po. c 1530 Hanley in Prynne Sov. Power Pari. II. (1643) 67 The King shall answer, I grant and behete.

y. 4-5 behyte, 6 behy3t, -height, -hite, Sc. hecht, 6-7 -hight. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 11 If pe pope .. behi3t ani swilk pingis. Ibid. 69 Wan pe prest.. behytip suelk an absolucoun. 1513 Douglas JEneis 1. vi. 94, I 30U behecht [v.r. hecht]. 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 136 Promisyng and behightyng by the faith of his body. 1581 Marbeck Bk. Notes 458 It bringeth and beheighteth good thinges. 1610 Barrough Meth. Physick. 1. xxviii. (1639) 45 [They] often behight and determine to kill themselves.

2. Past t. a. 1-4 behet, 2 -heot, 4 -heet, -hete, -hett. c 1000 TElfric Deut. v. 2 Drihten God behet us wed. a 1100 O.E. Chron. an. 1036 JE\c man yfel him behet. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 71 Swa he )?urh pe wite3a bihet. a 1225 Ancr. R. 176 Salue ich bihet to techen ou. C1300 Harrow. Hell 199 Do me as thou bihete. c 1400 Gamelyn 783 He him beheet That he wolde be redy whan the justice seet. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 98 He .. pat biheet me ri3t.

£. 1 beheht, 3-5 -heyght(e, 5-6 -height; 4 -hy3t, 4-6 -hight, 5 -hite, 5-6 -hyght, 6 Sc. -hicht.

[OE. behydan-, f. be- + hydan to hide.] trans. To hide away, conceal.

C1300 K. Alis. 3925 A byheste, That Darie byheyghte. C1320 R. Brunne Medit. 1027 As poxi me behy3te. C1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 1614 Myn owen knight Schal have his lady, as thou him bihight. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 122 Vertuys, pe whiche he be-hite in baptyme. c 1500 Lancelot 1481 The lond, the wich he them byhicht. 1527 Caxton's Treviso's Higden 1. lviii. 53b, Scottes sente y* Pyctes..and behyght them helpe. 1569 Turberv. Poems, Your comely hewe behight me hope.

ctooo Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxv. 25 Ic..behydde [c 1160 Hatton behedde] pin pund on eorSan. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 109 pe bihut his gold hord on heouene riche, a 1225 Ancr. R. 100 Hit is bilepped & bihud.

y. 4-5 be-, bi-, byhi3te, -hy3te, -higte, 5-6 -hyghte, -highte. After final e became mute, this was of course identified with j3.

Guy Warw. 125 Stonis.. Bihewe quarre for the nonis. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1306 It was all with [v.r. of] gold behewe. CI314

fbe'hide, v. Obs. Forms: 1 behydan, 2 behuden.

t be'hie, v. Obs. In 4 bihyye, 5 byhye. [f. be- + hie v.] refl. To hie oneself, make haste. c 1340 Cursor M. 5087 Bihyje jou swipe hoom to go. CI425

Seven Sag. (P.) 952 The bore byhyde hym thydyr

faste.

c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1204 He niste what he juggen of it myghte, Syn she hath broken that she hym byhighte. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xiv. 7 He byhi3te for to 3eue to hir. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 404 Wole not performe what he so behi3te. a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 309 Iesu hathe sente the holy goste that he behyghte.

8. 4-5 behit.

fbe'hight, v. Obs. For forms see below. [An OTeut. compound vb.: OE. bi-, behatan = OHG. biheizan, Goth, bihaitan (in derivatives), f. bi-, be- + OE. hatan — Goth, haitan to call, pa. t. haihdit, (= hehait), pa. pple. haitans. The reduplicated pa. t. appeared in OE. as heht (:—*'hehat:—*he'hat:—he'hait), contr. het (pi. hetori). As there was no other Eng. vb. exactly parallel, the isolated inflexion of hatan and behatan was in ME. subjected to a remarkable series of changes, resulting finally in the loss of the original present stem, and the substitution of that of the past as a new present, with weak inflexions. 1. The OE. original forms of the pres, behate, and pa. pple. behaten, gave regularly the ME. behote and behoten (to c 1525). The OE. pa. t. behet gave ME. behet (-heet, -hete), found after 1400; beheht gave bi-heyght, -height, more usually behijt, -hight (-hyht, -hyght, and in 15th c. -hite). But in the course of the 14th c., the normal forms, behote, behet -height -hight, behoten, began to be disturbed under the influence of levelling, and of various assumed analogies. 2. Thus, the Present took the vowel of the then archaic past, and became behete, -heete, frequent in Wyclif, Chaucer, and Lydgate. The Past was occasionally assimilated to the pple. as behotte, behote', but far more frequently the pple. was assimilated to the pa. t., first as behet, -hete, then as beheyght, behight, in 16th c. also behite. The Past behight was then made weak, as be-hight-e (3 syllables; cf. forms like mighte, lighte)', and finally behight (behite) was taken as present, and the pa. t. and pple. duly became in 16th c. behighted (behited); cf. lighted for earlier lighte. Rare forms of the pa. t. were c 1400 behit (cf. lit = lighted), and in 16th c. behoted, formed on the original present behote. See further under the simple hight v. Towards the end of the 16th c. behight became obsolete, but was kept up by the Spenserian archaists, who often misunderstood its meaning, and employed it in mistaken senses.] A. Illustration of Forms. 1. Present, a. 1-3 behate; 3-4 bi-, 3-6 behote. a 1000 .SJlfric Deut. xxiii. 21 Donne 8u behat heh.rtst c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 161 Moni mon bihateS wel pe hit foneteft sone. a 1225 Ancr. R. 8 3e ne schulen nout bihoten hit, auh .. doS hit as pauh 3e hefden hit bihoten. 1340 Ayenb. 65 3uyche men pet.. behotep ping pet hi nele na3t healde. c 1400 Gamelyn 378 ffor to holden myn a-vow as I the byhoote. a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 61 He behoteth that.. there shall be encresed peace and accorde. [1591 Lambarde Arch. 141 That the Lord of Bedford.. nor other of the Councell shall behote any favour.]

/3. 4-6 behete, beheete. c 1340 Cursor M. 6872 So dud prince & als prophete As god dud to him bihete [v.r. hete, hette]. c 1388 Wyclif Wisd. ii. 13 He biheetith [1382 behoteth] that he hath the kunnyng of God. C1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. & T. 154 Neuere heere after wol I with hym meete.. I yow biheete [v.r. be-, by-, -hete], 01400 Chester PI. 31, I thee behette. c 1420 Chron. Vilod.. 1014 Depe dampnacyon God

ri400 Apol. Loll. 10 Crist..behit vs heuenly kyndom.

e. 5 behotte, 5-6 behote. r 1425 Three Kings Cologne (1885) 9 And [pei] byhotten 3iftes to pe kepers. 1493 Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 115 Thou behote me a chylde, and now is the mother deed.

£. 6 behoted. 1520 Caxton's Chron. Eng. 11. 15/2 Those that me other wise behoted [ed. 1480 Tho that me other wyse behyghten].

Tj. 6 behighted, -hited, -heighted. 1562 Foxe A. & M. I. 456/2 For so thou behited us sometime. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxix. 452 Let vs see what time they behighted for his comming.

3. Pa. pple. a. 1-3 behaten, 2-6 -hoten, 3-6 -hote. CI175 Cott. Horn. 225 Swa swa him aer be-haten wes. c 1314 Guy Warw. 104 Bihoten Ich it haue a maiden of priis. c 1400 Beryn 2528 Delyvir me of sorowe, as yee be-hote have. 01520 Myrr. Our Ladye 267 He hathe behote..to gyue a hundereth folde. 1562 Foxe A. & M. I. 454/2 It was byhoten by Jeremiah. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Dec. 54 But better mought they haue behote him Hate.

/3. 4 behet, 5 -hete. a 1400 Cursor M. 3010 (Trin.) 8 Hir son .. pat was longe bihet tofom. Ibid. 13137 This childe was by-hete [t>.r. bihett] many a yere Ar he were sent, c 1460 Towneley Myst. 31 As thou me behete hase.

y. 4 byheght, 4-5 bihy3t, -hyght, -hi3t, -hight, behi3t, -hy3t, -hyht; 4-6 behight, -hyght, -hite. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 29 pe happes alle a3t pat vus bihy3t weren. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 429 God haves byheght horn. 1388 - Ecclus. viii. 16 If thou hast bihi3t. 1447 Bokenham Seyntys Introd. 6 Aftyr I had behyht the ryng. 1510 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xviii. E v, The mede of theym is behyght for to come. 1553-87 Foxe A. & M. I. 541/1 To wakers God has behite the Crown of Life. 1596 Spenser F.Q. 1. x. 50 The keys are to thy hand behight.

8. 6 behited, -highted, -heighted. 1574 tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 37 He hath behyghted vs euerlasting life. 1577 St. Aug. Manuell 26 The light that God hath behighted them. 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. ci. 399 His knights had all behited them fulfild.

B. Signification. 1. Proper senses. 1. To vow, to promise. a. trans. (with dative of the person.) a 1000 TElfric Gen. xxxviii. 17 06 pset J>u me sende pzet j?u me behsetst. CI300 Beket 1010 The King bihet hem gret honur. 1369 Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 631 The trayteresse false and full of gyle, That al behoteth, and nothing halt. 01420 Occleve De Reg. Princ. 2337 A kyng ought.. No thyng bihete but yf he it perfourme. 1556 Abp. Parker Psalter cxvi. 16, I now will paye, My vowes that I behight. 1621 Bp. Mountagu Diatribae 506, I behight thee the Tenth of all my gettings.

b. with inf. or subord. cl. c 1205 Lay. 18396 Godde we scullen bihaten ure sunnen to beten. c 1340 Cursor M. 5431 (Trin.), I bihete pe ri3t hit shal be done. C1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 92 The payens behight her .. that she shulde haue a gret somme of moneye. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxi. 211 He .. behi3t hym for to done his message. 1496 Dives Paup. (W. de W.) 1. xl. 81 He that behoteth to come ayen. 1610 Barrough Meth. Physick 1. xxviii. (1639) 45 [The melancholious] desire death, and do very often behight and determine to kill themselves.

2. trans. To encourage expectation, to hold out hope of (life, recovery, etc.). c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 788 He had.. pe fevere quarteyne, pat no mon pat sye hurre by-hette hurr pe lyff. 0 1552 Leland Brit. Coll. I. 231 This William.. was wounded so sore that no man beheight him life. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. ix. 14 He behighteth himselfe saufty even in the mouth of death.

3. trans. To assure (one) of the truth of a statement; to warrant. (Cf. mod. I promise you.) C1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 1034 Litel whil it last, I you biheete. c 1430 Syr. Tryam. 18 He had a quene. .Trewe as stele, y yow be-hett. 1513 Douglas JEneis 1. vi. 94 Dido heyrat comouit, I 30U behecht.. followschip redy made.

II. Improper uses by the archaists of the 16th and 17th cc., when the word was becoming obsolete; cf. the simple hight, also behest. 4. trans. To grant, deliver. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. x. 50 The keys are to thy hand behight By wise Fidelia.

5. To command, bid, ordain. C1591 Spenser Muiopotmos 241 It fortuned (as heavens had behight) That, etc. 1596-F.Q. vi. ii. 39 He .. with her marched forth, as she did him behight.

6. To call, toname. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Apr. 120 They bene all Ladyes of the lake behight. Ibid. Dec. 54 Love they him called .. But better mought they have behote him Hate. 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuff e (1871) 72 Which .. are behighted the trees of the sun and moon. 1652 Ashmole Theat. Chem. 1. 129 After Philosophy I you behyte.

7. To bespeak, invoke. 1615 T. Adams Lycanthr. Ep. Ded. 3, I behight you in my prayers, a happy progresse in grace.

t be'hight, sb. Obs. Forms: 5 behijt, 6 -hight, Sc. behicht, -hecht. [f. prec. vb.: cf. the parallel behete, behote.] A promise. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 57 After His blessing and silk behi3t. c 1505 Dunbar None may Assure xii, Quhais fals behechtis as wind hym wavis. 1533 Bellenden Livy 11. (1822) 130, I wil nocht dissave the Tarquinis.. with vane behichtis. 01547 Earl Surrey Psalm lxxiii. 25 [Not] In other succour.. But only thine, whom I have found in thy behight so just.

t be'highted, ppl. a. Obs. Promised. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xi. 2 This behyghted kingdome. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. Prose Add. (1612) 332 His Troians disanker from Thrace in quest of the behighted Italie.

fbe'highter. Obs. rare. A promiser. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 105 J>ei are largist bihi3tars, and scarsist geuars.

behind (bi’haind), adv., prep, (sb.) Forms: i behindan, (Northumb. bihianda), 2-3 bihinden, 3 (Orm.) -hinndenn, 2-4 -hinde, 3-4 byhynde, 4 bi-, by-hynden, bi-henden, -hynde, -hind, beheinde, 4-6 behynde, 5-7 behinde, 4- behind. [OE. bi-, behindan, identical w. OS. bihindan, f. bi-, be- + hindan, OHG. hintana, mod.G. hinten. Gothic hindana adv., ‘from behind,’ ‘behind,’ f. root hind- in hinder, hindmost, with advb. suffix -ana, orig. meaning direction from-, the notion of position is given by be-. Behind is used both absolutely (as adv.), and with an object (as prep.), the latter originating in an OE. dative of reference, behindan him ‘in the rear as to him’; in Gothic hindana took a genitive, hindana Iaurdanaus ‘from the back of the Jordan.’ In its sense-development the word is one, though for practical purposes the adverbial and prepositional construction are here treated separately.] A. adv. I. In relation to an object in motion. 1. In a place whence those to whom the reference is made have departed; remaining after the others have gone. Esp. used with leave (1let obs.), remain, stay, abide, a. lit. c 900 O.E. Chron. an. 894 Da Deniscan steton paer be hindan. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xxiv. 29 Jju .. hone hehstan heofon behindan laetest. Ibid. xxvi. 23 He let him behindan hyrnde ciolas. c 1305 St. Swithin 99 in E.E.P. (1862) 46 Ne lef pu no3t bihynde. CI450 Rob. Hood (Ritson) I. i. 46 We shall abide behynde. £1500 Merck. & Son in Halliw. Nugae Poet. 26 Here ys a fytt of thys matere; the bettur ys behynde. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, in. 306 He.. leaves the Scythian Arrow far behind. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. iii. (1806) 13 Too generous to attempt leaving us behind. 1782 Cowper J. Gilpin 60 Betty screaming came downstairs, ‘The wine is left behind!’ 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. (1875) I. 64 Even the slaves were not left behind.

b. fig. In the position, condition, or state which a person or thing has left: e.g. in existence after one’s death. c 1400 St. Alexius 20 Richesse he lete al Bihynde. ? 1595 Babes in Wd. (Ritson) 16 They died And left two babes behind, a 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 15 To leave this world behinde, is death. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic 68 Gross humours Winter hath left behinde. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 132 All evils .. That opulence departed leaves behind. 1829 Southey Sir T. More II. 138 When they were advanced from a private station, they left behind them the leisure. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 73 The salt is left entirely behind, and nothing but pure water evaporated.

c. In the time which one has lived beyond, in the past. [1382 Wyclif Phil. iii. 13 For3etinge.. tho thingis that ben bihyndis.] 1526 Tindale ibid., I forget that which is behynde. c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. 1, My grief lies onward and my joy behind. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxxvii, As in the winters left behind, Again our ancient games had place.

|2. After one has left (a company), in one’s absence. Obs., and now expressed by ‘behind one’s back’: see B9. a 1000 Bi manna Lease (Gr.) 4 Eorl oSerne.. mid teonwordum taeleS behindan, spreceS fajere beforan. CI175

BEHIND

76

BEHIGHT

Lamb. Horn. 143 pe pet spekeS faire biforen and false bihinden. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iii. iii. (1483) 51 Ye have shewed them in presence good chere .. but behynde ye have ben fals traytours.

3. a. In the rear of anything moving; following, in the train; not so far forward, to come behind: to follow, come after, to fall behind: to fall into the rear through not going so fast or ‘keeping up.’ [^950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark v. 27 [ Wif] cwom in Sreat bihianda.] 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. iv. 37 Ther connynge clerkus shullej? clocke by-hynde. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 72 The further ye go, the further behynde. ci575 J. Still Gamm. Gurton v. in Dodsley (1780) II. 77 As proude come behinde, as anie goes before. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, ill. 708 Late to lag behind, with truant pace. 1857 Mary Howitt Web-Spinner, I am wearied with a long day’s chase, My friends are far behind. 1858 C. Patmore Angel in Ho. xii. iii, Her laughing sisters lagg’d behind.

fb. of following in time: Later, those that come behind: posterity. Obs. c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) 1. v. 420 Least his fame should be buried clean From those that came behind. 1628 Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 40 Men.. are many times to fall first to action, the which ought to come behind.

4. fig. (from 1) In reserve, kept back, not yet brought forward or mentioned; still to come. 1250 Lay. 18012 He hadde bihinde ehtetene )?ousend. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 6 b, Smoke, the more it encreaseth, the lesse is behynde. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 276 b, There is but a veraye litle litle tyme of my life behinde. 1603 Shaks. Meas. for M. v. 545 Wee’ll show What’s yet behinde. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. v. 46 He .. told what was behinde of his former discourse. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Upr. Wks. 1730 I. 73 The oddest and most comical scene is still behind. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 67 If 2 The expectation of some new possession, or of some enjoyment yet behind. 1818 Macaulay in Trevelyan Life I. ii. 96 But stronger evidence is behind.

5. fig. (from 3.) a. Of progress, advancement, or attainment; hence, of rank, order, subordination. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 213 )?enne man bipecheS oSer • he him makeS to ben bihinden of pat he weneS to ben biforen. C1300 Cursor M. 6073 Qua for pouert ys be-hinde. 1526 Tindale j Cor. i. 7 So that ye are behynde [Wyclif fail, 1611 come behinde] in no gyfte. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. iii. xviii. 83 You., shall see Yourselues to come behind in Armes. 1788 Miss Burney Diary, etc. (1842) IV. 42 Mrs. Montagu, who was behind with no one in kind speeches. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 462 The opponents were not behind in violence.

be admitted. 1926 R. Macaulay Crewe Train 11. ii. 64 Leonard’s fate will be settled by the time the curtain goes up. He’s gone behind, poor Leonard.

8. Towards the rear, backwards. (With look or equivalent verbs.) c 1340 Ayenb. 130 Yzyp aboue and benepe, and beuore and behynde. 1382 Wyclif Judg. xx. 40 Beniamyn biholdynge bihynde.. turnede the face. 1604 Shaks. Oth. 11. i. 158 She that could.. See suitors following, and not looke behind. 1692 E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. (1737) xii, Run, Nor look behind. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 708 Th’ unwary Lover cast his Eyes behind. 1799 Wordsw. Lucy Gray xvi, O’er rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind. 1867 Alford Hymn 'Forward,' Seek the things before us, Not a look behind.

9. To the back, into the rear, f to put behind (obs.): to put into the rear, out of sight, into the background, or into a subordinate position. c 1380 Wyclif 3 Treat, i. 61 Shrift to God is put bihynde .. but privey shrift newe foundun is autorisid as nedeful to soulis heele. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 90 Put not His bidding be hynd. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas 1. iii. (1544) 6 a, The pride of Nembroth there was put behind, c 1450 Rob. Hood (Ritson) 1. i. 1072, I dyd holpe a pore yeman, With wronge was put behynde. a 1887 Mod. Go behind and look for it.

B. prep. I. With the object in motion. I. a. In a place left by (one who has gone on). Usually^with leave, remain, stay, expressed or understood. C1200 Ormin 8913 He wass pa bihinndenn hemm bilefedd att te temmple. 01300 Cursor M. 15879 Lafte pei not bihynden hem pe fals feloun Iudas. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 143 To leue our beest behynde vs. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, iv. ii. 84 Leaue me heere in wretchednesse, behinde ye. 1874 Farrar Christ I. 477 Leaving behind him those Phoenician shrines, a 1887 Mod. She has resolved to stay behind me for a few days.

b. fig. In a condition or state left by (one); in existence, in life, in the world after one is ‘gone.’ 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. 11. i. 20 He left behind him myself and a sister, a 1694 Tillotson (J.) Piety and virtue are not only delightful for the present, but they leave peace and contentment behind them. 1759 Johnson Rasselas xxx. Wks. (1825) I. 263 The old Egyptians have left behind them monuments of industry. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. vi. (1876) 420 The last King who left behind him a name for just and mild government.

c. fig. In time left by (one); in time past. 1832 Tennyson Locksley H. 13 When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed.

f2. After the departure of (a person); in the absence of. Obs. (Now, behind his back: see 9.)

b. In reference to the fulfilment of an obligation, esp. of paying money due: In arrear. Const, with money unpaid, or the person to whom it is due; in fulfilling an obligation.

C1300 Beket 1374 To deme a man bihynden him thou wost hit nere no lawe. 1340 Ayenb. 10 J?o pet misziggej? guode men behinde ham. 1470-85 Malory Arthur (1816) I. 357 Many speak more behind him than they will say to his face.

c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 252 So many men in pis world ben byhynde of dette of love. 1454 E.E. Wills (1882) 133 His wages beyng be-hynde. 1493 Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 20 Ye that be behynde [in making shrift].. come and shryve you. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, xi, If the seid annuell rentes .. be behynde. 1596 Danett Comines' Hist. Fr. (1614) 239 Maximilian was behind with them for certaine moneths pay. 1614 R. Tailor Hog hath lost Pearl 1. i. in Dodsley (1780) VI. 381, I am behind with my landlord a year. 1697 C'tess. D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 86 A man of good quality.. much behind in the world. 1765 Act 5 Geo. II, xvii. §3 in Oxf. Camb. Enact. 75 In case the rent or rents .. shall be behind or unpaid. 1885 Manch. Exam. 21 July 5/2 If the tenant falls behind with his instalments.

3. a. In the rear of (one moving); following, after.

6. a. After due time; late or slow in coming forward. Obs. exc. Sc. c 1330 Assumpt. Virg. 808 Euer art j>ou bi-hynde, Whare hast |?ou so longe bene? 1414 Brampton Penit. Ps. lxv. 25 Lete no3t thi mercy be behynde. 1727 Walker Life Peden 38 (Jam.) He was never behind with any that put their trust in him. 1787 Beattie Scotticisms 14, I fear I shall be behind, i.e. not arrive in time. —Late, too late.

b. Of a watch or clock: Slow. 1787 Beattie Scotticisms 15 My watch is behind, before: slow, fast, are better.

II. In relation to objects at rest. 7. a. On the back side, at the back; in the rear of anything stationary having a recognized front. C1220 Sawles Warde in Cott. Horn. 251 SpeoweS ham eft ut biuoren ant bihinden. c 1305 Judas Iscar. 83 in E.E.P. 109 He smot him wip a ston bihynde in ^e pate, c 1400 Destr. Troy xxiii. 9540 He was brochit J?urgh the body with a big speire, pat a trunchyn of pe tre tut out behynd. a 1540 Pilgrim's T. 66 in Thynne's Animadv. 79 In myn eyr behynd I herde a bussinge. 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. v. i. 43 Caska, like a curre, behinde Strooke Caesar on the necke. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 1. 5 The Servants behind.. were unable to contain from laughing. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc iv. 388 From behind a voice was heard. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 152 A., smooth surface, concave from behind forwards. 1837 Marryat Dog-Fiend viii, She had .. a back¬ door into the street behind.

fb .fig. At one’s back, supporting, backing up. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. vii. 71 The remainder of the regiment.. [was] giuen to Sir lames Creeton, there being behind Captain Lucy.. with diuerse other .. Captaines.

c. At the back or on the farther side of some object, so as to be hidden. Chiefly fig. a 1887 Mod. That seems fair enough, but is there anything behind?

d. ellipt. for behind the scenes (see sense B. 6 c). 1824 J. Decastro Memoirs 8 To visit the theatre whenever he was so disposed, either in front or behind. 1856 Dickens Dorrit 1. xx. 283 But the idea, Amy, of you coming behind! I never did! 1885 G. B. Shaw in Works (1932) VI. 202, I am going to take a peep behind: that is, if non-performers may

C1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 185 By-hynde this god.. I saw comynge of ladyis nynetene. 1610 Shaks. Temp. iv. i. 11 She will outstrip all praise And make it halt, behinde her. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 700 And close behind him follow’d she. 1742 Young Nt. Th. 1. 171 Joy behind joy, in endless perspective! 1808 Scott Marm. 1. vii, Behind him rode two gallant squires.

b. with reference to any kind of progress, attainment, or position or order attained: Inferior to. 1526 Tindale 2 Cor. xi. 5, I suppose that I was not behynde the chefe apostles. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. 1. vi. §2 Wks. 1841 I. 164 Beasts, though otherwise behind men, may .. in actions of sense and fancy go beyond them. 1625 Burges Pers. Tithes 24 The practise of such as are behind him in estate. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. 1. xv. (1865) 121 She is in some things behind her years. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 68 They were some centuries behind their neighbours in knowledge. c. To be behind the times see time sb. 5 a.

Also attrib.

:

1905 Daily Chron. 14 Feb. 6/3 A slow-going, fashioned, behind-the-times country.

old-

4. Later than, after (the set time), i.e. after the set time has passed. In ‘behind time’ there is an expression of blame not present in ‘after time.’ 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. iv. i. 195 If you.. come one minute behind your hour. 1632 Rutherford Lett. 26 (1862) I. 98 We be but half-hungered of Christ here, and many a time dine behind noon. 1853 C. Bronte Villette 180 ‘Ten minutes behind his time,' said she.

II. With the object at rest. 5. a. In the space lying to the rear of, on the back side of (a person, or object that has a front and back), behind fortifications, etc.: inside of, so as to be defended by them. CH75 Lamb. Horn. 165 He is buuen us and binepen, biforen and bihinden. a 1225 Juliana 73 Bihinden hare schuldren. CI300 K. Alis. 2013 Y wol. . faste bynde, His honden his rug byhynde. CI320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 553 He hadde, bihinden his paleys, A fair gardin. 1611 Bible Ex. xiv. 19 The pillar of the cloud, .stood behinde them. 1760 Johnson Idler No. 95 [f6 They wondered how a youth of spirit could spend the prime of life behind a counter. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxii. (1806) 132 Next morning I took my daughter behind me. and set out on my return home. 1849 Kingsley Pr. Idylls (1875) 295 The gentleman from Lloyd’s with the pen behind his ear.

b. fig. At the back of (any one) as a support; backing (one) up. 1882 Pall Mall G. 24 June 1 The great arbitragists who have behind them the wealthy financial houses in London.

6. a. On the farther side of (an object) from the spectator or point of reference; beyond.

BEHINDER CI325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 653 J>e burde byhynde J>e dor for busmar la3ed. a 1400 Chester PI. 209 Alas! that I were awaie Ferre behynde France! 1653 Holcroft Procopius iv. 120 All behinde the end of the Euxine is Lazica. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, hi. 330 Behind the Mountain, or beyond the Flood. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xi, He stood hid.. Behind a broad hall-pillar. 1832 Ht. Martineau Life in Wilds i. 3 The mountains behind the Cape of Good Hope.

b. fig. At the back of, hidden by, on the side remote from our observation. 1866 J. Martineau Ess. I. 198 Behind every phenomenon we must assume a power.

c. behind the scenes: in the rear of the scenery of a theatre; hence, behind what is publicly displayed, out of sight, in private. Also attrib. and behind^ scene. See also scene 7. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 44 [f 5 Murders and Executions are always transacted behind the Scenes in the French Theatre. 1779 Horne Disc. (1799) IV. vii. 169 In the Scripture-histories we are as it were admitted behind the scenes. 1841 E. Fitzgerald Let. 16 Jan. (1889) I. 64 And go right through it [re. a picture] into some behind-scene world on the other side. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. 316 There lay, .. behind the scenes a whole drama of contention and bitterness. 1933 Essays & Studies XVIII. 156 They [sc. ‘stream of consciousness’ novels] have.. a strong behindthe-scenes interest. 1961 John o'London's 5 Oct. 374/2 His political novel tells the story of the behind-the-scenes struggle for power. 1968 J. W. Wainwright Web of Silence 100 It hit the headlines .. but it didn’t help the behind-scene manoeuvring.

7. Backwards from (oneself), towards what lies in the rear of. (With look and equivalent verbs.) C1374 Chaucer Boeth. hi. xii. 108 Yif he loke byhynden hym. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xix. 26 The wijf of hym [Lot], biholdynge bihynde her. 1611 Bible Judg. xx. 40 The Benjamites looked behind them. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 6 If 13 Venturing to look behind him. i860 Tyndall Glaciers I. § 14. 94 The prospect.. behind us .. grew worse.

8. a. Into the space lying to the rear of, to the back or farther side of. 1250 Lay. 26057 Arthur.. storte bi-hinde an treo. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 643 By-hyndyn the mast begynnyth he to fle. 1611 Bible Matt. xxvi. 23 Get thee behind mee, Satan. - 2 Kings ix. 19 Tume thee behinde me. Mod. The mouse ran behind the sidebord. The sun has sunk behind the mountains.

b. fig. Out of attention or consideration. 1866 Motley Dutch Rep. v. i. 673 The plan of Don John .. I put entirely behind me.

c. to go behind : to press an enquiry into what does not appear on the surface of (any matter), or is not avowed. 1884 M. White in Law Times Rep. LII. 548/2 The rate .. was valid and good on the face of it, and the justices were not entitled to go behind it and inquire whether there was a concurrent rate.

BEHOLD

77 behind-rider, a rear guard; behind-sight nonce-

Behmenism, -ist,

wd. (as contrast to foresight), backward view, retrospection.

Bcehmenist.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P R. xvm. Ixvii. (1495) 823 [The leoperde] reseth on hym behyndeforth wyth bytyng and wyth clawes. 1471 Hist. Arriv. Edw. IV (1838) 14 A good bande of speres and archars his behynd-rydars. 1884 Pall Mall G. 8 Feb. 1/1 If our foresight were as good as our ‘behindsight,’ many disasters would never happen.

behof(e,

behinder (bi'haind3(r)). [f. behind adv. 4-er1.] An operative in certain trades, as a tinplate worker whose work lies behind the rolling-mill, and the man who works at the back of a welding-furnace in a tube mill. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 105 Behinder. Tin Plate Worker. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 10 June 2/1 Behinders [tinplate millmen].

behindhand (bi'haindhsend), adv. (and a.) Also 6-7 behind the hand. [f. behind prep. + hand, probably on the analogy of beforehand. Properly an adverb, but in common use as complement of the predicate, in ‘to be behindhand,’ where the distinction of adverb and adjective breaks down: hence sometimes attributively.] 1. In arrear as to the discharge of one’s liabilities, in a state of insolvency, in debt. (Const, with.) r53° Palsgr. 423/2, I am behynde the hande as a man is that is fallen in pouerty. 1535 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 367 He can tell you of more as far behindhand as he. 1542 Udall Apoph. Erasm. 319 b, Sore behynde hande in debte. 1618 Wotton in Reliq. Wotton. (1685) 258 He was Poor and somewhat behind hand. 1647 W. Browne Polexander 1. 134, I finde my selfe behindehand with him more than I am able to pay him. 1704 Swift T. Tub §2 (1709) 48 Having run something behind-hand with the world. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 191 ]f 1 A cold which has., put me seventeen visits behind-hand.

b. In the position of a creditor, entitled to money which is in arrear. 1666 Pepys Diary 19 Dec., Many., are ready to starve, they being five years behind-hand for their wages.

2. Behind time, late, too late, ‘after the event’; out of date, behind the times. 1549 Compl. Scot. 115 This vryting is cum ouer lait and behynd the hand. 1645 W. Lithgow Siege Newcastle (1820) 31 Scottish-men are aye wise behinde the hand. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 129 Jf 5 A Justice of Peace’s Lady, who was at least ten years behindhand in her Dress. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. 1. v. ii. 131 Folly is that wisdom which is wise only behindhand. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 302 Am I perhaps behindhand? come too late?

3. In a state of backwardness, less advanced

III. Phrase.

than others (in); ill provided or prepared (with).

9. behind (one's) back has been used as a more

1542 Udall Apoph. Erasm. 169 a, Leauyng me behynd hande in bountifulnesse. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 84 Unfurnished of warre provision.. being exceedingly behind hand. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 285 Severus was not behind-hand in anything that had been customary. 1768 Sterne Sent.Journ. (1778) 1. 140 Not to be behind-hand in politeness. 1845 Disraeli Sybil (1863) 59 Ah! you were abroad at the time, and so you are behindhand. 1851 Hawthorne Snow Image (1879) 223 A whole class who were behindhand with their lessons.

emphatic expression for behind (one), in all senses; but now spec, in sense 2, in which behind-backs also occurs in Scotch. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 980 pe balleful burde.. Blusched byhynden her bak. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxii. 13 Abraham .. sawe bihynd his bak a wether among the thornes. 1470-85 Malory Arthur (1816) I. 307 To say of me wrong or shame behind my back. 1611 Bible Ex. xxiii. 35 Thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behinde thy backe [1388 Wyclif, behynde thi bodi]. 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 78 The Father and the Son are speaking of thee behind backs. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 109 If 5 Sir Andrew Freeport has said behind my Back, that, etc. 1782 Bp. Newton Wks. II. xxii. 460 The flatterer will.. trumpet forth your praises behind your back. C1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. IV. 14 Tibby was sitting behind backs enjoying the meal. 1864 Linnet's Trial I. III. i. 303, I should be very sorry not to defend people behind their backs.

C. as sb. 1. (colloq. and vulgar): The back side or rear part (of the person or of a garment); the posteriors. 1786 Lounger No. 54. 17 Two young Ladies., with new Hats on their heads, new Bosoms, and new Behinds in a band-box. a 1830 George IV in Sat. Rev. (1862) 8 Feb., Go and do my bidding—tell him he lies, and kick his behind in my name! 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) a.9 That I might not have the front of my trowsers torn as well as the behind. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Let. 19 Jan. (1932) 647 Lucky I’m not a professional behind-kicker. 1928 G. B. Shaw Intell. Woman's Guide lxxiv. 362 You can say ‘If I catch you doing that again I will.. smack your behind’.

2. a. Australian National Football. A scoring kick that earns one point (see quot. 1968). Also attrib. 1888 Pall Mall G. 23 July 6/2 The visitors won by five goals and ten behinds to four goals and eight behinds. 1890 Melbourne Punch 14 Aug. 107/2 South Melbourne 3 goals 10 behinds. 1968 Eagleson & McKie Terminology Austral. Nat. Football 1. 14 A behind is scored when the ball, after being kicked, is touched by or touches any player before passing through the goal posts; or when it touches a goal ost; or when it passes immediately above a goal post or etween a goal post and a behind post; or when it is kicked or knocked through the goal posts by one of the defending players. Ibid. 15 Behind line, the line between the goal and behind posts. Ibid., Behind post, a post seven yards to the side of a goal post, and not as tall as the goal post.

b. (See quots.) 1898 Encycl. Sport II. 143 (Eton football) Each side consists of the ‘bully’, outsides, and behinds, but all except the behinds are commonly spoken of as ‘the bully’. Ibid., The ‘behinds’ are ‘short’ and ‘long behind’ and ‘goals’.

D. Comb, f behind-back(s, see 9 above; behind-forth (obs.), from behind forward;

b. In an incomplete state, unfinished. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. 11. vii. 101 Was there., something behindhand of Christ’s sufferings remaining uncompleted?

4. attrib. Backward, tardy, hanging back. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. v. i. 151 Interpreters Of my behind¬ hand slacknesse.

f5. quasi-s6. The state of being behind. Obs. 1580 Sidney Arcadia 11. (1613) 123 Hee.. invaded Thessalia, and brought Dorilaus to some behind-hand of fortune. 1611 Cotgr., Perdre pied, to.. be driuen to a behind-hand.

f be'hinds, adv. Obs. rare. [f. behind with advb. genitive -es, -s, for earlier -en.\ = behind. 1382 Wyclif [see behind A i c],

f be'hindward, adv. Obs. [f. as prec. -ward.] In the direction that is behind.

+

c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) xiii. Bj, That I myght forgete all thynges the whyche ben behyndwarde.

behite, obs. form of behight v. fbe'hither, adv. and prep. Obs. [f. be- + hither, cf. behind, before, besides, beyond, etc. (A useful word, worth reviving.)] A. prep. 1. On this side of. (L. cis, citra.) 1521 Abp. Warham in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. hi. I. 241 Yt shuld engendre grete obloquy and sclandre to the Universitie, bothe behyther the See and beyonde. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 257 The Italian .. calleth the Frenchman .. and all other breed behither their mountaines Appennines, Tramontani. 1679 Evelyn Diary (1827) III. 14, I called at my cousin Evelyn’s who has a very pretty seat in the forest, 2 miles behither Cliefden. 1711 J. Greenwood Eng. Gram. 82 The Parlour lies behither, or on this Side the Kitchin.

2. Short of, barring, save. i633 G. Herbert H. Baptism in Temple 36 Let me be soft and supple to thy will.. to others, mild, Behither ill. 1671 Oley Herbert's C. Parson Pref. A ij b (N.), I have not any one thing, behither vice, that hath occasioned so much contempt of the clergie.

B. adv. On this side, on the nearer side. 1650 Elderfield Tythes 280 Of what is behither.. I need say nothing.

var. forms of Bcehmenism,

obs. f. of behoof and behoove.

behoft(e:

see bihofthe.

behold (bi'hauld), v. Pa. t. beheld. Pa. pple. beheld, arch, beholden. Chief forms: Inf. 1-2 biheald-an, 2 -helden, 2-5 -hald-e(n, 3-5 -holde(n, 6- behold. Ind. pres. 3rd sing. 2 bihalt. Pa. t. 1-4 beheold, -hield, -held, -huld, -heild, -heeld, 5beheld, (4 beholded). Pa. pple. 4 bihalden, 4beholden, 4-5 beholde, 7- beheld, (4 behelded, beholdyd, 4-6 -ed). For other forms see hold. [OE. bihaldan (WSax. behealdan), identical w. OS. bihaldan, OFris. bihalda, OHG. bihaltan, mod.G. behalten, Du. behouden, f. bi- be- 2 + haldan, healdan to hold. The application to watching, looking, is confined to English.] I. To hold by, keep, observe, regard, look, fl. trans. To hold by, keep hold of, retain. Obs. a 1000 Caedmon's Gen. 366 (Gr.) Daet Adam sceal.. minne stronglican stol behealdan. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 384 Men that biholden [MS. E holden] bileve of Crist. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxiv. [lxix] 222 Euery man behelde the same oppynyon.

b. intr. (for reft.) To hold, keep to. a 1300 Cursor M. 9483 To quas seruis straitly he bi-held.

f2. trans. To hold by some tie of duty or obligation, to retain as a client or person in duty bound. Found only in the pa. pple. beholden, q.v. f 3. a. intr. To hold on by, appertain or belong to. b. trans. To pertain, relate or belong to, to concern. Obs. 01067 Chart. Eadweard in Cod. Dipl. IV. 214 God eow gehealde and alle Se Oat beholde into Sare halagen stowe. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 65 pe pater noster bihalt me noht, bute ic pis habbe in mi poht. 01250 Moral Ode 156 in E.E.P. (1862) 31 A1 hit hanged and bihalt bi pisse twam worde. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 1. ix. 45 Ech of hem [gouemauncis] whiche biholden the making.. of the said sacramentis.

f4. trans. To hold or contain by way of purport or signification, to signify, mean. Obs. C1200 Ormin 13408 We mu3henn sen o 1225 St. Marher. 7 Whet bihalt,.. pat tu

whatt itt bihallt. ne buhest to me?

f5. trans. To hold in regard, keep, observe (commands, appointed days, etc.). Obs. 971 Blickl. Horn. 11 Symle blipe mode Godes beboda utan we behealdan. 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 243 pe Romaynes.. byhelde pilke dayes and wrou3t nou3t pilke dayes.

f6. a. trans. To regard (with the mind), have regard to, attend to, consider, b. intr. To give attention or regard, have regard unto, to. Obs. c 825 Vesp. Ps. lx. 1 Bihald to gebede minum. a 1000 Ags. Ps. lx. 1 Beheald min jebed. a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxi. 1 Unto mi bede bihald pou. C1300 Beket 760 A1 this (ho so r^t bihalth) thu gynnest forth to drawe. 1382 Wyclif Gen. iv. 5 The Lord bihelde to Abel and to his 3iftis. ? a 1400 Cato Major. 11. xxv, Ende and biginnynge of pe werk Bope pou hem bi-holde.

7. trans. a. To hold or keep in view, to watch; to regard or contemplate with the eyes; to look upon, look at (implying active voluntary exercise of the faculty of vision), arch. This has passed imperceptibly into the resulting passive sensation: b. To receive the impression of (anything) through the eyes, to see: the ordinary current sense. (It is not easy to show the beginning of sense b, as nearly all the early instances have some suggestion of the former: the earlier quotations under b. must therefore be treated as merely introductory.) a. 971 Blickl. Horn. 11 Englas hie jeome beheoldan. a 1200 Trin. Horn. 29 pe wimman bihalt hire sheawere and cumeS hire shadewe paronne. c 1250 Owl & N. 1323 On ape mai a boc bi-halde, An leves wenden. a 1300 Cursor M. 290 Behald pe sune and pou mai se. c 1450 Merlin xiv. 225 The maiden hym be-heilde moche, and he her. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. 423 They brought him to the princis.. who behelde hym right fersly and felly. 1530 Palsgr. 447/1 To se an olde ryddylled queene to beholde herselfe in a glasse. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. 1. §2 (1873) 1 Beholding you not with the inquisitive eye of presumption. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1080 How shall I behold the face Henceforth of God or Angel, earst with joy And rapture so oft beheld? 1676 Hobbes Iliad 291 And when enough beholden them he had. 1718 Pope Iliad 1. 553 From far Behold the field. b. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 177 He muwen ben of-drad pe hine sculleS bi-helde. 01225 Ancr. R. 106 He biheold hu his deore deciples fluen alle vrom him. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxiv. 64 Rebecca, Isaac biholdyd, descendide of the camel. 1483 Cath. Angl. 26/1 To behalde: asspicere casu. 1565 Stapleton Fortresse 56 And such as haue not heard haue yet beholded. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. 11. i. 11, I neuer yet beheld that speciall face, Which I could fancie. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 711 On Winter Seas we fewer Storms behold. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems I. 90 These are stars beholden By your eyes in Eden, i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. §16. 109 Anything more exquisite I had never beheld.

|8 .intr. To look. Const, with various adverbs and prepositions. Obs. (exc. as absolute use of

7-) c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 133 Bihald he seide up to heouene. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 153 Bi-hold up to heuene and tel pe

sterres. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 809 Hys face.. J?at watz so fayr on to byholde. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 135 Thanne wolde she.. pitously in to the see biholde. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. 1. 14 Esteward ich byhulde- after pe sonne. 1491 Caxton Vitas Pair. (W. de W. 1495) 11. 2iob/2 The holy fader.. beholdynge upon hym. 1509 Barclay Ship of Fooles (1570) IPIfvj, Beholde vnto the shore. 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. v. iii. 33 Come downe, behold no more. 1634 Malory's Arthur (1816) II. 95 They took their horses, and beheld about them. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc vi. 277 The Maiden’s host beheld.

f9. a. intr. To look or face (as a building) against or to (a direction), b. trans. To face. Obs. 1382 Wyclif Song Sol. vii. 4 The tour of Liban that beholdith a3en Damasch. earfeh] him pset he gehongiga coem-stan. Ibid. John xviii. 14 BehofaC J?aette an monn sie dead fore Csem folce. c 1200 Ormin 17966 Itt bihofehh wel hatt he nu forrjnvarrd waxe. a 1240 Sawles Warde 247. 1375 Barbour Bruce \ 1. 114 And than behufit, he chesit him ane Of thir twa. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 403 It behouys that the blynde bere the halte. 1533 Tindale Lord's Supper 31 It behoveth, that the son of man must die. 1547 Homilies 1. Read. Script. 11. (1859) 15 It behooveth not, that such .. should set aside reading. 1647 W. Browne Polexander 1. 126 It behooves, likewise, that you give some roome and place to those that speake to you. i860 Adler Fauriel's Prov. Poetry xvii. 389 It well behooves that every faithful friend.. should dread to disclose .. his passion.

fd. the thing incumbent elliptically omitted. Obs. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 75 He nis nawiht alse leful alse him bihouede. 1502 Arnold Chron. (1811) 207 The sacramentis freely to make and bere to whom it behougthe. 1644

fbe'hovely, adv. Obs. [f. as prec. +

-ly2: OE.

*behoflice.] Usefully, needfully, necessarily.

[f. behove v. 5: on wrong analogy.] Under obligation, beholden. 1880 Mehalah I. ii. 26, I will in nothing be behoven to the man I abhor.

t be'hovesome, a. Obs. In 4 behouesum, behofsam. [f. behoof 4- -some.] Useful, of service. CI330 Arth. Merl. 2803 Pray to Crist.. A king ous sende that bihouesum be To the right ogains the wrong. 1340 Ayenb. 99 He is pe vayreste and mest behofsam.

be'hoving,ppl. a. arch. [f.

behoved. 4- -ing2.]

That behoves; of use, needful, incumbent.

appropriate,

c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 109 Hwet is elde bihoui[n]ge. 1572 ys mee behovinge. plough behoouing. vii. §2. 252 Very vnpleasing, though greatly behooving to their Estate. 1850 Forrest Theophilus 966 As speciallye 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 8 Things to 1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. iv.

Mrs. Browning Poems II. 399 Unless you can dream that his faith is fast, Through behoving and unbehoving.

t be'hovingly, adv. Obs. [f. prec. 4- -ly2.] As it behoves one; usefully, appropriately. x55^ J. Heywood Spider & F. lxxxviii. 56 Things that I shall moue, Which, to your behofe, behouinglie behoue.

behowl (bi'haul), v. [f. be- 4 4- howl v.\ first suggested by Warburton, 1746, as an emendation of behold in the passage from Mids. N. Dream.] trans. (and refl.) To howl at; to bewail with howls. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. v. 379 Now the hungry Lyons rores, And the Wolfe beholds [behowls] the Moone. 1838 Emerson Misc. 118 It is travestied and depreciated., behooted and behowled. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia I. xiii. 287 Behowling your fate like Achilles on the shores of Styx. 1859 - Misc. I. 35 No wonder, poor fellow, if he behowls himself lustily.. to Cecil.

behuf, obs. form of behoof. behung (bi'hArj), ppl. a. Forms: 1-3 be-, bihonge(n, 3 bihangen, 4 byhong, 7- behung. [See behang.] Hung about; draped with (hangings, etc.). c 897 K. Alfred Gregory's Past. xv. §4 Daes sacerdes hraegl..mid bellum behongen. C1205 Lay. 3637 Hallen bihongen [1250 bihonge] mid pellen. C1300 K. Alis. 201 A1 theo cite was by-hong Of riche baudekyns. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. ill. (1682) 192 Their noses . .behung with Jewels. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. vi. iii. 163 A Serene Highness .. of polite turn, behung with titles.

behusband, behymn, etc.: see be- pref. bei(en, var. of bey

v.

behypocrite,

beice,

Obs. to bend.

beidellite (bai'delait). Min. [f. Beidell (see def.) 4- -ITE1.] A clay mineral from Beidell, Colorado. 1925 Larsen & Wherry in Jrnl. Washington Acad. Sci. XV. 465 Beidellite, a new mineral name .. we now propose .. from the locality of the first occurrence described in detail, Beidell, Colorado.. Al2O3.3SiO2.XH2O. 1932 E. S. Dana Textbk. Mineral. v. vii. 682 Beidellite, Al2O3.3SiO2.4H2O. Probably orthorhombic.. Ironbeidellite is a variety with considerable amount of Fe203. 1955 Brown & Dey India's Min. Wealth (ed. 3) xiii. 532 Beidellite, anauxite and others, in which the proportion of water varies and the ratio of the silica to the alumina changes. 1963 D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation vi. 135 More often..the clay formed is beidellite (Al, Mg)4 (Si Al)8 Oi2(OH)2o which is closely related to montmorillonite.

beidman, beidsman, obs. ff. beadsman. f 'beienlich, a. Obs. [? f. beien, pa. pple. of bey, to bend + -lich, -like1: but cf. bain-ly.] Humble, submissive. c 1205 Lay. 4930 pa answerede Brennes mid beienliche worden.

beife, obs. form of beef. beige (bei3), sb. and a. Also formerly bege. [a. F. beige adj.] A. sb. 1. A fine woollen fabric used as a dress-material, originally left in its natural colour but later dyed in various colours. Also beige cloth. 1858 Simmonds Diet. Trade, Beige, a French coarse cloth. 1879 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Sept. 634/2 The young lady .. is in bege and silk. Ibid. Nov. 755/1 Her skirt is of silk and beige cloth. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Diet. Needlework s.v. Beige or Bege, Beige is made of undyed wool, is an extremely soft textile, graceful in draping, and employed for morning and out-door wear... There is a description of this textile, called snowflake beige, of a neutral ground.

2. A shade of colour like that of undyed and unbleached wool; yellowish-grey. Also beige colour, whence beige-coloured adj. 1879 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Mar. 249/1 Beige shades go with moss-green. Ibid. 250/2 The hat., is of bege-coloured plush. 1896 Daily News 9 May 8/6 The colour of grass lawn is technically known as beige. 1899 Ibid. 19 Aug. 7/4 Beige is the coolest possible colour.

B. adj. Of wool or woollen and other fabrics, etc.: of a natural yellowish-grey colour. 1879 [implied in 2 above]. 1899 Daily News 20 Mar. 8/7 The creamy lace.. will be deep enough in tint to be beige. 1926 British Weekly 24 June 250/5 The dress of beige lace is very much liked just now.

beigel, var. bagel. [1892 Zangwill Childr. Ghetto I. iii. 96 Moses .. treating his children to some Beuglich, or circular twisted rolls.] 1919 Century Mag. July 381/2 The bread-rings called beigel. 1959 Times 8 Dec. 15/4 Six taxi drivers on night duty went to an East End bakery to buy bread rolls known as beigels. 1967 L. Deighton London Dossier 135 An old woman selling beigels.

beigh, obs. form of bee sb.2 ring, and bey to bow.

v.

Obs.

beignet (bejie). Cookery. [Fr.] A fritter. 1835 Irving Tour Prairies xxxiii. 306 We.. supped heartily upon stewed buffalo meat,.. beignets, or fritters of flour fried in bear’s lard. 1892 T. F. Garrett Encycl. Cookery I. 132/1, II. 34/2. 1901 Daily Chron. 7 Sept. 8/4 Cheese beignets.

beik, Sc. form of beek

v.

to warm, and bike.

Beilby ('beilbi).

[Surname of Sir George Thomas Beilby (1850-1924), Scottish industrial chemist.] Beilby layer Metallurgy (see quot. 1958).

1930 N. K. Adam Phys. & Chem. Surfaces vi. 172 The mechanical processes of grinding always result in the formation of a certain amount of the amorphous ‘Beilby’ layer which is obtained by polishing. 1937 Ann. Reg. 1936 63 Electron diffraction examination of engine cylinders showed that a substantial Beilby layer is formed by the ‘running in’ process. 1958 A. D. Merriman Diet. Metallurgy 16/2 Beilby Layer. Beilby’s experiments led him to conclude that the action of polishing a metal surface caused the surface layer to flow like a liquid and then to solidify without recrystallisation, forming an amorphous layer.

beild, variant'of beim,

bield, sb. and v.

obs. form of beam.

bein (bi:n), a. and adv. Obs. except dial. Forms: 2-7 bene, 5-6 beene, (Sc.) beyne, beine, 8-9 bien, bein, 9 been. [Of unknown derivation: the spellings bein, bien, are merely modern Sc. ways of writing been, the regular repr. of ME. bene; the latter rimed with words in e, from OE. e or eo, but no OE. *ben, *bene, *beon is found or etymologically accounted for. The phonetic history shows that the word cannot be connected with ON. beinn, to which, in its fig. sense of ‘hospitable,’ some have plausibly referred it; that word duly survives in north. Eng. as bain. Others have turned to the L. bene or Fr. bien well; but it is not intelligible how either of these could have been adopted in Eng. as an adjective, which appears to have been the earlier use of bene.]

A. adj. fl. Pleasant, genial, kindly; amoenus, almus, benignus.) Obs.

(L.

2. Comfortable, comfortably furnished. Livy (1822) 401 Somer fowlis, quhilkis flies, als sone as hervist cummis, to sum bene hous or secrete hollis. 01560 Rolland Crt. Venus 11. 130 Thair riche array, and thair habillement.. So bene, so big, and so Auripotent. 1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Sheph. 1. i, Were your bien rooms as thinly stock’d as mine, a 1805 Macneill Poems (1844) 110 A bein house to bide in, a chaise for to ride in. 1816 Scott Antiq. xlv, ‘This is a gey bein place, and it’s a comfort to hae sic a corner to sit in.’ 1837 Nicoll Poems (1843) To make our bien but-house his chaumer. Bellenden

3. a. Of persons: Comfortable, well-to-do, well off. a 1548 Thrie Priests Peblis (1603) 78 Syne in ane Hal.. He harbourit al his Burgessis rich and bene. 1603 Philotus, He wantis na jewels, claith, nor waith, Bot is baith big & beine. 1784 Burns Wks. III. 155 The great folk.. that live sae bien an’ snug. 1816 Scott Old Mort. 58 ‘If we’re no sae bein and comfortable as we were up yonder, yet life’s life ony gate.’ 1830 Galt Lazvrie T. iv. i. (1849) 14 A mother-looking personage, not unlike a bein Scotch wife.

b. Of a horse: Well fed, lazy. 1847 Mrs. Gaskell Sexton's Hero in Howitt's Jrnl. II. 151 /1 The old mare, .was a deal beener than she was in the morning.

H 4. In thieves’ cant [perh. distinct from the prec., and immediately from L. bene or F. bien]: Good, bene bowse: good drink; hence benebowsie a. 1567 Harman Caveat (1869) 59 Sell it out right, for bene bowse at their bowsing ken. 1609 Dekker Lant. CandleLt. Wks. 1885 III. 198 Cut benar whiddes [= speake better words]. 1621 B. Jonson Gipsies Metam., You must be benbowsy, And sleepy and drowsy. 1622 Fletcher Beggar's Bush in. iii, I crown thy nab with a gage of bene-bowse. 1652 Brome7oi>. Crew. 11. Wks. 1873 III. 388 For all this bene Cribbing and Peck let us then Bowse a health to the Gentry Cofe of the Ken. Ibid. 391 This is Bien Bowse, this is Bien Bowse, Too little is my Skew. 1834 New Diet. Canting Crew, Bene cove, a good fellow.

B. adv. Pleasantly, genially, kindly. c 1400 Anturs Arth. vi, A lefe sale, Of box and of barbere byggyt ful bene. Ibid, xxix, Beten with besandus, and bocult ful bene. 1513 Douglas JEneis xm. ix. 76 And full beyne [ed. 1553 bene] Tawcht thame to grub the wynis.

fbein (bi:n), v. Obs. [f. prec.] To make‘bein’; to furnish bounteously, to fill. (L. locupletare.) c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 55 Haruest heat, when Ceres that goddesse Her barnes beined hes with aboundance.

be-in

('binn), sb. [f. be v.

+

in adv. after teach-

in, etc.] A public gathering of hippies. 1967 Daily Tel. 23 Mar. 18/8 Thousands of people with painted faces and chests and love on their minds pranced through New York’s Central Park yesterday to celebrate Easter Sunday with a ‘be-in’. 1967 Nova Oct. 115/1 Activities at be-ins have included chanting Hindu prayers, carrying crosses, ringing bells, striking gongs, uttering the word ‘banana’, staring into space, examining other people’s beaded necklaces.

beine

= both: see bo.

being ('bi:ir|), vbl. sb. Forms: 3-6 beinge, 4-6 beyng(e, 5 beenge, beying(e, byinge, 6-7 beeing, 5- being, [f. be v. + -ing1.] 1. a. Existence, the fact of belonging to the universe of things material or immaterial. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 446 pe court of pe kyndom of god alyue, Hatz a property in hyt self beyng. 1340 Ayenb. 103 pet ne ziggej? propreliche pe zope of pe byinge of God. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xxviii. (1483) 74 The seed .. wherof they taken their beynge. 1506 Ord. Crysten Men. (W. de W.) 1. vi. 50, I byleue in the holy chyrche catholyke .. the beynge of all sayntes. 1534 Tindale Acts xvii. 28 In him we lyve, move & have oure beynge. 1647 May Hist. Pari. 11. ii. 22 To subvert the very Rights and Beeings of Parliament. 1667 Milton P.L. 11. 441 With utter loss of being Threatens him. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 381 If 4 The great Author of our being. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 1 Oh happiness! our being’s end and aim. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 72 If 2 Good humour.. is the balm of being. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. App. 610 The house had no corporate being.

b. in being: existing, extant, alive. 1676 Allen Addr. Non-Conf. 48 The Church in being before, had thereby a new Illumination. 1702 Addison Chr. Relig. (1727) 278 Had he quoted a record not in being, or made a false statement. 1788 J. Powell Devises {1827) II. 91 A legacy, to a person in being at the time the will is made.

c. Life, physical existence. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. 1. i. 10 Pisa.. Gaue me my being. 1662 Stillingfleet Orig. Sacrse in. ii. §10 That a power infinite should raise an Insect into Being. 1676 Dryden Aureng-z. in. i. 1476 Our Prophet’s care Commands the Beings ev’n of Brutes to spare. 1713 Guardian No. 1 (f 2 In all the occurrences of a various being. 1754 Sherlock Disc. (1759) 1.11. 76 To call Men from the Graue into Being. 1766 C. Beatty Two Months Tour (1768) 92 In this pleasurable manner they spent their beings. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms 11. 155 Hopeless woe the spring of being feeds.

fd. Occurrence, happening. Obs. ‘nice.’

a 1200 Moral Ode 170 in E.E.P. (1862) 32 Laete we pe brode stret, & pe wei bene. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. no Bonkez bene of beryl bry3t. Ibid. C. 418 J?y bounte of debonerte & py bene grace, c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2475 Gaweyn on blonk ful bene To the kynges bur3 buskez bolde. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 45 On sleepe I fell among the Bewes beene. 1513 Douglas JEneis vi. x. 108 In soft bene medois by clere strandis .. Our habitatioun is. Ibid. vi. v. 36 Into sum benar realm and warm countre. Ibid. ix. xi. 41 Besyde the bene river Athesys.

I533

BEIS

80

BEILBY

1624 Capt. Smith Virginia (1629) 180 margin, A strange being of Rauens.

2. a. Existence in some relation of place or condition. 1526 Tindale Luke ix. 33 Master, it is goode beinge here for us. 1535 Coverdale ibid., Master here is good beynge for vs. a 1617 Hieron Wks. I. 3 Entrance in at the gate presupposeth a beeing without the gate. 1682 Burnet Rights Princes iii. 81 What he has acquired during his being a Bishop. 1692 Ray Disc. 11. v. (1732) 208 The Being of Wolves and Foxes.. anciently in this Island. Mod. After being at home for some time. Through being so tired.

fb. Condition. Obs. c 1300 K. Alis. 224 Heo asked his beinge, an hast, c 1440 Lonelich Grail xlii. 232 Now have I 30W told al in fere Of owre beenge & of owre manere. 1548 Thomas Ital. Gram., Freschezza, lustinesse or fresh beyng.

fc. Position, standing (in the world). Obs. 1627 Feltham Resolves 1. Ixxvi. (1677) 116 Whosoever comes to place from a mean being, had need haue.. Virtue. 1685 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 246 Colonel Norton, who though now in being.. was formerly a very fierce commander in the first rebellion. 1712 Steele Sped. No. 544 If 2 Such .. as want help towards getting into some being in the world. 1818 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 349 He has not kept house; he has had no being in any neighbourhood.

fd. Livelihood, living, subsistence. Obs.

Immut. Mor. iv. iv. (1731) 250 There is a God, or an Omnipotent and Omniscient Being. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 381 If 8 Atheism, by which I mean a disbelief of a Supreme Being. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xlix, That kind Being, who is a friend to the friendless, shall recompence thee for this. 1875 Scrivener Led. Grk. Test. 6 That the Supreme Being should have thus far interfered with the course of his providential arrangements.

c. A human being, a person. (Sometimes contemptuous; sometimes idealistic.) 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 141 If 6 A wit., a species of beings only heard of at the university. 1802 Mar. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xii. 100 This mean, incorrigible being said to himself. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague 1. iii. 33 There I saw A white-robed Being on her knees. 1852 Miss Yonge Cameos II. xxix. 307 The veiled girlish being on whom Henry had set his vehement heart.

d. Phrases in Philos., formed mainly to translate the corresponding Ger. and Fr. expressions, as being-for-(it)self, conscious being; being as actuality; being-in-(it)self, being that lacks conscious awareness; being as mere potentiality; being-itself, pure being, regarded as infinite and uncharacterizable; being-with, human existence, regarded as membership of the community of persons. 1854 Ferrier Inst. Metaph. 525 Our alleged ignorance of ‘Being in itself. 1865 J. H. Stirling Secret of Hegel II. iii. 8 Being-for-self is the literal rendering of Fiirsichseyn; which, indeed, cannot be translated otherwise. 1874 G. S. Morris tr. F. Ueberweg's Hist. Philos. II. ill. 241 The Idea runs through a series of stages, from its abstract being-out-of-self in space and time to the being-in-self of individuality in the animal organism, their succession depending on the progressive realization of the tendency to being-for-self, or to subjectivity. 1892 E. S. Haldane tr. Hegel's Led. Hist. Philos. I. 20 Two different states must be distinguished. The first is what is known as capacity, power, what I call being-in-itself..; the second principle is that of being-foritself, actuality. Ibid. 24 Being-in-self and being-for-self are the moments present in action. 1892 W. Wallace tr. Hegel's Logic vii. 179 The readiest instance of Being-for-self is found in the ‘I’. We know ourselves as existents. 1945 Mind LIV. 177 Since the subject realises itself as a subject, it has being-for-itself and therefore also possesses being-in-itself. 1956 F. Copleston Contemp. Philos, xi. 180 Being-in-theworld is being-with (Mitsein). 1957 Sc. Jrnl. Theol. X. 236 Being-itself, for Tillich, is the only non-symbolic or literal definition of God. 1962 R. G. Olson Existentialism ii. 38 In Satre’s system the noumenal world .. is named ‘being-initself or sometimes simply ‘the in-itself. 1963 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 May 376/5 A certain .. complacency.. seems .. to pervade this world of mutual ‘being-with’.

being (’bini)), ppl. a. [f. be v. + -ing2.] 1. Existing, present; esp. in phr. the time being. 1458 Test Ebor. (1855) II. 225 The covent of the priore .. for the tyme beyng, and thair successours. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxii. 257 The kynges of Englande for the tyme beynge. 1788 J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 341 Where there is a gift to the elder son in terms which would carry it to the eldest for the time being.

2. absol. = It being the case that, seeing, since. See be v. B. 1.3.

1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 33 No being for those, that truly mene, But for such as of guile maken gayne. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety viii. §44. 292 A bare being was all could be expected. 1722 Steele Consc. Lovers iii. i. (1755) 46 It will be nothing for them to give us a little Being of our own, some small Tenement, out of their large Possessions. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 45 Several others .. had likewise very good Beings there.

1840 Galt Demon Dest. iii. 22 We are but things like thee All beingless—the substance of idea. 1864 C. King Gnostics 38 When first the Father, the Inconceivable, Beingless, Sexless, began to be in labour.

3. a. Existence viewed as a property possessed by anything; substance, constitution, nature.

beingness ('biriqms).

1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 17 Als God in a [= one] substance and beyng With outen any bygynnyng. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P R. 11. ii. (1495) 28 The comparyson bitwene a poynte and a lyne in beynge. 1581 Fulke in Confer. III. (1584) Y, The proper substance of Christes body remaineth not, but a generall being thereof. 1659 J. Arrowsmith Armilla Catech. iv. iii. §3. 187 Our very being is none of ours. 1855 Prescott Philip II, I. 11. v. 192 The Romish faith may be said to have entered into the being of the Spaniard, i860 Hawthorne Marble Faun xiii. (1883) 147 Nature has made women especially prone to throw their whole being into what is technically called love.

1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 29 The Entity or Beingness of vertue and operation. 1897 J. H. Stirling Secret of Hegel (ed. 2) 374 One gets a vivid glance of the direct beingness which immediacy amounts to. 1933 Mind XLII. 319 It may be possible to isolate certain aspects of the Aristotelian doctrine of ‘beingness’ or essence which have an obvious affinity with the ideas connoted by the word ‘substance’. 1957 J. F. Horner Summary of Scientology 57 The term, ‘Thetan’, refers to the single unit of beingness which each person is.

b. Essential substance, essence. 1530 Palsgr. 197/1 Beyng, essence. 1656 H. More Antid. Ath. 1. iii. (1662) 13, I define God therefore an Essence or Being fully and absolutely perfect, i860 Emerson Cond. Life 187 We are one day to deal with real being—essences with essences.

4. a. That which exists or is conceived as existing; in philosophical language, the widest term applicable to all objects of sense or thought, material or immaterial. a 1628 E. Greville Ccelia, Sonti. vii. 46 No being was secure. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. v. §5 Species of Actions which were only the Creatures of their own Understandings; Beings that had no other existence, but in their own Minds. .] trans. To deck or adorn with or as with jewels; to spangle. Also Jig. *557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1582) 387 b, The

gorgeous courtyer, bedeckt with gold, be buttoned, & be iewelled. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 21 Those priests.. Bejewel all their necks. 1877 Browning La Saisiaz 588 Laughter so bejewels Learning. Hence bejewelled ppl. a. 1848 Fraser's Mag. XXXVII. 404 Bearing in his hand a bejewelled club. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. 1. i. 2 The white bejewelled fingers of an English countess. 1922 C. E. Montague Disenchantment xii. 168 Now the men would be rising.. with smoking breath and bejewelled eyebrows.

bejig, bejuggle, bejumble, etc.: see be- pref. bejuco (bei'huikau). [Sp.] A liana, esp. the vine Hippocratea scandens of tropical America. 1848 Whittier Slaves of Martinique 19 As the serpent¬ like bejuco winds his spiral fold on fold Round the tall and stately ceiba, till it withers in its hold.

bek(e, obs. form of beak, beck, beek. fbe'ken, v. Obs. Forms: 3-4 bi-, bykennen, 4 biken(ne, 4-5 beken. [f. be- -I- ken.] 1. trans. To make known, to declare, to show. /. a. + -ly2.] In a belated manner. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 21 Sept. 3/3 A fact.. which her allies.. appear now somewhat belatedly to recognise. 1910 H. G. Wells Hist. Mr. Polly ix. 240 He came belatedly in. 1917 Chesterton Short Hist. Eng. 219 Gladstone.. rather belatedly realized that the freedom he loved in Greece and Italy had its rights nearer home. 1950 Engineering 2 June 625/1 A reversal of the trend .. is now belatedly in evidence.

see bael; also obs. variant of bell.

be'laborous, a. nonce-wd.

[f. next + -ous.] Given to belabouring or thrashing.

i860 All Y. Round No. 52. 47 Coleridge, who had many a thrashing.. from the belaborous Doctor .. at the Blue-coat School.

belabour (bi'leibar), v. [f. be- 4 + labour.] 11. trans. To labour at, work at; to exert one’s strength or ability upon, to ply.

Obs.

1604 Dekker Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 73 Husbands, whom they would belabour by all means possible to keepe em in their right wits, a 1631 Drayton Nymphal 8 (R.) Let the nimble hand belabour The whistling pipe. 1686 Barrow Serm. III. 205 If the earth is belaboured with culture.

2. To thrash or buffet with all one’s might. 1600 Abp. Abbot Jonah 529 The tempest which belaboured him. 1609 Rowlands Doct. Merrie-m. 9 His Maister tooke a Cudgell, And belabour’d him withall. 1724 Swift Misc. (1735) V. 60 He saw Virago Nell belabour, With Dick’s own Staff his peaceful Neighbour. 1876 Smiles Sc. Natur. i. 6 They were belaboured with every kind of weapon.

b. fig.

To assail with words.

1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 108 With .. complements hee belaboured him till his eares tingled. 1779 Cowper Lett. 31 Oct., [He] has belaboured that great poet’s character with the most industrious cruelty. 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. vi. 323 Nonsense wherewith the haters of improvement would belabour the audacious innovators.

fbel-accoil, -accoyle. Obs. [a. OF. bel (biel, beal) acoil fair welcome: cf. accoil.] Kindly greeting, welcome.

belah

(’bi:b). Also belar, fbeela, beal. [Aboriginal name.] The Australian name for various trees, chiefly of the genus Casuarina; also the wood of these trees. 1862 H. C. Kendall Poems, Kooroora 14 A voice in the beela grows wild in its wail. 1868 J. A. B. Meta 19 Blazing fire of beal. 1873 Ranken Dom. Australia vi. no These scrubs .. sometimes crown the watersheds as ‘belar’. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought' of Darling xix. 188 Mulga trees, and belar. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Sept. 28/2 The casuarinas—she-oak, silky oak, belar, forest oak and creek or river oak—are all valuable for foilage, timber and bark. 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling xiv. 118 Plenty of timber: wilga, box, cypress, pine, and belah. 1944 F. D. Davison in Coast to Coast 1943 228 The line of wallaby snares in the belah scrub at the back of his selection.

him for the fact. 1611 Cotgr., Coutonner, to cudgell, thwacke, baste, belamme. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais hi. xxxvi. III. 53, I shall bang, belam thee, and claw thee well for thy labour.

tbela'mour. Obs. Also bellamour(e. [f. F. bel fair + amour love. ] 1. A loved one of either sex; lady love, fair lady. 1596 Spenser F.Q. 11. vi. 16 She decks her bounteous boure, With silken curtens.. to shrowd her sumptuous belamoure. 1603 J. Davies Microcosm. 92 His wisdome’s pow’r Did choose me for his chiefest Bellamoure.

2. Love; a glance or look of love.

in ppl. a. belaced.

t'belamy. Obs. Forms: 3-4belami, 3-6belamy,

1648 Jos. Beaumont Psyche n. 48 How to belace and fringe soft love.

4 bele amys, 7 bellamy. [a. F. bel ami (nom. sing. amis) fair friend.] Fair friend, good friend (esp. as a form of address).

1736 Bailey, Belace, the same as to belabour. Wright.

1857 in

be'lace, v.2 ‘Sea Term. To fasten; as to belace a rope.’ Johnson. [This is found only in Dictionaries. It appeared first in Bailey’s folio, 1730, was retained by Dr. Johnson (who used a copy of that as the basis of his own work), and from him it has been perpetuated by later dictionaries. In Bailey it appears to be merely a mistake for belage, q.v. Bailey’s 8vo of 1721 (like the earlier dictionaries of Phillips and Kersey) has 'Belage, also Belay (Sea Term), to fasten any running Rope when it is haled, that it cannot run forth again.’ This the folio of 1730 splits up into ‘Belace (Sea Term), to fasten any Rope,’ and 'Belay, to fasten any running Rope, so that when it is haled it cannot run out again.’ Thence Johnson’s Belace and Belay. But the 8vo editions of Bailey retained the original entry and took no notice of Belace, till after the appearance of Johnson’s Dictionary, when the

Hence be'lauded ppl. a. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown 1. iii. (1871) 61 Abused and much belauded institutions. 1866 Sat. Rev. 25 Aug. 236/2 The belauded administration of the Duke of Somerset.

1884 J. W. Ebsworth Roxb. Bal. V. 203 The erudite belauder of Ignoramus Juries.

belamme. [f. be- -t- lam v.] 1595 Witts, Fittes, & F. 146 His father mainly belamb’d

1595 Spenser Sonn. lxiii, Her snowy browes lyke budded Bellamoures.

The

01849 P°E Wks. (1864) III. 139 Was belauded by the universal American press. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. I. 14 Suicide .. which many Stoics belauded.

be'lauder. [f. prec.] One who belauds.

Also 6 belamb, 7 trans. To thrash.

belace (bi'leis), v.1 [f. be- + lace v. and s6.] 1. trans. To border or adorn with lace. Usually

f3. To beat with stripes. Obs.

belaud (bi'btd), v. [f. be- 2 + laud.] trans. To load with praise.

fbelam, v. Obs. or dial.

1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Viet, xlvii, Those eyes from whence are shed Infinite belamours.

|2. To streak, stripe. Obs.

1631 Milton Wks. (1738) I. 4, I.. do take notice of a certaine Belatedness ine me. 1922 Glasgow Herald 12 Oct. 9 Considerable comment is being aroused by the long delay .., but this belatedness is, I understand, unavoidable.

belakin, variant of byrlakin: by our Ladykin.

c 1400 Rom. Rose 2984 Bialacoil forsothe he hight, Sone he was to Curtesie. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. vi. 25 Glauce.. her salewd with seemely bel-accoyle.

1648 Earl Westmorld. Otia Sacra (1879) 88 Crimson streaks belace the Damaskt West.

be'latedness. [f. belated ppl. a. + -ness.] The quality or state of being belated.

3. Applied to some unidentified flower.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 306 O, belami, pis !>u dudest. c 1325 Coer de L. 3253, I suffre, sere, bele amys. c 1400 Yivaine & Gaw. 278 What ertow, belamy? c 1460 Towneley Myst. 127 Welcom be thou, belamy! 1596 Spenser F.Q. 11. vii. 52 To the fayre Critias, his dearest belamy! 1689 Baxter Cain & Abel Malig. Wks. 1830 X. 493 True Protestants (such as the pseudo-bellamy in Philanax Anglicus hatefully calleth Protestants off sincerity).

belandre,

obs. form of bilander.

fbelap (bi'laep), v. Obs. [f. be- i + lap.] trans. To lap about, clasp, enfold, envelop; to environ, surround. Chiefly in pa. pple. be'lapped. c 1200 Ormin 14267 All Bilokenn & bilappedd Inn all patt boc. a 1225 Ancr. R. 100 Hit is bilepped Sc bihud. ?CI330 Amis & Amil. 1014 He seighe Sir Amis.. Bilapped among his fon. 1494 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iv. xxiii. 189/2 Her good angell.. belapped her with so grete lyght that ther myght no man loke upon her. a 1529 Skelton Col. Cloute 312 In purple & paule belapped. 1562 A. Scot Poems, This belappit body here.

belard, belash, belatticed, etc.: see

be- pref.

f be'last,ppl. a. Obs. [? f. OE. behlxstan to load; cf. Ger. belasten.] Burdened, charged, bound. 1441 in Archseol. XVII. 214 (Halliw.) James Skidmore is belast and wt holden toward the seid Sir James for an hole

fbe'lave, v. Obs. Also 3 by-, [f. be- + lave v.] trans. To lave about, wash all over; to lave its banks as a river. 01300 O.E. Misc. 140 J?u stode Naked and bylaued myd blode. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 11. iii. (1641) 174/1 Me in thy Bloud belaue. Ibid. (1608) 1002 The happy plains great Phasis streams belaue.

belawgive (Milton): see be- 71belay (bi'lei), v. Forms: i belecgan, 3-4 bi-, belegge(n, 6- belay. Pa. t. 1 belejde, belede, 3 bilaede, 4 -laide, 6 belaied, 7 -laid, (Naut.) 7-layed. Pa. pple. 1 belegd, beled, 3 bile33d, 4 bi-, beleyd, -leid, 6 -layd, 6-7 -laied, 7 -laid, (Naut.) 7-layed. [OE. bi-, belecgan:—OTeut. *bilagjan, in OHG. bileckan, bilegen, mod.G. belegen, Du. beleggen-, f. bi-, be- + lagjan, in OE. leegan to lay. Prof. Skeat suggests that the nautical use may have been taken from Du. beleggen: cf. BELAGE.] fl. trans. To lay (a thing) about with other objects (i.e. by putting them about or around it); to surround, environ, invest, enclose, etc. with. Obs. fa. lit. a 1000 Andreas (Grein) 1562 We.. ellpeodijne.. clommum belejdon vitebendum! c 1205 Lay. 14223 [With a strip of hide] A-buten he bilaede muche del of londe. a 1300 Cursor M. 5739 Him pou3te brennynge a tre As hit wip loue al were bileyde.

t b. fig. C893 K. Alfred Oros. iii. viii. §3 Papirus waes mid Romanum swylces domes beled. 1606 J. Raynolds Dolarnys Prim. 69 With many fauours, still thou didst belay mee.

fc. esp. To set about with (ornamentation), to lay with (a margin of gold, etc.). Cf. overlay. c 1200 Ormin 8167 All pe baere wass bile33d Wi^p baetenn gold. 1577 Dee Relat. Spir. 1. (1659) 206 His robes all belayed with lace of gold. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 5 A wood-mans iacket.. Of Lincolne greene, belayd with silver lace.

f2. spec. a. To beset with armed men; to besiege, invest, beleaguer. Obs. C1320 Sir Beves 3189 Themperur theroute us wille belegge. 1595 Spenser Sonn. xiv, Those small forts which ye were wont belay. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 281 It was by King Stephen belaied once or twise with

BELAY

83

sieges. 1648 G. Sandys Paraphr. Div. Poems, Deo Opt. Max., When Arabian Theeves belaid us round. fb. To beset or line (a way or passage) with armed men so as to intercept an enemy; or with anything for the use of those who pass. Obs. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 945 Simon.. had so belayed that strait, as that the Turkes could not.. passe the same. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. xlv. 156 Constantine.. hasted from Rome, hauing belaid al the way with Posthorses for the purpose, a 1639 Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. 11. (t.677) 44 Frederick .. having belayed the ways made the Bishops.. prisoners. 1698 Dryden JEneid ix. 515 The speedy Horse all passages belay. fc. To waylay, lie in wait for (a person). Obs. 1470-85 Malory Arthur (1816) I. 273 All kings and knights of king Arthur’s part belayed him, and waited for him. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 717 He was by certain Spaniards.. belaid upon the river Padus. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) I. xviii. 70 Other cases of danger, which belay us in getting into the world. 1'd-figObs.

To forestall, make preparations for.

1598 Bacon Sacr. Medit. v. Ess. (Arb.) 109 They who.. haue entred into a confidence that they had belayed all euents. f 3. To invest (words) with a sense or meaning. fa. To explain or expound (in some way). Obs. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 67 J?et we seggeS and f>us pa wordes we bi-legge8. a 1250 Owl & Night. 903 3et ich pe wile an o^er segge 3if pu hit const a riht bilegge. f b. To gloze (so as to conceal meaning). Obs. a 1250 Owl & Night. 672 He mot bi-hemmen and bi¬ legge. Ibid. 837 Alle thine wordes thu bileist, That hit thincth soth al that thu seist. fc. ? To illustrate by evidence or action. Obs. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 65 Gif we j?os bode pus bileggeS. f4. (Predicated of the thing which lies around): To encircle, clasp or coil round (about). Obs. c 1340 Cursor M. 1336 (Trin.) bis tre .. A nedder hit had aboute bileide. c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 274 Sorwe 30ure hertes hah alle be leyd. [1836 Landor Lett. Conserv. 86 Under the slightest whipping that ever belayed the shoulders of malefactor.] 5. a. Naut. To coil a running rope round a cleat, belaying pin, or kevel, so as to fasten or secure it; to fasten by so putting it round. Said especially of one of the small ropes, used for working

the

sails.

Also

in

Mountaineering.

Hence be'layed ppl. a. *549 Compl. Scot. vi. 41 Mak fast and belay. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 42 To belay, is to make fast the ropes in their proper places. Ibid. ix. 38 Bits .. are.. placed abaft the Manger.. to belay the Cable thereto. 1706 Phillips, Belay or Belage [see belage] .. Belay the Sheat, or Tack, i.e. fasten it to the Kennel, etc. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. II. 83 Taught aft the sheet they tally and belay. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast, xxiii, The weather cross-jack braces and the lee main braces are each belayed together upon two pins. 1910 J. M. Archer-Thomson Climbing in Ogwen District viii. 79 After belaying the rope to a bollard on the right, the second man can assist the leader to start. 1957 Clark & Pyatt Mountaineering in Brit. ix. 160 Belayed by the third man, the second steadies the leader’s foot. 1957 R. G. Collomb Diet. Mountaineering 28 Belay, to tie oneself, as a stationary member of a roped party, to a firm rock projection .. or to a piton, etc... in order to secure oneself and to afford a safeguard to the moving climber. b. transf. To make fast, tie, secure. 1751 Smollett Per. Pick. (1779) IV. lxxxvi. 23 Pipes had found it very difficult to keep him [Peregrine] fast belayed. 1802 W. Giffard Juvenal 11. 84 The distaff, to a block belay’d. 1849 Curzon Visits Monast. 376 The bridle, which was safely belayed to the pack-saddle. c. Sailor's slang. 1796 Dibdin Poor Jack ii, My timbers! what lingo he’d coil and belay. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann Q. Neighb. xxxi. (1878) 536 Belay there, and hearken. 1867 Adm. Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 94 Belay there, stop! that is enough! Belay that yarn, we have had enough of it! f6. intr. To lay about one (sc. blows). Obs. rare. 1598 Yong Diana 109 They belaied about them, passing actiue and nimble in lending blowes. f7. ? To lay down: but see allay v.1 14. Obs. 1562 Turner Bathes 5 Youre wyne must be cleare and well belayd, accordinge vnto .. the streingth and wekenes of the wyne. belay (bi'lei), sb. Mountaineering,

[f. belay ?;.]

A turn or fastening of a rope by belaying (see belay v. 5). Also attrib. and Comb. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 12 June 5/1 A special knowledge of knots and roping method and belays might be their [sc. mountaineers’] only salvation. 1920 G. Winthrop Young Mountain Craft v. 226 A very common position upon steep rock .. is to turn face inward, and pass the rope round some belay-point from one hand to the other. 1957 Clark & Pyatt Mountaineering in Brit. xiii. 212 The use of the shoulder belay, and the technique that went with it, became standardised. belaying, vbl. sb.

[f. belay v. + -ing1.]

11. A lying in wait. Obs. 1677 Feltham Disc. Eccles. ii. 11, 346 Experienc’d in the belayings, the ingrossings, the circumventions of Merchandizing. 2. Naut. The coiling of running ropes round pins, etc.; chiefly attrib., as in belaying-cleat, -pin. Also in Mountaineering. 1836 Marryat Pirate iii, Ropes.. neatly secured to copper belaying-pins. 1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. 133

The belaying cleats on the bow Jrnl. VI. 5 So excellent was the colossal belaying-pin that [etc.]. Mountain Craft v. 220 A direct leaves a short run-out.

beldam beam. 1903 Climbers' Club anchorage afforded by this 1920 G. Winthrop Young belaying-point which only

bel canto (bel 'kaentao).

[It., = fine song.] Singing characterized by full, rich, and broad tone. 1894 G. du Maurier Trilby I. i. 46 It was lost, the bel canto —but I found it. 1908 Daily Chron. 9 May 4/4 In New York musical critics complain that audiences do not want Wagner,.. and that the public flocks to the Italian bel canto. 1920 Glasgow Herald 14 May 8 For pure bel canto the English blackbird is hard to beat. 1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 85 Bel canto .. This comprehensive term covers the vocal qualities of the great singers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—the palmy days of Italian singing.

belch (beltj, belj), v. Forms: 5-6 belke, 5-7 belche, 6 balche, bealche, 6-8 belk, 7 bealke, 9 dial, belk, 6- belch. [OE. bealcian, bselcian: cf. Du. balken to bray, shout. See belk.] 1. intr. To void wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth, to eructate. (Now vulgar.) a 1000 Be Manna Mode (Gr.) 28 BreodaS he and baelceS. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 314 To belke thai begyn and spew that is irke. 1483 Cath. Angl. 27 Belche [v.r. Belke or Bolke], ructare. 1530 Palsgr. 447/2 Harke howe the churle belcheth. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 185 The olde .. glutton .. shall belk much and sleepe little. 1623 Cocker am, Parbreake, to bealke. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Belch, If an Asthmatical Person comes to belch, it is a good Sign, i860 J. Wolff Trav. Adv. I. xi. 341 They sit .. and belch, because, they say, that they are filled with the mystical wine of truth. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Belk, to belch.

2. trans. To ejaculate, to give vent to; to vent with vehemence or violence (words, feelings). In early use, translating L. eructare, and having no offensive meaning; but in later use confined, by association with other senses, to the utterance of things foul or offensive, or to furious vociferation compared to the action of a volcano or cannon. a 1000 Ags. Ps. (Spelm.) xix. 2 Daes 6am daeje bealcej? word. C1500 Wyclif Ps. xlv. 2 (MS. X.) Myn herte hath teld ethir belkid [1382 bowide] out a good word. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 637 As the rich glutton .. belked out these glorious words. 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis 11. (Arb.) 67, I belcht owt blasphemye bawling. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 73 His fell griefe, as some begoared Bull, Roaring and sighing out he belkes at full. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 16 (1619) 323 And openly belch out blasphemies against God. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Wks. 1738 I. 509 Belching out the same slanders. 1791 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Magpie & Rob. Wks. 1812 II. 473 Belching wisdom in one’s face. 1856 Capern Poems (ed. 2) 176 The war-fiend shrieks and belches out his fury.

3. trans. To emit (wind, fumes, etc.) by belching. A\so fig. 1561 Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 195 What spirit do they belche out? 1607 Walkington Opt. Glasse 37 He breathing belketh out such sulphure aires. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. iii. v. 137 The bitterness of it I now belch from my heart. 1634 A. Warwick Spare Min. (1637) 113 What more.. noisome smells can a new opened sepulcher belch out? 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. 1. Wks. (1851) 12 Belching the soure crudities of yesterdayes Poperie. 1648 G. Daniel Eclog. iii. 207 Noe morning penitence Belches the folly of my last offence.

4. trans.

To vomit, fa. lit. Obs.

1558 Phaer JEneid. in. (R.) Belching raw gobbets from his maw. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 256 The venomd worme Had bealchd his poyson out. 1718 Pope Iliad xvi. 200 Their black jaws belch the gore. 1783 Blair Rhet. (1812) I. iv. 83 Belching up its bowels with a groan.

b.fig. 1610 Shaks. Temp. iii. iii. 56 Destiny., the neuer surfeited Sea, Hath caus’d to belch vp you! 1648 Hunting of Fox 36 Deadly Poyson, belch’d up by a Consistorian Schismatick.

5. trans. To eject, throw out. fa. gen.

Obs.

1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. I. xvi. 40 Which vessel some will have to belch out acid blood.

b. esp. Said of the eruptive emission of fire and smoke by volcanoes; hence of cannons, etc. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 125 Aetna hill doth belke forth fiakes of fire. 1667 Milton P.L. 1. 671 A Hill.. whose griesly top Belch’d fire and rowling smoak. a 1733 North Lives (1826) II. 339 Strombolo. .belched out fire and smoke in a most terrible sort. 1865 Parkman Huguenots iii. (1875) 34 Rebel batteries belched their vain thunder. 1874 Holland Mistr. Manse xv. 200 The cloud of menace belched its brand.

c. absol. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. 1. vn. vii. 208 Rusty firelocks belch after him.

f6. intr. To rise in eructation; to heave like a confined fluid or gas seeking to escape. Obs. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 420 Envious rancour so boiled in the brest, that it not onely belched, but also brake foorth immediately.

f7 .intr.

To gush out; to flow in gulps.

Obs.

1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 218 Their plenteous wine presses, and their full sellers, belking from this vnto that. 1587 Fleming Cont. Holinshed. III. 1351/1 The blood still belched out into the basen.

belch (beltj, belj), sb. [f. prec. vb.] 1. An eructation. 1570 Levins Manip. 58 A Belche, ructus. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 132 The sight thereof moueth belkes, and makes the stomach wamble. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vne route, a belch. 1763 Churchill P. Professor,

Salute the royal babe in Welsh, And send forth gutturals like a belch.

2. fig. Said of the sea, hell, a volcano, cannon. 1513 Douglas JEneis vii. vi. no Pluto eik.. Reputtis that bismyng belch haitfull to se. 1642 H. More Song of Soul 11. iii. iv. xxii, O belch of hell! O horrid blasphemy! 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. 11. vi. vii. 118 And at every new belch, the women .. shout.

b. A slang name for poor beer: see quot. 1796. 1706 E. Ward Hud. Rediv. I. vii. 18 A little House, Where Porters do their Belch carouse. 1712 Henley Spect. No. 396 IP 2 Owing to the use of brown juggs, muddy belch, etc. 1796 Grose Class. Diet., Belch, all sorts of beer: that liquor being apt to cause eructation. 1858 A. Mayhew Paved w. Gold iii. iii. 265 Whilst my mates are drinking the ‘belch.’

'belcher1,

[f. belch v.] One who belches. 1598 Florio, Rottatore, a belcher, a spuer, a rasper. 1699 Coles, Belcher, ructator.

belcher2 ('bsljafr)).

A neckerchief with blue ground, and large white spots having a dark blue spot or eye in the centre, named after a celebrated pugilist called Jim Belcher; sometimes applied to any particoloured handkerchief worn round the neck. 1805 Sporting Mag. XXVII. 126/1 Their opponents were decked in the yellow stripe [handkerchief], which has acquired the appellation of the Belcher. 1809 Monthly Pantheon XIV. 546/1 If there be any of them who will spar with each other, let them wear the appropriate Belcher handkerchief. 1812 Examiner 21 Sept. 607/1 The traverser.. tied a Belcher handkerchief round his neck. 1825 T. Lister Granby xxxix. (1836) 261 Instead of the Belcher he has a loose black handkerchief round his neck. 1846 Lytton Lucretia (1853) !54 The lower part of which [a face] was enveloped in an immense ‘belcher.’ 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter 1. 31 The fragments of a parti-coloured belcher handkerchief.

belching ('beltjit), belj-), vbl. sb.

Also 6-7 belking. [f. belch v. + -ing1.] The action of voiding wind from the stomach through the mouth; eructation; also, the utterance of foul or violent language; the eruptive action of volcanoes. 1528 Paynell Salerne Regim. Biij, Sower belchynges. 1576 Newton Lemnies' Complex. 233 Subject to belking and sowre vomiting. 1655 Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xviii. 231/2 Rather the belching of a Devil, than the voice of a saint. 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. V. 316/1 Simple eructation or belching.

'belching, ppl. a. Also 6 belking, bealking. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That belches, eructates, etc. (Cf. the various meanings of the vb.) 1581 Studley Seneca's Hippolitus 71 The belking Seas yell out. 1585 Lloyd Treas. Health Iv, A weake bealkyng stomake. 1601 R. Yarrington Two Traj. iv. vi. in Bullen O. PI. IV, That belching voice, that harsh night-raven sound. 01700 Dryden (J.) His crest..On which with belching flames Chimaera burn’d. 1833 Ht. Martineau Tale of Tyne iii. 45 To face the belching cannon.

belcony, beld(e,

obs. form of balcony.

obs. ff. of BALD, BIELD, BOLD, BUILD.

beldam,

-dame ('beldam). Forms: 5-9 beldame, 7 belldame, 5- beldam. [Not a direct adoption of the F. belle dame ‘fair lady,’ but formed upon dam, earlier dame, in its Eng. sense of ‘mother,’ with bel- employed to express relationship, as in belsire, belfader: see bel B. For the transference to a more remote ancestor see also belsire; for the extension to old woman, etc., cf. gaffer, gammer, goody, grandame, granny.] ft. A father or mother’s mother, a grandmother. Also fig. Obs. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 29 Beldam [v.r. beldame], faders and moders modyr, bothe. 1483 Cath. Angl. 27 Beldame, auia. c 1483 Caxton Bk. Trav. in Promp. Parv. 29 note, Recommaunde me to your bel-fadre, and to your bel dame, a vostre tayon et a vostre taye. 1530 Palsgr. 179/2 Beldame, meregrant. c 1550 Paynell tr. Vives' Duty Husb. (T.) The mother, the beldame, the aunt, the sister, the cosyn. 1593 Shaks. Lucr. 953 To shew the beldame daughters of her daughter. 1613 Drayton Polyolb. vi. (T.) The beldam and the girl, the grandsire and the boy. 1628 Milton Vac. Exerc. 46 When beldam Nature in her cradle was

fb. A great-grandmother, or still more remote ancestress; by Plot used for a woman who has lived to see five generations of female descendants. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 322 She lived to be a Beldam, that is to see the sixt generation. 1863 Chambers Bk. of Days I. 306 At the same rate she might have been beldam at sixty six.

2. An aged woman, a matron of advanced years. (In 16th c. used in addressing nurses.) 1580 Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 98 And thus.. This aged beldam speakes. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 43 [To ‘her aged nourse’] ‘Beldame, your words doe worke me litle ease.’ 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep. xix. 15 Here is no Beldam Nurse, to powt nor lowre. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 83 |f 2, I am neither Childish-young, nor Beldam-old. 1752 Foote Taste I. i, This superannuated Beldame gapes for Flattery. 1768 Beattie Minstr. 1. xliii, Her legend when the Beldame ’gan impart. 1821 Byron Sardan. 1. ii. (1868) 352 That blood-loving beldame, My martial grandam. 1856 Longf. Blind Girl I. 122 The beldame, wrinkled and gray takes the young bride by the hand.

3. esp. with depreciative sense: A loathsome old woman, a hag; a witch; a furious raging woman (without the notion of age), a virago. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1613) 10 A beldame.. accused for a witch. 1608 R. Johnson Sev. Champions 212 Come all you witches, beldames, and Fortunetellers. 121641 Bp. Mountagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 177 Tarquinius taking her to be some frantick Beldame. 1706 Addison Rosamond 1. iii, Fly from my passion, Baldame, fly! 1822 Scott Nigel xxxv, That accursed beldam whom she caused to work upon me. 1857 F. Locker Lond. Lyrics (1862) 100 The beldams shriek, the caldron bubbles.

'beldamship. [f. prec.: after ladyship.] 1633 Shirley Yng. Admiral iv. i, I beseech your learned beldamship to accept it. 1636 Davenant Wits in Dodsley (1780) VIII. 512 We’ll make her costive beldamship Come off.

belders,

var. of bilders, Obs., a plant-name.

bele, obs. f.

a 1000 Benedict. Rule (Schr.) 27 Du belaeddest us on grin. 1340 Alex. & Dind. 906 So be 3e, ludus, by-lad • and lawles also. ? a 1500 Pore Helpe 285 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 262 We maye go to bed, Blyndefylde and beled.

2. fig. To conduct, lead, use, treat. c 1275 Passion Our Lord 278 in O.E. Misc. 45 He iseyh hw ihesu crist wes vuele biled. a 1300 Cursor M. 17049 Whenne pou pi son say so biled. 1485 Caxton Treviso's Higden iv. x. (1527) 159 He was..harde cruelly beladde.

beleaf, beleap, etc.: see

be- pref.

beleaguer (bi'li:g3(r)), v.

Also 6 belegar, 7 -guer, beleager, -gre, 8 -gure. [a. Du. belegeren, f. be- + leger camp; cf. mod.G. belagern: see LEAGUER.]

1. To surround (a town, etc.) with troops so as to prevent ingress and egress, to invest, besiege. 1590 Sir J. Smythe Weapons 4 These.. haue so affected the Wallons, Flemings, and base Almanes discipline, that.. they will not.. affoord to say that such a towne is besieged, but that it is belegard. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. iii. 134 Antwerpe,.. then by him beleaguered. 1648 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 26 The castle of Dover, which some say is beleagured. 1846 Prescott Ferd. & Is. I. ix. 392 He reflected that the Castilians would soon be beleaguered. 1856 Longf. Beleag. City vii, That an army of phantoms vast and wan, Beleaguer the human soul.

2. transf. To surround, beset (generally with idea

of hostility

or

annoyance).

Cf.

BESIEGE. 1589 Nashe Almond for P. 5 a, A whole hoast of Pasquils .. will so beleaguer your paper walles. 1614 Lodge Seneca 4 Beleager him on euery side by thy bountie. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. iv. 239 The girl is., beleaguering, as you significantly express it, a worthy gentleman. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall xxvii. 253 It [the house] has been beleaguered by gipsy women. t

beleaguer, sb. Obs. =

beleaguerer. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. iii. 31 His men sallied out.. in the face of their beleaguers. 1611 Cotgr., Assiegeur, a besieger, a beleaguer, [ed. 1632 beleaguerer.]

beleaguered (bi'liigsd), ppl. a. [f.

Eng. in belive. Thus originally and properly transitive; but very early substituted for the intrans. belive. In 14th c. often syncopated to blevefn, esp. in Kentish; cf. mod.G. bleiben, Du. blijven.] I. transitive. 1. To let or cause to remain behind, to go away without taking with one, to abandon.

f 'belef, -if. Obs. [a. OF a belif, beslif late L. type *bis-ltquus — obliquus; cf. F. beslong, med.L. beslongus = L. oblongus). Cf. embelife.] In advb. phr. a belef: obliquely, aslant; scarf-

c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 79 Ho hine bilefde liggen half quic. CI20O Ormin 8913 He wass pa behinndenn hemm Bilefedd att te temmple. c 1205 Lay. 18648 J>e eorl.. bilefde his wif in Tintaieol. 1297 R. Glouc. 421 Hys fader. . ladde hym .. into Normandye, & byleuede hym pere. c 1330 Assump. Virg. 759 Thei leide pe bodi in a stone, And bileft alle in pat stede. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2380 The cors of Kayone .. at Came es belevefede. 1513 Douglas JEneis x. xi. 166 Men .. Quham.. to myschewus deyd beleft haue I. 1627 May Lucan viii. (T.) Wondering at fortune’s turns, and scarce is he Beleft, relating his own misery.

beleft(e,

b. To leave (something) behind to\ to leave at death; to leave in the possession or power of.

beal: see also boil sb.

fbe'lead, v. Obs. [OE. belaedan, f. be- pref. 2 + Isedan to lead.] 1. trans. To lead away, lead astray.

some

BELFATHER

84

BELDAMSHIP

beleaguer v.

+ -ed1.] Besieged, invested, beset. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 69 In defence of beleagured truth. 1647 Sprigg Angl. Rediv. iv. vii. (1854) 281 To know themselves a beleagured enemy. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. iii. 165 Beleaguer’d Troy. 1852 Thackeray Esmond iii. x. (1876) 416 The poor beleaguered garrison. 1862 Goulburn Pers. Relig. in. viii, The key of a beleaguered position.

c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 183 Hie bileueS uncuSe men pe aihte. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. VI. 367 \>e kyngdom [they] byleft to Colwulfus. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. vi. (Gibbs MS.) Lord to pe is bylafte [1530 belefte] pe pore peple. 1557 K. Arthur (Copland) VII. i, The two men .. belefte him to Syr Kay.

2. To allow to remain over; to leave out of count or process: to pass over, let go, omit. C1205 Lay. 29363 /Elcne bilefued mon he lette bilimien. 1297 R. Glouc. 173 He ne beleuede no3t on. CI450 Merlin xvii. 276 And v C men that were hym be-lefte of the bataile.

3. To go away from (a person or place); to depart from, forsake, quit, abandon. c 1205 Lay. 8569 Lundene we mote bilaeuen. a 1225 Ancr. R. no And fluen alle vrom him & bilefden him ase vreomede. r 1400 Destr. Troy xxxv. 13456 A buyldyng.. was of long tyme beleft, & no lede there.

b. fig. To turn from, forsake. rii75 Lamb. Horn. 81 He seal his sunne uor-saken and bileuen. 01225 Ancr. R. 394 Heo wule.. bileauen pene deouel. a 1300 Cursor M. 9053, I haf bi-left mi lauerd lau. c 1400 Ywaine S’ Gaw. 35 Trowth and luf es al bylaft.

c. To leave (action).

off,

cease

give

up,

abandon

CI175 Lamb. Horn. 93 Bileafden heo heore timbrunge. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3344 Het hem pe assaut be-leue. c 1400 Solomon’s Bk. Wisd. 82 Ne bileue pou nou3th to trauaile.

4. To let go (from one’s hold). a 1225 Ancr. R. 232 Hwon two bereS one burSene, & te o6er bileaueS hit.

II. intr. [taking place of belive: = Ger. bleiben.] 5. To remain over, survive, be left in existence. 01000 Psalms (Spelm.) cv[i]. 10 An of him ne belrfde [Vulg. non remansit]. 1297 R. Glouc. 372 per ne byleuede no3t . .pat nas to grounde ybro3t. < 1350 MS. in Archseol. XXX. 352 Of y' ewyll xal no thynge blewyn. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 359 Had byn the gyant belevand, They had not partyd soo.

b. To remain behind in a place. CI250 Gen. S Ex. 3114 La! god it wot, sal 8e[r]-of bi¬ leuen non fot. 1340 Ayenb. 190 Yrobbed .. zuo pet him na3t ne blefte. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1595 pe hedes on pe tre by¬ lafte. o 1400 Octouian 1540 The Soudan .. Bleft yn Fraunce, Cytes to brenne. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. lxi. 45, I beleft allone in my chambre.

c. To remain in continue.

a condition or state,

to

c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 87 J>e children weren clensed of sinnen and pus bilefden. £1250 Gen. Gf Ex. 671 Babel, Sat tur, bilef unmad. a 1300 Cursor M. 7662 per mani man fell vnder scheild, Bot with dauid be-left pe feild. 1340 Ayenb. 12 \>e mayde Marie blefte eure mayde. £1430 Syr Gener. 5737 Here speres beleft hole booth.

beleaguerer (bi'li:g3r3(r)).

6. To remain for the time being (in a place); to stay, abide, continue, dwell with (a person). £1175 Lamb. Horn. 149 3e moten.. him, fole3e and mid

1628 Earle Microcosm, lxxvii. 159 He is a sore beleaguerer of chambers. 1817 Coleridge Zapolya 11. Wks. IV. 232 A wall, that wards off the beleaguerer.

him bileue. £1205 Lay. 19777 Ne dursten heo per bilaffen. £ 1250 Gen. & Ex. 800 Abram .. and sarray bileften bi-twen betel and ay. 1340 Ayenb. 245 Mid Him uor to bleve. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 48 Gyf he schal byleve with me.

[f. as prec. + -er1.] One who beleaguers: a besieger.

beleaguering (bi'liigarir)), vbl. sb.

[f. as prec. +

-ING1.] The act of besieging; investment. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 29 The beleguerings of Harlem. 1869 Freeman Norm. Cong. (1876) III. xii. 187 The actual beleaguering of Rome.

beleaguering (bi'lhgsrnj), ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ING2.] That beleaguers; besieging, investing. 1753 Scots Mag. XV. 76/2 Beleag’ring foes. 1870 Even. Standard 28 Oct., Break through the beleaguering lines.

beleaguerment (bi'liigamsnt). [f. as prec. + -ment.]

The

fact

of

beleaguering;

siege,

blockade.

7. to be beleft was often used in the sense of ‘To remain, to be’; also ‘to be become of.’ £1340 Cursor M. 7736 (Trin.) His coupe his spere where mai hit be.. Where be pei now bileued. Ibid. 18558 He wrou3te bi wicche-craft And wip pe deuel was bilaft. c 1440 Bone Flor. 733 He ys beleft wyth Syr Garcy Ageyn you.

c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2486 Jje blykkande belt he bere peraboute, A belef as a bauderyk. Ibid. 2517 Vche burne.. a bauderyk schulde haue, A bende a belef hym aboute. pa. t. of beleave v.

Obs.

belemnite (’belimnait).

Palxont. [f. mod.L. belemnites (formerly used in Eng.), f. Gr. fli\efiyov a dart + -ite (cf. ammonite): so named in allusion to the popular notions mentioned below.] a. A fossil common in rocks of the Secondary formation; a straight, smooth, cylindrical object, a few inches long, convexly tapering to a sharp point, formerly known, from its shape and supposed origin, as thunder-bolt, thunder-stone, elf-bolt, but now recognized as the internal bone of an animal allied to the cuttle-fish. b. The extinct animal to which this belonged. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 53 The figures are regular in many other stones, as in the Belemnites. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 41 Meeting by the way with a bed of Belemnites, or (as they call them) Thunder-bolts. 1698 T. Molyneux in Nat. Hist. Irel. (1726) 160 One plain homogeneous body, without any mixture of Cochlite, Belemnite,.. or such like extraneous matter. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geo/. III. 325 The belemnite, one of the cephalopodes not found in any tertiary formation.

belemnitic (belim'nitik), a. [f. prec. + -ic.] Of, pertaining to, or characterized by belemnites. 1847 Ansted Anc. World viii. 148 Preserved in connexion with the belemnitic shell. 1878 tr. Cotta's Rocks 376 Belemnitic strata (of the oldest deposits of the Jurassic period).

fbe'leper, v.

Obs. [f. be- pref. 5 + leper.] trans. To afflict with, or as with, leprosy. Hence be'lepered ppl. a. £1623 Fletcher Laws Candy v. i. 66 Beleapred with the Curse Of foule ingratitude. 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity iv. iii. (1839) 41 Thy lust beleper’d body. 1649 Milton Eikon. xiv. Wks. (1851) 449 Impuritie and Church revenue rushing in, corrupted and beleper’d all the Clergie.

beleric,

variant of belleric.

|| bel-esprit (belespri). PI. beaux esprits (bozespri). [Fr.; = ‘fine mind, wit, wittiness’; hence ‘a man of culture and talent.’] 1. A clever genius, a brilliant wit. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. 1. Pref. §8 Which I feare is a great scandall to many Beaux Esprits among you. 1721 Amherst Terras Fil. xxv. 129 The finest geniuses and beaux esprits of the university. 1801 Mar. Edgeworth Belinda I. iii. 44 The world thought me a beauty and a bel esprit. 1813 -Patron. I. xiv. 228 One could hand her verses about, and get her forward in the bel-esprit line.

2. Wit, wittiness. (Hardly in Eng. use.) 1806 M. Edgeworth Leonora II. lxv. 107 In these times a woman has no choice at a certain period but politics, or bel esprit, i860 Adler Fauriel's Prov. Poetry xviii. 401 The mannered subtilties of a vitiated taste and of bel-esprit.

belet(t,

obs. form of billet.

fbelette. Obs. [a. OF. belette in same sense, f. bel beautiful.] A jewel, an ornament. 1522 in Bury Wills (1850) 116, I beqwethe to my dowghter the steynyd clothes .. and a golde corse with belettes harnes lesse.

beletter (bi'let9(r)), v.

[f. be-pref. 6 + letter.] fl. trans. To serve with letters, to write to. Obs.

1655 Fuller Hist. Camb. (1840) 179 The UniversityOrator .. be-lettered all the lords of the privy-council.

2. nonce-wd. To decorate with letters (such as F.R.S., Ph.D., etc.) appended to one’s name.

t be'leaving, vbl. sb. Obs. [f. prec. -I- -ing1.] 1. Remaining, tarrying, abiding, abode.

1883 Athenaeum 19 May 638/3 The mania prevalent among people of more ambition than performance for belettering themselves.

£1330 Arthur & Merl. 8611 Withouten bileueing ani more, Thai went. 1340 Ayenb. 72 per hy habbep hyre bleuinge.

fbe'leve. nonce-wd. Obs. =

2.

Remaining perseverance.

steadfast,

endurance,

1826 E. Irving Babylon I. iii. i86Two beleaguerments of the capital. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. ill. 5 In the last month of Troy’s beleaguerment.

1340 Ayenb. 232 J?et zixte leaf is bleuinge, pet is stedeuest wyl to loki pet me hep behote god.

fbe'leave, -eve, v. Obs. Forms: 1 beltefan, 2

£ 1440 Promp. Parv. 39 Blevynge, or releve, or relefe, reliquia vel reliquiae. Ibid. 428 Releef, or brocaly of mete (or blevynge), fragmentum. 1592 Greene Disputat. 17 Hee had nothing for his pence, but the waste beleauings of others beastly labours.

biltefen, -lteuen, -leauen, 2-4 bi-, beleue(n, (4 bi-, bylaue), 4-5 beleve, bleve, blewy(n, (5 byleve), 6 beleaue. Pa. t. 1-2 be-, bilaefde, -leafde, 2-3 -lefde, 3 -leaued(e, -lefte, 3-4 -leued(e, -left(e, -lafte, blefede, 4 blefte, 4-7 beleft(e. Pa. pple. 1 belifed, 2-4 bi-, beleued, 3 (-lefued), -leved, -left, 4 bleft, 4-5 by left, -lefft, -laft. [OE. belief an:—OTeut. and Goth, bilaibjan, f. bi-, be+ laibjan, in OE. lief an to leave, a casual deriv. of OTeut. *liban to remain, which appeared in

wise.

3. That which is left, a leaving.

belecture, beledgered, etc.: see be- pref. fbelee.ti. Obs. rare~l. [f. be- 6 + lees6.] trans. To get (a ship) into such a position that the wind is intercepted from her; also fig. 1604 Shaks. Oth. 1. i. 30, I.. must be be-leed and calm'd.

beleeve, obs. form of belief, believe.

leave. Gamm. Gurton iii. iii. 15 Mine owne goods I will have, and aske the no beleve.

I575 J-

beleve,

Still

var. beleave v.\ obs. f. belief, -lieve.

belew, -yng,

obs. form of bellow, -ing.

t be'lewe, v. Obs. [OE. belsewian f. be- 2 + Isewian to betray.] trans. To betray. £ 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 15-16 And ic hyne belaswe [Hatton, beleawige] eow .. He hyne wolde belsewan. £1175 Lamb. Horn. 229 Hu he Christ heom belewen michte.

t'belfather.

Obs.

Also 5 -fader,

[f. bel +

father: cf. beldame, belsire.] Grandfather. £1440 Promp. Parv. 30 Belsyre or belfather, faders or moders fader, avus. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 414/1 Here lyeth henry the sone of henry the fader henry the belfader henry the olde belfader.

BELFRIED belfried ('belfrid), ppl. a. [f.

BELIE

85 belfry +

-ed2.]

Having a belfry. 1841 Lady F. Hastings Poems 150 The belfried tower. i860 Mrs. Gaskell C. Bronte 4 Parsonage, Church, and Belfried school-house.

belfry ('belfri). Forms: (2-3 berefreid, berfreit), 4 berfrey, -fray, -froiss, 5 barfray, 5-7 belfray(e, 6 belfroy, bellfray, -froy, belfrie, -fre, 6-7 belfery, 6- belfrey, belfry, (7 belfore, befroy, beffroy, 8 bellfry.) [ME. berfrey, -ay a. OF. berfrei, -ai, -ay (also berfroi, later belfrei, belfroi, befroi, mod. beffroi), pointing to a late L. type berefredus, from berefrtdus, adopted f. Teutonic *bergfrid] in MHG. bercvrit, -frit, berchfrit, berfrit (also berhfride), MDu. bergfert, -frede, in sense 1 below. The subsequent change of the first r to l by dissimilation from following r (as in armarium, almarium, almerie; peregrinum, pelegrin, pilgrim-, parafredus, palefrei, palfrey) is common in later tried.L.; it is rare, and exceptional in Fr. (where the normal form dropped the r, befroi, beffroi)-, in Eng. belfray did not appear bef. 15th c., being probably at first a literary imitation of tried.Lat.; its acceptance was doubtless due to popular association with bell, and the particular application which was in consequence given to the word. The meaning has passed from a ‘pent-house’ a ‘movabletower’ used by besiegers and besieged, to ‘a tower to protect watchmen, a watch-tower, beacon-tower, alarm-bell tower, bell-tower, place where a bell is hung.’ The sense of ‘pent¬ house’ or ‘shelter-shed’ is retained dialectally in Lincolnshire and Notts. The etymology of Ger. bergfrid, bercvrit, presents some difficulties; but it is generally agreed that the latter part is a form of OHG. fridu, OTeut. fripu-z, ‘peace, security, shelter, place of shelter or safety’ (cf. the range of meaning of OE. fridu, frid, ME. frith), the final vowel being dropped as in proper names, Gottfrid, Sigfrid, etc.; and that the former part is the stem of berg-en to protect, defend; the whole meaning ‘protecting’ or ‘defensive place of shelter,’ an obvious description of a pent-house fitted to ward off missiles from those to whom it gave shelter during siege operations. (The possibility that berg- here means ‘mountain’ seems precluded by the sense: but see the discussion of the word by Dr. Chance in N. & Q. vi. xii. 284, 412, etc.). For the form taken by bergfrid in Romanic, and thus in Eng., cf. the adoption of OHG. fridu in late L. as fridus, fredus ‘peace, protection,’ the proper names from G. -frid, Gottefridus, Godefrey, Galfridus, Geoffrey, and the sb. affray, OF. esfrei, mod. effroi, parallel to berfrei, beffroi. MedL. had the forms berefridus, berfredus, bil-, bal-, belfredus, berte-, balte-, bati-, buti-fredus, with the latter of which cf. the It. battifredo, assimilated by popular etymology with battere to beat (the tocsin), to strike (as a clock).]

f 1. A wooden tower, usually movable, used in the middle ages in besieging fortifications. Probably, in its simplest form, it was a mere shed or pent-house, intended to shelter the besiegers while operating against a fortification; but in its developed form it was constructed with many offensive appurtenances, so as to make it a formidable engine of attack. See the quotation from Ld. Berners. Obs. [Will, of Malmesb. iv. 141 (in Du Cange), Turris non magna in modum aedificiorum facta (Berefreid [other MSS. berfreit] appellant), quod fastigium murorum aequaret. Simeon Durh. an. 1123 Ligneam turrim quam Berfreit vocant, erexit.] c 1300 K. Alis. 2777 Alisaundre.. Fast asailed heore wallis, Myd berfreyes, with alle gyn. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B 1187 At vch brugge a berfray on basteles wyse, J?at seuen sype vch a day asayled pe 3ates. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 708 Alexander.. Lap fra a berfrois on the wall, c 1430 Syr. Gener. 7811 He purveid for maygnelles and belfrayes, And othre ordinaunce. 1483 Cath. Angl. 21. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cix. 131 Two belfroys of great tymbre, with iii. stages, euery belfroy on four great whelys, and the sydes towardes the towne, were covered with cure boly [F. cuir bouilli] to defende them fro fyre and fro shotte; and into euery stage, ther weren poynted C. archers. 1530 Palsgr. 197 Bellfray, beavfroy.

2. A shed used as a shelter for cattle or for the protection of carts and agricultural implements, or produce. Still in local use: ‘a shed made of wood and sticks, furze, or straw.’ (E. Peacock Gloss, of Manley & Cor ring ham, Lincoln.) 1553 Court-Roll of Manor of Scotter, Lincoln 9 Octr., R.R. amovit omnia ligna sua super le belfrey etjacent in communi via. 1590 Invent J. Nevil in Midi. Co. Hist. Collector II. 29 Item the belfrey with other wood, xxs. 1873 in Peacock Gloss M. & C. 21 The belfrey. .was ruinous, and liable to fall upon the passers-by.

f 3. A tower for the protection of a watchman, a watch-tower; a beacon-tower, alarm-bell tower. (A sense perhaps not used in England, though common in France.) Obs. 1612 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 899 Being now come nigh to the Befroy (which is a watchtower standing before the City-Hall where the Clock is), c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 461 A beacon or watch-tower is called beffroy, whereas the true word is I'effroy.

4. a. A bell-tower; generally attached to a church or other building, but sometimes standing separate.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 30 Bellfray, campanarium. 1494 Fabyan vii. 330 The scolars. . put the legatte in such feere, that he, for his sauegarde, toke the belfray of Osney, and there helde hym. 1556 Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 73 The grett belfery that stode in Powlles church-yerde. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland viii. 26 Adjoining to their churches they have belfrys, and houses for the use of Priests. 1849 Freeman Archit. 177 The introduction of steeples or belfries. 1861 N. Woods Pr. Wales in Canada 347 A little glass lantern, like a belfry.

b. The room or storey of the church tower in which the bells are hung. 1549 Thomas Hist. Italie 74 Saincte Markes steeple is.. so well built, that withinfoorth an horse maie be ledde vp vnto the bellfroy. 1601 Shaks. Per. 11. i. 41 If I had been the sexton, I would have been that day in the belfrey. 1714 Gay What d'ye call it Prel. 3 Fetch the Leathern Bucket that hangs in the Bellfry. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 571 The part above the belfrey, which contains the clock-work, is of an octagonal form.

fc. That part of the floor of the church under the tower, where the ringers stand to ring the bells, sometimes parted from the main body of the church by a curtain; this was the seat of the poor, and sometimes used as a schoolroom. Obs. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.) 125 Yea, a poor woman in the belfre hath as good authoritie to offer vp thys sacrifyce, as hath the byshop in his pontificalibus. 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. Ded. ff iv. b, They may plague poore boyes with false Latine in a belfraye. 01617 Hieron Wks. II. 75 The gentleman that sitteth in the quire, as well as the poore that is ranged in the belfry. 1637 Bastwick Litany 11. 17 In the Font or belfore, or other part of the Church. 1659 Gauden Tears Ch. 253 (D.) Teaching school in a belfry.

d. (See quot.) 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Belfry is more particularly used for the timber-work, which sustains the bells in a steeple: or that wooden structure to which the bells in church-steeples are fastened. e. The head. See also bat sb.1 1 b. slang. 1907 N. Munro Daft Days xxxii. 267 When they’ve got cobwebs in their little brilliantined belfries, I’m full of the songs of spring. 1907, 1911, etc. [see Bat sb.1 1 b]. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed vii. 84 Something loose in his belfry.

5. Naut. ‘An ornamental framing, made of stanchions, at the after-beams of the forecastle, with a covering, under which the ship’s bell is hung.’ Weale’s Rudim. Navigation. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789), Ecusson,.. a., scutcheon upon the stern, forecastle, or belfry. 1776 Phil. Trans. LXVII. 88 The electrical matter darted from the mast to the belfry.

6. attrib., -window.

as in belfry-key, -stage,

-tower,

1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 169 The belfry stage has semi-circular headed couplets. 1874 Parker Illustr. Goth. Archit. 1. vi. 202 Magdalen College.. tower was originally intended to stand alone as a campanile, or belfry-tower. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. II. 38 The belfry-windows are often of two lights. 1883 St. James's Gaz. 30 Nov. 5/1 [The churchwardens] have also the custody of the belfrykeys.

tbel'gard.

Obs. [ad. It. bel guar do ‘lovely look.’] A kind or loving look. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 25 Upon her eyelids many graces sate .. Working belgardes and amorous retrate. 1593 Barnes Parthenophil & P. in Arb. Garner V. 385 To bandy with belguards in interchange. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Viet. 1. xlvi, They move To earth their amourous belgards from above.

Belgic ('bEld3ik), a. and sb. Belgse, + -ic.]

[f. L. Belgicus,

A. adj. a. Of or pertaining to the Belgae (see Belgium). 1589 A. Fleming tr. Virgil's Georg, iii. 43 And he shall better beare and draw Belgic coches with His gentle soft or tender necke. 1740 Stukeley Stonehenge xi. 47 It seems not improbable, that the Wansdike was made, when this Belgic kingdom was at its height. 1743-Abury vii. 28 The great belgic rampart, the Wansdike, licks all the southern horizon. 1835 Penny Cycl. IV. 177/2 The whole southern coast from Suffolk to Devonshire was occupied by Belgic tribes. 1947 J. & C. Hawkes Prehist. Britain vi. 121 The Belgae.. had overflowed into south-eastern Britain, and had made the lands they had settled provinces of Belgic culture.

b. Of or pertaining to the Netherlands. 1618 Barnevelt's Apol. Fb, That difficult, bloudy and chargeable Belgicke Warre. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 313 Their Belgic sires of old!

B. sb. A Low German. 1608 Topsell Serpents 647 Called.. of ^ the ‘Besonder Strael,’ of the Spaniards ‘Zangane.’

Belgics

Hence 'Belgicized ppl. a. (esp. of pottery), made Belgic in form, appearance, etc. So .Belgici'zation. 1941 Oxoniensia VI. 87 Belgicized pottery.. dating just before or just after the Roman conquest. 1942 Ibid. VII. 59 Sherds from a quarry on Akeman Street... The cordoned forms indicate fairly recent Belgicisation, but may prove to be survivals into the post-conquest period.

Belgium (’beldam).

a. Latin name of the territory occupied by the Belgse, stretching from the Marne and Seine to the Rhine; b. subsequently used loosely as an appellation for Low Germany or the Netherlands; c. in 1830 adopted as title of the new kingdom established by the separation of the provinces watered by the Meuse and Scheldt from the kingdom of the Netherlands. Belgia = prec. b. Belgian

('beldjian), a., of or pertaining to Belgium; as sb. f (a) one of the ancient Belgse of southern England; f(6) a Low German; (c) a native of modern Belgium; (d) a kind of canary. f'Belgies sb. pi. = Belgian sb. (b). 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. lxi. 267 By Embassies Spayne often mou’d to doe the *Belgies right. 1623 Cockeram ii, Netherland, ^Belgian. Ibid, iii, *Belgeans, People of the low Countries, Somerset-shire, Wiltshire and Hampshire. 1629 Heylin, Microcosm... Germany is divided into the higher and the lower; the latter is called Belgium. 1631 Chapman Caesar & P. Plays (1873) III. 128 Britaine, *Belgia, France & Germanie. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4584/4 A neat and large Map of Modern ^Belgium, or Lower Germany. 1835 Marryat Olla Podr. vi, ^Belgian flags, of yellow, red, and black. 1865 Derby Merc. 25 Jan., The crested ’•‘Belgians.. had five entries.

Belgravia (bel'greivia). [f. Belgrave Square, named after Belgrave, a town in Leicestershire + -1 a.] A fashionable residential district in London, south of Knightsbridge. Hence Bel'gravian a., pertaining to, or characteristic of, Belgravia; as sb., a resident of Belgravia. 1848 Thackeray Van. F. Ii, Ask the Reverend Mr. Thurifer if Belgravia is not a sounding brass, and Tyburnia a tinkling cymbal. Ibid., Her [ sc. Semele’s] myth ought to be taken to heart amongst., the Belgravians. 1849 Pendennis I. xxxvii. 358 The most elderly Belgravian Venus, or inveterate Mayfair Jezebel. 1850 C. Kingsley Alton Locke I. ii. 34 Shriek not in your Belgravian saloons. 1851 Knight Cycl. Lond. 758 Architecture.. in the Belgravian style. 01852 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 395/2 The patrician squares of what has been called Belgravia and Tyburnia. 1864 M. Arnold Let. 10 May (1895) I- 232> 1 just get here, within reach of the Belgravian paradise. 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 851/1 The fashionable Belgravia was built about 1825. 1891 Athenaeum 27 June 824/2 That ineffable Belgravian, Lady Galbraith. Ibid., The De Moleyns are excellent conventional Belgravians.

beli, obs. sing. f. of belly and bellows. Belial ('biilial). Also 6 Belyall. [a. Heb. 67iyaeal, f. b'li not, without + ya^al use, profit; hence lit. ‘worthlessness,’ and ‘destruction’; but in later use and in the N.T. treated as a proper name = 6 novrjpos, the evil one, Satan. In the Eng. transl. it is retained untranslated in the phrase ‘sons of Belial’ and the like, as it is generally also in the Vulgate, though in 1 Kings xxi. 13 it is rendered filii diaboli, as in mediaeval use.] 1. The spirit of evil personified; used from early times as a name for the Devil or one of the fiends, and by Milton as the name of one of the fallen angels. Also attrib. c 1225 Juliana 38 Ich am pe deouel belial, deoflene wurest, ant mest is awariet. Ibid. 16 3e beliales budeles. 1377 Langl. P. PL B. xviii. 319 And with pat breth helle brake with Beliales barres. c 1384 Wyclif De Eccl. Sel. Wks. III. 339 Christ comounep not wip Belial. 1572 Forrest Theoph. 416 This Belyall bill written with his bloode. 1663 Bk. Com. Prayer, Chas. Mart., In permitting cruel men, sons of Belial, (as on this day) to imbrue their hands in the blood of thine Anointed. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 490 Belial came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd Fell not from Heaven. 1822 Scott Monast. xxxiv, A scoffer, a debauched person, and, in brief, a man of Belial. 1879 Farrar St. Paul II. 108 note, Belial is not originally a proper name.. this is why there was no worship of Belial.

Hence Beli'alic a., 'Belialist. 1631 Bp. Webbe Quietn. (1657) 145 The most unquiet Belialist in his parish. 1656 Trapp Comm. Matt. xi. 29 Christians must not be yokeless.. Belialists. 1822 Blackw. Mag. XI. 464 Belialic qualities I could not have expected to find in him.

belibel (bi'laib(3)l), v. [f. be- 4 + libel v.] trans. To assail with libels; to traduce, slander, calumniate. Hence be'libelled ppl. a. a 1626 Breton Packet Lett. 11. xvi, Belibelling the wicked, abusing the honest, or pleasing the foolish. 1683 Cave Ecclesiastici 493 To be thus traduced and.. be-libelled in publick Sermons. 1881 Athenaeum 13 Aug. 209/3 Sir John Fastolf, the much be-libelled original of FalstafT.

belick, belish-lash, etc.: see be- pref. f belie (bi'lai), v.1 Obs. Forms: 1 beliejan, 2-3 biliggen, 5 ? belye. Pa. t. 1 belaej, 2-3 bilaei, -lai, 3-5 bi-, by-, be-lay(e. Pa. pple. 1 belejen, 3-4 bi-, by-, beleyn, -layn(e, -lay(e, 7 beely’d. [OE. bi-, be-liegan = OHG. biligan, hilikan, MHG. biligen, Ger. beliegen, f. bi-, be- about + ligan, in OE. lic$an to lie.] 1. trans. To lie around, encompass. a 1000 Caedmon's Gen. (Grein) 229 Sio ea Ethiopia land beligeS uton. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxiv, Dimmed with skyes foule.. with tempest all be-layne. 1627 May Lucan ill. (1631) 219 From Pholoe Beely’d with Centaures.

2. spec. beleaguer.

To

lie

with an

army

round,

to

a 1000 /Elfric Joshua vii. 9 Hi belicgat? us mid fyrde. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 51 f>e king .. bilai pe burh ierusalem. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 5378 He was belayn in that cite, c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4483 Now hap pe A[meral] by-leyn hem per.

3. To lie with (carnally). C1325 Coeur de L. 1119 Hys daughtyr that was bylayn. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 328, I slew my fader, and syn bylay my moder.

4. intr. To lie near; to pertain or belong to\ impers. it is pertinent or proper. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 15 \>e six werkes of pesternesse pe bilbe to nihte. Ibid. 61 pe habbeS po sinnes don pe bi-ligge6 to here shrifte. 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 147 perto [to Cappadocia] be-lyep Cilicia, a 1400 Old Usages Winchester in T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 350 Also twey coroners bylyth that ther be in Wynchestre. 1522 World & Child in Hazl. Dodsl. I. 258 Covet.. no good that him be-lith.

belie (bi'lai), v.2 Forms: 1 beleojan, 2-3 -leo3en, 4-7 belye, 6-8 -ly, 6 -belie. Pa. t. 1 beleag, 6belied. Pa. pple. 1 belojen, 3-4 belowen, 6belied. [OE. heleo^an — OFris. biliuga, OHG. biliugan to lie about, f. bi-, be- + OE. leogan = Gothic liugan to lie, tell lies. Originally, like the simple LIE, a strong vb., but rare exc. in present in ME.] Always trans. 11. To deceive by lying. Obs. a 1000 Gregory's Dial. (Bosw.) 1. 14 Belojen beon, jalli.

2. To tell lies about; esp. to calumniate by false statements. a 1225 Ancr. R. 68 pe treowe is misleued, and te sakelease ofte bilowen, uor wone of witnesse. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. 11. 22 She hath .. ylakked my lemman, and bilowen hire to lordes. Ibid. v. 414, I haue leuere .. lesynges to laughe at and belye my neighbore. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 96 He belyeth me falsely. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 490 Wherein you doe unhonestlye slaunder him and belye him, without cause. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 396 Saying that he had belied him to our King. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lxiv. 762 It was rendered criminal to belie the subjects of the king. 1876 Holland Sev. Oaks xv. 213,1 think she is shamefully belied.

f b. to belie the truth. Obs. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. x. 22 J>ei lede lordes with lesynges and bilyeth treuthe. 1635 Austin Medit. 123 The Judge of Heaven is judg’d; the Truth be-lide.

-leefe, 7 -liefe, 7- belief. (Also 5 bileeve, byleyue, belyefe, 5-6 byleue, -ve, 6 b’leue, 6-7 Sc. beleif.) [Early ME. bileafe, -leaue, -leue, f. bi-, be- + leafe:—OE. (Northumb.) leafa, shortened from ge-leafa ‘belief,’ a common WGer. abstract sb. (= OS. gilobo, MDu. gelove, Du. geloof, OHG. giloubo, MHG. geloube, Ger. glaube): OT eut. type *galaubon- (but not found in Gothic, which had the cogn. galaubeins fem.); f. galaub- dear, esteemed, valued, valuable’; see believe. The orig. ^e leaf a, ileafe, ileve, and its short form leafa, leafe, leve, survived till the 13th c., when the present compound, which had appeared already in the 12th c., superseded both. The be-, which is not a natural prefix of nouns, was prefixed on the analogy of the vb. (where it is naturally an intensive), so that believe, belief, go together, as the earlier Relief an, geleafa, and lief an, leafa, did. The vowel of the sb. (ea) and vb. (WSax. ie, Anglian e) were originally different; but the distinction was lost in ME. On the other hand the final consonants were differentiated in 16th c. the sb. changing from beleeve to beleefe, apparently by form-analogy with pairs like grieve grief, prove proof. The normal mod.Eng. would have been beleave or beleeve.] 1. The mental action, condition, or habit, of trusting to or confiding in a person or thing; trust, dependence, reliance, confidence, faith. Const, in (to, of obs.) a person.

fc. To assume falsely the character of; to counterfeit. Obs. rare.

(Belief was the earlier word for what is now commonly called faith. The latter originally meant in Eng. (as in OFrench) ‘loyalty to a person to whom one is bound by promise or duty, or to one’s promise or duty itself,’ as in ‘to keep faith, to break faith,’ and the derivatives faithful, faithless, in which there is no reference to ‘belief; i.e. ‘faith’ was - fidelity, fealty. But the word faith being, through OF. fei, feith, the etymological representative of the L. fides, it began in the 14th c. to be used to translate the latter, and in course of time almost superseded ‘belief,’ esp. in theological language, leaving ‘belief in great measure to the merely intellectual process or state in sense 2. Thus ‘belief in God’ no longer means as much as ‘faith in God’ (cf. quot. 1814 in 2). See believe 1, and 1 b.) CI175 Lamb. Horn. 101 Cristene men ne sculen heore bileafe bisettan on pere weor[l]dliche eahte. c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 59 Affie pe, doujter, pi bileve hap made pee saif. c 1386 Chaucer 2nd Nonnes. T. 63 And though that I, unworthy sone of Eve, Be synful, yet accepte my bileve. c 1400 Melayne 438 What myghte es in a rotyn tree pat 30ure byleue es in. c1450 Merlin 50 It is grete merveile that ye haue so grete bileve to this man. 1508 Fisher Wks. 271 A stedfast byleue of God. 1535 Coverdale Tob. ii, We.. loke for the life, which God shal geue vnto them, that neuer turne their beleue from him. 1626 Bacon Sylva §327 We knew a Dutch-man, that had wrought himself into the beleif of a great Person by undertaking that he could make Gold. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. iv. 183 Belief in high-plumed hats of a feudal cut; in heraldic scutcheons; in the divine right of Kings. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 961 Beyond mine old belief in womanhood.

a 1700 Dryden (J.) Durst, with horses hoofs that beat the ground, And martial brass, belie the thunder’s sound.

b. absol. Trust in God; the Christian virtue of faith, arch, or Obs.

f 3. To assert or allege falsely, or with a lie. 1561 Daus. tr. Ballinger on Apoc. (1573) 123 He belyed hymselfe to be the Prophet of God. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. nob, Whiche..is most falsely belyed upon him. 1659 Milton Hirelings Wks. 1738 I. 570 To belye divine Authority, to make the name of Christ accessory to Violence.

4. To give a false representation or account of, to misrepresent; to present in a false character. 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. xxii, It is a strange thing how men bely themselves: every one speaks well, and meanes noughtily. 1649 Milton Eikon. 143 He a declar’d Papist, If his own letter to the Pope belye him not. 1709 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. lxiv. II. 106, I know not. .how much my face may belie my heart. 1814 Byron Lara 1. xxi, His brow belied him if his soul was sad. 1851 Kingsley Yeast xv. You are an Englishman.. unless your physiognomy belies you. absol. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus x. 16 They grow quantities, if report belies not.

fb. To disguise (a person or thing) so as to make it appear something else. Obs. 1711 Pope Temple F. 154 His horned head bely’d the Libian God. a 1725-Odyss. iv. 618 A boar’s obscener shape the god belies. 1810 Cromek Nithsd. & Galloway Song App. (1880) 225 To belie the form of God in the unholy semblance of cats.

|5. To give the lie to, call false, contradict as a lie or a liar; to reject as false, deny the truth of. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1158/1 This that I haue said, I will stand vnto, for I will neuer beelie my selfe. 1611 Bible Jet. v. 12 They haue belyed the Lord, and said; It is not he. 1626 T. H. tr. Caussin's Holy Crt. 21, I will not be-lye the law of my Maister. 1649 Alcoran 45 If they bely thee, know, they belyed the Prophets that were before thee.

6. To call (a thing) false practically, to treat it as false by speaking or acting at variance with it; to be false or faithless to. 1698 Norris Pract. Disc. IV. 27 If a Man.. does not appear to bely his Discourse by his Practice. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 356 Who in his last acts does not wish to belye the tenour of his life. 1810 Shelley Q. Mab 22 Those who dare belie Their human nature. 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 196 Her life as a nation will not belie her great gifts as a country. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 207 But., he grossly belied his faith.

7. To show to be false, prove false or mistaken; to falsify (expectations, etc.). 1685 tr. Gracian's Courtier's Orac. 7 It is the victory of an able man to correct, or at least bely the censure. 1781 Cowper Retirem. 714 Novels.. Belie their name, and offer nothing new. 1833 Ht. Martineau Tale of Tyne iii. 53 There was.. a quaver of the voice which belied what he said. 1857 Buckle Civilis. vi. 296 The subsequent actions of Arthur did not belie his supernatural origin.

|8. ? To fill with lies. Obs. rare. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. in. iv. 38 ’Tis Slander.. whose breath Rides on the posting windes, and doth belye All corners of the World.

belied (bi'laid), ppl. a.

[f. prec. Calumniated, falsified, proved false.

BELIEVE

86

BELIE

+

-ed1.]

1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Viet, in Farr S.P. 59 A painted face, belied with vermeyl store. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. Proem 28 Fathers, long belied, and long forsaken. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings xix. 339 But the words lived on, established, not belied, by that apparent confutation.

belied, obs. form of bellied. belief (bi'liif). Forms: 2 bileafe, 2-3 -leaue, 2-5 -leue, 5 -leve, 4-6 beleue, -ve, 5-6 -leeve, 6-7

C1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 21 Neither wi)? figis of bileve, ne wi^ grapis of devocioun. c 1400 Apol. Loll. Introd. 6 It is sooth that bileue is grounde of alle vertues. c 1400 Destr. Troy x. 4287 ffor lacke of beleue pai light into errour, and fellen vnto fals goddes. 1578 Q. Elizab. in Farr S.P. (1845) I. 1 Who shall therefor from Syon geue That helthe whych hangeth on our b’leue? 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. in. i. §5 The Church hath from the apostles.. received belief. 1840 Carlyle Heroes vi. 320 That war of the Puritans.. the war of Belief against Unbelief.

fc. out of belief-, unbelieving, outside the pale of the faith. Obs. 1493 Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 60 The Jewe that was out of beleve.

2. Mental acceptance of a proposition, statement, or fact, as true, on the ground of authority or evidence; assent of the mind to a statement, or to the truth of a fact beyond observation, on the testimony of another, or to a fact or truth on the evidence of consciousness; the mental condition involved in this assent. Constr. of a statement, or (obs.) a speaker; that ...; belief in (a thing); persuasion of its existence. 1533 Frith Bk. agst. Rastell (1829) 236 That I would bring the people in belief that repentance of a man helpeth not for the remission of his sin. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1590) 385 My only defence shal be beleefe of nothing. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect. (1685) 254 There is no belief of men that were always accounted Lyers. 1790 Boswell Johnson 100 We talked of belief in ghosts. 1814 Wordsw. Excursion iv. Wks. VII. 161 One in whom persuasion and belief Had ripened into faith. >843 Mill Logic i. i. §2 The simplest act of belief supposes, and has something to do with, two objects. 1849 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. § 118 (1860) 240 The amount of belief we have in our judgment has been called its Modality, as being the mode in which we hold it for truth. 1872 Calderwood Handbk. Mor. Philos. (1874) 248 Belief is the assent of the mind to a truth, while the reality so acknowledged is not matter of observation. Mod. His statements are unworthy of belief.

3. The thing believed; the proposition or set of propositions held true; in early usage, esp. the doctrines believed by the professors of a

religious system, a religion. In modern use often simply = opinion, persuasion. a 1225 St. Marker. 4 Ant heide his hethene godes . . ant lei to his luthere bileaue. a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc- 4335 And turne pam til a fals belyefe. CI380 Sir Ferumb. 829 Til he wer cristned .. & y-bro3t to pe ri3t beleue. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 152 The beleves, that tho were. CI400 Maundev. x 121 Thei holden the Beleeve amonges us. 1530 Rastell Bk Purgat II. iv, Of thys beleve, that the soule shall never dye. 1535 Coverdale Esther viii. 17 Many of the people in the londe became of the Iewes beleue. 1714 Lady M. W. Montague Lett, lxxxvi. II. 141 It is my belief you will not be at all the richer. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 56 Throughout the world belief depends chiefly upon localities, and the accidents of birth. 1877 E. Conder Fas. Faith i. 8 The belief that there is no God is as definite a creed as the belief in one God or in many gods.

b. The term is applied by some philosophers to the primary or ultimate principles of knowledge received on the evidence of consciousness; intuition, natural judgement. 1838 Sir W. Hamilton in Reid's Wks. 743/1 note, The primary truths of fact, and the primary truths of intelligence (the contingent and necessary truths of Reid) form two very distinct classes of the original beliefs or intuitions of consciousness. 1877 Conder Basis of Faith iv. 157 Primary judgments (as that every change must have a cause) are often called beliefs, though ‘intuitions’ would be a better term.

4. A formal statement of doctrines believed, a creed, the Belief: the ‘Apostles’ Creed.’ arch. C1175 Lamb. Horn. 73 Buten heo cunnen heore bileue. pet is . pater noster . and credo. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. v. 7, I.. sat softly adown and seide my bileue. CI550 How Plowm. lerned Pater-Noster 54 in Hazl. E.P.P. 211, I mervayll ryght gretly, That thy byleve was never taught the. 1637 Heywood Dialogues i. 101 Some sung, and some did say Haile Virgin: others, their Beleefe. 1712 Prideaux Direct. Ch.-Wardens (ed. 4) 11 Kneeling at the Prayers, Standing at the Belief. 1840 Marry at Olla Podr. (Rtldg.) 331, I said.. the Belief.

f5. Confident anticipation, expectation. Obs. 1513 Douglas JEneis x. ix. 44 That gude beleif quhilk thou has eyk Of Ascanyvs vprysyng to estait. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 235 In the feild sa mony als war slane, Without beleif to gif battell agane.

f beliefful (bi'liifful), a. arch, or Obs. Forms: 2-3 bileaful, bileffull, 6 beliefull. [f. prec. + -ful.] Full of faith, believing. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 73 >et heo sculen beon bileffulle. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 25 >e rihtwise and pe bileafule. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke i. (R.) A minde beliefull and readie to obeie.

be'lieffulness. arch. [f. prec. +

-ness.]

The

quality of being full of belief or faith. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke iv. 24 Ye godly beliefulnesse of the heathen. 1853 Clough Poems & Pr. Rem. I. 213 And there is a hopefulness and a belieffulness, so to say, on your side.

beliefless (bi'liiflis), a.

[f. belief

+

-less.]

Without belief or faith. 1612 Sylvester Henrie Gt. Wks. 512 (D.) Heav’n’s Embassage to Belief-less Soules. 1849 Clough Relig. Poems xiii. 81 We are most hopeless, who had once most hope, And most beliefiess, that had most believed.

belier (bi'lai3(r)). [f.

.2

belie v

+ -er1.] One who

belies. *547

Coverdale Old Faith Prol. Wks. 1844 I 8 Blasphemers, backbiters, beliers of good men. 1605 B. Volpone 11. ii. (1616) 467 Belyers Of great-mens fauors. 1824 Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 89 Foulmouthed beliers of the Christian faith and history.

Jonson

believability -BILITY.] credibility.

(bi.liivs’biliti). [f. next: see Capability of being believed,

1865 Mill Logic (ed.6) I. 305.

believable (bi'li:v3b(3)l), a.

[f. believe

v.

+

-able.] Capable of being believed; credible. 1382 Wyclif Ps. xcii[i]. 5 Thi witnessingis ben maad beleevable ful myche. 1548 Geste Pr. Masse 86 Ryght true and belevable. 1611 Cotgr., Credible, beleeuable; to be credited or beleeued. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 610 And that he sinn’d, is not believable.

be'lievableness.

[f. prec. + -ness.] quality of being believable; credibility.

The

01679 T. Goodwin Wks. IV. 1. 88 The credibility and believableness, as I call it, of those promises. -Wks. 1864 VIII. 116 Gives a subsistence to the object of faith that doth put into it.. a being of believableness.

believe (bi'liiv), v.

Forms: 2-3 bileuen, 4-5 bileue, -leve, -leeve, 4-6 beleue, -leve, 6-7 -leeve, 6- believe. (Also, 3 biliuen, byleuen, 4-5 byleeue, 4-6 byleue, -leve, 7 -leeue, -leive.) Pa. t. and pple. believed, occas. in 6-7 beleft (still dial.). [Early ME. bileven, f. bi-, be- -I- leven:—OE., Anglian lefan, short, f. gelefan, WSax. relief an, gelyfan, a Common Teut. vb. (in OS. gilobian, Du. gelooven, OHG. gilouben, MHG. gelouben, glouben, mod.G. glauben (earlier glouben, Gothic galaubjan):—OTeut. *galauhian to believe, probably, ‘to hold estimable, valuable, pleasing, or satisfactory, to be satisfied with,’ f. galaub‘dear, pleasing’; cf. Goth, liuban, lauf, lubum, lubans, Teut. root *lub-, Aryan lubh-, to hold dear, to like, whence also love, lief. The original jeZe/aw, ileven, ileve, survived to the

BELIEVED 14th c., and the shortened leve to the 15th; the present compound, which eventually superseded both, appears in the 12th. The historical form is beleeve. Believe is an erroneous spelling of the 17th c., prob. after relieve (from Fr.). Cf. BELIEF.] I. irttr. I. To have confidence or faith in (a person), and consequently to rely upon, trust to. Const. in, and (in theological language) on (an obs.); formerly with into, unto, of (rare). On hine selyfan to believe in or on him, was common in OE. No difference can be detected between the use of ‘believe in’ and ‘believe on,’ in the 16th c. versions of the Scriptures, except that the latter was more frequent; it is now used chiefly (but not exclusively) of ‘saving faith.’ a. To believe in a person (also in Scripture in, or on, his name). [Cf. late L. credere in aliquem.] c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 23 Ich bileue on pe holie gost. Ibid. 19 To bileuen in god. c 1205 Lay. 13966 Woden ure lauerd, pe we on bi-liue8. 1340 Ayenb. 12 Ich beleue ine God. c 1380 Wyclif Wicket (1828) 16 Into whome ye nowe not seynge bileue. 1382 - John i. 12 To hem that bileueven in his name [so 1388, Geneva, Rhem.; but Tind. Cranm., 1611 To them that beleeue on his name]. Ibid. viii. 30 Many men bileueden in to him [1388 in hym; Tind., Cranm., Geneva, 1611 on him; Rhem. in him]. Ibid. xiv. 1 3e bileuen in to God, and bileue 3e in to me [1388, Tind., Cranm., Geneva, Rhem., 1611 in God.. in me]. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer Qvj, I Beleue in God the father almightie, maker of heauen and yearth. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Hosea iii. 7 All that should beleeve on him unto eternall life, i860 Pusey Min. Proph. 279 To believe God is to believe what God says, to be true. To believe in or on God, expresses not belief only, but that belief resting in God, trusting itself and all its concerns with Him.

b. To believe in a thing, e.g. the truth of a statement or doctrine; also in mod. usage, in the genuineness, virtue, or efficacy of a principle, institution, or practice. C1250 Lay. 13890 3oure bi-leue )>at 3eo an bi-lefep. 1569 J. Rogers Gl. Godly Love 181 We repent and beleeve in the promise of God in Christ. 1865 Mozley Mirac. vii. 139 In this sense St. Paul, if I may use the expression, believes in human nature; he thinks it capable of rising to great heights even in this life. 01887 Mod. To believe in universal suffrage, free education, vegetarianism, the college system; colloq. To believe in public schools, in the roast beef of Old England, in bicycles, the telephone, gas, etc. 1948 G. Vidal City & Pillar (1949) 1. v. §2. 117 Sullivan believed in exercise.

c. Formerly with of = on, in. c 1532 Ld. Berners Huon (1883) 464 They were al content to leue theyr law and to byleue of Iesu chryst. 1630 Pagitt Christianogr. 1. iii. (1636) 160 They do not well beleeve of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.

d. absol. To exercise faith. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. v. 598 All pe wallis ben of witte.. Boterased with bileue-so-or-J?ow-beest-nou3te-ysaved. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. Epigr. (1867)74 Beleue well, and haue well, men say. 1611 Bible Mark v. 36 Be not afraid, onely beleeue. 1627 Sanderson 12 Serm. (1637) 252 Who so forward as they to repent, and beleeue, and reforme their liues. 1633 Donne Poems (1650) 7, I can love.. Her who beleeves, and her who tries. 1870 M. Conway Earthw. Pilgr. xiv. 178 The man who really believes follows that which he believes, fearless of consequences.

e. absol. To think. Cf. 7. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones 11. vii. (1840) 160/2, I will not believe so meanly of you.

f2. To give credence to (a person, or his statement); to trust (from L. credere alicui). Obs. Replaced by 5, 6. 1382 Wyclif i John iv. 1 Nyl 3ee bileue to eche spirit. -John x. 37 If I do not the workis of my fadir nyle 3e bileue to me [so 1388; Tindale and later versions, believe me not]. C1430 Life St. Kath. xviii. (Gibbs MS.) 71 At pe lest byleueth to 3oure owne goddes [diis saltern vestris credite]. 1530 Love Bonavent. Mirr. (W. de W.) iii, Mary through mekenes byleuynge to the aungell Gabryell. 1647 W. Browne Polexander 1. 67 Beleeve lesse to your courage then judgement.

3. ellipt. To believe in (a person or thing), i.e. in its actual existence or occurrence. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. ix. I. 29, I find that I have.. a strong disposition to believe in miracles. 1877 Sparrow Serm. xxii. 290 No civilized.. nation appears., which did not believe in a God. Mod. To believe in ghosts, in the sea-serpent, in Romulus and Remus.

f4. To trust, expect, think to do (something). Obs. Cf. belief 5. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxvii. 10919 Priam was proude, & prestly beleuyt For to couer of care thurgh hir kyd helpe. C1550 Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 109 Beleuand for to bring vs to despair. 1560 Whitehorne Arte of Warre (1573) 107 b. There shall never bee founde any good mason whiche will beleeve to bee able to make a faire image of a peece of Marbell ill hewed.

II. trans. 5. To give credence to (a person in making statements, etc.). Object orig. dat.: cf. 2. Phrases. I believe you, an expression of emphatic agreement; believe (you) me, phr. strengthening an assertion. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 13 But if Gregoire be beleved. As it is in the bokes write. C1450 Merlin 3 Sholde he be bileved of moche peple. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. v. i. 306 You are now bound to beleeue him. 1611 Bible Ex. xix. 9 That the people may.. beleeue thee for euer. 1627 May Lucan vm. 20 And scarse is he Beleft, relating his owne misery. 1646

BELIME

87 Crashaw Delights of Muses 130 The modest front of this small floore, Beleeve mee, Reader can say more Then many a braver Marble can. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. 1. 4 A man .. who deserves to be beleived. 1743 Fielding J. Wild ill. iii. 208 Believe me, Lad, the Tongue of a Viper is less hurtful than that of a Slanderer. 1790 Walpole Let. 11 Dec. (1944) XI. 158 Believe me it is not for my own sake that I desire this. 1820 Moore Irish Melodies 51 Believe me, if all those endearing young charms.. Were to change by to¬ morrow [etc.]. 1832 Dickens Let. 4 Feb. (1965) I. 3 Believe me Yours Truly Charles Dickens. 1834-Sk. Boz {1836) ser. 1. I. 175 ‘Were you not a little surprised?’ ‘I b’lieve you!’ 1859 Tennyson Enid 1592, I do believe yourself against yourself. 1910 Kipling Rewards & Fairies 233 ‘The tides run something furious here.’ ‘I believe you,’ said the Archbishop. 1918 C. Sandburg Cornhuskers 30 Pike’s Peak is a big old stone, believe me. 1926 S.P.E. Tract XXIV. 119 Believe me (sometimes expanded to ‘believe you me’)—take my word for it. 1943 ‘E. M. Delafield’ Late & Soon iv. 63 Believe you me, that’s no hardship. Ibid. ix. 123 Believe you me, in all the years, and all the adventures I’ve deliberately sought out.. it’s never been like this. 1951 L. MacNeice tr. Goethe's Faust 11. iv. p. 256 No, you shall win it, believe you me. It’s you to-day are C. in C. 1967 ‘O. Mills’ Death enters Lists v. 47 Someone's making a good thing out of the contracts, believe you me.

6. a. To give credence to, to accept (a statement) as true [cf. L. credere aliquid]. Also in colloq. phrases strengthening an assertion, as believe it or not, would you believe it? (see will v.1 43), you'd better believe (see BETTER a. 4 b). C1315 Shoreham 7 He that bilefeth hit nau3t. 1340 Ayenb. 151 Huanne me belefp .. al pet God made, zayp, and hat. c 1380 Wyclif Wicket (1828) 6 They make us beleue a false law. 1528 More Heresyes i. Wks. 133/1 Ye be so cyrcumspect that ye will nothing beleue without good sufficient & full profe. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Athan. Cr., This is the Catholike faithe: whiche excepte a man beleue faithfully, he cannot be saued. 1627 May Lucan vi. 262 Aulus beleft These fained words of his. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Hosea ii. 71 Our faith to beleeve Gods promises. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 42 Believing lies Against his Maker. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind 11. iii. 264 Men cannot believe what they will. 1776 H. More Let. (1925) 33 Would you believe it? In the midst of all the pomps and vanities of this wicked town, I have taken it into my head to study like a dragon. 1855 H. Reed Led. Eng. Hist. ii. 67 It is.. as irrational to believe too little, as to believe too much, i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. §24. 171 The Guide Chef evidently did not believe a word of it. i860 Trollope Framley P. II. ii. 35 Now, would you believe it? I have used up three lifts of notepaper already. 1929 R. L. Ripley {title) Believe it or not! 1931 L. Steffens Autobiogr. iii. xxxvi. 617 But the only individual he ever exposed was Martin Lomasy, who, believe it or not, was one of the best men I met in Boston. 1968 Sunday Express 8 Dec. 8/1 Having died for a minute and a half I suppose I am one of those believe-it-or-not Ripley characters.

fb. To accept (a thing) as authentic. Obs. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. 1. xv. 118 That these pensions should presently be sent to the hands of the auditors.. with strait commandment to believe the same patents immediately.

7. With clause or equivalent inf. phrase: To hold it as true that..., to be of opinion, think. 1297 R- Glouc. 229 pe hexene Englysse men .. Byleuede, pat in heuene Godes hii were bo. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 273 To make us full beleve That he was verray Goddes sone. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 32 Who byleveth her chast. 1603 Shaks. Meas.for M. iii. ii. 27, I beleeue I know the cause. 1667 Milton P.L. 1. 144 Our Conqu’ror whom I now Of force believe Almighty. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1858) 312 He believed there were more wolves a coming. i853 H. Rogers Eel. Faith 326 He believes.. that ‘probability is the guide of life.’ 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. 11. iv. §52 (1875) 172 If men did not believe this in the strict sense of the word.. they still believed that they believed it. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 151 Some one— Critias, I believe—went on to say.

f8. To hold as true the existence of. (Now expressed by 3.)

Obs.

1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 119 Ther ben many thynges in the world whiche ben byleued though they were neuer seen. 1708 Swift Sentim. Ch. Eng. Man Wks. 1755 II. 1. 57 Whoever professeth himself a member of the Church of England, ought to believe a God. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. v. §2 Shall we believe a God?

III. to make believe: to pretend. Subst. makebelieve: a pretence; see make.

believed (bi'liivd), ppl. a.

[f. prec. -I- -ed1.]

Credited, held for true. 1615 W. Hull Mirr. Maiestie 21 He is now a beleeued trueth, not yet a seene trueth. 1874 Sully Sensation & Int. 87 The believed reality.

believer (bi'li:v9(r)). [f. as prec. + -er1.] One who believes, a. One who has faith in the doctrines of religion; esp. a Christian, Christian disciple. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Te Deum, Thou diddest open the kyngdome of heauen to all beleuers. 1611 Bible 1 Tim. iv. 12 Be thou an example of the beleeuers. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts xxv. (1739) 319 They who first embraced the Faith were styled Disciples or Believers. 1779 J. Newton Hymn, How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear.

be'lieving, vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ing1.] The having faith; confidence, trust; the accepting of a statement as true. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxlvi. 548 The beleuyng thus of the frenche kyng vpon Clement. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. iii. xxxi, Thy little fault was but too much beleeving. 1796 Pegge Anonym. (1809) 448 Seeing is believing: this old saying is taken to task by those who write upon Faith. 1825 Southey Paraguay iv. 21 How at believing aught should these delay?

be'lieving, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That believes, or has faith. C1440 Three Kings Col. (1885) 2 )?es iii kynges, pat of myscreauntys were pe first bileuyng men. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, 11. i. 66 God be prays’d, that to beleeuing Soules Giues Light in Darknesse. 1762 Goldsm. Nash 76 Poor, believing girls deceived by such professions. 1875 M. Pattison Casaubon 252 A scandal and stumbling-block to believing calvinists.

be'lievingly, adv. [f. prec. 4believing manner, with belief.

-ly2.]

In a

1643 Caryl Sacr. Covt. 36 Walke believingly. 1824 Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 273 Do they believingly suppose a spiritual regenerative power.. accompanying the sprinkling of a few drops of water on an infant’s face? 1854 James Ticonder. III. 173 She gazed at him believingly.

belif(e, obs. form of belive. be'light, v.' Obs. or dial. In 3 bilihten, 5 by lyght. [f. be- + light.] Hence be'lighted ppl. a. 1. trans. To light up, illuminate. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 31 Godes brihtnesse bilihte hem. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 48 Euery room so.. well belighted. 1863 Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. II. 43 Moonbelighted boughs.

2. intr. ? To shine up, to dawn. CI440 Mode Arth. (Roxb.) 55 We shalle hym haue withouten wene To morow or any day by lyght.

fbe'like, v.1 Obs. In 3 bilike, 5 belyke. [? f. be5 + like a.] 1. trans. To make like, to simulate. a 1250 Owl & Night. 839 All thine wordes beth isliked, And so bisemed and biliked, That alle tho that hi avoth Hi weneth that thu segge soth.

2. trans.

To be like, to resemble.

1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 25 Reynkin my yongest sone, belyketh me so wel, I hope he shal folowe my stappes.

t belike, v.2 Obs. [f. be- 2 + like v.] 1. impers. To be pleasing to, to please. 1764 T. Brydges Homer Travest. (1797) II. 207 Let him, since it belikes him well, Stay where he is.

2. trans. To like, to be pleased with. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1582) 403 a, Those that are beloued and belyked of prynces. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Epist. 144 b, Such things as I in thee should have belikte. Hence be'liked ppl. a. I557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1582) 406 a, Therfore let not the beliked think, if he dare beleeue mee, etc.

belike (bi'laik), adv. Also 6 belyke, bylyke, -like, 7 bee-like. [? f. be = by prep. + like a. or sb.; ?‘By what is likely, by what seems.’] A. adv. To appearance, likely, in all likelihood, probably; not unlikely, perhaps, possibly. 01533 Frith Purgatory (1829) 121 Belike this man hath drunk of a merry cup. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Pari. 73 By like all their ceremonies bee not so auncient. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon I. 157 In 1572, and belike before, he had a Chamber. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. 238 All these three, belike, went together. 1800 Wordsw. Pet Lamb, Things that I know not of belike to thee are dear. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nightc. 268 Caterpillar-like.. Become the Painted Peacock, or belike The Brimstone-wing.

t B. adj. Like, likely (to do something). Obs. 1550 Lever Serm. 30 For they seme belyke to do moste good wyth the ryches. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. iv. Wks. V. 35 They saw.. our food belike to fail.

t be'likely, adv. Obs. Also 6 belikly. [f. prec. + -ly2; after likely.] = prec. a 1552 Ld. Somerset in Foxe A. M. 730b, Images be great letters, .and belikly they are so likly to be red amis, that God himself.. did forbid them, a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 9 [He] having belikely heard some better words of me.

•fbe'lim, v. Obs. Forms: 3-4 bilimien, -limen, -lymen, lymme. [f. be- 6 c. + OE. lim, limb: cf. behead.] trans. To cut off a limb or the limbs, to dismember, mutilate; to disfigure. c 1205 Lay. 29353 ^*Elcne bileafued mon He lette bi¬ limien. c 1300 Beket 560 Bote ther man schal beo bylymed: other to dethe ido. C1330 Arth. Merl. 5775 The Knighte .. Mani ther slough in litel stounde And bilimeden. a 1528 Skelton Bowge of Courte 289 His face was belymmed, as byes had him stounge. [Or can this be belimnl]

fbe'lime, v. Obs. or arch. [f. be- 6 -I- lime sb.] 1. trans. To cover as with bird-lime.

One who believes in, (or of) anything.

1555 Far die Facions Pref. 12 When he .. had with all kinde of wickednes belimed yc world, a 1656 Bp. Hall Wks. (1661) II. 301 Ye whose foul hands are belimed with bribery.

a 1600 Hooker (J.) Discipline began to enter into conflict with Churches which, in extremity, had been believers of it. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. 11. 126, I could get but few believers, when I attempted to justify you. 1876 Green Short. Hist. viii. §2. 470 James was a fanatical believer in the rights and power of his crown.

1601 Dent Pathw. Heauen 83 This world.. is very bird¬ lime, which doth so belime our affectiones, that they cannot ascend vpward. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. 1. iv. 15 As a bird in lime-twiggs; the more he struggles, the more belimed. 01674 Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 289 Where he

b. gen.

2. To entangle as with bird-lime; to ensnare.

found it necessary for his own purpose, sometimes to perplex and belime his Readers.

T[Used for Ger. leimen to glue. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. vi. 105 Oh be then so good With sweat and with blood The crown to belime!

fbe'limp, v. Obs. Pa. t. belamp. [OE. belimpan, f. be- 2 + limpan to happen: see limp v.1] 1. intr. To happen, occur, befall (with dat. = to). a 1000 Beowulf 4928 }?a him sio sar belamp. 1154 O.E. Chroti. (Laud MS.) an. 1137 §7 Wat belamp on Stephnes kinges time, a 1250 Prov. Alfred 486 in O.E. Misc. 132 Ef it so bilimpit.

2. To pertain, belong to, to befit; also impers. c 888 K. /Elfred Boeth. xxxviii. §2 Hit belimpt? jenog wel to paere spraece. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 51 pet scrift pe per to bilimpeS. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 258 Hit bilimpeS forte speke. c 1270 in O.E. Misc. 146 To Westsexene lawe bilympej? ix. schiren.

belion, beliquor, etc.: see be- pref. fbe'lirt, v.

Obs. [OE. belyrtarr, f. be- 2 + *lyrtan cogn. w. MHG. liirzen ‘to deceive,’ pointing to a WGer. *lurtjan, of uncertain derivation; related perh. to MHG. lerz, lurz ‘left, lefthand,’ or perh. to ON. lortr ‘ filth, ordure’; cf. also the Romanic words treated by Diez under lordo.] trans. To deceive, cheat, befool. c 950 Lindisf. Matt. ii. 16 Da Herodes.. bisuicen vel bilyrtet wtes from dryum. c 1220 Bestiary 403 in O.E. Misc. 13 Forto bilirten fu3eles. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 316 Ic, and eue hise wif, sulen adam bilirten of hise lif. c 1400 Destr. Troy ill. 715 pat such a lady belirt with pi lechur dedes.

belise, obs. form of bellows. Belisha beacon (bi'liijs 'birkon). [f. surname of Leslie Hore-Belisha, Minister of Transport !93I_7 + beacon si.] A post about seven feet high surmounted by a flashing amber-coloured globe and erected on the pavement at officially recognized pedestrian crossings of the highway. Also Belisha. Hence Belisha crossing. 1934 Punch 21 Nov. 583/1 One of the clever people who have been going about stealing and even shooting the Belisha Beacon globes—(i) ‘as a protest against their futility’; (2) ‘because they slow down the traffic’. Ibid. 5 Dec. 617 (caption) Why not be in the movement, Sir, and ’ave a Belisha? 1936 N. & Q. CLXXI. 355/1 With a view to learning what people in general called these crossings, I asked two intelligent young working-women. One said ‘Belisha crossing’, the other ‘pedestrian crossing’. 1942 Motor Driving Made Easy (Autocar) (ed. 7) ix. 121 Once he [sc. the pedestrian] has left the pavement at a Belisha beacon, motor and other traffic must yield to him. 1958 L. Blight Love & Idleness iii. 29 The yellow belishas going on and off at the zebra crossings.

belitter (bi'litafr)), v.1 [f. be- 6 + litter1.] f 1. trans. To strew with litter (for the floor). Obs. 1660 Fuller Mixt Contemp. (1841) 255 Contented with a house belittered with straw.

2. To bestrew with rubbish or things in disorder. 1678 Quack's Acad, in Harl. Misc. II. 33 (D.) A chamber .. belittered with urinals or empty gally-pots.

t be'litter, v.2 Obs. rare. [f. be- + litter2.] To bring forth a litter, to have young; to litter. C1325 Gloss in Rel. Ant. II. 78 Be-litter, enfaunter.

belittle (bi'lit(3)l), v.

[f. be- + little a. The word appears to have originated in U.S.; whence in recent English use in sense 3.] 1. trans. To diminish in size, make small. 1782 Jefferson Notes Virginia (1787) 107 So far the Count de Buffon has carried this new theory of the tendency of nature to belittle her productions on this side the Atlantic. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 230 On this side of the Atlantic there is a tendency in nature to belittle her productions. 1866 N.Y. Herald Jan., His occupation is not absolutely gone; but the end of the war has belittled it sadly.

2. To cause to appear small; to dwarf. 1850 Miss Cooper Rur. Hours I. 127 The hills..belittle the sheet of water. 1862 B. Taylor Home Abr. Ser. 11. i. 22 A tower.. not so tall as to belittle the main building.

3. To depreciate, decry the importance of. 1797 Independent Chron. (U.S.) 30 Mar., [He] is.. an honorable man,.. let the writers .. endeavour to belittle him as much as they please. 1837 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. 1. xxii. 226 When.. they began to raise my dander, by belittleing the Yankees. 1843 -Attache II. xviii. 39, I won’t stay here and see you belittle Uncle Sam, for nothin’. 1862 Trollope N. Amer. II. 25 Washington was a great man, and I believe a good man. I, at any rate, will not belittle him. 1870 Grant White Words & Uses( 1881) 219 Time .. spent by each party in belittling and reviling the candidates of its opponents. 1881 Pall Mall G. 10 Dec. 20/2 The Times in 1809 belittled the victory of Talavera.

Hence belittling be'littlement.

bell

88

BELIMP

ppl.

a.

and

vbl.

sb.y

1859 Hills of Shatemuc 175, I never heard such a belittling character of the profession. 1882 Pop. Sc. Monthly XX. 370 A systematic belittlement of the essential.. in the story. 1884 Fairbairn in Contemp. Rev. Mar. 377 The belittling burden of an exhausted yet authoritative past.

belittler (bi'lit(3)b(r)). [f. belittle v. + -er1.] One who belittles or depreciates. 1887 Daily News 27 Jan. 6/3 The belittlers more than half confirm the story they would be delighted to contradict. 1898 Pop. Sci. Monthly LIII. 396 His belittlers emphasize Gerarde’s ignorance of the classic writers on botany. 1920 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 171, I protest against all the patriotic belittlers of their own nations.

fbe'live, bilive, blive, v. Obs. Forms: 1 belifan (5 bleve). Pa. t. 1 belaf, pi. belifon, 3 bilaef, -leaf, -lef, 5 bleef. Pa. pple. 1 belifen, 5 blyven. [OE. bi-, belifan:—OTeut. *biliban ‘to remain over,’ in Goth, beleiban, OHG. biliban, MHG. biliben, bliben, OS. bilibian, OFris. biliva, bliva, mod.G. bleiben, MDu. *beliven, bliven, Du. blijven\ f. bi-, be- + OTeut. *liban ‘to remain, be left.’ Already in OTeut., the simple liban appears to have been superseded by its compound biliban, which takes its place in all the languages; and in most the prefix was at length syncopated to b- so as to make the compound look like a simple verb. In Ger. and Du., bleiben, blijven, remain verbs of great importance, but in Eng. belive was at an early period confused with, and in 13th c. superseded by, its transitive derivative beleve, beleave, which finally was discarded also; so that the simple leave now remains as the only cognate of Ger. bleiben. In the 15th c., when beleve had been reduced to bleve, Caxton used the pa. t. bleef, and pa. pple. blyven, app. from Flemish, but no one followed him.] 1. intr. To remain. ciooo ^Llfric Exod. xxiii. 18 Ne se rysel ne belifp op morsen. c 1200 Ormin 2391 3ho bilsef wipp hire frend. c 1250 Gen. £sf Ex. 2776 De grene leaf.. 803 grene and hoi bi¬ leaf. Ibid. 1801 He bi-lef Sor on Se nbt. 1297 R. Glouc. 288 bat he ssolde aly3te, and byleue myd[h]yre al day. 1475 Caxton Jason 17 b, Ther bleef no moo but tweyne. 1483 -Gold. Leg. 67/2 Ther shold not haue blyuen unto nabal .. one pyssyng ayenst a walle. Ibid. 383/2 There bleueth no more but I.

2. trans. (confused with beleave.) To leave. c 1250 Gen. if Ex. 3066 And Sat [hjail Sa bileaf sal al ben numen.

belive (bi'laiv), adv. Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 3 bilife(s, -liues, -leue, -liue, 3-6 biliue, 3-5 bliue, 4 belif, bileve, 4-5 by lyve, blyue, blyve, 4-6 beliue, 4-7 blive, 5 belyff(e, beeliue, blif, blyf, bleyve, 5-6 belyve, -life, 5-8 belyfe, 6 byliue, 9 Sc. belyve, 4belive. [Orig. two words, in ME. bi life, be life, be live, f. be, bi, by prep., and life, live, dat. of lif, life; lit. ‘with life, or liveliness’; cf. quick, and Fr. vif, and mod. look alive! For forms cf. ALIVE.] 1. With speed, with haste, quickly, eagerly. (Still Sc.) c 1200 Ormin 17943 He fulltnepp nu bilife, c 1205 Lay. 26504 /Euere pe eorles arnde biliues.-4545 Brennes fleeh bliue. 1297 R- Glouc. 50 J?o Romaynes flowe bi lyue. c 1300 Alisaunder 1492 He wendith out of londe blive. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 238 Thai that war within the wayn Lap out belif. c 1400 Roland 52 They herd hym blif. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 626 Also blyve as he my3t.. go. c 1460 Frere & Boye 210 in Ritson Anc. Pop. P. 43 He ranne fast and blyue. C1570 Thynne Pride & Lowl. (1841) 63 They al tooke hold belyve. 1613 W. Browne Sheph. Pipe Wks. (1772) 25 This noise he heard, and blive he to her ran. 1836 J. Mayne Siller Gun in Chambers’ Pop. Scot. P. (1862) 140 His father gar’d them flee for fear, And skulk belyve.

fb. as blive: as quickly as possible, immediately; = as-soon, as-tite; Fr. aussitot. Obs. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xx. (1483) 66 Slee me here as blyue. C1450 Lonelich Grail (Roxb.) II. 391 On hym scholde I ben venged as blyve.

f2. At once, immediately, directly. Obs. c 1220 St. Marher. 3 Olibrius .. beth bringen hire biuoren him bliue. 01300 Cursor M. 5021 Fottes me ruben biliue. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 625 As sone as pay am borne, bylyue In pe water of baptem pay dyssente. c 1400 Roland 167 It is best I busk me blif. a 1547 Surrey Aeneid 11. 293 To bring the horse to Pallas’ temple blive. 1563 Sackville Dk. Buckhm. ii, Mark well my fall, which I shall show belive.

fb. Of order directly. Obs.

or

position:

Immediately,

c 1400 Destr. Troy vi. 2226, I am Eldest and heire after hym belyue. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. 1. 250 Lande.. acclyned blyve uppon the sonne.

3. This passes insensibly into: Before long, soon; ‘by-and-by,’ ‘anon.’ (Still Sc.) 1616 Bullokar, Belive, by and by, anon. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Sheph. 11. ii. (1641) 142 Twentie swarme of Bees, Whilke (all the Summer) hum about the hive, And bring me Waxe, and Honey in by live. 1785 Burns Cotter's Sat. Nt. iv, Belyve, the elder bairns come drapping in. 1816 Scott Old Mort. 295 ‘Nearly a mile off .. ‘We’ll be there belive.’

H Like bedene, sometimes merely expletive, or for the sake of a rime. f4. as adj. Eager; glad (perhaps by confusion for blithe). Obs. a 1400 Cov. Myst. (1841) 13 Than Pylat is besy and ryth blyff, And prayth that Cryst he xuld not quelle, c 1430 Syr Gener. 3105 Oon told hir he was yet on liue, And she was therof ful bliue. 1651 Ordinary v. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 311 This buss is a blive guerdon.

f be'lived, ppl. a. Obs. rare. [f. be- + -LiVEti.] In evil-belived: evil-living, of ill life. 1557 K- Arthur (Copland) IV. vii, He is so euyl belyued and hated that there is no knyght that wyll fyght for hym.

t be'lively, adv. Obs. rare-1. Also blively. BELIVE adv. + -ly2.] Quickly, at once.

[f.

C1400 Test. Love in. 296/1, I will answere thee blively.

t belives, adv. Obs. rare, a variant of belive q.v. [with s of advb. genitive.]

Belizean (be'liizian), sb. and a. Also Belizan, Belizian. [f. Belize, the official name since 1973 of the country formerly known as British Honduras, + -an.] A. sb. A native or inhabitant of the independent country of Belize in Central America. B. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Belize or the Belizeans. 1959 Belize Times 1 Jan. 2/1 Most Belizeans look to the New Year with hope. 1964 Economist 12 Sept. 1014/1 The last thing most Belizans want is to become Guatemalans. 1968 Ibid. 30 Mar. 37/1 Mr. George Price .. and his party are pursuing what they call ‘the Belizean way to independence’. .. The thesis is that the ‘Belizeans’ inherited the Guatemalan dispute through no fault of their own. 1971 Jamaican Weekly Gleaner 17 Nov. 12/5 Jamaican manufacturers were eager to work with Belizians in any kind of industrial venture. 1974 Caribbean Contact Aug. 21/4 The resolution on Belize recognised ‘the continuing aspirations of the Belizean people for freedom from colonialism’. 1980 New Statesman 26 Sept. 15/1 Tate & Lyle entered the Belizean sugar industry in 1963. 1985 T. Parker Soldier, Soldier xi. 131 The Belizians are apprehensive about Guatemala coming in.

fbelk, v. Obs. and dial, form of belch; used in various senses, esp. in that of: To boil, to heave like a boiling fluid, to throb. 1648 Jos. Beaumont Psyche 11. cxlvi, My guilt is hot, And belks and boils. 01656 Bp. Hall Soliloq. 61 The sting of some heinous sin, which lies belkir.g within us.

Hence 'belking vbl. sb. and ppl. a. (applied to the gout). 1640 Bp. Hall Chr. Moder. 24/2 Thy belking gouts, thy scalding fevers, thy galling ulcers. 1650-Balm Gil. 290 What aches of the bones, what belking of the Joynts? a 1656 - Serm. xx. Wks. V. 279 Girds of the colic, or belking pains of the gout.

bell (bel), sb.1 Forms: 1-7 belle, (4 bill), 4-7 bel, 6- bell. [A common LG. word: OE. belle wk. fern. = MDu. and MLG. belle, Du. bel (in I cel. bjalla from OE.), not occurring in other Teutonic languages; perhaps from same root as bell v* to make a loud noise, roar. The history of the transferred sense 4 is not quite certain.] I. Properly. 1. A hollow body of cast metal, formed to ring, or emit a clear musical sound, by the sonorous vibration of its entire circumference, when struck by a clapper, hammer, or other appliance. The typical form, found in all large bells (and indicated by the expression bell-shaped), is that of an inverted deep cup with a recurving brim, which is struck by a ‘clapper’ or ‘tongue,’ usually suspended from the centre of the interior. Other forms, used only in small bells, are a section of a hollow sphere, struck by a hammer impelled by a spring as in the bell of a house-clock, a table bell, etc., and a hollow sphere containing an unattached or freely suspended solid metal ball which answers the purpose of the tongue. Bells of the regular form vary greatly in size and weight.

a. The larger kinds are used for giving signals of various import (time, danger, etc.) to the inhabitants of a town or district, and especially in connexion with public worship (cf. chime); the smaller kinds are used for similar purposes in a house (e.g. door-bell, dinner-bell, electricbell). b. Small bells are frequently used for decoration, e.g. on a horse’s trappings, a falcon’s leg, the cap of a fool or jester, etc. a. a 1000 Chart. Leofric in Cod. Dipl. IV. 275 He half8 Siderynn jedon .. vii. uphangene bella. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 215 Boc o8er belle, calch o8er messe-ref. 1297 R. Glouc. 509 Me rong bellen, & vaste the ropes drou. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 2285 Quod the emperour, ‘By Goddis belle. Of that cas thou most me telle.’ 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1197 In bedes and in belles, not vsed of the turkes. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. II. vi. (Arb.) 33 Then goe to his meate when the Bell rings. 1692 Bp. Ely Answ. Touchstone 72 A man..to whom the Bell clinks just as he thinks. 1782 Cowper A. Selkirk iv, The sound of the church-going bell, a 1815 in G. Rose Diaries (i860) II. 438 He put out his hand to pull the bell. 1835 Marry at Olla Podr. x, He’s running .. to answer the bell. b. c 1200 Ormin 950 Tatt Iudisskenn preost wass..Bihenngedd all wipp belless. 1382 Wyclif Judg. viii. 21 The ournementis, and billis [1388 bellis] with the whiche the neckis of kyngis charnels ben wonyd to be anourned. i486 Bk. St. Albans Diij, The bellis that yowre hawke shall wheer, looke .. that thay be not to heuy. 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. III. iii. 81 As the Oxe hath his bow .. and the Falcon her bels. 1611 Bible Zech. xiv. 20 Vpon the bels of the horses, Holines Vnto the Lord. 1742 Jarvis Quix. 1. iii. xxiii. (1885) 134, I will not have a dog with a bell. 1855 Tennyson Maud 1. vi. vii. Often a man’s own angry pride Is cap and bells for a fool.

2. With various words prefixed to describe its shape, material, etc., or define its use, as alarm-

BELL bridle-bell, church-bell, clock-bell, curfew-bell, dinner-bell, door-bell, hand-bell, marriage-bell, night-bell, sheep-bell, town-bell; and esp. in eccles. use, as bearing-bell, houseling-bell, lieh-bell, sacring-bell, sanctusor saunce-bell, death-bell, passing-bell, a bell tolled to announce a death. bell,

a 1508 Kennedy Flyting w. Dunbar 506 Ane benefice quha wald gyue sic ane beste, Bot gif it war to gyngill Iudas bellis! 1548 Patten Exp. Scotl. in Arb. Garner III. 71 Pardon beads, Saint Anthony’s bells, Tauthrie laces. 1552-3 Inv. Ch. Goods Staffordsh. (has passim), Bearing-bell, clock-bell, hand-bell, houseling-bell, lyche-bell, sacring-bell, sanctusbell, visiting-bell. 1592 Shaks. Rom. fit Jul. iv. iv. 4 The curphew Bell hath rung, c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion’s Flowers (>855) 36 Thou a passing bell, 'Gainst their transgressions did so loudly knell. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. hi. xxi. And all went merry as a marriage bell. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi, xxvii, Every word fell on Butler’s ear like the knell of a death-bell. 1842 Tennyson Lady of Shal. in. ii, The bridle bells rang merrily. 1861 Romance Dull L. xlviii. 358 Listening to the idly busy sound of sheep-bells. 1863 Longf. Falc. Federigo no A passing bell Tolled from the tower.

3. spec. a. A bell rung to tell the hours; the bell of a clock; whence the obs. phrases of, on, at the bell = o’clock. 1422 MS. at Hatfield Ho., In the morowe tide bitwene vj and vij of the belle died Kyng Charles, c 1447 Eng. Chron. App. 117 Appon iij on the belle at aftrenone. 1448 Shillingford Lett. (1871) 61 On tuysday .. at iij. atte belle afternone. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccxxxii. 322 This batayle endured fro ix. of ye bell, tyll it was past hye none. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. 1. ii. 45 The clocke hath strucken twelue vpon the bell. 1742 Young Nt. Th. 1. 55 The bell strikes one. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair III. vi 81 As the shrill-toned bell of the black marble study-clock began to chime nine.

b. Naut. The bell which is struck on ship¬ board, every half hour, to indicate by the number of strokes the number of half-hours of the watch which have elapsed; a period of halfan-hour thus indicated. (See quots.). 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy ix, It struck seven bells, and he accompanied Mr. Jolliffe on deck. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast iv. 8 At seven bells in the morning all hands were called aft. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Wd-bk. 94 We say it is two bells, three bells, etc., meaning there are two or three half-hours past. The watch of four hours is eight bells.

II. Transferred to bell-shaped objects. 4. A corolla shaped like a bell; hence in the name of various flowering plants, esp. of the genus Campanula, e.g. blue-bell, Canterbury bells, harebell; dead men's bells (dialectal name of the Foxglove), heather-bell, etc. 1610 Shaks. Temp. v. i. 90 In a Cowslips bell, I lie. 1637 Milton Lycidas 135 Bid them hither cast Their bells and flowerets. 1742 R. Blair Grave 254 Dew-drops on the bells of flowers. 1847 De Quincey Joan of Arc Wks. III. 209 Flower nor bud, bell nor blossom would ever bloom for her.

5. Frequently applied to vessels bell-shaped, as a bell-glass, diving-bell, etc. 1641 French Distill, iii. (1651) 68 The Bell must hang at such a distance from the other vessell. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. Gloss., Bells, are large Glasses made in the form of Bells, to clap over tender Plants or such as are to be forced, c 1715 Halley in Sat. Mag. 20 Apr. (1839) 147/1 The .. cavity of the [diving] bell was kept.. free from water.

6. Any object or portion of an object shaped like a bell; esp. in various technical uses: a. Arch. ‘The naked vase or corbeille of the Corinthian or Composite capitals, round which the foliage and volutes are arranged.’ Gwilt. 1848 Rickman Archit. 33 The bell is set round with two rows of leaves, eight in each row. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. I. ix. 102 The sloping stone is called the Bell of the capital.

b. The everted orifice of a trumpet or other wind instrument. 1806 Busby Diet. Mus. (ed. 2), Bell of a Horn, the large, open part of the instrument, from which the sound immediately issues. 1856 Mrs. C. Clarke Berlioz' Instrum. 130 The narrower the opening left in the bell [of a horn], the .. rougher the note. 1926 Whiteman & McBride Jazz ix. 201 The players [of cornets] got that effect by inverting glass tumblers over the bells of the instruments. 1966 Crescendo Oct. 22/3 Sitting only three feet from the., bell of Jimmy Heath’s tenor [saxophone].

c. The body of a helmet. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. iii. 55 The other variety.. has the bell of a more conical form. Ibid. v. 77 The figures .. on the sides of the bell of the head-piece.

d. Mech. (See quots. 1881, 1893.) 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Bell and hopper., an iron hopper with a large central opening, which is closed by a cone or bell, pulled up into it from below. 1893 Funk's Stand. Diet., Bell, the movable cap at the top of a modern blast-furnace, which is lifted to put in the charge of ore, etc. 1930 Engineering 2 May 589/1, 10 per cent of the total gas made was lost owing to the use of single bells on the blast¬ furnaces. 1944 Gloss. Terms Gas Industry (B.S.I.) 26 Bell, the hollow cylinder closed at its upper end which forms the gas container.

e. (See quot.) Cf. bell-tent in 12. 1858 Beveridge Hist. India III. ix. i. 559 The bells, or small huts, where the native arms.. were deposited.

III. Phrases. 7. a. to bear the bell: to take the first place, to have foremost rank or position, to be the best, to bear or carry away the bell: to carry off the prize. The former phrase refers to the bell worn by the leading cow or sheep (cf. bell-wether) of a drove or flock; the latter, perhaps, to a

89 golden or silver bell sometimes given as the prize in races and other contests; but the two have been confused. C1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 149 And, let se which of yow shal here the belle To speke of love aright? c 1460 Towneley Myst. 88 Of alle the foies I can telle .. Ye thre bere the belle. 1470 Harding Chron. lxxxi. xi, At the last the Brytons bare the bell, And had the felde and all the victorye. 1594 Barnfield Aff. Sheph. 11. xxxix, For pure white the Lilly beares the Bell. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xiii. (1596) 215 Iulius Caesar., bare away the bell (in respect of fortunatenesse) from all other captains of the world. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. To Rdr. 49 True merchants, they carry away the bell from all other nations. 1713 Lond. & Countr. Brew. iv. (1743) 295 A very heady Malt Liquor, which., carries the Bell, by having the Name of the best Drink far and near. 1773 Pennant's Tour N. Wales, A little golden bell was the reward of victory in 1607 at the races near York, whence came the proverb for success of any kind, to bear the bell. 1817 Byron Beppo x, Venice the bell from every city bore.

fb. Similarly, to deserve or lose the bell, to give the bell. Obs. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xvn. lxix, When in single fight he lost the bell. 574 R- Scot Hop Gard. (1578) 33 At Saint Margarets daye Hoppes blowe, and at Lammas they bell. 1669 W[orlidge] Syst. Agric. (1681) 150 marg., When Hops Blow, Bell, and Ripen. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Belling, Hops blow towards the end of July, and bell the latter end of August. 1819 Rees Cycl., Belling of hops, denotes their opening and expanding to their customary shape.

bell, v.3 Obs. exc. dial. [This goes with bell sb.3, being identical with MDu. bellen to bubble up, as the sb. is with mod.Du. bel bubble.] intr. To bubble. 1598 Florio, Vena difontana .. the belling or rising vp of water out of a spring. 1822 Hogg Perils Man II. 44 (Jam.) The blood bells through.

bell (bel), t).4 Also

5 belle, 6 bel, beale, 9 dial. beal. [OE. bellan str. vb., to roar, bark, bellow = OHG. bellan, mod.G. bellen to bark; cf. ON. belja to bellow. Cf. bellow.] 1. intr. To bellow, roar, make a loud noise. a 1000 Riddles xli. 106 (Gr.) Amasted swin, bears bellende on boc-wuda. 111300 W. DE Biblesworth in Promp. Parv. 30 note, Tor torreye .. bole belleth. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1891 be werwolf, .went to him evene bellyng as a bole. 1:1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1803 He gan to blasen out a soun, As loude as belleth winde in Hell. CI440 Promp. Parv. 30 Bellyn, or lowyn, as nette, mugio. 1570 Levins Manip. 207 To Beale, boare. 1589 Gold. Mirr. (1851) 3 Which cored and held, in th’ eares of some. 1872 Browning Fifine lxxv. 27 You acted part so well, went all fours upon earth .. braved, belled. 2. spec, of the voice of deer in rutting time. i486 Bk. St. Albans Eva, Iche Roobucke certayne bellis by kynde. 1610 Gwillim Heraldry iii. xiv. (1660) 166 You shall say, a Roe Belleth. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. 11. v. 324 When the stag cries, he is said to bell. 1808 Scott Marm. iv. xv, The wild buck bells from ferny brake. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1.1. x. §8. 133 We start them [the hinds], and they go on belling.

3. trans. To utter loudly, to bellow forth. 1596 Spenser Astroph. Eclog. 21 Their leaders bell their bleating tunes In doleful sound. 1868 Browning Ring & Book viii. 1400 Bell us forth deep the authoritative bay.

bell, v.b

[f. BELL sft.1]

1. trans. To furnish with a bell, to bell the cat: to hang a bell round the cat’s neck, according to

BELLACITY the Fable (see bell sb.1 9), and esp. a. to perform personally this hazardous feat, to undertake a perilous part or be the ring-leader in any movement. In the latter use, there is immediate reference to the story or legend, related by Lindsay of Pitscottie, that when certain of the Scottish barons formed a secret conspiracy to put down the obnoxious favourites of James III. in 1482, a moment of grave suspense followed the inquiry ‘Who would undertake to enter the royal presence and seize the victims?’ which was terminated by the exclamation of Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, ‘I will bell the cat,’ whence his historical appellation of ‘Archibald Bell-the-cat.’ 1762 J. Man Buchanan's Hist. Scot. xn. §41.349 note, Earl Archbald hearing the parable answered sadly, I shall bell the cat, meaning Cochrane, the great and terrible minion. 1791 D Israeli Cur. Lit. (1858) 169/2 He would be glad to see who would bell the cat, alluding to the fable. 1840 Arnold Life & Corr. (1844) II. ix. 186, I was willing to bell the cat, hoping that some who were able might take up what I had begun. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown Oxf. I. xii. 232 As nobody was afraid of him, there was no difficulty in finding the man to bell the cat.

b. To venture to grapple or contend with (a dangerous opponent). Sc. 1721 Wodrow Hist. Ch. Scot. II. 384 (Jam.) How little justice .. poor simple country people, who could not bell the cat with them, had to look for. 1825 Scott Betrothed Introd. (1876) 19 It has fallen on me, as we Scotsmen say, to bellthe-cat with you.

2. a. trans. To cause to swell or bulge out. 1870 Eng. Mech. 11 Feb. 535/2 He must bell them [tubes] out a little.

b. intr. with out. To spread out like the mouth of a bell. So belled-out ppl. a. 1922 Blackw. Mag. June 731/2 The skirt belled out like an inverted campanula bloom. 1959 New Scientist 11 June 1291/1 Shafts can be dug, ‘belled out’ at the base to get a larger load bearing area. Ibid. 1291/2 A concrete cylinder with a 'belled out’ foot.

3. (nonce-wd.) 1863 Dickens Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings i. They [servant girls] get bell’d off their legs [i.e. ‘run off their legs’ in answering bells].

fbe'llacity. Obs.~° [f. L. bellac-em (bellax), f. bell-um war; see -ACITY.] ‘Warlikeness.’ Blount Glossogr. 1656. j belladonna (.beta'dDna). [mod.L.; a. It. bella donna, lit. ‘fair lady,’ name given in Italy to the plant, on uncertain grounds. (The usual statement, current since the time of Ray and Toumefort, is given in quot. 1757; a different account is in quot. 1851. A well-known property of the juice is to enlarge the pupil of the eye.)]

1. 1. Bot. The specific name of the Deadly Nightshade or Dwale (Atropa Belladonna), occasionally used as English. 1597 Gerard Herbal 11. Ivi. (1633) 341 In English, Dwale, or sleeping nightshade: the Venetians and Italians call it Belladona. 1757 Pultney in Phil. Trans. L. 62 Bella-donna is the name, which the Italians, and particularly the Venetians, apply to this plant; and Mr. Ray observes, that it is so called because the Italian ladies make a cosmetic from the juice. 1851 E. Hamilton Flora Homoeop. iii. 64 Belladonna, because it was employed by Leucota, a famous poisoner of Italy, to destroy the beautiful women. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. 488 Belladonna is cultivated for medicinal use at Hitchin.

2. Med. The name, in the pharmacopoeia, of the leaves and root of this plant, and of the drug thence prepared, the active principle of which is the alkaloid atropine. 1788 Edinb. New Dispens. II. (1791) 145 The belladonna taken internally has been highly recommended in cancer. 1866 Treas. Bot. 109 Belladonna is said by homoeopathists to act as a preventative of scarlet fever. 1875 H. Wood Therap. (1879) 25° Belladonna is not a hypnotic.

3. attrib. 1856 Med. Times Of Gaz. XIII. 513 Case of poisoning from the application of belladonna plaster to the skin. 1869 G. Lawson Dis. Eye iv. 126 A fold of lint.. kept moist with . .the belladonna lotion. 1885 Buck's Handbk. Med. Set. I. 486/2 The clinical history of a case of belladonna poisoning. Ibid., The patient., had eaten.. about thirty belladonna berries. 1890 Billings Med. Diet., Belladonna-leaves.. B. plaster. 1896 Daily News 10 Sept. 2/6 Belladonna poisoning. Ibid., The belladonna liniment. 1968 Times 3 Dec. 10/8 Drugs of the belladonna group.

II. belladonna lily, Amaryllis Belladonna, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 1734 Miller Gard. Cal. 140 The roots of the Guernsey and Belladonna Lillies. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. iv. xxi. 499 The belladonna is a yet more handsome lily. 1866 T. Moore in Treas. Bot. 48 The name Belladonna Lily was given.. from the charmingly blended red and white of the perianth, resembling the complexion of a beautiful woman.

bellamy, variant of belamy, fair friend. bellan(e, obs. var. baleen (sense 3), whalebone. 1513 Douglas JEneis v. vii. 73 Erix was wont.. In that hard bellane his brawnis to embrace.

fbellandine. Obs. rare~x. (See quot.) 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. II. 218 Importation of Bellandine, or white Turkey Silk, and of Sherbassee of Persia.

t 'bellaries, sb. pi. Obs. [ad. L. bellaria viands of the dessert.] (See quot.) 1623 Cockeram II, Banquetting Dishes, Bellaries.

BELLETRISTIC

91

bellarmine (’betamiin). Obs. exc. Hist. A large glazed drinking-jug with capacious belly and narrow neck, originally designed, by the Protestant party in the Netherlands, as a burlesque likeness of their great opponent, Cardinal Bellarmine. (See Chambers Bk. of Days I. 371.) 1719 D’Urfey Pills (1872) VI. 201 With Jugs, Mugs, and Pitchers, and Bellarmines of State. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) v, Amphithetum, a great cup or jug., a rummer, a bellarmine. 1861 Our Eng. Home 170 The capacious bellarmine was filled to the brim with foaming ale.

f'bellatory, a. Obs. rare. [ad. L. bellatorius, f. bellator warrior: see -ory.] Warlike, of war. r657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 429 Their bellatory arms were not of steel but brass.

t'bellatrice. Obs.~0 [a. F. bellatrice, ad. L. bellatric-em (bella trix), fern, of bellator warrior: see -rice.] ‘A warrioress, a woman well skill’d in war, a Virago.’ Blount Glossogr. 1656.

belled (beld), ppl. a. [f. bell sb. or v. + -ed.] 1. Furnished with a bell or bells. Often in comb., as double-belled. 1833 Ht. Martineau Manch. Strike vii. 81 His belled cap. 1865 Ruskin Sesame 4 To ring with confidence the visitors’ bell at double-belled doors.

2. Bell-flowered. belled.

Often in comb., as blue-

a 1850 Beddoes Alpine Spir. Song i, Where the gentians blue-belled blow. 1856 Ruskin King Gold. Riv. v. 51 Soft belled gentians, more blue than the sky. 1869-Q. of Air §83 The belled group, of the hyacinth and convallaria.

belled,

obs. var. of beld, bald. 1568 Wills Inv. N.C. (i860) 297 A little belled meare and a foie.

Belleek (beii:k).

The name of a town in Fermanagh, Ireland, used attrib. or absol. to designate a kind of pottery produced there (see quot. i960).

1611 Boys Expos. Gosp. (1630) 345 This text is as it were the bellaview of the whole Chapter, in which a Christian may behold al sufficient fortifications against.. assaults.

1869 Artsjrnl. May 149 {title) The Belleek Pottery. Ibid. 151 /1 Neither of these glazes .. can compare with the beauty of Belleek ware... The most welcome of the patrons of Belleek is the Prince of Wales. 1935 Discovery July 205/2 Thin section of Belleek china showing layer of crystals found between body and glaze, i960 H. Hayward Antique Coll. 2g/i Belleek, a light, fragile feldspathic porcelain cast in moulds, with lustrous pearly glaze.

bell-bird (’bElb3:d). [f.

bellementte, var.

t ‘bellaview. Obs. rare—h Fine view or outlook.

[for F. belle vue.]

bell si.1 + bird si.] A name given to two distinct birds, the Procnias carunculata or Campanero of Brazil, and the Myzantha melanophrys of Australia, both remarkable for their clear ringing notes. Also used as the name of various birds with a clear ringing call. 1802 Barrington Hist. New S. Wales viii. 284 The cry of the bell-bird seems to be unknown here. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. 117 The celebrated Campanero of the Spaniards, called.. bell-bird by the English. 1828 Wordsworth On Power of Sound ii, Toll from thy loftiest perch, lone bell-bird, toll. 1845 E. J. Wakefield Adv. N. Zealand I. 23 The melodious chimes of the bell-bird were especially distinct, a 1848 Bp. Stanley Fam. Hist. Birds iv. (1854) 60 The Bell-Bird’s note was borne upon the wind. 1865 Ibis I. 90 The Costa-Rican Bell-bird (Chasmorhynchus tricarunculatus). 1868 Wood Homes without H. xxv. 470 To this group [the Honey-eaters] belong many .. species, such as that which produces a sound like the tinkling of a bell and is in consequence called the Bell-bird. 1882 W. L. Buller Man. Birds N.Z. 11 Anthornis melanura .. Bell-bird. Mocker. Kori-mako. Makomako. 1887 Ibid. (ed. 2) I. 92 Anthornis Melanocephala. (Chatham-Island Bell-Bird.) 1903 Westm. Gaz. 28 Oct. 12/2 The Banded Bell-Bird.. (Cotinga cincta). 1966 G. M. Durrell Two in Bush i. 45 A Bellbird.. entertained us with a concert of wonderful, flute-like notes, wild, liquid and beautiful.

bell-boy.

.1

[bell sb

1.]

1. A

boy who rings a

bell. 1851 Melville Moby Dick I. xxxix. 274 Eight bells there! d’ye hear, bell-boy? Ibid. III. xxxix. 227 ‘Who art thou, boy?’ ‘Bell-boy, sir; ship’s-crier. Ding, dong, ding!’

2. A hotel page-boy. U.S. 1861 G. F. Berkeley Eng. Sportsman 366 ‘What are you, then, young fellow?’ ‘I’m bell-boy.’ 1897 Kipling Capt. Courageous ix. 196 Hotel piazzas where the ingenuous young of the wealthy play with or revile the bell-boys. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost xxiii. 245 Glimpses as a bellboy of the luxurious life of the hotel.

belldars, obs. f.

biliment, Obs., ornament.

belleric, beleric (bi'lerik), a. and sb. [a. F. belleric, more correctly belliric, ad. (ultimately) Arab, balilaj, f. Pers. balilah.] The astringent fruit of Terminalia Bellerica, also called Bastard Myrobalan, imported from India for the use of calico-printers, and used for the production of a permanent black. 1757 Parsons in Phil. Trans. L. 403 Distinguished .. by its round figure; and called the belleric Myrobalan. 1808 Colebrooke Diet. Sanscr. 90 Beleric Myrobalan. 1858 R. Hogg Veg. K. 635 The Belleric is.. the size of a nutmeg and very astringent.

II belles-lettres (,bel 'letr), sb. pi. Also 8 -letters, belle-lettre. [Fr.; lit. ‘fine letters, i.e. literary studies,’ parallel to beaux arts the ‘fine arts’; embracing, according to Littre, grammar, rhetoric, and poetry.] Elegant or polite literature or literary studies. A vaguely-used term, formerly taken sometimes in the wide sense of ‘the humanities,’ literse humaniores; sometimes in the exact sense in which we now use ‘literature’; in the latter use it has come down to the present time, but it is now generally applied (when used at all) to the lighter branches of literature or the aesthetics of literary study. 1710 Swift Tatler No. 230 |f 2 The Traders in History and Politicks, and the Belles Lettres. 1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 23 Civil or Military Law, or any other Part of the Belles Letters. 1801 Finlayson H. Blair, To endow a Professorship of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the University of Edinburgh. 1848 L. Hunt Town iii. 138 A strong union has always existed between the law and the belles-lettres. 1855 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. i. (1878) 34 That vapid, half naturalized term ‘belles-lettres,’ which has had some currency as a substitute for the term ‘literature.’

bilders, name of a plant.

belief, obs. variant of OF. bele:—L. bella, fern, of bellus beautiful, fair: see BEAU, BEL.] A. adj. fl. Pretty, handsome. Obs. as Eng. 1668 Pepys Diary 16 May, I did kiss her maid, who is so mighty belle.

2. In certain French phrases, which have been used in Eng., as belle assemblee brilliant assembly or gathering; belle dame fair lady, belle; belle laide, an attractively ugly woman; belle passion the tender passion, love; also BELLES-LETTRES, q.V. 1698 Congreve Way of W. Epil. (1866) 287 Whole belles assemblies of coquettes and beaux. 1711 Shaftesb. Charac. (1737) III. 31 The gallant sentiments, the elegant fancys, the belle-passions. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. xi. I. 40 In what a delicate manner the belles passions are managed in this country. 1767 H. Brooke.Fool of Q. (1859) I. 375 (D.) Should we see the value of a German prince’s ransom gorgeously attiring each of our belle-dames? 1908 W. S. Maugham Magician ii. 19 She was one of those plain women whose plainness does not matter. A gallant Frenchman had .. called her a belle laide. 1946 ‘J. Tey’ Miss Pym Disposes xiv. 152 A woman with the makings of a belle laide. 1956 L. E. Jones Edwardian Youth i. 6 Conscious of the physical failings of that fascinating belle-laide.

B. sb. A handsome woman, esp. one who dresses so as to set off her personal charms; the reigning ‘beauty’ of a place; a fair lady, a fair one. 1622 Fletcher Beggar's B. iv. iv, Vandunke’s daughter, The dainty black-ey’d belle. 1712 Pope Rape Lock 11. 16 Might hide her faults, if Belles had faults to hide. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1755) 42 Fantastical old belles, that dress themselves like girls of fifteen. 1779 Johnson Lett. 220 (1788) II. 79 Mv Master.. courts the belles, and shakes Brightelmston. i860 O. Meredith Lucile 56 The belle of all Paris last winter; last spring The belle of all Baden.

belle,

obs. form of bell; also in comb.

.2

billet sb

belle (bel), a. and sb. [a. mod.F. (17th c.) belle,

Hist. [= bell-yetter (bell A bell-founder.

belleter (’belit3(r)).

sb.1

12).]

1891 Athenaeum 12 Sept. 360/2 On the tenor at Great Bradley we recognize the time-honoured name of a belleter whom Mr. Stahlschmidt.. restored to renown. 1898 Ibid. 16 July 103 The Van den Ghens, of Louvain and Malines, were belleters of renown.

belletrist, -lettrist (bel'letnst).

Also 9 belleslettreist. [f. belles-lettres sb.pl. + -ist.] One devoted to belles-lettres, attrib. or as adj. = BELLETRISTIC at j?ei feden as per God. 1394 P. PI. Crede 1521 With the bandes of bakun His baly for to fillen. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) in. 1156 Ye have so fellyd yower bylly with growell. 1526 Tindale Luke xv. 16 He wold fayne have filled his bely [Wyclif, wombe] with the coddes that the swyne ate. 1554-9 Songs & Ball. Q. Mary v. (i860) 13 Glade when the may fyll up thear ballys with bennys. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 45 Whan the bealy is full, the bones wold be at rest. 1629 Ford Lover's Melanch. 11. ii, Get some warm porridge in your belly. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1755) 16 He that sows .. upon marble, will have many a hungry belly before harvest. 1857 Bohn’s Handbk. Prov. 70 The belly is not filled with fair words.

b. Hence, Put for the body in its capacity for food: opposed to back, as the recipient of clothing. Also, the appetite for food. x555 Far die Facions 1. vi. 102 They sitte them downe together, and eate by the bealy. 1653 Walton Angler 144 It is a hard thing to perswade the belly, because it hath no ears. 1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade 312 The Labourers or Manufacturers that.. wrought for the Backs and Bellies of other People. 1726 Amherst Terrae Fil. 62 The best way .. is to pinch their bellies. 1763 Johnson in Boswell (1831) I. 479 He who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind any thing else. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 30 The way to many an honest heart lies through the belly.

c. The body in its capacity for indulgence of appetite; gluttony. 1526 Tindale Phil. [Wyclif, the wombe].

iii. 19 Whose God is their bely C1538 Starkey England 11. ii. 171 Drunkerys, gyuen to the bely and plesure therof. 1561 Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 37 b, Beastly bondslaues of the bealy. 1837 A. Combe Princ. Physiol, iv. (ed. 6) 120 Let it not be supposed that I wish to make a god of the belly.

fd. A glutton. Obs. 1526 Tindale Tit. i. 12 Evyll beastes, and slowe belies [Wyclif, of slowe wombe]. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 1114 Tributes., by wicked Princes bestowed vpon flatterers and bellies. 1655 Mouffet Health's Impr. (1746) 133 They called the Eaters of it Savages and Bellies. 6. The bowels. C1340 Gaw. Gf Gr. Knt. 1330 pen brek pay pe bale, pe balez out token. 1553 Brende Q. Curtius Ffij He felt a payne in his bealye. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 92 Good against all pains in the small guts, for it dryeth and stayeth the belly. 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. xii. 186 It doth not loose the belly, or purge.

7. The womb, the uterus. C1440 Promp. Parv. 30/1 Bely, uterus. 1549-50 Plumpton Corr. 254 As yet my wife hath not laid her belly. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. iii. v. 41, I shall answer that better than you can the getting vp of the Negroes belly; the Moore is with childe by you. 1602 Warner Alb. Engl. ix. xlvii. 222 My belly did not blab, so I was still a Mayde. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 472 While they smell and taste of their dams belly. 1728 Gay Begg. Op. 1. (1772) 75 Why, she may plead her belly at worst. 1853 ‘Stonehenge’ Greyhound 178 ‘Flirt* ran second for the same cup with ‘ War Eagle’ in her belly. 8. The internal cavity of the body; the ‘inside.’ 1491 Caxton Four Sons (1885) 173 He braste the herte in hys bely. 1535 Coverdale Jonah ii. 1 So was Ionas in the bely [Wyclif, wombe] of the fysh, thre dayes and thre nightes. 1625 tr. Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. 43 Neither hath he any mans heart in his belly, that can without teares reade or heare these things. 1629 R. Bernard Terence's Andr. 1. i. 12/1 It made my heart cold in my belly, c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 472 Some shallow-pated puritan .. will.. cry me up to have a Pope in my belly.

9. The interior, the inside; esp. of things having a hollow cavity within, but also of other things material and immaterial. 1535 Coverdale Jonah ii. 2 Out of the bely [Wyclif, wombe] off hell I cried. 1658 Ussher Ann. v. 78 Out of Scythia, went over the belly of all Asia, till he came into Egypt. 1664 Butler Hud. 11. ill. 164 Speak i’ th’ Nun at London’s Belly? 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece iii. xiv. (1715) 123 Ships of Burden.. having large and capacious Bellies. 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. xlvi. 801 They treat of obligationes.. as it were in the belly of the opposite class, or that of dominia. 1884 Froude Carlyle II. xix. 65 A .. candle lighted in the belly of a dark dead past.

110. An internal cavity. Obs. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 11. 148 There are hollowe places [of the braine], called ‘little bellies.’ Ibid. 220 Wee divided .. the intemall parts of the frame .. of man into three bellies.

11. ‘The part of anything that swells out into a larger capacity’ (Johnson); the bulging part e.g. of a pot or bottle; a suddenly widened part of a vein of ore; the central portion of a muscle, etc. 1591 Spenser Bellay’s Vis. ix, Leaning on the belly of a pot. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 759 [This muscle] was

95 called Digastricus because it hath two Venters or Bellies. 1625 Bacon Delays, Ess. (Arb.) 525 The Handle of the Bottle, first to be received, and after the Belly. 1674 Grew Anat. Plants 1. vii. § 12 Against the Belly of the Bean. 1710 London & Wise Compl. Gard. iv. (1719) 62 A handsome Pear., its Belly round. 1747 Hooson Miners' Diet, s.v., Such Bellys prove oftentimes very well filled with Ore. 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. 416 Sulphurated Iron occurs in strata in bellies and in veins. 1835-6 Todd Cycl. Anat. Phys. I. 711/1 The belly of the shell comprises the greatest part of the exterior surface. 1845 Todd & Bowman Phys. Anat. I. 176 Muscles which have a bulging centre or belly.

12. A concave or hollow surface; a concavity formed in a surface, e.g. of a sail. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 443 Citherns or Lutes, upon whose bellies the Musitians played their Musick. 01626 Bacon (J.) An Irish harp hath the concave or belly, not along the strings, but at the end of the strings. 1701 Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1277 They wholly laid aside the Tortoise shell, and the sonorous part or Belly of the Lyre, was made of.. different Figures. 1840 R. Dana Be], Mast v. 12 To fall from aloft and be caught in the belly of a sail.

13. The front, inner, or lower surface of anything, as opposed to the back-, e.g. the front bulging surface of a violin, the inside of curved timber, the angle formed by the meeting of the two lower sides of a burin or graver, the convex under edge of the tumbler of a lock, etc. CX790 Imison Sch. Art II. 44 Great pains is required to whet the graver nicely, particularly the belly of it. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 346/1 The back [of the violin] is worked out much in the same proportion as the belly, c 1850 Rudim. Nav. (Weale) 96 Belly, the inside or hollow part of compass or curved timber, the outside of which is called the Back. 1867 Tyndall Sound iii. 90 The two feet of the bridge rest upon the most yielding portion of the belly of the violin. 1884 F. Britten Watch Clockm. 143 The teeth of the wheel in passing just clear the belly of the pallets.

14. In various technical uses derived from the preceding: e.g. in Coach-building, the wooden casing of the axle-tree; in Leather trade, the belly hide of an ox or other beast (cf. bend, back); in Saddlery, a piece of leather fastened to the back of the cantle, and sometimes forming a point of attachment for valise-straps; the sound-board of a piano. Also attrib., as belly-bar, -bridge-, bellyman, the workman who makes and fits the ‘belly’. 1845 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. 155 The ‘bellyman’ or ‘sounding-board maker’. 1880 Daily News 10 Nov. 3/8 Leather.. There is a short supply.. of.. light English., bellies. 1905 Hasluck Pianos 21 Prick through the belly about every 2 in. with a small bradawl; this will help in putting on the belly bridges. 1905 Sci. Amer. Suppl. 6 May 24536 The sound-board.. barred beneath with batons., technically ‘belly-bars’, which strengthen the belly. 1910 Daily Chr on. 19 Jan. 12/7 Pianos. Bellyman and marker-off contractor wanted.

III. Comb, and Attrib. 15. attrib. (often = adj.) Pertaining to the belly: a. lit. Ventral, abdominal, as in belly-fin, -part, -place, -worm. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. IV. xix. 473 The lower belly-part of the former fish. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 156 His tender belly-parts. 1748 tr. Vegetius' Distemp. Horses 93 Proper for destroying Maw- or Belly-worms. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) 294 The ventral, or belly fins, are either wholly wanting, as in the eel, etc. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iii. 17 ‘Us must crawl on our belly-places.’

fb. Pertaining to the supply of food, to bodily nourishment or appetite, as in belly-care, -joy, -matter. Obs. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. vii. 118 I shall cessen of my sowyng .. Ne about my bely ioye so bisi be na-more. c 1530 More De quat. Noviss. Wks. 101 Preferring their belly joy before all the ioyes of heauen. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. 2 The Lordes souper.. was no bealy matter, a 1564 Becon Fortr. Faithful Wks. (1844) 602 This belly-care .. is a great temptation to man .. when he seeth all things so dear.

fc. Theol. Pertaining to the service of the flesh; fleshly, carnal: as in belly-doctrine, -ease, -wisdom. 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man To Rdr. Wks. I. 138 Our fleshly wit, our worldly understanding, and belly-wisdom. 1528 Roy Satire (1845) A bely beast engendred amonge the .. papysticall secte. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1851) 146 Deluded through belly-doctrines into a devout slavery. 1711 Shaftesb. Charac. (1737) I. 283 Apt to construe every divine saying in a belly-sense.

16. a. objective with vbl. sb. or pr. pple., as belly-worshipper, -worshipping, b. locative and adverbial, as belly-beaten, -devout, -fed, -gulled, -laden, -naked, -pinched, -proud, -sprung; also belly-like adj. 1642 Rogers Naaman 219 Children.. backe and ’bellybeaten. 1599 Sandys Europae Spec. (1632) 140 The ’bellydevout Friers. 1574 B. Googe Lett, in N. & Q. ill. III. 181 The ’bellyfedd mynysters that came over, att.. a miserabell hard dyett. 1640 Brome Sparagus Gard. V. xiii. 221, I have been .. backe-guld and *belly-guld. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Badger, The other lays Earth on his Belly, and so .. draws the ’Belly-laden Badger out of the Hole. 1847-9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 486/2 The posterior ’bellylike part of the cell. 1525 Basyn 168 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 51 Upstert the wench .. And ran to hir maistrys all ’baly naked. 1611 Cotgr., Tout fin mere nu, all discouered.. Starke ’bellie naked. 1605 Shaks. Lear in. i. 13 The lion and the ’bellypinched wolf. 1675 Three Inhumane Murth. 2 Growing ’Belly-proud, and Prodigal. 1607 Lingua IV. i. in Hazl. Dodsl. IX. 412 ’Belly-sprung invention.

17. Special combinations: belly-bound a., constipated, costive; belly-brace, a cross-brace

BELLY passing beneath the steam-boiler of a locomotive; belly-button colloq., the navel (Bartlett, 1877); f belly-cheat (slang), something for the belly, food; also, an apron; belly-critic, a connoisseur of good living; f belly-cup, ? a cup with a swelling body; bellydance, an erotic oriental dance performed by women, involving abdominal contortions; hence belly-dancing vbl. sb.; belly-dancer-, f belly-doublet, a doublet covering the belly; belly-flop colloq., (of troops) a sudden drop to the ground to avoid enemy fire; (of a swimmer) a dive that brings one’s body flat on the water (also belly-flopper); hence as v., and transf.; belly-fretting, ‘a great Pain in the Belly of a Horse; also the Wounding, or Galling of that Part with Fore-girths’ (Phillips 1706); f bellyfriend, a parasite; belly-grinding, pain in the bowels, colic; belly-gut, a slothful glutton; belly-guy (Naut.), ‘a tackle applied half-way up sheers, or long spars that require support in the middle’ (Adm. Smyth); belly-helve (see quot.); belly-laugh colloq., a deep, unrestrained laugh; belly-metal, food, belly-timber; Jbellymountained a., having a large prominent belly; f belly-paunch, (fig.) a great eater, a glutton; belly-pinched a., pinched with hunger; bellyroll, a roller with a central bulge, adapted to roll land between ridges or in hollows; bellysacrifice, ? a sacrifice to the belly; belly-shot a., a disease of cattle (see quot.); f belly-slave, one devoted to eating and drinking, a glutton; bellystay (Naut.), a stay ‘used half-mast down when a mast requires support’ (Adm. Smyth); f bellyswain, ? a glutton; f belly-sweep v., to sweep (the ground) with the belly; belly-thrawe (Sc.), pain in the belly, colic; belly-vengeance (dial.), sour ale, cider, wine, etc. Also belly-ache, belly-god, belly-timber, etc., q.v. 1607 Topsell Four-f Beasts 302 Of Costiveness, or *Belly-bound, when a Horse is bound in the belly, and cannot dung. 1934 Kipling in Strand Mag. Apr. 350/1 Why waste time fighting atomies who do not come up to your *belly-button? 1946 J. B. Priestley Bright Day iii. 66 If you’d ever gone to school with your belly-button knockin’ against your backbone. 1609 Dekker Lanth. 03tes] belonged to lost an to wylninges. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. Prol. no For in loue and letterure pe eleccioun bilongeth. C1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 215 Suffisaunt To doon al that a man bilongeth unto, i486 Bk. St. Alban’s Diijb, Theys haukes belong to an Emproure. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1613) 209 To learne the good what trauailes do belong. 1599 Shaks. Much Ado III. iii. 40 Wee know what belongs to a Watch. 1611 Bible Dan. ix. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiuenesses. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 807 Of this cursed crew The punishment to other hand belongs. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 397 |P3 Grief has a natural Eloquence belonging to it. 1861 Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1885) II. xi. 322 He.. works with all the zest that belongs to fresh ideas.

b. impers., or with subject it repr. a clause.

4. A concubine.

'bellyship.

'belly-,timber. Obs. exc. dial. [f. belly sb. + timber.] Food, provisions. (Formerly in serious use, as still in dialects (cf. timber); but since the time of Butler tending to be ludicrous.)

-OID.]

1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 101 No spoone meat, no bellifull, labourers thinke. 1595 Spenser Epithal. 251 Poure not by cups, but by the bellyfull. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 158, I never once had my belly-full, even of dry bread. 1881 J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool 1. xxiii, What I need now is a bellyful of venison and acorn-bread.

bellying ('belnr)), vbl. sb.

a 1528 Skelton Image Hypocr. 386 Oh ye kynde of vypers Ye beestly bellyters.

belocke, beloke(n, var. of belouke v. Obs.

[f. belly sb. + -ful.]

1. As much as the sufficiency of food.

f be'llyter. Obs. rare-', [a. F. belitre, belistre beggar, vagabond; of unknown origin: see Diez, Littre, Scheler.] A beggar.

see belswagger.

I4I3 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle 1. xii, Neuer ne left he.. his burdon, as it bylongeth to a good pylgrym. c 1450 Merlin xv. 239 He was wele horsed as to soche a man be-longeth. 1588 A. King Canisius' Catech. 188 To rakin thame al in this place it belanges nat to our purpose. 1667 Milton P.L. in. III They therefore, as to right belongd, So were created. 1821 Keats Isabel xlix, Here.. it doth not well belong To speak.

2. To pertain, concern, refer, or relate to. arch. 1340 Ayenb. 12 be oper article [of the Creed] belongep to pe zone. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. i. 24 Nor

BELONGER belongen these my woordes onelye to you, but generally to all nacions. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. 11. viii. §4 Whatsoever belongeth unto the highest perfection of man. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. v. v. 147 All that belongs to this. 1611 Bible i Cor. vii. 22 He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord.

3. a. To be the property or rightful possession of. Const, to; occas. with indirect obj. x393 Langl. P. PI. C. ii. 43 Telle 3e me now to wham hat tresour by-longep. 1508 Fisher Wks. I. (1876) 290 The Blessyd Martha was a woman of noble blode, to whom by enheritaunce belonged the castel of bethany. a 1692 Ashmole Antiq. Berks (1723) II. 424 The Hundred of Wargrave did for many Ages belong to the Bishops of Winchester. 1764 Brydges Homer Travest. (1797) I. 128 Thy buxom wench . . Belongs a better man than thee. 1835 Penny Cycl. XIV. 365/2 Rushen Abbey belonged to the Cistercian order. 1852 McCulloch Comm. Diet. 1105 Property belonging to another state.

b. To be a property or attribute of. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacrae in. ii. §18 It must have equall motion in all its particles, if motion doth belong to it. 01704 Locke Wks. (1706) 191 This way of containing all things can by no means belong to God. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. 11. ii. §14 (1864) 204 The accompaniment of activity belongs to every one of the senses. 1885 j Martineau Ethical The. I. 275 The innumerable ‘attributes’ which must belong to an infinite nature.

4. a. To be connected with in various relations; to form a part or appendage of; e.g. to be a member of a family, society, or nation, to be an adherent or dependent of, to be a native or inhabitant of a place; to be a dependency, adjunct, or appendage of something; to be one of a generation or time. Also const, to, funto. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 121 \>e nimphes of the welles, And other.. Unto the wodes belongende. 1485 Caxton Paris Gf V. Prol., I belong to the parish of Saint Pierre. 1535 Coverdale Esther viii. 1 Hester tolde how that he belonged vnto her. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. v. i. 9 Belong you to the Lady Oliuia, friends? 1613-Hen. VIII, v. iv. 3 Good M. Porter, I belong to th’ Larder. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 121 P 1 The great Yard that belongs to my Friend’s CountryHouse. 1856 Sat. Ret'. II. 189 Mr. Pierce belongs to New Hampshire. 1875 Macdonell in Macm. Mag. XXXII. 545 His finest figures belong to [an early] period in American history. 1883 M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs iv. 71 To what confession do you yourself belong? 1884 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. 112 Those who belong to the rank and file of life need this warning most. 1922 D. H. Lawrence England (1924) 232 He was still in the choir of Morley Chapel—not very regular. He belonged just because he had a tenor voice, and enjoyed singing.

b. With an adv. or advb. phr. (esp. here, where = to this or these, to which), also with various preps, or without const.: to be related or connected; to have a certain connection indicated or implied in the context; to fit a certain environment, group, etc. orig. U.S. 1822 Cooper Spy xxvi, I have never known whether he belonged above or below. 1861 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner xxvii, You belong with the last [set], and got accidentally shuffled in with the others. 1867 A. Wilson St. Elmo x, To replace it in the glass box where it belongs. 1889 Walt Whitman in Century Mag. (1911) 11 Jan. 256/2 He was not a closet man, belonged out-of-doors. 1897 N.E.D. s.v. Fit v.1 2 The first examples given under.. 3 may belong here. 1924 A. D. Sedgwick Little French Girl 1. x, I saw you took to each other. I saw you belonged with each other. Ibid. 11. xiv, From the first moment I saw her I felt that she belonged. 1936 W’odehouse Laughing Gas iii. 31,1 looked as if I belonged in Whipsnade. 1942 M. McCarthy Company she Keeps (1943) v. 164 It was the Moscow trials that made him know, for the first time, that he did not really ‘belong’. 1949 Scrutiny XVI. 9 This remark of Eliot’s .. suggests that Byron doesn’t quite ‘belong’, i960 Guardian 4 Mar. 8/7 People also feel they want to belong and matter.

c. With inf.: to be accustomed, ought; to seem, intend. U.S. dial. 1901-7 in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Diet. (1944) 53/1 John Henry belongs to folia afteh Sayrah. 1935 A. C. Baugh Hist. Eng. Lang. xi. 453 The expression reported from South Dakota, ‘I got up at six o’clock this morning although I don’t belong to get up until seven.’ 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling iv. 29 You belong to figger .. a man .. cain’t out-run a bear, but he’s a sorry hunter if he cain’t out-study him. Ibid. 35 When it back-fired, that belongs to mean the mainspring’s got weak.

fbe'longer. Obs. rare. [f. prec. + -er1.] He who or that which belongs; an attribute. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 12 The two first, .things that the mind is likest to fasten on, as the main belongers to the world. Ibid. 112 That one belonger of unthroughfareness.

BELOVED

97 3. Persons related in any way; relatives. 1852 Dickens Bleak H. II. 103, I have been trouble enough to my belongings in my day. 1866 Sat. Rev. 24 Feb. 224/2 The rich uncle whose mission is to bring prosperity to his belongings.

4. A thing connected with, forming a part, appendage, or accessory of another. 1863 D. Mitchell Farm Edgew. 196 When I have shown some curious city visitor all these belongings of the farm. 1868 Lockyer Heavens (ed. 3) 26 These are the ‘Sun-spots,’ real movable belongings of the surface of the Sun. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 533/2 She had shown us the rest of the chateau with a sense of being a belonging of the place.

II. 5. The fact of appertaining, relationship. Esp. a person’s membership in, and acceptance by, a group or society (cf. belong v. 4 b). 1879 Whitney Skr. Gram. 275 There remain, as cases of doubtful belonging, etc. 1934 W. Plomer Invaders ii. §4. 43 He had little sense of belonging, of being necessary to the world he lived in. 1958 H. Reilly Ding Dong Bell (1959) i. 16 What the child needs is a settled home, a feeling of permanence, security, of belonging.

6.

Comb.

belonging-together(ness)

(cf.

BELONGINGNESS 2). 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 337 It seems as if our description of the belonging-together of the various selves, as a belonging-together which is merely represented, in a later pulse of thought, had knocked the bottom out of the matter. Ibid. II. xxviii. 671 Any really inward belongingtogether of the sequent terms, if discovered, would be accepted as what the word cause was meant to stand for. 1938 Mind XLVII. 380 From the outset our perceptual world is a continuum organised into ‘belongingtogethernesses’. 1939 Ibid. XLVIII. 247 This belonging together is the basis of ‘Gestalt’ psychology.

belonging, £/>/. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] Proper, appropriate; appertaining, accompanying. 1648 Milton Tenure of Kings (1650) 45 In hands better able and more belonging to manage them. 1869 Ruskin Q. of Air §141 Sanctifying noble thought with separately distinguished loveliness of belonging sound.

belongingness, [f. belonging vbl. sb. + -ness.] f 1- The state of having the properties appropriate to something. Obs. 1656 Blount thing to a root.

Glossogr., Radicality, the belongingness of a Ibid., Seminality .. a belongingness to seed.

2. [Cf. G. zugehorigkeit.] condition of belonging.

The

state

or

name of F. Belot, a Frenchman who perfected the game.] A game of cards resembling pinocle, played with a 32-card pack. 1941 Koestler Scum of Earth 7 Soldiers—grumbling, drinking red wine, playing belotte, and bored. 1944 W. S. Maugham Razor's Edge iii. 93 There were men with sweaty faces round tables playing belote with loud shouts. 1959 Sunday Times 1 Mar. 4/2 Belote, or ‘Klabrias’, as it is named in Germany .. is certainly the best and wittiest card game... In France it has become the most popular national card game, as in Switzerland.

belote,

var. of belloot.

t be'louke, v. Obs. Forms: i beluc-an, 2-3 biluken, 4 belouke, (belok). Pa. t. 1-3 be'leac, 3 bilek, -leek, -loc. Pa. pple. 1-2 belocen, 2-4 beloken, 3-4 biloken, -luken, biloke, 5 belocke. [OE. bi-, be-lucan (corr. to OS. bilucan, OHG. biluhhan, MHG. beluchen), f. bi-, be- about + lucan, in Goth, lukan, to shut, close.] 1. trans. To close, to shut (a door, etc.). 971 Blickl. Horn. 9 Heofonrices duru.. belocen standee. He pone haljan ham beleac. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxv. 10 Seo duru wses belocyn. cii6o Hatton G., Beloken.

2. To shut (a person, etc.) in or out. c897 K. Alfred Past. 399 On sumere lytelre byrig belocene. CI175 Cott. Horn. 225 God be-leac hi binnan pan arce. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1079 He hire bi-lek in one bure. CI320 Sir Beves 3024 Belok hem thar oute for love o me. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy ill. xxiii How ye may suffre the great harmes kene.. Duryng the syege in this towne beloke.

3. To enclose, encompass. C825 Vesp. Ps. xxx. 9 [xxxi. 8] Ne biluce me in honda feondes. c 1200 Ormin 12126 batt fEst, and West, and Sup, and Norrp piss middellserd bilukenn. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxx[i]. 8 Ne pou me belouked in hend of fa. 1*1314 Guy Warw. 229 A strong cite biloken with walle.

4. To include in an expression. c 1200 Ormin 11495 Cristess lare.. bilokenn iss I tene bode-wordess. 1340 Ayenb. 99 He beloukp ine ssorte wordes al pet we may wylny of herte.

belout: see

be- pref.

belove (bi'Lv), v. Forms: 2-3 biluuien, biluuen, bilouen, 3 bileouen, bilufen, 4-5 bi-, bylove, 6 beloue, Sc. beluve, 5- belove. [ME. biluven, -loven, f. bi-, be- 2 + luven, loven to love. Cf. mod.G. belieben and Du. believen, both usually impersonal.] f 1. intr. To please, be pleasing (to a person).

belonite ('betanait). Min. [f. L. belone, Gr. peXov-rj needle + -ite.] A mineral variety occurring in microscopic needle-shaped crystals.

f2. trans. To be pleased with, approve, like. Obs.

1879 Rutley Stud. Rocks xi. 190 The augite and horn¬ blende exist.. as minute acicular bodies and spicular forms (‘belonites’). 1880 Dana Min. 805 The belonite may be a feldspar.

fbe'look, v. Obs. Forms: 2 beloc-en, 3 biloken(n, -in. [ME., f. be- pref. 1 H- lokien, OE. locian to look. Cf. senses of behold, besee.] 1. intr. To look. CI175 Cott. Horn. 233 To neowelnesse pe under eorSe is be-locest. a 1225 Ancr. R. 132 Heo mot wel.. bilokin [v.r. biholden] on euch half.

2. trans. To look at, consider. Also absol. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 77 Nu hit is god time to beloken pe sicnesse of pe sowle. .]

1. trans. To overtake with, or involve in mist; fig. to confuse the senses of, bepuzzle, bewilder. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell Annot. Dij b, The Greekes .. were bemisted and overcast with darkriesse. 1627 Feltham Resolves 11. iv. Wks. (1677) 166 How can that Judg walk right, that is bemisted in his way? 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. III. Pref., God bemisted the degenerate mindes of those proud Sophistes. 1864 Sat. Rev. 278/2 Many a mountain climber .. has been benighted or bemisted. 2. To cover or obscure (a thing) with, or as with, mist; to becloud, dim. 1598 E. Gilpin Skial. (1878) 36 He is the deuill, Brightly accoustred to bemist his euill. 1630 T. Westcote Devon. (1845) 453 Antiquities are often bemisted, and leave their surveyor perplexed. 1720 Welton Sujf. Son of God II. xxii. 595 The more sublime., his Doctrine was, the more they strove to darken and Be-mist it. bemoan (bi'msun), v. Forms: 1 bi-, -bemsenan, 3

bimen-en,

4-5

bi-,

bymene,

4-6

bemene,

5

bimeane; 6 beemone, bemoane, 6-7 bemone, 7bemoan. [OE. bi-, bemaenan, f. bi-, be- + maenan to moan; the regular modern repr. of this would

v. to hammer, beat.] ? Hammered, beaten.

rare.

have been bemean: for the substitution of the

1598 T. Bastard Chrestoleros (1880) 60 Steru’de mutton, beefe with foote bemartelled, And skinn and bones.

CI340 Cursor M. (Trin.) 15495 Petur him bymened & seide f»is resoun, f>ou shal bitrayed be lord to ny3t.

existing form, see moan.]

bemask (bi'maisk, -ae-), v. [f. be- 2 + mask d.] trans. To mask, to cover or conceal with a mask. Hence be'masked ppl. a.

fbe'mean, v3 Obs. rare. [f. be- pref. 5, or perh. two words, be v. + mene, mean, ‘intermediate, a mediator.’] intr. To mediate, intercede.

1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 409/2 The Popish Bishops.. doe so bemaske them selues, as though they should play the part in a play. 1620 Shelton Quix. I. iv. i. (T.) Which have thus bemasked your singular beauty under so unworthy an array. Ibid. I. ix. (R.) The bemasked gentleman.

1459 Marg. Paston in Lett. (1872) I. 438 He desyryd Alblaster to bemene to yow for hym. 01520 Myrr. Our Ladye 232 Pray for the people, by meane for the clerge.

bemaster (bi'ma:st3(r), -ae-), v. [f. be- 2 + master v.~\ trans. To master {emphatic). 1875 B. Taylor Faust n. iii. II. 106 One must with modern thought the thing bemaster. 1880 Miss Broughton Sec. Thoughts II. ill. i. 105 Gawky, romping, but thoroughly be-mastered Jane.

bematist ('biimatist). [ad. Gr. jSrjjuaTicmjs, f. PqfiaTi^eiv to measure by paces, f. /3r^ia pace, step.] An official road-measurer or surveyor in the time of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies. Encycl. Brit. II. 748/2 The bematists or surveyors of Alexander and the Ptolemies. 1886 Sheldon tr. Flaubert s Salammbo x. 242 The bematists of Euergates, who measured the heaven by calculating the number of their paces. 1875

bemean (bi'miin), v.3 [f. be-pref. 5 + mean a.] trans. To render mean or base, to lower in dignity, abase. (In first quot. for demean = ‘behave.’) 1651 Gataker Ridley in Fuller Abel. Rediv. 193 How he bemeaned himselfe, shall hereafter be related. 1688 Rokeby Diary (1858) 29 Foolish frothy things, that bemean it [my memory] before the Lord. 1742 Jarvis Quix. 11. ill. xx. (D.), I renounce my gentility.. and bemean myself to the lowness of the offender. 1866 Reade G. Gaunt II. 92 Oh, husband, how can you so bemean yourself?

bemean, v.4, bemene; see bemoan. fbe'meet, v. Obs. [f. be- pref. 2 + meet v.] a. trans. To meet with. b. intr. To meet with. 1605 Shaks. Lear v. i. 20 Our very loving sister, well bemet. 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 61 The Laicks are a Lay people. .till some Moses be-meet with them.

1. trans. To moan for; to lament, weep for. c 1000 z^Elfric Deut. xxxiv. 8 pa heofungdajas waeron pa jefyllede pe hij Moisen bemaendon. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 13 f>enne wi(le 3e.. sunne bimenen. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4150 .xxx. dai3es wep israel for his dead and bi-ment it wel. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4225 Ys trewe baronye be-mend him sore. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. xxx, They playne and the death bimeane Of worthy Hector. 1563 Myrr. Mag., Induct, xvii. 2 Luckeles lot for to bemone. 1653 Walton Angler i. 17 The children of Israel.. bemoaning the ruines of Sion, a 1732 Gay Poems (1745) I. 97 Her piteous tale the winds in sighs bemoan. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lix, She bemoaned her miseries in the sweetest voice. 2. refl. To lament or bewail one’s lot. C1220 Bestiary 798 in O.E. Misc. 25 Bimene we us, we hauen don wrong. C1314 Guy Warw. 5 He gan to wepe .. And biment him wel reweliche. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xx. (1483) 67 See how my sone.. Bvmeneth hym in herte chere and voys. 1625 Bacon Envy, Ess. (Arb.) 514 Politique persons .. are euer bemoaning themselues, what a Life they lead. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 486 Tillotson bemoaned himself with unfeigned .. sorrow to Lady Russell. 3. intr. or with subord. cl. To lament, grieve. C1305 St. Edm. Conf. 426 in E.E.P. 82 Hi bimende & ofj?03te sore: J?at hi hi3ede (?ider so faste. 1460 in Pol. Rel. L. Poems (1866) 157 Yf thow owght mome, I shall bemene. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. 1. ii. §5 We rather bemoan she lost it so soon. 1833 Lamb Elia (i860) 238, I do not know whether I ought to bemoan or rejoice that my old friend is departed.

BEMOANABLE

BEMOANABLE

102

f4. trans. with cogn. obj.: To utter with moans. I393 Gower Conf. I. 346 His firste pleinte to bemene

bemonster (bi'monst9(r)), v. [f. be- 5 + monster.] trans. 1. To make monstrous or hideous; to deform.

Unto the citee of Athene He goth him forth.

1605 Shaks. Lear iv. ii. 63 Be-monster not thy feature. 1608 Machin Dumb Knt. 111. i, lie rather wed a sootie blackamore, Then her that hath bemonstered my pure soule.

5. To express pity for, condole with. c 1300 Beket 983 Therfore we ne bymeneth the no3t: for thu noldest beo awar bifore. c 1305 St. Kenelm 236 in E.E.P. (1862) 54 He nere no3t to bymene J?e3 his larder were ne3 ido. 1611 Bible Job xlii. 11 They bemoned him, and comforted him ouer all the euill.. brought vpon him.

t be'moanable, a. Obs.~° [f. prec. + -able.] Deplorable, lamentable. 1611 Cotgr., Regretable, bemonable, bewailable.

bemoaning (bi'maumr)), vbl. sb. Also 3 bimening. [f. as prec. + -ing1.] Lamentation, wailing, grief loudly expressed. c 1250 Gen. : see B II. 1.] 1. Name given to B^, when that note was first introduced into the scale. a 1327 Rel. Ant. I. 292 Thu holdest nowt a note .. in riht ton .. Thu bitist a-sonder bequarre, for bemol i the blame. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. I. 355 [In their harp-playing they] bygynnep from bemol [L. a B molli incipiunt]. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparow 530 Synge the verse, Libera me, In de, la, soil, re, Softly bemole For my sparowes soule.

2. By extension: a. A flat. 1609 Dot:land Ornithop. Microl. 6 Of Voyces, some are called b Mols, Naturals, Sharps. 1656 [see 2 b].

b. A semitone. 1626 Bacon Sylva § 104 There be intervenient in the Rise of Eight (in Tones) two Beemolls, or Half-notes. Ibid. § 105 There fall out to be two Beemols between the Vnison and the Diapason. [1656 Blount Glossogr., Beemol (Fr.), the flat key in musick. Bacon.]

2. To regard, treat as, or ‘call’ a monster. 1692 Christ Exalted §139 Yet he writes.. like a Gentleman, not be-heriticking, not be-monstring Dr. Crisp. 1880 Swinburne Birthd. Ode 421 A man by men bemonstered.

tbe'mourn, v. Obs. [OE. be-, bimurnan, f. bi-, be- 2 + murnan to mourn.] 1. trans. To mourn over, lament, bewail. a 1000 Crist (Grein) 176 Hwset bemurnest J?u? C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 111 J?e makefi him his sinnes swi6e bimumen. 1382 Wyclif Luke xxiii. 27 Wymmen that weileden, and bymoornyden him. 1622 Mabbe Aleman's Guzman de Alf. 11. 249 Bemourne the miseries wherein you are.

2. intr.

To mourn, lament.

c 1400 Destr. Troy vn. 3279 J?us [ho] bemournet full mekull & no meite toke.

bemouth (bi'mauS), v. [f. be- 2 + mouth v.] trans. To mouth the praises of (a person); to talk grandiloquently, to declaim. e(n, -the(n, 4-6 bequethe, 4-5 -qweth(e, 6 -queath(e, (5 -quete, -wheth(e, -wete, -qwithe, -quaythe, and innumerable illiterate spellings in wills). Pa. t. 6- bequeathed; in 1 becwseS, 2 -quaS, 2-3 -queS, 2-4 -quep, 3 -quaad, 5 -quath(e, -quaythed. Pa. pple. 6bequeathed; in 1 beeweden, 3 -queSe(n, 5 -quethe(n, -quette, -witt, -quothen, -quethed. [OE. bi-, beewedan, f. be- 4 + ewedan to say: see quethe and quoth. An ancient word, the retention of which is due to the traditional language of wills. Originally, like its radical ewedan, a strong vb.; but having only weak inflexion since 1500. In north, dial, written in 15th c. bewhethe, and variously perverted as -whete, -weth, -withe, -wite, -wit, -quite, -quit, which show the groping of popular etymology after some known verb to which the derivative might be referred.] I. To say, utter, declare. f 1. trans. To say, utter, express in words. Obs.

BEQUEATH

BERAY

I 21

CIOOO Ags. Ps. lxxxviii. 44 [-ix. 51] Jjaet pinum criste becwepafi swiSe. c 1000 Andreas (Gr.) 418 Gif (ju fejn sie .. wuldor cyninges, swa pu worde becwist.

1340 Ayenb. 112 He hit ous let: at his [Christ’s] yleaue nymynge and at his laste bequide. a 1617 Bayne On Eph. 11 Peace is that golden bequeath which Christ did leave us.

ber (be3(r)).

bequeathable (bi'kwi:S3b(3)l), a. [f.

i860 in H. F. C. Cleghorn Forests Gardens S. India (1861) 60 The ber tree {Zizyphus jujuba) is approved for saddletrees. 1861-Ibid. 244 The wild ber tree, common almost everywhere. Ibid. 281 The Ber-fruit tree .. is used for native sandals. 1874 Stewart & Brandis Forest Flora India 87 All Ber trees of North and Central India. 1886 Yule & Burnell Hobson-Jobson, Bear-tree, Bair, & c. 1887 Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 299 Jujube or Ber Tree. 1895 Mrs. Croker Village Tales (1896) 22 The sahibs shall sit above in the old bher tree. 1908 New Reformer I. 414 The Zezyphus Jujuba, the Bir universally known in India. 1924 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 478/1 Thickets of ber and acacias. 1925 Ibid. Jan. 66/2 These [bears] had fallen out to-night over their supper of 6er-fruit. 1969 Hindu 28 July 6/5 The most striking thing about cuscuta is that it is notoriously partial to ber.

fb. Of language: To express, signify, mean.

CII75 Lamb. Horn. 75 Ic ou wile seggen word efter word and permide hwat t>et word bi-que)?. Ibid. 133 Hwet peo sa3e bicwefie. c 1200 Tnn. Coll. Horn. 17 Alle cunne ower crede .. peih 3e alle nuten hwat hit biqueSe.

12. ? To speak about in sorrow, to bewail. Obs. (Or is this error for bigreden, or bigreithenl) c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2448 De liches beSen, And smeren, and winden, and bi-quetlen. II. To ‘say (a thing) away'; to give or part with by formal declaration.

13. To assign, ordain, appoint, allot, give as an attribute (a thing to a person, etc.). Obs. c 125° Gen. Ex. 117 God bi-quuad watres here stede. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk Selv. 79 Yet these belongers to body are helpful enough, wherewith to set forth the nature of the things to which we bequeath them. 4. To make a formal assignation of (property of which one is possessed) to any one, f a. so as to pass to him at once: To transfer, hand over, make over, assign, deliver. Obs. C1305 Edmund Conf. 132 in E.E.P. (1862) 74 f?is catel pat ich biquepe pis dede forto do. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. xciv. 74 He had the reame .. sauf he byquath and yafe it to his broder. 1595 Shaks. John 1. i. 149 Wilt thou .. Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me? 1611-Wint. T. v. iii. 102 Bequeath to Death your numnesse. b. so as to pass to the recipient after one’s death: To ‘leave’ by will.

(The only surviving

sense, for which it is the proper term.) 1066 Chart. Eadweard in Cod. Dipl. IV. 191 Swa full fre and swa for6 swa he it sainte Petre bequaS. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 183 Gief J?e quike haue6 aihte pc were £>e dedes Eerrure pe he him biqueS. c 1393 Chaucer Gentilesse 17 There may noman.. Beqweythe his heyre his vertuous noblesse. 1418 E. E. Wills (1882) 25 My godys.. I be-quethe to lone my wyfe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 31. 1440 Test. Ebor. 11. (1855) 134 A speciall wille.. in wheche I have bequothen and sette diverse thyngys to certenn persouns. 1443 Ibid. 106, I gyffe and bewhete..xl s. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 23 He bequathe to his dowter all his Empire. 1530 Palsgr. 448/2 My grant mother byquaythed me a hundred pounde. 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. in. ii. 141 Bequeathing it as a rich Legacie Vnto their issue. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. vi. 28 Sums of money were .. bequeathed to the priests. 1876 Green Short Hist. ii. §6 (1882) 85 William had bequeathed Normandy to his eldest son, Robert. c. fig. To transmit (to posterity), to ‘leave.’ 1614 Raleigh Hist. World 11. 415 Jacob in his blessing prophetically bequeathed it. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 205 IP 13 This narrative he has bequeathed to future generations. 1875 Scrivener Led. Grk. Test. 11 Antiquity has bequeathed to us nothing else that can be compared with them. f5. To commit to, unto (any one) with recommendation to his acceptance or care; to commend, entrust. Also fig. Obs. or arch. c 1225 Rel. Ant. I. 235 Louerd Godd, in hondes tine I biqueSe soule mine. 1436 Test. Ebor. 11. (1855) 75, I bewitt my saule to Gode Allmighty. 1591 Spenser Virg. Gnat 633 Them therefore as bequeathing to the winde, I now depart. 1596 Drayton Legends iii. 16 Let Me to Thee, my sad Complaints bequeathe. 1700 Dryden Pythag. Philos. 57 Fables (1721) 301 The judges to the common urn bequeath Their votes. 1718 Pope Iliad vii. 399 We to flames our slaughtered friends bequeath. f6. gen. To deliver, bestow, give, yield,

bequeath

v. + -able.] Capable of being bequeathed. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. IV. 398 Bequeathable.. like goods and Chattells. 1875 Poste Gaius 11. 287 Legacies bequeathable to legatees who were capable of taking.

bequeathal (bi'kwnSal). [f. as prec. +

-al2.]

The action of bequeathing. 1642 Act Harvard Coll, in Shurtleff Records Mass. Bay II. 30 All gifts, legacies, bequeathalls, revenues, lands, and donations. 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 186 The bequeathal of folc-land would require a guarantee from the state.

bequeathed (bi'kwi:Sd), ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ed1.] Left by will; transmitted to posterity.

fig.

handed

down,

BEAR, BIER.

beraft, obs. form of bereft; see bereave

bequeather (bi'kwi:S3(r)).

beraid, -raied, pa. t. and pa. pple. of beray.

[f. as prec. -I- -er1.]

One who bequeaths, a testator. 1502 Arnold Chron. (1811) 274 Ageyn the wyll of the yeuar or byquyether. 1638 Featly Strict. Lyndom. 11. 121 The disposer and bequeather of the land. 1883 L. Campbell Sp. at St. Andrews 1 Nov., The munificent donors and bequeathers of large sums to the university.

be'queathing, vbl. sb.

[f. as prec. + -ing1.] The action of leaving by will, fig. handing down to posterity; also concr. a legacy, bequest. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 131 The bequeathing of that hord of sprightfulness. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 491 The power of bequeathing. 1855 Browning Saul Men & Worn. II. 123 His rents, the successive bequeathings of ages untold.

be'queathment. [f. as prec. +

-ment.] The action of bequeathing; usually concr. a bequest. 1607 W. Sclater Fun. Serm. (1629) Pref. If such vertues were capable of bequeathment. a 1634 Randolph Amyntas ill. ii. 32 Nymph take this Whistle..’Tis Amaryllis last bequeathment to you. 1871 Smiles Charac. i. (1876) 24 Among the most cherished bequeathments from the past.

bequeaue, -queue,

obs. phonetic corruptions

of bequeath.

bequest

(bi'kwest). Also 3-4 biqueste, 4 byquyste, 5 bicquest, byqueste, 6 bequeste, 5bequest. [ME. biquyste, biqueste, prob. for an earlier *bicwis, bi-cwiss(e, f. bi-, accented form of bi-, be- + ewis, cwiss(e ‘saying’: — OTeut. *qissiz: — *qip-ti-z, f. qipan to say (cf. Sievers Ags. Gram. §232). Bequest thus represents a type *'biqissi-z answering to the vb. *bi'qipan, bequeath. The later change is parallel to that of behest (qv.), and the accentuation is assimilated to that of the verb.] 1. The act of bequeathing; transference or bestowal by will, or by a similar procedure.

devote oneself. Obs. or arch. 1555 Phaer JEneid in. —iv, This fleete at last.. I see .. I did myself bequeth thereto to flee. 1652 Evelyn State of France Misc. (1805) 85 Gentlemen.. who generally so bequeath themselves to this service. 1829 K. Digby Broadst. Hon. I. 166 Orpheus.. bequeaths himself to a solitary life in the deserts.

2. concr. That which is bequeathed; a legacy. 1496 in Blades Caxton 162 Itm in bokes called legendes, of the bequest of William Caxton, xiijd. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 246 Al bequestes and goodes of suche his frendes as dyed intestate. 1618 Bolton Florus 11. xx. 156 The estate of kings, and the riches of whole Realmes comming to them as bequests, and Legacies. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 437 Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve fortune, or to retain their bequests.

fbe'queath, sb. Obs. Forms: 3 byquide, 4 bekuyde, -quide, 5 beqweth, 6 bequede, bequeth, 7 bequeath. [ME. byquide:—OE. bicwide, 'bigcwide, quotable only in sense of ‘byword, proverb’ (cf. bequeath v. i), f. bi-, emphatic form of bi-, be- pref. + cwide a sentence, a saying, cogn. w. OS. quidi, OHG. chwiti:—OTeut. *qidi-z, f. qipan (OS. quethan, quedan, OE. cwedan) to say; pa. pple. (with grammatical consonant-change) OE. cweden. In later times, gradually assimilated in form to the vb. BEQUEATH.] 1. Byword, proverb. (Only in OE.)

1394 P. PI. Crede 69 Her money may biquest, and testament maken. 1479 Bury Wills (1850) 54 A cloos.. byfor byquestyd to Thomas my sone. 1480 Ibid. 55, I byqwest to the ffryerez of Clare xxs. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 299 b, Testament of peace .. gyuen and bequest to thy disciples. 1795 Haunted Castle II. 74 He broke open the papers of Du Pin.. bequesting him all his estates.

c 1000 ALlfric Deut. xxviii. 37 Ge forwurSap purh bijspell and bijcwidas.

bequirtle, bequote,

fbe'quest, v. Obs. Also 5 bi-, by-. Pa. pple. bequested, bequest, [f. prec. sb.] trans. To give as a bequest, to bequeath.

fbe'questing, vbl. sb. Obs. Bequeathing. 1572 Richmond. Wills (1853) 235 In witnesse of the bequesting of a bull of the said Adam Kirkbie. etc.: see be- pref.

beragged, berailroaded, etc.: see be- pref.

t be'rain, v. Obs. Forms: 3 birein, 4-5 be-, bi-, byrein, -reyn, 5 berayn, byrayn(e, 6 berain(e. [f. be- 4 -I- rain; cf. OHG. bireganon, mod.G. beregnen, in same sense.] 1. trans. To rain upon. (Chiefly in pa. pple.) 01225 Ancr. R. 344 CloSes unseouwed .' bireined oSer unwaschen. 1388 Wyclif Ezek. xxii. 24 A lond vncleene and not bireyned. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiv. i, Yf good londe is bidewid or bireynid it fatten and amendej?. [1582 Batman Barth. De P.R. xiv. xlvi. 210 Also downes be more bedewed and berained than vallies.] 2. a. To besprinkle as with rain; to wet, bedew. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1144 After that he long had .. with his teris salt hire breest byreyned. a 1547 Surrey Pris. in Windsor 42 The tears berain my cheeks of deadly hew. 1567 Turberv. in Chalmers’ Eng. Poets II. 641/1 Teares.. beraine my brest.

b. To sprinkle or pour (a liquid) in drops. C1420 Pallad. on Husb. 1. 952 Byrayne aboute uppon thi wortes this.

berake, berampier, etc.: see be- pref. berande, obs. north, form of bearing ppl. a. Also subst.

Bearer, carrier.

fbe'quit, v. Obs. rare~l. [? f. be- 2 + quit.] refl. To acquit oneself. 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed VI. Ep. Ded., My fast friend.. did learnedlie bequit himselfe in the penning of certeine breefe notes concerning that countrie.

beqwete, -qweth(e, -qweythe, -qwithe,

berapt ppl. a. [f. be- + rapt, or for beraft = bereft.] 1581 Studley Seneca's Agamemn. 153 b, Me berapt of sence, with prickes of fury fresh yee fill.

berar(e, obs. form of bearer. fberard, Obs. rare-1. A viper. Fi475 in Wr.-Wiilcker Voc. 766 Hec vispera, a berard.

berard, obs. f. bearherd. berate (bi'reit), v. [f.

be- 2 + rate v. This word appears to have become rare in the 19th c. in England, but remained in common use in U.S., whence we have many 19th c. instances.] trans. To rate or chide vehemently; to scold. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark xv. (R.) So is the veritie of the gospell berated and laughed to skome of the miscreantes. 1572 tr. Lavaterus' Ghostes (1596) 158 They all berated him for occupying his head about questions nothing appertaining unto him. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 162 Antony .. fell into a furious fit of choler, and all to berated.. Toranius. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. vi. i. (1866) 779 Never was unlucky prince more soundly berated by his superiors. 1864 E. Sargent Peculiar III. 290 An ancient virago.. was berating a butcher. 1871 Meredith H. Richmond liii, What! You think he was not punished enough when he was berated and torn to shreds in your presence? 1881 Boston Lit. World 22 Oct. 365/2 Berating Puritanism in his diary. 1893 Times 1 Feb. 9/5 The famous allocution in which he [sc. Sir James Mathew] berated Lord Clanricarde before a single witness had been heard. 1952 M. Laski Village xvii. 238 She perceived that Miss Evadne was not antagonistic, had not sent for her to berate her. 1965 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Sept. 834/1 ‘She is., an assiduous toady, and a petty thief.’ Further to berate her or the book would be supererogatory.

fbe'rattle, v. Obs. rare. Also 7 beratle. [f. be4 + rattle ti.] trans. To rattle away upon; to fill with rattling noise or din; also, to rattle away at, assail with din. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 180 (R.) He did all berattle him. 1602 Shaks. Ham. ii. ii. 358 An ayrie of Children, little Yases, that crye out on the top of question; and are most tyrannically clap’t for’t; these.. so beratled the common Stages .. that many wearing Rapiers, are aflfraide of Goosequils.

be'ray, v.

2. Bequest, testament, will.

forms of BEQUEATH.

v.

c 1460 Towneley Myst. 82 Prowde men and hyghe berand. 1483 Cath. Angl. 28 Berande, baiulus.

c 1300 R. Brunne Chron. 86 Of 30ur fader biqueste dome pan salle je se. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. ix. 94 For-thi ich wolle, er ich wende ■ do wryten my by-quyste. c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. iv, Natures bequest gives nothing, but doth lend. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. I. 259 Bequest in a primitive state of society, was seldom recognized. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 388 When he made his bequest, if bequest we are to call it, in favour of Rufus.

b .fig.

ber, obs. and dial form of birr force, impetus,

1618 Bolton Florus in. xv. 220 The late bequeathed kingdome of Attalus. 1679 Establ. Test. 21 Capable of taming this bequeathed Fierceness.

furnish. CI440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 25 To whom god hath 3evin and bequepon . . paradise. 1608 Penny less Pari, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 72 A niggards purse shall scarce bequeath his master a good dinner. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 122 That which bequeaths it this slow pace. f7. refi. To commit oneself, give oneself up,

1297 R. Glouc. 384 Gret folc he sende also Fram Normandye to worry, & hys fader byquide vndo. 1340 Ayenb. 38 Kueade exequitours of bekuydes. 1490 Church-w. Acc. St. Dunstan's, Canterb., Rec. the full of the beqweth of Mother Belser xxxiijs. iiijd. 1527 Lane. & Chesh. Wills (1854) 35 All the foresaid gyftes and bequedes. 1642 Fragm. Reg. in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 185 They may express more affection to one in the abundance of bequeaths.

Also bher, bir. [Hindi.] The Chinese date or jujube (genus Zizyphus). Also attrib., as ber-fruit, -tree.

obs.

Obs. or arch. Forms: 6 beraye, (berey), 6-7 beray, 7-9 erroneously bewray. Pa. t. and pa. pple.: 6-7 beraid, -raied, -rayed, [f. be2 + ray v. (aphetic form of array: cf. for the sense array v. 10). Generally mis-spelt by modern writers through erroneous confusion with bewray.] Hence berayed ppl. a. 1. trans. To disfigure, dirty, defile, befoul (with dirt, filth, ordure).

1530 Palsgr. 449/1 You have berayed your gowne with myer. 1570 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) I. 296 The King was slaine.. and the bed all beraied with bloud. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders v. ii. §28. 470/1 When he was Baptized, he berayed the Font. 1670 Ray Prov. (T.) It is an ill bird that berays its own nest. 1701 De Foe True-born Englishm. Pref. 1, I am tax’d with Bewraying my own Nest. 1863 Sala Capt. Dangerous I. vii. 190 His Countenance and his Raiment were all smirched and bewrayed with dabs and patches of what seemed soot.

b. refl. and intr. 1561 Awdelay Frat. Vacab. 13 This knave berayeth many tymes in the corners of his maisters chamber. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Arc, To be beshitten; to beray himselfe. 1649 R. Hodges Plain. Direct. 27 The childe did bewray, that hee would beray himself.

2. fig. To befoul, stain, disfigure; to asperse, to cover with abuse. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 56 Wherein I see a quicke capacitye Berayde with blots of light Inconstancie. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. iv. v. (Arb.) 58 Our fellow Shakespeare hath giuen him a purge that made him beray his credit. 1863 Sala Capt. Dangerous I. x. 287 [She] did so bemaul and bewray Madam Macphilader with her tongue.

fbe'rayer. Obs. Also 7 (erron.) be-wrayer. [f. prec. + -er1.] One who berays or defiles. 1699 Coles,

berayn,

Bewrayer (defiler), concacator.

obs. form of berain.

t'berber1. Sc. Obs. [a. OF. berbere ‘barberry,’ in med.L. berberis, which is also used as the botanical name of the genus.] = barberry. From Berberis (stem berberid-) also; 'berberal a. Bot., of or related to the Barberry, or genus Berberis-, applied by Lindley to the ‘alliance’ including the N.O. Berberidacese. 'berberid, any member of the natural order to which the barberry belongs, berberi'daceous, belonging to the N.O. Berberidaceae, of which the barberry is the type, berbe'rideous, belonging to the tribe Berberideae which includes the barberry, ber'beria, 'berberine, a yellow bitter principle, obtained from the barberry and other plants. C1440 Gaw. & Gologr. (Jam.) Of box and of berber, bigged ful bene. 1878 Miss Braddon Open Verd. xxv. 176 The shining leaves of bay and berberis. 1866 Treas. Bot. 136 Lindley includes the order in his Berberal Alliance. 1847 Lindley Veg. Kingd. (ed. 2) 421 Anonads are connected with Berberids through Bocagea. 1852 Th. Ross Humboldt's Trav. Il.xviii. 171 It was perhaps a tree of the berberideous family. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. 725 Berberia is an alkaloid found abundantly in the common barberry. Ibid. 778 Contains a considerable amount of berberine. 1880 Syd. Soc. Lex., Berberin is. .given as a bitter tonic in dyspepsia.

Berber2

('b3ib3(r)).

[For

derivation

see

Barbary.]

A. sb. A name given by the Arabs to the aboriginal people west and south of Egypt; applied by modern ethnologists to any member of the great North African stock to which belong the aboriginal races of Barbary and the Tuwariks of the Sahara. 1842 Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 261 In the Northern parts of Atlas, these people are called Berbers. 1883 Cust Mod. Lang. Africa I. 98 Strictly speaking a Moor must be a native of Mauritania, and a Berber, and the term could not be applied with propriety to an Arab.

B. adj. Of or pertaining to the Berbers or their language; applied (often absol.) to one of the three great subdivisions of the Hamitic group, called also Lybian and Amazirg, containing, according to Cust, nine North African languages. 1854 Latham in Orr's Circ. Sc. Org. Nat. I. 367 The Amazirg tongues are often called Berber. 1883 Cust Mod. Lang. Africa I. 104 The Berber Family of Languages is one of striking unity.

berberia,

BEREAVE

122

BERAYER

same as beriberi, a disease.

berberine1. berberine tree, an African tree, Xylopia polycarpa, which yields a yellow dye containing berberine. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 440 The Berberine or Yellowdye tree of Soudan.

Berberine2 (baiba'riin). [prop. pi. used as sing., f. Berber + Arab. pi. suffix -in (cf. fellaheen, pi. of fellah).] A Berber. Also attrib. Also 'Berberin pi., Berbers; Berbe'ree, Berberi, a Berber; 'berberize v. trans., to impart a Berber character to; 'berberized ppl. a. 1852 B. St. John Village Life in Egypt II. i. 9 Berberi race, black and well-featured. Ibid. iii. 30 In the neighbourhood of Essouan .. is a curious race of people .. distinct from the Berberis, although confounded with them by many travellers. 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 260/2 The Barabra or Berberines are a people well known in Egypt. 1900 Conan Doyle Green Flag 270 In front rode the three Berberee body-servants upon donkeys. 1906 Daily Chron. 22 Sept. 2/7 The municipality of Alexandria are now endeavouring to induce the surplus Berberin, See., to return to their own country, on the upper reaches of the Nile. 1914 Eng. Hist. Rev. Oct. 786 Many Arabs, .had settled down [in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco] and become in part Berberized. 1928 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 406/1 This., was given to me.. by a grateful Berberine. 1930 C. G. Seligman Races of Afr. vi. 137 It is always difficult to decide whether any particular people.. are to be regarded as arabized Berbers or as

berberized Arabs. 1938 Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Oct. 645/2 A lady’s maid who managed Berberine servants with grim efficiency.

berberry, -bery,

variants of barberry.

Berbice (ba'biis). The name of a river and a county in Guyana, applied to a type of long chair (see quots.). 1951 E. Mittelholzer Shadows Move II. ii. 172 An easy chair provided with long projecting arms for resting one s outstretched legs (a Berbice chair, he had heard it called). 1959 ‘A. Glyn’ I can take it All xiii. 241 Berbice chairs the ones with long wooden extensions in the arms for you to hitch your legs over.

|| berceau (berso). [Fr., ‘arbour, bower’; lit. ‘cradle’.] An arbour, bower; a shaded or foliagecovered walk. Also attrib. 1699 M. Lister Journ. to Paris 209 The small leaved Horne-Beam; which serves for Arcades, Berceaus. I771 Pennant Tour Scotl. 1769 77 The Berceau walk [at Taymouth] is very magnificent, composed of great trees, forming a fine gothic arch, a 1794 E. Gibbon Memoirs in Misc. Wks. (1796) I. 182, I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, a 1828 D. Wordsworth Tour Cont. in jfrnls. (1941) II. 61 The country richer than ever— Berceaus of vines—yards and courts roofed with vines. 1828 -Tour Isle of Man (1941) 415 He had contrived to bury his house among trees and.. to make the approach to it (a long berceau) as dark as a dungeon alley. 1853 C. Bronte Villette I. viii. 142 Under the vast and vine-draped berceau madame would take her seat on summer afternoons, i960 M. Sharp Something Light viii. 72 No head-high berceaux of Gloire de Dijon roses.

berceau'nette. [A tradesman’s perversion of bassinet or bassinette,

whereby that word is ignorantly referred to the F. berceau ‘cradle,’ with which it has no connexion. Berceaunette is, of course, an impossible form in Fr., and is a patent modern instance of pseudo-etymological spelling.] 1885 Bazaar 30 Mar. 1250/3 Berceaunette carriage, nearly new, must be sold. Ibid. Splendid berceaunette perambulator, one of the handsomest carriages ever made.

f bere, sb. Obs. Also 3 beare, 4 ber, 5 beyr, 6 (Sc.) beir. [ME. beare, bere, apparently short for ibere ‘clamour, outcry’; the earlier text of Layamon has always ibere, the latter only beare. In form, ibere is:—OE. gebaere^ ‘bearing, behaviour, gesture,’ = OS. gibari, MDu. gebaar, MHG. gebaere, in same sense, f. beran to bear. The history of the change of meaning is not evident; but it appears also in OFris. biere ‘strepitus, clamour’ (Matzner), where also the prefix ge- has been dropped; the MDu. gebaar also meant ‘noise, strepitus,’ as well as ‘behaviour.’ In later times the word is only Sc., whence the spelling beir: the mod. Eng. would have been normally bear.) Clamour, outcry, shouting, roaring; the noise of voices of men or animals. [a 800 O.E. Chron. an. 755 On 5aes wifes jebairum [Laud MS. je baeron] onfundon Sees cyninges Segnas 6a unstilnesse.] C1205 Lay. 25828 Wanliche iberen [1250 reuliche beares]. Ibid.-28162 Me mihte iheren Brutten iberen [Bruttune beare]. C1330 Florice & Bl. 457 Asked what here were That hi makede so loude bere. c 1400 Rowland & Ot. 183 3elde thi suerde to mee, & late be alle this bere. 1460 Towneley Myst. 249 Abyde withe alle thi boste and beyr. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 38 Foulis .. ande .. beystis .. maid grite beir.

fbere, v. Obs. Also 3 ibere. [ME. beren, short for iberen (see 1st quot.):—OE. gebseran to bear oneself, behave = OS. gibarjan, OHG. *gabarjan, MHG. gebaren, gebaeren, f. bere sb., which see for change of sense.] intr. To cry, roar. Hence 'berand ppl. a. c 1225 Juliana 53 He.. iberde [v.r. berde] as pe ful wiht. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxxii[i], 3 Well singes to him in berand Steven. CI400 Leg. Rood (1871) 140 Beerynge as a beorewhelp. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 457 The peple beryt lyk wyld bestis. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. xxii, Quhyn thay had berit lyk baitit bullis.

bere, obs. f. bear, beer, bier, birr, boar.

Obs. rare. Also 5 berseel, bersell, byrselle. [a. OF. bersel, also bersail, -eil, in same sense; f. berser: see next.] An archer’s butt.

bereager, variant of beeregar.

CI440 Promp. Parv. 32 Bercel [1499 berseel], meta. Ibid. 56 But, or bercel or byrselle [1499 bersell], meta.

bereason, etc.: see be- pref.

f 'bercelet. Obs. Forms: 4 barselette, -slett, 4-5 barslet, bercelett, -selette, -slet, 5 breslet, 5-7 bercelett. [Corruption of OF. berseret huntingdog, dim. of bersier huntsman (in med.L. bersarius), f. berser, bercer (in med.L. bersare) to hunt, esp. with the bow, orig. to shoot with the bow. Thence also Ger. berschen to shoot game, It. bersaglio an archer’s butt, whence bersagliere archer, sharp-shooter, rifleman.] A hunting dog, a hound.

bereave (bi'riiv), v. Pa. t. and pa. pple. bereaved; pa. pple. also bereft. Forms: 1 bereafian, 2-3 birseuien, 2-6 bireve, 3 bireave(n, 3-4 birefe(n, 4-6 byreve, bereve, 5 berefe, bereffe, byreeve, 6 bereeve, (berive, byryve), 6-7 berieve, 7 bereauve, 6- bereave. Pa. t., 1 bereafode, 2-3 bereafde, beraefde, 2-4 biraeuede, bireuede, 4 birefte, 4-5 byrafte, 4-6 beraft(e, berefte, 5 berafft, berefte, 5- bereft, 6- bereaved. Pa. pple. 6- bereaved, bereft. Early forms corres. to pa. t.; also 6-7 bereiven, 6-9 bereaven. [Com. Teut.: OE. bi-, bereafian = OFris. birav(i)a, OS. birobon, (MDu. beroven, Du. berooven), OHG. biroubon, (MHG. berouben, mod.G. berauben), Goth, biraubon:—OTeut. *biraubojan, f. bi-, be+ *raubojan, in OE. reafian to plunder, spoil, rob; see reave v.] 1. trans. To deprive, rob, strip, dispossess (a person, etc., of a possession; the latter orig. expressed by the genitive). Since C1650 mostly of immaterial possessions, life, hope, etc., except in reference to the loss of relatives by death. (In the former case bereft, in the latter bereaved, is more usual in the pa. t. and pa. pple.)

t'bercel.

c 1340 Alexander 786 (Dublin MS.) Was neuer barslett in band more buxum to hys lord. ri400 Destr. Troy VI. 2196 Ger horn bowe as a berslet & pi blithe seche. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. iii, Wyth bow, and wyth berselette Vndurneth the boes. c 1420 Avow. Arth. vii, He [the boar] brittunt bercelettus bold. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. 444 Every day for his servant and his bercelett.. twelve pence.

|| berceuse (beirsoiz). Mus. [Fr., f. bercer to rock + fern, agent-suffix -euse.) A cradle-song, lullaby; an instrumental piece with a lulling rhythm. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Diet. Mus. Terms 58/1 Berceuse, a cradle song. 1879 Grove Diet. Mus. I. 229/2 His [sc. Schumann’s] ‘Schlummerlied’ is a berceuse in all but name. 1889 G. B. Shaw in Star 13 Dec. 2/4 Composes fantasias, berceuses, serenades, etc., with great facility. 1931 E. Dannreuther Oxf. Hist. Mus. (ed. 2) VI. xi. 257 In the Barcarolle, the Berceuse, and the Ballades.. Chopin discovered a form of expression peculiar to himself.

bercke, berd(e, obs. ff.

bark

v,

beard, bird

sb.

berdache (ba'dsej).

Also berdash. [ad. F. bardache: see bardash.] Among N. American Indians: a transvestite (see esp. quot. 1955). 1806 A. Henry Jrnl. 21 July in E. Coues New Light Hist. Greater Northwest (1897) I. 348 The Mandanes.. often prefer a young man to a woman. They have many berdashes amongst them, who make it their business to satisfy such beastly passions. 1843 H. S. Lloyd tr. Maximilian's Trav. N. Amer. xxv. 351 Among all the North American Indian nations there are men dressed and treated like women, called, by the Canadians, Bardaches. 1906 R. G. Thwaites Early Western Trav. XXIII. 284 The berdash was noted by most early travellers among Western Indians. 1912 Anthrop. Pap. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX. 226 Berdaches naturally associate with girls and pretend to have sweethearts among men. 1949 M. Mead Male & Female vi. 129 Among many American Indian tribes the berdache, the man who dressed and lived as a woman, was a recognized social institution. 1955 Angelino & Shedd in Amer. Anthropologist LVIII. 125 In view of the data we propose that berdache be characterized as an individual of a definite physiological sex (male or female) who assumes the role and status of the opposite sex, and who is viewed by the community.. as having assumed the role and status of the opposite sex.

berdash, variant form of berdyd, obs. form of

burdash.

bearded ppl. a.

bereall, obs. form of burial.

c888 K. /Elfred Boeth. v. §3 Heo hit ne mass his gewittes bereafian. c 1205 Lay. 2896 bus wes pas kineriche • of heora kinge biraeued [1250 bireued]. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6671 Lest they berafte .. Folk of her catel or of her thing. 1529 More Conf. agst. Trib. 11. Wks. 1183/2 He hadde .. byreued hym of hys rest. 1577 Harrison England 11. xx. 330 Beereving some fruits of their kernels. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. ill. ii. 177 Madam, you have bereft me of all words. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. 1. (1682) 104 They bereaved the women.. of the hair of their heads, a 1649 Drumm. of Hawth. Poems Wks. (1711) 17 That angel’s face hath me of rest bereaven. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 106 It is there bereft of all its volatile parts. 1833 H. Coleridge Poems I. 143 Ere thy birth, of sire bereaven. 1841 D’Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 222 The accident which had bereaved the father of his child.

fb. with at for of. Obs. c 1205 Lay. 30311 Ic hine birasuien wulle • at his baren liue [1250 bireaue .. of his bare Hue].

c. with double object (to bereave any one a possession), the former probably at first dative. In the passive the impersonal object was originally the subject, but in 17th c. either object might be so used. arch. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 33 Hie him bireueden alle hise riche weden. c 1200 Ormin 2832 Himm wass hiss spseche .. all biraefedd. c 1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 503 His sleep, his mete, his drynk is him byraft. 1530 Elyot Gov. 1. xii, Enuy had.. bireft hym his lyfe. 1557 K. Arth. (Copland) 1. vii, Many landes that were bereued lordes, knyghtes, ladyes and gentylmen. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI. in. i. 85 All your Interest in those Territories Is utterly bereft you. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 918 Bereaue me not.. thy gentle looks, thy aid. 1806 Scott Wandering Willie, All joy was bereft me the day that you left me.

BEREAVED

123

2. To rob, plunder, despoil (a possessor); to deprive of anything valued; to leave destitute, orphaned, or widowed. See also bereaved. C1I75 Lamb. Horn. 79 Ho him bireueden and ho him ferwundeden. 1:1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 124, I was ofte berevyd. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xiv. (1632) 763 The King bereauving enemies, to enrich his friends. 1867 G. Macdonald Poems 10, I cry to thee with all my might Because I am bereft.

t 3. To snatch away (a possession); to remove or take away by violence. Obs. c *320 Cast. Loue 1349 J>e meste strength he al bi-reuede. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 403 Who so wold us fro the world byreve .. He wolde byreve out of this world the sonne 1571 Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc iv. i. (1847) 132 Whome no mishap .. could haue bereued hence, c 1600 Death Jane Seymour in Evans O. Ball. (1784) II. viii. 57 He from this joy was soon bereav’n. a 1617 Bayne On Eph. (1658) 13 When the blessings of this life are bereaved, a 1622 Wither Brit. Rememb. 170 Have .. (Like Iezabell) oppressed and bereav’n The poore mans portion. 1718 Pope Iliad xx. 549 Thy life, Echechus! next the sword bereaves.

f b. Const, from a possessor. Obs. CI440 Partonope 3267 This craft Ye haue clene from me beraft. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 109 Fro the thyrde [knight] he berafte his sholder with the arme. IS93 Shaks. Lucr. 835 From me by strong assault it is bereft. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Iustine 119a, They wold bereaue kingdomes from these kings in despight of them.

bereaved (bi'riivd), ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ed.] Deprived or robbed; taken away by force; spec. deprived by death of a near relative, or of one connected by some endearing tie. ?a 1200 Notes to Lay. III. 447 Kenelm kine-bearn, Lip under porne, Heafode bireavod. 1605 Shaks. Lear iv. iv. 8 What can man’s wisedome In the restoring his bereaued sense? 1828 Scott F.M. Perth III. 333 The distraction of a bereaved father. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 194 Who .. bids bereaved affection weep no more.

bereavement (bi'riivmant). [f. as prec. + -MENT.] The fact or state of being bereaved or deprived of anything; spec, as in prec. 1731 Bailey II, Bereavement, a deprivation or being bereav’d or depriv’d of anything. 1827 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (L.) He bore his bereavement with stoical fortitude. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 197 Total bereavement and utter death of joy. 1866 Alger Solit. Nat. & Man 11. 40 Bereavement, in its essence, is always the loss of some object accustomed to draw forth the soothing or cheering reactions of the soul.

bereaven (bi'ri:v(3)n), ppl. a. arch. Also 7 bereiven. [On partial analogy of strong vbs ] By-form of bereaved, occasional in the poets. u ne mihht nohht borr3henn ben. 01225 Ancr. R. 162 Tu schal beon iboruwen. c 1250 Gen. £f Ex. 1330 Oc angel.. bar3 fie child fro fie dead. 01300 Havelok 697 Betere us is..to fle, And berwen bothen ure liues. Ibid. 2022 God self barw him wel. 1340 Ayenb. 251 He pet him wille berie

H The weak pa. t. and pa. pple. beryhed, so frequent in the Northern Psalter, are ascribed by Matzner to a distinct vb. beryhien, berjien, which he compares with ON. byrgja (= Eng. bury), but this appears to be very doubtful: ON. bjarga has itself weak inflexions from an early period in Norway (Vigf.).

bergh, obs. form of barrow sb.1 a hill. berghaan ('berxhain). S. Afr.

[Afrikaans, f. + haan cock.] A South African eagle, esp. the bateleur eagle, Terathopius ecaudatus. BERG2

1867 E. L. Layard Birds S. Afr. 11 Aquila Verreauxii.. Dassie Vanger and Berghaan of Colonists... It is called ‘Dassie Vanger’ (coney-eater) and ‘Berghaan’ (mountaincock) by the colonists, from feeding principally on the coney, or rock-rabbit (Hyrax capensis). 1889 H. A. Bryden Kloof & Karroo 273 Suddenly.. comes.. a great black mountain eagle. We know him at once for a berghaan. 1893 Newton Diet. Birds, Berghaan (Mountain-cock), the name given to some of the larger Eagles, and especially to the beautiful Helotarsus ecaudatus .. by the Dutch colonists in South Africa. 1910 J. Buchan Prester John viii, A brace of white berghaan circled far up in the blue.

ber3e, obs. form of bergh, berry, barrow. t 'bergher. Obs. In 4 betere, beryher. [f. bergh v. + -er1.] A protector, deliverer, saviour. a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxi[i]. 7 He es mi God and my beryher al. [1598 Tate in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 5 I have David’s Psalms in very old Metre, and, in the 25th Psalm, Bericher is used for a Saviour.)

berghman, -master, -mote:

see

berman,

BARMASTER, -MOOT.

t'bergier. Obs. rare~l. [a. F. berger peasant, shepherd.] A peasant, a woodman. 1480 Caxton Ovid's Met. xi. xi, And for the prouffyte.. the bergier norysshed hym wel and diligently.

bergle (’b3:g(3)l). Also bergell, -gill. [Perh. the same word as bergylt: Jamieson refers it to ON. berg rock.] The name of a rock-fish, the Wrasse, in Orkney. 1805 G. Barry Orkney Isl. 389 (Jam.) The Wrasse .. has here got the name of bergle. 1795 Statist. Ace. Scot. XIV. 314 Fish..called in this country milds, bergills.

bergmannite

('b3:gmanait). Min. [f. Bergmann (name of a mineralogist) + -ite.] A variety of Natrolite, white or red in colour, occurring massive, or in prisms, in southern Norway. 1811 Pinkerton Petral. I. 291 The most celebrated rock of this denomination is the Grison, or Bergmanite. 1880 Dana Min. 427 Crocalite.. is a red zeolite, identical with the bergmannite of Laurvig.

Bergomask: see Bergamask. bergsehrund ('bskjrunt). Phys. Geogr. [G., f. berg (see barrow sb.1) + schrund cleft, crevice.] A crevasse or series of crevasses often found near the head of a mountain glacier. 1843 J. D. Forbes Trav. through Alps 298, I perceived an enormous Berg-schrund, or well defined crevass, which separated the higher summits from the glacier steep, i860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps 1. xiv. 98 This slope was intersected by a so-called Bergsehrund, the lower portion of the slope being tom away from its upper portion to form a crevasse. 1871 [see fringe sb. 2 a). 1957 J. Masters Mountain Peak 99 There was the usual bergsehrund between the snow and the warmer rock of the gendarme.

Bergsonian (b3:g'saoni3n), a. and sb.

[f. the name Bergson (see below) + -ian.] A. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the French philosopher, Henri Bergson (1859- 1941). B. sb. A follower or adherent of Bergson. So Bergsonism ('b3:gs3niz(3)m), the philosophical doctrine of Bergson. 1909 W. James Plural. Univ. v. 215, I must..give some preliminary account of the bergsonian philosophy. Ibid. vi. 266 They are now Bergsonians.. and possess the principal thoughts of the master all at once. Ibid. vii. 277 Philosophy, you will say, doesn’t lie flat on its belly in the middle of experience, in the very thick of its sand and gravel, as this Bergsonism does. 1920 H. Begbie Wm. Booth I. 146 Bergsonism has here a most admirable example of its thesis. •944 G. B. Shaw Everybody’s Political What’s What viii. 62 When will the royalist lie down with the republican.. the Bergsonian with the Darwinian? 1955 D. Davie Artie. Energy i. 6 Much modern criticism is Bergsonian, perhaps without knowing it.

bergy ('bsigi), a. [f. berg1 + -y1.] a. Abounding in icebergs; of the nature of an iceberg. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. I. iii. 32 The bergs which infest this region, and which have earned for it.. the title of the ’Bergy Hole. 1876 Davis Polaris Exp. xi. 266 A considerable bergy mass of ice.

a 1300 E.E. Psalter xliii. [iv]. 4 Ne par arme beryhed pam ai. Ibid, xxxiifi]. 17 Swikel hors..of his might noght beryhed es.

b. spec, bergy bit: a large piece of ice that has broken away from an iceberg (see also quot. 1958).

t bergh, sb. Obs. [OE. beorg, beorh ‘protection, shelter,’ only in compounds as setir-beorg; f. the

*935 Geogr. Jrnl. LXXXVI. 301 The channel, carrying ice-floes and bergy bits. 1958 New Scientist 10 July 358/3 As it weathers away, a berg becomes known as a ‘bergy bit’ (when about the size of a small house).

BERGYLT

berlina

125

bergylt, berguylt ('b3:gilt). [Jamieson refers it to ON. berg rock; cf. bergle.] 1. The name of a fish, the Black Goby, in Shetland, and elsewhere.

berk (b3:k). slang. Also birk, burk(e. [Abbrev. of Berkeley (or Berkshire) Hunt, rhyming slang for cunt.] A fool.

1838 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. 170 Scorpsena norvegica, Cuvier Sea Perch, Penn. The Bergylt, Yarrell. 1883 Morn. Post 20 June 6/5 Central Fish Market: A large supply of fish .. bergylt, 4d. per lb.

*936 J- Curtis Gilt Kid vi. 66 ‘The berk.’ Jealousy and savage contempt blended in the Gilt Kid’s tone. 1938 W. Greenwood Only Mugs Work vii. 49 ‘Stick the burke in a taxi,’ he said. 1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom 11. xiv. 197 ‘Don’t be a little berk,’ he said, as Foxy showed signs of recalcitrance. 1959 J. Osborne Paul Slickey 1. iv, The Tories were burglars, berks and bloodlusters. i960 H. Pinter Dumb Waiter in Birthday Party & other Plays 141 You mutt... You birk! 1963 Sunday Express 10 Mar. 22/5 All my mates thought I was a burk to try to break away: now they know they were the burks.

berhegor, variant of

fberk, v. Obs. [Variant of bark v.2 4.] trans.

1809 Edmonstone Zetl. II. 310 (Jam.) Black Goby., is called berguylt in Zetland.

2. The Norwegian haddock or Sea Perch (Sebastes Norvegicus), an arctic fish, occasionally on the coasts of Scotland.

found

beeregar, Obs.

a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. xx, Bludy berkit wes thair berd. 1641 H. Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 11 Theire excrementes which berke togeather theire tayles and hinder partes.

berhyme: see berime.

berk- in various words: see bark-.

beryl, burial.

H'beri'beri. Med. Also (all obs.) beriberia, beriberii, beribery, berri berri. [A Sinhalese word, f. beri weakness; the reduplication being intensive.] An acute disease generally presenting dropsical symptoms, with paralytic weakness and numbness of the legs, prevalent in many parts of India. 1703 tr. Nieuhoffs Voy. in A. & J. Churchill Voy. (1704) II. 340/2 They [sc. the shrubs] have a peculiar Virtue, .to cure the Indian Gout or Barrenness, called Beribery. 1769 tr. Bontius’s Act. Diseases of East Indies i. 1, The inhabitants of the East Indies are much afflicted with a troublesome disorder which they call the Beriberii (a word signifying a sheep). The disease has, probably, received this denomination on account that those who are seized with it.. exhibit to the fancy a representation of the gait of that animal. 1832 H. S. Fleming in Fort St. George Gaz. 12 May 1 On the disease called 'Beriberi'. 1879 Khorz Princ. Med. 84 In beriberi there is scurvy from the first. 1884 Yule Anglo-Ind. Gloss, s.v., In 1879 the total number of beri-beri patients .. amounted to 9873.

fbericorn. Obs. Prob. = bere-corn barleycorn, or the variety called bigg: see bear sb.2 1284-1355 in Rogers Agric. & Pr. II. 173-7. See also I. 222.

berid, variant of berried ppl. a. be'ride (bi'raid), v. Also 3 biride(n. [OE. beridan f. be- + ridan to ride.] fl. trans. To ride around; to beset with horsemen. Obs. a 1000 Thorpe's Laws I. 90 (Bosw.) Daet he his sefan beride. c 1205 Lay. 10739 Bruttes pa bur3en gunnen biriden [c 1250 bi-ride].

2. To ride by the side of (obs.); to ride upon, infest. 1690 D’Urfey Collin's Walk 11. (D.) Those two that there beride him, And with such graces prance beside him. 1848 in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club. II. vi. 300 When an insect so beridden is taken up, the mites disperse.

berie, obs. form of burgh, bury. beriel(le, berien, obs. forms of burial, bury. berig, obs. form of borough. beriglia, berilla, obs. forms of barilla. beriing, beril, obs. forms of burying, beryl. beri'mancorn. Obs. [Prob. f. here, bear, sb.2 barley, mang mixture, and corn; cf. bericorn.] A mixed crop of barley and some other grain. f

1359 in Rogers Agric. fet Prices II. 177. See also I. 222.

berime, berhyme (bi'raim), v. [f.

t berkyne. Obs. Also berekyn. [perh. berekyn, i.e. beer-kind, any kind of beer.] 1436 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 169 That twoo Fflemmynges togedere Wol undertake.. Or they rise onys, to drinke a barelle fulle of gode berkyne [v.r. bere, berekyn].

berlady, berlaken: see byrlady, byrlakin. berlaw, -man, obs. form of byrlaw, -man. berlepe, variant of bearleap, carrying basket. C1330 Hampole Ps. lxxx[i]. 6 Berlepe [v.r. bere lepe].. that is a vessel in the whilke the iwes bare mortere in egipt.

To clot, make matted. Hence berkit ppl. a.

berhom, obs. form of bargham.

berial, -alle, obs. forms of

meaning of the unprintable, a fool, or a person whom one does not like.

be- 4 and 6

+ RIME.]

1. trans. To compose rimes about, to celebrate in rime; often, to lampoon. 1589 Almond for Parrat 42 Another while hee would all to berime Doctour Perne .. and make a by word of his bald pate. 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. in. ii. 186, I was neuer so berim’d since Pythagoras time that I was an Irish Rat. 179° Wolcott (P. Pindar) Adv. Future Laureat Wks. 1812 II. 333 Rush loyal to berhyme a King and Queen. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 260 Some glowing lines, in which I berhymed the little lady.

2. To compose in rime, put into rime. 1801 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 382 The ladies cannot endure the metre of ‘Thallaba’.. Berime it, and they will bepraise it.

fbe'rine, v. Obs. rare. [f.

be- i + rine:—OE. hrinan to touch; cf. at-rine.] trans. and intr. To touch; fall upon, fall. 01300 K. Horn ii Fairer ne mihte non beo born Ne no rein upon birine Ne sunne upon bischine. -Harl. MS. For reyne ne myhte byryne.. Feyrore child pen he was.

bering(e, obs. form of bearing, burying. beringed, beringleted, berinse, etc.: see

be-.

Berkefeld

('b3ikfeld, -elt). Also (erron.) Berkefield. The name of W. Berkefeld (1836-1897), German mine-owner, used to designate a bacterial filter containing diatomaceous earth. 1894 Brit. Med.Jrnl. 29 Dec. 1489/2 We must conclude that the Berkefeld filters may afford an efficient safeguard against the passage of disease germs. Ibid. 1488/2 The Berkefeld Filter Company Ltd. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 790/1 The Berkefield filter, constructed of baked infusorial earth. 1946 Nature 17 Aug. 217/2 Preparing from the eggs Berkefeld filtrates. 1951 R. J. Ludford in G. H. Bourne Cytology (ed. 2) ix. 402 A filterable tumour.. yields by Berkefeld-filtration a cell-free filtrate.

Berkeleian (b3:'kli:3n), a. and sb. [f. name of Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne (died 1753), a celebrated philosopher who denied the objective or independent existence of the material world.] A. adj. Of or originating with Berkeley. B. sb. A follower or disciple of Berkeley. Hence Berke'leianism, 'Berkeleyism, the philosophical opinions held by Berkeley and his followers. i860 Mansel Prolegom. Log. v. 145 Taking the Berkleian theory in its whole extent. 1878 J. Fiske in N. Amer. Rev. CXXVI. 32 Materialists, as a rule, have not mastered the Berkeleian psychology. 1804 Edin. Rev. IX. 158 The reasoning of the Berkeleians. 1830 Mackintosh Progr. Eth. Philos. §6 (1862) 269 His adoption of Berkeleianism is a proof of an unprejudiced and acute mind. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 78 The connexion of this philosophy of religion with what is sometimes called ‘Berkeleyism’ has been mentioned. 1881 Athenaeum 30 July 137/1 Whether the mind will not at last be driven into actual Berkeleyism.

Berkeley Hunt ('baiklii hAnt). [The name of a celebrated hunt in Gloucestershire.] Rhyming slang for cunt (usu. in sense 2, ‘a fool’)- Also ellipt. as Berkeley. Cf. the abbrev. berk. 1937 Partridge Diet. Slang 48/1 Berkeley, the pudendum muliebre: C. 20. Abbr. Berkeley Hunt. 1937 Sir Berkeley [see sir sb. 1 b]. 1940 A. Bracey Flower on Loyalty 1. iii. 49 Lane’s face cleared. ‘Tell us, chum.’ ‘And spoil the nice surprise! Not bloody likely!’ ‘You always was a berkeley,’ said Lane cheerfully. ‘Well, I can wait.’ i960 J. Franklyn Diet. Rhyming Slang 38/2 Berkeley hunt. This is an accidental formation serving as an alternative for [Berkshire hunt]. 1977 Custom Car Nov. 67/3 Berkeley hunt: fica (feeka).

berkelium

(ba'kiilism, 'b3:kli3m). Chem. [mod.L., f. Berkeley, California, where the element was first made + -ium.] A metallic radioactive transuranic element not occurring in nature but made artificially; symbol Bk; atomic number 97. 1950 S. G. Thompson et al. in Physical Rev. LXXVII. 838/2 It is suggested that element 97 be given the name berkelium (symbol Bk), after the city of Berkeley. 1951 J. RPartington Gen. & Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xxvi. 760 Berkelium .. and californium .. are formed by bombarding americium and curium, respectively, with high-energy helium ions.

Berkshire ('ba:kf9(r)). 1. Name of an English county, applied to a famous breed of pig. 1811 R. Henderson Treat. Breeding Swine i. 13 The Berkshire pig, is generally allowed to be a good kind. 1814 -Ibid. (ed. 2) iii. 29, I would give the preference to the Cheshire, or rather the Berkshire hog. 1831 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) III. 1069 The old Irish breed are a long-legged .. unprofitable sort of swine; but when they have been crossed with the Berkshire, they are considerably improved. 1842 D. Low Dom. Anim. Brit. Isl. I. 17 The true Berkshires are of the larger races of Swine, though they fall short in size of some of the older breeds. Ibid., The Berkshire breed has .. been crossed and recrossed with the Chinese. 1855 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 941/2 The Berkshire breed of pigs has probably been the best known, and had in the highest estimation of any of our British breeds. 1953 A. Jobson Household Crafts vi. 65 Almost every county in England has produced its own breed of pigs, and we have.. Berkshire, Essex Black, [etc.].

fbe'risp, v.

2. Berkshire Hunt Rhyming slang = Berkeley Hunt.

1481 Caxton Reynard (1844) 136, I can not telle it so wel, but that he shal beryspe me.

i960 J. Franklyn Diet. Rhyming Slang 38/2 Berkshire Hunt... This is not an objective, anatomical term, neither does it imply coitus. It connects with that extension of

Obs. [a. Fl. berispen, in same sense.] To censure, reprove. (Only in Caxton).

berley ('b3:li).

Austral. Also unknown origin.] Ground-bait.

burley.

[Of

1874 E. S. Hill in J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish & Fisheries of N.S. W. (1882) iii. 75 The bait should be crabs. It is usual to wrench legs and shell off the back, and cast them out for berley. 1896 Badminton Mag. Aug. 201 Sometimes adding bait chopped small to serve for what Australian fishermen call Berley.

b. (See quots.) 1941 Baker Diet. Austral. nonsense. 1943 Ibid. (ed. 3) 9 e.g. ‘a bit of berley’.

Slang 15 Burley, humbug, Berley, nonsense, humbug;

berley, -lik, obs. forms of barley. Berlin ('b3:lin, b3:'lin).

[The name of the capital of Prussia, used attrib., and transferred to things that come or were supposed to come thence.] 1. An old-fashioned four-wheeled covered carriage, with a seat behind covered with a hood. [Also Berline from Fr.; so in Ger. Introduced by an officer of the Elector of Brandenburg, c 1670.] 1694 Earl of Perth Let. 17 June (1845) 30 A woman with a maid following her came to the Berline side (this is a kind of traveling coach used here). 1717 Lady Montagu Lei. 29 May (1763) 110 The meadows being full of all sorts of garden flowers, and sweet herbs, my berlin perfumed the air as it pressed them. 1731 Swift Answ. Simile Wks. 175s IV. I. 222 Jealous Juno ever snarling, Is drawn by peacocks in her berlin. 1746 Chesterf. Lett. I. cxiii. 307 Your distresses in your journey.. and your broken Berline. 1850 Alison Hist. Europe II. vi. §79. 75 They entered a berline which was ready harnessed by M. de Fersen’s care.

2. Short for ‘Berlin wool.’ 1881 Girls Own Paper II. 420/3 Any of the Scotch fingering yarns are too thin, but double Berlin.. will do.

3. Short for ‘Berlin Glove’: A knitted glove (of Berlin wool). 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Tuggses at Ramsgate, A fat man in black tights, and cloudy Berlins. Ibid. Astley's, The dirty white Berlin Gloves.

4. Attrib. or Comb., as Berlin black, a black varnish used for coating the better kinds of ironware; Berlin blue = Prussian Blue, or the finest kind of it; Berlin castings, ornamental objects imported from Prussia, of Berlin iron, a very fusible quality of iron, smelted from bogore, containing much phosphorus, and suitable for casting figures and delicate articles, which are often lacquered or bronzed; Berlin pattern, a pattern in Berlin work; Berlin spirit (see quot. 1878); Berlin ware, an earthenware of a quality which resists the action of most chemical re¬ agents; Berlin warehouse, a shop or repository for Berlin wool and similar fancy wares; Berlin wool, a fine dyed wool used for knitting, tapestry, and the like; Berlin work, fancy work in Berlin wool, worsted embroidery. 1795 R- Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 491 The Berlin blue, so I call the Prussian blue of the shops, is not pure Prussiated iron, but a mixture of this with embryon aium. 1829 R. C. Sands Writings (1834) II. 163 Her girdle was fastened in front with a massive shining clasp of Berlin ware. 1841 Lady Wilton Art of Needlework xxv. 397 The style of modern embroidery, now so fashionable, from the Berlin patterns, dates from the commencement of the present century. Ibid. 398 The 'Berlin wools’... These yarns, however, are only dyed in Berlin, being manufactured at Gotha. 1845 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. iv. i io The ‘Berlin’ patterns now so well known. ri845 C. Bronte Professor (1857) I. xvii. 285 You can work with Berlin wools. 1853 EM. Sewell Exper. of Life xiii. 131 The.. footstool, worked in the homely period between mediaeval tapestry and modern Berlin patterns. 1854 Encycl. Brit. IV. 667/2 Its [sc. Berlin’s] principal branches of industry .. are porcelain, silks .. Berlin iron, &c. 1854 c. M. Yonge Castle Builders vi. 78 Their purse netting and Berlin work. 1862 - Countess Kate iii. 52 She had a bunch of flowers in Berlin wool which she was supposed to be grounding. 1863 G. M. Hopkins Note-Bks. (1937) 8 She abominated the Berlin wool shop. 1878 Chambers's Encycl. II. 52/2 Berlin spirit, a coarse whisky made chiefly from beetroot, potatoes, &c.

berlin, -ling, var. of birling, a galley. 1815 Scott Guy M. v, The Highlanders, that came here in their berlings.

II ber’lina, -ino. Obs. [It. in same sense.] [1598-1611 Florio, Berlina, Berlino [Italian], a pillerie; Also a cucking-stool, heretofore called a tombrell.] 1605 B. Jonson Volpone v. xii, To mount (a Paper Pinned on thy Breast) to the Berlino. [1824 Baretti Ital. Diet., Berlina, pillory.]

Berliner (b3:'lin3(r)). [a. G. Berliner, f. Berlin 4- -er1.] A native or inhabitant of Berlin, Germany. 1859 L. Wraxall tr. Robert-Houdin's Mem. II. vi. 172 The reception I obtained from the Berliner will ever remain one of my pleasantest reminiscences. 1959 Times 18 Feb. 14/4 It would be a mistake to assume that only east Berliners trade in the west. 1963 V. Nabokov Gift i. 35 The perpetual fetters that chain a Berliner to the door lock.

t'berling. Obs. [ME. f here, bear sb.1 + -ling: cf. ME. derling, now darling little dear. A modern hearting formed afresh from bear is of course possible.] A little bear, a bear’s cub. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles III. 96 Tho’ all the berlingis brast out at ones.

Berliozian (bealia'ozian), a. and sb. [f. the name of Berlioz (see below) + -ian.] A. adj. Of, pertaining to, resembling, or characteristic of Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), French composer, or his music. B. sb. An admirer of Berlioz; an interpreter of his work. 1910 Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 4/2 Robert Houdin—whose Berliozian portrait adorns this volume. 1936 Scrutiny Dec. 270 That extraordinarily subtle and flexible organism the Berliozian melody. 1951 J. Barzun Berlioz II. 303 The Berliozians could do little. 1961 Times 7 June 17/1 Mr. Davis, a perceptive Berliozian. 1962 Ibid. 18 Apr. 7/5 This is scored, with Berliozian grandeur, for 90 percussion instruments.

berm (b3:m).

Also 8-9 berme, 9 birm. [a. F. berme, a. MDu. and Ger. berme, in mod.Du. bermy in same sense; prob. cognate w. ON. barmr brim, edge, border of a river, the sea, etc.] 1. a. A narrow space or ledge; esp. in Fortif. a space of ground, from 3 to 8 feet wide, sometimes left between the ditch and the base of the parapet. 1729 Shelvocke Artillery iv. 197 Round which shall be formed a Berm or Ledge, for the conveniently ranging of certain Paper Tubes or Cases. 1775 R- Montgomery in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 470 By the time we arrived there, the fraise around the berme would be destroyed, the rampart in a ruinous state. 1816 C. James Mil. Diet. (ed. 4) 248/2 Berm.. is to prevent the earth from rolling into the ditch, and serves likewise to pass and repass. As it is in some degree advantageous to the enemy, in getting footing, most of the modern engineers reject it. 1850 Alison Hist. Europe X. lxviii. §49. 335 The ladders.. enabled them to reach an intermediate ledge or berm.

b. spec, in Geol.

BERNICIAN

126

BERLINER

(See quots.)

1931 F. Bascom in Science LXXIV. 172/1 The word berm .. should be used to distinguish those terraces which originate from the interruption of an erosion cycle with rejuvenation of a stream in the mature stage of its development. 1942 C. A. Cotton Geomorphology (ed. 3) xviii. 242 The term ‘berm’ has been introduced for any remnant of a surface developed to full maturity in a cycle that has since been interrupted. Though it has been said to be a kind of ‘terrace’, a berm may include more than the valley floor which becomes a true river terrace. 1942 O. D. von Engeln Geomorphology xii. 221 Such a remnantal flat, which has a surface slope downstream, may be called a strath or sometimes, together with the valley shoulder, a berm. 2. berm-bank, the bank of a canal opposite the

towing-path. [? Actually used only in U.S.A.] 1854 N. & Q. Ser. 1. X. 12/2 [A writer from Philadelphia] The bank of a canal opposite to the towing-path is called the birm-bank. 1877 Engineer 3 Aug. 89/1 To lay a rail upon the berme bank (the bank opposite the towing path).

3. A ledge or flat of land bordering either bank of the Nile and inundated when the river overflows. 1891 Daily News 31 Oct. 6/4 To raise the Nile at the apex of the Delta to a level sufficient to flood the islands and berms of the two branches in the Delta. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 10 July 2/2 The water level in the winter was some fifty centimetres below the general level of the berm.

cedar, a species of juniper, Juniperus bermudiana; Bermuda grass, name in U.S. of Cynodon Dactylon, a kind of grass growing on a sandy seashore; Bermuda lily, a lily of the variety Lilium longiflorum eximium, also known as Lilium harrisii, originally obtained from Bermuda; Bermuda rig = Bermudian rig; Bermuda shorts, knee-length shorts; also ellipt. as Bermudas; Bermuda Triangle: see triangle sb. 2 a. £1640 [Shirley] Capt. Underwit iv. ii. in O. PI. (1883) II. 381 Will you take Tobacco in the Roll? here is a whole shiplading of Bermudas. 1808 H. Muhlenberg Let. 5 July in Rowland Life W. Dunbar (1930) 199 The Bermuda grass is..the same with Cumberland grass. 1879 New Orleans Paper, An inquiry comes to us about Bermuda-grass. Ibid. Bermuda is emphatically a Southern grass .. adapted to a hot climate. 1906 F. Lynde Quickening 11 The dooryard with its thick turf of uncut Bermuda grass. 1899 G. Jekyll Wood & Garden ix. 106 The Bermuda Lilies (Harrisi) are intergrouped with L. speciosum. 1911 Sutton’s Amateurs Guide in Hort. 195 Lilium Harrisii (Bermuda Lily). A large and elegant pure white Lily, adapted for forcing or growing in pots. 1853 R. Kipping Mast-making & Rigging ii. 5 Brig Forward, Common, and Bermuda Rig. 1928 Daily Mail 9 Aug. 19/7 Most sailing men agree that the Bermuda rig is preferable for smaller boats. 1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica (1789) II. 362 Juniperus 1... The Bermudas Cedar. 1794 [see cedar 3]. 1829 Loudon Encycl. Plants 848 Juniperus bermudiana, Bermudas Cedar. 1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 286 The Bermuda cedar.. used in joinery and in the manufacture of pencils. 1953 R. Chandler Long Good-Bye iii. 17 Loafing around one of the swimming pools in Bermuda shorts. 1961 Times 11 July 12/6 No right-thinking suburbanite would be seen on his lawn without wearing Bermudas.

Bermudan

(bs'mjuidsn),

a.

[f.

Bermuda

+

-an.] = Bermudian a. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 240/2 The oval top of the Bermudan ocean peak. 1923 Public Opinion 24 Aug. 180/2 Pier lofty Bermudan main-sail. 1928 Daily Express 20 July 10/2 The Astra and Cambria .. carry the Bermudan-rig—a high tapering sail like the wing of a gigantic bird.

Bermudian

(ba'mjuidian),

a. and sb. [f. Of or pertaining to the Bermudas or their inhabitants. Bermudian rig. a rig for a yacht, carrying a high tapering sail, called a Bermudian mainsail. So Bermudian-rigged adj., fitted with a rig and sail of this kind. B. sb. An inhabitant of the Bermudas; a Bermudian ship; a Bermudian-rigged ship. Bermuda + -ian.] A. adj.

1777 J. Adams Let. in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1917) LXXII. 313 Many french Vessells have arrived there, some Bermudians, and some of their own. 1803 A. Ellicott Jrnl. x. 287 Bermudian mulberry, (callicarpa americana). 1821 G. Gleig Campaigns Brit. Army vi. 73 You may perhaps consider me as too severe upon the Bermudians. 1895 Boy's Own Paper XVII. 429/3 One of the Manchester boats being a schooner and another a Bermudian. 1915 C. P. Lucas Brit. Emp. 163 The little Bermudian Assembly is., the oldest Parliamentary institution in the British Empire outside the United Kingdom. 1926 Glasgow Herald 20 Aug. 9 She is Bermudian rigged. 1926 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 698/1 By implicitly obeying the Bermudian, we escaped this danger. 1928 Observer 15 Apr. 29/5 The 12-metre yachts..with a Bermudian rig of moderate area, can be sailed efficiently with four paid hands. 1928 Daily Tel. 1 May 16/6 The Cambria will be Bermudian rigged, carrying a Bermudian mainsail. 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. 3/1 Bermudians would be justified in taking pride in their speech. 1953 ‘N. Shute’ In Wet 92 She’s a Bermudian cutter, five and a half ton.

bern(e,

obs. form of bairn, barn, burn.

bernacle, -icle, bernag, -nak(e,

variant and

early forms of barnacle.

fberm(e, v. Obs. [ME. berm-en, f. berme, barm sb.2 An earlier form of barm v.] trans. To work out, as barm: to purge out.

bernard,

c 1315 Shoreham Poems 15 Ine the foreheved the crouche a set Felthe of fendes to bermi. 01440 Promp. Parv. 32 Bermyn or spurgyn as ale, spumo.

St. Bernard (abbot of Clairvaux in 1115), or to the monastic order bearing his name. sb. A monk of this order; a Cistercian.

berm(e, obs. form of barm.

1676 Bullokar, Bernardines, a certain Order of Monks, so called from their first Founder. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 41 Pass a convent of Bernardine monks. 1797 Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. II. xlvi. (ed. 2) 110 One of these temples.. is.. become the church of the Bernardines. 1864 Gentl. Mag. CXXXIV. 11. 25 The Bernardine reform soon spread to this country.

t'berman1. Obs. [OE. bserman, f. beer bier, beran to bear + man.] A bearer, carrier, or porter. nooo T.i.fkk Josh iii. 15 bsermenn jesetton heora fottest. c 1205 Lay. 3317 We habbet bermen.‘& birles inowe. a 1300 Havelok 876 pe bermen let he alle ligge, And bar pe mete to pe castel. Ibid. 885 Bermen, bermen, hider swipe!

f 'berman2. Obs. rare. [f. berghman, cf. Ger. bergmann miner; see barmaster.] A miner. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 59 Without the advice of ancient and experienced Bermen.

t 'bermother. Obs. [f. bear v. (OE. beran, ME. here) + mother: possibly after Ger. gebarmutter, in same sense.] The womb or uterus. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters Nv, Water of nettles.. is good for the bermoder [o.r. ber mother] whan she pussheth upwarde.

Bermuda (ba'muida, -'mjuida). The name of a group of islands in the N. Atlantic; hence a variety of cigar, or rolled tobacco. Bermuda(s

variant of Barnard.

Bernardine (’bamadin), a. Of or pertaining to

t berne. Obs. Forms: i biorn, 1-3 beorn, 3-6 bern(e, burn(e. Also 3 beam, 3-4 bieren, 4 beern(e, berene, biern(e, byern(e, buirn, buyrn(e, beurn, bourne, borne, 4-5 beryn, buern(e, barn(e, 5 byrne, birn(e, buirn(e. [OE. beorn, earlier biorn (:—*bern) ‘warrior, hero, man of valour,’ hence ‘man’ pre-eminently, vir, avr/p; a word exclusively poetical; of disputed origin. The ME. forms were very varied; the most common midland type in 14th c. was burn(e; after 1400 the word was retained chiefly in the north, where it was a favourite term of alliterative poetry; in the form berne it survived in Scotch till after 1550. In some of its spellings it was occasionally confounded with forms of bairn,

and baron; with the latter it was often actually interchanged: see quots. 1205, 1300. Phonetically, OE. beorn 'man of valour answers exactly to ON. bjQrn, gen. bjarnar, ‘bear’(:—OTeut. bernu-z, the Celtic representative of which Prof. Rhys sees in the Gaulish proper name Brennus); but the ON. word has never the sense of ‘warrior,’ while the OE. has never that of bear. 1 o this, however, a striking analogy is offered by the case otUL. eofor, ON. jgfurr (:-OTeut. ehuro-z = L. a/>er) which has in Old English only the sense of ‘wild boar, in ON. only that of ‘warrior, hero.’ The use of the name of a fierce animal as a fig. appellation for ‘warrior, brave, seems very natural, and the fact that OE. beorn belonged only to the language of poetry and is never found in prose, suggests that it was a word of which the literal sense was lost, and only a figurative one traditionally retained. Nevertheless some eminent Teutonic scholars doubt the identification. Some have considered the word to be an early variant of beam, BAIRN, or at least a cognate derivative of beran to bear. Mr. H. Bradley has suggested the possibility of connecting it with the British root of Beornice Bernicia, Welsh bryneich, and of Welsh brenhin king; but the nature of the connexion is not apparent.]

A warrior, a hero, a man of valour; in later use, simply one of the many poetic words for ‘man.’ Beowulf 5111 Biorn under beorje bordrand onswaf. 937 Batt. Brunanburh in O.E. Chron., Gelpan ne porfte beorn blanden-feax. c 1205 Lay. 16923 /Euerafiche eorle & aeueraelfche beorne [1250 euch eorl and barun]. a 1300 Cursor M. 7 Brut, pat hern [v.r. berne, baroun] bald of hand, pe first conquerour of Ingland, a 130° E.E. Psalter cxxxix. [xl] 2 Fra ivel man; Fra wike bieren outake me on-an. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 616 Where wystez pou euer any bourne abate. Ibid. B. 80 Bope burnez & burdez, pe better and pe wers. Ibid. C. 302 Ay sykerly he herde pe bygge borne on his bak. Ibid. C. 340 He brakez vp pe buyrne, as bede hym oure lorde. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1708 per as burnes were busy bestes to hulde. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xi. 353 So heighe pere noither buirn [ti.r. burn, bame, barn] ne beste may her briddes rechen. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. I391 Than a ryche mane of Rome relyede to his byems. c 1400 Destr. Troy VII. 2887 Ffairest be ferre of his fre buemes. c 1400 Roland 237 He bad no bern be so bold upon mold, c 1400 Rowland & Ot. 1416 Thay brittenede many a beryn. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. x, Then this byrne braydet owte a brand, and the body bidus. Ibid, xiv, Quen birdus and birnys ar besy the aboute. c 1465 Chevy Chase lviii, A bolder bame was never born. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 310 A squire come, and with him bernys four. 1515 Scot. Field 400 in Chetham Misc. II, There was never burne borne, that day bare him better. 1528 Lyndesay Dr erne 919 We saw a boustius berne cum ouir ye bent.

f 'berner. Obs. [a. OF. berner (bernier, brenier) feeder of hounds, huntsman, f. bran bran; cf. brenerie duty to provide bran to feed the hounds of the feudal lord; also med.L. bernarius, (explained by Hearne as keeper of a berne or ‘bear).’] An attendant in charge of a pack of hounds. a 1425 Master of Game {MS. Bodl. 546) Every man .. saf the berners on foote and the chacechyens .. sholde stonden afront..with roddes. 1601 F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II, §57 (1876) 45, Fiftene buck houndes and one berner. The residew of the doges and the other berner shal be at the kinges costes.

Bernese (b3:'ni:z), a. and sb. [f. Bern(e) (see below) + -ESE.] A. adj. Of or pertaining to Bern (or Berne), a city and canton of Switzerland, or its inhabitants. B. sb. A native or inhabitant of Bern(e); also collect, as pi.; also, one of a Swiss breed of large, long-coated, black dogs (in full Bernese mountain dog). 1806 W. Guthrie New Geogr. Gram. (ed. 20) 533 The defeat of the Bernese was followed by the submission of nearly the whole of Switzerland. 1816 Byron Let. 30 Sept. (1830) II. 13,1 have lately been over all the Bernese Alps and their lakes. 1822 L. Simond Switzerland I. 218, I never saw such a proud looking set of men as the Bernese peasantry. 1863 Miss Jemima's Swiss Jrnl. 3 July (1963) ii. 49 Stuffed bears, suspended by some patriotic Bernese under the eaves of his chalet. 1904 J. M. Stone Reform. fi? Renaiss. viii. 315 If the Bernese gained a footing in Geneva. Ibid., The Bernese army smashed all the statues of saints. 1935 Hutchinson's Dog Encycl. III. 1800/1 The Bernese Mountain Dog.. is now generally considered the best¬ looking of all Mountain Dogs. 1936 Dog World Ann. 62 Swiss Mountain Dogs... The Bernese, from the Canton of Berne .. is the only one with a long coat. 1939 S.P.E. Tract lii. 83 We speak of the Bernese Oberland.

t'bernet. Obs. Law. In i baernet, -nytte, 1-3 bernet. [OE. bsernet, f. bsernan to burn.] Burning, combustion; hence, the crime of arson. Retained as a technical archaism in the Laws of Henry I, whence in 17th c. law dictionaries. c 1000 ./Elfric Gen. xxii. 9 He wudu gelogode.. to his sunu baernytte. c 1000 Cnut's Sec. Laws §65 Husbryce and baernet.. is botleas. £1150 Leg. Hen. Primi c. 1281 (Schmidt 444) Quaedam non possunt emendari, quae sunt: husbreche et bernet. [In Cowell and other Law Diets, as an obs. term.]

t 'bernete. Obs. [ad. L. vernetum (through mediaeval form bernetum).] ? Fallow ground ploughed in spring. £ 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 48 Bernetes that beth made in Janyveer Goode tyme it is forto repete hem heer.

Bernician (b3'mj(i)an), sb. and a. [f. med.L. Bernicia (cf. OE. Beornice inhabitants of Bernicia) + -an.] A. sb. A native or inhabitant of Bernicia, an Anglian kingdom founded in the 6th cent. A.D., extending from the Tyne to the

BERNKASTELER

BERRY

127

Forth and eventually united with Deira to form Northumbria. B. adj. Of or pertaining to Bernicia or its inhabitants; spec. Geol., designating the carboniferous limestone rocks of Northumberland and its borders. 1819 J. Lingard Hist. Engl. I. ii. 89 The Bernicians submitted cheerfully to the good fortune of the son of ./Ella. 1856 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca III. iii. 409 (heading) Geological table.. Bernician. 1878 G. A. Lebour Geol. Northumberland i. 2 Lower carboniferous... Bernician series. Ibid. viii. 32 The Bernician Rocks... The series consists essentially of numerous beds of limestone. 1907 H. M. Chadwick Orig. Eng. Nation vii. 182 These persons again were nearly related to the ancestors of the Bernician royal family. 1932 G. Sheldon Transit. Roman Britain viii. 134 A member of the Bernician royal house and a pretender to the throne. Ibid. 144 The ever-smouldering feud between Bernician and Deiran.

Bernkasteler ('b3:nka:stb(r),-as-). [Ger.] Any

beroll, be-Roscius, berouged, berow, etc.: see be- pref. beronnen, -yn, pa. pple. of berour,

beround,

berun v. Obs.

obs. form of bearer.

berowe, variant of berrage,

berwe, Obs., a grove.

obs. form of beverage.

berral, berrer, obs.

ff. beryl, bearer.

berret, berretta, obs. berrghe, berrjhe, f'berrhless. recless:—recels), Salvation.

Obs. f.

ff. beret, biretta.

variants of bergh, Obs.

[:—OE. *bergels bergen: see bergh

(cf. v.]

of a group of Moselle wines produced in the villages of Bernkastel and Cues, of which the best known is Bemkasteler Doctor.

c 1200 Ormin 7028 Jratt nittenn eche lifess bried Till pe33re sawle berrhless.

[1875 H. Vizetelly Wines of World 51 Graach, Zeltinger, and the Berncastle wine, known locally as ‘the doctor’, all three of such excellent quality as to secure a couple of medals to their exhibitors.] 1891 in C. Ray Compleat Imbiber {1967) IX. 122 Moselle... Berncastler Doctor. 1920 G. Saintsbury Notes on Cellar-Bk. vi. 85 Nor did I ever much affect the loudly-trumpeted Berncastler Doktor. 1967 A. Lichine Encycl. Wines & Spirits 365/1 Some Bernkastelers, and especially Bemkasteler Doctor, have a slight smoky under-taste.

beru, berwes, ME. berwe grove, mod. Bere in Beere Regis, etc.; but Harrington’s form is not phonetically explicable.] See quot.

fBernois(e. Obs. [Fr.]

= Bernese sb.

1687 I. Spon Hist. Geneva 11. 86 The Bernoises.. banished the Roman Catholick Religion from their City. 1761 G. Keate Short Acc. Geneva 53 The Bernois coming to the Assistance of Geneva, drove away the Troops of the Duke and Bishop. 1832 W. Liddiard Three Months' Tour 88, I have already had more than one application from different Bernois, looking out.. to get fares on their return to Berne.

bernoo, bernous, variants of burnous. Bernoulli (ba'nurli). The name of a Swiss family which in the 17th and 18th centuries contained several eminent mathematicians and scientists, applied to various principles, theorems, etc., formulated by them (see quots.). Hence Ber'noullian a. B.'s formula and B.'s theorem in hydrodynamics were proposed by Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782); B.'s numbers and B.’s theorem in statistics were proposed by Jacob (also known as James) Bernoulli (1654-1705). 1749 J- Stirling Differential Method 94 The first series is not extended to those cases in which the first ordinate touches the curve, nor does Bernoulli’s series extend to those cases wherein the last ordinate touches the curve. 1842 A. De Morgan Diff. Integr. Calculus xiii. 247 The values of U, U', &c. are called the numbers of Bernoulli; and though they do not follow a visibly regular law, yet the connexion between them is simple. Ibid. 248 The development of tan x by Bernoulli’s numbers. 1865 I. Todhunter Math. Theory Probability vii. 71 In the fourth part of the Ars Conjectandi is the enunciation and investigation of what we now call Bernoulli's theorem. Ibid. xi. 226 Let x denote the age expressed in years; let ( denote the number who survive at that age out of a given number who were bom; let s denote the number of these survivors who have not had the small-pox... Daniel Bernoulli’s formula then gives the value of s. 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 114/1 The basis of Bemouilli’s [jic] Theory of Pipes. 1876 Messenger Math. VI. 49 Bernoullian and Eulerian numbers. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 14/1 Bernoullian numbers. 1920 L. Bairstow Appl. Aerodynamics vi. 281 The simple form of Bernoulli’s equation developed in the chapter on fluid motion may be applied separately to the two parts of streamlines which are separated by the actuator disc. 1922 Glazebrook Diet. Appl. Physics I. 26/2 Bernoulli’s theorem. Along any stream line in a liquid subject only to gravity p + gpz + \pv2 = constant, p being the pressure at a point at a depth z below the plane of reference, p the density, and v the velocity. 1937 Mind XLVI. 488 The least rigid of these suggested conditions is that the series must be ‘Bernoullian’.

berrie. Obs. Also berie. [App. related to OE.

1591 Harrington Ariosto xli. lvii, The cell.. had .. Upon the western side a grove or berrie [ed. 1634 berie; Ital. bosco].

berried ('berid), a. [f. berry sb. + 1. Having or bearing berries.

-ed2.]

1794 Gisborne Walks Forest (1796) 112 While the keen thrush the berried twig invades, i860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vi. x. 99 The berried shrubs. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. Merch. II. ii. 42 Red-berried holly.

2. Formed as or consisting of a berry; baccate. 1824 fruits. berried berried

Blackw. Mag. XV. 169 Bushes hung with berried 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 130 Fruit either or membranous. 1851 Balfour Bot. §550 Baccate or is applied to all pulpy fruits. 3. Bearing eggs; ‘in berry.’ Cf. berry sb.1 3. 1868 Macm. Mag. Nov. 18 Lobster-sauce.. improved by ‘berried hens,’ that is by female lobsters full of eggs.

t 'berried, ppl. a. Obs. Forms: 4 beryd, berid, 6 beryed, -ied, buried, (barrowid). [f. berry v.1 + -ed1.] Beaten; threshed; trodden, beaten as a path. 1382 Wyclif Num. xx. 19 Bi the beryd [1388 comynli usid] weye we shulen goon. -Jer. xviii. 15 Thei go bi them in a weye not berid [1388 not trodun]. 1557 Wills & Inv. N.C. I. 158 In beryed corn in the barne viijd. 1569 Richmond. Wills (1853) 218 Haver barrowid and unbarrowed. 1570 Wills & Inv. N.C. I. 341 Otes buried eight lode . xx$.—in vnberied whete xiiij thraves . xxs.

t'berrier.

Obs. [f. thresher; a barnman.

berry

v.

+

-er1.]

A

1573 Wills & Inv. N.C. 399 Iij plewmen, j berryer, & j hird. 1721 Bailey Berrier, a Thresher (Country Word).

berrord,

obs. form of bearherd.

berrugate (beru'geit). [f. Sp. verruga wart. Cf. verruga.] A fish, Verrugato pacificus, found on

the Pacific coast of Central America, used as a food. 1898 Jordan & Evermann Fishes N. & Mid. Amer. iii. 2858 Abundant at Panama, where it is known as Berrugate.

berry ('ben), sb.1 Forms: i beriae, berie, berije,

fbe'rogue, v. Obs. [f. be- 5 c + rogue.] trans. To call (one) a rogue, to abuse.

berge, 2-6 berie, 3-6 bery(e, (4 burie), 6-7 berrie, 6- berry. [Found, with some variety of form, in all the Teutonic langs.: with OE. berie wk. fern., cf. ON. ber (Da. bser, Sw. bar), OS. beri (in winberi), MDu. bere, OHG. beri str. neut., MHG. ber and bere neut. and fern., mod.Ger. beere fern. These point to an OGer. *bazjo-m, as a byform of *basjo-m, whence Goth basi neut. (in weinabasi ‘grape’). The s type is also preserved in MDu. beze, mod.Du. bes, also MDu. and mod.Du. bezie fern. The fern, forms Du. bezie and OE. berie answer to an OTeut. extended form *basjon-, *bazjon-. The ulterior history is uncertain: *bazjo- has been conjecturally referred to *bazo-z bare (q.v.), as if a bare or uncovered fruit, also to the root represented by Skr. bhas- to eat.] 1. a. Any small globular, or ovate juicy fruit, not having a stone; in OE. chiefly applied to the grape; in mod. popular use, embracing the gooseberry, raspberry, bilberry, and their congeners, as well as the strawberry, mulberry, fruit of the elder, rowan-tree, cornel, honey¬ suckle, buckthorn, privet, holly, mistletoe, ivy, yew, crowberry, barberry, bearberry, potato, nightshade, bryony, laurel, mezereon, and many exotic shrubs; also sometimes the birdcherry or ‘hag-berry’ (which is a stone-fruit), the haw, and hip of the rose; spec, in Scotland and north of England, it means the gooseberry.

1673 Cleveland Wks. (1687) 236 Kick a poor Lacquey, and berogue the Cook. 1682 2nd Plea Nonconf. 45 To hear a zealous Ignorant be-rogue and damn the HousePreachers. a 1733 North Exam. 1. ii. f 155. 117 After these Intrigues, who wonders that Hayns.. should be so berogued.

ciooo /Elfric Deut. xxiii. 24 Gif tu gange binnan f?ines freondes wineard, et J?aera berjena. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 114 Nym winberian pe beoj? acende aefter opre berijian. a 1225 Ancr. R. 276 Breres bere5 rosen & berien. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2062 [A win-tre] blomede, and si6en bar 6e beries ripe, c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 207 His palfrey was as broune as

bernston, obs. form of brimstone. berob (bi'rob), v.

[f. be- 2 + rob.]

To rob.

1340 Ayenb. 39 Robberes.. pet berobbep pe pilgrimes. C1515 Barclay Egloge i. (1570) A ij/4 He hath small reason that hath a hood more fine And would for malice berob thee here of thine. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 42 That of your selfe ye thus berobbed arre. 1855 Singleton Virgil II. 82 After .. Achilles him Berobbed of life.

II Beroe ('beraoi:). Zool. [a. L. Beroe, Gr. fiepoT), name of a daughter of the mythical Oceanus.] A genus of small, gelatinous, marine animals classed by Huxley among the Ccelenterata; they swim freely in the sea, and are phosphorescent at night. 1769 Phil. Trans. LIX. 144 The beroe is a marine animal found on our coasts. 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. vi. 198 [The gelatines] as well as the beroe, are said to form part of the food of the whale. 1883 Harper’s Mag. Jan. 181/2 The heroes are perhaps the most familiar.

is a bery. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. IV. 121 J?ejuseof grapes and of buries [mor{\. 1470-85 Malory Arthur xvi. x. (Globe) 385 A strong black horse, blacker than a bery. a 1500 Songs & Carols 15th C. 85 Ivy berith berys black. 1590 Shaks. Mid. N. iii. ii. 211 Two louely berries molded on one stem. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 307 For dinner savourie fruits.. Berrie or Grape. 1793 Southey Lyric Poems II. 149 The cluster’d berries bright Amid the holly’s gay green leaves. 1842 Tennyson CEnone 100 Garlanding the gnarled boughs With bunch and berry and flower. 1883 Birmingh. Weekly Post 11 Aug. 4/7 Last year the heaviest berry shown scaled 31 dwt. b. loosely. A coffee ‘bean.’ 1712 Pope Rape Lock in. 106 The berries crackle, and the mill turns round.

c. slang (U.S.). A dollar; also (in U.K.), a pound. Usu. in pi. Hence the berries: an excellent person or thing; ‘the cat’s whiskers’. 1918 H. C. Witwer From Baseball to Boches IV. ii. 147 When .. I go back to baseball, I can drag down six thousand berries a year. 1920 ‘B. L. Standish’ Man on First 127 It don’t take the shine off your little performance. You were there with the berries. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt vii. 103 A fellow that.. pulls down fifteen thousand berries a year! 1925 H. Foster Trop. Tramp Tourists 300 You think you’re the berries, don’t you? Well, you might have been once, but you’re a flat-tire these days! 1926 S.P.E. Tract xxiv. 120 That's the berries, that’s just right. 1934 Humorist 26 May 482/1 An attachment worth ten thousand berries in the open market. 1936 J. Dos Passos Big Money 43 He had what was left of the three hundred berries Hedwig coughed up. 1943 Wyndham Lewis Let. 9 Nov. (1963) 369 No intelligent book could get accepted by a N.Y. publisher, except perhaps a little publisher, who would give you a maximum of a thousand berries.

2. Bot. A many-seeded inferior pulpy fruit, the seeds of which are, when mature, scattered through the pulp; called also bacca. In this sense, many of the fruits popularly so called, are not berries: the grape, gooseberry and currants, the bilberry, mistletoe berry, and potato fruit, are true berries; but, botanically, the name also includes the cucumber, gourd, and even the orange and lemon. 1809 Sir J. Smith Bot. 284 The simple many-seeded berries of the Vine, Gooseberry, &c. The Orange and Lemon are true Berries, with a thick coat. 1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. vii. §2. 299 The Berry.. comprises all simple fruits in which the pericarp is fleshy throughout.

3. One of the eggs in the roe of a fish; also, the eggs of a lobster. A hen lobster carrying her eggs is said to be in berry or berried. 1768 Travis in Penny Cycl. II. 513/2 Hen lobsters are found in berry at all times of the year. 1876 Fam. Herald 9 Dec. 95/1 A large specimen [of lobster] will yield from five to eight ounces of ‘berry.’

4. Comb, and attrib., as berry-bush, -pie, -tree-, berry-bearing, -brorwn, -like, -shaped adjs.; berry alder, berry-bearing alder, a shrub (Rhamnus frangula) = Alder Buckthorn; berry-button, a berry-shaped button; berry wax, wax obtained from the wax-berry (Myrica spp.), used for making candles and polishing floors (cf. bayberry-wax in quot. 1769 s.v. bayberry 2). 1863 Prior Plant-n. 20 *Berry-alder, a buckthorn.. distinguished from them [the alders] by bearing berries. 1742 W. Ellis Timber-tree II. xxiv. 140 A bacciferous, or *berry-bearing, Tree or Shrub. 1785 Cowper Task v. 82 Berry-bearing thorns That feed the thrush. 1796 W. H. Marshall Planting II. 313 Frangula, or Berry-bearing Alder. 1933 Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 400 Wilsonii with leaves as large as Marnockii, but dull green and spiny, also berry-bearing. 1611 Art Venerie 96 He seemed fayre tweene blacke and *berrie brounde. 1820 Scott Abbot xvi, The Friars of Fail drank *berry-brown ale. 1818-Rob Roy vi, ‘Pleased wi’ the freedom o’ the *berry-bushes.’ 1702 Lond Gaz. No. 3783/4 A.. Stuff Wastcoat with black and red *Berry-Buttons. 1864 Monthly Even. Readings May 161 *Berry-like galls are formed on the peduncles. 1836-9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II 485/2 *Berry-shaped corpuscles seem to be appended. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvn. c. (1495) 666 The fruyte of the wilde *bery tree. 1897 Edmonds & Marloth Elem. Bot. S. Afr. xvii. 169 The genus Myrica, of which M. cordifolia and others supply the *berry-wax. 1913 R. Marloth Flora S. Afr. I. 133 The layer of wax on the berries of some species [of Myrica] is so considerable that it is technically exploited. The farmers boil the berries with water, strain the hot mixture and allow the melted wax to solidify. The berry wax (myrica wax) is of a pale greenish colour and considerably harder than beeswax.

'berry, sb.2 Obs. exc. dial. [f. OE. beorg hill: a variant of barrow sb.1 (While the nom. gave ME. beruh, berw, barw, barow, the dat. beorge, with palatalized g, gave ber^e, beryhe, berye.)] A mound, hillock, or barrow. 1205 Lay. 12311 Vnder ane berime. 1393 Langl. P. PI. B. v. 589 Thanne shaltow blenche at a berghe. 01553 Udall Royster D. 11. iii. 36 Heigh derie derie, Trill on the berie. C1563 Thersytes in Four O. Plays (1848) 79 We shall make merye and synge tyrle on the berye. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. 1. ii. (1772) I. 56 Piping on thine oaten reede Upon this little berry (some ycleep A hillocke). 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 195 Removing the potatoes to the caves, heaps .. ricks, or berrys (for by all such terms they are known in this country).

If It is doubtful whether the quotation belongs to this or to BERRY sb.3. 01700 Dryden Ovid's Art Love 1. 103 The theatres are berries for the fair, Like ants on molehills thither they repair.

BERRY t'berry, sb.3 Obs. Forms: 5 bery, 6 beery, 6-7 berrie, berry. [See burrow.] 1. A (rabbit’s) burrow. Hence, the spec, name for a company of rabbits. 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vi, A Bery of Conyis. 1519 Horman Vulg. 283 b, I haue nede of a feret, to let into this beery to styrt out the conies. 1585 Mod. Curiosities Art & Nat., To make rabbets come out of their berries without a ferret. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. ix. vii. 862 It [the penguin].. feeds on fish and grass and harbors in berries. 1685 R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. xiii. 165 Musk-Rats who live in holes and Berries like Rabbits.

2. transf. An excavation; a mine in besieging. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 514 Till one strict berrie, till one winding cave, Become the fight-field of two armies.

f berry, sb.1 Obs. [Cf. birr: perh. f. berry v.1; or, since found only in Florio and Cotgrave, an erroneous form.] A gust or blast (of wind). 1598 Florio, Biff era., a whirlewind, a gust or berp' of wind. 1611-Folata di uento .. a gaile or berrie of winde. 1611 Cotgr., Tourbillon de vent., a gust, flaw, berrie of wind.

'berry,?;.1 Obs. exc.dial. Also bery, bury. [ME. berien, bery, ad. ON. berja to strike, beat, thresh = OHG. berjan, MHG. berren, beren, bern; repr. in OE. only by pa. pple. gebered. Cogn. w. L. ferire to strike.] 1. trans. To beat, thrash. a 1225 Ancr. R. 188 i>er 3e schulen iseon bunsen [ v.r. berien] ham mit tes deofles bettles. 1808 Jamieson, Berry, to beat; as to berry a bairn, to beat a child.

2. To thresh (corn, etc.). See berried ppl. a. 1483 Cath. Angl. 29 Bery.. vbi to thresche. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 142 Thrashers that bury by quarter-tale. 1691 Ray N. Country Wds., Berry, to thresh, i.e. to beat out the berry or grain of the corn. 1808 Jamieson, Berry, to thrash corn, Roxb., Dumfr.

3. To beat (a path, etc.). See berried ppl. a. berry ('beri), v.2 [f. berry sb.1; cf. to apple.] 1. iritr. To come into berry; to fill or swell.

2. To go a berrying, i.e. gathering berries. 01871 Miss Sedgwick in Life & Lett. 44, I went with herds of school-girls nutting and berrying.

berry, obs. form of bury. t berry-block. Obs. ? A beating of the block, a missing of the thing intended. 1603 Philotus civ, Haue I not maid a berrie block, That hes for Jennie maryit Jock?

t'berrying, vbl. sb.1 Obs. In 7 burying, [f. berry v.1 + -ING1.] The threshing (of corn). 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 132 For Buryinge of Come.

stead,

a

bersark. Cf. baresark. [Icel. berserkr, acc. berserk, pi. -ir, of disputed etymology; Vigfusson and Fritzner show that it was probably = ‘bear-sark,’ ‘bear-coat.’] A wild Norse warrior of great strength and ferocious courage, who fought on the battle-field with a frenzied fury known as the ‘berserker rage’; often a lawless bravo or freebooter. Also^ig. and attrib. Now usu. as adj., frenzied, furiously or madly violent; esp. in phr. to go berserk. 1822 Scott Pirate Note B, The berserkars were so called from fighting without armour. 1837 Emerson Misc. 85 Out of terrible Druids and Berserkers, come at last Alfred and Shakspeare. 1839 Carlyle Chartism (1858) 19 Let no man awaken it, this same Berserkir rage! 1851 Kingsley Yeast i. 16 Yelling, like Berserk fiends, among the frowning tombstones. 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 430 Mere brotherhood in arms., did not distinguish the civilized man from the berserkar. 1867 H. Kingsley Silcote I. xii. 136 With her kindly, uncontrollable vivacity, in the brisk winter air she became more ‘berserk’ as she went on. 1879 E. Gosse Lit. N. Europe 166 He was a dangerous old literary bersark to the last. 1887 E. C. Dawson Bp. Hannington v. 57 He.. was filled with a Berserk rage and thirst for retribution. 1908 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 264 You went Berserk. I’ve read all about it in Hypatia.. you’ll probably be liable to fits of it all your life. 1940 Chicago Daily Tribune 20 Nov. 10/3 America goes berserk. Ibid., The recent addition of the word ‘berserk’, as a synonym for crackpot behaviour, to the slang of the young and untutored... American stenographers.. are telling one another not to be ‘berserk’. 1944 ‘P. Quentin’ Puzzle for Puppets xvii. 121 Edwina [sc. an elephant], had gone berserk. 1961 G. Smith Business of Loving iii. 124 Hammond converted and Shallerton came back as if berserk. Ibid. 132, I think Ken Heppel will go berserk. 1962 P. Brickhill Deadline xviii. 213, I went berserk, kicking his head again and again. Ibid. 214 In that berserk mood I think I could have bent an iron bar. 1964 J. Symons End of S. Grundy 1. i. 27 If you have chaps like old Sol going berserk, it’s enough to break up any party.

berserkly (b3:'s3ikli), adv. [f. berserk + -ly2.] In a berserk manner; madly.

1865 E. Burritt Walk Land's End 402 The wheat, oats and barley., were now berrying full and plump. 1873 Blackmore Cradock N. xxx. (1883) 167 The late bees were buzzing around him though the linden had berried.

Hence berrying bailey 1721.

threshing-floor.

1963 Economist 28 Dec. 1318/2 It is berserkly dangerous. 1967 ‘C. Franklin’ Death in East ii. 27 The headlamps illuminated a tree which seemed to be leaping berserkly towards her.

berskin, obs. form of bearskin. CI350 Will. Palerne 1735 In pat oper bere-skyn bewrapped william panne. 1386 Chaucer Knts. T. (Lansd. MS.) 1284 He hadde a berskinne cole-blake for olde [Corpus berskynne, other MSS. beres skyn].

berstel, obs. form of bristle. berst-en, obs. form of burst and Brest. fbersuell. Mil. Obs. [a. OF. berfuel, bersuel, in same sense.] A disposition of fighting-men in a triangular phalanx with the apex towards the enemy. (Called also in OF. coing, i.e. wedge.) 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. 1. xxiv. 74 In a manere of a tryangle that men called at that bersuell.

'berrying, vbl. sb 2 [f. berry v.2 + -ing1.] A

berte, variant of birt, Obs. a fish.

gathering of berries. Also attrib.

bertes, Sc. var. bretasce, -ache; cf. bartizan.

1884 Lisbon (Dakota) Star 25 July, On a berrying and picnic excursion.

berryless ('berilis), a. [f. berry sb.' + -less.] Without producing berries; furnished with berries.

not

berried

or

1887 Sat. Rev. 30 Apr. 624 The female plant.. berryless, may be said to have suffered a grass-widowhood of some eighty years. 1924 Glasgow Herald 3 Jan. 6 Berryless holly. 1942 H. J. Massingham Field Fellowship xii. no A bleached and berryless powder with the courtesy title of flour.

bers, v. impers., var. form from bir to behove. Hbersagliere

(.bersaX'Xere). Usu. in pi. bersaglieri (-i). [It., f. bersaglio target, mark.] A rifleman or sharpshooter in the Italian army. 1862 Crown Princess of Prussia Let. 8 Nov. in R. Fulford Dearest Mama (1968) 129 As one is not safe from Banditti—General La Marmora gave us an escort of Bersaglieri and Gendarmes. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 612/2 The Italian army consists of 80 regiments of the line, 10 of bersaglieri (riflemen), [etc.]. 1883 Daily News 7 Sept. 3/1 The same war cry would resound from a battalion of darkplumed Bersaglieri as they dashed up a bank at their peculiar pace. 1929 Hemingway Farewell to Arms viii. 47 The drivers .. wearing red fezzes .. were bersaglieri.

b. attrib. and Comb, bersaglieri hat, a hat with a dark plume of cock’s feathers, as worn by the bersaglieri. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 613/1,4 bersaglieri battalions. 1946 Koestler Thieves in Night to About half of them wore.. Bersaglieri hats which made their faces look even more adolescent.

fberse. Obs. [a. OF. berche, (also barce, Cotgr.) in same sense. Cf. berser to shoot.] A small species of ordnance, formerly often used at sea. = base sb.6 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 41 Mak reddy 3our cannons .. bersis, doggis, double bersis.

berseel, berselet: see bercel, -et. berserk,

BERTH

128

-er ('b3:s3:k, -a(r); as adj., also pronounced b3's3:k, b3'z3:k). Also berserkar, -ir;

berth (b3:0), sb. Also 6-7 byrth, 6-9 birth. [A nautical term of uncertain origin: found first in end of 16th c. Most probably a derivative of bear v. in some of its senses: see esp. sense 37, quot. 1627, which suggests that berth is = ‘bearing off, room-way made by bearing-ofF; cf. also bear off in 26 b. The early spellings byrth, birth, coincide with those of birth ‘bearing of offspring, bringing forth,’ but it is very doubtful whether the nautical use can go back to a time when that word had the general sense ‘bearing’; it looks more like a new formation on bear, without reference to the existing birth. (Of other derivations suggested, an OE. *beorgp, *beorhp ‘protection, defence, shelter’ (see barth), and Icel. byrdi ‘the board, i.e. side of a ship’ (see berth v.2), do not well account for the original sense ‘sea-room.’ The sense is perhaps better explained by supposing berth to be a transposition of north, dial, breith = breadth; but of this historical evidence is entirely wanting.)]

1. Naut. ‘Convenient sea-room, or a fit distance for ships under sail to keep clear, so as not to fall foul on one another’ (Bailey 1730), or run upon the shore, rocks, etc. Now, chiefly in phrases, to give a good, clear, or (usually since 1800) wide berth to, keep a wide berth of. to keep well away from, steer quite clear of. Also transf. and fig. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 117 There lyeth a poynt of the shore a good byrth off, which is dangerous. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 24 Watch bee vigilant to keepe your berth to windward. 1627 Seaman's Gram. xiii. 60 Run a good berth ahead of him. 1740 Woodroofe in Hanway Trav. (1762) I. 274 It is necessary to give the., bank a good birth. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. 193 Giving the Lighthouse a dear birth of 50 fathoms to the southward. 1829 Scott Demonol. x. 383 Giving the apparent phantom what seamen call a wide berth. 1854 T hackeray Newcomes II. 150, I recommend you to keep a wide berth of me, sir. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. 1. 17 To keep the open sea And give to warring lands a full wide berth.

2. Naut. ‘Convenient sea-room for a ship that rides at anchor’ (Philips 1706); ‘sufficient space wherein a ship may swing round at the length of her moorings’ (Falconer). 1658 Phillips, Berth, convenient room at Sea to moor a Ship in. 1692 Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. i. xvi. 75 A Birth, a convenient space to moor a Ship in. 1696 [Phillips has both Berth as in 1658 and Birth as in Smith.] 1721 Bailey, Birth and Berth [as above]. 1769-89 Falconer Diet. Marine, Evitee, a birth [expl. as above]. 1781 Westm. Mag. IX. 327 Perceiving neither the Isis nor Diana making any signs to follow, though both of them lay in clear births for so doing [cf. clear berth in 1]. 1854 G. B. Richardson Univ. Code v. (ed. 12) 423 You have given our ship a foul berth, or brought up in our hawse. 1858 in Merc. Mar. Mag. V. 226 The ship .. may .. choose her anchorage by giving either shore a berth of a couple of cables’ length.

3. Hence, ‘A convenient place to moor a ship in* (Phillips); the place where a ship lies when at anchor or at a wharf. 1706 Phillips, Birth and Berth [see above]. 1731 Bailey, Birth and Berth [as in Phillips]. 1754 Fielding Voy. Lisbon, Before we could come to our former anchoring place, or berth, as the captain called it. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §266 We let go an anchor and warped the buss to her proper birth. 1801 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) IV. 366 That the squadron may be anchored in a good berth. 1879 Castle Law of Rating 75 Certain berths for the use of steamers.

4. a. Naut. ‘A proper place on board a ship for a mess to put their chests, etc.’ (Phillips); whence, ‘The room or apartment where any number of the officers, or ship’s company, mess and reside’ (Smyth, Sailor's Word-bk.). 1706 Phillips s.v. Birth, Also the proper Place a-board for a Mess to put their chests, etc., is call’d the Birth of that Mess. 1748 Smollett Rod Rand. xxiv. (Rtldg.) 63 When he had shown me their berth (as he called it) I was filled with astonishment and horror. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy x. 30 The first day in which he had entered the midshipmen’s berth, and was made acquainted with his messmates.

b.

fig.

(Naut.) Proper place (for a thing).

1732 De Foe, etc. Tour Gt. Brit. (1769) I. 147 For the squaring and cutting out of every Piece, and placing it in its proper Byrth (so they call it) in the Ship that is in Building. 1758 J- Blake Mar. Syst. 6 A hammock.. shall be delivered him, and a birth assigned to hang it in.

c. transf. An allotted or assigned place in a barracks; a ‘place’ allotted in a coach or conveyance. c 1813 Mrs. Sherwood Stories Ch. Catech. xiv. 115 Fanny Bell’s berth was in one corner of the barracks. Ibid. 116 Kitty Spence was in her berth, playing at cards with her husband and two other men. 1816 Scott Antiq. i, The first comer hastens to secure the best berth in the coach.

5. a. Naut. A situation or office on board a ship, or (in sailors’ phrase) elsewhere. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton x. (Bohn) 130 Going to Barbadoes to get a birth, as the sailors call it. 1755 Magens Insurances II. 115 When Sailors.. are discharged in foreign Parts, and do not meet with another Birth there. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxii. 65, I wished .. to qualify myself for an officer’s berth. Ibid, xxviii. 97 He left us to take the berth of second mate on board the Ayacucho. 1876 C. Geikie Life in Woods x. 177 He hoped to get a good berth on one of the small lake steamers.

b. transf. A situation, a place, an appointment. (Usually a ‘good’ or ‘comfortable’ one.) 1778 Miss Burney Evelina xvi. (1784) 103 You have a good warm birth here. 1781 Mrs. Delany Corr. (i860) III. 51,1 think I could find out a berth (the sea-phrase) for a chaplain. 1788 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 412 Both will prefer their present births. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom iv. 26 I’ll do the very best I can in gettin’ Tom a good berth.

6. a. Naut. A sleeping-place in a ship; a long box or shelf on the side of the cabin for sleeping. 1796 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 339 Better pleased with sound sleep and a warmer birth below it. 1809 Byron Lines to Hodgson iii, Passengers their berths are clapt in. 1842 T. Martin in Fraser's Mag. Dec., Just in time to secure the only sleeping-berth in the .. steam-packet.

b. A sleeping-place of the same kind in a railway carriage or elsewhere. 1806 Z. M. Pike Acc. Exped. Mississippi (1810) 81 WTe returned to the chief s lodge, and found a birth provided for each of us. 1838 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. VII. 328 If you travel in the night you go to rest in a pleasant berth. 1885 Harper's Mag. Apr. 698/2 The traveller.. goes to sleep in his Pullman berth. 1885 Weekly Times 2 Oct. 14/2 In the kitchens, .are a couple of berths reached by a ladder. 1967 Gloss. Caravan Terms (B.S.I.) 3 A caravan with two double beds, or one double and two singles, is a four-berth caravan. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 33 (Advt.), First Class allinclusive fare, including lower berth and all meals.

7. Comb, berth-boards, ? the partitions dividing berths in a ship; berth-deck, the deck on which the passengers’ berths are arranged; berth and space (see quot.). 1833 Richardson Merc. Mar. Arch. 7 The distance from the moulding edge of one floor to the moulding edge of the next floor is called the birth and space, and is the room occupied by two timbers, the floor, and the first futtock. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxvi. (1856) 213 This condensation is now very troublesome, sweating over the roof and berth-boards. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 550 Scattering the passengers on the berth deck.

berth (b3'.0), v.1 Also 6 byrth, 7 birth, [f. prec. sb.] 1. a. trans. To moor or place (a ship) in a suitable position. Also refl. of the ship or sailors. 1667 Pepys Diary 30 June, The ‘Henery’.. berthed himself so well as no pilot could ever have done better. 1673 Camden Soc. Misc. (1881) 27 We..anchored againe, and

BERTH birth’d our selves in our anchoring posture agreed on. 1871 Daily News 30 June, There was no dry dock..where the monster ship could be berthed and cleaned.

b. intr. (for refl.) said of the ship. 1868 MACGREGOR Voyage Alone 57 The Rob Roy glided past the pier and smoothly berthed upon a great mud bank.

2. a. trans. To allot a berth or sleeping-place to (a person), to furnish with a berth. Usually in passive. 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India {1854) 81 A general cabin, where two others are berthed. 1869 Daily News 12 June, The lower deck, where the officers and crew are berthed. 1876 Davis Polaris Exp. v. 122 Joe and Hans, with their families, were brought down and berthed below.

b. intr. To occupy a berth or berths. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped vii. 61 The round-house, where he berthed and served. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 13 Sept. 6/2 The accommodation is very simple, consisting of berthing in two tiers in the women’s ward, and feeding and living in a separate saloon.

3. To provide with a situation or ‘place.’ 1865 Leslie & Taylor Sir J. Reynolds 11. viii. 365 Comfortably berthed in the City Chamberlainship. 1885 Manch. Exam. 14 Nov. 5/1 All four are berthed; not a man of the Fourth Party is left out.

berth, v.2 Also 6 byrth. [perh. f. Icel. byrdi board or side of a ship.] To board, cover or make up with boards. (Chiefly in Ship¬ building.) Hence berthed ppl. a. boarded. See BERTHING2. Hop Gard. (1578) 52 The chynkes creuises, and open ioyntes of your Loftes being not close byrthed, will deuoure the seedes of them. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 5 When you haue berthed or brought her vp to the planks. C1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 96 To berth up. A term generally used for working up a topside or bulkhead with board or thin plank. 1574 R. Scot

berth(e, obs. form of birth. bertha1, berthe ('b3:03, b3:0). [a. F. berthe, englished as bertha, from the proper name, F. Berthe, Eng. Bertha.] A deep falling collar, usually of lace, attached to the top of a lownecked dress, and running all round the shoulders. 1842 C. Ridley Let. in Ridley Cecilia (1958) ix. 109, I shall be very glad.. of the bugle flowers and bertha and rosettes. 1842 Illustr. Lond. News 24 Dec. 525/1 The berthe had a double row of point d’Argentan. 01856 Alb. Smith Sketches of Day Ser. 1. in. i, She dresses by the fashion books, believing berthe and birth to be words of equal worth in the world. 1869 Athenaeum 18 Dec. 826 A Bertha of ancient point lace. 1881 Miss Braddon Asphodel xix. 208 Neat laced berthas fitting close to modestly-covered shoulders.

Bertha2 ('b3:03). [Named after Frau Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, owner of the Krupp steel works in Germany from 1903 to 1943.] Soldiers’ name for a German gun or mortar of large bore, used in the war of 1914-18; freq. Big Bertha. 1914 Scotsman 30 Oct. 9/6 This mortar of 42 centimeters was made at the Krupp works, and for this reason the Germans have baptised it ‘Bertha— die fleissige' (Bertha, the Zealous), Bertha being the name of Madame Krupp von Bohlen. Ibid., ‘Bertha’ is not the delicate plaything that it has sometimes been represented to be, and the maximum of 150 shells that they say can be fired from the gun is below the truth. 1918 Sphere 20 July 48/2 Big Bertha spoke for the first time on March 23, and at the sound of her voice Paris was intensely surprised. 1958 Hayward & Harari tr. Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago 1. iv. 111 That’s a Bertha, a German sixteen-inch.

berthage (’b3:0id3). [f. berth v.1 + -age.] a. Accommodation for mooring vessels, harbourage. 1881 Daily News 25 Jan. 5/8 The new sea wall.. provides berthage for as many as thirty vessels at once.

b. The dues payable for mooring a vessel. 1893 in Funk's Stand. Diet. berthen, obs. form of burden sb. berther (’b3:03(r)). [f. berth

BERYL

129

v.'

+ -er1.]

1867 Smyth Sailor's Wrd.-Bk., Berther, he who assigns places for the respective hammocks to hang in.

berthierite (’b3:0i3rait).

Min. [Named 1827 after Berthier, a French naturalist.] A sulphide of antimony and iron, occurring native in elongated masses or prisms; also called Haidingerite.

berthing ('b3:0ii]), vbl. sb.1 [f. berth v.1] 1. a. The action of mooring or placing a ship in a berth or harbour. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames x. 287 Jurisdiction., respecting the birthing or placing of Vessels.

b. The occupation of a berth or mooring position; also, mooring position.

1891 Daily News 15 July 5/8 There being a high wind from the north north-east.. the berthing was very uncomfortable for the .. launches. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 9 July 4/2 Berthing accommodation will be provided for about 300 boats. 1908 Ibid. 26 May 9/1 The.. Railway Company’s boats., have changed their berthing from North Wall to Carlisle Pier. 1909 Daily Chron. 6 Dec. 6/7 They.. came up practically to the berthing which the Elian Vannin used to occupy.

2. The arrangement of berths or the provision of sleeping accommodation; accommodation in berths. 1863 Luce Seamanship (ed. 2) xvi. 297 Berthing requires the earliest attention, and the operation may be facilitated by having a plan of the decks. 01871 C. F. Hall Polar Exp. (1876) 123 The special object of these [changes] was the economy of fuel, and the berthing of the whole crew below deck.

'berthing, vbl. sb.2 [f. berth v.2 + -ing1. ] The upright planking of the sides and various partitions of a ship; esp. the planking outside above the sheer-stroke, the bulwark.

a 1000 Crist (Gr.) 1176 Beam.. blodijum tearum birunnen. 01300 K. Horn 654 Heo sat on pe sunne, Wip tieres al birunne. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxii. 9052 Mony buernes on pe bent blody beronen! 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 246 To-ward caluery Al be-ronne with red blod. 1513 Douglas JEneis viii. iv. 31 Heidis.. wyth vissage blayknit, blude byrun, and bla. ’. 1. beskrind] in night So stumblest on my counsell. 1657 Tomlinson Renou’s Disp. Pref., Ignorance beskreens the soul. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 48 Which you bescreens With broken shade.

bescribble (bi'skrib(3)l), v. [f. be- 2 and 4 + scribble v.] Hence be'scribbled ppl. a. 1. trans. To write in a scrawling hand, to scribble. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneid in. (Arb.) 84 Her prophecyes in greene leaues nicelye bescribled. 1840 T. Hook Fitzherb. III. xvii. 333 The superscription was so bescribbled that even Miss Bartley’s sidelong glance could decipher nothing.

2. To scribble about; to scribble on. Also fig. 1643 Milton Divorce 11. xii. Wks. (1851) 93 That power .. [he] hath improperly usurpt into his Court-leet, and bescribbl’d with a thousand trifling impertinencies. 1808 W. Irving Salmag. ii. (1860) 36 He be-scribbled more paper than would serve the theatre for snow-storms a whole season.

bescumber, bescurf, bescutcheon, etc.: see be- pref.

bescurvy,

be'see, v. Obs. or arch. [Common. Teut.: OE. biseon, beseon = OS., OHG. bisehan, Goth. bisaihwan:—OTeut. *bisehwan, f. bi, be- + *sehwan, in OE. seon to SEE, which see for forms.

] 1. f 1. intr. To look about, to look (in any direction); to see. Obs. c 1000 ./Elfric Gen. xviii. 2 Abraham beseah upp and geseah pri weras standende. c 1200 Moral Ode 19 in O.E. Misc. 58 Ne may ich bi-seo me bi-fore for smoke, a 1225 St. Marker. 6 Heo biseh up on heh. a 1240 Sawles Warde in Lamb. Horn. 253 To.. biseon on hare grimfule.. nebbes.

b. fig. To look to, give heed to, attend to. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 125 He bise to us and giue us., mihte him to understonde. a 1240 Ureisun in Lamb. Horn. 195 Ilch mon pet to pe bisih6 pu 3iuest milce and ore.

|2. reft. To look about oneself, look round. Obs. c 1000 t^Elfric Gen. xxiv. 63 pa he hine beseah pa jeseah he olfendas pyder weard. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark ix. 8 Sona 6a hi besawon hi.

b.fig. To look to oneself, take heed to oneself, consider. a 1225 Ancr. R. 132 Heo mot wel biseon hire, & biholden hire ilchere half. C1230 Hali Meid. 33 Bisih pe seli meiden. 1297 R. Glouc. 505 The king ne ssolde king leng be, Then holi Thorsdai at non, bote he wolde him bet bise. 1382 Wyclif Matt, xxvii. 5 What to vs? bise thee. 1388-Acts xviii. 15 Bisee 30U silf. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle 1. xxi. (1859) 22 That I myght haue leyser to bysene my self.

f3. trans. To look at, look to, behold; to see. Obs.

obs. form of bezoar.

fbe'say, v. Obs. [OE. besgegan, f.

Silverado ridges.

be- 2 + sgegan

to say; cf. OHG. bisagen, mod.G. besagen.] 1. trans. To defend. (Only in OE.) 2. To declare, speak about.

beryn, beryng: see bear v.

c 1200 Moral Ode 112 in Lamb. Horn. 167 pe 6e lest wat biseiS ofte mest. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 173 Elch sinne pare him seluen bisei8, bute hit be here for3ieue.

berynes, var. of buriness, Obs., burial.

bescatter (bi'sk®t3(r)), v. [f.

berzelianite (ba'zidionait). Min. [f. name of Berzelius, the celebrated chemist and mineralogist.] A native selenide of copper, silver-white with metallic lustre. With same etymology: berzeliite (ba'ziiliait), an anhydrous arsenate of lime and magnesia, called also magnesian pharmacolite, and Kiihnite. 'berzeline, an obsolete name of Berzelianite;

trans. a. To besprinkle, strew with. sprinkle, scatter about.

be- i + scatter.]

b. To

1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat, David's Rep. (1867) 219 It with moans bescattered the skies. 1659-App. lnj. Innoc. (1840) 327 The Animadvertor hath bescattered his [comment] every where with verses. 1855 Singleton Virgil III. 500 The nimble hoof bescatters dews of blood.

Hence bescattered ppl. a. 1574 Hei.i.owes Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 192 Although I goe bescattered and wandering in this Courte. 1883 Stevenson

c 1000 Ags. Psalter lxxix. [lxxx.] 14 Gehweorf nu .. and beseoh winjeard pisne. c 1175 Cott. Horn. 231 Gief he fend were . me sceolden.. stiarne hine besie . and binde him. c 1250 Gen. S? Ex. 2141 [He] bad him al his lond bisen. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle 11. xlv. (1859) 52 Al these pilgrims ne wylle not.. euery daye besene their owne self in a good myrrour.

b. fig. To regard, attend to, give heed to. o 1225 Juliana 57 Vnseli mon, bisih pe hei godd. 1297 R. Glouc. 456 ptre pynges he mot bysee atte bygynnyng. a 1300 E.E. Psalter v. 2 Myne wordes, Laverd, with eres byse.

f4. To see to, provide for, attend to; hence, to deal with, treat, use (well or ill). Obs. c 1300 K. Alis. 4605 Foundelynges weore they two, That heore lord by-sayen so. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xxm. 201 Lo, hou elde pe hore hap me byseye. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 507 Euele thai gonnen him bisen. 1-1500 Prymer in Maskell Mon. Rit. II. 45 note, Thus thei biseien foule, oure lord king of grace. 1596 Spenser F.Q., Mutab. i. 11 Ah! gentle Mole, such ioyance hath thee well beseene.

BESEECH |5. To provide, arrange, ordain, determine. Obs. c 1250 Gen. fsf Ex. 1411 Quan god haueS it so bi-sen, Alse he sendet, als it sal ben. Ibid. 1313 God sal bisen, Quor of Se ofrende sal ben. 1297 R. Glouc. 422 \>e Sonday he was ycrouned .. as hys conseyl bysay. c 1305 St. S-within 103 in E.E.P. (1862) 46 bat oure louerd hit haj> bise3e J>at mie bodi schal beo ido In churche in an heje stede.

II. Later uses of the pa. pple. beseen, with qualifying adv. or phrase. Two notions here come in: 1. Seen, as in ‘well-beseen’ = seen to look well; 2. Provided, as in ‘beseen of such power.’ f6. Seen, viewed; having an appearance, looking. well-beseen: good looking, well favoured. Obs. e 1374 Chaucer Troylus 1. 167 Meny a fressh lady, and maydyn bryght. Full wele byseyn. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 51 The squier come from a uiage that he hadde ben atte, fresshe and iolyly beseen. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 283 Hymself should ryde in a chairette moste goodly beseen. [1678 Phillips, App., Besey (old word), of good aspect.]

7. Appearing in respect of dress, etc.; dressed, apparelled, appointed; furnished. Obs. or arch. c 1450 Floure Leafe 169 More richly beseene, by many fold She was . in every maner thing, c 1500 Dunbar Thistle & Rose 45 Full hestely besene, In serk and mantill after her I went. 1530 Palsgr. 423, I am besene, I am well or yvell apareylled. 1533 in Arb. Garner II. 47 Well beseen in velvet. 1629 Holland Cyrvpsedia (1632) 15 Himselfe also in person, all royally beseene, was present. 8. Appearing as to accomplishments;

furnished; informed, accomplished, arch.

BESEEMED

131

versed,

read,

fb. a person a thing. (Perhaps the person was originally a dative.) Obs. c 1205 Lay. 21543 IpencheS what Ardur.. at Ba&en us bisohte. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3600 For to bi-seken god merci. 1340 Ayenb. 98 Yef we hym bezechip |?ing pet ous is guod. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. ii. i. 197, I beseech you a word.

c. a person that, etc. 01240 Ureisun 161 in Lamb. Horn. 199 Ich pe bi-seche .. J?et pu J?ine blescinge .. 3iue me. c 1386 Chaucer Melib. If 270, I biseke yow .. that ye wol nat wilfully replie agayn my resouns. c 1470 Henry Wallace 11. 317 Scho.. thaim besocht ..scho micht thine with him fayr. 1536 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 40, I beseche God that I may be an example to you all. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. 1. i. 62, I beseech your Grace that I may know The worst. 1742 Jarvis Quix. 1. 11. x, Beseeching God.. that he would be pleased to give him the victory.

d. a person to do a thing. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxi. 8452 Ho .. besechis the souerain .. Hir lord for to let. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer Morn. Pr., I pray and beseech you .. to accompany me. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tong. (1865) 3 Beseeking your grace to accep my mint, and ardon my miss. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 78 Be.. eseeched, not to slight good ministers. 1709 Tatler No. 42 IP 2 A Poor Man once a Judge besought, To judge aright his Cause. 1835 Beckford Recoil. 183, I beseeched him .. to remain quiet. 1844 Brougham Brit. Const, xvi. (1862) 243 He besought the King to refuse his consent.

fe. a person of a thing. Obs.

1393 Gower Conf. I. 341 How that her kinges be besein Of suche a power. C1565 R. Lindsay Chron. Scotl. (1728) 12 Prudent men, well beseen in histories both old and new. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 509 Rhetoricke wherein he is well beseene. 1591 Spenser Tears Muses 180, I late was wont to.. maske in mirth with Graces well beseene. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I.1. 380 Each seemed a glorious queen, With all that wondrous daintiness beseen.

9. Of things, in senses analogous to 6, 7. arch. C1386 Chaucer Clerkes T. 909 Thogh thyn array be badde, and yuel biseye. 1430 Lydg. Story Thebes 33 To a chamber she led him .. Ful wel beseine. a 1440 Sire Degrev. 1686 [The]re gay gownus of grene [We]re ful schamely be¬ sene. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 224 Set in meddow greene With pleasant flowers all faire beseene. a 1850 Wordsw. Cuckoo & Night, lvii, Under a maple that is well beseen.

fb. Hence best beseen: best attire.

1258 Lette me nou3t lese pe liif 3ut lord, y pe bi cheche. c 1460 in Pol. Rel. L. Poems (1866) 253 Leue lord I pee byseke. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. 11. iv. 100 Mistris, I beseech you Confirme his welcome. 1597-2 Hen. IV, 11. iv. 175, I beseeke you now, aggrauate your Choler. 1611 Bible Ex. xxxiii. 18, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 196 Tell me, I beseech you, what that noble study is?

Obs.

1602 Carew Cornwall (1723) 137 b, The Curate in his best beseene, solemnly receued him at the Churchyard stile.

beseech (bi'siitj), v. Pa. t. and pa. pple. besought (bi’soit). Forms: Inf. 2 bisec-en, 2-5 bisechen, bysech-e(n, 3-6 beseche (3 -secchen, 4 bezeche, bicheche, 5 bysuche), 6-7 beseeche, 6- beseech. Also north, and n. midi. 2-4 biseke, 4-5 be-, by-, (4 bezeke, 5 besike, beseyk, 5-6 Sc. beseik, 6 bezeik), 6-7 beseek(e. Pa. t. 3 bisohte, 3-4 -so3te, -souhte, -sou3te, 4 bi-, bysought, -sowght, besoght, S -sougt, 5-6 -soughte, 5-9 Sc. besocht, 6besought; also 6- beseeched (now regarded as incorrect), [f. bi-, be- 2 + ME. secen, sechen, seken to seek. In contrast to the simple vb., in which the northern seek has displaced the southern seech, in the compound beseech has become the standard form. ] f 1. trans. To seek after, search for, try to get. Obs. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 121 Ure drihten .. lokede gif here ani understoden o5er bi-sohten him. c 1300 Cursor M. 5357 Gott., Mi broper esau me bi-soght [C. soght, T. bisou3t, F. be-so3t] To dyserit me, if pat he moght. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. 159 pilk clernesse pat nis nat approched no raper or pat men by-seken it.

01300 Cursor M. 3258 bus he bisoght god of his grace. c 1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 60 (Lansd. MS.), We beseke 30we of socoure and of mercye. c 1440 Lonelich Grail xlvi. 51 Of baptesme I the beseke. 1604 Shaks. Oth. iii. iii. 212, I humbly do beseech you of your pardon,

f. a person for a thing. 01300 Cursor M. 20655 And pat pou wil bisek [ v.r. be¬ seke, biseche] me fore .. It sal be als tu it wille. c 1440 York Myst. xxvi. 126 All samme for pe same we beseke 30U. 1594 Marlowe Dido 1. i. 60 She humbly did beseech him for our bane. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. (1876) 539 The wretch., besought him for mercy.

4. intr. To make supplication or earnest request; to ask. arch.

0 1300 E.E. Psalter xxix. [xxx.] 9 To pe.. crie I sal, And to mi God biseke. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 158 To Ihesus scho bisouht. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 172 The Grekes to hem beseke. 1377-99 in Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) III. 90 The comune of youre lond bysechyn vnto youre ri3t ri3twesnesse. 1647 W. Browne Polex. 11. 298, I prayed, and with teares besought for an end of our contestations. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. v, We now besought for food.

|5. To bring (a person) into (a certain state of mind) by entreaty. Obs. (Cf. to argue into.) 01718 Penn Life Wks. 1726 I. 173, I rather chuse to beseech People into that Commendable Disposition.

f be seech, sb. Obs. rare. [f. prec.] Beseeching, entreaty, petition. 1606 Shaks. Tr. & Cr. 1. ii. 319 Atchievement, is command; ungain’d, beseech. 01625 Beaum. & Fl. Bloody Bro. (T.), The suit that Edith urges With such submiss beseeches.

be'seeched ppl. a. See

beseech v. 1646 Mayne Serm. (1647) 16 An equality between the beseecher and the beseeched.

BESEECH V. + -ER1.]

fc. Const, of (a person). Obs.

3. To supplicate, entreat, implore (a person). CI175 Lamb. Horn. 23 He hine wile biseche mid gode heorte. a 1300 Cursor M. 15807 If i mi fader wald beseke, I moght.. Haf tuelue thusand legions, c 1350 Will. Palerne

Ualse

Obs. playneres

pet

makep

ualse

be'seeching, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That beseeches; entreating, appealing, suppliant. 1704 J. Trapp Abra-Mule Prol. 3 With beseeching Hands. Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 173/1 In an humble and beseeching strain. 1868 Holme Lee B. Godfrey xvii. 100 Emmot cast a beseeching look.

1753

be'seechingly, adv. [f. as prec. + -ly2.] In a beseeching manner; imploringly. 1830 Marryat King’s Own lix, ‘Don’t talk so loud!’.. said the hag, beseechingly. 1881 J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool 1. xiii, Her childish face looked up at him beseechingly.

be'seechingness (bi'sinjirjms). [f. as prec. + -ness.] The quality of being beseeching. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xlviii, determination to mastery, which lay blandness and beseechingness.

The deep

husband’s below all

beseechment (bi'sntfmant). [f. beseech -ment.] Beseeching, supplication.

v.

+

a 1679 T. Goodwin Wks. (1863) VI. 118 Which beseechment denotes.. their gracious condescension. 1880 Miss Broughton Sec. Th. II. ill. viii. 253 Casting a glance of abject beseechment at his niece.

f be'seeing, vbl. sb. Obs. In 4 bezyinge. [f. besee v.] Circumspection, consideration. 1340 Ayenb. bezyinge.

184

Greate

bepenchinge,

pet

is,

grat

be'seek, v. nonce-tod. [f. be- 4 + seek v. (cf. beseech i).] trans. To seek or search about. 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur 1. ix. (1884) 46 These people have all besought the town, and they report its accommodations all engaged.

beseek(e, obs. form of beseech. beseem (bi'siim), v. Also 3-6 bi-, by-. For forms see seem v. [f. be- 2 -1- seem v.] fl. intr. To seem, appear, look. (Almost always in 3rd pers.) Obs.

c 1400 Destr. Troy vii. 2886 Paris was pure faire.. full stithe hym besemyt. 1470-85 Malory Arthur (1816) I. 361 Him beseemeth well of person, and of countenance, that he shall prove a good man. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 1. i. (1641) 2/1 To deep Wisdome and Omnipotence, Nought worse beseems, then sloth and negligence.

beseecher (bi'si:tj9(r)). Also 4-6 besecher. [f.

la 1400 Morte Arth. 305 [He] of hyme besekys To ansuere pe alyenes wyth austerene wordes. 1563 Mirr. Mag. Induct, xliv. 7 And to be yong againe of Joue [he would] beseke.

39

b. Const, to or unto a person (obs.); of (obs.) or for a thing.

2. To beg earnestly for, entreat (a thing).

c 1205 Lay. 17043 Faire he bisecheS pat pu him to bu3e. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 375 pay.. dymly biso3ten, pat pat penaunce plesed him. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. IV. ii. 232, I.. beseke that hyt may be enteryned and kepte to me. 1622 Mabbe Aleman’s Guzman d'Alf. 1. 97 Both which besought to be baptized. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 236 They beseech That Moses might report to them his will.

1340 Ayenb. bezechinges.

01225 Ancr. R. 148 Moiseses hond.. bisemede oSe spitelvuel. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Prol. 152 He telles.. Alle per lymmes how pai besemed. 1470-85 Malory (1816) I. 191 Sir, thou beseemest well. 1586 Webbe Eng. Poe trie (Arb.) 82 She sittes ,. in a goodly scarlett brauely beseeming. 1779 Mason Eng. Gard. xiv. (R.) His manly form, His virtues.. beseem’d no sentiment to wake Warmer than gratitude.

c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3236 He bi-so3te godes wil.

b. with subord. cl. or infin. as obj.

fb. A plea, petition.

01225 Anar. R. 230 peo deoflen.. bisouhten & seiden.. mitte nos in porcos. 01300 E.E. Psalter lxiii[iv]. 1 Here, God, mi bede, when I biseke swa. 1340 Ayenb. 194 Hit behouep ham bidde and bezeche beuore er hi wyllep a3t do. c 1449 Pecock Repr. Prol. 1 Vndimyme thou, biseche thou, and blame thou, in all pacience. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer Consecr. Bps., That he, preaching thy Word, may., be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke. 1655 tr. Milton's 2nd Def. Pop. 223 Well, I beseech, who are you?

fb. To seek to know. Obs.

CI175 Lamb. Horn. 135 Euric neodi 6e heo biseceS. f 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 157 Ech nedi pe hit bisekeS. C1205 Lay. 3494 Nu ich mot bisecchen [1250 biseche] pat ping pat ich aer forhowede. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. 11. 167 Myldeliche with mouthe mercy he by-souhte. CI400 Destr. Troy xxix. 12138 pis holly with hert here I beseke! 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. in. i. 183, I beseech your worship’s pardon. 1612 Dekker, etc. If not Good Play Wks. 1873 I. 318, O I beseeke Thy attention to this Reuerend sub-Prior. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. 11. Wks. (1851) 59 It hath beene more and more propounded, desir’d, and beseech’t. 1803 Miss Porter Thaddeus ii. (1831) 19 His majesty.. beseeched permission to rest for a moment. 1885 Ruskin Prsetenta iii. 105, I besought leave to pat him [a dog].

brotherly beseechings. 1882 W. S. Blunt Sonn. Proteus, Vanitas Van., O glorious sighs, Sublime beseechings.

1. One petitioner.

who

beseeches;

a

suppliant,

a

1382 Wyclif Zeph. iii. 10 Fro thennis my bisecheris.. shuln brynge a 3ift to me. 1508 Fisher Wks. 1. 253 Shewe hymselfe yrefull ayenst his subgecte and besecher. ri6oo Shaks. Sonn. cxxxv, Let no vnkinde, no faire beseechers kill. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I- vi. 43 He terrified the poor beseecher into immediate silence.

2. spec. A petitioner to the king or his courts. c 1400 Petit. Ld. Vesey in Whitaker Hist. Craven (1812) 251 Yor said besecher standeth gretely chargeably to the execucon of.. the last wille of, etc. 1448 Shillingford Lett. (1871) 130 Iugges betwene the seid Bisshop .. and your seid besechers. 1488-9 Act 4 Hen. VII, xxii, Youre besechers shall ever pray, etc. 1523 Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, vi, It shalbe leful to your said besecher.

beseeching (bi'siitfn)), vbl. sb. [f. as prec.] 1. Earnest entreaty, intercession, supplication. c 1300 in Wright’s Lyric P. xxxiv. 95 Heo mai don us god, thurh hire bysechynge. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxii. 198 At the prayer and besechyng of his lieges. 1872 Holland Marb. Proph. 29 With a look of wild beseeching.

2. An earnest request, entreaty, prayer. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xvi[i]. 1 Bihald what mi bisekinge es. 1340 Ayenb. 98 \>e bezechinge pet he ous made.. pet wes pet pater noster. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxii. 251 Continuel besechynges of many noble man. 1659 Milton Rupt. Commw. Wks. (1851) 403 By publick Addresses, and

b. impers. with dat. obj. or to.

2. To suit in appearance; to become, befit, be in accordance with the appearance or character of. With dative obj. (rarely to). a. orig. with well, ill, or other qualification: lit. To appear or look well, etc., for a person to wear, to have, to do, etc. 01225 Juliana 55 Wel bisemeS pe.. to beo streon of a swuch strunde. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 309 A poynt of sorquvdry3e J>at vche god mon may euel byseme. 1393 Gower I. 110 As though it shulde him well beseme That he all other men can deme. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. vi. (1495) 193 Semely clothynge bysemyth to them well that ben chaste damoysels. 1590 Marlowe Edw. II, 1. i. ad fin., A prison may best beseem his holiness. 0 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. II. vi. 137 A duty well beseeming the Preachers of the Gospel. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. ii. 41 It would ill beseem you, so young and so comely, to go further.

b. Hence, without qualification, in the sense of ‘well beseem.’ 1388 Wyclif Prov. xvii. 7 Wordis wel set togidere bisemen not a fool. 01520 Myrr. Our Ladye 126 Euerlastynge holynesse bysemyth lorde thy howse. 1593 Shaks. Lucr. 277 Sad pause and deep regard beseem the sage. 1639 Fuller Holy War iii. xi. (1840) 134 Being more prodigal of his person than beseemed a general. 1729 T. Cooke Tales 45 Her Mind beseem’d her Angel’s Face. 1837 Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) II. i. 12, I have already laughed more than beseems my cloth. 1884 Browning Ferishtah (ed. 3) 61 Man acts as man must; God, as God beseems.

3. absol. To be seemly, to be becoming or fitting, to be meet: orig. with qualification as in 2. c 1340 Cursor M. 8734 (Trin.) Say me what wol best biseme. 1382 Wyclif Rom. i. 28 Tho thingis that acoorden not, or by semen not. 1388-Hebr. vii. 26 It bisemyde that sich a man were a bischop to us. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 552 The receyuers wolden expende thilk good.. not other wise than it bisemed. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 32 His reverend haires. .The knight much honord, as beseemed well. 1671 Milton P.R. 11. 331 To treat thee as beseems. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 44 Silence beseemeth most.

t beseemed, ppl. a. Obs. (f. prec. + -ed'.] Having an appearance (of such a kind), appearing, looking; = beseen; esp. in wellbeseemed. (Cf. also well-behaved, well-spoken.) a 1250 Owl & Night. 842 J?ine wordes beoj7.. so bisemed and biliked. c 1430 Syr. Try am. 720 Ther was no prynce .. That was so semely undur schylde, Nor bettur besemyd a

knvght. 01440 Ipomydon 353 Ther was non.. So wele besemyd, doughty of hand.

beseeming (bi'siimnj), vbl. sb. [f. as prec.] fl. Appearance, look. Obs. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. v. v. 409, I am, sir, The Souldier that did company these three In poore beseeming.

2. Becoming

appearance,

becomingness,

fitness. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 27 Besemynge, or comelynesse, decencia. 1552 Huloet, Beseamynge, condecentia. 1580 Baret Alt). B 557 A Beseeming or comelinesse, condecentia.

be'seeming, ppl. a. [f. as prec. +

-ing2.] That beseems (in senses 2, 3); becoming, befitting, seemly, comely. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 201 Moche besemyng it was., that we sholde haue suche a bysshop. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. 1. i. 100 Cast by their Graue beseeming Ornaments. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. 1. (1632) 65 Those things which men .. know to be beseeming or unbeseeming. 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. (1851) 236 Contented with a moderate and beseeming allowance. 1821 Scott Keniliv. xvi, Tressilian.. made a low and beseeming reverence.

beseeming,

besemyng,

for

by

seeming,

seemingly: see seeming.

be'seemingly, adv.

[f. prec. + beseeming manner; befittingly.

In a

-ly2.]

1611 Cotgr., Decentement, decently, comelily, handsomely, gracefully, beseemingly. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. Ep. Ded., To love knowingly and beseemingly. 1866 J. H. Newman Gerontius v. 40 The Angels, as beseemingly To spirit-kind was given. At once were tried and perfected.

be'seemingness.

as prec. + -ness.] Beseeming quality; fitness, becomingness. [f.

1656 J. Fergusson On Coloss. 142 [It] doth not import a dignity or worth in our walking, to recompence the Lord, but onely a beseemingnesse. 1840 Browning Sordello 1. 282 Till two or three amassed Mankind’s beseemingnesses.

beseemly (bi'siimli),

a. rare. [Irregularly formed on beseem v., after seemly.] Seemly, becoming, befitting. Hence beseemliness. 1647 W. Browne Polex. 11. 292 Preferring false beseemlinesse before loyall affection! 1742 Shenstone Schoolm. xxiv. 209 To their seats they hye.. And in beseemly order sitten there. 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ix. 264 An architectural feature.. as beautiful as it was beseemly.

besege,

etc., obs. form of besiege, etc.

fbe'sekandlik, a.

Obs. north, [f. besekand, north, form of beseeching pr. pple. + -lik, -LIKE.] Able to be besought, propitious. 01300 E.E. Psalter cxxxiv. 14 He sal.. in his hine besekand-lik be \v.r. besoght sal he be] with-al.

beseke,

etc., obs. form of beseech, etc.

besem,

obs. form of besom.

971 Blickl. Horn. 33 Se pe mihte )?one costijend instepes on helle grund besencean. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt, xviii. 6 Besenced [Rushw. besenked] on sees grund. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 87 God bisencte pa pe pharaon.' and al his genge. Ibid. 107 Hi bisencheS us on helle. c 1200 Ormin 19689 J?att mihhte hemm alle.. Inn helle wel bisennkenn. 0 1225 Ancr. R. 334 [He] biseinte \v.r. bisencte] Sodome & Gomorre.

fbe'send, v. Obs. [f. be-4 + send r.] trans. To send to, to send (a message) to. 1297 R. Glouc. 491 Erl Jon, is brother, bisende him al so, & bisou3te is grace of that he adde misdo. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 309 For chance pat him bitidde, pe kyng pus pam bisent, I praie 30W in pis nede, to help me with 30ur oste.

besenes,

obs. form of business.

besense,

obs. f. becense: (see be- pref. i.)

trans.

To serve diligently. 01300 Cursor M. 23053 Did pair bodis in prisun And suonken pam bath dai and night For to beserue vr lauerd.

besestano, -tein,

1580 Lyly Euphues (1636) I ij b, His face did shine as it were beset with the Sun-beames. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. Wks. 1883-4 IV. 207 Euen as Angels are painted . .besette with Sunne-beames so beset they theyr fore-heads.. with glorious borrowed gleamy bushes. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Distilling, It’s necessary you should beset it [a Retort] , even to the very End of the Beak, with a Sort of Stuff made of Potters Earth.

2. To set or station themselves round, to surround with hostile intent. a. To set upon or assail on all sides (a person). 01225 Meid. Maregr. xvii, Des houndes habbet me biset. 01300 Cursor M. 15783 p>ei bigon to awake And him faste aboute biset. C1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 143 Monkynde in po stat of innocense when he .. was not bysett wip enmyes. c 1440 York Myst. xliv. 55 J?e Jewes besettis vs in ilke aside. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 19 b, Than he is a strypplynge, all beset aboute with ennemyes. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. v. i. 88, I.. Drew to defend him, when he was beset. 1718 Pope Iliad xvii. 148 The lioness.. beset by men and hounds. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 194 The Erinnyes, whose business it is to beset the house of the evil¬ doer.

b. To invest, or surround (a place); to besiege. (Not now said of a regular army besieging a town). 0 1225 Ancr. R. 300 \>e buruh .. pet he heueden biset. 1297 R. Glouc. 387 pmderward he heyde vaste. And per castel bysette. 0 1300 Cursor M. 7056 In his tyme was troy biset. C1380 Sir Ferumb. 3539 For pe Amyral.. had be-set pe brigge aboute With strengpe and with gynne. c 1520 Adam Bel 47 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 141 Thys place hath ben besette for you. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia hi. ix. 79 Salvages, well armed, had inuironed the house, and beset the fields. 1740 L. Clarke Hist. Bible vi. 341 They went and beset the town by night. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 107 The partizans of Oswulf beset the house where Copsige was.

c. To occupy (a road, gate, or passage), esp. so as to prevent any one from passing. 0 1300 Cursor M. 15012 Wip harpe & pipe .. pe weye pei him bisette. 1580 Baret Alv. B 559 All the wayes were beset with garrisons of enemies. 1635 N. R. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. 1. 75 Morton in the meane time beset all passages of access. 1753 Life J. Frith (1829) 76 Sir Thomas More., persecuted him both by land and sea, besetting all the ways, havens, and ports. 1852 McCulloch Taxation Introd. 28 The mob, which beset all the avenues to the House of Commons.

3. fig. To encompass, surround, assail, possess detrimentally: a. said of temptations, dangers, difficulties, obstacles, evil influences. 0 1000 Andreas (Gr.) 1257 pa se halja waes .. earopancum beseted. c 1200 Ormin 12954 O mannkinn patt wass all bisett Wipp siness pesstermesse. 01450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 58 Whanne that two vices be sette one euelle delite, gladly they bringe her maister into temptacion. 1611 Bible Heb. xii. 1 Let vs lay aside.. the sinne which doth so easily beset vs. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 441 f 1 [Man] is beset with Dangers on all sides. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. 73 A poor Maiden, that is hard beset. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 240 The difficulties by which the government was beset. 1874 Helps Soc. Press, ii. 18 The hopelessness which gradually besets all people in a great town like London.

b. of the difficulties, perils, obstacles which beset an action, work, or course. 1800 Currie Life Burns (1800) I. Ded. 21 The task was beset with considerable difficulties. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 254 The tale is beset with contradictions. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 138 The difficulties that beset such an explanation.

c. of actual enemies forming schemes against one’s life or property, rare. 1682 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 202 Our lives and estates are besett here.

obs. variant of bezoar. [f. be- 2 + serve v.]

f b. more vaguely: To surround, encircle, cover round with. Obs.

1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 37 Hee shall make readie his Nets to catch Birds, and to beset the Hares.

Obs. Forms: i besencan, 2-3 besencen, (Orm.) bisennkenn, bisenchen. Pa. t. 2-3 bisencte, -seinte. [OE. besencan wk. vb., f. be- 2 + sencan:—OTeut. sanqjan, causal of sinqan to sink.] trans. To cause to sink, submerge, plunge down, overwhelm.

fbe' serve, v. Obs.

1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xxviii. 28 Bisette thin eeris with thornes. 01529 Skelton Vox Pop. Wks. 1843 II. 404 His tabell.. With platt besett inowe. 1563 Pilkington Serm. Wks. (1842) 657 Many of the university, .beset the walls of the Church and Church-porch on both sides with verses. 1598 Barckley Felic. Man in. (1603) 253, I made orchards and gardens, and beset them with all kinde of trees. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 557 They take a..young man, whom they dress in the apparel of a woman, besetting him with divers odoriferous flowers and spices. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. (1776) 196 The Disk is beset with Points that are sharp and stiff. 1834 De Quincey Caesars Wks. X. 231 A diadem or tiara beset with pearls.

fd. To circumvent, entrap, catch. Obs.

fbe'sench, v.

besert,

BESHADE

132

BESEEMING

obs. variant of bezesteen.

beset (bi'set), v. Pa. t. and pa. pple. beset. Also 1-6 bi-, by-. For forms see set. [Com. Teut.: OE. bi-, besett an = OHG. bisezzan (MHG. and mod.G. besetzeri), OS. bisettjan (MDu. besetten, Du. bezetten), Goth, (and OTeut.) bisatjan, f. bi-, be- about + satjan (OE. s§ttan) to set, causal of sitjan to sit. Beset is thus the causal to besit.] I. To set about, surround. All trans. 1. To set (a thing) about with accessories or appendages of any kind; to surround with things set in their places. Now only in pa. pple. 0 1000 Beowulf 2910 Swa hine fyrn-dagum worhte waepna smi6 wundrum teode besette swin-licum. c 1200 Ormin 8169 Itt wass e33wh*r bisett Wipp deorewurpe staness.

fd. paw. To be possessed (with devils). Obs. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 176/1 The deuyls that Saynt Germayn had dryuen out of suche bodyes as were biseten. Ibid. 196/3 Men that were wood and byset with deuyls.

4. gen. To close round; to surround, hem in. (Often with some allusion to senses 2 and 3, as in ‘to be beset by ice.’) c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 57 The towne.. being on all sides beesett with wooddes and fenns. 1642 Rogers Naaman 345 Foggy clouds which doe beset the cleare sky. 1738 Wesley Ps. cxxxix. iv, Within thy circling Arms I lie Beset on every side. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. x. (1856) 73 We are now again fast, completely ‘beset.’ 1870 Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1879) II. 243 The mountains which beset it round.

II. To set (in fig. sense), to bestow. All trans. |5. To set or place (one’s mind, affections, faith, trust, love) on or upon (any one); = set t;.1 Obs. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 101 Cristene men ne sculen heore bileafe bisettan on pere weor(l)dliche eahte. c 1386 Chaucer Pers. T. If 532 Thay ben accursed.. that on such filthe bisetten here bileeve. c 1440 Generydes 5021,1 do very right,

Though I besette my loue on suche a knyght. c 1449 Pecock Repr 295 His over great trust which .. he bisettid upon hem. 1627 Bp. Hall Metaphr. Ps. iv, Offer the truest sacrifice Of broken hearts, on God besetting Your only trust.

f 6. To employ, expend, spend (one’s words, wit, money, time, pains, study). Obs. Cf. bestow. a 1240 Sawles Warde in Lamb. Horn. 249 W arschipe pat best con bisetten hire wordes ant ec hire werkes. a 1300 Dame Siriz 274 Neren never penes beter biset. 1340 Ayenb. 214 Me ssel alneway wel do and wrel besette pane time ine guode workes. C1386 Chaucer C.T. Prol. 279 This worthi man ful wel his witte bisette. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 11. ix. 195 Forto bisette so mich labour and coste aboute ymagis. c 1560 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 207 Here ys thy penyworth of ware; Yf thou thynke hyt not wele besett, Gyf hyt another. 17. To bestow, apportion, allot, transfer; spec.

to bestow or give in marriage. Obs. CI230 Mali Meid. 9 The poure [wummon] pat beo8 wacliche beouen and biset uuele. c 1325 Chron. Eng. 492 )0 Ritson’s Met. Rom. II. 290 Thilke he delede on threo, Wel he bisette theo. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxii, Orgarus thought his doughter shold wel be maryed, and wel beset upon hym. 1494 Fabyan i. iv. 11 He beset or apoynted to hym the Countre of Walys. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iii. 69 The beare his feirce-nesse to his brood besets.

f8. To set in order; arrange; ordain. Obs. 1413 E.E. Wills (1882) 19, I, Richard 3onge, Brewer of London, be-set my testament in thys maner. 1494 Fabyan VI. clxxx'. 178 Than this noble prynce Edward, after thise thinges, be set hym in an ordre. C1500 Blouibol’s Test, in Halliw. Nugse P. 3 Withoute tarying ye make your Testament, And by good avice alle thing well besett.

III. To become, suit. Cf. Sc. set, Fr. seoir. |9. To become, look well on, befit, set off. Obs. 1567 Drant Horace De Arte P. Aiiij, Sad wordes beset a sorye face; thretynge, the visage grim. 1598 R- Pollock On 1 Thess. (1616) 258 (Jam.) If thou be the childe of God, doe as besets thy estate—sleep not, but wake.

fb. intr. To go well or accord with. Obs. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. 1. vi. 13 How handsomely besets Dull spondees with the English dactilets. besetment (bi'setmsnt).

[f. prec. + -ment.]

1. The fact of besetting; concr. that by which one is beset; esp. a besetting sin, weakness, or influence. 1830 S. Warren Diary Physic. (1838) II. vi. 231 To her other dreadful besetments, Mrs. Dudleigh now added the odious and vulgar vice of—intoxication! 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. P. I. xliv. 173 They yield to their peculiar besetments. 1867 WT. Pengelly Trans. Devon Assoc. II. 36 Amongst the besetments of the cultivators.. is that of trusting to negative evidence.

2. A condition of being hemmed in by persistent obstacles, e.g. that of a ship enclosed in ice. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xi. (1856) 84 My journal must give its own picture of this season of ‘besetment.’ 1861 Life W. Scoresby v. 91 A laughable incident occurred during the besetment.

3. A condition of being beset by enemies. 1872 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lix. 16 David's besetment by Saul’s bloodhounds.

besetter (bi'set3(r)).

[f. as prec. + -er1.] One who or that which besets. 1820 Coleridge in Blackw. Mag. VII. 630 There is one class of literary besetters who .. are highly amusing to all but the unlucky patient himself.

be'setting, vbl. sb. [f. as prec. +

-ing1.]

The

action of surrounding with hostile intent. t549 Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1641) 27 The besetting of one house to robbe it.

be'setting, ppl. a.

[f. as prec. + -ing2.] That besets; esp. in the expression besetting sin, and the like, in allusion to Heb. xii. 1. *795 Southey Joan of Arc 11. 69 Retaining still.. their old besetting sin. i860 Trench Serm. Westm. Ab. xiii. 144 We have every one of us besetting sins.. sins, that is, which more easily get advantage over us than others. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. §5. 210 The besetting danger of endowments—mental stagnation and apathy.

fbe'sew, v. Obs. For forms see sew. [OE. bestwian, f. be- i + siwian to sew.] trans. To sew about, sew up. Hence be'sewed ppl. a. a8oo Epinal Gl. 699 (Sweet, O.E.T. 80) Opere plumario bisiuuidi uuerci [Corpus Gl. 1450 bisiudi werci], a 1100 Gloss, in Wr.-W dicker Voc. 459 Besiwed feCerjeweorc. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1688 Mi^t we by coyntise com bi too skvnnes of pe breme beres, and bisowe 30U perinne. Ibid. 3117 We be so sotiliche besewed in pise hides. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 312 The dede body was besewed In cloth of gold and laid therinne. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physic 185/2 The besowede two little bandes.

besey, beseyge:

see besee, besiege.

beshackle, etc.: see

be- pref.

beshade (bi'Jeid), v. [OE. besceadian, f. be- i + sceadian to shade.] To envelop in shade, overshadow. Hence be'shaded ppl. a. a 1000 Salomon fij? Sat. (Gr.) 339 For hwam besceadeS heo muntas and moras? 1393 Gower III. i i i The highe tre the ground beshadeth. 1423 Jas. 1. Kingis Q. xxxii. So thik the bewis and the leues grene Beschadit all the aleves that there were, a 1606 Sylvester Magnif. 975. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. ill. Wks. 1881 III. 273/1 She wore A Crowne of burnisht Gold, beshaded o’re With Foggs and rory mist. 1827 Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 274. 1862 Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. II. 125 Bezide the hill’s besheaded head.

BESHADOW

133

beshadow (bi'Jaedao), v. For forms see shadow. [ME. bishadewen, prob. OE. *besceadwian; cf. OHG. biscatawen, MHG. beschatewen, Du. beschaduwen; f. bi-, be- i + OTeut. (Goth.) skadwjan, in OE. sceadwian, to shadow.] trans. To cast a shadow upon, to shade, overshadow; also fig. Hence be'shadowed ppl. a. a 1300 Cursor M. 10885 And goddes owne vertu now Shal t>e bishadewe for monnes prow. CI320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 586. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iv. v. 166/1 The croppe .. bysshadoweth the rote for the hete of the sonne. 1558 P HAER /Eneid ix. Cciij, Their heads to heauen they lift.. Beshadowyng broad the bows. 1883 Century Mag. XXVII. 47 All is so profoundly beshadowed by huge trees.

beshag, beshake, beshawled;

see be- pref.

beshame (bi'Jeim), v.

[f. be-4 + shame ii.] To cover with shame, put to shame. 1556 Abp. Parker Psalter xxxviii. [ix]. 109 Beshame me not. 1832 Thirlwall in Philol. Mus. I. 490 Controversy is the element of the learned person who has undertaken to beshame and chastise me.

beshan, native name of Balm of Mecca: see balm sb. 10.

be'shear, v. For forms see

shear v. [WGer.: OE. bescieran = OHG. bisceran (MHG. beschern, Ger. and Du. bescheren), f. bi-, be- i, 3 + sceran to SHEAR.] trans. To shear or shave all round; hence, to shear, shave, or cut clean off. [Still possible: at least in pa. pple. beshorn.] c893 K. Alfred Oros. iv. xi. § i Hie eal hiera heafod bescearen. c 1000 ./Elfric Judg. xvi. 17 Ic naes nasfre geefsod ne naefre bescoren. ° sei he per biside .. pe erles baner of Gloucetre. c 1314 Guy Warw. 56 An abbay That was bisiden on the way. c 1380 Wyclif Set. Wks. III. 44 [Vulg. Juxta est dies perdicionis] Bisyde is pe day of perdicioun .. Biside, pat is, neer is pe day [1611 Deut. xxxii. 35 at hand], 1517 Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 20 A lityll ther be syd stondyth an old Churche. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. iv. x, The moving moon went up the sky.. and a star or two beside. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. xvi, Mervyn beside, Hangs over his dear mistress silently.

2. In addition, over and above; = besides 2 (by which this is now usually expressed). 1297 R. Glouc. 92 Of pe lond of France, and of oper londes bi syde. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 30 Hem nedeth.. Of straunge londes helpe beside. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 144 The goode dedis that thou shalt do besyde. 1591 Shaks. i Hen. VI, iv. i. 25 My selfe, and diuers Gentlemen beside. 1692 E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. xx, Now if the same Behaviour be your Guide, In all the actions of your life beside. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxiv. (1806) 143 We can marry her to another.. and what is more, she may keep her lover beside. 1825 Carlyle Schiller 1. (1845) 11 It was by stealth if he read or wrote any thing beside.

b. As an additional consideration; moreover; = besides A. 2 b (by which now usually expressed). 1592 Greene Art Conny Catch, iii. 8 The Maide .. was not a little ioyfull to see him: beside, shee seemed proud that her kinsman was so neat a youth. 1663 Butler Hud. 1. i. 127 Beside he was a shrewd philosopher. 1871 Browning Balaustion (1881) 148 Beside, when he found speech, you guess the speech.

3. Otherwise, else; = besides 3 (by which this is now usually expressed). 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. i. i. 40 And one day in the week to touch no food, And but one meal on euery day beside. 1649 Milton Eikon Pref. C, Rebels, .to God in all thir actions beside. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 243 To all beside as much an empty shade. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague 11. i. 146 We talk’d Of thee and none beside. 1843 E. Jones Sens. Event 57 And these forgetting, all beside In life will darken,

f 4. On or to one side, apart. Obs. (Now aside.) e herdes wakeden ouer here oref biside pe burch belleem. 1297 R. Glouc. 558 To a toun biside Wircetre, pat Kemeseie ihote is. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xiii. 18 Abram .. dwellide biside the valey of Mambre. 1418 E.E. Wills (1882) 32 Seint Gyles beside Holboume. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xiv. 14 At the palaice of Westminster, beside London. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 556 He., was buried a little beside the same Citie.

d.fig. (a) Side by side with in rank, on a level with. (b) By the side of for comparison, compared with. 1513 Douglas JEneis 1. Prol. 365 Besyde Latyne our langage is imperfite. 1843 Ruskin Mod. Paint. (1851) I. Pref. 20 Gainsborough’s power of colour.. is capable of taking rank beside that of Rubens.

2. In addition to, over and above, as well as; = besides B. 2 (by which now usually expressed). 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3697 Bot speciel prayers with gude entente, p>at es made besyde pe sacramente. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 435 For pise sixe kyndenessis bysyde goostliche suffragies. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacr. xxx. 191 The priest.. beside his praiers, doth minister the outwarde sacrament of Aneiling. 1611 Bible Lev. xxiii. 38 Beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts. 1774 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. vi. (1876) 396 Beside his master Andrea

BESIDES Sacchi, he imitated Rafaelle. 1832 J. C. Hare in Philol. Museum I. 59 Beside the planets usually seen, there are other stars. 1879 Lewes Study Psychol. 70 Other men beside ourselves. fb. with obj. clause-, = besides B. 2 b. Obs. 1651 Life Father P. Sarpi (1676) 87 The Pope, beside that he is the head of Religion, is also a Prince. 3. Other than, else than; = besides B. 3 (by

which this is now usually expressed). c 1400 Apol. Loll. 43 If he haue ani ping bi syd pe Lord, pe Lord schal not be his part. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 238 b, In ye whiche commaundement is prohybyte.. all other maner of lechery, besyde the acte of matrimony. 1621 Bp. Mountagu Diatribae 422 No man beside Festus, in that fragment, doth tell us, etc. 1710 Shaftesb. Charac. I. §3 (I737) I- 65 None can understand the Speculation beside those who have the Practise. 1827 Bp. Heber Hymn, Only Thou art holy, theYe is none beside Thee, Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

f4. Outside of, out of, away from. Obs. f a. By the side of so as to pass without contact, by the outside of, past, by. to go beside (L. praeterire): to pass by, pass over, miss, to look beside: to overlook, fail to see, miss. Obs. ci375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 15 J?ei tristen on ri3t of mannis lawe, and gone ofte beside pe sope. 1382-Prov. xix. 11 The glorie of hym is to go beside wicke thingys [1388 to passe ouere wickid thingis]. 1627 Bp. Hall Epist. iv. iii. 341 Let vs but open our eyes, we cannot looke beside a lesson. 1629 Gaule Holy Madn. 95 Oh, doe him not the wrong to looke beside him, for if you see him not, hee comes by to no purpose.

f b. Of position: Outside of, out of, away from. C1400 Apol. Loll. 1 To reduce me in to pe ri3t wey, if I haue gon biside pe wey in ani ping. 1555 in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. 11. App. xlvii. 143 Beside and without the compasse of the same Articles. 1663 Butler Hud. 1. 1. 502 As of Vagabonds we say That they are ne’er beside their way.

fc. Of removal, deprivation: Out of, away from; esp. with put, set, pluck, etc. Obs. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par., Matt. ii. 25 Least he should set beside the kingdome whiche he., held. 1551 tr. More's Utop. 133 If they by couyne or gile be wiped beside their goodes. 1553-87 Foxe A. & M. II. 384 He put the new Pope Alexander beside the cushion and was made pope himself. 1570-87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 60 One of them taking displeasure with his father .. stepped to him and plucking her [a falcon] beside his fist wrong her neck. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 2/1 Neleus Son of Cordrus being put beside the Kingdom of Athens by his younger Brother Medon. be

Robinson

5. fig. senses from 4. a. Out of a mental state or condition, as beside one's patience, one's gravity, one’s wits-, now only in beside oneself: out of one’s wits, out of one’s senses; cf. F. hors de soi, Ger. ausser sich. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxvii. 98 Mad and beside herself. 1526 Frith Disp. Pur gat. 175 The man was almost beside himself, and then was he sent to Oxford. 1596 Shaks. i Hen. IV, ill. i. 179 Enough to put him quite beside his patience. 1611 Bible Acts xxvi. 24 Festus saide with a lowd voyce, Paul, thou art beside [Tindale besides] thy selfe, much learning doeth make thee mad. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. vi. 20 This question almost put him beside his gravity. 1827 Hood Hero & Leand. cvii, Like an enchanted maid beside her wits. 1884 Q. Victoria More Leaves 399, I felt quite beside myself for joy and gratitude.

b. Away from, wide of (a mark); apart from, not embraced within (a plan, purpose, question). 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 1021/2 He speketh al beside the purpose. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (1884) 51,1 take it, M. Proctor was beside his book. 1691 Ray Creation 1. (1704) 64 Because it is beside my Scope. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. 111. xiii. 158 The distinction.. is an altogether false one and beside the question. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 285 The point on which the battle was being fought lay beside the real issue. 1883 Manch. Guard. 22 Oct. 5/3 Really this question is beside the mark.

fc. Beyond the range or compass of (L. praeter); utterly apart from; hence sometimes approaching the sense ‘contrary to.’ Obs. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 14b, No persone may receyue .. the counseyles of the holy goost, excepte he haue besyde nature a spirituall eare. 1548 Geste Pr. Masse 98 It is institute besyde Gods wrytten wordes and so contrarie to the same, a 1619 Fotherby Atheom. 11. viii. §2 (1622) 281 Vertues are begotten in vs, neither by nature, nor beside nature, c 1688 South Serm. (1715) 462 A Lye is properly an outward Signification of something contrary to, or, at least, beside the inward Sense of the Mind. 01758 j. Edwards in N. Worcester Atoning Sacr. (1830) 140 Old men seldom have any advantage from new discoveries, because these are beside a way of thinking which they have been long used to. 1773 Johnson Lett. (1788) I. lxxiii. 106 At Durham, beside all expectation, I met an old friend.

fC. Comb, be'side-forth, besides-forth adv., moreover, further; beside-sitter, one who sits beside, an assessor; be'sideward, ? outside, hard by, in the vicinity. Obs. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xvii. 22 Judas Macabeus, 3e and sexty J?ousande bisyde forth • pat ben nou3t seyen here. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke i. 17 And yet was besidesforth an ungodly and a wicked person. 1340 Ayenb. 40 pe kueade bezidezitteres, pet yeuej? pe kueade redes to pe demeres. 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 116 To men pat in pe cyte dwelle; And men pat dwellen be-sydwarde.

besides (bi'saidz), adv. and prep. Forms: 3-4 bisides, 4 bi-, bysidis, bysydes, 5-6 besydes, -is, 5besides. [f. beside + s of the advb. genitive, here probably a northern substitute for the southern -en of bisiden. This has been used in all the

BESIEGER

134 senses of beside, but is now used, in prose, only in senses 2, 3, for which it is the proper word.]

A. adv. f 1. By the side; close by, near; = beside A. 1. c 1205 Lay. 5181 Brennes [wende] bisides mid his folke of Burguine. C1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 76 Smal sendal bisides, a selure hir ouer. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 114 Heer besydes is a foreste. C1450 Lonelich Grail xliv. 388 Iosephs in that Castel not ne was, but at anothir besides in that plas.

2. In addition, over and above, as well. 1564 Haward Eutropius vi. 52 He deprived him of a portion of his kingdom, and assessed hym to pay a great summe of mony besides. 1611 Bible Gen. xix. 12 And the men said vnto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? 1821 Keats Isabel liv. It drew Nurture besides, and life, from human fears. 1863 Mary Howitt F. Bremer's Greece II. xvi. 149 There are, besides, many marble slabs with long Greek inscriptions.

b. Introducing a further consideration: As an additional or further matter, moreover, further. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. 11. i. 15 Besides, the lottrie of my destenie Bars me the right of voluntarie choosing. 1682 Norris Hierocles 8 Besides, God is not at all Honour’d by the most costly oblations. 1774 Burke Amer. Tax. Wks. II. 384 Besides, they were indemnified for it. 1858 Bright Reform, Sp. (1876) 282 There is, besides, this great significant fact. Mod. It is rather too late to go out; besides, I am tired.

3. Other than mentioned, otherwise, else. 1596 Shaks. i Hen. IV, in. i. 185 Which .. leaves behinde a stayne Upon the beautie of all parts besides, a 1694 Tillotson Serm. I. i. (R.) An ignorant man, whatever he may know besides. 01704 Locke (J.) Robbers, who break with all the world besides, must keep faith among themselves. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. 4 Knowledge in which the gentlemen of England have been more remarkably deficient than those of all Europe besides. f4. = BESIDE A. 6. Obs. (Now ASIDE.) 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. v. (1679) 19 The blows thou mak’st at me are quite besides. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. xi. (1653) 184 They never faile, or cast it besides. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 152/2 He was so thoughtful, that going to put Incense into a Censer, he put it besides.

B. prep. fl. = beside B. 1. Obs. C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 31 Da com on angel of heuene to hem, and stod bisides hem. 01300 Cursor M. 16878 In a 3ard bisides pe tune. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xiii. 1 Jhesus .. sat bisides the sae . 1480 Caxton Treviso's Descr. Eng. 6 At Stonhenge besides Salesbury. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 316 b, I would.. make you roome here besides me, but that I sitte in so narrowe a roome myself. 1605 Stow Ann. 372 King Edward kept his Christmasse at Kenington besides Lambeth. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 208 Hold., your Right Hand close besides your Left Hand.

2. Over and above, in addition to, as well as. (This and the next are the ordinary current senses.) 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale 24 Besydis thys condempnacion of me by hearsaye. 1552 Huloet, Besydes that, praeterea. 1557 N. T. (Geneva) Luke xvi. 26 Besydes all this, betwene you and us there is a great gulfe set. [So 1611.] c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 484 Besides that., they have some part of his word solemnly read. 1783 Ld. Hailes Anc. Chr. Ch. ii. 50 St. Paul.. became acquainted with many Christians besides his converts. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. vii. (ed. 5) 112 The Emperor, besides the sword., receives a ring as the symbol of his faith.

b. with obj. clause. 1579 E. K. in Spenser's Sheph. Cal. Mar. Gloss., Besides the .. affection .. tormenteth the mynde. 1586 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 97 Besides that this water cooleth all the inward parts, it doth greatly helpe the stone, i860 Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 59/2 The representatives of the majority, besides that they would themselves be improved in quality .. would no longer have the whole field to themselves.

3. Other than, else than: in negative and interrogative (formerly sometimes in affirmative) sentences, capable of being rendered by ‘except, excluding.’ c 1375 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 393 No man may putt an-o)?er ground bysidis pat pat is putt [So 1382 N. T. 1 Cor. iii. 11; 1388 outtakun; Tind., Coverd., Genev., 1611, then; Rhem. beside.] c1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. I. 22 England is well stored with all kinde of beeastes, besides asses, mules, cammels, and elephants. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. 11. xxii. 116 Not the act of the Body, nor of any other Member thereof besides himselfe. a 1716 South 12 Serm. (1717) IV. 37 The Jews.. for ever unsainting all the world besides themselves. 1711 Addison Sped. No. no IP 1 No living Creature ever walks in it besides the Chaplain. 1758 Jortin Erasm. I. 266 In the opinion of every one besides himself. Mod. Have you nothing to tell us besides what we have already heard? f4. = beside B. 4. a. Past, by. Obs. 1634 Preston New Covt. 62 Careful that none of this water run besides the mill. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. ii. (1647) 232 King Philip missed of his expectation, and the morsel fell besides his mouth. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 468/2 [He] proposed sophisms to the disputants, slipping besides the sense. 1680 Observ. on ‘Curse Ye Meroz' 5 No sooner did they perceive the waters begin to run besides their Mill.. but they turned Cat in Pan, and cursed as fast the contrary way.

f b. Opposition: Out of, away from, off. Obs. 1537 Tindale Exp. 1 John Wks. II. 183 Thou mayest well, besides Christ, know him [God] as a tyrant. 1607 Topsell Serpents 769 /Elianus was a little besides the way, when he set down macrous for microus. 1641 Vind. Smectymnuus §7. 90 He tels us we are besides the Cushion.

shoulders. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. 11. xiv. §5 (1873) 159 Doth not only put a man besides his answer. 1654 Ussher Ann. v. 88 That no God was able to put him besides his Kingdom. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 47 An extravagant love .. puts the Philosopher besides his Latin.

5. fig. (from 4.) = BESIDE B. 5. fa. Out of any mental state; hence besides oneself: see beside B. 5 a. Obs. 1526 Tindale Acts xxvi. 24 Paul, thou arte besides thy selfe. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale 36, I am suer Tindale is not so farre besydis his comon sencis. 1611 Bible 2 Cor. v. 13 Whether wee bee besides our selues.. or whether we bee sober. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. 11. xxvii. (1695) 186 Our way of speaking in English, when we say such an one is not himself, or is besides himself, .as if.. the self same Person was no longer in that Man.

fb. = BESIDE B. 5b. Obs. 1581 R. Goade in Confer. 11. (1584) I iiij b, You fall to discoursing cleane besides the purpose. 1651 Lilly & Ashmole Autobiogr. (1774) 172 Its besides my task to write the life of the late King. 1699 Bentley Phal. 219 Though it be quite besides the subject.

fc. Beyond; = beside B. 5 c. Obs. 1564 Brief Exam. **b, Nothyng muste be brought into the Churche, besides or contrary to Scripture. 1577 Vautroullier Luther's Ep. Gal. 8 This thou doest besides thine office; keepe thy selfe within thy bounds. Ibid. 36 If it teach any thing besides or against Gods word. 1661 Bramhall7ms£. Vind. vii. 196 The Pope can do nothing in France, .either against the Canons or besides the Canons. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. iv. i. 159 Tis besides nature. 1692 Locke Toleration iii. iv. Wks. 1727 II. 355 A model so wholly new, and besides all experience.

besie, obs. form of busy. besiege (bi'si:d3), v. Forms: 3-6 bysege, 4 biseche, 4-5 be-, bisege, 5 biseige, 7 besiedge, -sige, 5- besiege. [ME. bi-, by-, besege(n, f. be- i + sege(n, aphetic f. asege(n, assiege.] 1. trans. To sit down before (a town, castle, etc.) with armed forces in order to capture it; to lay siege to, beleaguer, invest. 1297 R. Glouc. 387 pys ost wende puderward.. And byseged pen castel syx wouke wel vaste. a 1300 Cursor M. 9211 Twelve monej? he biseged hit. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4275 byn barons.. pat so buj? be-seged on pat tour. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxi. 2 Stee3h vp, Elam, and bisege \v.r. biseche] Medeba. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 9 A certeyn Cite.. was biseigyd with.. enemeys of pe Emperoure. 1595 Shaks. John 11. i. 489 This Cittie now by vs besiedg’d. 1611 Bible j Sam. xxiii. 8 Saul called all the people together..to besiege Dauid, and his men. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 339 Agrican with all his northern powers Besieg’d Albracca. 1844 Thirlwall Greece VII. lx. 67 Antigonus besieged the city for ten months.

b. fig. and transf. ci6oo Shaks. Sonn. ii, When forty winters shall besiege thy brow. 1601 -All's Well 11. i. 10 The mallady That doth my life besiege. 1608 Armin Nest Ninn. 31 Having wrung off her neck, begins to besiedge that good morsel.

2. transf. To crowd round like a besieging army; to block up, hem in. 1686 Gentl. Recr. 1. 101 A Planet is besieged, when he is between the Bodies of the two.. Malevolents, Saturn and Mars. 1717 Pope Elegy Unfort. Lady 38 Frequent hearses shall besiege your gates. 1789 Jefferson Corr. (1830) 20 The people have besieged the doors of the bakers.

3. fig. To assail with importunate addresses or prayers. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 534 JP 5 There is one gentleman who besieges me as close as the French did Bouchain. 1737 Pope Hor. Ep. 1. vii. 29 Fools with compliments besiege ye. 1850 Alison Hist. Europe VIII. 1. §45 The ministers were besieged with innumerable applications for every office. 1867 Parkman Jesuits N. Amer. xix. (1875) 293 Pious souls .. who daily and nightly besieged Heaven with supplications.

fbe'siege, sb. Obs. Also 6 beseyge, 7 beseige. [f. prec. vb.] Besieging, siege. 1552 Huloet, Besiege laier, obsessor. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 15 The besiege of Sagitta. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxiv. (1632) 1191 The besiege of Inis-Kellen. 1664 Floddan F. iii. 22 Your saults and hard besiege.

besieged (bi'si:d3d),pp/. a. [f. prec. vb. + -ed1.] 1. Invested or surrounded by hostile forces. c 1440 Promt). Parr. 27 Besegyde, obsessus. 1603 in Shaks. C. Praise 57 Of Helens rape and Troyes besieged Towne. 1795. Southey Joan of Arc vi. 158 Our foes Haply may.. quit in peace Besieged Orleans.

b. absol. The people besieged. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1638) 320 Offering vnto the besieged .. easie conditions of peace. 1863 Stanley Jen;. Ch. xi. 239 The besieged and the besiegers alike were taken by surprise.

2. transf. Beset by an importunate crowd. 1866 Crump Banking ii. 55 The funds..were instantly returned to the besieged bank.

besiegement (bi'si:d3m3nt). Also 7 besiedg-. [f. as prec. + -ment.] The action of besieging or state of being besieged; also fig. *564 Golding Justine 31 (R.) Setting before their eies besiegement, hungar, and the arrogant enemy. 1577 Test. 12 Patriarchs (1604) 75 The Lord shall bring upon you famine, and.. wrathful besiegement. 01679 T. Goodwin Wks. (1865) X. 481 An unheard-of way of besiegement.

fc. Of removal: Out of, away from, off. to put besides: to put out of, do out of, deprive of.

besieger (bi'si:d39(r)). [f. as prec. + -er1.] One

155* Robinson tr. More's Utop. 41 The husbandmen., by coueyne and fraude.. be put besydes it. 1577 Holinshed Chron. I. 173/1 The Englishmen .. desirous .. to shake off the yoke of Danish thraldome besides their necks and

1580 Baret Alv. B 570 A besieger, obsessor. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 313 Demetrius, surnamed the Besieger. 1633 BL Cogan Pinto's Trav. liii. (1663) 209 Permission for the Besieged to converse with the Besiegers. 1709 Steele

who besieges.

BESIEGING

be'sieging (bi'si:d3iij), vbl. sb. Also 4 bi-, 5 besegynge. [f. as prec. + -ing1.] The action of laying siege to (a place); the condition of being besieged. 1382 Wyclif Ezek. iv. 2 Thou shalt ordeyne a3ens it a bisegynge. 1388 - Jer. x. 17 Thou that dwellist in bisegyng. 1560 Whitehorne Art Warre (1588) 93 b, The defending and besieging of townes. 1611 Bible Ecclus. 1. 4 He.. fortified the citie against besieging. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. 11. ii. 66 Chiefly used in besieging of cities.

be'sieging, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That besieges; employed in a siege. 1813 Examiner 17 May 307/2 The besieging corps before Dantzick. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xl, The arras .. Flutter’d in the besieging wind’s uproar. 1863 Holland Lett. Joneses xv, A will as patient.. as that which a besieging army needs.

be'siegingly, adv. rare. Urgently, importunately.

BE-SMUT

135

Tatler No. 18 If 6 The Besiegers were quiet in their Trenches, i860 Froude Hist. Eng. V. 80 The advanced works of the besiegers were.. close to the town.

[f. prec.

+

-ly2.]

1822 De Quincey Confess. Wks. I. 270 Any particular death .. haunts my mind more obstinately and besiegingly, in that season.

1615 Bp. Hall Contempt. N.T. iv. iv. 198 He that.. hath beslaved himself to a bewitching beauty. 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. IV. 51 Or if thy droyling hand should once beslave Thy glorious freedome.

2. To address as a slave, to call ‘slave.’ 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. 11. 158/1, I will not rayle, or rogue thee, or be-slaue thee. 1713 Addison Guardian No. 153 He is now chiding and beslaving the emmet that stands before him.

3. To fill with slaves, pollute with slavery. 1862 J. Spence Amer. Union 246 Texas would not have been annexed and beslaved.

Hence be'slaved ppl. a., be'slaving vbl. sb. 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 54 Redeeming of many poor beslaved souls. 1641 Ld. Digby Sp. in Ho. Com. 19 Jan. 16 Our beslaving since the Petition of Right.

beslaver

(bi'slaev3(r)), v.

[f. be- i + slaver v. trans. 1. To slaver upon or over, to bedrivel; to cover with anything suggesting slaver. Cf. also BESLOBBER.]

1589 Pappe w. Hatchet Ciij, Giue the infant a bibbe, hee all to beslauers his mother tongue. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. 1. ii. (Arb.) 14 One of your reumaticke Poets, that beslauers all the paper he comes by. 1870 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 38 Unconscious if any reptile beslaver its base.

2. To cover with fulsome flattery.

besigh (bi'sai), v. [f. be- 4 + sigh v.] To sigh over.

1861 Life Ld. Bacon xxii. 498 He was ready to beslaver Majesty infinitely.

c 1200 Tnn. Coll. Horn. 201 J?e sinfulle pe his sinnes .. sore bisicheS. 1827 Carlyle Germ. Romance I. 46 Besighing his past madness.

1598 E. Gilpin Skial. (1878) 5 To thinke so well of a scald railing vaine, Which soone is vented in beslauered writs.

fbe'sight. Obs. rare. In 3 besijte, 4 besiht. [ME. besijte, f. besee v., and siyte, sight.] Consideration, determination, ordinance. 1258 Proclam. Hen. Ill, The besi3te of than to foren iseide redesmen. c 1320 Cast. Loue 311 A pral.. porw be-siht of riht dom To strong prison was i-don.

besil(e, obs. form of bezzle. besilver (bi'silv3(r)), v. [f. be- i + silver zl] trans. To silver over, to cover or line with silver; also fig. Hence be'silvered ppl. a. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Viet, in Farr’s S.P. (1847) 61 Many streams his banks besilvered. 1800 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 330 Yet how well he amalgamates and besilvers all! 1825 Blacktc. Mag. XVIII. 436 The moonbesilver’d casements guided us. 1864 R. Barton Dahome II. 33 Wives and Amazons, copiously besilvered.

besin, besinge, besiren: see be- pref. besing (bi'sit)), v. [f. be- 4 + sing t;.] trans. a. To sing (into some state), b. To sing about (a person, etc.); to celebrate in song; to sing to. Hence besung (bi'sAt)), ppl. a. 1566 Drant Horace Sat. x. Eivb, If the plaintife Poet shoulde besing his muses horce. 1828 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 239 Let him worship and besing the idols of the time. i860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. iii, In the Charter which has been so much besung. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. IV. xii. i. 119 The Mountain part.. besung by rushing torrents.

fbe'sink, v. Obs. Forms: 1 besincan, 2-3 bisinken; Pa. t. -sank; Pa. pple. -sunken. [OE. besincan str. vb., f. be- 2 + sincan to SINK.] 1. intr. To sink, fall down through any substance. C893 K. /Tlfred Oros. 111. xi. 10 Sio burg besanc on eorpan. c 1230 Hali Meid. 33 Hwase liS ileinen deope bisunken.

2. trans. To submerge. For besench. C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 177 J?e storm bisinkeS pe ship.

t besire, a bad form for desire. 1589 Marprel. Epit. C, lie besire them to leaue this order, or els they are like to heare of it.. And ile besire you.

fbe'sit, v. Obs. Also 4-5 bisit. [OE. besittan to sit about, besiege f. be- i + sittan to sit. The primary verb, of which beset is the causal.] 1. trans. To encamp about, besiege. a 1100 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1087 Se cyng..let besittan pone castel. 1154 Ibid. an. 1135 Te king it bestet.

2. To sit upon; to lie heavy upon; to weigh upon. 1362 Langl. P. PL A. ii. 110 Hit schal bisitten oure soules sore atte laste. 1377 Ibid. B. x. 361 It shal bisitten vs ful soure, pe siluer pat we kepen.

3. To sit properly upon (as a dress): to fit, suit, become. Cf. F. seoir. ri449 Pecock Repr. 1. xiv. 73 This.. bisittith not his wisdom, c 1471 Fortescue Wks. (1869) 463 Yt besatt not his magnifycence to have done otherwise. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 227 Affections for to change it well besits. 1614 C. B. Ghost Rich. Ill, Yeelding thoughts besit the basest slaves.

fbeskyfte, v. Obs. rare-', [f. be- 3 + ME. skyfte: see shift.] trans. To thrust off. 1470-85 Malory Arthur (1817) I. 91 She coude not beskyfte hym by no meane.

beslab, beslap, beslash, etc.: see be- pref. beslabber, beslaber, variants of beslobber. beslave (bi'sleiv), v. [f. be- 5 + slave.] 1. trans. To make a slave of, enslave, lit. and fig-

Hence be'slavered ppl. a.

fbe'sleeve, v. nonce-wd.

[be- 6 c.

+

sleeve.]

trans. To take the sleeves from (a bishop). Hence be'sleeving vbl. sb. 1589 Nashe Almond for P. 16 a, Am not I old Ille ego qui quondam at ye besleeuing of a sichophant.

beslime, beslipper, beslow,

etc.: see be-.

beslobber (bi'slDb^r)), v. Also 4-5 bislaber. [f. be- 1

+ slobber v.] To wet and befoul with saliva (= to beslaver), or with portions of liquid food escaping from the mouth; to kiss like a drivelling child; hence, to kiss childishly or effusively; fig. to cover with fulsome flattery. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. vm. 1 Tho cam sleuthe al byslobered [B. v. 392 bislabered] with two slymed eyen. 1828 Macaulay Hallam, Ess. (1851) I. 84 The salaried Viceroy of France.. beslobbering his brother and courtiers in a fit of maudlin affection. 1868 Blackw. Mag. Aug., When a man is beslobbered by high and by low, In our senates and schools deemed a light of the age.

beslombre, beslomere, v. Obs.: see next. beslubber (bi'sLvb^r)), v. Also 4-5 beslombre, beslomer. [f. be- i + slubber v. The early beslom(b)er is probably merely a phonetic variant: Matzner would make it distinct, comparing it with ‘Du. slommeren to trouble’; but see the sense.] trans. To wet and soil with a thick liquid; to bedaub, bedabble, besmear. Hence be'slubbered. c 1394 P. PI. Crede 427 His hosen .. Al beslombred [v.r. beslomered] in fen as he pe plow folwede. 1587 Golding De Mornay xviii. (1617) 317 A certain common conceiuing of God, howbeit so defaced and beslubbered. 1596 Shaks. j Hen. IV, 11. iv. 341 To beslubber our garments with it, and sweare it was the blood of true men. 1621 Molle Camerar. Liv. Libr. 1. xv. 64 Perfumes .. wherewith he vsed to sweeten and beslubber himselfe. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. iv. (1804) 14 A countenance beslubbered with tears. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland xi. 197 The boiling jets squirt suddenly at one over the red beslubbered rim.

beslur, beslurry, besme,

etc.: see be- pref.

obs. form of besom.

besmear (bi'smi3(r)), v. Forms: i bismierwan, besmyrwan, 3 bismeoruwien, 6 besmeere, -smere, -smire, 6-7 besmeare, 7-8 besmeer, 6- besmear. [OE. bismierwan, late WSax. besmyrwan, Anglian besmerwan, f. bi-, be- i -I- smierwan, smerwan (pa. t smierede):—OTeut. *smerwjan to smear, f. *smerwo-{m), in OE. smeoru, smeru, ointment, grease.] trans. To smear over or about; to cover the surface generally or largely with any greasy, viscous, or sticky substance; usually with the notion of soiling or staining: to bedaub. CI050 Gloss. Cott. Cleop. in Wr.-Wiilcker Voc. 422/14 Interlitam, besmyred. a 1225 Ancr. R. 214 KumeS forS biuoren his Louerde bismitted 8t bismeoruwed. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale 50 Besmering and dawbing eche other with dirte and myer. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 42 The divelish hag .. With wicked herbes and oyntments did besmeare My body. 1601 Shaks. Tviel. N. v. 55 That face of his., was besmear’d As blacke as Vulcan in the smoake of warre. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) II. 145 They besmear their children with the blood. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1849) 42 He.. caused the bodies of the wagons to be., besmeared with a compound of tallow and ashes.

b. predicated of the unguent or viscous matter. a 1700 Dryden (J.) Her gushing blood the pavement all besmear’d. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxii. 329 His batter’d front and brains besmear the stone.

c. intr. (for refl.) To become besmeared.

1587 Turberv. Louer confess. (R.) If face besmear with often streames.

2. fig. To sully, defile, pollute. 1579 Tomson Calvin s Serm. Tim. 245/2 That they bee not besmeered with any blame. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. v. 219 My honor would not let ingratitude So much besmeare it. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 10 (1619) 216 With the black coales of enuious and slanderous inuectiues striuing to besmeare them. 1867 Sat. Rev. 5 July, Ministers vie with each other in getting themselues besmeared.

besmeared (bi'smiad), ppl. a. [f. prec. 4- -ED1.] Smeared over, covered with anything greasy or nasty; befouled. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse (ed. 2) 10b, Mistris Minx, .that lookes as simperingly as if she were besmeard. c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. Iv, Unswept stone besmear’d with sluttish time. 1655 Gurnall Chr. in Arm. x. 208/1 Thy filthy garments, and besmeared countenance. 1805 Southey Madoc Azt. xvi, His face, besmeared And black with gore.

besmearer (bi'smi3r3(r)).

[f. as prec. + -er1.]

One who besmears. 1611 Cotgr., besmearer.

Barbouilleur.. a

blotter,

smutter,

besmearing (bi'smiarir)), vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ing1.] A smearing or daubing over; also fig. 1580 Baret Alv. B571 A Besmeering, or annoynting. 1611 Cotgr., Enduisement, a plaistering, dawbing.. besmearing. 1653 A. Wilson I. Proem., The defacing and besmearing of Virtue and Innocence.

besmell, besmile,

etc.: see be- pref.

besmirch (bi'sm3:tj), v.

Also 7 besmerch, -smyreh. [f. be- i + smirch t>.] To soil, discolour, as with smoke, soot, or mud; also fig. to sully, dim the lustre of. 1602 Shaks. Ham. i. iii. 15 And now no soyle nor cautell doth besmerch The vertue of his feare. a 1700 Bride's Bur. in Percy Reliques III. (R.) Fair Helen’s face Did Grecian dames besmirche. 1881 Daily Tel. 14 Nov., You cannot permanently besmirch a work of art. Time is sure to rub off the stain. 1882 Garden 21 Jan. 33/3 The first shower of rain would .. besmirch the velvet of their petals.

Hence be'smirched ppl. a. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, iv. iii. no Our Gaynesse and our Gilt are all besmyreht. 1864 Spectator 618 The toiling, and besmirched priesthood of the world. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. 1. (1870) 94 In besmirched array Some met us.

besmire,

obs. form of besmear.

fbe'smit, v. Obs. Also 3 bismit, 4 besmet, 5 bismyt. [f. be- 2 + smit ».] trans. To stain, infect (as with disease), contaminate. (Mostly fig-) [971 Blickl. Horn. 85 J>u woldest symle pone besmitan pe pu nan wiht yfles on nystest.] 01225 Ancr. R. 214 KumeS forS biuoren his Louerde bismitted [v.r. bismuddet] and bismeoruwed. 1340 Ayenb. 32 A uice huerof al pe wordle is besmet. Ibid. 229 \>et ne is na3t besmetted ine herte mid kueade po3tes. 1480 Caxton Treviso's Descr. Brit. 52 His is bismytted with their treson also.

besmoke (bi'smsuk), v. Forms: 4-5 bysmoke, 5 bismoke, 6-9 besmoak, 7 besmoake, 6- besmoke. [f. be- 4 + smoke f.] trans. To fill with smoke, to act on with smoke, to fumigate. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. liii. (1495) 813 Yf a man bismokith the hous of the ampte wyth byrmstoon. 1574 Hyll Bees xv, Besmoke the hive with flaxe. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 1133 Mists of Rome, That have so long besmoaked Christendom. 1611 Florio, Affumare, to besmoake, to drie in the smoake as bacon. 1823 W. Taylor in Month. Mag. LVI. 126 They besmoak us with a disgusting mixture of sacrifice and frankincense.

Hence be'smoked ppl. a., be'smoking vbl. sb. C1374 Chaucer Boeth. 5 It is wont to dirken by-smoked ymages. 1611 Cotgr., Enfumement, a smoaking, a besmoaking. 1854 Dickens Hard Times xxii. (D.) The besmoked evergreens were sprinkled with a dirty powder.

besmooth, besmother, besmudge: see be- pref.

besmouche,

f be'smottered, ppl. a. Obs. rare. In 4 bi-, bysmotered, -erd, 6 Sc. besmotterit. [A simple smotered or smoteren does not occur: though Chaucer has an adj. smoterlich, which Prof. Skeat takes as = 'dial, smutty, wanton.’ The Du. smodderen to smut, and LG. besmaddern, have been compared, but do not quite answer phonetically. The form looks like a freq. or dim. of besmut, but neither this nor smut is found so early. Douglas evidently took the word from Chaucer.] trans. To bespatter as with mud or dirt. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 76 Of ffustian he wered a gypon Al bismotered with his habergeon. 1513 Douglas JEneis v. vi. 124 His face he schew besmotterit.

be-smut(bi'smAt), v. [f. be- i + smutu.] trans. ‘To blacken with smoke or soot’ (J.), to dirty; also fig. 1610 Holland Camden’s Brit. I. 154 That blot wherewith Chalcondilas hath besmutted our nation. 1656 Earl Monm. Advt.fr. Parnass. 438 The flash did so singe his face, having monstrously besmutted him.

Hence be'smutted ppl. a. (also said of wheat blackened by smut).

BE-SMUTCH 1829 Blackw. Mag. XXVI. 33 We see the ‘rara avis,’ with beak and claws begrimed and besmutted. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. in. v. iii. (D.) One besmutted, redbearded corn-ear in this which they cut.

be-smutch (bi'smAtJ), v. [f. be- i + smutch.] trans. To besmirch. 1832 Carlyle in Fraser’s Mag. V. 258 Her siren finery has got all besmutched. 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics vi. i. (ed. 2) 1. 151 Ruffling and besmutching all his gay feathers.

t be'snare, v. Obs. [f. be-4 + snare 1;.] trans. To take in a snare, to entrap. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. ix. 17 God fulfilleth the part of a Judge, as often as he besnareth [printed besnarleth] the wicked in their wickednesse.

besnivel, besnowball, besnuff, besob: see bepref. besnow (bis'nsu), v. Forms: 1 besniwan, 4 bi-, by-, besnywe(n, -snewe(n, 6- besnow. [OE. besniwian, f. be- i + sniwan to snow.] trans. To snow on; to cover or whiten with, or as with, snow; also fig. Hence be'snowed ppl. a. a 1000 z^Elfric Gloss, in Wr.-Wiilcker Voc. 175 Ninguidus, besniwod. 1340 Ayenb. 81 Non vayr body ne is bote .. ase a donghel besnewed. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 51 He was with yiftes all besnewed. 1597 Drayton Mortimer. 26 The battered Caskes.. Besnow the soyle with drifts of scattered plumes. 1633 True Trojans 1. iii, Foam besnows the trampled corn. 1849 Lytton Caxtons 11. ix. xxxix, A fourth, all besnowed and frozen, descends from the outside.

fbe'sogne. Obs. Also besognie, bessogne. [a. Fr. bisogne, ‘bisongne, a filthie knaue, or clowne; a raskall, bisonian, base humoured scoundrell’ (Cotgr.), ad. It. bisogno, cf. besonio.] a. A raw recruit, b. A low worthless fellow; = bezonian. 1615 Chapman Odyss. Ep. Ded. 50 Against this host, and this invincible commander, shall we have every besogne and fool a leader? 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. xi. (1821) 352 There were but a few Besognies amongst them. 1658 Brome Covent Gard. v. iii, Beat the Bessognes that lie hid in the Carriages.

fbe'sognier. Obs. rare. An adapted form of besogne or bisognio, with English ending; = prec. 1584. Whetstone Mirr. Mag., These be no bashful Besogniers. 1588 J. Harvey Disc. Probleme 71 Bribing copesmates and incroching Bisogniers.

fbe'soigne. Obs. Also 5 boesyngne, besoynye, 6 besone. [a. OF. besoigne business, mod. besogne = Pr. besonha, It. bisogna, fern, forms found alongside of the masc. besoin, besonh, bisogno-, see Diez, Littre.] Business, affair, ado. 1474 Caxton Chesse iv. ii, Thynges that aperteyne to the counceyl & to the besoyngne of the royame. 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I, 142 Fitted for those little besoignes of Accounts, and Reckonings.

besoil (bi'soil), v. Forms: 3-4 bisuele, -suyle, 5 beswyle, 4-6 besoyle, 7- besoil. [f. be- i + soil u.] trans. To soil, stain, sully; also fig. Hence be'soiled ppl. a. a 1300 Pains of Hell 91 in O.E. Misc. 225 And summe he sau3 bi-suyled • as souwes.. vp to pe brouwes. C1315 Shoreham 108 Thys men by-soyled beth. c 1450 Merlin x. 165 His swerde all besoyled with blode of men and of horse. 01670 Hacket Abp. Williams 11. 164 The Remonstrance.. came forth.. to besoil his Majesty’s reign. 1798 Southey Sonn. xii, Cobwebs and dust thy pinions white besoil. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. iv, All weather-tanned, besoiled.

besom (biizam), sb. Forms: 1-2 besma, 1 besema, 3-4 besem, 3-5 besme, 4 beesme, bisme, 4-5 besum, 5 besumme, bessume, besowme, 5-7 besome, 6 bysom, beasome, bessem, 6-8 beesom(e, 7 beesum, beasom, (6 Sc. boosome, 7 bissome, 9 dial, bezom, bizzim, buzzom), 5besom. [Com. WGer.: OE. besema, besma ( = OFris. besma, OHG. besamo, MHG. besme, besem, mod.G. besen, Du. bezem):—OTeut. *besmon- (not found in EGer.). Ulterior derivation obscure.] fl. A bundle of rods or twigs used as an instrument of punishment; a birch. Obs. (L. fascis.) c 893 K. Alfred Oros. 11. iii. §2 He.. hy.. het jebindan, and., mid besman swingan. et me him beode. 1314 Chart, in Arnold Chron., I nyl suffer, yl ony man you any wrongis beed.

2. a. trans. f to bid (any one) battle, arms: to offer battle to, challenge to fight. Obs. to bid defiance (still in use). (With pa. t. bade, pple. bidden.) a. a 1300 Cursor M. 7472 Ilk dai he come .. and batail bede \v.r. bed, bedd] wip sli[k] manace. C1330 K. of Tars 1018 Uppon the soudan thei beode bataile. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xlvi. 517 Ajens the miscreantz bataille to bede. 3. 1570 Marr. Wit. & Sc. iv. i. in Hazl. Dodsl. II. 364 hen you feel yourself well able to prevail, Bid you the battle. 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. 11. ii, An hundred Kings.. will bid him arms. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vn. xlv. 371 Edmund..two dayes after at Brentford bad them battaile. 1626 Massinger Rom. Act. iv. i, We, undaunted yet.. bid defiance To them and fate. 1639 Fuller Holy War 11. xxxvi. (1840) 98 Whom he bade battle, and got the day. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 15 That spirit which had bidden defiance to .. the House of Valois.

W

fb. ellipt. To challenge, defy. Obs. a. 1375 Barbour Bruce vii. 103, I trow he suld be hard to sla, And he war bodyn all evynly.

fc. to bid the base: to challenge to a run at prisoners’ base; hence fig. Obs. See base sbJ fl. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. I. ii. 98 Indeede I bid the base for Protheus.

3. a. trans. To offer (a certain price) for, to offer as a price one is prepared to give for. (Sometimes with dative obj. of person: ‘you bid me too little.’) ^]In this sense the pa. t. and pa. pple. are now bid; Scotch writers retain the past, bad, bade, used by Dr. Johnson. a. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 213 pe sullere loue5 his ping dere.. pe be3er bet litel par fore. 1297 R. Glouc. 378 He sette hys londes to ferme wel vaste Wo so mest bode vote. fi. c 1470 Henry Wallace 11. 38 For a strak he bad hym grottis thre. 1530 Palsgr. 454/2 You bydd me money and fayre wordes. 1602 Shaks. Ham. 11. ii. 372 There was.. no mony bid for argument, a 1704 T. Brown Two Oxf. Scholars Wks. 1730 I. 9 If I.. farm out my Tythes, my Parishioners will bid me half the worth of them. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 161 f 10 [They] bade her half the price she asked. 1832 Ht. Martineau Each & All iii. 37 Starving thousands .. bid their labour against one another for bread. Mod. Who bids five shillings for this lot?

b. intr. (ellipt.) To offer (any one) a price, to make an offer (for a thing), as ‘to bid at an auction.’ to bid against (a person): to compete with (him) in offers. Often fig. as in ‘to bid for the Irish vote.’ Also with indirect pass., to be bid for; and with complemental object, to bid (a thing) up: to raise its price by successive bids. p. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. in. vii. 71,1 bid for you, as I do buy. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. 90 Masters bid against one another in order to get workmen. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. v. iii, I stood a chance of., being knocked down without being bid for. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 669 The intolerant king and the intolerant church were eagerly bidding against each other for the support of the party. 1851 J. M. Wilson Tales Border XX. 256 Some other individuals bade, and the bodes had arrived at £14,000. 1864 Burton Scot. Abr. 11. 264 They bade them up until they reached 10,000 livres.

c. Card-playing, (a) intr. To make a bid (see bid sb. 2). (b) trans. To make a bid of or in (a number of tricks, a specified suit, etc.). Cf. DECLARE V. I I C. 1880 ‘Trumps’ American Hoyle 229 When the eldest hand makes a bid of five or more tricks, and another player bids the same number of tricks, the eldest hand may bid over him, or abandon his bid. 1897 R. F. Foster Complete Hoyle 270 If a player proposes to win all five tricks he bids nap, which is the highest bid possible. 1908 L. Hoffmann Five Hundred 14 A player who has once ‘passed’ cannot again bid. 1910 Encycl. Brit. IX. 878/1 Bid Euchre... Each player ‘bids’, i.e. declares and makes a certain number of tricks. 1929 [see biddable a. 2]. 1933 C. Vandyck Contract Contracted i. 15 If there have been two no-bids before your turn to bid, you should [etc.]. Ibid. ii. 17 Always bid a suit in preference to No Trumps. 1958 [see bidding vbl. sb. 1 b].

4. intr. to bid fair: to offer with reasonable probability, to present a fair prospect, seem likely. Orig. with for and object; now also with infin. (With pa. t. bade, pa. pple. bidden.) p. 1646 s. Bolton Arraignm. Err. 360 Two things would bid fair for it, if not wholly accomplish this desired accommodation. 1738 J. Keill Anim. (Econ. 24 The Bones of all the Parts .. seem to bid the fairest for Solidity. 1786 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 4 The present reign bids fair to be a long one. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xiv. 334 The proposed expedition.. bade fair to be successful.

** To announce, proclaim, threaten, f 5. a. To proclaim, announce. Obs. exc. in one or two arch, phrases, as ‘to bid the saints’ days’:

BID

174 see 1725. In bid the banns, it is doubtful whether the original sense was ‘proclaim,’ or ‘ask’ as in 7; the phrase seems to go back only to the 16th c., and thus exists only in the j8 form. a. 01000 Guthlac (Gr.) 716 Geacas sear budon. c 1340 Cursor M. 13363 (Fairf.), A bridale was per bodin an. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. viii, [The stork] is messanger of spryngynge tyme, and in hire comynge sche bedel’ [*535 tokeneth, Lat. prsedicat] nouelte of tyme. (1440 Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 2 A turnement the kinge lett bede. j3. 1483 Cath. Angl. 31 To byde halydayes, Indicere. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. i. 124 Go bid the baines and point the bridall day. 1622 Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 150 Upon the Sundaies before these Fasts, the Priests .. bid the solemn Fast. 1725 Pope Odyss. xvii. 148 The herald..To bid the banquet interrupts their play. 1725 tr. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. 16th C. I. v. 67 This Custom of bidding the Passover on the Day of the Epiphany. 1603-Const. & Canons Ch. Eng. 64 Ministers solemnly to bid Holy-days.

fb. To proclaim, declare, threaten (war). Obs. Preserved in to bid a truce (in fig. sense). a. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 49 Now is Eilred biried, pat mykelle wo beade [printed bade], 3. c 1590 1st Pt. Jeronimo in Dodsley (1780) III. 77, I bid you sudden wars. 1596 Chapman Iliad 1. 155, I was not injur'd so By any Trojan, that my powers should bid them any blows. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. iii, At this late hour, When even I shall bid a truce to thought.

|6. To make known, indicate, declare. Obs. a. 01300 Cursor M. 8026 (Gott.), pat stede bat him was bodin in his bede. c 1430 Syr Gener. 1160 The Quene .. most nede To Generides hir folie bede.

II. Senses originating from OE. biddan, (afterwards occasionally expressed by forms from bede). *** To ask pressingly. 7. To ask pressingly, beg, entreat, pray, fa. trans. with acc. of person and genitive of thing; with dative of person and acc. of thing; passing into two objects. Obs. C893 K. /Elfred Oros. vi. xxxiv. §4 Hi hiene baedon ryhtes jeleafan and fulwihtes bsefies. 971 Blickl. Horn. 21 Ne bidden we urne Drihten pyses laenan welan. a 1000 Andreas (Gr.) 353 pa.. Andreas ongann mereliSendum miltsa biddan. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 13 3e.. helpes me biddafi. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 139 A maiden bad te kinge his heued. C1305 St. Edward in E.E.P. (1862) 106 Me ne scholde him noting bidde.

b. To press, entreat, beg, ask, pray (a person). Const, for a thing, or inf., subord. cl., or object sentence; also simply, to pray to (God, saints, etc.). ciooo Ags. Gosp. John iv. 31 His leorning-cnihtas hine baedon [Rushw. bedon] and pus ewaedon. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 17 Bide hine luueliche pet he pe do riht. 01240 Lofsong in Lamb. Horn. 207 Ich bide pe.. bi pe pornene crununge. c 1250 Gen. Ex. 2509 For godes luue jet bid ic 3u.. wi6 3U ben mine bones boren. 1297 R. Glouc. 337 Icham Swythyn, warn pou byst. 01300 E.E. Psalter cv[i]. 19 And a kalf in Oreb maked pai, And baden pe grave, c 1300 Beket 1085 And wepinge ech halewe bad: hir help forto beo. c 1314 Guy Warw. (MS. A.) 1628 Ich pe bidde, par charite pat pou this bodi vnder-fo. C1374 Chaucer Troylus 111. 826, I bidde god I neuere mot haue Ioye.

fc. To ask, beg (a thing); to ask, beg, or pray for. Const, simply, or of, from a person, etc. Obs. 971 Blickl. Horn. 21 Se blinda..baed his ea^ena leohtes. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xiv. 32 He sent aerynd-racan and bitt sibbe. - Matt. xx. 20 Sum pingc fram him biddende. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 103 Forlet pine sunnes.. and bide milce perof. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3011 Moyses bad me8e here on. c 1300 Beket 1678 Thider ich wole wende And bidde mi mete for Godes love. C1330 Roland & V. 534 Roland .. po bad leue to fijt. C1340 Cursor M. 19054 (Trin.) He bad of hem som gode. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 65, To haue of God what y* he bedde. 1513 Douglas JEneis xi. xv. 55, I ask na trophe.. Nothir byd I therof spu^e nor renown. [1678 Phillips App., To Bid a boon (old word), to ask a Boon.]

fd. intr. To beg, entreat, pray; to offer prayer. Const, simply, for a person or thing, subord. cl. or with so, thus, etc. Obs. 971 Blickl. Horn. 19 He..seornor basd paet Haelend him miltsade. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 17 Bide for him duwamliche. Ibid. 167 He is wis pe beet and bit and bet bi-fore dome. 0 1225 Ancr. R. 228 Ure Louerd sulf. .techeS us to bidden, ‘Et ne nos inducas in tentationem.’ c 1300 Beket 423 We biddeth nijt and dai For the. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. vii. 68 He pat beggeth or bit but if he haue nede, He is fals. 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 115 Criste went ynne ful ofte for to bidde and praye. c 1400 Prymer in Masked Mon. Rit. II. 11 Preie for the peple: bidde for the clergie. 1458 in Dom. Archit. III. 43 Now every good body that gothe on this brige, Bid for the harbour gentil Jeffray.

te. trans. (with cognate obj.) To bid a bene, bone, bede, prayer, etc.: orig. to pray, or offer a prayer; later ‘to move the people to join in prayer,’ as in bidding prayer, arch. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 67 Hu majen heo bidden eni bene. C1305 St. Christoph. 71 in E.E.P. (1862) 61 pu most., to churche go: & pi beden bidde also, c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 270 Men bidden to God per preier. c 1386 Chaucer Milleres T. 455 Stille he sitt, and biddeth his preyere. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7374 A peire of bedis eke she bere Upon a lace, alle of white threae, On which that she her bedes bede. C1420 Avow. Arth. xiii, To Jhesu a bone he bede. 1535 Coverdale Jer. vii. 16 Thou shalt nether geue thankes, nor byd prayer for them. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 108 Commaundid By his Curate his pater noster to bid. 1621 Bolton Stat. Irel. 134 (Act 28 Hen. VIII), [They] shall bid the beades in the English tongue. 1764 Gray in Mason Life (ed. 2) 381 And bidding his beads for the souls of his benefactors. [1859 Jephson Brittany ii. 15, I observed persons ‘bidding their beads,’ or engaged in silent devotion.] a. Forms from OE. beoden. Obs.

CI250 Gen. & Ex. 3169 Quat-so he boden.. Egipte folc hem lenen 8at. 0 1300 Leg. Rood (1871) 22 Bede him pat ich deie mote. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 29 pat he wild bede his bone, vntille pe Trinite. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. ix. 96 3if Dobest beede [v.r. bede, bidde] for [hem]. C1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 167 Bi louynge & bedynge as who wold selle a worldly ping, c 1440 Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 90 An holy man had boddyn that bone. 1691 Ray N.C. Words, Bid, Bede, to pray. 8. To ask (any one) to come, to invite (to a

feast, wedding, burial, etc.), arch, but common dial. The double sense of bid is played on in Shirley’s Wedding i. i, where Belface asks his servant Isaac whether he has invited the guests:—Isaac. I have commanded most o’ them. Belf. How, sir? Isaac. I have bid them, sir. 01225 Ancr. R. 414 Ane beggare.. pet bede men to feste. 01300 Cursor M. 7250 Sampson was to pe bridal bedd. c 1300 K. Alis. 5823 Alisaundre, and his meygnee, Comen, and badden hem entree. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. iii. 56 Al pe riche retynaunce.. Were bede \v.r. beden, ibede, boden] to pat brudale. 1483 Cath. Angl. 31/1 To byd to mete, Invitare. 1577 Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 102 They vsed commonly to bidde their guestes a whole yeare before. 1580 Baret Alv. B 644, I was bidde to an other place to dinner. 1611 Bible, Zeph. i. 7 He hath bid his ghests. -Luke xiv. 9 He that bade thee and him. 1632 Brome North. Lasse 1. i. I hope you’l see our Marriage. I sent indeed to bid you. 0 1810 TannAhill Kebbuckston Wed., I’se warrant he’s bidden the half of the parish. 1842 Tennyson Sisters iii, I made a feast; I bad him come.

a. Forms from OE. beoden. Obs. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 159 We ben alle boden pider. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. 11. 54 Alle pe riche retenauns .. were boden \v.r. bede, a-bede] to pe bridale. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 209/2 Gladder therof than he were boden to a feste. 1541 Elyot Image Gov. 96 She bode the emperour unto a supper. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. de Invent. 11. vi. 45 b, He was boden to a banket. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss, s.v. Bid, I nivver was bodden.

9. In to bid welcome, adieu, farewell, good bye, good morning, the original notion was probably that of ‘pray,’ ‘invoke,’ or ‘wish devoutly’; the phrases are now used without analysis, ‘bid’ being little more than = ‘say, utter, express.’ 01300 Cursor M. 15060 [Vr lauerd] biddes pe welcum hame. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle 11. lxv. (1859) 59, I bad hym adyeu. 1485 Caxton St. Wenefryde 9 She toke leue of this holy man and bad hym fare well. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 1, I bidde her God day. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, 1. iv. 32 A brace of Dray-men bid God speed him well. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 46 At my window bid good morrow. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 27 P4 He’ll bid adieu to all the Vanity of Ambition. 1844 Mem. Babylonian Pr'cess II. 311, I now .. respectfully bid the British public farewell. a. 1600 Fairfax Tasso vii. xiii. 119, I bod the court farewell.

III. Senses originating independently from the two verbs. (Now referred in form to biddan.) **** To command, enjoin. 10. To command, enjoin, order, tell with authority. (Still literary; also in every-day use in the north; but in the south colloquially expressed by tell, as ‘tell him to sit down,’ for ‘bid him sit down.’) a. with personal obj. (sometimes absent), and clause with that, or object sentence. a. 971 Blickl. Horn. 15 pa fore-ferendan him budon paet he swijade. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xxiv. (1495) 215 It is boden that they.. sholde not slepe. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 385 And then he bod.. That daily once they all should march the round About the city. jS. c 1000 i^LFRic Ex. xxxiii. 12 Du bitst me paet ic lzede ut tis folc. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 41 He.. bit us .. pat we shule pis notien. 1297 R. Glouc. 29 Ich bidde pe Sey me al clene pin herte. 0 1400 Relig. Piecesfr. Thornton MS. 2 He byddes .. pat pay here and lere pise ilke sex thynges. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 50 Another [commandment] bydes thou shall not swere. 0 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 89 The same Pope ordeyned and badde that so yt shulde be done. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, 1. i. 164 Obedience bids I should not bid agen.

b. with personal obj., and infin. a. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 87 pis \a$e sette ure drihten bi pe patriarche abraham, and bed him holden hit. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3544 Aaron and vr.. boden hem swile Bhowtes leten. 0 1300 K. Horn 504 Horn he dubbede to kni3te .. And bed him beon a god knijt. c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 259 As God hap bodyn hem to do. c 1400 Destr. Troy 11. 389 The Kyng.. Bede his doughter come downe. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 57 He that wil holde his peas till he be boden speke is to be preysed. 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. iv. Wks. 263/1 Who hath not bod them do wel. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xli. 199 He bod me buy thy loue. /3. c i 175 Lamb. Horn. 109 Godes laje bit ec mon wurSie efre his feder and his moder. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 139 pe king .. bad binden him • and don him into prisune. 0 1300 Cursor M. 3177 pe angel.. bade him.. tak A scepe his sacrifice to mak. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 763 He .. baide hyr haiff no dreide. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 40 The maister bald the marynalis lay the cabil to the cabilstok. 1581 Marbeck Bk. Notes 91 Christ bidde the Church to baptise in the name of the Father, the Sonne and the holie Ghost. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. 11. v. 83 Thou.. bad’st me bury Loue. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. 11. 71 [He] bid them turn aside. I751 Johnson Rambl. No. 171 |fio He..bad me cant and whine in another place. 1833 Ht. Martineau Briery Cr. ii. 24 Bid them begone. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair vii, Having wakened her bedfellow, and bid her prepare for departure. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 73 The two Earls were.. bidden to be diligent. 1876 Green Short Hist. 1. 3 Custom bade him blow his horn.

c. with the thing bidden as obj., with or without dative of person. (Formerly used also in sense of ‘to order’ goods, dinner, etc.)

'Tt

BID

bidding

i75

a. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xv. 17 Das ping ic eow beode; pxt se lufion eow jemsenelice. 1393 Gower Conf. Prol. I. 12 When Criste him self hath bode pees, c 1400 Rom. Rose 2721 Whanne Love alle this hadde boden me. ft- 971 Blickl. Horn. 39 Ne baed he no ptes forpon pe him asnis pearf wsre. 01300 Cursor M. 12639 bat pai comaund wald or bide..he dide. C1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 229 He is not dispensour of service pat God hap beden. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 35 How might ye for shame pray the pope undo that the Holy Ghost bit. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Worcester viii, Did execute what euer my king did bvd. 1610 Shaks. Temp. 1. ii. 195 Hast thou, Spirit, Performd to point, the Tempest that I bad thee. 1632 Massinger City Mad. in. i, A chapman That in courtesy will bid a chop of mutton.

d. with personal obj. only; treated at length as the direct obj. a. c 1430 Life St. Katherine (1884) 19 Than Adrian baptized hir as our lady had bode hym. 1541 Elyot Image Gov. (1556) 143 b, So philosophic beadeth you. /?. 01300 Cursor M. 5202 Quat art pou me beddes sua? x375 Barbour Bruce vi. 91 Thai did as he thame biddin had. x483 Cath. Angl. 31/1 To bydde, admonere. 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings iv. 24 Do as I byd the. 1599 Shaks. Much Ado ill. iii. 32 He will not stand when he is bidden. 1601 - All's Well iv. ii. 53 lie be bid by thee. 1647 Sanderson Serm. II. 216 They that were about Him, though bidden and chidden too, could not hold from sleeping, c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 529 Nobody., bad him.

1868 F. Whymper Trav. Alaska 137 Their ‘baidarkes’ are similar to the Greenland ‘kyack’. 1894 Outing (U S.) XXIII. 389/1 A one-hatch bidarka, or hunting boat, of the Aleutian Islands. 1898 Century Mag. LV. 672 Their kayaks and bidarkees. 1967 J. C. Beaglehole in Cook's Jrnls. (1967) III. I. 412 The small baidarka [was] the same as the Eskimo kayak.

111. To bid not to do, to forbid, interdict, ban. a, and /J. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 31 As pe olde Testament to pe redars, so is bedun to dekunnis to prech pe newe. Ibid. 45 Till Jni lefe )?is J?at J?u art bodun bi ho bidding of Crist, what hing hat ho werkyst is vnhankful to he Holi Goost. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1673) 104/2 And by so doing did bid entrance unto the rest, till it were removed.

f bid, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. Also bidde. [A variant of bud, behod, behoved. Still in mod.Sc. as a present tense.)] = Must (by moral obligation, logical or natural necessity). 01300 Havelok 1733 Of the mete for to telle, Ne of the metes bidde I nout dwelle; That is the storie for to lenge. [Mod. Sc. (Roxb.)t ‘The man bid be a fuil to gang on that way.’ ‘It’s a bid-be,’ i.e. a must-be, a natural necessity.]

bid (bid), sb. [f. bid v.1 3.] 1. a. The offer of a price, the amount offered; spec, at an auction.

bidaxle, dial. var. beat-axe (see beat sb.3). 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. iv. i. 226 Then it is digged and broken to pieces with a bidax, or hedging tool. 1806 R. Polwhele Hist. Cornwall: Population 31 Where a man of York or Kent would employ a shovel or a spade, a Cormshman uses a bidaxe.

'bidcock. ‘The Water-rail.’ Halliwell. 1613 Drayton Polyolb. xxv. 107 The pallat-pleasing Snite The Bidcocke, and like them the Redshanke.

.bidda'bility. [f. biddable a. (see-ility).] The state or quality of being biddable; obedience. 1947 W. F. Brown Field Trials xxii. 148 There is not the pronounced emphasis on biddability, kindly handling response. 1948 L. A. G. Strong Trevannion iii. 49 There were limits to Mrs. Wishart’s biddability. 1958 Times 13 Dec. 7/6 The modern Labrador.. was selectively bred., with speed, style, and biddability in mind.

1788 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 342 He., thought to obtain a high bid by saying he was called for in America. 1837 Penny Mag. 1 Apr. 124 The salesman rapidly naming a lower price until he gets a bid. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xii. 101 Half-a-dozen bids simultaneously met the ear of the auctioneer. fig. 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. lxxvii. 31 This time it will be a ‘bid’ between two opposite political parties.

b. Phr. to make a bid for: to make an attempt to secure; to ‘have a try’ at getting. Hence the simple sb. is freq. used, esp. in journalese, for: an attempt to win or secure something. 1885 Century Mag. Dec. 179/2 He was a little ashamed of making such a bare-faced bid for her sympathy. 1893 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Apr. 357/2 The Colonel makes a good bid for the hole with the odd, and lies by the rim. 1895 Geogr. Jrnl. May 415 To make a bid himself for the throne. 1935 Punch 21 Aug. 204/2 ‘Britain’s Bid for War-Plane Supremacy.’ — Daily Mirror... ‘Campbell’s Bid for Record.’ All the Papers. 1942 Sunday Express 14 June 1/6 Here they [sc. the German army] are now making a determined bid to move on Acroma.

2. Card-playing. The statement of an undertaking which a player makes; spec, in Bridge, an announcement of the number of tricks in a specified suit or ‘no-trumps’ by which a player proposes to beat his opponents. Cf. contract sb.1 i g, declaration 8 b, and see APPROACH sb. 12. 1880, 1897 [see bid v. 3 c]. 1908 L. Hoffmann Five Hundred 14 A player who has been over-bidden is entitled to make a further bid. 1913 W. Dalton Royal Auction Bridge ii. 48 You should never make a bid unless you are prepared to play the hand with that suit as trumps. 1928 [see SCORE sb. 22].

f bid-ale. and ale.] benefit of bidding or

Obs. Also 5 bede-ale. [See bid v. 8 An ‘ale’ or entertainment for the some person, to which a general invitation was given.

1:1462 in N. & Q. (1865) VIII. 436/1 None hereafter. . shall make or procure to be made, any Ale commonly called 'Bede Ale' within the lib*v nor within this Towne. 1534 Act 26 Hen. VIII, vi. (§5) No person .. shall.. within Wales., gather or leuie any Commorth, Bydalle, tenauntes ale, or other collection or exactions. 1656 Blount, Bid-ale is when an honest man decayed in his estate is set up again by the liberal benevolence and contribution of friends at a Feast, to which those friends are bid or invited. 1733 Neal Hist. Purit. II. 246 The Justices assembled at Bridgwater ordered That no Church Ale, Clerk Ale, or Bid Ale be suffered. 1857 Toulm. Smith Parish 504.

bidarka (bai'daika). Also baidarka, baidarke, bidarkee. [ad. Russ, baidarka, pi. -ki, dim. of baidara an oomiak.] In Alaska and adjacent regions, a portable canoe for one or more persons; a kayak. 1834 W. F. Tolmie Jrnl. 20 June (1963) 283 The youth took his departure—soon after a bidarka approached— paddled by two men—the officer sitting in the middle seat.

biddable ('bid3b(3)l), a. Also bidable. [f. bid + -able. Of Scotch origin.] 1. Ready to do what is bidden, obedient, willing, docile. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1864 I. 259 Judicious, regular . . and biddable contributors. 1848 Dickens Dombey (C.D. ed.) 6i,I never saw a more biddable woman. 1862 H. Kingsley Ravenshoe xliv. (1864) 265 A more gentle and biddable invalid .. can hardly be conceived.

2. Card-playing. Of a hand, suit, etc.: capable of being bid; strong enough to warrant a bid. 1926 M. C. Work Auction Bridge Complete 1. vi. 56 Either suit is biddable because both have length. 1929-Compl. Contract Bridge v. 79 If he has a biddable suit,.. he unhesitatingly bids two of his best suit. 1959 Listener 22 Jan. 189/2 The slam is hardly biddable.

Hence 'biddableness, 'biddably adv. Sc. biddakil, obs. form of binnacle. biddance ('bidans). Romanic suffix: cf. invitation.

[f.

bid

v.

abidance.]

+

-ance,

Bidding,

1836 Fraser's Mag. XIV. 495 The proud are humbled at his biddance. 1857 Blackw. Mag. LXXXI. 123 Right quickly did she send To lords and ladies biddance her son’s marriage to attend.

bidde, obs. form of bed. fBi'ddelian, -‘ellian, Bidellian. Obs. exc. Hist. A follower of John Biddle (died 1662), styled the father of the English Unitarians. 1780 Kippis Biogr. Brit. II. 307/2 note, The adherents to Mr. Biddle were called Biddellians; but this name was lost in the more common appellation of Socinians, or, what they preferred, Unitarians. 1882-3 Schaff in Herzog's Encycl. Rel. Knowl. I. 296.

bidden, pa. pple. of bid and bide. bidden (’bid(3)n), ppl. a. [f. Invited; commanded, ordered.

bid

+

-en1.]

1614 King Vitis Palat. 12 And Christ must bee a bidden guest. 1637 Milton Lycidas 118 The worthy bidden guest. 1718 Pope Iliad v. 890 On the bright axle turns the bidden wheel of sounding brass. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1872) III. 1. i. 2 Where Force is not yet distinguished into Bidden and Forbidden. 1875 Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) 38 Bidden-wedding (N. Lane.), a wedding to which it was formerly the custom in North Lane, to invite the whole country-side.

bidder ('bida(r)). [f. bid v. + -er1.] fl. One who asks or begs; bidders and beggars is frequent in P. Plowman, referring to those who made a trade of begging. Obs. 1362 Langl. P. PI. Prol. 40 Bidders [v.r. bydderes] and Beggers • faste a-boute eoden. 1393 Ibid. C. x. 61 Beggers and bydders bej? nat in [j?at] bulle.

2. One who commands or orders. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3679 Onence pe bidder it standes in nede. 1632 Sherwood, A bidder, commandeur.

3. One who invites, or delivers an invitation. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xxii. 4 They agayne neglected the bidder. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. III. 205 On the Bidder’s Part every Circumstance conspires to magnify his Condescension. 1876 Whitby Gloss. Pref. 9 To the burying the parish clerk was the usual Bidder.

4. One who makes an offer for a thing, esp. at a public auction; also fig. (The usual sense.) 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2050/4 The Bidder to advance 6d. per Gross upon each bidding. 1702 Ibid. No. 3832/4 To be sold to the highest Bidder. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 195 f 5 This over-stock of Beauty, for which there are so few Bidders. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. 109 The Roman world was to be disposed of to the best bidder by public auction. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. §5. 203 The Universities will be the only bidders for such eminent qualities. 5. Card-playing. One who makes a bid (see bid

sb. 2) (see also quot. 1908).

biddery, variant form of bidri. biddikil, obs. form of binnacle. bidding ('bidirj), vbl. sb. [f. bid v. + -ing1.] 1. a. The offering of a price for an article; a bid.

bidaw, early form of bedaw.

e. with no object; often with so, as, and the like. fi- a 1000 Beowulf 2467 Druncne dryht-guman doS swa ic bidde. a 1300 Cursor M. 387 He baad, and it was don. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2069 Haf God in mynde.. Als pe prophet biddes.

Bridge ii. 9 The exact strength of the bidder’s hand is of vital importance.

Cf. declarer 3 b. 1880 ‘Trumps’ American Hoyle 230 The bidder may at his option call for a lead of any suit from the player whose proper lead it is. 1897 R. F. Foster Complete Hoyle 271 The hands are usually abandoned when the bidder succeeds in his undertaking. 1908 L. Hoffmann Five Hundred 14 The player who has bid highest is thenceforth known as ‘the bidder’ for that hand. 1929 M. C. Work Compl. Contract

at bruyd was of biddyng bolde, Sampson al pe sope hir tolde. 1340 Ayenb. 194 No ping ne is zuo diere y-bo3t; ase pet me hep be biddinge.

f3. The action of praying; prayer. Obs. 1297 R. Glouc. 280 J?oru byddynge of Seyn Dunston, ys soule com to blys. 1340 Ayenb. 219 Moyses ouercom amalec . be his holy biddinges. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 35 Byddynge or praynge, oracio, deprecacio, supplicacio.

4. Invitation, summons. 1810 Tannahill Kebbuckston Wed., We a’ got a bidding, To gang to the wedding. 1869 Times 18 Aug., The Pope sent a bidding to the Patriarch of Constantinople .. the Patriarch returned a distinct refusal. attrib. 1863 Miss Sewell Chr. Names II. 401 The beedstick—bidding-stick, or summons to the muster.

5. A command, order, injunction, to sit any one’s bidding (Sc.): to neglect his order to go. a 1300 Cursor M. 3093 J>i biding wil we do ful fayn. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xv. xxix. (1495) 499 By byddynge of his fader. 1526 Pilgr. Per/. (W. de W. 1531) 34 b, I haue not founde the disobedyent to my byddynges. 1601 Shaks. All’s Well 11. v. 93, I shall not breake your bidding, good my Lord. 1634 Rutherford Lett, xliii. (1862) I. 132, I would., swim through the water ere I sat His bidding. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 790 Whatever Godwine did he did at the bidding of his lord. 6. bidding of beads, beads-bidding; bidding of

prayers, bidding prayer. As to these expressions there has been a series of curious misapprehensions. The original meaning down to the Reformation was ‘praying of prayers,’ i.e. saying of prayers, praying; cf. bid v. ye. From an early date in the Christian church, it was the custom to request the prayers of the faithful in behalf of certain persons and things; and in the 16th c., in England, forms of allocution or direction to the congregation, telling them whom and what to remember in ‘bidding their beads’ or ‘prayers’ were authoritatively put forth. As bid in the sense of ‘pray’ was now becoming obsolete, the meaning of the expression was forgotten after the Reformation, and bid taken in the sense of ‘order, direct,’ so that in the reign of Elizabeth the ‘bidding of prayers’ was applied to the allocution itself, as if = ‘the directing or injoining of prayers.’ With the later use of the vbl. sb. as a gerund directly governing an object, we have in the 17th c. ‘the form of bidding prayers’ or ‘prayer’ ( = precationem hortandi); and later still, a misunderstanding of the grammatical construction in this phrase has given rise to the vulgar error of calling this exhortation to the people (in which ‘concionatores populum hortabuntur ut secum in precibus concurrat’ Sparrow Collect. Articles, 1671) ‘the biddingprayer,’ as if it were itself a kind of prayer qualified by the attribute ‘bidding.’ CI175 Lamb. Horn. 69 J>urh festing and t>urh wacunge, and ec purh ibodenes biddunge. [1349 in Coxe Forms Bid. Prayer 11 Ye shulle stonde up and bydde your bedys.. Ye shull also bydde for the stat of Holy Cherche, etc.] 1535 Act 2j Hen. VIII, xxv, In al..their sermons, collacions, biddinges of the beades. 1539 Hilsey Primer, An order and form of bydding by the Kynges Commandment. Ye sholl praye for the whole congregasion, etc. 1563 Homilies 11. Idolatry (1859) 236 For the which [the cross] they pray in their beads bidding. ai had beden til J>ai war irk pai com pamself in¬ to l>e kyrk. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 982 Ones ho bluschet to pe bur3e, bot bod ho no lenger. a 1400 Sir Perc. 569 The childe thoghte he longe bade That he ne ware a knyghte made. 1483 Cath. Angl. 31 To Byde, expectare. 1634 Malory Arthur (1816) II. 307 He shall receive by thee his health, the which had bidden so long. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxiii, ‘Bide a wee, bide a wee,* said Cuddie. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 435 Will you not bide your year as I bide mine? 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. xvi.'Bide a bit.’

fb. Const, for, to; on, upon (north.). Obs. 01300 Vox Wolf 135 Ich hedde so ibede for the. 1609 Reg. Mag. 124 Except he fraudfullie absent himselfe, and in that case, he sal be bidden vpon.. be the space of fourtie dayes. Skene

2. To remain or continue in some state or action; to continue to be (something), arch. c893 K. Alfred Oros. iii. iii. §3 Seo eorpe giniende bad. ciooo Ags. Ps. ciii[iv]. 11 BidaS assan eac onpurste. 01300 Cursor M. 1907 Yeit he baid seuen dais in rest, c 1340 Ibid. 19836 (Trin.) In orisoun he lay and bode. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle V. i. (1859) 68 Ful longe there I boode in my torment and peyne. c 1530 Jacob & 12 Sonnes (Collier) 12 Rachel bod long barrain. 1611 Bible Rom. xi. 23 If they bide not still in vnbeliefe. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vi. xliv, And thirstie drinks, and drinking thirstie bides. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus viii. 10 Nor follow her that flies thee, or to bide in woe Consent.

b. to bide by (rarely at): to stand firm by, adhere to, stick to, maintain, f t° bide upon: to dwell or insist upon (a point). Obs. 1494 Fabyan vi. cciv. 214 For this [battle] was so strongly bydden by, that men coude nat iudge whiche parte had the better. 1526 Tindale Mark x. 7 And for this thingis sake shall a man leve father and mother and byde by his wife. 1536 Sir R. Moryson in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. lxxii. Many things.. which be both truly spoken and cannot but do good being bydden bye. 1559 Kennedy Let. in Misc. Wodrovo Soc. (1844) 266 He gaif me nevir answir to my wryttingis, nor 3k baid at his sayingis. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. 1. ii. 242 To bide upon ’t: thou art not honest. 1847 Tennyson P'cess v. 316 Worthy reasons why she should Bide by this issue.

Cf. to be a bidden by, prop, abidden by: to be maintained; also advb. — undoubtedly, we may be sure.

them that were fresshmen. 1664 Floddan F. ix. 83 Yet for defence they fiercely frame And narrow dint with danger boad. 1813 Scott Rokeby v. xxxii, They dare not, hand to hand, Bide buffet from a true man’s brand. 1877 Bryant Odyss. v. 583 Two men and three, in that abundant store, Might bide the winter storm.

|8. To await submissively, submit to. Obs. c 1205 Lay. 4721 J?aet ne sulde he nauere ibiden pe while pe he mihte riden. c 1400 Ywaine Sf Gaw. 545 The kynges wil wald he noght bide, Worth of him what may bityde.

|9. To endure, suffer, bear, undergo; = abide 16. Obs. exc. dial. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 33 Ne wot no man hwat blisse is pe naure wowe ne bod. C1250 Gen. & Ex. 3105 Mani3e 8or sor3e on Hue bead, c 1400 Sir Perc. 627 The sorowe that the kinge bade Mighte no tonge telle. 153° Palsgr. 454/2, I can nat byde this payne. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. 11. iv. 304 There is no womans sides Can bide the beating of so strong a passion. 1671 Milton P.R. 1. 59 Wherein we Must bide the stroak of that long threatn’d wound. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. 1. xxii, Who bides his grasp will that encounter rue. 1816 Scott Antiq. xl, I wonder how younger folk bide it — I bide it ill.

fb. to bide out: to endure to the end. Obs. 1637 Rutherford Lett. 85 I. 217 To bide out the seige.

10. To tolerate, endure, put up with; = abide l7•

c 1250 Gen. Ex. 1594 If iacob took her also a wif, Ne bode ic ho lengere werldes lif. 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 32 For he.. May not byde pat bume. 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 25, I cou’dna bide the thought. 1816 Scott Antiq. xii, I could never bide the staying still in ae place. 1884 Tennyson Becket 84 Tho’ I can drink wine I cannot bide water, my lord.

fbide, byde, sb. Obs. [f. prec. vb.] 1. A dwelling, dwelling-place, habitation. a 1300 Salomon & Sat. (1848) 273 Ne make [>e nout for py to wrojtt, t>a3 (?ou byde borewe. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 1463 With wyld bestis to have byde.

2. Delay, stay. a 1000 Riddles iv. 3 (Gr.) Hwilum mec min frea.. on bid wriceS. 0x300 Cursor M. 1761 Quen al was tift was t'a.r na bide, pe stormes ras on ilka side, c 1325 Leg. Rood(i&7i) 113 Vp he rase wip-outen bide.

bidel, obs. form of beadle.

1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI, v. (Arb.) 133 To be a bidden by he would have done much good in that part.

bidele, ME. form of bedeal.

3. To remain in a place, or with a person, as opposed to going away; to stay. Often with the idea of remaining behind when others go. arch.

t bi'deme, v. Obs. rare~x. [f. bi-, be- -I- ME. demen:—OE. deman to deem.] trans. To condemn.

C893 K. Alfred Oros. 11. v. §7 Jx>nne he peer leng bide. [c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 38 Gebida)? her and waciap mid me.] c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 149 Wuo is mi soule pat ich bide here swo longe. 0 1300 Cursor M. 16744 Durst naman wit him bide. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 34 Y thought to haue byddyn ther in the same place tyl the mornyng. 1515 Barclay Ecloges i. (1570) A v/4 Better were for suche to have bid at home. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus 11. 399 He baid.. Vpon that hill.. Him to refresche. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. xi. 40 So there all day they bode, till light the sky forsooke. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. 1. ii. 3 Such as dive and bide long under the Water. 1857 Emerson Poems 89 Who bides at home, nor looks abroad. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. I. 68 While we bided on that flowery down.

4. Of things: To remain, be left, to let a thing bide: to leave it where it is; to leave it alone for the present, to let it stand over. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 449 f>a3 pe kyste in the cragez wern closed to byde. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxxix. (1495) 913 Yf they byde in the stomak they tome sone to fumosyte and corrupcion. C1470 Henry Wallace v. 166 A gret power at Dipplyn still thar baid. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 154 Heauen and earth shal sooner perish, then one iot bide behind of that he hath promised. 0 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 72 Waters stinke soone, if in one place they bide. 1866 Kingsley Herew. iv. 97 We will let the crow bide.

5. To remain in residence; to sojourn, dwell, reside, arch. CI280 Fall & Passion 40 in E.E.P. (1862) 13 Nedis he most wend to helle.. pere he most bide an dwelle. c 1386 Chaucer Cokes T. 35 This ioly prentys with his maister bood [v.r. bode]. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 26 Than bode with hym a certeyn brother. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 400 The world, in which they booties boad. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. 11. ii. iii. (1651) 258 Some., will know., what God did. . Where did he bide. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 321 All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. xxv, The spirit who bideth by himself In the land of mist and snow. 1821 Joanna Baillie Met. Leg., Lady G. B. xii. 9 Many his wants who bideth lonely there.

II. trans. 6. To wait for, await. Now only in the phrase, to bide one's time: to await one’s opportunity. C950 Lindisf. G. Matt. xi. 3 OSer we bidas. 971 Blickl. Horn. 7 Drihtnes engel bide)? )>inre se)?afunga. C1230 Hali Meid. 11 Eauer bide his grace. 11325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 622 We byde pe here. 1382 Wyclif Ps. cxviii. [cxix.] 166, I bod thin helthe 3iuere, Lord, c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxii, Atte Tarnewathelan Bidus me Sir Gauan. 1513 Douglas JEneis vii. x. 122 Now at the dur deyd redy bydis me. 1611 Bible Wisd. viii. 12 When I hold my tongue they., shal bide my leisure. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xvii. 218. §1 They bide their time and then suddenly present themselves. 1873 Smiles Huguenots Fr. 1. ix. (1881) 191 They held their peace and bided their time.

7. To await in resistance, to face, encounter,

01200 Moral Ode 107 in Lamb. Horn. 167 Ech Mon seal him solue per biclepie and bidemen.

bident (’baidant). [ad. L. bident-em (nom. bidens) adj. ‘having two teeth, two pronged, forked,’ sb. ‘a two-pronged fork, a sheep or other animal for sacrifice whose two rows of teeth are complete,’ f. bi- two + dentem tooth.] 1. An instrument or weapon with two prongs. 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 232 The blust’ring Aeo for his Bident. 1850 Lay ard Nineveh v. 94 A half-moon, a bident, and a horned cap.

2. A two-year-old sheep,

rare.

1881 Thurn in Academy No. 491. 252 The timid bident has usurped the place of the bellower.

bidental (bai'dsntsl), a. [f. L. bident-em (see prec.) + -al1.] ‘Belonging to a Fork, or Instrument with two teeth.’ Bullokar, 1676. Ibi'dental, sb. Rom. Antiq. [L. bidental, f. bident-em (see bident), according to some called from the forked lightning (see bidental = fulmen bifidum in Du Cange), according to others from the bidens or sheep sacrificed at its consecration.] A place struck by lightning, consecrated by the haruspices, and enclosed. Also fig. 1692 Coles, Bidental.. also a place where sheep were sacrificed. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Festus represents the bidental as a temple, where sheep of two years old were offered in sacrifice. 1794 Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 29, I would only set up the bidental at the bookseller’s door at Wimbledon. 1873 Blackmore Cradock N. xxvii, The scene of his ruin and despair,—the ‘bidental’ of his destiny.

bidentate, -ated (bai'denteit, -id), a. [f. L. bident-em (see bident) + -ate.] Having two teeth or tooth-like processes. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxii. 314 The male mandible is more bidentate at the apex than the female. 1866 Tate Brit. Mollusks iv. 76 The uncini of Limax agrestis are bidentated.

fbi'dented a. = prec. I75^ P- Browne Jamaica 321 The seeds are all bidented. 1828 Southey Life (1850) V. 366 A fork bidented, and a trenchant knife.

bidential (bai'denjbl), a. [f. L. bident-em (see bident) + -ial.] Two-pronged. 173° Swift Let. Gay 10 Nov., Ill management of forks is not to be helped when they are only bidential.

withstand; = abide 14. [0 1000 Beowulf 3241 Se pe aer set ssecce gebad wig-hryre wraSra.] c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 376 He baldly hym bydez. 1480 Robt. Devyll 23 None durst hym byde there at all. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxxix. 532 Some of the capitayns wolde that thenglisshmen shulde be byden, and some other sayd nay, bycause they were nat strong ynough to abyde

bider (’baid3(r)). [f. bide v. + -er1.] One who stays or remains. x535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 440 [Seldom is] ane mydding tu^ear in ane battell bydar. 1577 Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 95 Saint Paule admonisheth women—to be byders and tariers at home.

BIDERY bidery, variant of bidri. bidet (bide, bi'det). [a. F. bidet pony; of unknown origin: cf. OF. bider (Godefroy) to trot. In 16th c. the F. word meant also some small kind of dagger. (The Celtic comparisons made by Diez and Littre are rejected by Thurneysen.)] 1. A small horse. 1630 B. Jonson Chlorid. Wks. (1838) 656, I will return to myself, mount my bidet, in a dance, and curvet upon my curtal. 1828 Disraeli Chas. I, I. ii. 18 Then there are thanks for two bidets which Henry sends him. 1863 Sala Capt. Dangerous II. vi. 202, I trotted behind on a little Bidet.

2. ('bi:dei). ‘A vessel on a low, narrow stand, which can be bestridden’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.) for bathing purposes. Now usu. a shallow oval basin fitted in a bathroom, used for washing the perineum. 1766 Smollett Trav. I. v. 64 Will custom exempt from the imputation of gross indecency a French lady, who shifts her frousy smock in presence of a male visitant, and talks to him of her lavement, her medecine, and her bidet\ 1785 Grose Diet. Vulg. Tongue, Bidet, commonly pronounced biddy, a kind of tub, contrived for ladies to wash themselves, for which purpose they bestride it like a little French poney, or post horse, called in France bidets. 1801 Ann. Reg. IJQQ 401/i A machine answering the purposes of a portable water-closet, or bidet, and easy chair. 1959 R. Gant World in Jug 60 We checked into our hotel near the Opera and the boys joked about the bidets.

bid-hook, variant of bead-hook. 1607 Dekker Knts. Conjur. (1842) 43 He has split one of his oares and broken his bid-hook. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk., Bid-hook, a small kind of boat-hook.

bidialectal (.baidaia'lektal), a. Linguistics. Also bi-dialectal. [bi-2; after bilingual a.) Of a person: having command of two regional or social dialects of a language, one of which is commonly the standard language; of a speech community or language teaching: in which two varieties of a language are used for different functions. 1954 Word X. 390 A ‘diasystem’ is experienced in a very real way by bilingual (including ‘bidialectal’) speakers and corresponds to what students of language contact have called ‘merged system’. 1969 Language XLV. 603 Bidialectism in this sense has never been observed by the present writer, even in children cited.. as prototypic examples of bidialectal speakers. 1971 C. M. Kernan Lang. Behaviour in Black Urban Community 7 In a linguistic community which is bilingual or bidialectal.. the code .. is likely to be highly salient to.. members of the community. 1976 Scotsman 20 Nov. 8/6 Sociolinguists.. have been advocating a ‘bidialectal’ approach for the teaching of standard English to non-standard speaking pupils. 1985 English World-Wide VI. 131 Until about thirty years ago Norfolk Islanders with few exceptions were bidialectal. Ibid. 143 Islanders live in a bidialectal society.

Hence .bidia'lectalism, the state of being bidialectal; also, advocacy of bidialectal education; .bidialectalist sb. and a., (one) advocating bidialectalism; bi'dialectism = bidialectalism above. 1959 Word XV. 144 The result of these adaptations made by the newcomers was either bidialectism or dialect mixture. 1968 Zeitschr. fur Mundartforschung Beihefte IV. 549 Such a situation we might call one of functional bidialectalism, analogous to the functional bilingualism so common in such nations as Switzerland and Luxemburg. 1973 English Jrnl. May 770/2 The bidialectalist does not argue that one language or dialect may in itself be better than another. 1975 Language LI. 728 A number of the assumptions underlying the bidialectalists’ position have been questioned by linguists and educators, including some who were or are in the bidialectalist camp. 1982 English World-Wide III. 162 Studies exclusively or mainly concerned with the (language) education of minority children, the ‘deficit hypothesis’ or the concept of ‘bidialectalism’. 1984 Ibid. IV. 255 A continued period of bilingualism and bidialectism.

bidigitate (bai'didjiteit), a. [f. be- pref,2 i + digitate, f. L. digitus finger.] Having two digits, fingers, or finger-like processes, bi'digital a. = prec. 1852 Dana Crust. 1. 649 Small bi-digitate sacs. 1881 Mivart Cat 103 The skeleton of the fore-leg. .is divisible into a tri- and a bi-digital series, placed side by side.

.bidi'mensional, a. [bi-2.] Having or perceived in two dimensions. Also transf. 1927 N. T. Burrow Social Basis of Consciousness 1. v. 92 Depending on whether the child ‘succeeds’ or ‘fails’ as judged by the bidimensional standard of good and bad. 1937 H. F. Brandt in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XLIX. 666 A bidimensional eye-movement camera. Ibid. 669 This new instrument provides laboratory equipment which is essential for all types of ocular photography in the bidimensional plane.

biding ('baidig), vbl. sb. [f. bide v. -1- -ing1.] 1. Awaiting, expectation; remaining, tarrying. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4708 And men sal wax dry .. for lang bydyng par-in. 1483 Cath. Angl. 31 A Bydynge, expectacio, perseuerancia. 01657 Sir J. Balfour Ann. Scot. (1825) II. 315 His longe delay and bydinng out. 1862 Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. II. 182 But bidin up till dead o’night.. do soon consume The feace’s bloom.

fb. concr. The object of expectation. Obs. 1382 Wyclif Jer. xiv. 8 Thou biding [Vulg. expectatio] of Irael, his saueour in tyme of tribulacioun.

177

BIELD

2. Stay, residence, dwelling.

bie, obs. form of bee sb.2, buy, by.

c 1400 Coil Myst. 22 In erthliche paradys withowtyn wo I graunt the bydyng. 1653 Milton Ps. v. i i Evil with thee no biding makes. 1713 Rowe J. Shore 1. ii, At Antwerp has my constant biding been. 1866 [see 3].

fb. concr. Obs.

An abode, dwelling, habitation.

1600 Hakluyt Voy. III. 809 (R.) They brought us to their hidings about two miles from the harborough. 1605 Shaks. Lear iv. vi. 228 I’ll lead you to some biding, a 1687 Cotton Voy. Irel. 1. 66 Three miles ere we met with a biding.

3. attrib., as biding-place, place of abode. 1557 Paynell Barclay's Jugurth 17 b, They had no certayne bydinge place. 1626 Milton Death Fair Inf. 21 He .. Unhoused thy virgin soul from her fair biding-place. 1866 Mrs. Whitney L. Goldthwaite i, How many different little biding-places there are in the world.

'biding, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] Lasting, continuing, enduring. (Now usually abiding.) 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy 1. ii, And though the ginning be but casuell The biding frete is passingly cruell. 1536 Lyndesay Ansiv. Kyngis Flyting 38 Beleif richt weill, it is ane bydand gam. 1633 W. Struther True Happ. 5 We have need of some biding substance to supply these losses.

.bidirectional, a. [bi-2.] Functioning in two directions; spec, of a microphone (see quot. 1962')1941 A. E. Craig Speech Arts (ed. 2) xxxix. 509 A bidirectional microphone, with the speech directed into either, or both, the openings or faces, is the kind deemed best for the production of radio plays, i960 Aerodrome Lighting (B.S.I.) 29 Light fittings .. may be bi-directional or uni-directional according to whether they are to cover both directions of landing and take off or not. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 243 Bi-directional microphone, one which is live on the front face and back, but which is dead at the sides and above and below. 1962 Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors xvi. 384 A bi-directional switch using four silicon junction diodes.

Hence .bidi'rectionally adv. 1966 Jrnl. Compar. Neurol. CXXVII. 71/1 The rate of flow may be as high as 30-70 mm per day, streaming bidirectionally. 1973 Nature 26 Oct. 459/2 These findings are consistent with the Yin Yang hypothesis that the two cyclic nucleotides have opposing actions in bidirectionally controlled systems. 1984 Freetime Autumn 49/2, I liked the versatility it offers: lots of features and the ability to print text bi-directionally.

Ilbidon (bid5). [Fr.] A container for liquids: spec. (a) a wooden cup; (b) a bottle or canteen for water, wine, etc.; (c) an oil drum or petrol tin. Hence bidonville [F. ville town], a shanty-town built of oil drums or petrol tins. 1867 ‘Ouida’ Under Two Flags II. i. 13 ‘Take a draught of my burgundy... * He.. took the bidon. 1922 E. E. Cummings Enormous Room iii. 48 Tilting their bidons on high and absorbing the thin streams which spurted therefrom. Ibid., He remarked: ‘Bread without wine doesn’t taste good,’ and proffered his bidon. 1933 ‘G. Orwell’ Down & Out xv. 115 She had picked up an empty oil bidon. 1955 Times 21 July 6/6 Huge fires destroyed two Moroccan bidonvilles (shanty towns) in the suburbs of Fedala. 1961 Times 6 May 9/7 Elsewhere the bidonvilles, or petrol can shanty towns, spread like a rash. 1964 E. Ambler Kind of Anger vi. 164 Get the car filled up. Adele left me two bidons for emergencies.

f'bidowe. Obs. rare~l. [Referred by Prof. Skeat (Notes to Piers Plowman) to med.L. bidubium, a bill-hook or bush-hook (which has been conjectured to be of Celtic origin, from Gaulish *vidu wood); others have compared Welsh bidog dagger: but the meaning and derivation are alike uncertain.] ? A weapon of some kind. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. xi. 211 A bidowe or a baselard he berip be his side.

bid-prayer

= bidding prayer', see bidding 6.

1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. (R.) He lays by the text for the present and .. addressed himself to the bid-prayer.

bidrep(e, service.

-ripe,

var.

bedrip,

Obs.,

boon

|| bidri, bidree, bidry ('bidri). Also 8-9 biddery, bidery. [Urdu bidri, f. Bidar or Bedar a town in the Nizam’s dominion in India.] An alloy of copper, lead, tin, and zinc, used as a ground for inlaying with gold and silver, in the manufacture of bidri- or biddery-ware. 1794 Europ. Mag. 209 You may have heard of Bidry Work. 1813 Ann. Reg. 499/1 The alloys for the gurry and the Biddery ware. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts I. 341 Bidery does not rust, yields little to the hammer, and breaks only when violently beaten. 1883 Daily News 3 July 2/2 The ‘bidri’ ware is now almost as well known in England.

t 'bidstand. Obs. [One who bids travellers stand and deliver.] A highwayman. 01637 B. Jonson is cited by Halliwell. 1863 Sala Capt. Dang. II. vii. 225 Rogues, Thieves. . Bidstands, and Clapper-dudgeons.. infested the outskirts of the Old Palace.

biduous ('bidjuias), a. [f. L. bidu-um space of two days (f. bi- two + dies, diu- day) + -ous.] Lasting for two days. 1866 in Treas. Bot.

bidweolien, early form of bedwele v. Obs.

bieberite ('birbarait). Min. [ad. G. bieberit (Haidinger 1845), f. Bieber, near Hanau, Germany: see -ite1.] Sulphate of cobalt, found as a red crust on other minerals. 1854 Dana Syst. Min. 385 Bieberite... Lustre vitreous. Color flesh and rose-red. 1882-Mineral. & Lithol. 168 Bieberite or Cobalt Vitriol.

Biedermeier ('bi:d3mai3(r)). Also -maier, -meyer. [The name of a fictitious poet, Gottlieb Biedermaier (see below).] Applied attrib. to the period between 1815 and 1848 in Germany and to styles, furnishings, etc., characteristic of that period, esp. to a type of furniture derived from the French Empire style. Also transf. with derogatory implication: conventional, bourgeois. [1854 [L. Eichrodt] in Fliegende Blatter XXI. 102/1 (title) Auserlesene Gedichte von Weiland Gottlieb Biedermaier, Schulmeister in Schwaben. Ibid. 103/1 Die asthetischen Begriffe des Biederschonen und Bidermaiern.] 1905 A. S. Levetus Imperial Vienna xvi. 245 The Biedermaier period also produced landscape-painters. 1914 Eberlein & McClure Pract. Bk. Period Furniture xv. 323 Following the prevalence of the Empire style we see the advent of the Biedermeyer type of painted decoration. 1924 G. B. Stern Tents of Israel i. 8 A true son of the Biedemeyer period, in his long, tight pantaloons, his cambric frills. 1956 English Studies XXXVII. 183 The examples.. from the early Victorian age may be regarded as contradictions of the ‘Biedermeier’ dominance in literature. 1957 Encycl. Brit. IX. 948E/2 The Biedermeier style.. is characterized by chairs with curved legs and sofas with rolled arms and generous upholstery. 1963 Listener 24 Jan. 161/1 A hill close to the centre of the city [re. Darmstadt] where there was a piece of Biedermeier park and a Russian church.

bief(e, obs. form of beef. bieften, early form of baft. biel, obs. form of beal, boil sb. bield (bi:ld), sb. Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 1 byldo, 4-5 beld(e, 5 beelde, 6 beald, 5-7 beeld, 4-9 beild(e, 5- bield, (6 belli, bele, beale, 8-9 biel). [Common Teut.: OE. bgldo, in WSax. bipldo, byldo boldness, courage = OHG. baldi, MHG. belde confidence, feeling of security, Goth. balpei boldness, confidence:—OTeut. *balpjon-, n. of quality from *balpo-z, Goth, balps, OHG. bald, OE. bald, beald, bold. The evidence appears to show that mod.Sc. bield, beild is the same as the ME. belde, the connexion being through sense 3. But the matter is not without difficulty, and the derivation of Sc. bield has been sought elsewhere, esp. in connexion with build, though without much success.] 11. Boldness, courage. Obs. c 890 K. /Elfred Baeda i. vii, He sceolde 6a byldo anescian. a 1300 Cursor M. 12237 A barn wit-uten beild [tur. beilde, belde]. 11340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 649 Quen he blusched perto, his belde neuer payred. 1470 Harding Chron. clxxxv. iv, His brother bastard, with strong beeld, Had putte hym out.

f2. Confidence, assurance, feeling of security; hence, comfort. Often in alliterative connexion with bliss. Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 605 A land o lijf, o beld, and blis, J?e quilk man clepes paradis. C1325 Metr. Horn. 162 This tronchoun for relic scho held A1 hir lif, with worschip and beld. Ibid. 166 Ic haf tinte werdes, mensc, and belde. c 1400 Melayne 324 With mekill blysse & belde.

f3. Resource, help; often in alliterative connexion with bote (boot); succour, defence, relief. C1325 Metr. Horn. 7 Mankind in prisoun he held, With outen help, wit outen belde. C1360 Yesterday in E.E.P. (1862) 136 Vnswere I schal, Whi god sent suche men boote and belde. c 1440 Bone Flor. 1721 A woman dyscownfortyd sare, Wythowten bote or belde. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 549 Mony berne wist nother of bute no beild. 1570-87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 51 Quhan Kings and princes hes na other beild bot in thair awin folks.

fb. A means of help or succour. Obs. (Often transferred to a person.) a 1300 Cursor M. 20815 Ogain pat fa scho be vr beild. c 1352 Minot Poems vi. 27 Alweldand god .. He be his beld. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. vi. 15 He wes pe Beld of all hys kyn. c 1440 Bone Flor. 762 Sche cryed to hym .. Thou be my fadurs belde.

f4. Resource against hunger; sustenance. (Only Sc.) Obs.

‘cheer,*

1513 Douglas JEneis xii. ix. 50 His fader eyrit and sew ane peice of feild, That he in hyregang held to be his beild. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 1087 For fude thow gettis none uther beild Bot eait the herbis upone the feild.

5. a. Refuge, shelter, b. A place of shelter. (Only Scotch and north, dial.). 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 82 He ran restlesse, for hee wist of no bield. 1513 Douglas JEneis 11. x. (ix.) 16 Hecuba thidder..for beild Ran all in vane. 1570-87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) I. 8 The Scotishmen call it [Cromart haven] beill of shipmen. 1594 Scot. Peoms 16th C. II. 352 Argyll.. Wpone ane hill had tane beild. 1600 Fairfax Tasso 11. lxxxiv. 36 This is our beild, the blustring windes to shun. 1691 Ray N. Country Wds. 7 Beeld, shelter. 1792 Burns Wks. II. 397 Better a wee bush than nae bield. Ibid. III. 216 Jamaica bodies, use him weel, An’ hap him in a cozie biel.

1818 Scott Rob Roy xxv, ‘The oppressors that hae driven me to tak the heather-bush for a bield.’ 1822 W. Napier Pract. Store-farm. 117 The most valuable.. shelter.. is derived from the bield of a close, well built, stone dike. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Bield, a shelter or shed. ‘A bit of a bield in a field neuk.’

c. A lodging, dwelling; a den. 1570 Levins Manip. 207 A Beale, den, spelunca. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. iii, The fox will not worry near his beeld [f.r. bele]. 1815 Scott Guy M. viii, ‘There’s thirty yonder

after the Austrian astronomer, W. von Biela). Also attrib. 1885 Science VI. 11. 496/2 The Bielid meteors were observed here in considerable numbers. 1899 Edin. Rev. Oct. 318 Displacements of the Bielid orbit are no abnormal events. 1899 Sci. Amer. 9 Dec. 379/3 A Shower of Bielids. A well-marked shower of Bielid meteors was observed at Princeton on the evening of November 24.

bi-emarginate: see bi- 3.

.. that ye have turned out o’ their bits o’ bields.’

bield (bifid), v. Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 1 bieldan, byldan, beldan, 2-5 belden, Orm. beoldenn, 3-5 beld(e, 5 bylde, beilde, beelde, beled, beyld, bild, 6 beald, 7-9 beal, 4- beild, bield. Pa. pple. beld, beild, bealed, bield. [Com. Teut.: OE. (Anglian) beldan, (WSax.) bieldan, byldan = OS. beldjan, OHG. balden, MHG. belden, Goth, balpjan ‘to make bold,’ f. OTeut. *balp-oz bold. The sense-development in ME. was evidently influenced by that of the cognate sb. (see prec.), which it closely follows. In senses 1 and 2, ME. had another vb. of precisely the same meaning, bealden, balden, bolden:—OE. bealdian (see bold v.)\ but the latter never got the senses of ‘protect, shelter.’] fl. trans. To make bold, encourage; to confirm. c 897 K. /Elfred Past. Care xviii. 128 Ne tyht nan man his hieremonna mod ne ne bielt [v.r. bilt] to gastlicum weorcum. 993 Byrhtnod 209 Swa hi bylde for6 beam /Elfrices. c 1200 Ormin 2614 iwhillc mahht To beoldenn itt and strengenn. -2745 fiurrh Godess millce beldedd. 01225 Ancr. R. 162 Ure Louerd sulf stont per bi pe uihte, and beldeS [v.r. bealdeS] ham. c 1330 Lai Le Freine 231 The abbesse her gan teche & beld. c 1400 Destr. Troy x. 4541 Of the Bisshop po buernes beldid were pen.

f2. intr. To grow bold or strong; to be bold, have confidence. Obs. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 135 Long myght he not regne, ne on his lif belde. a 1400 St. Alexius (Laud) 29 As he bigon to Belde And was i-come to monnes elde. a 1500 MS. Harl. 1701, If. 64 (Halliw.) Thys mayde wax and bygan to belde Weyl ynto womans elde.

3. trans. To defend, protect, shelter. Sc. and north, dial. c 1300 in Wright’s Lyric P. iv. 24 He shal him birewen that he hire belde. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 1220 None es so wight wapins to welde, Ne that so boldly mai us belde. c 1440 York Myst. i. 35, I beelde pe here baynely in blys for to be. 107 We pat ware beelded in blys, in bale are we nowe. 1470 Harding Chron. cxl. vii, Kyng Philip cowardly with royall hoste hym beld. 1570 Levins Manip. 208 To Beald, succour, adumbrare, protegere. ? a 1600 Felon Sow of Rokeby, The fryar leaped .. And bealed him with a tree. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xii, That.. bielded me as if I had been a sister.

4. intr. (for refl.) To find refuge, protection, or shelter; to shelter oneself; to lodge, dwell. (In this sense possibly confused with build, q.v.) c 1400 Destr. Troy xiv. 5864 And bowet fro the batell.. ffor to beld hym on pe bent, & his brethe take. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 8 Ewyre to belde and to byde in blysse with hyme selvene. Ibid. 1242 Thi baronage, that bieldez thare-in. c 1400 Melayne 1496 Under the cante of a hille Oure Bretons beldis & bydis stille. c 1440 York Myst. i. 61 All blys es here beeldande a-boute vs. - xxxii. 1 Pees, bewscheres, I bidde you, pat beldis here aboute me. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 135 Alas! Where may we beyld?

f5. transf. To cover, cover over. (Only Sc.) Houlat xix. 9 Braid burdis & benkis, ourbeld with bancouris of gold, c 1495 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 164 Now sail the byle all out brist, that beild has bein so lang. c 1550 Sir J. Balfour Practicks 618 To see the ship tyit and beiled. 01455 Holland

f6. To sustain, nourish, feed. Obs. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 43 This land is purd off fud that suldws beild. 1513 Douglas JEneis 1. xi. 21 Fyfty damicellis . .To graith the chalmeris, and the fyris beild.

bield, ppl. a. Sc. Also biel. Sheltered, comfortable, cosy.

BIEU

178

BIELD

(f. prec. verb.]

Bessie & Spin. Wheel i, And haps me biel and warm at e’en. 1795 Macneill Will & Jean 92 Neat and bield, a cot-house stood. 1792 Burns

bielding (’bifidit)), vbl. sb. north. Also 5 beel-, beyldyng. [f. as prec. + -ing1.] Protection; shelter. c 1440 York Myst. I. 38 In pis blis sail be 3hour beeldyng. c 1460 Towneley M. 122 That I may have som beyldyng by In my travaylle. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 198 Nae bedding can she [the hare] borrow In Sorrel’s field.

t'bieldly, a. Obs. north, dial. In 5 beyldly. [f.

bield sb. + -ly1.] Of the nature of a shelter. c 1440 York Myst. xli. 336 Welcome to thy beyldly boure.

bieldy ('bifidi), a. Sc. Also 8 beildy, biely. [f. as prec. + -Y1.] Affording shelter. at him eoc euch neil & blakede of pe blode. C1340 Cursor M. (Trin.) 14747 To blake [Cott. blaken] po bigan her brewes. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2388 Wanne pe ny3t gynt blake. 0 1400 Syr Percyv. 688 Now sone .. salle wee see Whose browes schalle blakke! c 1460 Towneley Myst. 107 So my browes blaky To the doore wylle I wyn.

2. a. trans. To make black; now esp. to put black colour on. Also with up; spec, intr., to colour one’s face black in order to play the role of a Negro (orig. U.S.). Cf. blacken. C1315 Shoreham 155 The wyte the vayrer hyt maketh, And selve more hyt blaketh. c 1386 Chaucer Monkes T. 141 Til that his fleisch was for the venym blaked. 0 1400 Syr Percyv. 1056 Thare he and the sowdane salle mete, His browes to blake. 1532-3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, i. §6 Every coriar shall well and sufficiently corie and blacke the said Lether tanned. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Warres ix. 26 Having blackt his face, and died his hair. 1748 Franklin Wks. (1840) 207 The paper will be blacked by the smoke. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 49 Crown-glass, blacked on one side. 1842 Tennyson Simeon Styl. 75, I lay .. Black’d with thy branding thunder. 1877 W. R. Alger Life of E. Forrest I. 109 He blacked himself up and rigged his costume quite to his content. 1890 ‘Biff’ Hall Turnover Club 197 They barely had time to get back to the theater to black up for the evening performance. 1934 Wodehouse Thank You, Jeeves xv. 212 Old Glossop isn’t blacking up?

b. spec. To clean and polish shoes and other black leather articles with blacking. 1557 North Guevara's Diall Pr. (1582) 369a In varnishing hys sword and dagger, blacking his bootes. 1684 Foxe's A. & M. III. 907 Causing his shoos to be blacked.

«

BLACK ACRE 1812 J. & H. Smith Rej. Addr. ii. (1873) 12 My uncle’s porter, Samuel Hughes, Came in at six to black the shoes.

fc. To drape with black. Obs. 1664 Lamont Diary 25 Nov., The isle being blacked— with a number of dependants on the pall of black velvet. d. to black (a person's) eye: to bruise or discolour the eye by a blow (cf. black eye 2). 1902 E. Nesbit Five Children & It viii. 203 The baker’s boy blacked his other eye. 1950 G. Greene Third Man ii. 26 I’d rather make you look the fool you are than black your bloody eye. e. To blackmail (cf. black sb. 11). slang. 1928 E. Wallace Gunner xxx. 244 If I ‘blacked’ you after this I should be cutting my own throat. 1964 G. Sims Dreadful Door xxiii. 124 He .. took naughty photos of them and then blacked them.

3. trans. a. To draw or figure in black. 1840 Browning Sordello iv. 374 The grim, twynecked eagle, coarsely blacked With ochre on the naked wall. b. to black out: to obliterate with black. 1850 Browning Christmas Eve Wks. 1868 V. 175 If he blacked out in a blot Thy brief life’s pleasantness. 185. Gen. Gordon Lett. 121 The Russian censor who blacks out all matter that is displeasing to the Government. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 2 Mar. 10/2 A memorial.. urging that betting news should be ‘blacked out’ from the newspapers in the libraries. .. Ultimately the Committee decided to ‘black-out’ horse¬ racing news. c. to black out {trans. and intr.), to extinguish

or obscure (lights), esp. during a stage performance, or as a precaution against air¬ raids; also intr. of lights, etc.: to be so extinguished or obscured. Also in extended uses. 1921 Galsworthy Six Short Plays 127 Mr. Foreson!.. Black out! The lights go out. 1928 Amer. Speech IV. 70 To black out is to cut off all light, footlights, borders, and spot. 1934 Baltimore Sun 15 Aug. 4/6 There will be a burst of music, and the lights will ‘black out’. This will form the prelude to the pageant. 1935 N. Marsh Enter A Murderer v. 62 We black out for a little before the curtain goes up. Ibid. xxii. 264, I am not going to black-out the lights. 1939 Daily Mail 12 Sept. 5/3 It took about three visits from courteous wardens before my house was properly blacked out. 1939 E. August Black-out Book 18/2 (heading) You can’t black-out the Stars. 1940 Ann. Reg. 1939 377 In many countries the lamps of science were dimmed, and in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Finland they were blacked out. 1944 in Zandvoort Wartime Eng. (1957) 36 Look how the windows are hastily blacking out. 1965 in M. McLuhan Medium is Massage (1967) 149 The largest power failure in history blacked out nearly all of New York City. 4. fig. a. To stain, sully; to defame, represent

as ‘black.’ (Usually blacken.) c 1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Blackyn’ or make blake, vitupero, increpo. 1625 Fletcher Nt. Walker 11. 216 Thy other sins which black thy soul. 1683 D. A. Art Converse 16 To black his repute, a 1845 Hood Trumpet xxx, Not that elegant ladies.. ever detract, Or lend a brush when a friend is black’d. b. To declare to be ‘black’ (see black a. ii b).

Hence blacked ppl. adj. 1958 Times 20 Jan. 5/4 The firm’s 1,500 employees are ‘blacking’ work in the fettling shop, i960 Guardian 21 Dec. 2/4 Four men who refused to repair ‘blacked’ machinery. 1961 Daily Tel. 11 Dec. 11/6 (heading) Equity ‘blacks’ TV programme.

f5. intr. To poach as one of the ‘Blacks’: see black sb. 6 b. Obs. rare. 1789 G. White Selborne vi, As soon as they began blacking, they [the deer] were reduced to about fifty head.

6. to black out, to suffer a ‘black-out’ (see black-out 4); esp. in flying, to be temporarily blinded through the effect of a sudden sharp turn or acceleration; to lose consciousness. Cf. blacking vbl. sb. i c. 1940 Illustr. London News CXCVI. 449/1 The blood in his head seeks to fly outwards, and, as his body and feet are away from the centre of the turn, runs towards his legs and drains from behind his eyes, so that he becomes temporarily blind, or ‘blacks out’. 1940 Times 30 Mar. 9/6 The pilot’s body weight would soar, to six, eight, or more times normal. At 8g he would black-out, and at log faint. 1940 Flight 7 Nov. 387/1 So I went into a steep left-hand turn and blacked out. 1957 ‘C. E. Maine’ High Vacuum x. 84 ‘How did you react to the take-off?’ ‘I blacked out. Don’t remember much about it. ’ 1958 p. Mortimer Daddy's gone A-Hunting vii. 36 The child, dizzy with speed, was blacking out. f7. Comb, black-shoe (boy) = shoe-black. 1732 Fielding Covent Gard. Jrnl. No. 61 A rebuke given by a blackshoe boy to another. 1746 W. Horsley The Fool (1748) I. 5 [He] reduces himself to the Level of Highwaymen, Footmen, and Black-shoe Boys.

f 'black acre. Law. Obs. An arbitrary name for a particular parcel of ground, to distinguish it from another denominated ‘white acre’; a third parcel being, when necessary, similarly termed ‘green acre’ (= parcel a, parcel b, parcel c). The choice of the words ‘black,’ ‘white,’ and ‘green’ was perhaps influenced by their use to indicate different kinds of crops. 1628 Coke On Litt. 148 b. 1698 [R. Fergusson] View Eccles. 10 Foolish comparisons, of., the Exchanging of Black-Acre by A for White-Acre from B. Hence black-acre, v. Obs. to litigate about

landed property. (Wycherley’s Double Dealer has a Mrs. Blackacre, a litigious widow, whose name may be immediately alluded to in the quotation.) 1751 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. 67 She is now gone to town, black-acreing, to her lawyers.

BLACK BELT

244 f

black-a-lyre. Obs. A

fabric. See lyre.

Blackamoor ('blaek3mu3(r), -moa(r)). Forms: 6 blake More, Blacke Moryn, black a Moore, 6-7 blacke Moore, blackmoor(e, 7 Black-Moor(e, -More, -moor, black Moor, Blackmore, -moore, Blackemore, Black-a-Moore, Black-amoore, blackeamoore, 7-8 Blackamore, Blackamoor(e, 7- blackamoor. [ = Black Moor, a form actually used down to middle of 18th c. Blackamoor is found 1581: of the connecting a no satisfactory explanation has been offered. The suggestion that it was a retention of the final -e of ME. black-e (obs. in prose before 1400) is, in the present state of the evidence, at variance with the phonetic history of the language, and the analogy of other black- compounds. Cf. black-avised.] 1. A black-skinned African, an Ethiopian, a Negro; any very dark-skinned person. (Formerly without depreciatory force; now a nickname.) 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. 212, I am a blake More borne in Barbary. 1548 Thomas Ital. Gram., Ethiopo, a blacke More, or a man of Ethiope. 1552 Huloet, Blacke Moryns or Mores. 1581 T. Howell Deuises (1879) 184 Like one that washeth a black a Moore white. 1599 Sandys Europae Spec. (1632) 239 Shee is painted like a blackmoore. 1604 Dekker Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 98 This is the Blackamore that by washing was turned white. 1606 Shaks. Tr. & Cr. 1. i. 80, I care not and she were a Black-a-Moore. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World 1. 95 The Negro’s, which we call the BlackeMores. 1631 Brathwait Eng. Gentlew. (1641) 308 The Blackmoore may sooner change his skin, the Leopard his spots. 1666 Pepys Diary (1879) VI. 46 For a cook maid we have used a blackmoore. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. 111. hi. (1852) 576 The instruction of the poor blackamores. 1771 Smollett Humph. CL Lett. Ap. 26 The first day we came to Bath, he.. beat two black-a-moors. 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics (i860) I. 271 As far below the reality as a blackamoor is unlike the sun.

b. attrib. 1580 Sidney Arcadia 36 A Coach drawne with foure milke white horses.. with a black-a-Moore boy vpon euery horse. 1676 Hobbes Iliad 1. 403 To Blackmoor-land the Gods went yesterday. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4238/8 A Blackamore Man called Caesar. 1716 Ibid. No. 5434/3 Run away.. a Black Moore Boy.

Popler,.. Black ash. Basswood, or Ceder Shall be Corded up. 1872 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 154 An experiment had been tried by a Cornwall farmer, packing butter in spruce, oak and black ash tubs.

f 'black-a-top, a. Obs. Black-headed. 1733 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1877) 31 (D.) Can you fancy that black-a-top, snub-nosed,.. paunch-bellied creature?

black-a-vised ('blaeka.vaist), a.

north, dial. Also -viced, -vized. [f. black a. and F. vis face; perh. originally black-a-vis, or black o’ vis; but this is uncertain.] Dark-complexioned. 01758 Ramsay Poems (1800) II. 362 (Jam.) A black-avic’d snod dapper fallow. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xi. 1848 C. Bronte J. Eyre (1857) xvii, I would advise her black aviced suitor to look out. 1881 Black Sunrise (ed. 5) III. 99 The fat black-a-vised Italian.

'blackback. A species of sea-gull; the blackbacked gull (Larus marinus). 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho. xxxii. (D.) The great blackbacks laughed querulous defiance at the intruders. 1863 Reader 29 Aug., Mer and shearwater, blackback and herring-gull.

black-ball, 'blackball, sb. 1. A composition, also called heel-ball, used by shoeipakers, etc., and also for taking rubbings of brasses and the like. 1847 in Craig.

2. A black ball of wood, ivory, etc. put into the urn or ballot-box to express an adverse vote; hence, an adverse secret vote, recorded in any way. 1869 Spectator 3 July 779 They have exercised precisely the same right which is exercised by every man who drops a blackball into the um. 1884 Harper's Mag. June 148/2 Three blackballs used to make a gentleman wince.

3. dial. A hard sweetmeat. Also, in N.Z., spec. a humbug. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 203/2 ‘Hard-bake’, .. ‘black balls’,.. and ‘squibs’ are all made of treacle. 1877 N. & Q. VIII. 481 ‘Black-ball’ is a delicacy compounded of black treacle and sugar boiled together in a pan. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 87 The peppermints described in England as humbugs become blackballs in New Zealand. 1957 J. Frame Owls do Cry xi. 47 Also a sixpenny shout from her pay for blackballs or acid drops or aniseed balls.

fc. blackamoor's teeth: cowry shells. Obs. 1700 W. King Transactioneer 36 He has Shells called Blackmoors Teeth, I suppose .. from their Whiteness. 1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade 334 Known by the Name of Cowries amongst Merchants, or of Blackamore’s Teeth among other Persons.

2. fig. A devil. 1663 Cowley Cut. Coleman St. iv. vi, He’s dead long since, and gone to the Blackamores below.

3. attrib. Black-skinned, quite black. 1813 J. Forbes Orient. Mem. I. 325 The first blackamoor pullen I ever saw was here: the outward skin of the fowl was a perfect negro. 1856 Capern Poems (ed. 2) 90 Some blackamoor rook.

f blacka'morian, sb. and a. Obs. [f. black + Morian (in Coverdale).] Ethiopian, Negro. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 78 b, Out of the chirche J?ou blacke moryan, out of the chirche thou man of ynde. y louerd ssal abbe an name.. vayr wypout blame, c 1314 Guy Warm. 1737 Gij of Warwike..a kni3t he was wip-outen blame. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. 1. xix, He enticeth or enflameth vnto crymes and blames. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. ii. ix. (1597) 38 Oftner thought she it more blame not to haue erred so. 1601 Shaks. All’s Well v. iii. 36 My high repented blames Deere soueraigne pardon to me. 1611 Bible Ephes. i. 4 That we should be holy and without blame before him. 1859 Tennyson Merl. & Viv. 648 Is thy white blamelessness accounted blame?

f 5. ? Injury, hurt. Obs. 1549-62 Sternhold & H. Ps. 1. 15 Then call to me When ought would worke thee blame. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 18 Glauncing down his shield from blame him fairly blest.

blameable, blamable ('bleim3b(3)l), a. [f. blame v. + -able. Cf. F. blamable, and see -ble.] Worthy to be blamed; giving cause for fault-finding or reproach; faulty, culpable; reprehensible. 1387 Trevisa Higden vi. xxv, I am nou3t blamable ne gilty in t?ise binges. 1530 Palsgr. 306/2 Blameable, coulpable. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 55 It is their foolysh construction, not hys wryting that is blameable. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 256 If 2 In the blameable Parts of his Character. 1784 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 104 My conduct might be blameable. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 160 Such feelings, though blamable, were natural. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 36 One fault which.. is unnecessary, and therefore a real and blameable fault.

Hence 'blameableness, 'blamableness. 1654 Whitlock Manners Eng. 505 (T.) Without the least blameableness. 1684 J. Goodman Wint. Even. Conf. 3 (R.) If he had not freedom of will.. there could be no.. blamableness. 1838 Arnold Life Corr. II. viii. 123 The degree of blameableness in those who do not embrace this belief.

blameably, blamably ('bleimsbli), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] In a blamable manner; culpably.

'blamelessness.

Blameless

quality

or

condition. 1670 Baxter Narrative iii. §35 A man of the Primitive sort of Christians for Humility, Love, Blamelessness. 1754 Edwards Freed. Will iv. iii. (ed. 4) 293 The notion of plain and manifest Blamelessness. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets iii. 77 The soul be restored to its pristine blamelessness.

blamer ('bleim3(r)). [f.

blame v. + -er1.] He who blames or finds fault; a censurer, reprover. 1387 Wyclif Isa. 1. 6 My face I turnede not awei fro the blameres [ab increpantibus]. 1566 T. Stapleton Ret. Untr. Jewel Ep., Blamers shoulde allwaie be Blamelesse. ci6io Donne To C'tess Bedford iii, Blamers of the times they mard. 1867 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) no Casual praisers and blamers.

blameworthy ('bleimw3i$i), a.

Worthy

or

deserving of blame, culpable. 1387 Trevisa Higden vi. xxvii, Bote he was i-founde blameworJ>y in his answere. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Blame¬ worthy, culpabilis. 1533 More Apol. xi. Wks. 869/2, I am not greatlye blame woorthye therein. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. xvii. (1700) 167 All men are so far free as to be praise-worthy or blame-worthy for the Good or Evil that they do. 1876 J. Grote Eth. Fragm. iii. 58 Every action which is wrong or blameworthy.

Hence 'blameworthiness. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 15 The blame-worthinesse is, that to heare them, he rather goes to solitarinesse. 1754 Edwards Freed. Will iv. xiii. (1762) 282 The nature of Blame-worthiness or Ill-desert. 1868 Browning Ring Bk. 1355 Blame I can bear, though not blameworthiness.

blaming ('bleimig), vbl. sb. [f.

blame v.] The action of the verb blame; censure, reproach.

1382 Wyclif Job xxiii. 4 My mouthe I shal fille with blamyngis. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 176 In blaminge of the Grekes feith. 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3), Castigation, chastisment, blaming. attrib. 1583 Foxe A. 6? M. 337 The Captayne..in blaming wise sayde vnto hym: Did I not, etc.

1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 181 A Person, that is maliciously or blameably absent. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xiv. (1806) 69 Blameably indifferent as to doctrinal matters. 1836 Fraser's Mag. XIII. 458 Blamably democratic in tone.

'blaming, ppl. a. That blames. Hence 'blamingly adv., with imputation of fault.

blamed (bleimd), ppl. a. and adv. U.S. [Cf. blame v. 7.] 1. ppl. a. = BLASTED ppl. a. 3.

blamischere, obs. form of

dial, and

1840 Haliburton Clockm. 3rd Ser. vi. 84 Yes, John Bull is a blamed blockhead. 1876 ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer ix, Drunk, same as usual, likely—blamed old rip! 1905 G. H. Lorimer Old Gorgon Graham 200 They’ve an ache or a pain in every blamed joint. 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) i. 14 I’ve stood the ugly, blamed thing long enough.

2. adv. Confoundedly, excessively. 1833 Knickerbocker I. 303 Which I now look upon as a blamed foolish notion. 1876 ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer viii. 79 Well, it’s blamed mean—that’s all. 1884 W. Cud worth Yorks. Dial. Sk. 27, I knaw they wor blamed nice. 1904 G. Stratton-Porter Freckles 51, I am..so blamed ignorant I don’t know which ones go in pairs.

blameful (’bleimful), a. [f. blame + -ful.] 1. Imputing or conveying blame or censure; blaming, fault-finding. C1386 Chaucer Melibeus f 161 He pat is Irous and wroj>, as seith Senek, ne may nat speke but blameful thynges. i860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. xii. §4, I never saw him look an unkind or blameful look; I never knew him let pass.. a blameful word spoken by another.

2. Fully meriting blame; blameworthy; guilty. c 1430 Wyclif Esther xvi. 6 (MSS. I. & S.) Malicious men gessynge othere men bi her owen kynde blameful. £1430 Life St. Katherine (Gibbs MS.) 106 For pe blamefull chaungeablenesse of pe queene. 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, 1. ii. 119 Is not the causer of the timelesse deaths .. As blamefull as the Executioner. 1738 Glover Leonidas x. 95 To die, uncalled, is blameful. 1838 New Month. Mag. LIV. 374 ‘Now Venus screen us!’ sobb’d the blameful dame.

Hence 'blamefully adv., 'blamefulness. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 112 Ne man schuld blamfuly bi idulnes .. bring him silf to swilk nede. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1738 I. 130 Those who.. blamefully permitted the old leven to remain.

blameless ('bleimlis), a. [f. blame + -less.] f 1. Exempt from censure or blame; free from charge or reproof; uncensured. Obs. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xi. 306 Neyther is blamelees • pe bisshop ne pe chapleyne, For her eyther is endited. 1526 Tindale Matt. xii. 5 The prestes in the temple breake the saboth daye and yet are blamlesse. So 1611.

2. Giving no cause for blame; undeserving of reproach; faultless, guiltless. *535 Coverdale Titus i. 6 Yf eny be blamelesse, the huszbande of one wife.. A Bisshoppe must be blamelesse. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. 11. 124 The blamelesse behaviour of the Christians. 1851 Dixon W. Penn xxviii. (1872) 262 John Hough, a man of blameless life. 1859 Tennyson Merl. & Viv. 162 The blameless King.

b. Const, of. 1611 Bible Josh. ii. 17 Wee will bee blamelesse of this thine oath. 1747 Mallet Amynt. & Theod. 1. 9 Blameless still of arts That polish to deprave.

f3. Not imputing or containing blame. Obs. 1595 Spenser Col. Clout 749 Blame is.. more blamelesse generall, Then that which private errours doth pursew.

'blamelessly, adv. In a blameless manner. 1611 Cotgr., Irreprehensiblement.. blamelesly, vnreprouably. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1738 I. 256 As blamelesly as They in Heauen. 1861 Mill Utilit. v. 66 That any law, judged to be bad, may blamelessly be disobeyed.

1832 Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. V. 380 Speak blamingly of ‘Carteret being used as a dactyl.’

blamon, var. of

blemisher.

bloman, Obs., negro.

blan(ne, pa. t. of

blin v.

blanc, obs. form of

Obs. to cease,

blank.

Ilblanc (bid). [F. blanc white: see blank.] 1. White paint (esp. for the face). Cf. blanch sb. 1. blanc fixe: sulphate of barium used esp. as an extender in paint. 1764 Mrs. Harris in Priv. Lett. 1st Ld. Malmesbury I. 112 She.. would look very agreeable if she added blanc to the rouge instead of gamboge. 1866 Roscoe Elem. Chem. xx. 179 Barium Sulphate.. is used as a paint, and the precipitated salt is termed blanc fixe. 1869 Pall Mall G. 29 Sept. 10 Tattooed blue with woad instead of being smeared with rouge and blanc. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. Sci. Diet. 54/1 Blanc fixe, an artificial sulphate of barium, very white and fine and somewhat heavy. Principally used in papermaking and in the manufacture of wallpaper colours. 1963 R. Higham Handbk. Papermaking iv. 90 Blanc fixe is still used in the preparation of photographic base papers because of its soft powder structure and slightly higher opacity than the barytes form.

2. A rich stock or gravy in which tripe, etc. is stewed. 1845 Bregion & Miller Pract. Cook 40 Blanc, a rich broth or gravy, in which the French cook palates lamb’s head, and many other things. 1869 M. Jewry Warne’s Model Cookery 20/1 First-rate cooks preserve the whiteness of their boiled meats .. by.. using.. a sort of broth .. called blanc. 1952 F. White Good Eng. Food II. iii. 130 To Make a Blanc.. do not take off the fat as the blanc cooks.

3. See BLANK. blancard ('blaegkad).

[a. F. blancard (also blanchard), f. blanc white + -ard.] A kind of linen cloth manufactured in Normandy, the thread of which is half bleached before it is woven. 1848 in Webster.

||blanc-bec (bid bsk). [Fr., lit. ‘white beak’.] A raw youngster, greenhorn. C1845 C. Bronte Professor (1857) I. xii. 219 It was nonsense for her to think of taking such a ‘blanc-bec’ as a husband, since she must be at least ten years older than I. 1853 — Villette I. ix. 172 You should have seen what a blanc-bec he looked .. how he hesitated and blushed. 1923 Conrad Rover viii. 132, I may be disparu but I am too solid yet for any blancbec that loses his temper.

|| blanc de blanc(s) (bid da bid). [Fr., lit. ‘white of (or from) white(s)’.] A still or sparkling French white wine made from white grapes only. 1952 A. Lichine Wines of France xviii. 218 Some of the wine of the Cote de Blancs is made into a Champagne called Blanc de Blancs, white Champagne from the white Pinot only... Blanc de Blancs is not often sold under firm names, but under the village or commune name, called Blanc de Blancs of Cramant, or Avize, or Mesnil. 1953 I. Fleming Casino Roy ale viii. 71 The Blanc de Blanc Brut 1943 of the same marque is without equal. 1961 Observer 7 Jan. 26/6 Hence the growing popularity of blanc de blancs, the champagne that is made of the juice of white grapes only,

BLANC DE CHINE instead of the more usual three or four parts black to one of white. 1963 I. Fleming On H. M. Secret Service ii. 26 He .. ordered .. a bottle of the Taittinger Blanc de Blanc that he had made his traditional drink. 1978 W. M. Spackman Armful of Warm Girl 27 He uttered judgements concerning this blanc de blancs, which he described as ‘Heidsieck’. 1984 Washington Post Mag. 15 Jan. 25/1 For a sparkler, try the Paul Cheneau for $60, or splurge on the Brut Royal blanc de blanc for about $85.

I! blanc de Chine, chine (bla da Jin). [Fr., lit. ‘white of China’.] White glazed porcelain made at Te-hua in south-eastern China, esp. during the Ming period. 1888 F. Hirth Anc. Porcelain xi. 44 Te-hua has since the Ming dynasty furnished porcelains of a fascinating creamy white, a distinct class, which I believe constitutes together with the Ting-chou white pottery the article known as ‘blanc de Chine’. 1910 S. W. Bushell Chinese Art (ed. 2) II. 26 The velvety white porcelain sometimes known as blanc de Chine. 1955 Times 19 July 10/7 An eighteenth-century Chinese blanc-de-chine vase.

II blanc de perle (bid da peirl). white (see pearl sb.1 18).

BLANCHER

258

[Fr.]

Pearl-

1881 Queen 12 Mar. (Advt.), Eyebrow pencils, 12 stamps; .. Blanc de Perle, 30. 1897 M. Corelli Ziska viii. 164 She managed to produce a delicate shudder of her white shoulders without cracking the blanc de perle enamel. 1919 Firbank Valmouth xi. 189, I gave her my little precious volume of blanc de perle in order to rub her nose.

blanch (blainj, -ae-), sb. [partly from blanch a. (or its French source), partly from blanch v.] fl. White paint, esp. for the face. Obs. Cf. BLANC I. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 520 This.. serueth to make an excellent blanch for women that desire a white complexion. Ibid. 529 Their blanch of cerusse for complexion. 1610 Folkingham Art of Surrey 1. xi. 35 Woad and Blaunch would haue a strong ground.

f2. A white spot on the skin. Obs.

Scots Mag. XV. 49/1 To change all ward holdings of the principality of Scotland into blanch holdings. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 150 Blanch-holding.. is that whereby the vassal is to pay to the superior an elusory yearly duty, as a penny money, a rose, a pair of gilt spurs, &c. merely in acknowledgment of the superiority, nomine albae firnue. 1872 E. Robertson Hist. Ess. 137 note, The obligations., commuted for a money payment, known as Blanche Kane.

blanch (bla:nj, -ae-),

v.1 Forms: 4-6 blaunche, 5

blawnche, blanch-yn, 6 blanche, 7 blaunch, 6blanch. [a. F. blanch-ir to whiten, f. blanc white. Cf. also blank v.] 1. a. trans. To make white, whiten: chiefly, in mod. use, by depriving of colour; to bleach. Also fig. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3040 Chirches and chapelles chalke whitte blawnchede. 1607 Dekker Sir T. Wyatt 126 Patience has blancht thy soule as white as snow. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Guiacum, The Salt of Guaiacum, which you may blanch by calcining it with a great Fire in a Crucible. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. viii, His bones had now been blanch’d. 1859 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VII. lv. 15 Age had blanched his hair. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 120 All at once, a cloud has blanched the blue. b. To make (metals) white: in Alchemy by ‘albation,’ or ‘albification’; in techn. use, to tin. 1582 Hester Seer. Phiorav. ill. civ. 130 Orpiment.. doeth blanche all mettals. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 102 Like them that pass base money, blanch it to cover the brass. 1728 Rutty Tin-Plates in Phil. Trans. XXXV. 635 Till..you would tin them, or in the Term of Art, blanch them. c. To remove the dark crust from an alloy after annealing, spec. in coining money. 1803 Phil. Trans. XCIII. 187 Gold alloyed with onetwelfth of silver.. may be stamped without being annealed; it consequently does not require to be blanched. 1868 [see blanching vbl. si.1]. 1883 Eticycl. Brit. XVI. 489/2 The removal of a small portion of the alloying metal in this way constitutes ‘blanching’ or ‘pickling’ the coin. 2. a. Cookery. To whiten almonds, or the like,

1607 Topsell Serpents 765 In the neck thereof are two blanches. 1609 Man in Moone (1849) 38 Ulcers, filth and blanches, will breed upon you.

by taking off the skin; hence (as this is done by

3. Min. ‘Lead ore mixed with other minerals/

short rapid boil in order to remove the skin, or

Raymond Mining Gl. 1881. 1747 Hooson Miner's Diet. M ij, They break by following some Blanch of Ore or Spar.

blanch, a. Obs. exc. Hist. Forms: 4-6 blaunch(e, 4- blanche, 6- blanch; Sc. 7 blensch, blenshe, 7blench, [a. OF. blanche, fern, of blanc white; see blank. Occurring originally only where the fern, would be used in French.] fl. White, pale. Chiefly in specific uses, as blanch fever, blanch powder, blanch sauce. Obs. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 40 (Matz.) He wedded pe dukes doubter, faire Emme pe blaunche. C1374 Chaucer Troylus 1. 916 And some (?ow seydist had a blaunch feuere. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 9 Thanne cometh the blanche fever With chele. c 1420 Liber Cocorum 28 Blaunche sawce for capons. £1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 122 Aftur sopper, rested apples, peres, blaunche powder, your stomak for to ese. 1475 Caxton Jason 17 Affayted with the blanche feures. 1586 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 125 A very good blanch powder, to strow upon rested apples.

2. Her.

White, argent.

1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3287/4 Robert Dale, Gent., BlanchLion Pursuivant. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iv. xxx, For who .. Saw the blanche lion e’er fall back?

3. Blanch, Sc. blench; more fully blanch /arm, blenchferme [OF. blanche ferme]; according to Spelman and Coke, Rent paid in silver, instead of service, labour, or produce; in Scottish writers extended to a merely nominal quit-rent, not only of money, as a silver penny, but of other things, as a white rose, pair of gloves, pair of spurs, etc. paid in acknowledgement of superiority. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 36 Frie tennents, haldand their lands, be blenshe ferme. [1627 Spelman 232 Firma alba, ea est quae argento penditur, non pecude.] 1642 Coke Inst. 11. 19 Redditus albi, White rents, blanch farmes, or rents, vulgarly and commonly called quit rents.. called white rents, because they were paid in silver, to distinguish them from work-days, rent cummin, rent corn, etc. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 42. 1864 Glasgow Daily Her. 24 Sept., Changing the tenure of the castle..to free blench farm, for payment of a penny silver, if asked only. 1602 K. Jas. I Law Free Mon. in Life (1830) I. ix. 294 The King changeth their holdings from tack to feu, from ward to blanch, etc. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 31 Gif anie man hes lands haldin in frie soccage (in blensch or few). 1670 Blount Law Diet, s.v., To hold Land in Blench, is, by payment of a Penny, Rose, Pair of Gilt Spurs, or such like thing, if it be demanded; In name of Blench. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 45 The blanch, feu, and other casualties of superiority payable to the crown. 1814 Scott Wav. 111. 8 The holding of the Barony of Bradwardine is of a nature alike honourable and peculiar, being blanch. 1868 Act 31-32 Viet. ci. §6 The lands are .. to be holden of the grantor in free blench.

throwing them into boiling water), to scald by a for any other purpose. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvn. cix, They [Hazel-nuts] engender moche ventosite, yf pey ben ete with pe small skynnes; perfore.. it is good to blaunche hem in hoot water. £1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Blanchyn almandys, or oper lyke. dealbo, decortico. 1530 Palsgr. 456/2 He can blandysshe better., than blanche almondes. 1681 Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xxxix. §5 (1689) 257 Before you put on the Sawce, blanch off very neatly the skins of the Pearch and Tench. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 88 Blanch your tongue, slit it down the middle, and lay it on a soup plate. 1796 Mrs. Glasse Cookery v. 41 After boiling your palates very tender.. blanch and scrape them clean. b. humorously. To strip. 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 261 Come, Ladies, blanch you to your Skins. 3. To whiten plants by depriving them of light,

so

as

to

prevent

the

development

of

chlorophyll. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 169 If you have a desire to have them white, or blanch them, (as the French term it).. you may cover every Plant with a small Earthenpot, and lay some hot Soyl upon them. 1807 J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 206 The common practice of blanching Celery. 1861 Delamer Kitch. Gard. 73 Blanching the shoots by a covering of sweet earth. 4. To make pale with fear, cold, hunger, etc. 1605 Shaks. Macb. 1x1. iv. 116 And keepe the naturall Rubie of your Cheekes When mine is blanch’d with feare. 1791 Cowper Iliad hi. 41 Fear blanches cold his cheeks. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 17 The famine blanches your lips. 5. To give a fair appearance to by artifice or suppression ‘whitewash/

of

the

Now

truth; only

to with

4. trans. To turn (anything) off, aside, or away; in Venery, to ‘head back’ the deer in his flight. 1592 Lyly Galathea 11. i. 231 Saw you not the deare come this way .. I beleeve you have blancht him. 1627 F. E. Hist. Edw. II, (1680) 117 He would not blaunch the Deer, the Toyl so near. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece 11. i. 310 When he [the deer] swarves, or is blanched by any Accident. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §323 The lantern was secured by.. the Cornice; which, when the sea rose to the top of the house, blanched it off like a sheet. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports. 1. x. § 1.

t blanch, v.3 Obs. [App. worn down from blandish (like blench from blemish v.); but approaching certain senses of both blench v.1 and blench v2y with which it was probably confounded.] intr. — blandish v. 2. 1572 R. H. Lavaterus' Ghostes (1596) 19b, Men which blaunche and flatter with us, are alwayes suspitious. a 1587 Foxe Serm. 2 Cor. v. 10 If I shoulde say that nothing therein were amisse, I should indeede blanch and flatter too much. 1612 Bacon Counsel, Ess. (Arb.) 326 Books will speake plaine, when Counsellors Blanch [in adulationem lapsurt].

t'blanchard, -art, a. Obs. [a. OF. blanchart whitish, bordering upon white, also as name of a white horse; f. blanc, blanch-white; see -ard.] White; a white horse; often as a quasi-proper name. (Cf. bayard = bayhorse.) £1440 Generydes 2458 Vppon my stede blanchard thu ridest here. £1440 Gaw. & Gol. ii. 19 (Jam.) On stedis stal¬ wart and strang, Baith blanchart and bay.

blanche, obs. form of blanch. blanched (blainft, -ae-), a.

[f. blanch v.1 +

-ED.]

1. Whitened (now, chiefly, by loss of colour). 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 50 Blaunchid graves ful of dede bones. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. xii. xxxi, Her loathsome face, blancht skinne and snakie hair. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxx, Blanched linen, smooth and lavendered. b. blanched copper: an alloy of copper and arsenic (cf. blanch v. i b.). 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 1203 A cup of blancht copper.

2. Whitened (as almonds) by removal of the skin; peeled. £1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 28 Take blanchid almondis and small horn grynde. a 1666 A. Brome Horace's De Arte P. Him that buys chiches blanch’t.

(1671) 391

3. Of plants: Whitened by exclusion of light. *793 T. Beddoes Calculus 199 Blanched plants lose their green colour, and become whitish and sickly. 1834 Mrs. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xxvii. (1849) 301 They [Plants] are found in caverns almost void of light, though generally blanched and feeble.

4. Pale with fear or other emotion, hunger, etc. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 50 They looked on each other with fallen countenances and blanched lips.

15. ? Colourless, feeble; or ? perverted. Obs. *553-87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 86/2 Now marke (good reader) what blanched stuffe here followeth.

loss of colour); to bleach; to pale. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 12 If wax blanches in the sun. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship, xxix, Their cheeks blanched. 1862 Bright Amer. Sp. (1876) 111 Left the bones of her citizens to blanch on a hundred European battlefields. 1863 Tennyson Boadicea 76 As when the rolling breakers boom and blanch on the precipices. (blainf, -ae-), v.2 [A variant of blench,

which see for the derivation and history.] f 1. trans. To deceive, cheat, bilk. Cf. blench

1828 Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 254 A grant of land.. either for military service or to be held blench for the payment of a nominal feu-duty. i860 J. Irving Dumbartonsh. 386 The coronatorship of the County to be held blench of the crown for one penny.

v. 1. to blanch of: to cheat or do out of. Obs. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. \ 11. xxxix. 193 But so obscurely hath beene blancht of good workes elsewheare done. 1602 Ibid. xii. Ixxi. (1612) 296 Dallying Girles. .that intertaine .. All Louers.. And hauing blaunched many so, in single life take pride.

c. So blanch dutyy blanch holding, blanch kane; blanch holden adj.

‘blink’ (a fact); to pass without notice, miss,

1634-46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 345 All blench holden lands. 1723 W. Buchanan Fam. Buchanan (1820) 245 Payment of four pennies of blench-duty if demanded. 1753

omit. Obs. (Cf. blanch v.1 5.) 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn, ii. 69 In Annotacions.. it is ouer vsual to blaunch the obscure places, and discoarse vpon the

b. as adv. = In blench.

1572 in Neal Hist. Purit. (1732) I. 285 ’Tis no time to blanch. 1632 Massinger & F. Fat. Dowry 11. i, What! Weep ye, soldiers? Blanch not! 1640-1 Ld. Digby Pari. Sp. 9 Feb. 13 A man of a sturdy conscience, that would not blanch for a little. 1870 Edgar Runnymede 126 The saints forbid that I should ever blanch at the thought of battle.

to

reference to 1 b.). 1549 Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 37 Blanchers.. that can blanche the abuse of Images. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 165 Howsoeuer you mince it and blanch it ouer. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. in. xlv. 373 The Author.. blancheth the matter, saying, that he died a naturall death. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. 1. (1851) 11 To blanch and varnish her deformities. 1709 Sacheverell Serm. 15 Aug. 10 Men., that.. can Hypocritically Blanch and Palliate.. Iniquities. 1880 Ruskin Lett. Clergy 367 To take the punishment of it [wrong], not to get it blanched over by any means. 6. intr. To turn or become white (chiefly by

blanch

3. intr. To shrink, start back, give way. arch. (Later users apparently mix it up with blanch v.1 6, in sense of ‘turn pale, change colour for fear/)

(with

palliate, over

playne. 1618 Raleigh Prerog. Pari. (1628) 52 You blanch my question, and answere mee by examples. 1638 Sir H. Wotton in Four C. Eng. Lett. 53, I suppose you will not blanch Paris in your way. 1671 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 240 Whether I am to blanch this particular?

f 2. To shut the eyes to, leave unnoticed, shirk,

tblancheen. Obs. [f. F. blanc, blanche white.] ? White flour of fine quality. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 564 A Modius of meale comming of the French Siligo, called Blancheen, or Ble-blanch.

blancher1 (’blainjafr), -ae-). Also 6 blauncher, branchar, 7 -er. [f. blanch tb1 + -er.] 1. He who or that which blanches or makes white. 1852 D. Moir Miner Peru Wks. II. 171 The tottering step, Proclaimed Time’s ravages, blancher of the hair.

2. spec. One who blanches metals or money (see blanch t).1 1 b. and c.). 1578 Ord. R. Househ., 2 Eliz. 256 The Mynte .. Branchars fee apeece 13/. 6s. 8d. 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 23 Two Blanchers [in the Mint], 1728 Rutty in Phil. Trans. XXXV. 635 Kept.. a Secret by the Blancher. 1766 Entick London IV. 342 Melters, blanchers, moniers. b. A chemical agent used for blanching. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. iii. in Ashmole (1652) 39 In Malgams, in Blanchers and Citrinacions. 1594 Plat Jewellho. I. 20 The Alcumists giue a blauncher vnto Venus with the salt of Tartar. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual., To make Blanchers for Copper. 2;

'blancher2. Forms: 6 blawnsher, blawnsherr, blawnshere, blaunsher, 6- blancher. [f. blanch V, 2 + -ER.] f 1. One who causes to turn aside; a perverter; an obstructor, hinderer. Obs. 1549 Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 33 Not for the continuaunce of the Masse as the blaunchers have

BLANCHET

259

blaunched it and wrested it. Ibid. 36 Certeyne blanchers longyng to the markette, to lette and stoppe the lyght of the Gospel.

f 2. Venery. A person or thing placed to turn the deer from a particular direction. Obs. 153s R. Layton in Ellis Orig. Lett, Ser. 11. II. 61 Getheryng up part of the said bowke leiffs.. to make him sewells or blawnsherrs to kepe the deere within the woode. 1580 Sidney Arcadia 64 Zelmane was like one that stood in a tree waiting a good occasion to shoot, and Gynecia a blancher, which kept the dearest deere from her. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. li. (1612) 230.

3. One who starts or balks at (any thing). Q. Eliz. Wks. (1673) 465 So as the wall¬ eyed blanchers at them [ceremonies] were followed more out of reproach than approbation. 01659 Osborn

t'blanchet. Obs. Also blaunchette. [ME., a. OF. blanchet dim. of blattc: see -et1.] White flour or powder for the face. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 53 Heo smuriefi heom mid blanchet pet is pes deofles sape. 01330 R. Brunne (MS. Bowes) 20 (Halliw.) With blaunchette and other flour, To make thaim qwytter of colour.

blanchet,

obs. form of blanket.

blanchimeter (bla:n'Jimit3(r),

-Ee-). [f. blanch

+ -meter.] An instrument for measuring the blanching power of chloride of lime and potash; a chlorometer. 1847 *n Craig, etc.

blanching ('bloinfir), -ae-), vbl. sb.1 [f. blanch il1] The action of making white: see the vb. Also in Cookery: see blanch v.1 2 a. 1600 Holland Livy xl. 1091 b, The polishing, blaunching and whiting..of the temple of Iupiter. 1657 Phys. DietBlanching, is the separation of the skins and hulls from divers seeds and kernels. 1868 Seyd Bullion 545 The furnaces for.. blanching are on the first floor. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 357/2 Blanching .. in which food is treated with boiling water, i960 Times Rev. Industry Aug. 22/3 Another operation applied to vegetables is blanching —immersion in near-boiling water for a few minutes.

'blanching, vbl. sb.2 [f. blanch v.2 + f 1. Telling of falsehoods. Obs.

-ing1.]

|2. Shirking, evasion. Obs. 1642 Rogers Naaman 529 [Balaam] should have returned home, and abhorred his blanching with Gods command.

[f. blanch il1

+

-ing2.]

Whitening; becoming white. c 1800 K. White Poet Wks. (1837) 77 When old age shall shed Its blanching honours on thy weary head. 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 182 On the blanching bones of men.

blanck(e,

obs. form of blank.

blancket,

obs. form of blanket, blunket.

blancmange,

-manger (bl3'ma:n3,

-'mDn3, -’ma:3). Forms: 4 blancmanger(e, blank(e)manger(e, bla-, blam-, blan-, blaumanger, blamyngere, 5 blanc maungere, blaunche-, blonc-, blawemanger, blanger mangere, 6 blowmanger, 7 bla-, blanch-, blanck-, blankemanger, 8 blomange, 9 blamange, 8- blancmange, -manger. [In 14th c. blancmanger, a. OF. blanc-manger (earlier -mangier), lit. ‘white food or dish,’ f. blanc white + manger to eat, eating, food. Blanc fell already in 14th c. to blam-, bla-, blau-, later blawe-, blow-, bio-, bla-, and manger was in 18th c. abridged to mange. The present spelling is a half attempt at restoring the French, but the pronunciation is that of the 18th c. blomange, blamange, often garnished with a French nasal, by those who know French.] fa. Formerly: A dish composed usually of fowl, but also of other meat, minced with cream, rice, almonds, sugar, eggs, etc. Obs. b. Now: A sweetmeat made of dissolved isinglass or gelatine boiled with milk, etc., and forming an opaque white jelly; also a preparation of cornflour and milk, with flavouring substances. P. PI. B. xm. 91 )?at neither bacoun ne braune • blan[c]mangere ne mortrewes Is noither fisshe [ne] flesshe • but fode for a penaunte. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 387 ffor blankmanger [v.r. blankemangere] that made he with the beste. C1420 Liber Cocorum 19 Blanc maungere of fysshe. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 165 Two potages, blanger mangere, & Also Iely. 1483 Cath. Angl. 34 Blawemanger, peponus. 1530 Ortus Foe., Blowmanger. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 680 Their blamangers, jellies, chawdres. 1626 Bacon Sylva §48 Blanch-Manger or Jelly. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 195 To make Blomange of Isinglass. 1772-84 Cook Voy. (1790) I. 54 Its flavour was something like blanc mange. 1801 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. Ct. Rumford Wks. 1812 V. 137 Soap-suds to Syllabubs and Trifles change, And Bullocks’ Lights and Livers to Blamange. 1812 L. Hunt in Examiner 21 Dec. 801/i Trembling at it’s fate, like blanc-manger. 1862 Mrs. Beeton Cookery Bk. 44/1 Loosen the edges of the blanc¬ mange from the mould. 1377 Lang.

c. fig. (cf. ‘flummery.’)

bianco ('blaeqkau). [Trade name, f. F. blanc white.] A white preparation for whitening accoutrements; also, a similar preparation of khaki colouring. Hence 'bianco v. trans., to treat with bianco; 'blancoed ppl. a. 1895 >n Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price-list. 1906 Daily Chron. 30 Mar. 3/7 The sleeves get covered with ‘bianco’ off the belt. 1912 E. Wallace Pte. Selby viii. 75 One unhappy mortal, ‘warned’ for guard.. was lugubriously ‘blancoing’ his straps. . 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 93 The Pharisees, pursuwed Crist to the dethe, 3e, callid hym a blasfeme.

t blas'pheme, sb.2 Obs. [a. F. blaspheme (in 12th c. also blafeme:—L. blasphemia blasphemy. (In Chaucer also accented 'blaspheme.)] The earlier word for blasphemy. 1384 Chaucer Env. Scogan 15 In blaspheme of the goddis? c 1386 - Pard. T. 265 Cursed forswerynges, Blaspheme of crist, mansclaughter. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 138 With many suche blasphemes and prouocacyons to impacyence. 1583 T. Watson Poems (Arb.) 153 Yet glorious heauns, 6 pardon my blaspheme.

t blasphemely, adv. Obs. In 4-5 blasf-. blaspheme a. + -ly2.] Blasphemously.

[f.

CI380 Serm. agst. Mir.-Plays in Rel. Ant. II. 55 And therefore blasfemely thei seyen, that siche pleyinge doith more good than the word of God. 1395 Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 45 Principlis.. applied blasfemeli to a synful man.

f blasphement. Obs. rare. Blasphemy.

6 - blasphemer, [a. OF. blasfemeor, -eur_ (AF. -our), in nom. blasphemere:—L. blasphemator -em.] One who blasphemes. C1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 505 This false blasphemour that charged me To parte that wol nat departed be. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 27 Jaus was Crist callid a synnar & blasfemer. 1535 Coverdale 2 Macc. ix. 28 That murthurer and blasphemer of God. 1770 Burke Pres. Discont. Wks. II. 298 A common slaughter of libellers and blasphemers. 1870 R. Anderson Missions Amer. Bd. III. xx. 348 The recent blasphemer cried out in agony.

blas'phemeress. rare. [a. OF. blasphemeresse: see -ess.] A woman who blasphemes. 1548 Hall Chron. 158 A diabolicall Blasphemeresse of God.

blaspheming (bla:s'fi:miT), -ae-), vbl. sb. 1. The speaking.

uttering

of

blasphemy;

profane

c 1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 30 be blasfemynge whiche she spake a3enst his goddes. 1514 Barclay ('yt. & Uplondyshm. (1847) 26 There is blaspheming of Gods holy name. 1648 Jenkyn Blind Guide iv. 105 Take heed..of blaspheming.

f2. Railing, calumniation. Obs. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 18 Blasphemings of each others reputation.

blas'pheming, ppl. a. That blasphemes. 1569 Spenser Visions i, The vile blaspheming name. 1605 Shaks. Macb. IV. i. 26 Liuer of Blaspheming lew. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. x, These blaspheming strangers.

blasphemous ('blaisfimas, -ae-), a. Also 6 blasphemose. [f. L. blasphem-us (see blaspheme a.) + -ous, or perh. immed. a OF. blasphemeus, AF. -ous. Marlowe and Milton accented it, after L., bias'phemous.] 1. Uttering or expressing profanity, impiously irreverent. 1535 Coverdale Isa. lviii. 9 Yf thou.. ceasest from blasphemous talkinge. 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. 11. i, And scourge their foul blasphemous paganism. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 809 O argument blasphemous, false and proud! 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. ix. 187 John., pronounced it to be a.. blasphemous doctrine. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 42 The history of a prolonged outrage upon these words by blasphemous and arrogant persons.

|2. Abusive, slanderous, defamatory. Obs. 1604 Sir D. Carleton in Winwood Mem. II. 52 (L.) Stone was well whipped in Bridewell, for a blasphemous speech, ‘that there went sixty fools into Spaine besides my lord admiral and his two sons.’ 1610 Shaks. Temp. 1. i. 43 You bawling, blasphemous incharitable Dog.

'blasphemously, adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] In a blasphemous manner; impiously, profanely. 1531 Frith Judgm. Tracy (1829) 245 Against the which many men .. have blasphemously barked. 1611 Bible Luke xxii. 65 And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. 1665 Wither Lord's Prayer 99 A woman, blasphemously termed her self the Virgin Mary, a 1745 Swift (J.) He would blasphemously set up to controul the commands of the Almighty. 1874 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xcviii. 5 ‘This infectious frenzy of psalm-singing,’ as Warton almost blasphemously describes it.

'blasphemousness, [f. as prec. + -ness.] The quality of being blasphemous. 1854 Duff in Life xxi. (1881) 342 Such God-defying blasphemousness.

blasphemy ('blaisfimi, -ae-), Forms: 3 blasphemie, 4 blasfemie, -y(e, blasfamye, blassefemy, 4-6 blasphemye, (5 blaseflemy), 6-7 blasphemie, 7 blasfemy, 5- blasphemy. [ME. blasfemie, blasphemie, a. OF. blasfemie, a learned adaptation of L. blasphemia:—Gr. f}\aoT)pda slander, blasphemy, abstr. sb. f. jSAaoqb^oy blasphemous. In Spenser accented blas'phe my (F.Q. vi. xii. 25). Cf. blaspheme si.2] 1. Profane speaking of God or sacred things; impious irreverence. wind fornam baepweses blsest. a 1300 in Wright Pop. Treat. Sc. 136 A dunt other a blast of grete mi3te. 1340 Ayenb. 203 Be zuych blest and be zuych wynd. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus 11. 1338 Reed that boweth dowen with every blaste. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Blaste of wynde, flatus. 1573 G. Harvey Lett.-bk. (1884) 34 Two March blasts. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1336 Those that fortune advanceth by the favour of her blastes. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. 1. 325 Frosts and Snows, and Bitter Blasts. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxiv. 132 Broken by the blast of a hurricane. 1847 Longf. Ev. 11. hi. 184 Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over the desert.

2. a. A puff or blowing of air through the mouth or nostrils; a breath. Obs. or arch. c 1250 Gen. Ex. 201 His licham of er6e he nam, And blew 6or-in a liues blast, c 1325 Coer de L. 1779 Unnethe he might draw his blast. 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 223 A lanteme brennynge alway, pat no man couthe quenche wip blast noper wip water. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 11. 567 As when we breathe, we make a blast. 1611 Bible Ex. xv. 8 With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together. 1642 T. Taylor God's Judgem. 1. 11. xxvi. 276 Breathing his last blast. 1741 Middleton Cicero (1742) III. 304 The empty blast of popular favor.

fb. Angry breath, rage. Obs.

blast

of business). 1854 J. Abbot Napoleon (1855) I. xxvi. 412 All the foundries of France were in full blast. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 143 The organ .. was in full blast in the church. 1874 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. lxxxviii. 1. IV. 130 They burned perpetually like a furnace at full blast. 1936 H. Miller Black Spring (1938) 84 A penny arcade is going full blast. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart n. ii. 191 Even when the wireless was not on full blast, Daphne often shouted as though it were. 1957 I. Cross God Boy (1958) xxi. 183 If it had come through a radio going full blast[etc.].

d.fig. A severe or violent reprimand, outburst, or the like, colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1874 ‘Mark Twain’ Let. 4 Sept. (1917) I. 226, I gave the P.O. Department a blast in the papers. 1930 E. Raymond Jesting Army 11. iv. 203 If he but heard them, he charged up to revile them... Fred Roberts came under his blast. 1935 Time 11 Mar. 23/3 Despite blast and counterblast between President Roosevelt and Soviet Foreign Minister Litvinoff. 1936 Variety 1 July 35/5 Would You Like a Nice 15-Minute Blast at President Roosevelt? 1954 New Yorker 31 July 48/2 A typical blast comes from the West Renfrewshire group, which concludes its resolution by saying tartly that the ‘blind folly’ of the official Party shows that the leadership is completely divorced from the feelings of the majority of the Labour movement.

f 5. The sudden stroke of lightning, a thunder¬ bolt. Obs. 1650 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 351 He.. died by a blast of lightning. 1751 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 224 The end entered by the electric blast points north.

6. A sudden infection destructive to vegetable or animal life (formerly attributed to the blowing or breath of some malignant power, foul air, etc.), a. Blight; also an insect which causes blight, b. spec. A disease of the sugar cane. arch, or Obs. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 29 b, To preserve it from blast and mildew. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. v. iv. (1852) 316 Our wheat and our pease, fell under an unaccountable blast. 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 245 It [the sugar-cane] is liable to one disorder hitherto incurable, the Yellow Blast. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 435 The Blast. This insect.. is generally pernicious to all the plants on which it breeds. 1815 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5) III. 658/2 Blast is also used in agriculture and gardening, for what is otherwise called a blight.

1535 Coverdale Jud. viii. 2 Whan he had sayde this, their blast was swaged from him.

c. transf. and fig. Any blasting, withering, or pernicious influence; a curse.

3. a. The sending of a continuous puff of breath through a wind-instrument, so as to make it sound; the blowing (of a trumpet, or the like); hence, the sound so produced; any similar sound. Also fig.

1547 Boorde Brev. Health C 21 b, A Blast in the Eye. 1559 T. Bryce in Farr’s S.P. (1845) I. 176 When shall thy spouse and turtle-doue Be free from bitter blaste? 1659 Hammond On Ps. xxxiv. 14 Must needs be the forfeiting of God’s protection, and bring his blasts and curses. 1727 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. (1745) I. xiii. 101 Turns the blessing into a blast. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 204 If 2 Resistless as the blasts of pestilence.

c 1205 Lay. 19926 pa wes bemene blaest. a 1300 Cursor M. 18075 bar come a steuen als thoner blast, a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4990 When pai here pe grete bemes blast, c 1400 Destr. Troy xi. 4614 Iche buerne to be bun at the blast of a trumpe. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas, i. xiv, Of a great home I harde a royal blast. 1513 Douglas JEneis 11. vii. [vi.] 31 Wpsprang the cry of men and trumpis blist [clangorque tubarum]. 1611 Bible Josh. vi. 5 When they make a long blast with the rammes-horne. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 76 Th’ Angelic blast Filld all the Regions. 1782 Han. More Daniel vii. 114 Were thy voice Loud as the trumpet’s blast. 1851 D. Mitchell Fresh. Glean. Wks. (1864) 304 The postilion had given two blasts on his bugle.

f b. fig. Boasting: cf. the phrase to blow one's own trumpet. Obs. 1494 Fabyan v. cxl. 127 To kele somwhat theyr hyghe corage, or to oppresse in partye theyr brutisshe blastis.

fc. at one blast (L. uno flatu): at once, at the same time, for a blast: for once. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2487 Hure homes pai gunne po to blowe? ful many at one blaste. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 94/2 Let vs glorifie him .. and that not onely for a blast, but let vs continually preach and set forth the praises of God. 1638 T. Whitaker Blood of Grape 57 Both indeed at the first view or blast will seeme to shake both my foundation and edifice also. 1790 Beatson Nav. Gf Mil. Mem. I. 193 Plunging a number of gallant men at one blast into eternity.

fd. A company (of huntsmen). Obs. i486 Bk. St. Albans F vij a, A Blast of hunters.

4. a.

A artificially.

strong

current

of

air

produced

a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1644) 137 The Organ hath many Pipes, all which are filled with the same blast of wind. 1667 Milton P.L. 1. 708 As in an Organ from one blast of wind To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 97 By which the blast was to be thrown in.

b. spec. The strong current of air used in iron¬ smelting, etc. 1697 Phil. Trans. XIX. 482 To give very strong and lasting Blasts for Iron Forges. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Steel, As soon as the Coal is thoroughly kindled.. give the Blast. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts. II. 945 The blast is conducted through sheet-iron or cast-iron pipes .. into the tuyeres.

c. in blast, at or in full blast (also transf.): at work, in full operation; also full blast: at full pitch; esp. very loudly, out of blast: not at work, stopped. 1780 in Virginia State Papers (1875) I. 370 If Mr. Ross can get in Blast time enough .. he shall be paid for Shot Twenty five pounds pr: ton. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 652 At present there are four or five furnaces in the state that are in blast. 1832 Ht. Martineau Hill & Vail. vii. 114 The day when yonder furnaces are out of blast will be the day of your ruin. 1839 Marryat Diary II. 229 In full blast—something in the extreme. ‘When she came to meeting, with her yellow hat and feathers, was’n’t she in full blast?' 1853 A. Bunn Old & New England I. v. 86 Oyster-saloons.. to use an American phrase ‘in full blast’ (Anglice, having a great run

d. A dialectal name of erysipelas, e. A flatulent disease in sheep. 1845 W. Buchan Domest. Med. xxv. 202 The country people.. call this disease [erysipelas] a blast, and imagine it proceeds from foul air, or ill wind.

f7. A blasted bud or blossom; blasted state. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 190 Thou shalt hang like a blast among the faire blossomes. Ibid. 196 As in all gardeins, some flowers, some weedes, and as in al trees some blossoms, some blasts. 1795 Southey Occas. Pieces i, Thy youth in ignorance and labour past, And thine old age all barrenness and blast.

8. a. A ‘blowing up’ by gunpowder or other explosive; an explosion. 1635 J. Babington Pyrotechn. lvi. 63 Holding your head under the horizontal line of your Piece, for feare the blast annoy you. 1748 Anson Voy. 1. vii. 72 The blast was occasioned by a spark of fire from the forge. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiii. (1856) 285 A noise like a quarry blast, explosive and momentary.

b. The quantity of gunpowder or explosive used in a blasting operation.

other

1885 Daily News 12 Oct 5/2 When Hallett’s Reef in Hell Gate was destroyed.. the blast was the largest ever used.

c. A destructive wave of highly compressed air spreading outwards from an explosion. Also attrib. and Comb., as blast wall (set quot. 1852), wave; blast-proof adj. 1852 Harper's Mag. Apr. 644/2 A structure of black timber., set up in the shape of an acute angle. This is a ‘blast-wall’, intended to offer some resistance to a rush of air in case of an explosion [at the powder-mill]. 1923 [see backblast s.v. back- A. 11]. 1939 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIII. 225 Blast is a non-translational shock wave that is transmitted through the air to considerable distances from an exploding bomb... In the blast wave a phase of positive pressure is followed by a phase of negative pressure. 1940 Graves & Hodge Long Week-end xxiv. 420 The Government was planning., to provide blast-proof steel shelters for every house in the country. 1941 Flight 10 Apr. 272/2 Even some of the machines.. are protected against bombing by blast walls.

d. A party, esp. one that is very noisy or wild. Also, a good time, an enjoyable or exciting experience (chiefly U.S.). slang. 1953 D. Harris in Wentworth Flexner's Diet. Amer. Slang (1975) 42/1 Maybe it’s a little early in the day for their first blast. 1959 Times 9 Mar. 13/4 A blast, a great party. 1966 N.Y. Times 9 Sept. D9 I’ve been a lucky girl... In ‘Dolittle’ I’m having a blast. 1967 W. Murray Sweet Ride vi. 89 Man, they’re throwing a monster blast over on the East Latego later... Everybody’s going. 1970 Harper's Mag. July 37 Meyer himself had a blast. An entirely unpretentious man,.. he had dreaded this confrontation with sophisticated, distinguished Yale. 1972 J. S. Gunn in G. W. Turner Good Austral. Eng. iii. 56, I found that the effect of a drug can be a bang, blast, boot. 1979 Navajo Times (Window Rock, Arizona) 24 May 15/5 Johnson said playing

in the pros and in Oakland has been a blast and baseball had been good to him.

9. Sc. A smoke (of tobacco). Cf. K. James’s Counterblast to Tobacco (1604). Mod. South Sc. He takes his blast after dinner.

10. Comb, and attrib., as (in sense 1) blastborne, -puff-, (in sense 3) blast-horn-, (in sense 4) blast-bloomery, -cylinder, -engine, -machine, -meter-, also f blast-bob, the stroke of a blast of wind; blast bomb, a bomb whose effect depends mainly on its blast, esp. a home-made or hand¬ held one; blast-fan, a fan for producing a blast of air; blast-hearth, a hearth for reducing leadore; blast-hole, the hole by which water enters a pump, the wind-bore; blast-lamp, (a) see quot. a. 1884; (b) a lamp in which the flame is driven on to a surface by a current of air; a blow¬ lamp; blast-pipe, in a locomotive, a pipe conveying the steam from the cylinders into the funnel and so increasing the draught; blast-pot (see quot.). i860 W. Fordyce Hist. Coal, iio Besides the orifice or chimney at the top, there were two openings, one large in front, the other of smaller dimensions behind, for the insertion of the bellows pipe. Such was the *Blast Bloomery. 1582 Stanyhurst JEneis iv. (Arb.) no Thee boughs frap whurring, when stem with *blastbob is hacked. 1976 Economist 21 Feb. 17/2 One man was killed when a *blast bomb he was assembling on Saturday night went off too early. 1981 N.Y. Times 13 July A2 The police reported a blast bomb was thrown at an army patrol. 1830 Tennyson Poems 124 *Blastborne hail. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts II. 949 There are 3 *blast-engines.. They have 96-inch blast- and 40-inch steam-cylinders. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 339/2 To.. blow either hot or cold air through it by means of a *blast-fan. 1844 Camp of Refuge I. 27 Sounding all the *blast-horns on the house-top. a 1884 Knight Diet. Mech. Suppl., * Blast Lamp, one with an artificially produced draft of air to aid combustion. 1902 Mrs. Barnes-Grundy Thames Camp 57 A benzoline blast lamp which would fetch off any varnish in the world, c 1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 315/1 The combustion .. is rapidly effected by means of the *blast-pipe of the cylinder. 1887 Harper's Mag. Apr. 670/2 Before the war only seven small furnaces—‘*blast-pots’ they were called—having a total capacity of 20,000 tons, were in operation in all Tennessee.

blast (blast), sb.2 [f. Gr. jSAaar-os: see -blast.] A primitive undifferentiated blood-cell, esp. one found in acute leukamia. In full blast cell. 1947 H. A. Christian Osier's Princ. Practice Med. (ed. 16) 965 Monocytic Leucemia... The cell is a monocyte or monocyte blast. 1952 Science CXV. 357/2 The inhibitor activity of the primitive blast cells from acute leukemia was close to zero. 1961 Lancet 9 Sept. 603/1 Leukasmic cells, particularly the blast cells, contain no inhibitor whatever.

blast (blaist, -ae-), v. Also 3, 7 blaste. [f. thesb.] I. f 1. a. intr. To blow, to puff violently. Obs. C1300 K. Alis. 5438 Dragouns.. grisely whistleden and blasten. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 397/3 Ther came a grete multytude of fendes blastyng and roryng. 1530 Palsgr. 457/1 To blaste with ones mouthe or with belowes. 1768 Ross Helenore 23 (Jam.) Twa shepherds out of breath, Rais’d-like and blasting.

fb. trans. To blow (out, forth, abroad); to breathe (out), utter loudly, proclaim. Obs. 1536 Latimer Serm. bef. Convoc. i. 35 Counterfeit doctrine, which hath been blasted and blown out by some. 1548 Hall Chron. Hen. VI. an. 14 (R.) They blasted emongest themselfes, that the Calisians would leaue the town desolate. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 712 The winde .. whereby this fire was .. blasted abroad.

c. nonce-wd. To emit blasts. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 14/1 The engine which had been clanking and blasting in our ears incessantly for so many days.

f2. a. intr. To blow (on a trumpet or other wind instrument), b. trans. To blow (a trumpet, etc.), c. with the hearers as object.: To din or denounce by trumpeting. Obs. 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1866 Toke his blake trumpe faste And gan to puffen and to blaste. 1530 Palsgr. 457/1 He blasted his home so hygh that all the wodde dyd shake. 1606 Shaks. Ant. & Cl. iv. viii. 36 Trumpetters With brazen dinne blast you the Citties eare. 1858 Polson Law & L. 197 ‘Blasting you at the horn,’ ‘poinding your estate.’

3. intr. To boast, ‘blow one’s own trumpet.’ Sc. 1814 Saxon

Gael I. 100 (Jam.), I am no gien to blast.

|4. a. trans. To blow (up), inflate, b. intr. (for refl.) To swell up. Obs. exc. dial. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 1. xcv. 137 The same herbe. .slaketh the [bowels] whan they are blasted vp and swollen. Ibid. 11. xxv. 177 A yong Catt whereunto I haue giuen of these floures to eate.. blasted immediatly, and shortly after died. 1874 Hardy Madding Crowd I. xxi. 228 [A rustic says] ‘They [the sheep] be getting blasted.’.. ‘Joseph,’ he said, ‘the sheep have blasted themselves.’

5. a. trans. explosion.

To blow up (rocks, etc.) by

1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornwall xv. §1. 161 The miner is generally obliged to blast the rock. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xv. 314 His shallow schemes were blasted to atoms. 1859 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 279 The ledge of rock had been blasted and hewn away.

b. intr. Of a rocket or spacecraft: to take off, be launched into space; usu. const, off. Also used of any powered phase of flight. Also of an astronaut.

BLASTING

266

-BLAST 1951 R. Bradbury Silver Locusts 190 You could still smell the hard, scorched smell where the last rocket blasted off when it went back to Earth. 1953 H. Haber Man in Space 262 The moment the big ship blasts off there is no allowance for the slightest failure. 1956 R. Heinlein Double Star (1958) ii. 38, I was spacesick .. as soon as the rocket ship quit blasting and went into free fall. 1969 Times 17 May 8/1 It only remains for three veteran space travellers.. to blast off on Sunday.

c. To create from or out of rock, etc., by means of explosion. 1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse vi. 96 In many of these places swimming baths had been blasted out of the rocks. 1978 B. Bainbridge Young Adolf i. 11 The train plunged into the hills surrounding the city and entered a massive tunnel blasted from yellow sandstone.

6. a. (dial.) To smoke (tobacco). Cf. blow. (The usual word in S. Scotl.) b. To smoke (marijuana). Also intr. Cf. blasted ppl. a. 4. slang (chiefly U.S.). 1959 J. E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo & Lore 17 Blast Mary Jane to kingdom come, to smoke hemp or Mari Huana cigarettes ‘by the pack’, i.e., furiously, i960 R. G. Reisner Jazz Titans 151 Blast, to get high. 1961 Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia p.xiii, Blast crap, to, to smoke marijuana. 1970 C. Major Diet. Afro-Amer. Slang 27 Blast,.. smoke marijuana.

blast your eyes! 1955 N. Marsh Scales of Justice ix. 209 ‘Damnation, blast and bloody hell!’ Alleyn said.

b. absol. To curse, to use profane language. 1762 Gentl. Mag. 130 On they go.. swearing, blasting, damning.

-blast [ad. Gr. /3Aaar-ds sprout, shoot, germ], used as the second element in technical terms, esp. in Biology, in sense of ‘germ, embryo’ as in epiblast, mesoblast, and hypoblast; cf. BLASTODERM.

blasted ('bla:stid, -te-), ppl. a. 1. Balefully or perniciously blown or breathed upon; stricken by meteoric or supernatural agency, as parching wind, lightning, an alleged malignant planet, the wrath and curse of heaven; blighted. 1552 Huloet, Blasted corne. 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, ill. iv. 71 A blasted Sapling, wither’d vp. 1605-Macb. 1. iii. 77 Vpon this blasted Heath you stop our way. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 412 The blasted Starrs lookt wan. 1727 Thomson Summer 1152 Stretched below A lifeless groupe of blasted cattle lie. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xxxvi. 318 A black, blasted tree.

2. transf. and^ig.; cf. blast v. 8.

II. To blow on perniciously. 7. trans. To blow or breathe on balefully or perniciously; to wither, shrivel, or arrest vegetation; to blight. Said of a malignant wind, lightning, flame and (formerly) of a ‘malignant’ planet.

1742 Collins Ode to Fear, Lest thou meet my blasted view. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxix. 168 The blasted credit of the Irish witnesses. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 548 Driven .. from public life with blasted characters.

1532 Frith Mirror (1829) 277 By blasting thy fruits, or such other scourges. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 271 This lately advaunced building was blasted with flame. 1580 Baret Alv. B786 To be Blasted or striken with a planet. 1625 Milton Death Fair Inf. i, O fairest flower, no sooner blown but blasted. 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xxvm. (1678) 682 Every body that is blasted or stricken with lightning. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. 11. 84 Southern Winds to blast my flowry Spring. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. ii. 38 The fertile vale of Siddim was blasted with eternal barrenness.

1682 Dryden Medal 260 What Curses on thy blasted Name will fall. 1750 Chesterf. Lett. 8 Jan. (1870) 169 Colonel Chartres.. who was, I believe, the most notorious blasted rascal in the world. 1854 M. J. Holmes Tempest Sunshine (1858) xv. 204 Lord’s sake be spry, for I’m blasted hungry! 1874 Pusey Lent. Serm. 79 Balaam, after the success of his blasted counsel. 1884 Gd. Words Nov. 767/1 Jim Black states that the ‘blasted’ railway has done away with those journeys. 1886 Leslie's Pop. Monthly Jan. 67/2 He’s too blasted smart for an Indian.

8. transf. and fig. (Blasting withers up the brightness, freshness, beauty, vitality, and promise of living things: hence) a. To blight or ruin (hopes, plans, prosperity). 1639 Fuller Holy War hi. iv. (1840) 121 Oftentimes heaven blasteth those hopes which bud first and fairest. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. I. 11. 90 The death of Henry blasted all these hopes. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. x. 338 My personal prospects in the colony were for the present entirely blasted. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 397 When heinous sin earth’s wholesome purity blasted.

b. To bring infamy reputation); to discredit destroy.

upon (character, effectually, ruin,

1596 Drayton Leg. iv. 21 Would you forbeare to blast Me with Defame. 1660 Winstanley Engl. Worthies (1684) 174 So hath this worthy Princes fame been blasted by malicious traducers. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 5. 31 This Query.. is designed to blast the Memory and Title of King William. 1769 Junius Lett, xxxiv. 148, I did not attempt to blast your character. 1877 Conder Bas. Faith iv. 194 To blast this evidence with suspicion of untrustworthiness.

fc. To affect injuriously or perniciously with. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 166 Some of the greatest Romans were a little blasted with this foolerie. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 157 ff6, I was blasted with sudden imbecility.

d. To strike (the eyes or vision) with dimness or horror, arch. a 1771 Gray Poems (1775) 24 He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Clos’d his eyes in endless night. 1803 Miss Porter Thaddeus ix. (1831) 83 Wherever he turned his eyes they were blasted with some object which made them recoil. 1817 Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves (1862) Still Edmund’s image rose to blast her view.

f9. intr. To wither or fall under a blight. Obs. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 236 The Easterly winde maketh the blossomes to blast, a 1618 Raleigh in Farr’s S.P. (1845) I. 235 Tell Beauty how she blasteth. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon % 44 (1810) 51 This bud soon blasted in the blossom. 1748 j. Eliot Field-Husb. New England (1760) 1. 14, I have been told that Summer Wheat sowed with Barley is not apt to blast. 1838 E. Flagg Far West II. 217 All of the smaller grains.. being liable to blast before the harvesting.

10. a. trans. To strike or visit with the wrath and curse of heaven; to curse. Often in imprecations in the imperative or optative form (for God blast...); also as an exclamation of annoyance. a 1634 Chapman Revenge for Hon. v, And thus I kiss’d my last breath. Blast you all. 1640-4 in Rushworth Hist. Coll. hi. (1692) I. 130 Blasted may that tongue be, that shall., derogate from the glory of those Halcyon days. 1659 Hammond On Ps. iv. 3 His enemies.. blasted him as a man of blood. 1706 Addison Rosamond 1. i, My wrath like that of heav’n shall.. blast her in her Paradise. 1752 Fielding Amelia IV. x. v, But, blast my reputation, if I had received such a letter, if I would not have searched the world to have found the writer. 1762 Goldsmith Cit. W. cv, ‘Blast me!’ cries Tibbs, ‘if that be all, there is no need of paying for that.’ 1793 T. Hastings Regal Rambler 74 Leaving all the ladies below to blast or bless their eyes, no matter which. 1824 Scott St. Ronaris viii, ‘As I think, he laid hands on your body... ’ ‘Hands,.. no, blast him —not so bad as that neither.’ 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii, Calling on their Maker to curse them .. blast them, and damn them. 1916 E. F. Benson David Blaize ix. 158 ‘I say, Blazes, there’s extra confirmation class this evening.’..‘Oh, blast!’ said David. 1936 Auden & Isherwood Ascent of F6 1. iii, Give it here,

3. Cursed, damned. In low language as an expression of reprobation and hatred. Also used adverbially.

4. Under the influence of drugs or alcohol, intoxicated. Cf. blast v. 6 b. slang (chiefly U.S.). 1972 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 2 July 14/3 Today they [sc. addicts] get blasted. 1973 To Our Returned Prisoners of War (U.S. Office of Secretary of Defense) 2 Blasted, under the influence of drugs including alcohol... Usually indicates very high, but pleasantly so. 1978 J. Carroll Mortal Friends 11. vi. 205 Den O’Coole forced his way to the bar... He was already blasted. 1985 S. Booth True Adventures Rolling Stones xxv. 255 He seemed as fog-bound as I was, a sweet-tempered English boy staying blasted on grass and coke.

|| blastema (blae'stiima). PI. bla'stemata. [a. Gr. pXaoTrjp.a a sprout, also, in Hippocrates, a morbid humour causing scab or disease, f. vbl. stem p\aore-, pXaora- to sprout, bud.] 1. Biol. The primary formative material of plants and animals; protoplasm. Now applied spec, to the initial matter or growth out of which any part is developed. 1849 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 100/2 The structureless fluid just referred to is termed blastema. 1855 Owen Skel. & Teeth 5 The primitive basis, or ‘blastema,’ of bone is a subtransparent glairy matter. 1879 tr. De Quatrefages' Human Spec. 124 Adam, who sprang from a primordial blastema called clay in the Bible. transf. 1870 Huxley Lay Serm. xiii. (1874) 309 A nebular blastema.

2. Bot. The budding or sprouting part of a plant; the thallus of a lichen. 1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. 399.

bla'stemal, a. [f. prec. pertaining to blastema.

+

-al1.]

Of or

1849 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 102/1 The blastemal elements within the vessels.

blaste'matic, a. [f. as prec. + -ic.]

= prec.

1879 Syd. Soc. Lex., Blastematic mass, a name given by some .. to organs still in a state of imperfect development.

blaster ('bla:st3(r), -ae-). [f. blast v. or (in sense 7) sb. + -er1.] 1. One who blows or emits blasts. 1664 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 18 You there [Boreas], Goodman Blaster. 1854 Blackie in Blackw. Mag. LXXVI. 261 That fiery blaster, Typhon.

f2. A trumpeter. Obs. 1575 Laneham

Let. (1871) 33 Triton, Neptunes blaster.

3. He who or that which blights, or ruins. 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie, To Detract. 165 Vile blaster of the freshest bloomes on earth.. Detraction. 1760 Foote Minor I. i, Dead to pleasures themselves, and the blasters of it in others.

f4. One of the sect of free-thinkers in Ireland about 1738. Obs. c 1738 Rep. Irish Comm. Relig. in Fraser Berkeley vii. 254 Loose and disorderly persons have of late erected themselves into a Society or Club under the name of Blasters.

5. One who blasts rocks. 1776 Pennant Tour Scotl. (1790) III. 34 A blaster was kept in constant employment, to blast with gunpowder the great stones. 1884 Pall Mall G. 10 Oct. 8/2 A rock blaster.. explaining the working of a dynamite cartridge.

6. An iron borer used for rocks to be blasted.

7. Anything designed to produce a blast or draught of air. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 353 The smoke and soot .. are carried up the funnel over the mouth of the oven, the ascent being promoted by laying a blaster over the mouth: the blaster is a large piece of sheet-iron.

8. dial. (Sc.) A smoker. 9. Science Fiction. A weapon that emits a destructive blast. 1950 I. Asimov Pebble in Sky xvii. 179 It was a full-size blaster that could shred a man to atoms. 1958 Listener 13 Nov. 775/2 Elijah Baley, the human detective, with a blaster-pistol. 10. Golf. = sand-iron (b) s.v. sand sb 10. 1937 H. Longhurst Golf 1. xxii. 198 The blaster gives no margin for error above the ball, but an almost infinite margin below it. 1948 Chambers’s Jrnl. July 337/2 If you were a lovely young girl whose father had been a golf champion, would you touch a knock-kneed bowler even with a blaster? i960 R. Lardner Out of Bunker ix. 146, I bent my blaster into a sharp V and hurled it end over end high up into the branches of a nearby tree. 1975 Oxf. Compan. Sports Cst Games 429/2 Sand-wedge (formerly ‘blaster’), 36 in. (912 mm.), 56°.

.2

blasterand,

obs. Sc. form of blustering.

f 'blasterous, a. Obs. rare. In 6 -terus. Blasting, blighting. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis II. (Arb.) 53 Corneshocks sindgfed with blasterus hurling of Southwynd whizeling.

blastful ('blaistfol, -®-), a.

[f. blast sb.1 +

-ful.] Full of or exposed to blasts of wind. 1883 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 520 Breezy hills and blastful mountains.

'blast-'furnace. A furnace in which a blast of air is used; spec, the common furnace for iron¬ smelting, into which a blast of compressed and highly heated air is driven by a blowing-engine. Also attrib. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4241/2 A new Invention of Smelting .. of Black Tin-Ore into White Tin .. in a Blast Furnace. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 94 The wind-furnace may generally be replaced with advantage by the blast-furnace. i860 W. Fordyce Hist. Coal, etc. 116 The blast furnace consists of two truncated cones, united at their bases. 1877 Practical Mag. VII. 248 {title) The utilization of blast furnace slag. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 601/2 {heading) Blast-furnace gases. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 19 July 8/2 The blast-furnacemen at Workington. 1930 Engineering 17 Jan. 68/1 Mortar, with the exception of blast-furnace cement, ceased to change in strength.

blastid ('blaestid).

Palseont. [f. Gr. jSAaur-ds sprout, bud; cf. blastema.] (See quot.) 1877 Le Conte Elem. Geol. (1879) 299 Stemmed Echinoderms, or Crinoids may be divided into three families, viz.: 1. Crinids; 2. Cystids; 3. Blastids. Ibid. 301 Blastids .. had a bud-shaped body, with five petalloid spaces .. radiating from the top, and reaching half way down the body.

'blastide. Biol. [f. Gr. /3Aaar-os germ + etSos resemblance.] ‘The clear space in each segment of a dividing impregnated ovum, which precedes the appearance of a nucleus’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1880). 'blastie. Sc. rare. [f. blast v. + -ie, -y4 dim. suffix.] A little blasted creature; a dwarf. 1787 Burns To Louse vii, Ye little ken what cursed speed The blastie’s makin!

blasting ('blaistir), -ae-), vbl. sb.

[f. as prec. +

-ING1.]

+ 1. a. The production of blasts of wind or breath. 1535 Coverdale Isa. lvii. 16 Ye blastinge goeth fro me, .though I make the breath. -Ps. xvii. 15 At the blastinge & breth of thy displeasure.

fb. Flatulence; breaking of wind. Obs. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 304 in Babees Bk. (1868) 136 Alle wey be ware of pe hyndur part from gunnes blastynge. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 28 Windinesse, belching, and blasting of the stomach and belly.

2. a. The blowing of a wind-instrument. 1862 Guardian 23 Apr. 403/3 The ruthless blasting of horns and beating of drums.

b. Radio. (See quot. 1926.) 1926 S. O. Pearson Diet. Wireless Techn. Terms, Blasting, term used to denote the distortion which takes place in loudspeaker or telephone signals on extra loud notes, due to working beyond the straight portion of valve characteristic. 1928 Observer 29 Jan. 22/5 When the definite minimum level of sensitivity is given, so that the softer passages are not lost, heavy passages cause most distressing blasting.

3. a. Withering or shrivelling up caused by atmospheric, electric, or unseen agency. I535 Coverdale Hagg. ii. 17, I smote you with heate, blastinge & hale stones. 1552 Huloet, Blastynge or Searynge, as of corne, herbes, fruite, and trees. 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 452 In thy husbandry, blasting may vndoe thee. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 313 Blasting, which is a corruption happening to hearbes and trees by some euill constellation. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 15 Blasting hath commonly been mistaken for Mildew. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach, vi. 114 Blasting and mildew .. had no place in the Divine ideal of a pure and holy world.

+ b. A similar affection of the animal body. Obs.

BLASTING

267

1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) i, To heale inflamations, blastings and swellings of the eyes. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 387 The fat.. doth keep the skin of the face free from all blastings and blemishes. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 43 It cureth shrinking of the joints, and blasting.

c•fig. and transf. 1677 Gilpin Daemonol. (1867) 286 They have also so great a blasting upon their understanding.

f4. Calumnious whisper; scandal. word quot. 1603.) Obs.

(Cf. next

a 1628 F. Greville Sidney (1652) 89 Saves Sir Francis Drake from blastings of Court. 1665 Surv. Aff. Netherl. 169 About which matter there are not a few blastings and Factions.

5. The operation of blowing rocks to pieces; also its result or material produce. operation of breaking up ice.

Also, the

1824 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. II. 317 Blasting. .the application of the explosive force of gunpowder, in opening or rending rocks. 1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxvi. 340 The blasting had succeeded; one canister cracked and uplifted two hundred square yards of ice with but five pounds of powder. 1885 R. Christison Autobiog. I. iv. 96 Finding prehnite among the blastings of a trap cliff.

6. Comb, and attrib. (sense 5), as blastingcharge, -fuse, gelatine, -powder, -tools-, blasting cartridge, a cartridge containing a blasting charge, usually exploded by electricity; blasting-needle, a taper piece of metal to make an aperture for a fuse; blasting-oil, nitro¬ glycerine. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Blasting-stick, a simple form of fuse. 1883 Fortn. Rev. May 645 Blasting gelatine .. consists of nitro-cotton .. dissolved in nitro-glycerine. 1884 Pall Mall G. 5 Sept. 11/1 An article on the manufacture of dynamite and nitro-glycerine, and .. the still more powerful ‘explosive of the future’—blasting gelatine. 1889 Cent. Diet., Blasting cartridge. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 1 June 4/1 Several cavalry horses have been injured by blasting cartridges exploded under their feet.

blasting, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] 1. That blasts, in various senses of the vb.; blighting, striking with baleful effect, defaming, etc. 1591 Percivall Sp. Diet., Sereno, the blasting aire .. sideratio. 1603 Shaks. Meas. for M. v. i. 122 A blasting and a scandalous breath. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 929 The blasting volied Thunder. 1810 Southey Kehama hi. ii, Is he left , alone. To bear his blasting curse? 1861 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxlv. 131 Every blasting abomination to be raked up in the middle ages.

2. fig. Boastful. (Sc.) 1786 Har'st Rig. in Chambers Pop. Scot. Poems (1862) 44 When in a blasting tift.

blastment ('blaistmant, -ae-). [f. as prec. + -ment.] = blasting vbl. sb. (sense 3). 1602 Shaks. Ham. i. iii. 39 In the Morne and liquid dew of Youth, Contagious blastments are most imminent. 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 368 The pestilential blastments of contagion. 1817 Coleridge Prel. Zapolya ii. Wks. IV. 193 False glory, thirst of blood and lust of rapine.. Shall shoot their blastments on the land.

blasto- (blaestau), repr. Gr.

/3Aooro- stem and comb, form of flXacnos sprout, germ. Used as the first element in many technical terms, chiefly in Biology, with the sense of ‘germ’ or ‘bud.’ Thus blasto'carpous a. Bot. [Gr. Kapnos fruit], of the nature of a seed which germinates before escaping from the pericarp, 'blastocele (-sill), [iceAty spot], the germinal spot, 'blastocheme (-ki:m), [ogypa vehicle], a Medusa in which a generative body is developed in the radiating canals, 'blastochyle (-kail), [xOAoy juice], the clear mucilaginous fluid in the embryonal sac of the ovule of plants, 'blastoccele (-si:l) [woiAoy hollow], the central cavity which forms in the ovum after segmentation, blasto'colla, Bot., [/coAAa glue], the gummy substance which coats certain buds, as those of the horse-chestnut, 'blastocyst (-sist), blasto'cystinx (-'sistirjks), [kvotls bladder, Kvoriy£ little bladder], the germinal vesicle, blastoderm, 'blastodisc, the germinal disc of the ovum of birds, blasto'genesis, reproduction by buds, bla'stogeny (-'Dd3ini), Haeckel’s term for the evolution of bodily form, the ‘germ-history of persons.’ bla'stography, the scientific description of the buds of plants, 'blastomere (-mre(r)), [Gr. pepos part], each of the segments into which the impregnated ovum at first divides, blastomy'cosis [mycosis], a disease caused by infection with pathogenic fungi, affecting either the skin or the organs generally, bla'stophagine a., of or belonging to the Blastophaga, a genus of fig-insects, 'blastophor (-3fa(r)), [Gr. -fopoy -bearing, -bearer], a more or less centrally placed portion of the spermatospore, which is not used up in the process of division to form spermatoblasts, but serves to carry these; hence bla'stophoral a., as in blastophoral cell, 'blastophore (-3fo3(r)), Bot., Richard’s name for the part of the embryo with

blat

a large radicle which bears the bud. bla'stophyly ('Dfili), [Gr. tribe], Haeckel’s term for the ‘tribal history of persons.’ bla'stoporal a., of or pertaining to the blastopore, 'blastopore [nopoy passage], the orifice produced by the invagination of a point on the surface of a blastula, or blastosphere, to form the enteron. 'blastosphere, a name for the impregnated ovum, when after segmentation, it has acquired a blastoccele and blastoderm, blasto'stroma [Gr. orpaipa a stratum, a bed], the germinal area, 'blastostyle [crrDAoy pillar], a stalk upon which gonophores or generative buds are developed in the Hydrozoa.

echinoderms. group.

1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. An. iv. 213 The central cavity of the body of the embryo Taenia simply represents a ♦blastoccele. 1883 Knowledge 24 Aug. 123/2 A mass of nucleated cells.. within which there is a cavity or blastoccele. 1876 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) IV. 81 The ♦blastocolla, which covers the bud. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. An. Introd. 16 Tracing the several germ layers back to the ♦blastomeres of the yelk. 1881 Jrnl. Microsc. Soc. Jan. 147 There are two kinds of blastomeres, the larger form the lower half of the egg, the smaller ones the upper half. 1900 Dorland Med. Diet. 113/1 * Blastomycosis. 1901 H. T. Ricketts in Jrnl. Boston Soc. Med. Sci. V. 453 {title) A new mould-fungus as the cause of so-called blastomycosis or oidiomycosis of the skin. 1903 Brit. Jrnl. Dermatology XV. 121 A case of blastomycosis. 1921 Brit. Mus. Return 133 Notes on Fig Insects, including.. a new *Blastophagine Genus. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 557 The ciliated ‘planula’.. fixes itself, probably by the ♦blastoporal pole. 1933 Discovery Feb. 55/2 A small piece of the blastoporal lip [was] .. cut out of the gastrula of a species of newt. 1880 Huxley Cray-Fish iv. 409 Its external opening termed the ♦blastopore. 1877 - Anat. Inv. An. iii. 131 In some ♦blastostyles .. the ectoderm splits into two layers.

degeneration of germ cells caused by chronic poisoning as from alcoholism or other diseases. Hence blastoph'thoric a., of or relating to blastophthoria.

blastoderm ('blaest3ud3:m). Biol. [f. blasto+ Gr. Scppa, Seppar- skin.] The germinal skin or membrane surrounding the yolk in the impregnated living ovum, and constituting the superficial layer of the embryo in its earliest condition. It divides into two and afterwards three layers of cells (the epiblast, mesoblast, and hypoblast-, cf. -blast), from one or other of which all the parts of the new animal are developed. Hence blastoder'matic, blasto'dermic a., of or pertaining to the blastoderm. 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. Phys. V. 46/1 A layer of nucleated organised cells, named by Pander Blastoderm or germinal membrane. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. An. iii. 110 The cells of the blastoderm give rise to the histological elements of the adult body. 1881 Mivart Cat 319. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 786/2 The arteries begin to show themselves.. in the substance of this same blastodermic lamina. Ibid. IV. 975/1 In one germinal membrane or blastodermatic vesicle. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. An. iv. 200 The homologue of the blastodermic disk or vesicle.

'blast-off. [f. blast v. 5 b.] The initial thrust required to launch a rocket or the like into space; the launching of the rocket itself. Also attrib. Travelers of Space 20 Blast-off, the initial expenditure of energy by a space ship leaving a planet, or in emergency takeoffs. 1952 A. C. Clarke Islands in Sky viii. 125 We were supposed to keep out of the pilot’s way at blast-off. 1958 Observer 2 Feb. 1/3 This stage developed a blast-off thrust of 78,000 lb. 1951 M. Greenberg

blastogenesis

(blaestau'dsemsis). Biol. blasto- + genesis.] 1. Reproduction gemmation or budding.

[f. by

1889 in Cent. Diet. 1966 Immunology X. 281 Chapman and Dutton .. demonstrated a similar blastogenesis when cells from spleens or lymph nodes of two non-related rabbits were cultured together.

2. The theory of the transmission of inherited characters by germ-plasm, from ‘pangenesis’. 1893

as

distinguished

in Funk's Stand. Diet.

blastogenic (blaest3u'd3enik), a. Biol. [ad. G. blastogene (Weismann 1888, in Biologisches Centralblatt VIII. 106); f. blasto- + -genic.] Of or pertaining to blastogenesis; pertaining to origin from, or that originates in, the germ-cell or germ-plasm. 1889 E. B. Poulton et al. tr. Weismann s Ess. Heredity vii. 412 ‘Acquired characters’.. we might also call .. ‘somatogenic’..; while all other characters might be contrasted as ‘blastogenic', because they include all those characters in the body which have arisen from changes in the germ. Ibid. 413 Among the blastogenic characters, we include not only all the changes produced by natural selection operating upon variations in the germ, but all other characters which result from this latter cause. 1912 A. Dendy Outl. Evol. Biol. xi. 157 Blastogenic modifications are from their very nature as attributes of the germ cells handed on by heredity. 1966 Immunology X. 283 An intrinsic difference may exist in the blastogenic potential of adult rabbit and rat thymus glands.

blastoid ('blaestoid), a. and sb. [f. mod.L. Blastoidea, f. Gr. /3Aaoros sprout, germ + elSos form: see blasto- and -oid.] A. adj. Of or belonging to the Blastoidea, a group of fossil

B. sb.

An echinoderm of this

1876 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XXXII. 112 The Blastoid affinities of Astrocrinites ( = Zygocrinus) have been pointed out. 1882 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. iv. 11. 722 The blastoids or pentremites, which now took the place in the Carboniferous waters that in Silurian times had been filled by the Cystideans. 1914 Brit. Mus. Return 202 Newly-described Blastoids from Somerset. 1962 D. Nichols Echinoderms viii. 96 Tubercles have not been found in cystoids, blastoids and heterosteles. Ibid. xii. 149 The steganoblastidae are superficially blastoid-like.

blastophthoria (blaestsufGorm). Path. [mod.L., f. blasto- + Gr. 8opd destruction (4>delpeiv to destroy): see -ia.] The hypothetical

1908 Index Medicus VI. Index 112/2 Blastophthoria. 1913 Med. Diet. (ed. 2) 114/2 Blastophthoria... Blastophthoric. 1914 Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. Gf Med. XIV. 14 The continued administration of small doses of lead produces a definite blastophthoric effect in male guinea pigs; and .. the lead blastophthoria thus induced manifests itself [etc.]. 1938 Nature 16 July 107/2 Forel’s contributions to the study of the alcohol problem were then considered under the headings of blastophthoria, alcoholism and the sexual question. Stedman

blastous ('blaestss), a.

[f. Gr. ySAaor-os (see above) + -ous: cf. F. blasteux.] Belonging to a germ or bud; germinal. 1880 in Syd. Soc. Lex.

blastula ('blaestjuta). Embryol. [mod.L., f. Gr. fSXaoTos sprout + dim. suffix (see -ule). Cf. blastule.] An embryo, typically composed of cells arranged in a sphere enclosing the blastoccele. Hence blastu'lation, the formation of the blastula. 1887 A. C. Haddon Introd. Study Embryol. ii. 21 The result of segmentation is the formation of a multicellular body, usually enclosing a central cavity—‘Segmentation cavity’ or ‘Blastoccel’. The body itself is variously called ‘Blastula’ or ‘Blastosphere’. Ibid. ii. 50 Segmentation.. of Sponges.. results in the formation of a hollow blastula. 1889 Cent. Diet., Blastulation. 1893 Tuckey Hatschek's Amphioxus 43 An equal segmentation leading to a blastula without any well-defined main axis. 1924 E. W. Macbride Stud. Heredity iii. 70 When the [sea-urchin’s] egg has divided into about 1000 cells these form a little hollow balloon or vesicle known as the blastula. 1931 J. Needham Chem. Embryol. II. ill. iv. 642 Vies concluded that blastulation involves a change of some kind in the metabolism of the embryo. 1962 D. Nichols Echinoderms x. 120 The resulting blastula is oval, hollow and ciliated all over.

blastule ('blsestjuil). [dim. (on L. type) f. Gr. jSAacrT-os.] A small germ; a blastosphere. 1882 C. K. Paul in igth Cent. Oct. 515 We may trace their development from the first organic blastules.

blasty ('blarsti, -ae-), a. [f. blast sb.1 + -y1.] 1. Characterized by blasts of wind; gusty. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iii. (Arb.) 84 On a suddeyn thee doors winds blastye doe batter. 1870 Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1879) II. 160 This bleak and blasty shore. 1872 Mem. R. Paul ix. 98 An unsteady blasty wind.

f2. Causing blight; blasting vegetation. Obs. 1667 Beale in Phil. Trans. II. 424 [Giving] notice of a blasty Noon (it being then a Sultry weather), and within a day or two shewing the proof upon the Cherry-blossom.

blasyn, blasynge, obs. ff. blaze, -ing. blat, v.

orig. and [Imitative.] 1. intr. sounds. Also fig., to Hence 'blatting ppl.

chiefly U.S. Also blatt. To bleat, or make similar talk noisily or impulsively. a.

1846 in W. K. Northall Recoil. Yankee Hill (1850) 102 Your fellow-countrymen.. are not allowed to emigrate north of the Columbia River, on account of a raging he-calf who is of bla-ting on the other side. 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxv. 248 He blatted along, and managed to inquire about pretty much everybody. 1888 San Francisco News Let. 4 Feb. (Farmer), One of these insects of an hour rears up and blatts. 1890 L. C. D’Oyle Notches 34 The poor ‘blatting’ creatures were dragged over to the fire. 1902 Kipling Traffics & Discoveries (1904) 22 He’d wipe his long thin moustache, .and blat off into a long ‘a-aah’. 1932 W. Faulkner Light in Aug. (1933) xiii. 271 Others came out from town in racing and blatting cars. 1951 L. Hobson Celebrity (1953) iv. 46 She has more self-control... I’d have blatted to the first customer. 1959 I. Jefferies 13 Days x. 151, I blatted up to the little shed [on a motor-bicycle],

2. trans. To blurt out-, to emit (a shrill noise). 1879 Howells Lady of Aroostook I. v. 50 If I have anything on my mind, I have to blat it right out. 1931 F. D. Davison Man-Shy {1932) xiii. 136 Calves blatted their shrill fear. 1942 R. Chandler High Window (1943) viii. 66 The radio .. was still blatting the baseball game.

blat, sb.1 orig. U.S. [Imitative.] A bleating or shrill sound. 1904 M. E. Waller Wood-carver 71 Not a sound outside except.. the thin blat of a sheep beneath the barn. 1925 Glasgow Herald 8 Sept. 6 A bold spirit fired off his gun, and the ‘blat’ of the shot betrayed the cheat.

«

BLAT blat, sb.2 slang (orig. U.S.). Also blatt. [ad. G. blatt

leaf, newspaper.] BLADDER sb. 6d.

BLATTER

268

A

newspaper.

Cf.

1932 D. Runyon in Collier's 21 Aug. 32/2 In fact, there is some mention of it in the blats. 1965 I. Fleming Man with Golden Gun x. 130, I saw it reprinted in the American blatts. 1969 J. Fredman Fourth Agency xii. 120 Once the blats get hold of the story you’re a ruined man. 1986 Times 29 Apr. 16/5 An otherwise bald and unconvincing interview on the telly or column in the blats.

t blat. Obs. An adaptation of L. blatta.

'blatancy. [f. blatant, after forms from L. sbs. in -antia: see -ancy.] Blatant quality. 1610 Folkingham Art of Survey To Rdr. 3 Who can be secured from base carping Blatancie? 1884 Punch 1 Nov. 213 Birmingham blatancy.

blatant ('bleitsnt), a. (and sb.) Also 6-7 blattant. [Apparently invented by Spenser, and used by him as an epithet of the thousand-tongued monster begotten of Cerberus and Chimaera, the ‘blatant’ or ‘blattant beast’, by which he symbolized calumny. It has been suggested that he intended it as an archaic form of bleating (of which the 16th c. Sc. was blaitand), but this seems rather remote from the sense in which he used it. The L. blatire to babble, may also be compared. (The a was probably short with Spenser: it is now always made long.)] 1. In the phrase ‘blat(t)ant beast’, taken from Spenser (cf. F.Q. v. xii. 37, 41; VI. i. 7, iii. 24, ix. 2, x. x, xii. advt., xii. 2): see above. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. xii. 37 Unto themselves they [Envie and Detraction] gotten had A monster which the blatant beast men call, A dreadful feend of gods and men ydrad. -vi. i. 7 'The blattant beast,’ quoth he, ‘I doe pursew.’ 1602 Return fr. Parnass. v. iv. (Arb.) 69 The lie of Dogges, where the blattant beast doth rule and raigne. 1636 Fitzgeffrey Bless. Birthd. (1881) 128 That blatant beast So belched forth from his blaspheaming brest. a 1658 Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 60 Cub of the Blatant Beast. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 596 The blatant beast..with his unbridled tongue. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. I. xxvi. (Orig. MS.), Then burst the blatant beast [note, a figure for the mob], and roar’d, and raged. 1856 Miss Mu loch J. Halifax (ed. 17) 340 He was one of the most ‘blatant-beasts’ of the Reign of Terror.

2. fig. a. Of persons or their words: Noisy; offensively or vulgarly clamorous; bellowing. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Blatant, babling, twatling. 1674 Marvell Reh. Transp. 11. 371 You are a Blatant Writer and a Labrant. 1821 Southey Vis. Judgem. x. Wks. X. 223 Maledictions, and blatant tongues, and viperous hisses. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 92 Up rose a blatant Radical. 1874 H. Reynolds John Bapt. viii. 515 A blatant, insolent materialism threatens to engulf moral distinctions.

b. Clamorous, making itself heard. 1790 Cowper Odyss. vii. 267 Not the less Hear I the blatant appetite demand Due sustenance. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola (1880) I. 11. xxix. 359 An orator who tickled the ears of the people blatant for some unknown good. 1866 Whiffle Char. Charac. Men 166 All agree in a common contempt blatant or latent. 1867 J. Macgregor Voy. Alone 65 A mass of human being whose want.. misery, and filth are.. patent to the eye, and blatant to the ear.

c. In recent usage: obtrusive to the eye (rather than to the ear as in orig. senses); glaringly or defiantly conspicuous; palpably prominent or obvious. 1889 W. S. Gilbert Gondoliers 11, I write letters blatant On medicines patent. 1903 G. Gissing Private Papers H. Ryecroft 274 The blatant upstart who builds a church, lays out his money in that way not merely to win social consideration. 1912 G. B. Shaw Let. 19 Aug. in Shaw & Mrs. P. Campbell (1952) 38 You don’t loathe the scenery for being prosy and mediocre in spite of its blatant picturesqueness as you do in Switzerland. 1930 Sayers & Eustace Documents in Case li. 246 The blatant way in which he had marked his trail.. [etc.] were actions entirely inconsistent with the carelessness of an innocent man. 1937 H. Nicolson Helen's Tower ix. 191 If they were kept in the Museum .. their blatant lack of human interest had caused me to pass them by. 1942 New Statesman 11 July 26/1 Mankind, he said, is led by half-truths or blatant lies. 1957 A. E. Coppard It's Me, O Lord! v. 55 The colonel.. clad in a suit of blatant check, spats, and a monocle. 1957 Times 19 Dec. 4/3 A blatant piece of late tackling.

3. a. Bleating, bellowing (or merely, loudvoiced). 1791 Cowper Iliad xxm 39 Many a sheep and blatant goat. 1866 J. Rose Eel. Georg. Virg. 69 Rooks rejoicing, and the blatant herds.

b. Noisily resonant, loud. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xiv, A blatant noise which rose behind them. 1867 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 30 The vibrating and blatant powers of a hundred instruments.

f B. as sb. One who has a blatant tongue. Obs. 1610 Folkingham Art of Survey Introd. Poem, Couch rabid Blatants, silence Surquedry.

blatantly ('bleitsntlx), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] 1. In a blatant manner. 1851 R. Burton Goa 292 Sated with the joys of the eye and mouth, you .. inquire blatantly what amusement it has to offer you.

2. Obtrusively, unashamedly, defiantly; as an obvious untruth. (Cf. prec.) 1878 Miss Braddon Open Verd. vi. 47 A stone sun-dial with a blatantly false inscription to the effect that it recorded only happy hours. 1911 E. Wallace Sanders of River viii. 160 Sanders was blatantly unrepentant. 1928 A. Waugh

Nor Many Waters ii. 70 His features were delicate, but not blatantly aristocratic. 1941 H. G. Wells You can't be too Careful v. i. 237 The professional Jewish ‘champions’ set themselves.. to ignore as blatantly as possible the common need for a world settlement. 1959 Sunday Times 22 Mar. 9 The Turkish-Cypriot leader., has announced that his T.M.T. organisation has no arms to surrender—rather blatantly, considering the number of Greek Cypriots who were fired upon by Turkish Cypriots. 1959 Observer 14 June 17/6 ‘No waiting’ signs are often habitually and blatantly ignored by the motorist.

fblatch. Obs. Forms: 5 blacche, 6 blatche, blache. [ME. blacche, answering to an OE. *blaeccet not found, but pointing to an OTeut. *blakkjo- or *blakkjd-, f. *blakko- ‘black’: see black a., and cf. black sb., bleach sb.2, bleck, and bletch.] Blacking. Hence blatch-pot,

t 'blaterate, v. Obs.~°. [f. L. blaterdt- ppl. stem of blaterare to babble: cf. F. blaterer and blatter.] ‘To babble or talk vainly.’ Bullokar 1676.

blateration (blaeta'reijsn). Also blatt-. [ad. late L. blateration-em, n. of action f. blaterare: see prec. Cf. blatter n.] Babbling chatter. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Blateration, vain-babling, flattering in speech. 1864 R. Burton Dahome II. 260 Heralds proclaimed the royal titles with normal blateration.

t blate'roon. Obs. Also blatt-. [ad. L. blatero, -dnem babbler, f. blaterare.] A babbler. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 117 I hate such blateroons. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Blateron, or Blatteroon, a babler, an idle-headed fellow.

blacche-pot.

fblathe, v. Obs. rare~l. ? To cry out.

88S K. Alfred Boeth. xv, Ne seolocenra hraejla mid mistlicum bleowum hi ne jirndon. a 1000 Metr. Boeth. xxxi. 7 Habba8 blioh and faer bu unjelice. c 1000 jTlfric Numb. xi. 7 Hwites bleos swa eristalla. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 749 A water of loSlic ble. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 76 As blwe as ble of ynde. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 458 In armes bryght of ble. 1623 Lisle JElfric on O. &1 N.T. Ded. 9 Greene, Red, Yellow, Blew, Of sundry blee; more sad, or light, in graine. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 57 The captain, young Lord Leigh, with his eyes so grey of blee.

2. Colour of the face, complexion; visage, arch. a 1225 St. Marker. 9 Hire bleo bigon to blakien. c 1240 Wohunge 269 Bif hit to pi blisfule bleo mihte beo euenet. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 212 Her ble more bla3t pen whallezbon. c 1440 York Myst. xxviii. 259, I will no more be abasshed For blenke of thy blee. a 1500 (MS. 16th c.) Chester PL II. 187 Wher is my bleye that was so brighte? i'557 TotteWs Misc. (Arb.) 100 Who nothing loues in woman, but her blee. 1615 T. Adams Spirit. Navig. 42 Of a fresher blee than Daniel. ? a 1700 Lovers' Quarrel 2 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 253 Ladies that been so bright of blee. 1834 Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 715 His daughter bright of blee.

f3. transf. Appearance, form. Ohs. a 1000 Salomon 6? Sat. (1848) 144 Hu moniges bleos biS Saet deofoh C1330 Arth. & Merl. 1988 Where that Merlin dede him se In o day in thre ble.

bleea, -berry,

dial. var. of blae, -berry.

bleeaunt, variant of bleeche, -er,

ON. blaeda, mod.G. bluten), f. OTeut. *blodo(m BLOOD.]

sbcf. bleck-fatt, bleck-pot.]

bledsed, -sung,

BLEED

276

BLECKERT

bleaunt, Obs., a tunic.

etc., obs. forms of bleach, -er.

bleed (bli:d), v. Pa. t. and pple. bled. Forms: 1 bledan, 3-5 blede (6 Sc. bleid, blead, bleth), 7 bleede, 6- bleed. Pa. t. 1 bledde, 2-5 bledde, 3 blede, 3-5 bledd, 7 bleeded, 3- bled. Pa. pple. 1-4 bleded, 7-8 bleeded, 5bled. [OE. bledan:—OTeut. *blddjan to bleed (whence also

I.

intr.

b. with away, into: To pass by bleeding.

1. a. To emit, discharge, or ‘lose’ blood; to drop, or run with, blood. Said of a person or animal, a part of the body, a wound, etc. a 1000 Salomon & Sat. 144 Bleda)? sedran. C1205 Lay. 7523 bat hjefed [haefde, 1250 heued] bledde. C1300 K. Alisaunder 5845 His woundes bledden. 1460 Capgrave Chron. (1858) 162 Thei..founde the Prince bledying, and the Sarasine ded. 1596 Shaks. Merck. V. iv. i. 258 To stop his wounds, least he should bleede to death. 1607 Dekker Wh. Babylon Wks. 1873 II. 264 They are no common droppes when Princes bleede. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz* Surg. v. 353 The wound bleeded vehemently. 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 217 He fell a bleeding at the nose. 1828 Scott Tales Grand}. Ser. 11. xxxvii. 153/1 Bleeding to death from the loss of his right hand.

b. The body of a murdered man was supposed to bleed afresh when the murderer approached, and thus to reveal his guilt: hence, of a crime: to bleed = to come to light (obs.). [1591 Murder Ld. Bourgh (Collier) 10 Wherunto he was no sooner approched.. but his wounds bled more freshlie then when they were first giuen; whereby the people in the house .. made foorth to search, for surelie they supposed the murtherer was not farre off. 1628 Earle Microcosm, v. 13 His fear is, lest the carkass should bleed.] c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 31 The murdering of her Marquis of Ancre will yet bleed, as some fear.

c. the heart bleeds, used fig. to express great anguish, sorrow, or pity. So to bleed inwardly. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. Prol. 12 For whiche myn herte now right gynneth to blede. 1607 Shake. Timon 1. ii. 211, I bleed inwardly for my Lord. 1610-Temp. 1. ii. 63 O my heart bleedes To thinke oth’ teene that I haue turn’d you to. 1792 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 24 My heart bleeds for the poor emigrants, whose case is truly deplorable, i860 Kingsley Misc. II. 349 What heart would not bleed for a beautiful woman in trouble.

2. a. To lose blood from severe or fatal wounds; to be severely wounded in battle, or the like; to shed one’s blood or die by bloodshed. a 1300 Havelok 2403 Crist pat wolde on rode blede. 1377 Langl. P. PL B. xix. 103 So comsed ihesu, Tyl he had alle hem pat he fore bledde. a 1400 Sir Isumb. 621 Wei a sevene score garte he blede. c 1400 Destr. Troy 14044 He .. pat bled for our Syn. 1601 Shake. Jul. C. ii. i. 171 Caesar must bleed for it. 1732 Pope Ess. Man 1. 81 The Lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to day. 1787 J. Barlow Oration 4th July 10 Those who bled in so glorious a field. 1839 Thirlwall Greece II. 349 Those who had fought and bled in the cause. fig. 1665 Pepys Diary 1 Apr., The King’s service in the meantime lies a-bleeding.

b. transf. Of a dye: to ‘run’ or become diffused when wetted. 1862 C. O’Neill Diet. Cal. Printing & Dyeing 34/1 Woollen articles [are] worked in it until saturated with colour, then washed well.. until the colour begins to ‘bleed’, that is until the washing water begins to remove the blue and become tinged with it. 1893 E. Knecht et al. Man. Dyeing 724 Fastness to washing and to bleeding or running should be determined with water alone and with soap. Ibid. 725 Most of the direct cotton colours bleed very much when dyed on cotton.

c. ‘To leak; especially, to leak an iron-stained liquid, as the seams of a boiler’ (Funk's Standard Diet. 1893). 1888 Lockwood's Diet. Terms Mech. Engin., Bleeding, the red streaks of rust which weep through the scale adherent to the insides of boilers, and which reveal the presence of corrosion in the plates underneath.

3. Of plants: To emit sap when wounded. 1674 Grew Anat. Trunks 11. i. §12 The Trunk or Branch of any Plant being cut, it always bleeds at both ends, a 1711 Ken Blondina Wks. 1721 IV. 526 The Trees.. When in their Stems a wound is made, In od’rous Balsam bleed away. 1796 C. Marshall Gardening xii. (1813) 160 Cutting branches or shoots in summer is apt to make them bleed as it is called. 1874 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 289 If pruned later the trees will often ‘bleed’, though it is stated that a perfectly healthy tree will not bleed if pruned at any season. 1965 Bell & Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. 11. 237 Many plants bleed only in the spring and at a certain stage of development, in others bleeding can occur at almost any time.

f4. ‘To lose blood medicinally’ (J.). (now, To be bled.)

c 1305 Song Mercy in E.E.P. (1862) 120 Myn herte blood for pe gan blede. 1713 Pope Windsor For. 393 For me the balm shall bleed, and amber flow.

Obs.

1625 Hart Anat. Ur. ii. iv. 73, I caused him bleed oftner then once. 1697 J. D. in Tutchin Search Honesty Aij, Goe Bleed, use Hellebore, and shave thy head.

5. fig. a. Of corn, etc. to bleed well: to give a large yield, dial. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 143 Att such times when corne bleedes not well. 1691 Ray N.C. Wds. 8 Corn Bleeds well; when upon threshing it yields well. 1786 Har’st Rig in Chambers Pop. Sc. Poets 51 It should bleed weel, and mak prime food Frae ’neath the flails. 1808 in Jamieson.

b. Of persons: To lose or part with money to an extent that is felt; to have money drawn or extorted; to ‘pay through the nose’ for. colloq. 1668 Dryden Even. Love iv. i, He is vehement, and bleeds on to fourscore or an hundred. 1680 Cotton in Singer Hist. Cards 337 They will purposely lose some small sum at first, that they may engage him the more freely to bleed (as they call it). 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. lxvi, To whom he was particularly agreeable, on account of his .. bleeding freely at play. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xiv, A City man, immensely rich, they say. Hang those City fellows, they must bleed. 1885 Manchest. Even. Neuis 23 June 2/2 Men who give bills have to bleed for the accommodation.

6. a. Said of blood, etc.: To drop, flow, ooze forth.

1595 Shaks. John v. iv. 24 Retaining but a quantity of life, Which bleeds away, euen as a forme of waxe Resolueth from his figure ’gainst the fire. 1650 Fuller Pisgah 401 This wound, whence so much precious wealth did bleed forth. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iv. ii. 517 If the good that is in him will get into men’s bosoms, it must bleed into them.

7. a. With cognate obj.: To emit as blood. ar-in was won for to descend Angels pe water for to blend. 1384 Chaucer Truth 4 Prees hathe envye and wele is blent over al. c 1593 Spenser Sonn. lxii, These stormes, which now his beauty blend, Shall turn to calmes. 1594 Greene Look. Glasse (1874) 137 When mildest wind is loth to blend the peace. Ibid. (1861) 124 My Hesperus by cloudy death is blent. 1596 Lodge Marg. Amer. 65 Thy sap by course of time is blent.

t b. Applied (according to ancient physiology) to disturbance or agitation of the blood (from its supposed normal state of rest): pass, and intr. To rush, flow; also active, To shed. Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 17333 Pilate was )?ar, his blod was blend, Quen he wessen had his hend. c 1340 Gaw. Gr. Knt. 2371 Alle pe blode of his brest blende in his face, c 1460 Tovoneley Myst. 225 To be in payn thus broght, Thi blessid blode to blende.

3. To mingle intimately or closely with. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1330 Thy throne royall [is] with dishonour blent. 1788 J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 95 If a testator has blended his real with his personal fund. 1800 Wordsw. Hart-leap Well 11. xxi, Never to blend our pleasure or our pride With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola lii. (1868) 405 It blent itself as an exalting memory with all her daily labours.

4. a. To mix (components) intimately or harmoniously so that their individuality is obscured in the product; esp. of qualities, properties, effects, etc.; now the most frequent trans. use. 1601 Shaks. Tzvel. N. 1. v. 257 Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white, Natures owne. . hand laid on. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 261 Providence hath so wisely blended the benefits of this county, that.. it is defective in nothing. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 128 |f 11 Their Virtues are blended in their Children. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. 111. xxix, Rider and horse,—friend, foe, —in one red burial blent. 1835 Lytton Rienzi 1. iii. 13 In one of those wide spaces in which Modern and Ancient Rome seemed blent together. 1848 -- Harold 1. i. 4 In that beauty were blended two expressions. 1876 Green Short Hist. ix. §2. 610 A common persecution soon blended the Nonconformists into one.

b. Also (chiefly component).

Cookery),

to

mix

in

(a

1936 I. S. Rombauer Joy of Cooking 247/2 Blend in: 2 tablespoons flour. 1956 C. Spry Cookery Bk. vi. 173 Cashewnut or almond sauce... Draw aside, blend in the flour, add the stock, and stir till boiling. 1963 R. Carrier Gt. Dishes of World 99/2 Crush garlic to a smooth paste in a mortar with a little salt; blend in egg yolks until the mixture is a smooth homogeneous mass.

15. To mix up in the mind, regard as the same, confound with. Obs. rare. 1780 Coxe Russ. Discov. 74 Six islands.. to the North West of the Fox Islands.. must not be blended with them.

II. intr. 6. To mix, mingle; esp. to unite intimately, so as to form a uniform or harmonious mixture. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1788 Bof>e his blod & his brayn blende on pe clones, c 1340 Cursor M. 5690 Moses sagh J?ai dide ham wrange & sone he blende ham a-mange. c 1400 Destr. of Troy xxiv. 9642 The bloberond blode blend with the rayn. 1713 Young Last Day iii. 251 Cities and desarts in one ruin blend. 1792 Wordsw. Descr. Sk. Poet. Wks. I. 83 All motions, sounds, and voices.. Blend in a music of tranquillity. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxviii. 18 She whose honey delights blend with a bitter annoy.

7. To pass imperceptibly into each other by assimilation or confusion of contiguous parts, esp. in reference to colour, to blend away: to pass away by blending. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms 1. 111 Oh! ne’er did sky and water blend In such a holy sleep. 1820 Irving Sketch Bk. I. 9 In Europe, the features and population of one country blend almost imperceptibly with those of another, i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. §27. 196 The distant peaks gradually blended with the white atmosphere above them. 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids v. 159 The division between them, in this their leading character, blends away.

blend, sb. [f. prec. vb.] 1. a. A blending; a mixture formed by blending various sorts or qualities (e.g. of spirits, wines, tea, tobacco, etc.). 1883 Academy 14 Apr. 253/2 It resembles a blend made by imitating the later style of Lever and the earlier style of Lord Beaconsfield. 1885 Pall Mall G. 28 Sept. 2/1 Public-houses, with flaming bills in their windows announcing .. the sale of American Blend.

b. spec. A mixture of different kinds of woollen or other fibres (see also quot. 1959). 1884 W. S. B. McLaren Spinning ix. 184 The quantity used varies very much, but for blends half wool and half shoddy 10 lb. of oil per 100 lb. of wool is a common allowance. Ibid., After this operation the blend is again spread on the floor. 1888 R. Beaumont Woollen & Worsted Cloth Manuf. ii. 47 A layer of teazed cotton is, in such blends, first spread for a foundation, then lighters of wool and cotton alternately. 1898 Eng. Dial. Diet, s.v., A blend varies in size and weight from 1 pack upwards. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 810/2 A blending of various materials.. to obtain a cheap blend which may be spun into a satisfactory warp or weft yarn. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. XIV. 661/1 If a mixture yarn is required, the necessary proportions of dyed and undyed wool are built up in layers in a stack (usually known as the ‘blend’) and passed into a machine which.. mixes the materials.

2. Philol. A word or phrase formed by blending (see blending vbl. sb. 2); so blendword. 1909 Cent. Diet. Suppl., Blend-word. 1911 Mod. Philol. IX. 197 All the so-called ‘streckformen’ may not be blends. 1914 L. Pound Blends: Their Relation to Eng. Word Formation i. 1 Blend-words, amalgams, or fusions may be defined as two or more words, often of cognate sense, telescoped as it were into one. 1935 A. C. Baugh Hist. Eng. Lang. x. 377 Words of the type of electrocute.. are often called portmanteau words, or better, blends.

3. transf. A combination or mixture different abstract or personal qualities.

of

1931 H. Crane Let. 12 Dec. (1965) 391 The figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe.. is a typical Mexican product, a strange blend of Christian and pagan strains. 1951 J. Hawkes Land i. 9, I lie looking at the stars with that blend of wonder and familiarity they alone can suggest. 1958 I. Murdoch Bell vi. 89 He had found Paul’s blend of aestheticism and snobbery thoroughly distasteful. 1984 Church Times 6 Jan. 2/3 Attitudes which, in their unhealthy blend of the throwaway mentality .. and of supposedly early Christian primitivism, attempt to provide a rationale for the destruction of church buildings.

f blend(e, pa. pple. and ppl. a. Also bland. Obs. pa. pple. of blend v.2 Also used as adj. = BLENDED. 1300 [see BLEND v.2 2 b.] 1571 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) 352, Xxxri boles of maid malt being halff bland. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 93 Take two parts straw, and one part hay, and mix it together, which is called blend fodder. 1679 Plot Staff or dsh. (1686) 161 The third sort of Iron .. they call blend-metall.

2. esp. in blend corn, blencorn, wheat and rye sown and grown together; blend-water, a urinary disease of cattle (Chambers Cycl. Supp.

1753)1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §34 Vppon that ground sowe blend come, that is both wheate and rye. 1583 Wills & Inv. N.C. 11. (i860) 78 In bygge SI. In ottes 40/. In blandcorne 40/. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 550 You shall not lead your blend-corne so soone as you doe your cleane Wheat, or your cleane Rie. 1798 W. Hutton Autobiog. 11 A sixpenny loaf of coarse blencorn bread. 1855 Whitby Gloss.

blende (blend). Min. Also 8 blend, [a. Ger. blende, from blenden to deceive: so called ‘because while often resembling galena, it yielded no lead’ (Dana); = blendendes erz ‘deceiving ore’ (Grimm). Hence also called pseudogalena, and sphalerite from aa\epos deceitful.] Sulphide of zinc occurring as a native crystalline mineral. 1683 [cf. blendy]. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Blende.. called by some mock-lead. 1780 Specif. M. Sanderson's Patent No. 1243. 3 Decomposed or calcined blend. 1812 Sir

%

BLENDED

BLESE

280

H. Davy Chem. Philos. 373 Zinc is procured from blende by a similar operation. Ibid. 377 In the blendes or supposed sulphurets of zinc. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 230 The chief ores of zinc are the sulphide or blende, etc. b. ? Formerly used of other metallic sulphides,

of a great apple tree—a Blenheim orange—the missel-thrush has built her nest. 1882 Garden 13 May 321/1 The Blenheim Orange is not a good bearer when young. 1925 Blunden Eng. Poems 17 And the sweet smell of Blenheims lapped in straw.

or worthless ores. (Cf. hornblende.) 1781.J. Dillon Trav. Spain 231 There is no doubt but that it is cobalt, of which that state is the blend.

fblenk, v. Obs. Forms; 4 blenken, 4-7 blenk. Pa. t. 4 bleynte, blenkede, blenkyt, -it, blenknyt, 4-6 blenked. Pa. pple. 5 blent. [Partly the northern equivalent of blench v., partly the earlier equivalent of modern BLINK, presenting the etymological difficulties of both words.]

'blended,ppl. a. [f. blende.2 + -ed.] Mingled, intermixed. 1621 H. King Sermon 26 A blended mixture of the qualities. 1656 Milton State Lett. Wks. (1851) 375 The confus’d and blended havock of Fire and Sword. 1796 Burke Regie. Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 370 Flowing in one blended stream. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 175 The blended hymn of past, present, and future. blender ('blEnd3(r)). a. One who or that which blends; an implement for blending pigments. 1872 C. King Sierra Nev. x. 208 He neatly rubbed up the white and sienna with his ‘blender. ’ 1884 Pall Mall G. 5 Sept. 6/2 A blender [of tobaccos] is born not made. b. Cookery. An electric food processor, used to blend (puree, etc.) ingredients; = LIQUIDIZER. 1948 Amer. Home June 117/2 Relax with a blender at your elbow... Start out with the recipes in your blender book. 1950 [see liquidizer]. 1955 M. McCarthy Charmed Life ii. 32 Vitamin soups made in the blender with nine raw vegetables. 1965 ‘L. Egan’ Detective's Due ii. 18 A good many gadgets.. electric can opener, blender, ice crusher mounted on the wall. 1976 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 4 May 6/6 At our house.. the blender is used only to fashion the occasional daiquiri. 1984 N. Y. Times 22 Jan. vi. 48/3 Cut the remaining salmon into small cubes and put them in the container of a food processor or electric blender. blending ('blenchr)), vbl. -ING1.]

sb.

[f.

as prec.

+

1. a. The process of mixing intimately;

the resulting state; a harmonious mixture. 1795 Act. Geo. Ill, civ. §25 in Oxf. & Camb. Enactm. 109 The blending of money belonging to different Colleges. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. 111. xlvi, A blending of all beauties. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Blendings, a minglement of beans and peas. 1876 Green Short Hist. ii. §6 (1882) 88 This blending of the two races. b. spec. The action or process of mixing materials used in woollen manufacture. 1884 W. S. B. McLaren Spinning ix. 184 Blending., is one of the most important operations in the whole manufacture... Blending may mean many things. It may be different colours of dyed wool, or wool and shoddy, mungo or flocks, or wool and cotton, or wool and silk, or all these together. 2. Philol. = CONTAMINATION I d. 1892 H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. 48 Grammatical and logical anomalies often arise through the blending of two different constructions... The plural themselves may be regarded as a blending of himself and ourselves. 1894 Jespersen Progress in Lang. vii. 188 Contaminations or blendings of two constructions between which the speaker is wavering occur in all languages. Ibid. 190 The blending was due to the fact that what was grammatically the object of one verb was logically the subject of another verb. 1906 G. A. Bergstrom {title) Blendings of Synonymous or Cognate Expressions in English, i960 H. Marchand Categories Present-day Eng. Word-Formation x. 367 Blending can be considered relevant to word-formation only insofar as it is an intentional process of word-coining. We shall use the term here to designate the method of merging parts of words into one new word, as when sm/oke and f/og derive smog. 'blending, ppl. a. That blends. 1642 W. Price Sermon 41 The Text may be meant of a blending mixture in Religion. 1812 Examiner 30 Nov. 763/2 Gradations.. soft and blending. 1873 Tristram Moab iii. 50 Parted .. without any blending belt of.. scrub. blendous ('blendas),

a.

Min.

[f.

blende

+

-ous.] Pertaining to or containing blende. 1847 in Craig. blendure ('blendju3(r)). rare. Blending, mixture. 1701 Answ. P. Hurly's Vind. 6 The blendure and conjunction of things at some distance from each other. 1806-31 A. Knox Rem. (1844) I. 55 The aristocratic character has been injured by a neutralizing blendure. blendy ('blendi), a. [f. blende + -y.] Containing blende. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. 1. (1686) 290 Lead oars., taken from flinty, blendy, or mountainous places. fblenge, v. Obs. rare—1, [cf. blend and menge to mingle.] tram. To mingle, mix up. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 190 Backbiting talk that flattering blabs know wily how to blenge. Blenheim ('blemm, -im). Name of the Duke of Marlborough’s

house,

near

Woodstock,

Oxfordshire; used to distinguish, a. A breed of spaniels;

b.

Blenheim

Orange,

a

golden-

coloured apple. Blenheim Pippin. Also ellipt. (a) 1839 C. Sinclair Holiday House xv. 332 She., had taken into the berth beside her a little Blenheim spaniel. 41845 C. Bronte Professor (1857) I. xiv. 238 To lead in a ribbon her Blenheim spaniel or Italian greyhound. 1851 Mayhew Pond. Lab. 11. 62 (Hoppe) A good fancy breed of ‘King Charleses’ or ‘Blenheims.’ 1957 Encycl. Brit. VII. 497B/2 English Toy Spaniel... There are several varieties of this breed, including the Prince Charles,.. Ruby and Blenheim, the main variations being in colour. (b) 1862 R. Hogg Fruit Man. (ed. 2) [7] Blenheim Pippin (Woodstock Pippin; Northwick Pippin). 1877 E. S. Dallas Kettner’s Bk. of Table 34 Dessert Apples... Blenheim Pippin. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life S. County 173 In the fork

I. = BLENCH. 1. trans. To blind, deceive, cheat; = blench i. a 1000 BlenceS [see blench r], e he seneosode. 1382 Wyclif ibid. Blessid be the Lord God of Israel for .. [Cranmer, Praysed be]. C1440 York Myst. xii. 217 Blest be )?ou ay, For pe grace )>ou has me lente. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 251 To laude and blesse god for his goodnes. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. iv. v. 18 Then God be blesst, it is the blessed Sunne. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc 11. 309, I. .blest my God I was not such as he. 1843 Neale Hymns for Sick 44 But Thy Love—Oh give me grace to bless It every hour!

fb. To consecrate (a person) to a sacred office.

b. other influences, e.g. one’s stars, one’s fortune or luck, the day of one’s birth, etc. Now generally in a more or less ludicrous sense: To thank, attribute one’s good fortune to.

1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) \>a was he [Henry II] to king bletcaed in Lundene. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 563 And was blessud Abbas in p* same place. Ibid. 1168 J?en was Alfyne y blessud Abbas of J?* plase.

C1440 Ywaine & Gaw. 3344 Folk .. blissed the time that he was born. 01845 Hood Pauper's Christmas Carol iii, Ought not I to bless my stars? 1846 Punch IX. 13 Let me bless my prudence.

2. Spec. To sanctify or hallow by making the sign of the cross; usually as a defence against evil agencies, esp. refl. and absol. To cross oneself. arch. C950 Lindisf. Gosp. John viii. 48 Ahne bloedsade ue usic vel saejnade [mistransl. of nonne bene dicimus nos?] a 1225 Ancr. R. 290 Breid up )?ene rode stef, & sweng him a3ean a uour halue—J?ene helle dogge. pet nis nout elles bute blesce pe al abuten mid te eadie rode tocne. c 1500 Yng. Children's

c. persons: see 6 b, which sometimes passes into ‘praise or extol with grateful regard.’ III. To declare to be supernaturally favoured; to pronounce or make happy. 6. To pronounce words that confer (or are held to confer) supernatural favour and well-being. a. Said of a superior, i.e. of one entitled to speak in God’s name, a priest or sacred person

BLESS (e.g. Balaam, Moses), an aged or dying (e.g. Isaac, Jacob); also of God himself. said of men, the sense has passed into officially or paternally commending to protection and favour.

parent When that of divine

c 1000 /Elfric Gen. xxvii. 4 Bring me pset ic ete, and ic pe bletsije aer pam pe ic swelte. ciooo Ags. Gosp. Mark x. 16 Da beclypte he hi, and his handa ofer hi settende bletsode [Lindisf. jebledsade, Rushw. jibletsade, Hatton bletsede] hi. C1205 Lay. 32157 Me and mine wiue.' he seal bletsei3en & scriue. a 1300 Cursor M. 637 God ham blesset and bad ham brede, and multiply. c 1383 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 323 J>ei cursen hem pat God blisse)?. 1388-Numb, xxiii. 11 What is this that thou doist? Y clepide thee that thou schuldist curse myn enemyes, and a3enward thou blessist hem [1382 blessest to hem], c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xv. 38 (Gibbs MS.), After he hadde i blessed hem wente vppe a3ayne to heuene. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Confirm., Then shal the Busshop blisse the children, thus saying. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ill. vii, Stood prompt to bless or ban.

b. Of one not a superior: Piously to invoke God’s blessing upon, to commend gratefully and affectionately to God’s favour, to load with one’s devout good wishes; to speak well of and wish well to. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (181 o) 97, I blisse Anselme perfore. c 1330 Amis & Amil. 344 Men blisted him, bothe bon and blod, That euer him gat and bare. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, ill. i. 54 To taint that honor euery good Tongue blesses. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 821 So disinherited how would ye bless Me now your Curse! 1712 Steele Spect. No. 264 |f 1 The Fatherless .. and the Stranger bless his unseen Hand in their Prayers. 1742 W. Collins Ode vi, By all their country’s wishes blest. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxix, I.. think of early days and thee, And bless thee.

7. To confer well-being upon; ‘to make happy; to prosper, make successful’ (J.): orig. said of God; in later use also of men and things, but generally with an implication of their conferring instrumentally a divine blessing. (Here the association of bless with bliss becomes apparent.) 01000 Caedmon's Gen. 2357 (Gr.) Ic Ismael estum wille bletsian. 01300 Hymn to God 16 in Trin. Coll. Horn. App. 258 Louerd pu vs blesce. 1388 Wyclif Gen. xxxix. 5 And the Lord blesside the hows [1382 to the hows] of Egipcian for Joseph. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrim., Look, O Lord, mercifully upon them from heaven, and bless them. 1578 Gude Gf Godlie Ballates (1868) 65 Blis, blissit God, thir giftes gude Quhilk thow hes geuin to be our fude. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. iv. i. 186 It [mercy] is twice blest, It blesseth him that giues, and him that takes. 1597-2 Hen. IV, 1. ii. 248 Heauen blesse your Expedition. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 729 But she return’d no more, to bless his longing Eyes. 1718 Pope Iliad 1. 144 When first her blooming beauties bless’d my arms. 1813 Byron Giaour 1115, I have possess’d, And come what may, I have been blest. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxi,‘God bless the meat,’ said the Major’s wife, solemnly. 1850 Lynch Theo. Trin. v. 88 To say that good gives pleasure seems poor expression of the truth that it blesses us.

b. To make happy with some gift: orig. of God as the giver; also of persons or things. (In the first example, blitsian may be really = blidsian, BLISS.) [0831 Charter of Oswulf (Sweet O.E.T. 444) Daette je sien geblitsude mid 8em weorldcundum godum.] 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. 11. iii, Shee was blest with no more copie of wit. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. 11. v. (Arb.) 30, I will blesse your eares with a very pretty story. 1610 Shaks. Temp. 11. i. 124 You may thank your selfe .. That would not blesse our Europe with your daughter. 1650 Baxter Saint's R. iii. (1654) 4 Return him hearty thanks upon my knees, that ever he blessed his Word in my mouth with such .. success. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1755) 30 Mrs. Bull., blessed John with three daughters. 1767 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Worn. I. i. 14 Are you.. blest with parents? 1839 Bailey Festus i, To bless him with salvation.

8. refl. To account or call oneself supremely happy; to congratulate or felicitate oneself, with, in, that. 1611 Bible Jer. iv. 2 The nations shall blesse themselues in him, and in him shall they glorie. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. To Rdr., I. . blisst my self that I was there. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. 11. (1879) 246 Old men have blessed themselves with this mistake. 1839 Bailey Festus iv, To.. bask, and bless myself. Upon the broad bright bosom.

U In ME., and above all by Wyclif, bless was construed with to, app. in imitation of benedicere alicui of the Vulgate. 01300 Cursor M. 17890 To oure lord iesu crist 3e blisse. C1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 249 Cristene men shulden blesse to o)?er pat pursuen hem here. 1382-Gen. i. 21 And God .. blisside to hem, seiynge, Growith, etc. Ibid. xii. 3, I shal blis to thoo that blissen thee.

IV. Exclamatory, elliptical and ironical uses.

9. In exclamatory invocations and ejaculations of surprise; a. in sense 3, as God bless me! elliptically bless me! bless (also save) the mark! (see mark), b. in sense 7, as (God) bless you! a. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. iv. ii. 14 A Paramour is (God blesse vs) a thing of nought. 1646 Milton Sonn. xi. 5 Cries the stall-reader, ‘Bless us! what a word on A title-page is this!’ 1709 Steele Tatler No. 25 |fio Bless me! Sir, there’s no Room for a Question. 1752 Mrs. Lennox Fern. Quix. I. ill. v. 161 ‘Lord bless me, madam!’ said Lucy, excessively astonished. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. v. 50 ‘Bless my life!’ said Mr. Pecksniff, looking up. 1849-Dav. Copp. xii. 138 ‘Bless and save the man’.. ‘how he talks!’ 1851 Ruskin King Gold. Riv. i. (1856) 12 ‘Bless my soul!’ said Schwartz when he opened the door. b. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. ii. i. 77 God blesse my Ladies, are they all in loue? 1732 Fielding Miser v. i. (1775) 67 Bless her heart! good lady! 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxix, Bless

«

BLESS you, my child, bless you! 1872 Ruskin Fors Clav. II. xx. 8 The Colonel might have said ‘Bless you, my children,’ in the tenderest tones.

10. Hence, to bless oneself: to ejaculate ‘God bless me!’ or other exclamation of surprise, vexation, or mortification. 1615 T. Adams Black Dev. 71 He .. would blesse himselfe to think that so little a thing could extend itself to such a capacity. 1665 Pepys Diary 1 Apr., How my Lord Treasurer did bless himself, crying he could do no more, etc.

nil. In many senses (esp. 5 b, 7, 8, 9, 10) bless is used euphemistically or ironically for a word of opposite meaning, ‘curse, damn,’ etc. 1812 Miss Austen Mansf. P. xviii, Could Sir Thomas look in upon us just now, he would bless himself. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xiii, An emphatic and earnest desire to be ‘blessed’ if she would. 1878 H. Smart Play or Pay viii. (ed. 3) 156 Fuming, blessing himself, dashing himself. Y. Comb., as f bless-beggar, a thing to bless a beggar with, (ironical.) 1589 R. Harvey PI. Perc. (i860) 33 My quarter staffe, is it not a blesse-begger thinke you?

t bless, v.2 Obs. Also 4-6 blyss(e, bliss, [a. F. blesse-r:—OF. blecier to injure, wound: cf. bleche. Often associated with bless i;.1, either humorously or in ignorance. (The sense of the second quotation is doubtful: cf. bless t;.3)] To wound, hurt; to beat, thrash, drub. [C1325 Coer de L. 546 Whenne I hym had a strok i-fet, And wolde have blyssyd hym bet. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1192 [He] blessed so wij? his bri3t bront • aboute in eche side pat, what rink so he rau3t • he ros neuer after.] 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1641, I have hym coryed, beten and blyst. 1545 Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 145 As thoughe they woulde tourne about and blysse all the feelde. 1575 J. Still Gamm. Gurton hi. iii, Tarry, thou knave.. I shall make these hands bless thee. 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. 237 When he did leuell to shoote, he blessed himselfe with his peece, and killed them with the pellat. 1612 Shelton Quix. I. iii. 173 That of the Battle.. when they bless’d your Worship’s Cheek Teeth.

f bless, v.3 Obs. Also 6 blesse, bliss. [Much affected by Spenser: perhaps taken from such a use as that quoted from William of Palerne under bless perhaps, as others think, ‘to flourish as in making the sign of the cross’: cf. bless v.1 2 (quot. 1225), also 3 (quot. 1596). In any case it can hardly be an independent word.] trans. and absol. To wave about, brandish; also trans. to brandish round (an object with a weapon). 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. v. 6 They.. burning blades about their heades doe blesse. Ibid. I. viii. 22 His sparkling blade about his head he blest. Ibid. vi. viii. 13 And with his club him all about so blist, That he which way to turne him scarcely wist. 1600 Fairfax Tasso ix. lxvii, His armed head with his sharpe blade he blest.

f bless, sb. Obs. [f. bless v.1; but perhaps confused with bliss s6.] A blessing. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 45 The viii beatitudes, otherwyse called the viii blesses. 1725 Pope Odyss. xv. 202 This promised bless.

bless,

obs. form of bliss.

blessbok, -buck,

BLESSING

282

var. of bles-bok, antelope.

blessed, blest ('blesid, blest), ppl. a. [f. bless v.1 + -ed. For the forms and pronunciation see note under BLESS v.~\ 1. Consecrated, hallowed, holy; consecrated by a religious rite or ceremony. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 25 Bledsed be pi name on us, sanctificetur nomen tuum. a 1300 Cursor M. 21677 pat blisced lambs blod. 1504 Will in Ripon Ch. Acts 295 Afore the blissed rode. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 95 A proclamacion for the blyssyd sacrament. 1578 Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 177 Mariage is ane blessit band. 1688 Stradling Serm. 195 Who receive him worthily in the Blessed Sacrament. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship i, I.. dipped my finger in the blessed water. 1855 Browning Holy Cross Day, Blessedest Thursday’s the fat of the week.

2. That is the object of adoring reverence, adorable, worthy to be blessed by men. C1230 Hali Meid. 47 Ihesu crist leue pe J?urh his blescede nome. 01240 Lofsong in Cott. Horn. 209 purh J?ine eadi flesche and |?ine iblescede blode. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. (Sel. Wks.) I. 131 Crist., in his blessid passioun. 01400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 39 In his Godhede so blyschede. 1493 Petronylla 32 Oure blessyd lorde Iesu. 1556 Will in Ripon Ch. Acts 361 Our blissed lady saunte Mary. 1656 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. x. (1662) 119 Crying out, ‘Blessed God, what’s here to do.’ 1868 Bp. Wordsworth Hymn, lHark, the sound of Holy voices,' In the Beatific Vision Of the Blessed Trinity. 3. a. Enjoying supreme felicity; happy,

1475 Bk. Noblesse 3 Men .. whiche as verray trew martirs and blissid souls have taken theire last ende by werre. 1572 R. H. Lavaterus' Ghostes (1596) 102 Cselum Empireum.. which they say is the seate ordeined for the blissed sort. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. 11. vii. 38 And there lie rest, as after much turmoile A blessed soule doth in Elizium. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 136 The blessed Spirits elect.

c. absol. The beatified saints; those in paradise. £1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 173 CumeS ibledsede and under¬ foe eche lif. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (1869) 148 It were an vnconvenient thinge that the blessed shoulde not be at libertie to goo whether they woulde. 1675 Dryden Aurengz. 1. i. 144 T* augment the number of the Bliss’d above. 1810 Southey Kehama xii. i, The joys which Heaven hath destin’d for the blest. 1863 Tennyson Wages 8 She desires no isles of the blest, no quiet seats of the just.

4. a. Bringing, or accompanied by, blessing or happiness; pleasurable, joyful, blissful. 1458 MS. Christ's Hosp. Abingdon in Dom. Archit. III. 41 Another blissed besines is brigges to make. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 150 There foloweth the moost blessed effecte. 1660 Pepys Diary 23 May, The Royalle company by themselves [dined] in the coach, which was a blessed sight to see. 1679 Burnet Hist. Ref. Ep. Ded., The short, but blessed reign of king Edward. 1719 Young Busiris IV. i. (1757) 72, I have thought.. thirst and toil Blest objects of ambition. 1863 Fr. Kemble Resid. Georgia 10 The blessed unconsciousness and ignorance of childhood.

b. Of plants and herbs: Endowed with healing virtues; hence in plant names (= Lat. benedictus), as blessed rose, ? the peony; blessed thistle, Carduus benedictus; (erroneously) C. Marianus. 1563 Hyll Art Garden. (1593) 102 The stalk.. beareth big and reddish flours, of some named the blessed Rose. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. Ixx. 532 This Blessed Thistell is sowen in gardens. 1602 Metamorph. Tobacco (Collier) 44 The blessed Thistle and Herbe-grace Had lost their names, and been accounted base. 1608 Shaks. Per. iii. ii. 35 The blest infusions That dwell in vegetives. 1863 Prior Plant-n. 24 Blessed thistle .. from the milk of the Virgin having fallen upon its leaves, as she nursed the infant Jesus.

c. blessed word: (applied to) a long and highsounding word, erroneously or ironically taken to be of great significance. Cf. Mesopotamia 2. 1910 N. & Q. 9th Ser. I. 458/2 That blessed word Mesopotamia. 1919 G. B. Shaw in Irish Statesman 25 Oct. 427/2 There is at first sight something to be said for the blessed word Devolution. 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club x. 119 Complexes explain so much, like the blessed word hippopotamus.

5. Euphemistically ‘cursed’ or the like.

or

ironically

used

for

[cf. 1526 Bp. J. Clerk Let. 13 Sept, in Brewer Lett. Pa. IV. 1109 Circa istud benedictum divortium.] 1806 Windham Let. in Speeches (1812) I. 77 As one of the happy consequences of our blessed system of printing debates, I am described to-day.. as having talked a language directly the reverse of that which I did talk. 1865 tr. Spohr's Autobiog. I. 221 The whole of the members, .must attend every blessed evening in the theatre.

6. quasi-a. Blessedly. c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. xcii, Whats so blessed faire that feares no blot.

7. Comb, as blessed-making. 1657 R. Carpenter Astrology Proved Harmless 36 The benign and blessed-making Aspect of God.

f 'blessedful, a. Obs. Also blestful. [f. prec. + -ful: an unusual formation.] Full of blessing, either as imparting it or as enjoying it. 01300 Cursor M. 11234 (Gott.) pat bl[i]ssidful birth in betheleem. c 1400 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. App. iii. 123 bis hooly and blessydful sacramente. r 1400 Epiph. (Tumb. 1843) 123 Unto the.. we clepe and call, Thou blestful quene. 1556 Veron Godly Sayings (1846) 153 That blessedful and everlastynge lyfe. a 1618 Raleigh Pilgr. (1651) 136 That happy blestfull day.

1590 Shaks. Mids. N. 1. i. 78 Earthlier happie is the Rose distil’d, Then that which withering on the virgin thome, Growes, hues, and dies, in single blessednesse. 1823 Lamb Elia (i860) 109 She was one whom single blessedness had soured. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 265/1 Single blessedness, as bachelors say, or single cursedness, as spinsters think.

c. Used as a title of honour. Cf. holiness. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals I. ill. 94 The Popes began to usurp the Titles of Holiness, and Blessedness. 1848 Kingsley Saint’s Trag. 11. iii. 78 The Landgrave Lewis With humble greetings prays his blessedness To make, etc.

blesser (’bles3(r)). One who blesses. 1577 Vautroullier Luther's Ep. Gal. 120 Abraham had him for hys blesser and Sauiour. 1651 Jer. Taylor Holy Living (1727) 87 The .. blesser of the action.

blessful, etc., obs. or improper f. blissful, etc. blessing ('blssiri), vbl. sb.

Forms: i bledsung, bletsung, -unge, 2 blescunge, blessunge, 3 (Orm.) blettcing, bliscing, blesing, blising, 3-4 blessyng, 4 blissinge, bluseing, blys(s)yng, blisteing, 3-6 blessinge, blissing, 4-6 blissyng, blyssinge, blessynge, 6 blyssynge, 4- blessing, [f. bless v.1

+

-ING1.]

,fl. a. Hallowing, consecration. Obs. 1070 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) Swa Thomas to pam timan agean ferde buton bletsunga. £1205 Lay. 13261 Na man.. pat mihte blessinge don in [1250 vppe] pan kinge.

fb. The making the sign of the cross; crossing oneself. Obs. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 91 This busy blissing and noddyng. 1563 Foxe in Latimer’s Serm. & Rem. (1845) Introd. 23 The fashion of their mass.. with such.. kissing, blissing, crouching, becking, crossing, knocking.

2. a. Authoritative declaration of divine favour and countenance, by God or one speaking in his name; benediction; passing into b. Invocation of divine favour by any one. c. The form of words used in this declaration or invocation. 0855 O.E. Chron. an. 813 (Parker MS.) Mid bledsunge [Laud MS. bletsunge] 8aes papan. 01131 Ibid. an. 1123 Se papa.. sende him ham 6a mid his bletsunge. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1568 Fader dere, bidde ic 6e, 6at sum bliscing gif 8u me. 1297 R. Glouc. 421 He 3af hym hys blessyng, & al hys tresour perto. £1315 Shoreham 57 The signe hys of thys sacrement The bisschopes blessynge. £1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 453 Blyssyngs of bischopis, it is a feyned ping. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Commun. Rubr., The Priest.. shall let them depart with this blessing. 1610 Shaks. Temp. v. i. 179 All the blessings Of a glad father, compasse thee about. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders vi. xxvii. 613/2 Having taken a blessing from the Priest, he enters the house. 1837 Ann. Reg. 9 July 77 The dean now read the collect and the blessing. 1838 T. Jackson Early Methodists (1846) I. 380 He gave them his dying blessing.

fd. />/. The beatitudes pronounced by Christ. £ 1400 Maundev. viii. 96 There.. our Lord sat, whan he preched the 8 Blessynges. 1588 A. King Canisius' Catech. 186 These quhilk S. Ambrose callis our Lords beatitudes and blissings.

fe. A charm, spell, incantation.

Obs.

1572 R. H. Lauaterus' Ghostes (1596) He that is superstitious vseth some blessing (as they call it) to heale his Horsses disease.

3. a. The bestowal of divine favour and prospering influence; favour and prospering influence of God.

-hede,

£825 Vesp. Psalter iii. 9 Dryhtnes is haelu, & ofer folc 8in bledsung 8in. 971 Blickl. Horn. 51 He us sendej? ufan his bletsunga. c 1200 Ormin 4019 Drihhtin haffde 3ifenn himm Swillc blettcing. £1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 41 Wip pe blissyng of god. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 55 Out of gods blessing into the warme sunne. 1601 Shaks. All's Well 11. iii. 97 Blessing vpon your vowes. 1789 Burns John Anderson i, But blessings on your frosty pow. 1881 Flor. Nightingale Nursing ii. 25 ‘With God’s Blessing he will recover,’ is a common form of parlance.

a 1300 Cursor M. 6852 A land of blissed-hede. Ibid. 23372 Fourten blisced hedes. 1340 Ayenb. 97 Virtue of zope blyssedhede.

b. In this sense we now say ‘to ask a blessing’ on food; though ‘to say a blessing’ or ‘the blessing of meat’ originally belonged to 2.

Hence 'blessedfully adv., 'blessedfulness. a 1500 in Wright’s Songs & Carols (1847) 22 (Mata.) The braunch so blessedfully sprong. 1526 Tindale Rom. iv. 6 David desscribeth the blessedfulnes of a man. [So in 1557.]

f blessedhede. Obs. [f. blessed -head.] Blessedness, beatitude.

+

blessedly ('blssidli), adv.

Also blestly. blessed manner; fortunately, happily.

In a

1388 Wyclif Gen. xxx. 10 Lya seide, Blessidly. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 2711 Blessedlocurre.. he ladde hurre lyff. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. 11. i. (1634) 104 To make him live well and blessedly. 1610 Shaks. Temp. 1. i. 63 Blessedly holpe hither. 1640 Fuller Abel Rediv. (1867) I. 35 By John Huss Jerome was blestly aided. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. Iii. 383 All blessedly met once more! 1870 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xl. 10 Blessedly blended in the gospel.

blessedness ('blesidms). [f. as prec. +

-ness.]

fortunate.

The state of being blessed, esp. with Divine favour; felicity; beatitude. Also concr.

c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 47 ./Edie and blessede beon alle J>eo pe iherefi. 0 1300 Cursor M. 16655 be baraigne blisced sal man call. CI400 Ave Regina (Turnb. 1843) *45 Heyle be tho bleste that euer bare chylde. c 1410 Occleve Mother of God 24 Among all wommen blessed thow be. 1592 Shaks. Ven. & Ad. 466 Blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth. 1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. (1645) 69 The blessedst of mortal Wights. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter, Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 14 If to beauty is added temperance, then blessed art thou.

01300 Cursor M. 17080 Qua mai tel pe teind part pe blisced-nes o pe! ri40o Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 124 We may not haue full the blessednes Of thi vysage nor of thi presence, o 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 73 Delyuered from the seuen dedly synnes . and so to come vnto the seuen blessednesses. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, iv. ii. 66 He .. found the Blessednesse of being little, c 1746 Hervey Medit. (1753) II. 18 An Ante-past of eternal Blessedness. 1823 Lamb Elia (i860) 305, I have a quiet homefeeling of the blessedness of my condition.

b. Enjoying the bliss of heaven, beatified (cf.

b. single blessedness: used by Shaks. to express ‘divine blessing accorded to a life of

5)-

celibacy’; hence (more or less jocularly), the unmarried state.

1738 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 87 Mr. Kinchin told them .. that gentleman would ask a blessing for them. 1838 T. Jackson Early Methodists (1846) I. 387 At breakfast, dinner, etc., he never asked a blessing sitting. 1884 Harper's Mag. Mar. 562/2 The child said blessing.

4. a. A beneficent gift of God, nature, etc.; anything that makes happy or prosperous; a boon. 1340 Ayenb. 97 J?ise zeue pinges touore yzed byep ycleped blyssinges, uor hy make£ man yblyssed ine )?ise wordle.. and more yblyssed ine pe oJ>re. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xx. (1483) 65 My blissing in to payne retoumed is. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, 11. iii. 30 Eminence, Wealth, Soueraignty; Which to say sooth, are Blessings. 1634 Milton Comus 772 Nature’s full blessings would be welldispensed. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 100 f 1 Wealth, Honour, and all other Blessings of Life. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 204 |f 2 Wilt thou not partake the blessings thou bestowest? 1844 Ld. Brougham Brit. Const, iii. (1862) 52 The blessings of a regular and tranquil government. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 165 Aged relatives are a blessing to the good. Mod. Colloq. What a blessing to be rid of them all!

fb. A gift or favour bestowed, a present. (A Hebraism of Bible translation.) Obs. 1382 Wyclif j Sam. xxv. 27 Wherfor tak this blessynge [1611 blessing] that thin hoond womman hath brou3t to thee. 1611 Bible 2 Kings v. 15, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy seruant.

BLESSING

283

c. Phr. a blessing in disguise: an apparent misfortune that works to the eventual good of the recipient. 174^ Hervey Reft. Flower-Garden 76 Ev’n Crosses from his sov’reign Hand Are Blessings in Disguise. 1873 Cassell's Mag. VI. 296/2 Like many similar disasters, this great calamity was in truth only a blessing in disguise. 1900 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 15 June 595 We find that the Pacific cable scheme has really been a blessing in disguise to those who dreaded it most. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 3 May 2/1 Religion would gain greatly if the clergy would make a more sparing use of the blessing-in-disguise argument.

5. The rendering of grateful adoration. Now chiefly gerundial, as ‘in praising and blessing God/ 1382 Wyclif Rev. v. 12 The lomb that is slayn is worthi for to take, .honour and glory and blessing. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 271 All was thanking, all was blessing, a 1586 Sydney in Farr’s S.P. (1848) I. 60 When from their lippes most blessing flows.

6. A euphemism for: A curse. 1878 H. Smart Play or Pay iv. (ed. 3) 68 Richardson’s name rose once to his lips, coupled with a blessing of dubious import.

blessing, ppl. a.

[f. -ing2.] That blesses. 1659 Hammond On Ps. xiii. i The blessing beames of thy countenance. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 429 With his small blessing voice the hushed air thrilled.

'blessingly, adv. In a way that blesses.

BLEYKSTER

kindly, graciously, benevolently, gladly, fain.

b. Blithely,

01300 Cursor M. 11958 Iesus wel blethli wald J?ai warn. C1300 Vox & Wolf 171 in E.P.P. (1864) 63 Tho he herde speken of mete, He wolde bletheliche ben thare. a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 184 Many has lykyng trofels to here, And vanites wille blethly lere. C1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 107 Jesus bleheli dide mercy whan he was clepid David sone. 01430 How Wif taught D. 11 in E.P.P. (1864) 180 Blethely jeue thi tythys..The pore men at thi dore .. 3eue hem blethely of thi good.

blether, blather

('bl£&(r), 'blaeSajr)), v. Sc. and north, dial. Also (?) 6 blother. [ME. blather, a. ON. bladra to talk stupidly, f. bladr nonsense. Blather is the etymological form, blether being Sc. and north. Eng. (like gether = gather etc.). But in mod.Eng., the word is generally accepted as Scotch (from Burns, Scott, Carlyle, etc.) and in the Scotch form. In U.S. blather appears to be more frequent.] 1. intr. To talk nonsense loquaciously. 1524 A. Scott Vision xix, And limpand Vulcan blethers. [1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1049, I blunder, I bluster, I blowe and I blother.] 1787 Burns Holy Fair viii, Some are busy blethrin Right loud that day. 1867 E. Waugh Owd Bl. iv. 89 in Lane. Gloss., He blether’t abeawt religion. 1884 Punch 1 Mar. 102 Fluent folly may maunder and blether.

b. trans.

To babble.

1836 Mrs. Browning Poems (1850) I. 257 While you pardon me, all blessingly. The woe mine Adam sent.

1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) round.

blessum,

1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial, s.v., What’s thou blethering at? child. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Blether, to blubber, to weep aloud.

blest,

obs. form of blissom.

pa. t. and pple. of bless u.1

blester,

obs. form of blister.

blestly,

obs. form of blessedly.

145 She blethered it

2. intr. To cry loudly, to blubber,

dial.

blether, blather

(’ble83(r), ’bl£eS3(r)), sb. [f. prec., or a. ON. bladr nonsense.] Voluble talk void of sense.

blet (blet), v. [Adopted by Lindley from F. blett-ir ‘devenir blet,’ f. blet, blette ‘sleepy’ as an over-ripe pear.] intr. To become ‘sleepy,’ as an over-ripe pear, a special form of decay to which fleshy fruits are subject. Hence 'bletting vbl. sb.

1787 Burns Vision iv, Stringin blethers up in rhyme, For fools to sing. 1843 Mrs. Carlyle in Lett. I. 257 Untormented by his blether. 1863 Tyneside Songs 36 ’Mang the noise and the blether. 1865 Richmond (U.S.) Exam, in Morn. Star 3 Feb., All the eloquence and all the blather in the world will not alter the facts.

1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) II. 257 After the period .. of ripeness, most fleshy fruits undergo a new kind of alteration; their flesh either rots or blets. Ibid. Bletting is .. a special alteration. 1864 Reader 21 May 653 The decomposition .. of the pericarp begins with fermentation, and, after having passed through the intermediate stage of bletting [to use Dr. Lindley’s word], ends in the total obliteration of the cellular structure.

blethering (’blsSarir)),

blet, sb. [f. prec.: in Webster (where the only authority cited is Lindley’s use of the verb). But this would not give ‘A decayed spot on fruits,’ as erroneously stated, but, That form of decay which is commonly called ‘sleepiness’ (in which there are no external spots to indicate the change).]

blet, obs. form of

bleat sb.

fbletch(e, sb.

Obs. rare. [Bletche, 16th c., implies a ME. *blecche, OE. *blecce, OTeut. *blakjo-, from *blako- black: cf. blatch and bleach sb2. in same sense. (It may also be the southern form of northern blek, bleck.)] Shoemaker’s blacking. 1570 Levins Manip. 88 Bletche, atramentum.

fbletch, v. Obs. rare—1, [f.

bletch sb., or repr. a ME. *blecchen, OE. *bl(cc(e)an, OTeut. type *blakjan: cf. blatch and black.] To black. 1570 Levins Manip. 47 To Blecke, bletch, nigrare.

t'bletchy, a. Obs.

[f. prec. sb. + -y.] Smutted with ‘bletch’; inky, sooty, dirty. 1520 Whittinton Vulg. (1527) 25 Thou blurrest and blottest them as thou wert a bletchy sowter [atramentosi sarctoris). 1633 J. Clark Two-f. Praxis 43.

f blete, a. Obs. In i bleat, 3 blete. [Com. Teut.: OE. bleat ? miserable, ? naked, = OFris. blat miserable, MDu., Du. bloot naked, poor, OHG., MHG. bloj, mod.G. blosz naked.] Naked, bare. a 1000 Guthlac 963 (Gr.) Done bleatan drync deopan deapwejes. a 1250 Owl & Night. 57 Bare, And blete. Ibid. 616 Treon wel grete, Mid picke bo3e no ping blete.

blete,

var. of blite.

tblethe, a. Obs. In i bleaS, 3 bleS(e. [Com. Teut.: OE. blead weak, gentle, timid = OS. blodi (MDu. blode, bloot, Du. blood), OHG. blodi (MHG. blcede, mod.G. blode weak), ON. blaudr soft, weak, Goth. *blaups (in blaupjan to make of no force):—OTeut. *blaupi-s without force, weak.] Spiritless, timid. a 1000 Riddles xli. 15 (Gr.) Ic eom to 6on bleaS 8aet mec grima abrejan. c 1205 Lay. 23620 And moni aenne gode wifmon iwhorht to bleSere widewe. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3907 Fri3ti nam for6 Sis folc and bleS.

vbl. sb. [f. blether -ing1.] Voluble senseless talking; = prec.

v.

+

01834 Coleridge Cholera cured Wks. 1847 II. 143 So without further blethring, Dear Mudlarks! my brethren!

'blethering, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] Volubly and foolishly talkative.

1.

1759 Fordun Scotichron. II. 376 (Jam.) Blyth and bletherand. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 20 A bletherin, blusterin, drunken blellum. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xiv, Listening to twa blethering auld wives. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss, s.v. Blethering, A coarse blethering fellow.

2. = BLINKING ppl. a. 4. Cf. BLITHERING ppl. a. colloq. 1915 A. Kinross in Times Red Cross Story Bk. 148 If my boy ever gets married on the quiet and plays the fool, I’ll break his blethering neck for him.

'bletherskate, 'blatherskite,

dial, and U.S. colloq. [f. blether v. + skate in Sc. used contemptuously. The Scotch song Maggie Lauder, in which this word occurs, was a favourite ditty in the American Camp during the War of Independence (J. Grant Wilson, Poets and Poetry of Scotl. I. 82); from this, bletherskate or, as more commonly used, blatherskite, became a familiar colloquialism in U.S.] a. A noisy talkative fellow; a talker of blatant nonsense. Hence also a vbl. sb. blatherskiting; bletherumskite (Ir. dial.) BLETHER sb. c 1650 F. Sempill Maggie Lauder i, Jog on your gait, ye bletherskate [v.r. bladderskate]. 1848-60 Bartlett Americanisms 35 Blatherskite, a blustering, noisy, talkative fellow. 1864 Webster, Blatherskite (‘Local U.S.’). 1864 Spectator No. 1884. 906 A muddle-headed ‘bletherskite’ called Colorado Jewett. 1880 Echo 28 Dec. 3/5 What is expressed by the slang word ‘blatherskiting,’ consumed three of the five days.

b. Foolish talk; nonsense. 1825 C. Croker Tradit. S. Ireland 170 He was, as usual, getting on with his bletherumskite about the fairies. 1861 N.Y. Tribune 28 Dec., To wit, our proving, not by verbal blatherskyte, but by facts, that the C.S.A. is dependent on us. 1892 J. Barlow Bog-land 82 Wid your little black book full o’ blatheremskyte. 1894 Daily News 29 May 5/1 It is still six hundred pages of sheer blood and blatherumskite. 1907 G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Is. 111, There’s too much blatherumskite in Irish politics. 1956 C. Wilson Outsider ix. 272 For Nietzsche.. there is no such thing as abstract knowledge; there is only useful knowledge and unprofitable blatherskite.

blethery

('bleSari), a. [f. blether sb. + -y1.] Characterized by blether.

1889 G. M. Hopkins Let. 29 Apr. (1935) 304 Rot about babies, a blethery bathos.

'Bletonism.

(See quot.) Hence 'Bletonist.

f'blethely, adv. Obs. [ME. blethli, in form a

1821 Month. Mag. LI. 315 Bletonism is a faculty of perceiving and indicating subterraneous springs and currents by sensation; the term is modern, and derived from a Mr. Bleton, who for some years past has excited universal attention by his possessing the above faculty.

deriv. of blethe, but apparently associated, in later use at least, with blithe.] a. Gently,

bletsien, blettcen, -sen,

obs. ff. bless.

|| bleu (bio), sb. and a.[Fr., see blue a.] A. sb. 1. Used in the names of various French cheeses with veins of blue mould; bleu cheese [part-tr. Fr. frontage bleu] = blue cheese (see blue a. 13). 1918 U.S. Dept. Agric. Bull. 608 6 The names Pate Bleu and Fromage Bleu are applied to several kinds of hard, rennet cheese made from cows’ milk in imitation of Roquefort cheese. Ibid., Several more or less distinct kinds .. designated Bleu d’Auvergne, Cantal.. and St. Flour. 1952 W. Plomer Museum Pieces xiv. 117 His favourite cheese—bleu cf Auvergne. 1957 O. Nash You can't get there from Here 86 Every time the menu lists bleu cheese I want to order fromage blue.

2. Canad. Pol. (Also with capital initial.) A Quebec Conservative or ‘Blue’ (blue sb. 8). 1885 Weekly Manitoba Liberal 25 Dec. 4/4 The Mail is frantic over the defection of the rank and file of the Bleus in Quebec. 1946 A. R. M. Lower Colony to Nation 302 Among the French, the word ‘Bleu’ did not necessarily mean ‘Conservative’. 1963 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Mar. 7/7 The real tug of war no longer is between the rouges and the bleus—the Liberals and the Tories—but between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ parties. 1966 Economist 11 June 1178/1 The diehard bleus whose instinct is to pull the province [sc. Quebec] back into antique isolation. 1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Oct. 8/7 ‘Joe Clark is not exactly my man, but we have to take whatever they give us’ said Paul Paris, a lifetime ‘bleu’.

B. adj. Of or pertaining to the conservative party in Quebec or its policies. Cf. sense 2 of the sb. [1876 in R. M. Hamilton Canad. Quotations (1965) 68/1 It is not for me, mes enfants, to tell you for which party you should vote, but I would have you remember that the place on high .. is bleu, while the other.. is rouge.] 1900 Canad. Mag. Sept. 548/2 There are strong Conservatives who would place the maximum Bleu victories at fifteen. 1963 Kingston (Ont.) Whig-Standard 9 Mar. 13/3 In the rural ridings.. the very low income segment of the population tends to be more bleu than rouge.

II bleu-de-roi (bio da rwa). Ceramics. Also -du-. [Fr., = king’s blue.] The ultramarine blue of Sevres porcelain; also called bleu de Sevres. Also attrib. 1848 H. R. Forster Stowe Catal. 38 A coffee-cup and saucer—bleu du Roi. 1868 Sala Notes Sk. Paris Exhib. xiii. 153 A Sevres vase, bleu-de-roi. 1902 Connoisseur Jan. 70/1 Sevres bleu du roi china. 1959 G. Savage Antique Coll. Handbk. 63 A rich blue enamel ground, the bleu de Roi, was introduced in 1749.

bleve, var. of

beleave v. Obs. to remain.

'blevindeliche, adv. Obs. [f. blevinde, pr. pple. of bleven, beleave, to remain, continue + -ly2.] Perseveringly. 1340 Ayenb. 141 Wip guode wille and bleuindeliche. Ibid. 208 Diligentliche and .. bleuindeliche.

t'bleving(e, vbl. sb. Obs. [see

beleaving.]

a.

Remaining, b. Persevering.

blew, bleu, blew(e, blew,

pa. t. of blow v.

obs. form of blue.

.2

var. blue v

'blewart. Sc. rare. [prob. = blaewort, + wort: cf. blawort.] The Speedwell {Veronica chamsedrys). Holland.

f. blae a. Germander Britten and

1821 Hogg When Kye comes Home, When the blewart bears a pearl, And the daisy turns a pea.

blewits (’bl(j)u:its). [prob. f.

blue, in reference to the colour: cf. F. bluet, applied to various flowers.] A kind of edible mushroom. 1830 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 7) IV. 192 note, This species [Agaricus violaceus].. is sold in Covent-Garden market under the name of Blewits, for making catsup. 1871 M. Cooke Fungi (1874) 91 Lepista per sonata used to be sold in Covent Garden Market under the name of blewits. 1883 Gd. Words 589/2 Chantarelles, and morells, and blewitts.

t 'blexter. Obs.~°

[for blekster, f. bleck v.) One

who blackens. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 39 Blextere, obfuscator.

bley,

var. of blay, blee.

bley3t,

obs. form of bleached.

fbleyke, bleike, a. Obs. [ME. bleik, a. ON. bleikr shining, white. See blayk(e.] Pale. a 1300 Havelok 470 For hunger grene and bleike. Promp. Parv. 39 Bleyke of colour, pallidus.

c 1440

fbleyke, bleike, v. Obs. [f. prec. adj.; cf. the analogy of blake a. and v. But ON. had bleikja to whiten, bleach, f. bleikr pale.] intr. To become pale; = blake v. i. c 1327 Poem Times of Edw. II. in Pol. Songs 397 Thanne gan bleiken here ble. a 1475 Play Sacram. 477 Now am I bold with batayle him to bleyke [rime-wd. stryke].

t'bleykster. Obs. [f. prec.] A bleacher. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 39 Bleystare or wytstare [K. bleyster, H. bleyestare or qwytstare; 1499 bleykester or whytster], candidarius. 1499-525 (Pynson), Whytstar or blykstar.

«

BLEYMES

BLIK

284

t bleymes. Obs. [a. F. bleime (blaime in Cotgr.), of same meaning, identified by Littre, etc., with bleme adj. pale: see BLEMISH.] (See quot.) 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet., Bleymes, an Inflammation between the Sole and Bone of the Foot of a Horse towards the Heel. Ibid. This sort of Bleymes may be prevented by keeping his Feet clean and moist, etc.

bleyn(e, obs. form of blain. bleynt(e, obs. pa. t. of blench v. f 'blichening, sb. Obs. rare~l. [perh. vbl. sb. from *blichen, a southern form of blikne, bliken, to become pale. Cf. blight.] Mildew, rust, or blight in corn. c 1420 Ballad, on Husb. 1. 827 For blichenyng [rubigine] and myst take chaf and raf, And ley it on thi lande.

blick (bilk), [a. Ger. blick shining, sheen.] ‘The brightening or iridescence appearing on silver or gold at the end of the cupelling or refining process.’ Raymond Mining G/oss. 1881.

b. spec. An unsightly urban area (cf. blighted ppl. a. 1 b). 1938 L. Mumford Culture of Cities 8 We. , face the accumulated physical and social results of that disruption: ravaged landscapes, disorderly urban districts,.. patches of blight, mile upon mile of standardized slums. 1952 M. Lock et al. Bedford by River i. 23/1 Blight clearance will affect another 4,100 people who will be displaced from the main clearance areas. Ibid. 23/2 Isolated pockets of blight.

5. Comb., as blight-beetle, blight-bird Austral. and N.Z., an early settlers’ name for a bird belonging to the Australian genus Zosterops. 1852 T. Harris Insects New Eng. 79 This insect, which may be called the blight-beetle, from the injury it occasions, attacks also apple, apricot, and plum trees. 1870 R. Taylor Maori & Eng. Diet. 17/2 Kanohimowhiti, or Tauhau, white eye or blight bird (Zosterops lateralis) was first observed J uly, 1856 in the South, and about Auckland. 1882 T. H. Potts Out in Open 130 The white-eye or blight-bird .. clears away multitudes of small insect pests. 1888 Newton in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 824/1 In 1856 it was noticed . .as occurring in the South Island of New Zealand, when it became known .. to the English settlers as the ‘Blight-bird’. 1965 Austral. Encycl. VIII. 129/2 Silvereyes.. do much good by destroying scale-insects and other pests, and have thereby earned the name of blight-birds.

bliessom, obs. form of blissom.

blight

(blait), v. [f. the sb.] 1. trans. To affect with blight (see the sb.,

blife, var. of belive. bligh, bliht, obs. forms of blithe. blight (blait), sb. Also 7-8 blite. [A word of unknown origin; which entered literature, apparently from the speech of farmers or gardeners, in the 17th c.; literary men were at first doubtful as to its proper spelling, and seem to have thought of the plant blite. (Among suggestions as to its origin are: that it is somehow related to blichening above; that it may possibly represent an ON. *bleht-r, the antecedent of Icel. blettr stain, spot, blot; that it is a derivative of the verb blike, or of the stem black or bleyke, bleach, bleak; or onomatopoeic, with a feeling for blow, blast, and kindred bl- words.)]

1. gen. Any baleful influence of atmospheric or invisible origin, that suddenly blasts, nips, or destroys plants, affects them with disease, arrests their growth, or prevents their blossom from ‘setting’; a diseased state of plants of unknown or assumed atmospheric origin. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. viii. §3 (1681) 159 Spoiled by the various mutations of the Air, or by Blights, Mildews, etc. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 468 With Elites destroy my Corn. - Palamon & Arc. 11. 59 So may thy tender Blossoms fear no blite. 1699 Garth Dispens. vi. 78 Their blissful Plains no Blites, nor Mildews fear, a 1700 Temple MiscelL, Gardening Wks. 1720 I. 188 [not in ed. 1690] A Soot or Smuttiness upon the Leaves [of Wall fruit].. I complained to the oldest and best Gardeners, who.. esteemed it some Blight of the Spring. 1720 Gay Poems (1745) II. 87 Fade not with sudden blights or winter’s wind. 1737 Miller Gard. Diet. (R.) Blights are often caused by a continued easterly wind. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms iv. 762 Flowers .. TJnharm’d by frost or blight.

2. Specifically applied to: a. Diseases in plants caused by fungoid parasites, as mildew, rust, or smut, in corn. (App. the earliest use.) 1611 Cotgr., Brulure, blight, brancorne; (an hearbe). 1671 Skinner Etymol., Blight, idem quod milldew.. quse fruges corrumpit. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon {1813) 434 Wheat.. very much smitten with the bligh[t], or rust, as it is generally called in this neighbourhood. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 337 The blight in corn, occasioned by Puccinia graminis. 1859 W. Coleman Woodlands (1866) 75 If a tuft of this blight as it is called be closely examined. b. A species of aphis, destructive to fruit-trees. [Cf. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet, s.v., The common People .. are well satisfy’d that Blights are brought by the East Wind, which brings or hatches the Caterpillar.] 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xxvi. (1819) 423 What we call blights are oftentimes legions of animated beings. 1882 Garden 11 Feb. 99/2 The worst insect enemy to the attacks of which the Apple is liable is what is termed the American blight. 1885 Contemp. Rev. Oct. 561 It thinks there are some ‘blight’ among the blossoms at the top, and if there are it will eat them.

c. A close hazy atmosphere, which summer or autumn.

overcast state of the sometimes prevails in

1848 Lytton Harold iv. 194 In that smoke as in a blight the wings withered up.

3. Applied to affections of the face or skin: a. An eruption on the human skin consisting of minute reddish pimples, ‘a form of Lichen urticatus.5 1864 in Webster. 1880 in Syd. Soc. Lex. b. Facial palsy arising from cold.

Syd. Soc. Lex. c. blight in the eye: extravasation of blood under the conjunctive membrane. 4. transf. and fig. a. Any malignant influence of obscure or mysterious origin; anything which withers hopes or prospects, or checks prosperity. a 1661 Holyday Juvenal 246 Let Isis with her timbrel strike me blind (not properly with the sistrum it self, but with its invisible power, with a blite). 1797 Godwin Enquirer 1. v. 35 Genius .. may .. suffer an untimely blight. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxx. 212 A strange mysterious punishment, which seemed like a blight or judgement of a higher power. 1884 Fortn. Rev. Jan. 79 The withering blight of Turkish rule.

sense 1). 1695 J. Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. 212 It then blasts Vegetables,.. blights Corn and Fruits, and is sometimes injurious even to Men. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Blight, Some do conjecture, that it is the East Wind of itself that Blights. 1803 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ballads 79 She bleets the cworn wi’ her bad e’e. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. iv. 186 A sharp frost.. blighted all our early potatoes. 1842 Tennyson Poet's Mind 18 There is frost in your breath Which would blight the plants.

b. transf. of parts of the body. 1811 Scott Roderick v. li, Blighted be the tongue That names thy name without the honour due.

2. fig. To exert a baleful influence on; to destroy the brightness, beauty, or promise of; to nip in the bud, mar, frustrate. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 457 jf 3 It [Lady Blast’s whisper] blights like an easterly wind. 1735 Oldys Life Raleigh Wks. 1829 I. 357 Yet could [they].. blite them [brave and active spirits] from advancing to any fruitful or profitable conclusions. 1832 Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms iii. 34 Deprivation of rank.. which blights so many prospects. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola 11. iv. (1880) II. 44 The delusion which had blighted her young years.

blighted ('blaitid), ppl. a. [f. prec. 1. a. Affected with blight; blasted.

+ -ed.]

1664 Phil. Trans. I. 28 Vegetables growing on blighted Leaves. 1674 Ray S.E. Co. Wds. 59 Blighted corn, blasted corn. Sussex. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 5 (f 17 A blighted spring makes a barren year. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 380 The blighted prospects of the orphan children. 1857 S. Osborn Quedah iv. 56 The aged trunk of a blighted tree.

b. Applied to an urban area (see quot. 1951). 1938 L. Mumford Culture of Cities iv. 283 The unbearable municipal burden of blighted areas. 1951 B. J. Collins Development Plans Explained 42 Blighted area, an area characterized by conditions of bad layout or obsolete development. 1952 M. Lock et al. Bedford by River vi. 95/1 The primary object of the housing survey was to find out how many dwellings could be considered ‘blighted’ i.e. at or near the end of their economic life, or for some other reason requiring to be demolished. 2. Used as a mild substitute for blasted ppl. a.

3. slang. 1915 Locke Jaffery xxi. 271, I think he’s a blighted malingerer. 1946 Wodehouse Joy in Morning ii. 15, I wished I hadn’t been caught in the act of apparently buying this blighted Spindrift.

blightening, ppl. a. [f. assumed vb. *blighten.] 1743 Maxwell Impr. Agric. 266 (Jam.) Blightning winds.

blighter ('blait9(r)). 1. Anything that blights. 1822 De Quincey Confess (1886) 16 Old age.. is a miserable corrupter and blighter to the genial charities of the human heart, a 1845 Hood Spring ii, The Spring!.. I find her breath a bitter blighter!

2. slang. A contemptible or unpleasant person; often merely as an extravagant substitute for ‘fellow5. Also transf. 1896 M^r Mar. 282/1 ‘Larry,’ says they, ‘you ain’t going to let that blighter throw you.’ 1900 Westm. Gaz. 28 Mar. 9/3 Down with the dirty blighters who will not remove their hats. 1904 Kipling in Windsor Mag. Jan. 226/2 ‘There’s an accommodatin’ blighter for you!’ said Pyecroft. 1920 Locke House of Baltazar xviii. 218 He could buy up this old blighter of a lord twice over. 1922 Daily Mail 3 Nov. 15, I never dreamt the little blighter would go off in such a hurry. 1952 R. Finlayson Schooner came to Atia 101 Chapham suddenly became aware of the loud chatter of mina birds. ‘Noisy blighters’ he said. 1957 J. I. M. Stewart Use of Riches 16 ‘What we have to contrive,’ he said, ‘is fair shares —or something near it—for each of the little blighters.’

blighting ('blaitit)), vbl. sb. The action

of the vb.

blight; the fact of being blighted. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 214 Very much differing from Mil-dews is the blighting of Com, the Mil¬ dews .. happening only in dry Summers, when on the contrary Blighting happens in wet. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. Diet., Bligh[t]ing is said of Flowers or Blossoms, that shed or fall without knitting for Fruit.

‘blighting, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] 1. That blights; blasting, withering. 1796 Coleridge ‘Pang more sharp' 50 One pang more blighting-keen than hope betrayed. 1805 Southey Madoc in

W. ix, Cold winds.. and blighting seasons. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 351 Pining .. under the blighting malaria.

2. = blighted ppl. a. 2. slang. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 187 There’s that blighting maxim again. 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock i. 32 ’E showed up the ’ole blightin’ swindle.

blightingly

(’blaitir)li), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] In a blighting manner; with blighting influence.

blighty

('blaiti), a. [f. blight sb. + -y1.] fa. = blighting ppl. a. Obs.

1731 Switzer Pract. Fruit-Gard. (ed. 2) 287 Those blighty Airs rise, and by Elasticity are driven in Columns against Fruit-Trees.

b. Affected with blight; blighted. 1900 Standard 9 Nov., The acorn crop is an abundant one, the fruit being rather blighty and undersized.

Blighty, blighty

('blaiti), sb. Army slang. [Contracted form, originating in the Indian army, of Hind, bilayati = wilayati foreign, and esp. European, f. wilayat prop. Arabic, inhabited country, dominion, district, vilayet, in Hind. esp. foreign country (cf. Arab, wait governor of a province, vali, wali). Cf. Bilayutee pawnee, Bildtee panee. The adject, bilayati .. is applied specifically to a variety of exotic articles,.. and most especially bilayati pdni, ‘European water’, the usual name of soda-water in Anglo-India (Yule & Burnell, Hobson-Jobson). ]

England, home. (Used by soldiers on foreign service.) [1886 Kipling From Sea to Sea (1899) II. 358 Let the town hear of the wonders which I have seen in Belait.] 1915 Times (weekly ed.) 8 Oct. 852 The only thing they looked forward to was getting back to ‘Blighty’ again. 1916 N. &. Q. 19 Feb. 151/1 One poem I have recently seen begins:—Oh, send me back to Blighty. 1917 P- MacGill Gt. Push xix. 238 I’ll send out the money and fags when I go back to blighty. 1968 J. R. Ackerley My Father & Myself vii. 60, I was not happy in Blighty.

b. attrib. or adj. from ‘foreign’.

‘Home5, as distinguished

1918 Aussie Aug. 9/2 The C.O. endeavours to persuade Private Hardcase to accept Blighty' Leave. 1926 Morn. Post 8 Dec., An Exhibition and Sale of Blighty Industries.

c. In the war of 1914-18 applied to a wound that secured return to England. Also attrib. 1916 N. & Q. 4 Mar. 194/2 I believe that ‘B.B.’ is the regular, though unofficial description of any non-fatal wound serious enough to send its victim back to a base hospital—Blighty Boy. 1916 Daily Mail 1 Nov. 4/4 So-andso stopped some shrapnel and is back at the base in hospital, .. he wasn’t lucky enough to get a blighty. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman s Outings 29 A Blighty bullet sent him back to England and gave him a mention in the casualty list. 1918 Locke Rough Road xix, Mo says he’s blistering glad you’re out of it and safe in your perishing bed with a Blighty one. 1927 Daily Express 18 Oct. 1/1 Soldiers are visiting the battlefields.. in the hope of finding trenches, dug-outs, or the exact spot where they received their ‘blighties’. 1934 V. M. Yeates Winged Victory 1. xii. 104 Marsden .. had had his left arm damaged by a bullet and had gone to hospital very pleased with himself for having picked out of the dip the ideal Blighty.

blihand, -ant,

var. of bleaunt, Obs., a tunic.

fblik, blike, t>. Obs. In i blican; 3 blikien, blykyen, 4 bliken, blikken. [Here there appear to be two or more cognate forms: (1) OE. blican to shine, gleam, a com. Teut. str. vb. = OS. blikan (MDu. bliken, Du. blijken to look, appear), OHG. (in comp.) -blihhan (MHG. blichen, mod.G. -bleichen), ON. blikja str. vb:—OTeut. *blik-an ‘to shine, gleam,’ pointing to Aryan *bhlig-: cf. OSlav. bli-sk-at' to sparkle, Gr. Xeyetv to burn, L. fulgere to shine. (2) The cognate ON. blika (wk. v.) found beside the str. blikja to shine, glitter: cf. Sw. blicka, also MDu. and mod.G. blicken to glance, Du. blikken to twinkle, turn pale. The early ME. blikien points back to an OE. *blictan wk. vb., answering to ON. blika.] intr. To shine, glisten, glitter. a 1000 Sol. & Sat. 235 (Gr.) Du.. jesihst Hierusalem weallas blican. t 1205 Lay. 27360 Ise3en .. sceldes blikien. a 1225 St. Marker. 9 His lockkes ant his longe berd blikede al o gold, c 1300 Wright’s Lyric P. xvi. (1842) 52 Hire bleo blykyeth so bryht. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 603 Bry3t blykked t>e bem of pe brode heuen. 1340 Alex. & Dind. 411 Hur face to enoine. For to bliken of hur ble.

blik

(bilk), sb. Philos. [Arbitrary formation.

‘Some commentators on my ideas have tried to find a connexion with the German word Blick, and have attributed to me an intention to suggest something like ‘outlook’ or even ‘Weltanschaung’. But I had no such conscious intention, and was merely looking for a pronounceable monosyllable that had no meaning hitherto. I could as well have chosen ‘plik’, and perhaps it is a pity that I did not.’ (R. M. Hare, private letter to ed., 18 July 1985.).]

R. M. Hare’s word for a behavioural or affective tendency which influences one’s interpretation of experience, a personal slant (on something); a conviction, esp. a religious one. 195° R. M. Hare in Flew & Macintyre Nevj Ess. Philos. Theol. (1955) too Let us call that in which we differ from this lunatic, our respective bliks. He has an insane blik about dons; we have a sane one. 1972 D. A. Pailin in Cox & Dyson

BLIKEN

285

20th-Cent. Mind III. iv. 135 Hare calls these structures ‘bliks’ and, probably unfortunately, describes them in terms of a lunatic’s conviction that ‘all dons want to murder him’. 1976 J. Hick Death & Eternal Life 30 A ‘ptolemaic’ faith can have the triumphant invulnerability of what R. M. Hare has called a blik, a comprehensive interpretation which no evidence is allowed to threaten because it interprets all the evidence from its own standpoint. 1976 P. Donovan Religious Lang. iii. 25 R. M. Hare agreed with Flew that religious statements were factually empty as statements, but then offered an account of their meaningfulness as what he called bliks, i.e. as principles by which one lives and in accordance with which one interprets experience. Ibid. 28 There may be .. factual assumptions behind the adoption of a blik, even though the blik itself is not an assertion of fact. 1976 Theology July 194 The possibility of varied interpretations .. does not confer a licence on the theologian to adopt that kind of interpretation to which he is drawn by his particular blik on the New Testament.

t'bliken, -ne, v. Obs. [ME. blykne(n, a. ON. blikna to become pale, inchoative deriv. of vb. stem blik-: see blik, blike t>.] 1. intr. To turn pale. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1759 J?enne blykned ble of pe bry3t skwes. a 1400 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 224 His lippes shulle bliken.

2. To shine; = blik, blike

v.

c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1467 For alle pe blomes of pe bo3es were blyknande perles.

blimbi(ng, variant of bilimbi. blimey ('blaimi), int. Also bli’ me, blime, blymy. Vulgar corruption of the imprecation blind me! or blame me! (blame v. 7 a). (Cf. gorblimey.) 1889 in Barrere & Leland Diet. Slang. 1894 Punch 27 Oct. 193/1 Blymy, you’re a knockout! 1897 W. S. Maugham Liza of Lambeth ix. 153 Bli’ me if I know wot yer all talkin’ abaht. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 305 God blimey if she aint a clinker... Blimey it makes me kind of bleeding cry. 1932 Punch Almanack 7933 7 Nov. [18/1] ‘Your mentality is erroneous and—er—soggy. Blime! what a cod!’ he concluded. 1954 ‘R. Crompton’ William & Moon Rocket viii. 235 ‘Blimey!’ said Charlemagne. ‘Pardon him, dear,’ said Miss Milton in a shaking voice. ‘He doesn’t often use bad language.’

blimp (blimp). [Of uncertain origin. Said to have been coined by the aviator Horace Shortt (see quot. 1918) or by Lieut. A. D. Cunningham (1951 Aeroplane 5 Oct.), and to have been based on the adj. limp.]

1.

A small non-rigid airship orig. consisting of

years ago the Blimp class was already losing its vitality. 1941 N. Marsh Surfeit of Lampreys viii. 115 [He’s] very nice... Sort of old-world without any Biimpishness. 1942 Times 26 Feb. 8/3 The essence of blimpery is a refusal to entertain new ideas, and a determination to keep the bottom dog permanently in his place. 1943 C. Beaton Near East ii. 29 Blimpism, plus the Cairene climate, are two of Hitler’s strongest weapons. 1944 H. G. Wells ’42 to ’44 147 The more Blimp-like officers began to exclude this ‘dangerous’ topic. 1958 Times 15 Oct. 8/7 His innate Biimpishness suddenly arrests itself and he sings a jolly nostalgic song about the cricket fields of Harrow. 1968 Daily Tel. 13 Dec. 16/4 His usual comic character of pub pundit or cockney blimp.

fblin, blinn, v. Obs. Forms: i blinn-an, 3 blinnen, (bline, 4-5 bilynne, bylynne, blym, 6 blinn, blene), 3-6 blinne, (4-6 blyne, blyn, 3-7 blynne), 3-8 blin. Pa. t. 1 blann, 2-3 blann, 4-5 blan(e, 4-8 blanne, 6 blinned. Pa. pple. blunnen, blun (rare). [OE. blinn-an str. vb., syncopated from *bi-linnan — OHG. bilinnan to cease, leave off, f. bi- be- pref. + OE. and com. Teut. linnan to cease (found in Goth, in af-linnan to depart, and in ON. linna wk. vb., to leave off, cease, stop), ME. linnen: see linn v. In the I4-I5th c. the resolved form bi-, by-lynne (not preserved in OE.) frequently occurs.] 1. intr. To cease, leave off, desist. [C950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xiv. 32 Geblann J?aet wind.] 11250 Gen. Ex. 1963 Nile he blinnen. C1325 E.E. Allit. P.A. 728 per is pe blys pat cannot blynne. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 48 Neuer he blanne. C1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. T. 618 Til he had torned him, couthe he nought blynne. CI430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 60 His childhode blynnes Whanne he is fourtene 3eer olde. 1557 Mylner of Abingt. 258 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. no My litell brother blinned nought, Ere their horse was home brought. 1642 H. More Song of Soul 1. in. vi, The heavy hammers never blin. 1729 Old Song in Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. 18 The Minstrels they did never blin. a 1765 in Child Ballads III. (1885) 53/1 Till he had oretaken King Estmere, I wis he never blanne.

b. Const, of {about, on, from), infin. with to. a 1000 Cod. Vercell. 1. (1843) 80 pier J?u .. wuldres blunne. c 1200 Ormin 14564 Ne blann itt nohht to re33nenn. a 1300 Cursor M. 265 Nou of pis prolouge wil we bline. Ibid. 14089 (Fairf.) A-boute seruise dide ho neuer blyn. a 1460 Towneley Myst. 255 Of shynyng blan bothe son and moyne. 1567 Turberv. Poems in Chalmers Eng. Poets II. 589/1 And from their battaile blin. 1587-Trag. T. (1837) 199 Her teares did never blin To issue from her cristall eyes, a 1765 Ballad ‘Glasgerion’ iii. in Child Ballads in. (1885) 138/1 Strike on, Glasgerrion, Of thy striking doe not blinne.

a gas-bag with the fuselage of an aeroplane slung

2. trans. To cease from, stop; put a stop to.

underneath; in the war of 1939-45 the name was

CI314 Guy Warw. (1840) 255 Of alle night he no blan rideinge. C1460 Towneley Myst. 133 This chyld..Alle baylle may blyn. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. v. 22 Nathemore.. Did th’ other two their cruell vengeaunce blin. 1601 Death Earl Huntingt. v. ii. in Hazl. Dodsl. VIII. 320 She never would blin telling, how his grace Sav’d, etc.

sometimes applied to a barrage balloon. 1916 Rosher In R.N.A.S. 11 Feb. 146 Visited the Blimps .. this afternoon at Capel. 1918 Illustr. Lond. News 27 July 96 Nobody in the R.N.A.S. ever called them anything but ‘Blimps’, an onomatopoeic name invented by that genius for apposite nomenclature, the late Horace Shortt. 1926 J. R. R. Tolkien in Year's Wk. Eng. Stud. 1924 52 It is perhaps more in accordance with their looks, history, and the way in which words are built out of the suggestions of others in the mind, if we guess that blimp was the progeny of blister + lump, and that the vowel i not u was chosen because of its diminutive significance—typical of war-humour. 1928 Gamble North Sea Air Station x. 149 The Submarine Scout non-rigid type. The name was abbreviated to S.S. airships, but they were generally known as ‘Blimps’. 1934 Discovery Jan. 14/2 Excellent photographs.. could probably be secured next summer from a small ‘blimp’ carrying a pilot and a photographer and directed by wireless telephony. 1939 War Illustr. 29 Dec. 538/1 The term ‘blimp’ originated in the last war, when British lighter-than-air aircraft were divided into A-rigid, and B-limp (i.e. without rigid internal framework). The modern barrage balloon may therefore be classed as a blimp. 1940 Harrisson & Madge War begins at Home v. 125 The [barrage] balloons, so suitably called blimps, became a major symbol in the first three months of the war.

b. Cinematogr. A sound-proof covering for a cine camera, colloq. 1936 C. B. De Mille in Words Oct. 6/1 A ‘blimp’ in studio jargon is .. a soundproof covering for the camera. 1959 John o' London's 3 Dec. 287/2 If I asked you to fetch me a ‘blimp’ .. you might toss over . . a light cover to deaden the sound of a .. cine camera, so that its whirring didn’t get recorded on the sound track.

2. (Colonel) Blimp, a character invented by David Low (1891-1963), cartoonist and caricaturist, pictured as a rotund pompous ex¬ officer voicing a rooted hatred of new ideas. Hence blimp, a person of this type; also attrib. Also 'blimpery, 'biimpishness, 'blimpism, behaviour or speech characteristic of a blimp; 'blimpian, 'blimpish adjs., typical of a blimp. 1934 Evening Standard 28 May 10 Prime Minister Blimp: ‘Gad, sir, the Air League is right. We must oppose all proposals for the abolition of military aviation.’ 1935 Ibid. 2 Sept. 15 Blimpian ‘statesmanship’ —‘Gad, madam, you can’t lock up the explosives! That’s a warlike act!’ 1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier x. 197 Easy to laugh at..the Old School Tie and Colonel Blimp. 1937 E- P- Crozier Men I Killed 13 Blimp still reigns, unfortunately, in places of greater responsibility where he can make a fool of himself more easily. Ibid. vii. 137 Our new system of rearmament is at least serving the purpose of encouraging our Colonel Blimps to hide their heads.. in the sand. 1937 New Statesman 18 Dec. 1055/1 All to the good if people would be careful to send the full context and not send other people’s ironical remarks or conscious jokes as if they were Blimpisms. 1938 Ibid. 5 Nov. 715/2 The modern clothes Hamlet at the Old Vic has excited a lot of Blimpish indignation. 1941 ‘G. Orwell’ Lion and Unicorn 44 Thirty

3. intr.

To delay, tarry, stay.

a 1300 Cursor M. 20204 Langer bline nu i ne may. 1590 Poems (1861) 303 When in the Balance Daphnes leman blins. Greene

4. To cease speaking, keep silence. oru he had his bodi bom Ne had he blinked him bifom [■v.r. blenked (2), blenched].

b. trans. {Coursing.) temporarily.

To elude (the dogs)

1876 Coursing Calendar 197 The hare blinked Grace at the fence. Ibid. 252 Hylactor and Blue Sea ran very evenly for some distance, but, as puss blinked them in a hollow, Hylactor was so well placed that he made a few weak points before effecting the death.

f trans. To avoid, flinch from. Cf. blinche c 1300 in blench il1 3.

II. To move the eyelids, twinkle, peep, wink. f 3. intr. To look, look up from sleep, open the eyes. [Only in this author; otherwise blenk v.

6.] 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 5675 Pers of hys slepe gan blynke, And gretely on hys dreme gan J>ynke.

4. To twinkle with the eye or eye-lids. In various shades of meaning which run into one another: in the earlier, the notion of ‘glancing’ predominates; in the later, that of ‘winking.’ a. To glance, cast or let fall a glance, have a peep; to look with glances (and not steadily). 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. v. i. 178 Sweet and louely wall, Shew me thy chinke, to blinke through with mine eine. 1592 Jas. VI. in Ellis Orig. Lett. 11. 236. III. 163 Turne your eyes a littell.. to blinke upon the necessaire cace of youre Friend. 11650 Ld. of Learne 428 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 197 Rather .. then all the gold that ere I blinket on with mine eye. 1729 in Ramsay’s Tea-t. Misc. 16 On him she did na gloom, But blinkit bonnilie.

b. To look with twinkling eye-lids, as one halfawake or dazzled with light. 1600 J. Lane Tom Tel-troth 132 It blinds the sight, it makes men bleare-eyd blinke. 1806 Coleridge Christabel 11. xxii, A snake’s small eye blinks dull and shy. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom ix. 77 Holding the candle aloft, and blinking on our travellers with a dismal and mystified expression. 1861 Mrs. Norton Lady La G. iv. 176 The babe .. with tender eyes Blinks at the world a little while, and dies. 1863 Miss Braddon J. Marchmont III. i. 2 A brown setter.. lay upon the hearth-rug .. blinking at the blaze.

c. To shut the eyelids momentarily involuntarily; to wink for an instant.

and

1858 M. Porteous Souter Johnny 30 Or silly mortal blinks an ee. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. 269 London was blinking, wheezing and choking. 1876 Foster Phys. iii. v. (1879) 544 When we stimulate one of our eyelids with a sharp electrical shock, both eyelids blink.

«

d. trans. to blink (tears) away or back: to send (tears) away, to avoid shedding (tears), by blinking. 1905 E. Glyn Viciss. Evang. 215 Tears kept rising in my eyes, and I did not even worry to blink them away. 1919 F. Hurst Humoresque 146 She blinked back the ever-recurring tears. 1924 Rose Macaulay Orphan Island xxi. § I Rosamond blinked away tears, with the salt Pacific, from her eyes. 1945 ‘Brahms’ & Simon Six Curtains for Strogonova xx. 162 Above her flowers Dourakova bowed, smiled, and blinked back her tears.

5. To cast a sudden or momentary gleam of light; to twinkle as a star; to shine with flickering light, or with a faint peep of light; to shine unsteadily or dimly. 1786 Burns Ep. J. Smith ii, Ev’ry star that blinks aboon. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. L 378 Where blinks through paper’d panes the setting sun. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 76 As stars blink out from clouds at night. 1828 Scott E.M. Perth II. v. 164 The very tapers are blinking, as if tired of our conference. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxx. 398 The sun was „. blinking on the windows.

6. a. trans. To shut the eyes to; to evade, shirk, pass by, ignore; orig. a sporting phrase. 1742 Fielding.?. Andrews I. xvi. (1815) 39 There’s a bitch .. she never blinked a bird in her life. 1811 Byron Hints fr. Hor. 555 Dogs blink their coveys. 1823 De Quincey Lett. Educ. i. (i860) 20 Children, however, are incidents that will occur in this life, and must not be blinked. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 114 It was no use blinking the fact.

b. With at (improperly). 1857 Sears Athan. vi. 43 Why have these passages.. been blinked at and ignored?

7. a, trans. To turn (milk, beer, etc.) slightly sour. [The origin of this use has been sought in the glance of an evil eye, the ‘blinking’ of milk being formerly ascribed to witchcraft; also in the effect of lightning, since thunder generally ‘blinks’ milk.] 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 589 Bottle ale., must not only be coold sufficiently, but also blynckt a little to giue it a quick Sc sharp tast. 1689 Gazophyl. Anglic. s.v. To blink beer; a word frequently used in Lincolnshire. 1713 Land. & Countr. Brew. iv. (1743) 263 They are apt to blink or give a little sourish Taste to their Drink.

b. intr. To turn slightly sour. a 1648 Digby Closet Open. (1677) 91 There let the wort.. stand till it begin to blink and grow long like thin syrup. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 317 Wine..if you let it stand too long before you get it cold.. summerbeams and blinks in the tub.

H 8. trans. To cause one to blink; to blindfold. [A pseudo-archaism in Landor.] 1846 Landor Exam. Shaks. II. 278 He who blinketh the eyes of the poor wretch about to die doeth it out of mercy. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xli. (1856) 376 With the sun., blinking my eyes. f 9. See blenk v. 6-7.

10. To look upon with the evil eye, to bewitch. Sc. and Irish. Cf. 7 a. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim & Down 9 Cow’s milk is said to be blinked when it does not produce butter, in consequence of some supposed charm having been worked. 1886 Folk-Lore Jrnl. IV. 255 Cattle can be fairy-struck or bewitched.. the first is called ‘sheetin’ and the second ‘blinked’. 1892 Ballymena Observer (E.D.D.), Blink, to bewitch cattle and cause them to have little or no milk and butter. 1926 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 479/1 Perhaps we are bewitched or blinked, as Shamus Byrne would say. 1927 Scots Observer 15 Oct. 2/5 Mrs. Hazelton.. had indeed blinked William Blair’s cows. Ibid., He had set fire to the wisp of straw and had put it under a blinked cow’s nose.

[f. blink v. i, and like it in ME. only in Robert of Brunne, for the blenk, blench of his contemporaries.] 1. A trick, stratagem; = blench, blenk, sb. 1. t blink, sb.1

BLINKING

290

BLINK

Obs.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4185 He shal pynkc or to do pe a wykkede blynke.

2. pi. Boughs thrown to turn aside deer from their course; also, feathers, etc. on a thread to scare birds. Cf. blencher. i6ix Cotgfl, Brisees, boughes .. left in the view of a deere, or cast ouerthwart the way to hinder his running.. Our wood-men call them, Blinkes. 1611 Markham Countr. Content. 1. xi. (1668) 59 They are like blinks, which will ever chase your game from you. 1625-Farew. Husb. 96 The nearer that these Blinkes .. come to the ground .. the better it is, lest the fowle finding a way to creep vnder them, begin not to respect them. blink (bliTjk), sb.2

Forms: 4 blynke, 6 blinck, 7 blinke, 7- blink, [f. blink v. 3-4; like which it is found in ME. in Robert of Brunne, where contemporaries used blenk.] 1. a. A sudden or momentary gleam of light from the sun, a fire, etc.; a slight flash; a peep of light; a twinkling gleam, as of the stars; a gleam of sunshine between showers: also poet. ‘glimmer.’ 1717 Protest. Mercury 5 July 6 A terrible Fire .. caus’d .. by a Blink of Fire that issued from some adjoining Chimney, and lodg’d in the Thatch. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi, xi, Creep out of their holes like blue-bottle flies in a blink of sunshine. 1833 Wordsw. Sonn. vii, Not a blink Of light was there. 1834 R. MuDiEBrrt. Birds (1841) I. 323 The blink of reddish orange displayed by the flirt of the tail. 1855 Browning Statue & Bust, In a bed-chamber by a taper’s blink.

b.fig. A ‘glimmer’ or ‘spark’ of anything good, c. A brief gleam of mental sunshine.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4449 pe leste poghte.. pat of godenesse hadde any blynke. 1730 T. Boston Mem. vi. 132, I sometimes have blinks of great joy. a 1752 R. Erskine in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. ci, I will sing of my blinks and of my showers. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xix. (1859) 542, I shall always bless heaven for my fair Blinks. d. on the blink: on the point of becoming

extinguished; in a bad state, out of order, slang (orig. U.S.). 1901 ‘H. McHuGH’7©/m Henry 83 A stranglehold line^ of business that will put Looey Harrison on the blink. 1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings iii. 51 This cafe looks on the blink, but I guess it can set out something wet. 1912 Wodehouse Prince & Betty xiii. 176 That punt-pole’s on the blink. I tried it yesterday, and it creaked. 1934 —— Right Ho, Jeeves xi. 136 All those years he spent in making millions in the Far East put his digestion on the blink, i960 J. Ashford Counsel for Defence vi. 68 No good, David. The ’frig, is on the blink again.

2. a. A glance (usually, a bright, cheerful glance); a glimpse. (Chiefly Sc.) 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 7 Lookes downe, and in one blinck, and in one vew, Comprizeth all what so the world can shew. Ibid. 95 Her eyes Sweet blinck. 1715 Let. in Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 66 We have had a sweet blink at the sacrament last Sabbath. 1790 Burns Tam O’Shanter, For ae blink o’ the bonnie burdies. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxvii, I wish my master were living to get a blink o’t. 1839 Bailey Festus xviii. (1848) 185 By the blink of thine eye.

b. The action or an act of blinking. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey 1. xii, He did not miss the shift and blink in the manager’s eyes.

3. transf.

The time taken by a glance; an instant, the twinkling of an eye; = Ger. Augenblick. (Chiefly Sc.) 01813 A. Wilson Hogmenae, The liquor was brought in a blink. 1827 Scott Two Drovers, Stay Robin—bide a blink. 1864 Hawker Quest Sangraal 24 Whole Ages glided in that Blink of Time. 4. — ice-blink: a shining whiteness about the

horizon produced

by reflection

from

distant

masses of ice. Also, loosely, a large mass or field of ice, an iceberg. 1772-84 Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1854 A brightness in the northern horizon, like that reflected from ice, usually called the blink. 1818 Edin. Rev. XXX. 17 The blink from packs of ice, appears of a pure white. 1837 Macdougall tr. Graah's Greenland 80 During the three hours we took to pass this blink, it calved about twenty times. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. I. v. 49, I ascended to the crow’s-nest, and saw. .the ominous blink of ice ahead.

5. blink microscope [G. blinkmikroskop], an instrument for viewing two photographs of the same section of the sky alternately in rapid succession. Also called blink comparator. [1910 C. Pulfrich in Zeitschr.f. Instrumentenkunde XXX. 1 Die Anwendung des Blinkmikroskops.] 1911 C. Pulfrich in Encycl. Brit. XXV. 900/2 Since 1904 binocular observation of stellar plates.. has been gradually discarded for the method devised by Pulfrich, which consists in the monocular observation of the two plates.. with the assistance of the so-called ‘blink’ microscope. 1930 Discovery Aug. 252/2 It [sc. the planet Pluto] was identified from its motion past the numerous fixed stars as revealed on plates of the same star field while being compared under the blink comparator.

blink, sb.3 U.S. A fisherman’s name for the mackerel when about a year old. 1856 [see tinker sb. 3]. 1888 Atwood in Goode Amer. Fishes 174 Fish of this size are sometimes called ‘Spikes’... The next year I think they are the ‘Blinks’, being one year old.

blink (blirjk), a. Also 7 blinck. [Cf. blinked.] 1. Of the eyes: Habitually blinking. Hence blink-eyed a. Also fig. 1575 Gascoigne Hearbes 152 Remembre Batte the foolish blink eyed boye. c 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. 1. i, The blink-ey’d burghers heads, a 1695 Wood Life (1848) 220 A blinkeyed bookseller in Cheapside. 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3041/4 Blink Ey’d, high Nos’d. 1823 Thacher Jrnl. Amer. Rev. 320 It was the doctor’s misfortune to have one blink eye. 1846 Dickens Pictures from Italy 9 Blink-eyed little casements. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. iii. i, A piebald blink-eyed,.. little pierrot show. 2. Of milk, etc.: Slightly sour. Cf. blink v. 7. 1883 C. F. Smith Southernisms in Trans. Amer. Philol. Soc. 45 Blink milk, ‘milk somewhat soured.’ West Virginia.

blinkard ('bligkad). Also 6 blincarde, blinkarde, blenkard. [f. blink v. + -ard„] 1. A reproachful name for one who habitually blinks or winks; one who has imperfect sight. c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Good Mann. (1570) Bj, An one eyed blincarde. 1580 Baret Alv. B 819 A Blinkarde, he that hath such eies that the liddes couer a great part of the apple. 1665 Char. Holland in Harl. Misc. (1745) V. 575 Among the Blind, the one-ey’d Blinkard reigns. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. xvii. 427 Blinkard or Blinking, is to have the Eye-lids ever moving: so that there is no perfect sight. 1786 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to R.A.'s xi. Wks. 1812 I. 157 Yes Blinkards: and with Lustre shine,

b. transf. A star that shines dimly. 1627 Hakewill Apol. iii. vii. §2 In some parts wee see many glorious.. starres.. in some none but blinkards and obscure ones.

2. fig. One who lacks intellectual perception. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel I. 610 Brainles blenkards that blow at the cole. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! (1861) 180 Calling himself an ass and a blinkard. 1882 Blackie in Gd. Words Oct. 640 A race of blinkards, who peruse the case And shell of life, but feel no soul behind.

f3. One who ‘shuts his eyes’ to what is happening, who blinks facts. Obs. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xiv. 82 So as God should play the blinkard or shut his Eyes.

4. attrib. or adj., usually fig. a 1529 Skelton Balettes 24 Thou blinkerd blowboll; thou wakest to late. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 254 Look out with both their eyes, and have no blinkard minds. 1837 Carlyle Misc. (1857) IV. 92 A blinkard precipitancy.

blinked, ppl. a. [f. blink

v.

+ -ed.] Affected

with a blink or blinking. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 5 And keepe continuall spy Upon her with his other blincked eye.

blinker (’blii)k3(r)). [f. as prec. + -er1.] 1. a. One who blinks; a blinking or purblind person. 1636 Abp. J. Williams Holy Table {1637) 219 He was but a blinker, and saw .. but with half an eye. a 1704 T. Brown Cupid turn'd T. Wks. 1730 I. 113 What does our sly graceless blinker? 1835 Browning Paracel. I. 20 As earnest blinkers do Whom radiance ne’er distracted.

b. One who casts blinks or sly glances. Sc. 1786 Burns Ep. to Mayor Logan x, The witching, cursed, delicious blinkers Hae put me hyte.

2. a. pi. A kind of spectacles for directing the sight in one direction only, so as to cure squinting, or for protecting the eyes from cold, dust, .etc.; = goggles. 1732 M. Green Grotto to (R.) Bigots who but one way see Through blinkers of authority. 1803 Bristed Pedest. TourX. 38 A little fellow, with blinkers over his eyes. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. iv. (1858) 205 Who only dare to look up at life through blinkers.

b. Leather screens attached to a horse’s bridle on each side, to prevent his seeing in any direction except straight ahead. 1789 W. Gilpin Tour Lakes II. 154 (R.) On being pressed by her friends., to go to court; ‘By no means,’ said she, ‘unless I may be allowed to wear blinkers.’ 1861 Musgrave By-Roads 174 An old female hostler, who gave us neither cruppers, blinkers, or breeching.

3. The eye. {slang.) 1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master 1. 11 A patent pair of goggle winkers, Conceal’d from public view his blinkers.

4. A sporting dog that refuses to see and mark the position of game. Cf. blinking vbl. sb. 3. 1814 W. Dobson Kunopsedia 98 We shall, I fear, be compelled to class him along with the blinker of a very different nature, the brute of perverse.. yet snivelling disposition. 1845 Youatt Dog iii. 91 The chastisement., would make the setter disgusted .. and leave him a mere blinker. 1848 W. N. Hutchinson Dog Breaking 94 Excess of punishment has made many a dog of good promise a confirmed blinker.

5. An intermittent flash-light. In full, blinker light. U.S. 1923 R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean xvi. 285 Take this bug-light [sc. an electric torch] and use it as a blinker. You learned the Morse code at Camp Stuart. 1943 J. Steinbeck Once there was a War (1959) 1. 52 The second in command takes up the blinker and signals. 1959 N. Mailer Advts.for Myself (1961) 432 Motels, blinker lights, salt-eroded billboards. 1964 ‘M. E. Chaber’ Six who Ran (1965) i. 17 Three passenger cars were stolen... One of them was converted into a State Police car with the aid of a blinker light. Hence 'blinkerless a. (sense 2 b.) 1872 Daily News 23 Oct., Fleet blinkerless horses.

'blinker, v. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To put blinkers on; fig. to blind, hoodwink, deceive. 1865 W. Palgrave Arabia I. 140 But Telal was not so easily to be blinkered, and kept to his first judgment.

blinkered ('blnjkad), ppl. a. [f. blinker sb. or v. + -ed.] Of a horse: provided with blinkers. Also fig., having a limited range of outlook. 1867 Hardy Time's Laughingstocks (1909) 53 A century which .. Will show.. A scope above this blinkered time. 1897 Daily News 19 June 9/1 The colt., could not quite withstand the rush of the blinkered El Diablo. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 1/3 The padded, blinkered life of her spinster sister. 1962 Daily Tel. 8 May 14/2 This is merely a case of legal procedure grinding along on its blinkered way.

blinking ('blirjkir|), vbl. sb. [f.

BLINK V.] 1. The action of the vb. blink in its various senses. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 84 Something they are able to behold without blinking. 1878 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. 1. 248 There is no blinking of the eyes to the part which.. sordid or foul circumstances play in life.

2. spec, in Brewing: The operation of giving a sharp taste to beer by letting the wort stand for some time. Also of beer: Turning sour during fermentation. (Cf. blink v. 7 a. and 7 b.) 1713 Lond. & Countr. Brew. iv. (1743) 271 Souring of the Grains, or what some call Blinking or Charing, is prevented. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Brewing, In the North of England.. they let their first Wort stand in their Receivers till it is very clear.. which they call Blinking.

3. The faulty action, in a sporting dog, of refusing to see and mark the position of game. Cf. blinker 4. 1814 W. Dobson Kunopsedia 89 (heading) On Blinking. Defect in blood, a suspected cause. 1848 W. N. Hutchinson Dog Breaking 10 The unreasonableness of not always giving initiatory Lessons. Causes Blinking. 1865 Ibid. (ed. 4) 202 Some argue that blinking arises from a defective nose, not from punishment, 1897 H. Dalziel Brit. Dogs (ed. 2) III. 336 Blinking. . is caused .. by undue

BLINKING severity or punishment administered for chasing game or poultry.

'blinking, ppl. a. [f. as prec. 4- -ing2.] 1. a. Looking with twinkling or half-open eyelids; winking; weak-eyed. 1568 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 29 A Furious God: an Archer blincking boy. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. 11. ix. 54 The portrait of a blinking idiot. 1718 Pope Iliad u. 264 One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. IV. 39 Stood with blinking gaze Before a fire’s unsteady blaze.

b. Sc. Glancing pleasantly. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 9° Blinkin daft Barbara M’Leg. Ibid. II. 119 His blinkan eye and gate sae free. 1822 Scott Nigel xvii, Guided by one of these blinking Ganymedes.

2. Shining dimly or intermittently, twinkling, flickering. 1681 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 327 By a blinking and promiscuous light. 1785 Burns Cotter s Sat. Nt. iii, His wee bit ingle, blinkin bonilie. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 233 A solitary lamp to throw its blinking rays athwart his effigy. 3. blinking chickrweed; = blinks 2. 1775 Lightfoot Flora Scot. (1789) no.

4. Used as a substitute for a strong expletive. slang. *9*4 Scotsman 12 Oct. 7/5 One .. Guardsman .. declared .. that His Majesty seemed to carry the ‘blinking Army List in his ’ead\ 1927 Observer 21 Aug. 17/5 The type of golfer who.. hurls the bag of clubs after it, accompanied by the remark, ‘Go on, have the blinking lot’.

'blinkingly, adv. With blinking eyes. 1876 Miss Braddon J. Haggard II. 15 The sisters., regarded him blinkingly, like owls in a zoological collection.

blinks (bliTjks). [f. blink sb.] 1. A nickname for one who blinks. 1616 Holyday Persius 298 And winks At him, whose sight is bad, calling him blinks.

2. Herb.

The Water Chickweed, or Blinking Chickweed, Montia fontana. 1835 Hooker Brit. Flora 59 Water Blinks. 1863 Prior Plant-n. 25 Blinks or blinking-chickweed, from its half-closed little white flowers peering from the axils of the upper leaves, as if afraid of the light.

blinky ('blirjki), a. Inclined to blink. 1861 Russell in Times 11 June (L.) One’s eyes became quite blinky watching for the flash.

blintze (blints), and variants. [Yiddish blintse, f. Russ, blinets, dim. of blin.] = blin. 1903 Jewish Encycl. IV. 256/1 The kasha and blintzes of the Russian Jews., are dishes adopted by the Jews from their Gentile neighbors. 1932 L. Golding Magnolia St. 1. ii. 32 Wouldn’t it be nice to make a few blintsies for Mr. Emmanuel. 1958 W. Bickel tr. Hering's Diet. Class. & Mod. Cookery 10 Cheese blinzes.., crepes au fromage a la juive. 1961 Woman 21 Jan. 16/3 Blintzes are cheese-filled pancakes served with jam.

bliny: see blin. blip (blip), v. [Echoic.] I. a. trans. To strike with a brisk rap or tap. b. intr. To make a quick popping sound. Hence 'blipping ppl. a. 1924 A. A. Milne When we were Very Young 93 They pulled him out and dried him, and they blipped him on the head. 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1968) xviii. 311 A big moth flopped into the room and blipped about. 1952 ‘C. Brand’ London Particular vi. 64 Some horrible burglar.. blipped him on the head and killed him. 1955 W. Golding Inheritors iii. 60 Little bubbles bulged out of the scum, wandered and blipped out. 1957 ‘C. E. Maine’ High Vacuum xiii. 108 The signal blipped hollowly from the speaker, fading and sporadic. 1963 P. McCutchan Man from Moscow xx. 205 The only noise was that of the blipping tyres.

2. slang. To switch an aeroplane engine on and off. Also trans. and intr., to open and close (the throttle of an aeroplane, car, etc.); to rev (an engine) momentarily with the clutch disengaged. Hence as sb. Also 'blipping vbl. sb. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 26 To blip, to switch an aeroplane engine on and off. 1931 Vanity Fair Nov. 78/2 Blipping is the flippant term for nonchalantly and rapidly switching the ignition off and on while in flight. 1946 F. Hamann Air Words 9 Blip, rapidly opening and closing the engine throttle... Also to clean possible ice out of the carburetor. 19581 N. Shute’ Rainbow Rose iii. 79 They brought back memories of slow-revving engines blipping on the switch. Ibid. 84, I . . flew her over to the hangar in little blips of engine on the switch. 1972 Drive Summer 106/2 If the car has a synchromesh gearbox., blipping the throttle in the middle of a gearchange is a waste of petrol. 1979 Daily Mail 7 June 31/1 Riders who ‘blip’ the throttle while waiting at traffic lights are wasting petrol.

blip (blip), sb. [Echoic.] 1. Any sudden brisk blow or twitch; a quick popping sound. 1894 ‘Mark Twain’ in St. Nicholas Apr. 540/1 We took him a blip in the back and knocked him off. 1927 A. A. Milne Now we are Six 23 It wasn’t that he did not care For blips and buffetings and such. 1932 Auden Orators 11. 56 Three warnings of enemy attack—depression in the mornings—rheumatic twinges—blips on the face. 1947 Crowther & Whiddington Science at War 16 A ‘blip’ or ‘break’ which marks the moment of emission of the pulse. 1958 Times 29 July 10/6 A series of preliminary blips [of a motor-horn]. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 130 A burst of applause lasting, say, ten seconds is very difficult to cut down to five without a slight ‘blip’ at the join.

2. A small elongated mark projected on a radar screen.

BLISSFUL

291 1945 Electronic Engirt. XVII. 716 Note the calibration scales, in this case formed of small and larger ‘blips’, not bright dots. 1957 Times 11 Oct. 10/2 The first ‘blip’ appeared on a blue trace which was crossing the screen of an ex-military radar set.

t blirre, sb. Obs. rare. [Origin uncertain: prob. a variant of blear zl1] A deception. 1570 Levins Manip. 142 A Blirre, deceptio.

f blirre, v. Obs. [see prec.] To deceive. 1570 Levins Manip. 142 To Blirre, fallere.

blirt

(bbit). v. north, dial. [prob. an onomatopoeic word nearly identical with blurt: with the bl-, cf. blow, blast, blash, etc.; with the rest, cf. spirt, squirt, expressing the forcible emission of liquid.] To burst into tears, weep violently; disfigure with tears. 1721 in Kelly Sc. Prov. 397 (Jam.) ‘Ill gar you blirt with both your een.’ 1879 Jamieson Sc. Diet., ‘She’s a’ blirted wi’ greeting.’ Fife.

blirt, sb. [f. prec.] 1. An outburst of tears, a sudden fit of weeping. (Sc.) a 1796 Burns Braw Lads of Gala W. iii, The lassie lost a silken snood, That cost her mony a blirt and bleary.

2. A short dash of rain coming with a gust of wind. (Sc. and Naut.) 1810 [see blirty.] 1867 Smyth Sailor’s Word-Bk., Blirt, a gust of wind and rain.

'blirty, blirtie, a. north, [f. prec. + -Y.4] Characterized by blirts or gusts of wind and rain. 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 16 O poortith is a wintry day! Cheerless, blirtie, cauld, and blae.

blisce(n, obs. form of

bless v.'

bliss (blis), sb. Forms: 1 bliSs, blids, bliss, blis; 3-7 blisse, 4-6 blysse, blis, 6- bliss; occas. 4-7 blesse, bless. [OE. blids (acc. blidse) str. fern. = OS. blidsea, blitzea, blizza:—OTeut. type *blipsja- f. *blipi-s, Goth, bleips, OS. blithi, OE. blide blithe, joyous -I- suffix -sja-, standing, after dentals, for original -tja (cf. L. Ixtitia). Goth, has, instead, the parallel form bleip-ei:—OTeut. *blip-in-. In later OE. by assimilation and vowel-shortening blids became bliss, blis, ME. blisse: cf. OE. milds, milts (:—OTeut. *mild-sja— *mild-tja-) mildness, clemency, ME. milze, milce, milse. The meaning of bliss and that of bless have mutually influenced each other since an early period; cf. bless w.1; confusion of spelling is frequent from the time of Wyclif to the 17th c. Hence the gradual tendency to withdraw bliss from earthly ‘blitheness’ to the beatitude of the blessed in heaven, or that which is likened to it.] fl. Blitheness of aspect toward others, kindness of manner; ‘light of one’s countenance,’ ‘smile.’ (Only in OE.) a 1000 Metr. Bceth. ii. 30 Hi me towendon heora bacu bitere and heora blisse from.

2. Blitheness; gladness; joy, delight, enjoyment: a. physical, social, mundane: passing at length into b. 971 Blickl. Horn. 3 Maria cende pone Drihten on blisse. a 1000 Cotton Psalm 1. 99 (Gr.) Saele nu blidse me, bilewit dryhten. C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 115 Hie weren swo bliSe pat hie ne mihten mid worde here blisse tellen. c 1340 Cursor M. 1013 (Trin.) Mony opere blisses elles, Floures pat ful swete smelles. C1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 234 Two blessis ben, — blesse of pe soule and blisse of pe bodi. c 1386 Chaucer Man Law's T. 1021 This glade folk to dyner they hem sette; In ioye and blisse at mete I lete hem dwelle. 01450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 55 She lost alle worshipe, richesse, ese, and blysse. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 268 Tha rouch rillingis, of blis that war full bair. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, 1. ii. 31 And all that Poets faine of Blisse and Ioy. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 508 These two Imparadis’t in one anothers arms.. shall enjoy thir fill Of bliss on bliss. 1806 Wordsw. Ode Immortality 86 Behold the Child among his new-born blisses. 1841 L. Hunt Seer (1864) 54 He does not sufficiently sympathise with our towns and our blisses of Society.

b. Mental, ethereal, spiritual: perfect joy or felicity, supreme delight; blessedness. (Early instances difficult to separate from prec.) CI175 Lamb. Horn. 15 Blisse and lisse ic sende. 01300 Cursor M. 605 A land o lijf, o beld, and blis, J>e quilk man clepes paradis. C1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 142 To lyve evere in blis wipouten peyne. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour F iij, The grete reame of blysse and glory. 1591 Shaks. 1 Hen. VI, v. v. 64 The contrarie bringeth blisse, And is a patterne of Celestiall peace. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxii. § 13 To them whose delight.. is in the Law .. that happiness and bliss belongeth. 01649 Drumm. of Hawth. Cypr. Grove Wks. 31 O only blest, and Author of all bliss. Ibid. 26 All bless returning with the Lord of bliss. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 522 The sum of earthly bliss Which I enjoy. 1747 Gray Ode Eton Coll., Where ignorance is bliss, ’Tis folly to be wise. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 62 May gather bliss, to see my fellows blest. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. xii. 141 The purest bliss was surely then thy dower.

c. esp. The perfect joy of heaven; the beatitude of departed souls. Hence, the place of bliss, paradise, heaven.

971 Blickl. Horn. 25 We majon.. ece blisse jeearnian. 01225 Juliana 21 Ich schal bliSe bicumen to endelese blissen. 01300 Cursor M. 17972 Fro helle to paradys pat blis. C1384 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 344 He [the pope] is not blessid in pis lif, for blis fallip to the topir lyf. 1509 Hawes Examp. Virt. i. 12, I wyll.. brynge thy soule to blesse eterne. 1593 Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 182 By the hope I haue of heauenly blisse. 1607 Walkington Opt. Glass 65 The soul is .. wrapt up into an Elysium and paradise of blesse. 1667 Milton P.L. 1. 607 Far other once beheld in bliss. 1781 Cowper Truth 301 The path to bliss abounds with many a snare. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 255 Any one who accepted them in the concrete and literal form prescribed by the church, would share infinite bliss.

d. concr. A cause of happiness, joy, or delight. 01000 Ags. Ps. (Spelm.) xxxi. 9 (Bosw.) Du eart blis min. c 1386 Chaucer Nonnes Pr. T. 346 Womman is mannes Ioye and al his blis. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xcvii. 26 A wither’d violet is her bliss. f3. Glory. (Translating gloria and tcAeos.) Obs. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 115 Quis est iste rex glorie? hwat is pis blissene king. 0 1300 Cursor M. 8100 pe king o blis. 1387 Trevisa Higden II. 363 Hercules is i-seide of heros pat is a man, and of cleos pat is blisse; as pey Hercules were to menynge a blisful man and glorious.

|4. a bliss of birds: a blithe singing, a ‘choir.’ c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems 228 A blysse of bryddes me bad abyde, For cause there song mo then one.

5. Comb. a. objective, as bliss-giving, bliss¬ making adjs.; b. adverbial, as bliss-bright. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 309 This blesseaffording good. 1645 Bp. Hall Content. 103 The blissemaking vision of God. 1839 Bailey Festus xiv. (1848) 147 The bliss-bright stars. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. II. xxvii. 184 The bliss-giving ‘yes.’

bliss, v. Forms: 1 bliSsian, blissian, -ijan, 2 blissien, 3 bliscen, (blescien), Orm. blissenn, 3-4 bliss(en, 4 blesse. [OE. blidsian, blissian = OS. blidsean, blizzeny f. blids, bliss sb. Now blended in the verb bless.] 1. Obs. intr. To be blithe or glad, to rejoice. C897 K. /Elfred Gregory's Past. xlix. 385 Bli5sa, cniht, on 6inum giojuShade. ciooo Ags. Gosp. Luke xv. 9 BlyssiaS mid me. 01225 Ancr. R. 360 Gif we polieS mid him, we schulen bliscen mid him. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xii. 187 Wei may pe barne blisse [C. text blesse] pat hym to boke sette.

b. refl. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 33 Ne mei nan man .. blissien him mid pisse wordle. [01225 Ancr. R. 358 BlescieS ou & gledieS.]

2. trans. To give joy or gladness to (orig. with dative); to gladden, make happy. (In 16-17th c. blended with bless.) Obs. a 1000 Hymns vii. 34 (Gr.) Du engla God eallum blissast. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. To gladien, and to blissen us. 0 1300 Cursor M. 12779 (Gott.) To blissen paim vte of hair wa. 1594 Constable Diana vi. x, She stands wotlesse whom so much she blisseth. 1636 Fitz-geffray Holy Transport. (1881) 189 To thee, who com’st from heauen to blisse the earth.

3. to bliss out (U.S. slang) [after to freak out s.v. freak v. 3], to reach a state of ecstasy. Chiefly blissed out (blist) pa. pple. and ppl. a., in such a state; 'blissing out vbl. sb. 1973 National Observer (U.S.) 3 Nov. 1 A ‘soul rush’ of blissed-out young pilgrims is heading for the Western mecca of The Most Important Movement in the History of Mankind. 1973 Newsweek 19 Nov. 157 Initiates learn to see a dazzling white light, hear celestial music, feel ecstatic vibrations... The process is called ‘blissing out’. 1974 New Yorker 8 Apr. 32 The nonstop, glowing smile and the glazed eyes of one who is ‘blissed out’. 1977 Rolling Stone 7 Apr. 23/3 Gold albums share the walls with photographs of blissed-out holy men. 1983 Atlantic Monthly July 104/2 Toward the end,.. Harvey is too blissed out to do much more than bask in Rinpoche’s gaze. 1986 New Yorker 22 Sept. 84/3 Long-haired Westerners.. blissing out or freaking out in the streets.

Hence (sense 3) blissout, a state of ecstasy. 1974 Time 26 Aug. 66/1 The beach bliss-out was a response the profession can ill afford. 1976 New Yorker 20 Dec. 117 This blissout is the movie every actress must., have dreamed of making. 1982 Guardian 30 Dec. 1/2 A ‘blissout’, derived from religious cults, is a state of intense happiness.

bliss(e, obs. form of bless blissen, var. of blesche

v.

.1

v

Obs. to quench.

blissful ('blisful), a.

Forms: 2-4 blisful(le, 4 -uolle, blysfol, 4-6 -ful, blesful(l, blesseful(l, 6 blisseful(l, blisfull, 7 blissfull, blessful, 3- blissful, [f. bliss sb. + -FUL.] 1. Of persons: Full of bliss, joyful; happy or joyous in the highest degree. 0 1240 Sawles Warde in Lamb. Horn. 259 Hu he sit blisful on his fader riht half. C1386 Chaucer Frankel. T. 362 O blisful artow now thou Dorigen, That hast thy lusty housbonde in thyne Armes. 1388 Wyclif Eccles. iv. 3 Y demyde hym, that was not borun }it.. to be blisfulere than euer eithir. 1646 Crashaw Steps Temp. 65 Let the blessful heart hold fast Her heavenly armful. 1863 Tennyson Welc. Alexandra 27 Blissful bride of a blissful heir.

2. Of things: Full of or fraught with bliss. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 77 pe engel hire brohte pe blisfulle tidinge. C1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 682 From that blisful our. 1589 Greene Menaph. (1616) 47 To turne my blissefull sweet to balefull sowre. 1667 Milton P.L. 1. 5 Till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. 205 To live with Ormusd in a blissful eternity. 1881 Morley Cobden I 14 All blessed by nature with a kind of blissful mercurial simplicity.

f3. Blessed, beatified; sacred, holy. Obs.

BLISSFULHED a 1225 St. Marker. 21 Beo a iblescet and ti blisfule sune iesu crist. 01300 Cursor M. 8906 J>e lauerd of hele, pat blisful king. 1340 Ayenb. 186 J>e blisuolle blode of Iesu Crist. 1496 Dives & Paup. 1. (W. de W.) liii. 93/2 Marye Magdaleyn anoynted the blysful fete of our lorde Ihesu. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Miijb, It is ordeyned by the holy senate, by consente of blisfull men. f4. Glorified, transfigured; cf. bliss sb. 3. Ohs. 1387 [see bliss sb. 3]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vm. xl, A bodi pat is blisful [L. gloriflcatus]. Ibid. xiv. xliv, In toppe of )?is mounte oure Lorde schewid him selfe blysful. f5. Having power to bless. Obs. 1598 Florio Diet. Ep. Ded. 4 Laie then your blisse-full handes on his head (right Honorable).

t 'blissfulhed, blisfulhede. Obs. [f. prec. + -hede> -head.] Blissful condition, joy, beatitude. Hampole Psalter i. 1 Beatus vir.. Hightand blisfulhed til rightwise men. £1340 Cursor M. 6852 (Trin.) A londe of blisfulhede. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle 11. xli. (1859) 46 A1 bbunte, beaute, joye and blysfulhede. 01340

blissfully ('blisfull), adv. [f. as prec. 4- -ly2.] In a blissful manner, happily, joyously. o 1225 Ancr. R. 360 3if we wulleS a domesdei blissfuliche arisen, o 1300 Cursor M. 9117 A quile regnd king salamon Blisfulli ouer al pat land. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. vii. 246 The sowles ben blysfully in paradise. 01711 Ken Anodynes Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 462 Wrapt Blissfully with God below. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxvii, Blissfully haven’d both from joy and pain. 1884 Harper's Mag. Sept. 648/1 Blissfully ignorant.

blissfulness ('blisfulnis). [f. as prec. 4- -ness.] The quality or state of being blissful; joyfulness, happiness. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. ii. 113 Blisfulnesse is pilke same goode pat men requeren. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxx. 13 Lya seide, That for my blisfulnes. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark iii. 35 To be rewarded with euerlasting blissfulnesse. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 3 It is not for me to attend so high a blissefulnesse. 1633 Ford Broken H. 1. iii. (R.) My better stars, that offer’d me the grace Of so much blissfulness. 1858 Neale Bernard de M. 19 In blissfulness and mirth. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 71 A peace more deep disclosed its blissfulness.

blissing, obs. f. blessing. 'blissless, a. [f. bliss sb. + -less.] Without bliss; hapless, miserable. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. 352 So many have come to my blissless lot. 1591 Kyd Span. Trag. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley V. 155 Barren the earth, and blissless whosoever Imagines not to keep it unmanur’d! 1952 Antiquity XXVI. 95 In our present blissless ignorance.

blissom ('blisam), a. [a. ON. blcesma adj. (a ewe or goat) in heat; ODu. blesme (Kolkar).] Of a ewe: In heat. (See quot.) 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 11. ix. §2. 234 Carnal, fleshly, blissom, clicket, proud. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Ewe, Ewe is Bliessom, a Term peculiar to Sheepherds, signifying that the Ewe has taken Tup.

'blissom, v. [f. as prec.] 1. trans. Of a ram: To couple with a ewe; to tup. In pass, said of the ewe. 1432-50 tr. Higden Rolls Ser. II. 303 Iacob putte the roddes.. afore the si3hte of schepe when thei scholde be blissomede. 1483 Cath. Angl. 34 To Blessum, arietare. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §37. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 1. xxv. 111 One Ram me will serue to blesome fiftie Ewes. 1656 in Blount Glossogr.; 1721 in Bailey, and in later Diets.

2. intr. ‘To caterwaul, to be lustful.’ J. Hence 'blissoming vbl. sb., 'blissomed ppl. a. a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxxvii[i]. 70 Of after-blismed, [Vulg. de post foetantes], him name he. 1721 Bailey, Blissoming, the Act of generation between a Ram and a Ewe. 1766 Rider Diet, s.v., To go a blissoming is to desire the Ram.

blist, var. of blyschit (see blush v.); obs. form of blest, of bless w.1, and bliss sb.; obs. Sc. form of BLAST.

blisteing, obs. form of blessing. blister ('blistsfr)), sb. Also 3 blester, 6 bluster, blyster. [ME. blester, blister, perh. a. OF. blestre (‘tumeur, bouton,’ Godef.), also blostre: the double form may be explained as an adoption of ON. blastr, dat. blsestri ‘swelling,’ also ‘a blast, blowing,’ f. blasa to blow (whence also mod.Sw. blasa, Ger. blase, blister). The 16th c. variant bluster suggests the MDu. or Flemish bluyster (Kilian), which points to earlier *blustra, from same root (cf. ON. blistra to whistle). An OE. blister, blester or blyster, cogn. with the ON. or Du., might have been expected, but is not found.] 1. A thin vesicle on the skin, containing serum, caused by friction, a burn, or other injury, or the action of a vesicatory. 01300 Cursor M. 6011 (Gott.) Bile and blester [v.r. blister], bolnand sare. ? 01500 Flower & Leaf lix, For blisters of the Sunne brenninge, Very good .. ointmentes. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. § 61 There is a blyster rysen vnder the tounge. 1561 Hollybush Horn. Apoth. 22b, Good., agaynst blusters or reed pustuls. 1664 Dryden Riv. Ladies III. i. (1725) 216 This Hand would rise in Blisters shouldst thou touch it. 1810 Henry Elem. Chem. II. 371 Acetic acid, thus prepared.. raises a blister when applied to the skin.

292 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 88 Your wet ropes And clumsy oars.. give blisters first And then a horny hand.

2. a. A similar swelling, containing fluid or (more usually) air, on the surface of a plant, on metal after cooling, a painted surface, and the like. 1597 Gerard Herbal iii. cxvi. (1633) 1480 On these leaves ..grow blisters or small bladders. 1671 Ray Philos. Lett. (1718) 97, I had thought that the Kermes-berry had been a Blister of the Bark of the Oak. 1678 Ripley Reviv'd 155 Our compound in this heat riseth in blisters. 1799 G. Smith Labor at. I. 148 The paste would be cloudy and full of blisters. 1885 Athenaeum 30 May 704/2 Nor is this cracking all the mischief which has lately befallen this picture .. there is rather a large blister.

b. A disease incident to peach-trees, caused by the fungus Exoascus deformans, which produces a distortion of the leaves. 1864 Ohio Agric. Rep. XVIII. 460 For some years, in this country, the disease which produces the ‘Blister and Curl’ in the peach leaf, and decay in the peach fruit, has.. produced extensive ravages. 1919 Board Agric. fijf Fisheries Leaflet No. 120 ‘Curl’ or ‘leaf blister’ proves very injurious to peaches and nectarines during certain seasons.

c. Naut. colloq. An outer covering fitted to a vessel to provide protection against torpedoes and mines or to improve stability. Hence, a ship so protected. Also attrib. 1919 Chambers's Jml. 26 July 543/1 Immunity from the evil effects of torpedoes and mines is sought by the provision of a swelling, commonly called a ‘bulge’ or a ‘blister’, below the water-line on each side. 1921 Flight XIII. 584/1 By suitable methods of ‘blister’ construction of ships, however, this mining effect could be reduced to something as negligible as the direct hit. 1923 W. S. Churchill World Crisis II. i. 23 When at last Monitors, ‘Blisters’ and Tanks had been devised and built. 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Diet. 64/1 Blisters which communicate with the open sea, are fitted on some ships as an anti-rolling device.

d. A rounded compartment protruding from the body of an aeroplane. Also attrib. 1939 Meccano Mag. Sept. 517/2 There are five machine gun positions, one in the fuselage nose, and four others in the form of streamlined ‘blisters’ on the top, bottom, and sides of the fuselage. 1941 Illustr. London News CXCVIII. 516 An air-gunner in one of the carefully stream-lined blister gun turrets of a ‘Catalina’. 1943 ‘T. DudleyGordon’ Coastal Command at War xv. 140 Two big gun blisters, with sliding, rounded panels of perspex, in which two gunners are always on watch.

3. Med. Anything applied to raise a blister; a vesicatory. 1541 R. Copland Guy don's Quest. Chirurg., And the blysters potencyall cauteres be applyed. 1758 Whytt in Phil. Trans. L. 570,1 advised a blister to be applied. 1875 H. Wood Therap. (1879) 561 Blisters are especially useful in inflammations of serous membranes.

4. A derogatory term for a person, esp. an annoying one. slang. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries I. vii. 145 A perpetual blister; — alias, a sociable next-door-neighbour, who has taken a violent affection for you. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim & Down 9 Blister, an annoying person. 1914 ‘I Hay’ Lighter Side School Life iii. 81 Mr. Wellings’ reputation throughout the school.. was that of a ‘chronic blister’. 1930 Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves! xi. 308 Women are a wash¬ out. I see no future for the sex, Bertie. Blisters, all of them.

5. A summons, slang. 1903 Sessions Paper 17 Nov. 33, I was served with four blisters yesterday. 1906 Daily Chron. 20 Mar. 5/6 ‘Have you never had a “blister”?’.. The solicitor explained to the Court that a ‘blister’ was a summons for ‘scorching’. 1947 F. Sargeson in Penguin New Writing XXIX. 62 He’d been paying off a few bob every time he had a few to spare... And then he gets a blister! 6. Comb., as blister-beetle, -fly, an insect used

for raising blisters, spec, the Spanish fly (Cantharis vesicatoria); blister blight, a disease of the tea-plant caused by the fungus Exobasidium vexans, which produces blisters on the leaves; blister-copper, copper having a blistered surface, obtained during smelting just before the final operation; hence attrib. blistercopper ore; blister furnace, a furnace for the conversion of copper regulus or matte into blister-copper; blister gas, a poison gas which causes blisters on or intense irritation of the skin; blister pack sb., a pack consisting of a piece of usu. transparent plastic moulded over an article and sealed to a flat card; so blister-pack v. trans., to package in this way; blister-packed ppl. a., -packing vbl. sb.; blister package = blister pack sb. above; blister packaging vbl. sb., packaging in blister packs; blister pearl, a pearly excrescence of irregular shape found on the shell of a pearl oyster; blister-plant, a name for different species of Ranunculus, esp. R. acris, R. sceleratus; blister-plaster, a plaster for raising a blister; blister-steel, steel having a blistered surface, obtained during the process of converting iron into shear-steel or cast-steel; attrib. blister-steel furnace. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 31 If the apothecary cannot distinguish a .. *blister-beetle from a Carabus. 1877 S. Baildon Tea in Assam 45, I do not know whether it has been really ascertained what causes ‘*Blister blight’. A leaf gets a small speck upon it at first, which, as it enlarges, assumes the appearance of a blister. 1949 Ann. Reg. 1948 144 Tea bushes were attacked by blister blight. 1861 J.

BLISTERED Percy Metall. I. 325 The *blister-copper is tapped into sand-moulds. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts (ed. 7) I. 398 Blister Copper-ore, a botryoidal variety of copper-pyrites. 1585 ♦Blister fly [see whelk2 i (Comb.)]. 1842 Blister-fly [see Spanish a. 8 b]. 1862 Coleman Woodlands 23 The brilliant Blister-fly.. is only very sparingly met with in this country. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 237/1 The multiple system anodes are sometimes cast directly from the ♦blister furnace or the converter. 1936 Current Hist. July 61/2 In Class D come the vesicants or *blister gases. 1938 Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 1938 144/1 The blister gases .. penetrate nearly every material except glass, porcelain, and unglazed metals. 1964 Drug & Cosmetic Industry July 54/1 (heading) ♦Blister-pack. 1969 L. S. Mounts in W. R. R. Park Plastics Film Technol. v. 116 Blister packs are usually rigid. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 30 May 6/4 Sophisticated machinery to blister pack articles for protection during shipment. 1977 Times 22 Oct. 12/7 The cheapest bangers [sc. fireworks] are now sold in blister-packs of six at 2ip each. 1983 N.Y. Times 13 Aug. 14/1 Tamper-resistant packages, such as blister packs. 1954 Mod. Plastics May 89/3 Very small and simple pieces, such as dome-like ‘*blister’ packages. 1964 Drug & Cosmetic Industry July 54/2 Cardboard and plastic may be combined in several different ways to yield the desired blister package. 1954 Mod. Plastics May 97/1 Master Rule Mfg. Co., Middletown, N.Y., has.. opened a new phase in ‘♦blister’ packaging by encasing a steel tape measuring rule in the package during the vacuum forming operation. 1976 Oxf. Consumer Mar. 7/2 The shopkeepers’ opinions are divided on the blister packaging.. . Once the shopkeeper has broken the blister.. the article is no use for further sale. 1976 CB Mag. June 22/1 (Advt.), Attractively ♦blistej- packed. 1976 Lancet 4 Dec. 1239/1 The use of ♦blister-packing.. could lead to important savings of drugs discarded each year in English hospitals. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 446/2 The mollusc .. depositing nacreous matter.., thus forming a hollow body of irregular shape known as a ‘♦blister pearl’. 1910 Daily Chron. 4 Apr. 4/5 Overdress of gauze encrusted with blister pearls. 1796 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Sat. Wks. 1812 III. 390 He Gilead’s Balm; but you a * Blister-plaster. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 230 When the iron has absorbed a quantity of carbon in the ♦blister steel furnace. 1837 Brewster Magnet. 319 Needles of shear steel received a greater magnetic force than those of blister steel. 1880 C. M. Mason Forty Spires 65 When the bars are removed from the furnace they are in a blistered state; they are known as blister-steel.

blister ('blistafr)), v. [f. prec.] 1. trans. To raise blisters on. Also absol. 1541 R. Copland Guy don's Quest. Chirurg., Those that blyster make no scarre. 1610 Shaks. Temp. 1. ii. 324 A south-west blow on yee and blister you all ore. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. vii. 69 The Axes .. blistered their tender fingers. 1776 Withering Bot. Arrangem. (1801) III. 496 It is very acrid, and easily blisters the skin. 1822 Scott Nigel xxiii, Patients might be bled, cupped, or blistered. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy ii. 18 I’ll slap at him.. I’ll blister him. 1866 J. H. Newman Gerontius iv. 33 Ice which blisters may be said to bum. fig. 1603 Shaks. Meas.for M. 11. iii. 12 Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth, hath blistered her report. 1605Macb. iv. iii. 12 This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongue. 1884 Browning Ferishtah (1885) 33 Abominable words which blister tongue.

2. transf. To raise blisters on (iron bars, etc.) in the process of conversion into steel. 3. intr. To be or become covered with blisters. 1496 Bk. St. Albans, Fysshynge 3 He blowyth tyll his lyppes blyster. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. 11. ii. 33 If I proue hony-mouth’d, let my tongue blister. 1734 Atwell in Phil. Trans. XXXIX. 399 The Wound has blister’d. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 168 The bark blisters and rises from the reed. 1821 Cook's Oracle (ed. 3) 92 Otherwise it [roast sucking-pig] will be apt to blister.

f4. To rise in or as a blister. Obs. 1644-7 Cleveland Char. Lond. Diurn. (1677) 102 Our Modern Noble Men; those Wens of Greatness, the Body Politick’s most peccant Humours, Blistred into Lords.

5. trans. Used as an imprecation, slang. 1840 Cockton Val. Vox xxvi, Blister ’em! Where can the scoundrels be got to? 1964 Wodehouse Frozen Assets iii. 46 Why didn’t they send it up before, blister their insides? I’ve been in agonies of suspense.

6. Of a policeman: to record a person’s name for an alleged offence; esp. in pass., to have one’s name recorded in this way; to be summoned or punished for an offence (cf. blister sb. 5). slang. 1909 Ware Passing Eng. 34/2 To blister.. Used chiefly by cabmen in relation to magisterial fines, e.g., ‘I was blistered at Bow Street to-day for twenty hog.’ 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 329 Blistered, served with a summons. 1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? xvi. 225 When the policeman puts his notebook away again, we’ve usually been ‘blistered’. During recent years, policemen have been blistering us over three thousand times in a twelvemonth.

blistered ('blistsd), ppl. a. [f. prec. -t- -ed.] 1. a. Affected with blisters, covered with vesicles. 1563 Hyll Art Garden. (1593) 116 This hearb .. healeth the blistred lungs. 1886 Stevenson Dr. Jekyll i. 4 The door .. was blistered and distained.

b. Of steel, etc.: cf. blister sb. 6. orig. U.S. 1744 in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1926) XXI. 243, 3 ffaggotts Blistered Steel. 1750 Franklin Wks. (1840) 225 Sometimes the surface.. of the needle .. appears blistered. 1770 Carroll Papers in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1918) XIII. 65 My Smiths say the Bristol or Blister’d steel sent to us is very bad. 1821 R. Turner Abridgm. Arts & Sc. 227 The iron combines with a quantity of carbon, and is converted into blistered steel. 1870 Eng. Mech. 18 Feb. 547/3 ‘Blistered’copper is recognised by.. being covered with scales of the oxide.

c. Provided with a ‘blister’ (see blister sb. 2 c). 1923 W. S. Churchill World Crisis II. i. 23 The Monitor and the ‘bulged’ or ‘blistered ship’ were the beginning of the torpedo-proof fleet. 1928 Daily Express 21 Nov. 1/1 The methods of defence employed by surface craft consist of

BLISTERING anti-aircraft guns ..; of reinforced or ‘blistered’ bottoms ..; and of manoeuvre.

2. Ornamented with puffs, puffed. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. 1884 II. 391 His back., blisterd with light sarcenet bastings. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, 1. iii. 31 Short blistred Breeches.

blistering ('blistarir)), vbl. sb.

[f. as prec.

+

-ING1.] The action or result of the vb. blister. 1563 Hyllylrf Garden. (1593) 95 The same water helpeth .. the blistering of the mouth. 1660 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. 188 Not a scorching and blistering but., full torrefaction. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 195 ]f2 Blistering, Cupping, Bleeding are seldom of use. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy ii, You’ll get such a blistering from me. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. iv. 172 Bullyings, Bumpings, Blisterings, Bleedings.

'blistering,/>/>/. a.

[f. as prec. + -ing2.] l.That causes blisters. Hence 'blisteringly adv. 1562 Turner Herbal 11. Diija, Wythout blystringe mustarde plasters. Ibid. T vj a, Byting and very blystring. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1364 Till she.. Had bared her forehead to the blistering sun. 1877 Spurgeon Treas. David Ps. cxxx. 1 In the chamber of despair, the floor of which is blisteringly hot.

2. Used as a substitute for a strong expletive. slang. 1900 Daily News 30 July 6/4 One blistering young woman actually unstraps her kodak and begins operations upon the great white mountain.

blistery ('blistari), a.

[f. blister sb.

+ -y1.]

Characterized by blisters. 1743 Lond. Country Brew. iv. 329 When such frothy black blistery Head is first.. put into the small Beer. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 98 A little blistery friction on the back! 1845 Newbold in jrnl. Asiat. Soc. Bengal XIV. 283 Lined with blistery and stalactitic hematite.

blite (blait, ? also blit). Herb. Also 6 blete, bleit, blyte, blittes, 6-7 bleet, (8-9 blight), 7-9 blit. [ad. L. blitum orache, spinach, a. Gr. jSAtVov ‘perh. strawberry blite, or amaranth blite’.] Bookname for various plants of the N.O. Chenopodiacese: esp. Wild Spinach (C. BonusHenricus), Amaranthus blitum, various species of Atriplex, and the genus Blitum (strawberry blite). Formerly also for Garden Spinach. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 291 Iche erthe ywrought nowe blite wol multiplie. 1551 Turner Herbal (1568) 1. Fvib, It may be called in englyshe a blyte or a blete. 1586 Cogan Haven Health lxxxiv. (1636) 87 Bleet is used for a Pothearbe among others. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 76 Bleets seeme to be dull, vnsauorie and foolish Woorts, hauing no tast nor quicknesse at all. 1727 Bradley Fam. Did. s.v. Abscess, Give ’em Lettice or Blites chopped small. 1796 C. Marshall Garden, xix. (1813) 350 Mulberry blight, or more properly blite.. whose fruit resembles a red unripe mulberry. 1853 Soyer Pantroph. 68 Blit was eaten boiled, when nothing better was to be had.

blite,

obs. form of blight.

blithe (blaifi), a. (sb. and adv.) Forms: 1-3 bliSe, (3 bliht, bligh), 4 blip(e, blype, (bli3e, 5 blyde), 3-7 blith, 3-8 blyth, 4-9 blythe, 3- blithe. [Com. Teut.: OE. blide = OS. Midi (MDu. blide, Du. blijde, blij, LG. blide, blyde), OHG. blidi (MHG. blide), ON. blidr mild, gentle, kind, (Sw., Da. blid), Goth, bleips kind, merciful:—OTeut. *blipi~z\ possibly f. verbal stem *bli- to shine, but no cognates are known outside Teutonic. The earlier application was to the outward expression of kindly feeling, sympathy, affection to others, as in Gothic and ON.; but in OE. the word had come more usually to be applied to the external manifestation of one’s own pleased or happy frame of mind, and hence even to the state itself.] A. adj. f 1. Exhibiting kindly feeling to others; kind, friendly, clement, gentle. Obs. a 1000 Elene 1317 (Gr.) Him bip engla weard milde and bliSe. c 1340 Alex. 6? Dind. 624 God is spedeful in speche Bop blessed & blype. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2342 Your biddyng to obey, as my blithe fader. 1570 Levins Manip. 151/46 Blythe, blandus.

fb.fig. (Of the waves.) Obs. c 1000 Ags. weorpap.

BLITHESOMELY

293

Psalter cvi[i].

28 pa y6a swyjiaS,

bliSe

2. Exhibiting gladness: jocund, merry, sprightly, gay, mirthful. In ballads frequently coupled with gay. Rare in mod.Eng. prose or speech. a 1000 Caedmon's Poems, Christ 739 (Gr.) Hleahtre bli6e. a 1300 Cursor M. 7255 Quils pai war blithest at pat fest. Ibid. 11066 When John was borne also swyj?e His frendes was ful gladd and blipe. c 1470 Henry Wallace 11. 222 Yhe birds, blyth as bellis. 1616 Bullokar, Blith, merry, frolicke, joyfull. 1632 Milton Allegro 24 So buxom, blithe, and debonair. 1725 Pope Odyss. xx. 199 Magnificent, and blithe, the suitors come. 1754 Richardson Grandison (1766) V. 277 Emily; good girl! quite recovered, and blyth as a bird. 1796 Campaigns 1793-4 II. viii. 53 Forth we instantly sallied, so blythe and so gay. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. in. 957 Thus brides again and bridegrooms blithe shall kneel.

b. transf. of things. (More common.) a 1300 Cursor M. 828 Alle blurded pat was for-wit bli)?e. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 155 With blype blaunner ful bry3t. 1621 Beaum. & Fl. Thierry & Theod. v. i, A bonny countenance and a blithe. 1808 Scott Marm. 1. x, A blithe

salute The minstrels well might sound. 1855 Prescott Philip II, I. 1. iv. 50 Blithe sounds of festal music. 1857 H. Reed Led. Eng. Poets xiii. II. 136 The rightful gayety of those blithe early years.

3. Of men, their heart, spirit, etc.: Joyous, gladsome, cheerful; glad, happy, well pleased. Rare in Eng. prose or colloquial use since 16th c., but frequent in poetry; still in spoken use in Scotland. 971 Blickl. Horn. 7 Blij?e mode heo sang, c 1000 ./Elfric Ex. xviii. 9 \>a waes Iethro bliSe for eallum 8am ^ingum 8e Drihten dyde Israhela folce. c 1205 Lay. 1636 He was swi8e bliSe for his muchele bi3ate. c 1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 1020 With good hope and herte blithe. C1440 York Myst. xv. 86 Breder, bees all blythe and glad. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, 11. iii. 4 Bardolph, be blythe. 1663 in Spalding Troub. Chas. I, (1829) 25 Blyth to win away with his life. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 625 To whom the wilie Adder, blithe and glad. 1715 Rowe Lady J. Gray iv. (1746) 217,1 trust that we shall meet on blither terms. 1816 Scott Old Mort. 114 ‘I’m blythe to hear ye say sae,’ answered Cuddie. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 49 His spirit was blithe and its fire unquenchable. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus ix. 11 Know ye happier any, any blither?

f4. Yielding milk. Obs. or ? dial. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Blith (Brit.), that yeelds milk, milky. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. 322 Blith, yielding Milk.

5. Heedless, careless. Freq. used to intensify following sb. describing a negative quality. 1922 D. H. Lawrence England my England 23 From mother and nurse it was a guerilla gunfire of commands, and blithe, quicksilver disobedience from the three blonde, never-still little girls. 1977 Time May 194/1 The era of cheap fuels led to a blithe disregard of second-law fundamentals. 1979 A. McCowen Young Gemini 31 The thing that puzzled me most was their complacency, and their blithe intolerance of most of the outside world. 1984 Washington Post 2 Sept. 6 Constant Defender sidesteps these charges—but with such blithe indifference.. that it may well prove an antidote to the anxiety.

B. sb. 11. A blithe one: cf. fair. Obs. a 1548 Song, Murning Maidin xvii, Into my armes swythe Embrasit I that blythe.

f2. a. Compassion, mercy, good-will; Gladness, mirth, pleasure, delight. Obs.

b.

c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 354, & sech hys blype ful swefte & swype. C1400 Destr. Troy 2196 Ger horn bowe as a berslet & pi blithe seche. c 1420 Liber Cocorum 36 Coloure hit with safrone, so have J?ou blythe. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 47 in Babees Bk. (1868) 300 Loke thy naylys ben elene, in blythe. 1585 Will A. Robinson, Kendal (Somerset Ho.) To William Pott wyfe for hir greate blythe of drinke.

C. adv. [OE. blide.] fa* Kindly, benignantly. Obs. b. Blithely, cheerfully. ciooo Ags. Ps. liv. [Iv.] 17 bu me milde and bliSe.. ahluttra. 01300 Cursor M. 11635 lesus loked on hir blith. CI435 Torr. Portugal 338 The chyldyr namys I wolle telle blythe. i486 Bk. St. Albans E vij b, The man to his mayster spekyth full blyth. 1785 Cowper Faithf. Bird 7 They sang, as blithe as finches sing.

D. Comb., as blithe-hearted, blithe-looking adjs.

f blithelike,

1570 Sempill Ballates (1872) 77 Ze plesand Paun & Papingaw Cast of zour blyithlyke cullour. 1848 Lytton Harold xi. vii, Leofwine, still gay and blithe-hearted. 1848 Dickens Dombey (C.D. ed.) 47 A blithe-looking boy.

t blithe, v. Obs. [f. the adj.: a later formation, instead of OE. bltdsian, blissian, bliss.] 1. intr. To rejoice, to be merry; = bliss v. i. 01300 Cursor M. 17870 (Gott.) Adam.. bigan pan forto blith [v.r. to glade] in hast. 1563 Sackville Compl. Dk. Buckhm. 108 Take hede by me that blithd in balefull blisse.

2. trans. To make blithe, gladden, delight; = bliss v. 2 and blithen. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2554 Hit blithet all the buernes pat aboute stode. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 40 Blythyn or welle cheryn, exhillero. 1627 Feltham Resolves 1. lxxxi. Wks. (1677) 124 Hope flatters Life.. She blythes the Farmer.

blitheful ('blaiSful), a. [f. blithe sb. or ? a. + -ful; cf. blissful.] fl. Kindly, friendly. Cf. blithe a. 1. Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 4078 Ne wald pai apon him sei.. with blithful ei. Ibid. 8547 And.. spak wit blithful [v.r. blisful] chere. 01300 E.E. Psalter cxi[i]. 5 Blithefull man he es for-pi.

2. Joyous, joyful; = blithe a. 2, 3. 1530 Lyndesay Papyngo 627 Edinburgh .. Within quhose boundis rycht blythfull haue I bene. 1648 Herrick Poems (1869) I. 245 Live here blithefull, while ye may. 1837 Blackw. Mag. XLII. 552 That blitheful noise.

'blithefully, adv. Joyously, cheerfully. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 26 Feb., He sallies out more or less blithefully.

blithely ('blaiSli), adv. Forms: 1 bliSelice, 2 blySelice, 2-3 blupeliche, bliSeliche, 3 bliSe-like, blithlik, -li, 3-4 blythly, blitheliche, 4 bly-, blijtely, 4-5 blithly, 6 Sc. blyithlye, -lyke, 6-8 blythely, 6blithely. [f. blithe a. + -ly2.] f 1. With kindness, benignantly. Obs. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xix. 6 Da efste he and hine blipelice onfengc. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxn. 9109 There the body of the bold blithly was set, Of honerable Ector, as I ere said. 1592 Greene Poems 137 Astraea..’Gan blythely comfort me.

2. In a blithe manner; joyfully, joyously, merrily; gladly. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 23 J>u gast to chirche blupeliche. c 1230 Halt Meid. 3 p>at. .heo him ase fader pe bliSeluker

lustni. 0 1300 Cursor M. 3243 Blithli, sir, it sal be don. 1375 Barbour Bruce viii. 457 He vald ysche fer the blithlyer. 1513 Douglas JEneis iii. iii. 40 Tell thi awne fadir blythlie Thir tithingis. 1791 Burns Craigieburn Wood i, And blythely awaukens the morrow. 1794 Southey Lyric P., To Hymen, Returning blithely home. 1820 Scott Monast. x, I listened blithely enough.

3. Heedlessly, carelessly; taking no account of the consequences. Freq. used to intensify following adj. with negative connotation. 1921 E. O’Neill Diffrent 11., in Emperor Jones 265 His eyes cannot conceal.. a wounded look of bewildered hurt. Emma. (Blithely indifferent to this—pleasantly.) 1978 Economist 22 July 26/1 Mr Carter himself often seems blithely unconcerned with his political ‘image’. 1986 N. Y. Times 18 Aug. A17/1 Andrew Wyeth is an anachronism insofar as he is blithely unconcerned with any of these things.

'blithemeat. ? Obs. Sc. An entertainment provided upon the birth of a child; the dainties then partaken of. 1681 in R. Law Mem. (1818) 191 (Jam.) Sabbath days feastings, blythemeats, banquetings. 1823 Galt Entail I. xxxiii. 295, I hope, poor thing, she’ll hae an easy time o’t, and that we’ll hae blithes-meat before the sun gangs doun.

t 'blithemod, a. Obs. [OE. blidemod, f. blide blithe + mod disposition, mood.] Of blithe mood; of cheerful disposition. 1065 O.E. Chron. (Cott. MS.) Waes a kyng. c 1205 Lay. 29701 )>a wes he ful

bliSe mod bealuleas bliSemod.

blithen ('blaiS(3)n), v. [mod.f. blithe a. -EN2: cf. gladden.] trans. To make blithe.

+

1824 Galt Rothelan II. v. ix. 255 To blithen the morning with cheerful reveillies. 1830-Lawrie T. ill. xv. (1849) 134 Glimpses of merriment.. which blithen the fire-side.

blitheness (’blaiSms). [OE. blidnes, -nys: f. blide, blithe + -nes: see -ness.] The state of being blithe; joyousness, cheeriness, merriness, happiness. (Orig. a synonym of bliss.) c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 212 Wineard wyreen bliSnysse lif jetacnaS. a 1275 Prov. Alfred in O.E. Misc. 105 He is one blisse ouer alle blipnesse. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. 11. iii. 37 Vnder the blypenesse of people. 1578 Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 109 Giue me the blyithnes & the blis Of my sweit Sauiour. 1647 W. Browne Polex. 11. 177 Give over your teares, and put on againe your former blithenesse. 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. v. iii. What double blytheness wakens up this day. 1874 Hardy Madding Crowd II. i. 14 Troy’s blitheness might become aggressive.

f 'blither, sb.1 Obs. rare. [f. blithe v. + -er1.] One who makes blithe; a gladdener. a 1455 Houlate xxiv, Hail, blyther of the Bapteist.

blither (’bliS3(r)), sb.2 (dial, or) colloq. blether s6.] Nonsense. Cf. blether sb.

[var.

1866 Banffshire Jrnl. 27 Mar. 3 Some lightly [i.e. belittle] Scotland their auld mither An’ ca’ her tongue a vulgar blither. 1901 Daily Chron. 10 Aug. 4/7 We have heard a lot of blither (and, perhaps, a little sense). 1911 E. Ferber Dawn O'Hara v. 68 ‘What utter blither!’ I scoffed.

blither (’bliS3(r)), v. (dial, or) colloq. [var. blether v.] intr. To talk nonsense; = blether v. 1. Hence 'blitherer, one who blithers; 'blithering vbl. sb. 1868 Verney Stone Edge i, What did the imp come blitherin’ and botherin’ there for? 1902 W. Raleigh Let. 6 Jan. (1926) I. 237 A ‘Civic Society’ of earnest burgesses and blitherers. 1903 J. K. Jerome Tea-Table Talk i. 20 If he was to blither, it was only fair that she should bleat back. 1916 W. Owen Let. Aug. (1967) 402 One old blitherer let his bullet off by accident. 1921 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 455/1 The inevitable pasty-faced babu waddled up, blithering about the delay. 1925 Public Opinion 13 Mar. 258/2 He ignores all their blithering.

blithering ('bliSsrir)), ppl. a. colloq. [f. Blither v. + -ing2.] Senselessly discursive or talkative, babbling; esp. of a person, used chiefly as an intensive adjective, with the meaning ‘consummate’ (freq. in blithering idiot)-, also more widely = despicable, contemptible. 1889 Punch 9 Feb. 65 I’ll state pretty clearly that his son is a blithering idiot. 1895 Ibid. 30 Mar. 153, I had thought that you.. would have had a soul above blithering detail. 1903 ‘A. McNeill’ Egreg. Eng. 179 These songs.. are of the most blithering and bathotic nature. 1923 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 70/2, I was cursing myself for the blitheringest ass that ever was born. 1926 G. Frankau Masterson xxix, I was a blithering idiot to get in—knowing you as well as I do. 1928 ‘Rebecca West’ Strange Necessity 310 The blithering incompetence of English statesmen during the War of Independence.

blithesome (’blaiSsam), a. [f. blithe a. -some: cf. gladsome.] Cheery.

+

1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 89 The blythsome Bridal. 1794 Southey Botany-B. Eclog. ii, Blithesome as the lark. 1862 Lytton Str. Story II. 176 The solitudes of that blithesome and hardy Nature.

'blithesomely, adv. [f. blithesome a. + -ly2.] In a blithesome manner; cheerily. So 'blithesomeness. 1858 Whittier Pipes at Lucknow in Writings (1888) I. 185 Full tenderly and blithesomely The pipes of rescue blew! 1886 New Princeton Rev. II. 78 A glad blithesomeness belonged to her, potent to conquer even ill health and suffering. 1888 A. S. Swan Doris Cheyne xvii, ‘I should scold you.., but I am so glad to see you that I have not the heart,’ she said blithesomely.

BLITTER blitter, dial. f. bittern: cf. bog-blutter. 1788 Burns My Hoggie ii, But the howlet cry’d frae the castle wa’ The blitter frae the boggie. blitz (blits), sb.

[Short for Blitzkrieg.] An attack or offensive launched suddenly with great violence with the object of reducing the defences immediately; spec, an air-raid or a series of them conducted in this way, esp. the series of air-raids made on London in 1940. Also attrib. 1940 Daily Express 9 Sept. 1 Blitz bombing of London goes on all night. Ibid. 10 Sept. 1/1 In his three-day blitz on London Goering has now lost 140 planes. 1940 Daily Sketch 21 Sept. 8/3 Neighbourhood Theatre braved the blitz and yesterday presented a new play. 1941 New Statesman 15 Feb. 160/3 "The Home Guard of young architects who spent the night of the City ‘blitz’ battering out Hitler’s incendiaries. r944 Ourselves in Wartime viii. 177 All under five, many born since the beginning of the war, ‘blitz’ babies knew instinctively that the ground floor was safest. 1958 New Statesman 22 Feb. 223/3 Depopulation.. began even before the war and the blitz.

b. transf. and fig. 1940 Topeka Jrnh 19 Apr. 4/4 Setting the stage for a ‘blitz’ comeback. 1941 Wyndham Lewis Let. 16 Apr. (1963) 288 At the time I was going through a minor economic Blitz of my own. i960 Guardian 30 Dec. 10/5 The women did only the bare essentials of housework during the week, with a ‘blitz’ at weekends.

c. N. Amer. Football. A charge by one or more defensive backs into the offensive backfield, esp. to prevent or disrupt a passing play. 1963 S. Huff Defensive Football viii. 98 Red-dogging answers to many names: storm, blitz, shooting, stunting. 1966 Rote & Winter Lang. Pro Football in. 104 Blitz, surprise defensive maneuver where one or more linebackers and/or defensive backfield men charge across line of scrimmage after ball carrier. 1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. D3/4 Left linebacker Bobby Bell pulled a blitz and first Colt he touched was Unitas, 1976 Webster's Sports Diet. 44/2 A blitz is sometimes successful in stopping a running play when an extra defensive player suddenly appears in the offensive backfield. 1984 Washington Post 22 Jan. B7 Send the corners on an all-out blitz. blitz (blits), v.

[f. prec.] a. To attack with a blitz; to hit, blast, destroy, etc., by an air-raid. 1939 in Amer. Speech (1940) XV. 110/2 Formal committee chairmen must have known how the poor Poles felt when the German blitzkrieg suddenly started ‘blitzing’ around their ears yesterday noon. 1940 Daily Sketch 2 Sept. 7 We ‘blitz’ hun planes in week-end raids. 1942 Ann. Reg. 1941 100, 70,000 meals had to be provided by the Emergency kitchens for people ‘blitzed’ out of their homes. 1945 ‘G. Orwell’ in Contemp. Jewish Record VIII. 165 The Jewish quarter of Whitechapel was one of the first areas to be heavily blitzed.

b. N. Amer. Football. intr. To mount a blitz or blitzes (sense c); to charge the offensive backfield. 1965 Sports Illustr. 4 Jan. 11/2 The Browns, a team that seldom blitzes, blitzed more often in this game, 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 17/3 Lombardi said Oakland played generally as he expected ‘although they did blitz a little more than we anticipated’. 1984 Washington Post 30 Jan. ci Pro Bowl rules do not allow defenses to blitz. ‘Without blitzing,’ said Martin, ‘it was his kind of day.’

So blitzed (blitst) ppl. aattacked or destroyed by a blitz; 'blitzing vbl. sb. and ppl. a'blitzer, a defensive back who blitzes. 1940 Daily Express 6 Dec. 1/6 A south coast town felt the heaviest weight of last night’s Nazi blitzing. 1941 War Illustr. 30 Dec. 377 For the past few months demolition squads have been working on this heavily blitzed site. 1955 Times 25 Aug. 5/4 Local authorities.. decided to recondition 30,000 sub-standard houses in ‘blitzed or blighted’ areas, i960 Sports Illustr. 4 Jan. 14/3 The Giants might have chased Unitas out of this formation by blitzing — sending the linebacker in after him to get him before he could throw. 1963 R. Smith Pro Football xiii. 166 Conerly of the Giants dodged and ducked the blitzing Colts. 1968 N. Y. Times 6 Sept. 51 He’s blocked well, picked up blitzers, caught the ball and has been a very quick runner with a good cut. 1968 H. Higdon Pro Football v. 159 Chuck Drulis, our defensive coach, was the innovator of the safety blitz with Larry Wilson doing the blitzing. 1977 Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. hi. 12/2 Fullback Russell Davis, bursting up the middle against swarming blitzers, led Michigan’s ground game with 110 yards in 19 tries. 1984 N. Y. Times 16 Jan. C7/2 The Redskins are not a big blitzing team. || Blitzkrieg, blitzkrieg ('blitskriig, -kri:k). [G., f. blitz lightning + krieg war.] (See Blitz

sb.) 1939 War Illustr. 7 Oct. 108/1 In the opening stage of the war all eyes were turned on Poland, where the German military machine was engaged in Blitz-Krieg—lightning war—with a view to ending as soon as possible. Ibid. 9 Dec. 386/3 Everything was ready for the opening of the ‘Blitzkrieg’ on the West. 1940 Ann. Reg. 1939 217 The complete failure of the Soviet Blitzkrieg [on Finland]. Ibid. 225 Germany’s ‘Blitzkrieg’ methods had proved only too effective [in Poland]. 1940 New Statesman 19 Oct. 371/2 Since the Blitzkrieg started and people went underground. 1955 Times 25 June 6/2 It opened with the new type of blitzkrieg. Widespread ‘atomic attacks’ were made on major targets.

b. transf. and fig. 1939 N. Y. Daily News 19 Oct., Now that that blitzkrieg of puns is over. 1941 H. G. Wells You can't be too Careful 1. vi. 41 She had brought herself down to a vulnerability that gave any old germs a fair chance with her. Their blitzkrieg was swift and successful. 1963 Times 23 Feb. 9/6 Hours elapsed before the spate came jostling down the valley. Today it is a blitzkrieg.

BLOAT

294 bliue,

obs. form of belive adv. quickly.

blivit, blivet ('blivit). U.S. slang, (chiefly joc.). [Etym. unkn.; cf. blip sb., widget, and phonosymbolic force of bl- with repeated minimal vowel to indicate inconsequence, rejection, etc.] A pseudo-term for something useless, unnecessary, annoying, etc.; hence, = thingamajig (see quots.). 1967 Wentworth & Flexner Diet. Amer. Slang Suppl. 673/2 Blivit, n., anything unnecessary, confused, or annoying. Lit. defined as ‘io pounds of shit in a 5-pound bag1. Orig. W.W. II Army use. The word is seldom heard except when the speaker uses it in order to define it; hence the word is actually a joke. 1980 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 15 Sept. 61 Refueling of helicopters .. surfaced as an alternative to air dropping fuel blivits. 1981 N. Y. Times 27 Mar. C25/1 The main ingredient of this charm is a facility for saying it before you can, for calling ‘Palm Sunday’ a ‘blivet’ before you can call it a piece of junk. 1981 Sci. Amer. Dec. 28/2 This little book for grade school psychologists and philosophers presents a few dozen of these interesting but less familiar illusions, along with the arrow lengths, outline cubes, Eschers and three-pronged blivits of the standard optical-illusion list. 1982 Industr. Robots Internat. 22 Mar. 8 ‘Single station machines for assembly’, he says, ‘are blivets. Anybody who wants a definition can call me up.’ 1983 Washington Post 26 Aug. di For such tasks, you obviously need a magic tool that lets you get 10 pounds into a fivepound bag. Such a heaven-sent, makeshift magic part is called a ‘blivit’.

blizzard ('blizad).

[A modern word, prob. more or less onomatopoeic; suggestive words are blow, blast, blister, bluster: the Fr. blesser to wound, has also been conjectured, but there is nothing to indicate a French origin. As applied to a ‘snow-squall,’ the word became general in the American newspapers during the severe winter of 1880-81; but according to the Milwaukee Republican 4 Mar. 1881, it had been so applied in the Northern Vindicator (Estherville, Iowa) between i860 and 1870. It was apparently in colloquial use in the West much earlier; but whether Col. Crockett’s use of it in 1834 (sense 1) was fig., taken from the stifling blast, or was the earlier sense, and subseq. transferred to the blast, is not determined.] 1. A sharp blow or knock; a shot. Also fig. U.S. 1829 Virginia Lit. Museum 16 Dec. 418 Blizzard, a violent blow. 1834 Crockett Tour down East 16 (Bartlett) A gentleman at dinner asked me for a toast; and supposing he meant to have some fun at my expense, I concluded to go ahead, and give him and his likes a blizzard. 1856 Sacramento City (Cal.) Item (Th.), When some true archer, from the upper tier, Gave him a ‘blizzard’ on the nearest ear. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 443 Blizzard.. means in the West a stunning blow or an overwhelming argument.

2. A furious blast of frost-wind and blinding snow, in which man and beast frequently perish; a ‘snow-squall’. Also attrib. and Comb. orig. U.S. 1859 L. B. Wolf Diary i Dec. in Kansas Hist. Q. (1932) I. 205 A blizzard had come upon us about midnight... Shot 7 horses that were so chilled could not get up. 1876 Monthly Weather Rev. Dec. 424 The very severe storms known in local parlance as ‘blizzards’ were reported on the 8th as prevailing in Iowa and Wisconsin. 1880 Let. 29 Dec., fr. Chicago in Manch. Even. News, 24 Jan. 1881 The thermometer was 17 degrees below zero last night, and it was blowing a blizzard all the time. 1881 Standard 22 Jan. 5/1 The region [Manitoba] is swept by those fearful blasts known as ‘blizzards’ which send the ‘poudre’, or dry snow, whirling in icy clouds. 1881 N.Y. Nation 184 The hard weather has called into use a word which promises to become a national Americanism, namely ‘blizzard’. It designates a storm (of snow and wind) which men cannot resist away from shelter. 1882 Contemp. Rev. Sept. 350 Those bitter ‘blizzards’ so justly dreaded by all who have to do with live stock. 1888 T. Watts in Athenaeum 18 Aug. 224/2 By Ferrol Bay those galleys stoop To blasts more dire than breath of Orkney blizzard. 1902 R. F. Scott Jrnl. 12 Aug. in Voyage of ‘Discovery’ (1905) I. ix. 383 Another blizzard, so thick that one cannot see one’s hand before one’s face. 1903 Ibid. 12 Dec. II. xviii. 276 Our long stay in the blizzard camp. 1912 - Jrnl. Mar. in Scott's Last Expedition (1913) I. xx. 592 It was blowing a blizzard. He [sc. Captain Oates] said, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since. 1963 D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation i. 8 The coldest, blizzard-swept regions of the world. 1969 Times 8 Feb. 1/2 Blizzards and icy winds swept across Britain yesterday.

Hence 'blizzarded pa. pplea more emphatic form of ‘blowed’ (blow v.1 29); 'blizzardy a.y characterized by, or resembling, a blizzard or blizzards; 'blizzardly, 'blizzardous a. 1883 Let. in Advance 1 Mar., Driving snow, with very blizzardly tendencies. 1888 San Francisco News Let. (Farmer), I should like to have seen the Colonel’s face when he got that very cold blizzardy letter. 1892 Gunter Miss Dividends 1. vi. 67 Then he suddenly ejaculates ‘Well I’m blizzarded!’ 1946 Chicago Daily News 5 Mar. 8/4 [It] would ruin the disposition of the throngs.. especially on blizzardy nights.

fblo, a.

Obs. Also bloe, bloo, blow(e. [The midland and southern form of the word still preserved in north.Eng. and Sc. as blae, blea:—ON. bid livid. Bio died out in literary Eng. during the 16th or 17th c.: for the

etymology and senses, see blae.] Blackish blue, livid, leaden-coloured. (In early writers sometimes = blue.) t 1250 Gen. & Ex. 637 Rein-bowe, men cleped reed and bio. c 1314 Guy Warui. (A.) 341 Tristor he hete wip pe berd blowe. CI325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 221 In bluber of pe bio flod. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. iii. 97 A1 to bio [C. iv. 125 blewe] askes. c 1430 Pol. Rel. Sf L. Poems (1866) 206 Nowe light he ded hope blok and bio. 1-1440 Promp. Parv. 40 Bio erpe, argilla. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 2080, I wax bothe wanne and bloo. 1530 Palsgr. 306/2 Bio, blewe and grene coloured, as ones body is after a drie stroke. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. III. (1593) 56 Licking with his bio and blasting toong their sorie wounds. 1652 Ripley Comp. Alch. in Ashmole 188 The Crowys byll bloe as lede. 1788 W. Marshall Yorksh. (1796) II. 65 The blue, blow, or leadcoloured flax.

Hence blo-wipe, a blow or stroke causing a bruise. 1622 R. Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 169 If one be presented in a Leet Court for a Blowipe or any other personal wrong.

fbloached, ppl. a.

Obs. [? a corruption or modification of blotched.] Blotched with yellow or white, variegated; hence bloachedleaved adj. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Phyllyrea, The plain Phyllyrea, and the bloach’d leav’d one, are very quick Growers. 1769 H. T. Croker Diet. Arts & Sc. III. s.v. Variegation, Those leaves whose middles are variegated with yellow or white, in spots, are called bloached.

bloak, variant of bloamon, var. of

bloke, slang, man. bloman, Obs., a blackamoor.

bloat (blaut), sb. [f. 1. a. Bloatedness.

bloat a.2]

1905 G. B. Shaw Irrational Knot xi. with aversion a certain unhealthy bloat H. Burnett Secret Garden xxvii. 300 natural sir, you’d think he was putting afraid it may be a sort of bloat.

226 He.. had noted in her face. 1911 F. If he took his food on flesh—but we’re

b. spec, in Veterinary Path. A disease of livestock characterized by an accumulation of gases in the stomach; = hoove. 1878 G. H. Dadd Amer. Cattle Doctor iii. 65 Tympanites rumenites signifies distension of the rumen in the bovine species—the ox and cow—and, in the phraseology of the grazier, is known as bloat or hoven. 1962 R. Seiden Livestock Health Encycl. (ed. 2) 65/2 Bloat, hoven, tympanites, or tympany in livestock (especially in cattle, sheep and goats).. is primarily caused by vigorous fermentation in the rumen.

2. A conceited or contemptible person (see also quot. 1888). U.S. slang. i860 in Amer. Speech (1947) XXII. 299/1, I considered such an old bloat not worth minding. 1871 Congress. Globe Feb., App. 129/1 Wife whippers, penitentiary birds, street vagabonds, beastly bloats, and convicted felons. 1888 Farmer Americanisms 64/1 Bloat (cant), a drowned body; also a drunkard.

3. ‘A hammer swelled at the eye.’ Raymond Mining Gloss. 1881.

bloat (bbut), a.1 Also 3-6 blote, 7 bloate. [The spelling bloat occurs in this sense earlier than in that of next word, with which this is often identified, though in the present state of our knowledge it is safer to keep them distinct. The ME. blote is perhaps identical with ON. blaut-r in the sense ‘soft with moisture, soaked, wet’; or from a parallel form *blot-: cf. the ME. vb. blotne, ON. blotna to soften, moisten (see bloten), also Sw. blot soft, moist, yielding. But it would also answer in form to OE. blat ‘livid, pale’, though this sense is less likely. Sense 2 recalls ON. blautr fiskr, i.e. ‘soft fish’, applied to ‘fresh’ fish, but in Sw. blot fisk, to ‘soaked’ fish (Vigf.). Though evidence of actual connexion is wanting, it is conjectured that the Eng. ‘bloat herring’ is, in some way, identical with these, and means, etymologically, either ‘soft (moist) herring’, in opposition to ‘dried’, or else ‘soaked, steeped herring’, in reference to part of the process of curing the herrings so termed. In Act 18 Chas. II. ii. ‘bloated’ is opposed to ‘dried’, and it is explained by Blount as ‘half-dried’; but most of the quotations give it as meaning (in actual use) ‘smoked’, (smoking being an important part of the process). One at least (1613 below) appears to identify it with ‘puffed up’, and thus with sense 2 of the next word, whereas Sylvester, in 1616, says ‘Herrings shrink in bloating’; but moist herrings are naturally plumper than those more thoroughly dried. See also next word, and bloat ti.1] f 1. ? Soft with moisture (or ? livid, pale). Obs. C1300 Of Men Lif xiii. in E.E.P. (1862) 154 3e sutters [? suters = sutors].. wip 30ur blote hides of selcup bestis.

2. bloat herring: a smoked half-dried herring, cured by the process described in bloat u.1; a bloated herring, a bloater. Also a term of contempt for a human being. ? Obs. 01586 Sidney Remed. for Love 65 (Grosart II. 176) Her compound, or electuary, Made of olde linge or caviarie,

BLOAT

bloat (btaut), a.2 Forms: 4 bloute, 6-7 blowt(e, 7- bloat. [Apparently distinct at first (as an Eng. word) from the prec., since the earlier form of that was blote, but of this blout; though of parallel origin, and, since the 17th c., identified in form, and often associated in meaning. ME. blout, blowt, was the regular adopted form of ON. blautr- soft (as a baby’s limbs, a bed, silk; see Vigf.); cf. Sw. blot ‘soft, yielding, pulpous, pulpy’. The later form bloat does not answer phonetically to blout, blowt, yet its modern use is largely owing to the ‘blowt king’ of Hamlet having been printed ‘bloat’ by editors since Warburton, 1747; G. Daniel had also spelt the word in this way c 1640-50. Possibly bloat a.1 in ‘bloat herrings’ (found as early as 1602) was in the 17th c. a much better known word than this, and being, rightly or wrongly, identified with it, influenced its form. It is to be noted that bloat v., and its derivatives bloated, bloating, are all of earlier use as applied to the herring, than in senses connected with this word. Sense 2 is a natural enough extension of 1; but it may have been influenced by association with blow, blown; the mutual influence of this and the prec. since 1600, cannot be settled without more definite knowledge of the exact notion at first attached to ‘bloat herring’.] f 1. Blowte, bloute: ? Soft, soft-bodied, flabby, pulpy; passing into ‘puffy, puffed, swollen’. Obs. c 1300 Havelok 1910 He leyden on .. [blows].. He maden here backes al so bloute Als he[re] wombes, and made hem rowte Als he weren kradel-barnes. 1602 Shaks. Ham. 111. iv. 182 Let the blowt king tempt you againe to bed. [So all the Quartos, exc. Qi, where wanting; the Folios read blunt.] 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commie. (1878) 145 The body I say is subiect to so much pestilence.. the face blowte, puft vp, and stuft with the flockes of strong beere.

2. Bloat: Puffed, swollen, inflated, esp. with self-indulgence. Hence bloat-faced adj. (In modern writers an echo of Shakspere’s word since that has been written bloat, bloated occurs in the same sense from 1664.) 1638-48 G. Daniel Eclog. iii. 83 The foolish rites Of bloatfac’d Bacchus. 1649-Trinarch., Hen. V, ccxcii, The Bloat Face of Rusticitie, Smuggs, looking in A Mirrour. 1747 [Warburton printed bloat for blowt and blunt in Hamlet.] 1832 Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 661 The bloat and ugly villain. 1857 Heavysege Saul (1869) 332 To fetch a calf or sheep. That its bloat master may it stick and slay? 1861 Temple & Trevor Tannhauser 11 From foul embrace Of that bloat Queen.

water. » Theyr blode and imaginacyon is sore troubled. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. 1. ii. 20 The braine may deuise lawes for the blood, but a hot temper leapes ore a colde decree. 1597 - 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 38 When you perceiue his blood enclm’d to mirth. 1605-Lear iv. ii. 64 Were’t my fitness To let these hands obey my blood. 1626 Massinger Rom. Actor IV. ii., Carry her to her chamber.. till in cooler blood I shall determine of her. 1646 Buck Rich. Ill, 11. 61 High in bloud and anger. 1704 Swift Batt. Bks. (1711) 232 Hot words passed .. and ill Blood was plentifully bred. 1727 [see run t>. 20 c], 1787 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 273 It would not excite ill blood in me. 1818 Edin. Rev. XXX. 238 Her whole appearance, gestures, voice and dress, made De Courcy’s blood run cold within him. 1823 Lamb Elia, Poor Relat., Bad blood [was] bred. 1829 G. Griffin Collegians II. xviii. 55 To use a vulgar but forcible expression, the blood of Hardress was now completely up. 1852 Stowe Uncle Tom i. 4 It kinder makes my blood run cold to think on’t. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 271 The taking away of human life in cold blood. 1879 Froude Csesar vii. 65 The blood of the people was up. 6. The supposed seat of animal or sensual appetite; hence, the fleshly nature of man.

BLOOD

BLOOD

303

Lover's Compl. 162 Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood, That we must curb it upon others proof. 1610 - Temp. iv. i. 53 The strongest oathes, are straw To th’ fire ith* blood. x597 Shaks.

7. Hunting phrase, in blood: in full vigour, full

1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 66 Your ancestors were., mated with the best blood of the land.

fb. A family descended from ancestor; a clan or sept. Obs.

a common

1612 Davies Why Ireland (1787) 79 Five principal bloods, or septs, of the Irish, were by special grace enfranchised.

of life, out of blood: not vigorous, lifeless. (As applied to hounds the expression refers perhaps to the tasting of blood.)

c. to run in the (formerly a) blood: i.e. in a family or race.

1588 Shaks. L.L.L. iv. ii. 3 The Deare was. .sanguis in blood, ripe as a Pomwater. 1596-1 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 48 If we be English Deere, be then in blood. 1781 P. Beckford Hunting (1802) 308 When hounds are out of blood, there is a kind of evil genius attending all that they do.. while a pack of fox-hounds well in blood, like troops flushed with conquest, are not easily withstood.

1621 Sanderson Serm. I. 178 Tempers of the mind and affections become hereditary, and (as we say) run in a blood. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. iv. Wks. (1851) 112 Unlesse we shall choose our Prelats only out of the Nobility, and let them runne in a blood, a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Matt. xiv. Cruelty runs in a blood. 1774 Sheridan Rivals iv. ii, Tell er ’tis all our ways—it runs in the blood of our family.

III. Race and kindred as connoted by blood. 8. Blood is popularly treated as the typical part

of the body which children inherit from their parents and ancestors; hence that of parents and children, and of the members of a family or race, is spoken of as identical, and as being distinct from that of other families or races. blue blood: that which flows in the veins of old and aristocratic families, a transl. of the Spanish sangre azul attributed to some of the oldest and proudest families of Castile, who claimed never to have been contaminated by Moorish, Jewish, or other foreign admixture; the expression probably originated in the blueness of the veins of people of fair complexion as compared with those of dark skin; also, a person with blue blood; an aristocrat, fresh blood: the introduction in breeding of a new strain or stock not related by blood to the family; fig. new members or elements, with new ideas and experiences, admitted to a society or organization, new blood = fresh blood. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xi. 193 For alle are we crystes creatures.. And bretheren as of o blode. c 1440 Gesta Rom. I. xlii. 141 The othir too bethe bastardes, and not of his blode. 1543 Earl of Angus Let. in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 8 note, Considering the proximite of blude that was betwix us. 1608 Yorksh. Trag. 1. ii. 199 You are a gentleman by many bloods. 1611 Bible Acts xvii. 26 [God] hath made of one blood all nations of men. a 1631 Donne Poems {1658) 1 And in this flea our two blouds mingled be. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 201 Your antient but ignoble blood Has crept thro’ Scoundrels ever since the Flood. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 203 So many different bloods is a man said to contain in his veins, as he hath lineal ancestors. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. 34 The pure blood of the ancient citizens. 1834 Mar. Edgeworth Helen xv. (D.) One [officer].. from Spain, of high rank and birth, of the sangre azul, the blue blood. 1838 Arnold Hist. Rome I. ii. 25 A mixed race in which other blood was largely mixed with that of the Latins. 1853 Lytton My Novel II. v. ii. 9 Long may the new blood circulate through the veins of the mighty giantess [5c. England]. 1879 Froude Caesar xi. 120 A young nobleman of the bluest blood. 1880 Baily's Mag. Oct. 149 There was a good deal of change in the judicial bench... New blood was infused through Colonel —, Mr. —, and Major —. 01887 Mod. You want some fresh blood to give new life and activity to your society. 1894 Daily News 16 Apr. 3/6 Many an aristocratic blue-blood.. was glad to marry a rich burgher’s daughter. 1920 Galsworthy In Chancery 11. i. 128 Round Crum were still gathered a forlorn hope of bluebloods with a plutocratic following.

9. a. Hence, Blood-relationship, and esp. parentage, lineage, descent; also in a wider sense: Family, kin, race, stock, nationality. blood royal or the blood: royal race or family. whole blood: race or relationship by both father and mother, as distinguished from that of half blood, relationship by one parent only. Hence concr. half-blood: one whose blood is half that of one race and half that of another, e.g. the offspring of a European and an Indian. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1451 He was bigeten of kinde blod. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6226 His brother of blud. c 1430 Syr Tryam. 430 Sche was of gentylle blode. 1513 More Edw. V. (1641) 5 The Queene or the Nobles of her Bloud. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xi. lxvii. (1612) 284 This Ladie also of the blood, and heire vn to her Father, A mightie Prince. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. Ded., Your Maiestie is descended of the chiefest bloud Royall of our antient English-Saxon Kings. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Wars in. 6 Anthony of Bourbon .. being the first Prince of the bloud. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece 1. viii. (1715) 40 The distinction .. between those of the whole, and those of the half Blood of Athens. 1798 Bay Amer. Law Rep. (1809) I. 109 Covenant to stand seised cannot be supported except by consideration of blood. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ill. 528 They proved the blood, but were refused the land. 1810 Colebrooke Hindu Law Inherit. 180 The distinction regarding the whole and the half blood is contradicted, etc. 1820 Scott Monast. xiii, The old proverb..‘Gentle deed Makes gentle bleid’ (with play on sense 1).

b. Proverb, blood is thicker than water: the tie of relationship is strong. 1815 Scott Guy Mannering II. xxxviii. 318 Weel— blood’s thicker than water—she’s welcome to the cheeses. 1867 Trollope Chron. Bar set xxxii. 271 ‘I am aware that there is a family tie, or I should not have ventured to trouble you.’ ‘Blood is thicker than water, isn’t it?’ 1920 A. Huxley Leda 35 For Blood, as all men know, than Water’s thicker, But Water’s wider, thank the Lord, than Blood. 10. concr. a. Persons of any specified ‘blood’ or

family collectively; family, race.

blood-relations,

kindred,

1382 Wyclif Set. Wks. III. 515 Alle lordis and ladies and here blod and affinite. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xxxi. (1483) 80 His kynrede that is the royal blood of the reame. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 2 Arthur, king of the Breton bloode. 1595 Shaks. John in. i. 301 Daul. Father, to Armes! Blanch. Vpon thy wedding day? Against the blood that thou hast married? a 1649 Drumm. of Hawth. Hist. Scot. (1655) 2 He being now matched with the Royall Blood of England in Marriage. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 641 By that one Deed Enobles all his Blood. 1838 Arnold Hist. Rome I. 107 He [Brutus] had loved justice more than his own blood.

11. a. More particularly: Offspring, child, near relative, one dear as one’s own offspring. Formerly in sing., with pi. bloods. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus 11. 545 Now beth nought wroth, my blode, my nece. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccxlii. [ccxxxviii.] 748 To se suche difference within ye realme, and bytwene his nephues and blode. 1682 Dryden Mac FI. 166 Thou art my blood where Jonson has no part. 1741 H. Walpole Corr. I. 99 I have so many cousins, and uncles, and aunts and bloods that grow in Norfolk.

b. (own) flesh and blood: near kindred, children, brothers and sisters. See flesh. 12. Blood worth mention, good blood; good parentage or stock. (Cf. birth sb.1 5 b.) a. Of human beings: Noble or gentle birth, good family. *393 Gower Conf. III. 330 They be worthy men of blood. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 92 Bostynge hym selfe of his auncestres and kynrede, or of his rychesse or blode. 1642 Fuller Holy Prof. St. v. xix. 436 Others were upstarts, men of no bloud. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France & It. I. 97 Blood enjoys a thousand exclusive privileges. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 209 The highest pride of blood. i860 Emerson Cond. Life v. (1861) 104 The obstinate prejudice in favour of blood, which lies at the base of the feudal and monarchical fabrics of the old world.

b. Of bred animals: Good breed or pedigree. Also with a qualifying word. Cf. bit of blood (bit sb* 4h). 1792 Sporting Mag. I. 101/1 The Wold dogs beat the blood of the Norfolks, as some of the best bred of the late Lord Orford were completely worsted. 1793 Ibid. II. 334/1 That famous horse Eclipse, whose excellence in speed, blood, pedigree, and progeny, will be, perhaps, transmitted to the end of time. 1817 J. Scott Paris Revisit, (ed. 4) 188 That quality which may be termed the nobility of animal nature; which is called blood, and game, in the inferior creatures. 1846 Eg.-Warburton Hunt. Songs, GrosVeneur, In horses and hounds there is nothing like blood. 1859 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 269/1 The limbs.. of a cleanness and beauty of outline enough alone to stamp blood on their possessor. 1895 C. B. Lowe Breeding Racehorses 180 He will always do best with a strong return to his stout Blacklock, Bird-catcher, and Glencoe blood. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 190/2 When Shorthorn breeders of to-day talk of ‘Booth blood’, or of ‘Bates blood’, they refer to animals descended from the respective herds of Thomas Booth and Thomas Bates.

c. attrib., esp. in blood-horse (q.v.). ellipt. blood = blood-horse.

Also

1794 Sporting Mag. IV. 31/1 He [sc. a race-horse] is now a stallion.. at 3 gs a mare, and 5s. the groom, blood mares. 1818 Scott Rob Roy vii. A bit of a broken-down blood-tit condemned to drag an over-loaded cart. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 228 A politely spoken highwayman on a blood mare. C1865 R. Sullivan Lady Betty's Pocket-bk., A spark of quality, who drove four bloods.

13. to restore in or to blood: to readmit to forfeited privileges of birth and rank those who by attainder of themselves or their ancestors lie under sentence of ‘corruption of blood’; see ATTAINDER. 1591 Shaks. j Hen. VI, hi. i. 159 Our pleasure is, That Richard be restored to his Blood. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. iii. (1821) 47 His Vncle Sir Edmond is not restored in blood. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 192 If 7 A kind of restoration to blood after the attainder of trade.

IV. A person.

114. [from 1.] One in whom blood flows, a living being. Obs. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1192 A fihusant plates of siluer god Gaf he sarra fiat faire blod. a 1300 Cursor M. 1055 J>is abel was a blissed blod. C1314 Guy Warw. (1840) 154 Thou fel treytour, unkinde blod. 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxvii. 26 That he smyte the soule of the innocent blood.

15. a. ‘A hot spark, a man of fire’ J.; a ‘buck’, a ‘fast’ or foppish man, rake, roisterer. [Generally appearing to arise out of sense 5, but in many cases associated with sense 12 as if = aristocratic rowdy.] Obs. in Great Britain except as a reminiscence of last century. 1562 Bulleyn Sicke Men, &c. 73 a, A lustie blood, or a pleasaunte brave young roister. 1595 Shaks. John 11. i. 278 As many and as well-borne bloods as those. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 49 The Newes..put diuers Young Bloods into such a furie. 1749 H. Walpole Corr. (1837) I. 140 Anecdotes of the doctor’s drinking, who, as the man told us, had been a blood. 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 261 The buck and blood [suppose wisdom to consist] in breaking windows and knocking down watch-men. 1774 Goldsm. Author's BedCh. 4 The drabs and bloods of Drury-lane. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 341 I now. .became a blood upon town. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair x, A perfect and celebrated ‘blood’ or dandy about town. 1882 Harper's Mag. Mar. 490 The [privateers] were commanded and manned by the bloods of the city [of New York].

b. ‘young blood' no longer implies a rake or ‘fast’ man, but simply a youthful member of a

party, who brings to it youthful freshness and vigour; cf. 8. 1862 Sat. Rev. 8 Feb. 159 To give the young bloods of the present day a notion of what the Northern Circuit was in the year 1825. 1885 Manch. Exam. 13 July 5/6 The younger bloods in the Irish party are looking forward with eager delight to the occurrence of a scene.

c. At public schools and universities applied to those who are regarded as setting the fashion in habits and dress; also, a youthful member of a party, etc. 1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 8 Mar. 7/1 The result was that the new party won by 127 to 103... A great triumph for the Bloods—as we are accustomed to call them—who mustered in great force to defeat Mr. Childers. 1893 Granta 9 June 374/2 A Committee, consisting of a blood, a Girtonian, and a resident married M.A., shall supervise all flirtations. 1896 Ibid. 16 May 310/1 Mifflin and ’is friends talked.. an’ said ’ow much better Cambridge’d be if there wasn’t no ‘bloods’ to spoil things. 1955 Times 25 Aug. 11/5 The rugger match dinner at the Trocadero with a select club of ‘bloods’.

d. A passenger on a ship. slang.

Ship’s stewards'

1929 Bowen Sea Slang 14 Bloods, the modern steward’s name for the passengers—used only when they are regarded kindly. 1962 Harper's Bazaar Dec. 74/3 Stewards will help you... Behind your back they will call you a ‘blood’— .. they themselves being ‘wingers’—and wonder how much ‘rent’ you will pay them at the end of the voyage.

V. Technical senses. f 16. A disease in sheep and in swine. Obs. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §48 There is a sicknes among shepe .. called the bloude. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ill. 495 The Blood in Sheep.. we take to be a sort of Measles or Pox. Ibid. 501 The Blood in Swine, or the Gargut, as some call it. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 223 A disorder [in swine] generally called (in this part of the country) the blood.

17. A commercial name for Red Coral. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. ill. ii. 88 Five varieties of Coral are known in commerce., i, the Froth of Blood; 2nd the Flower of Blood; 3rd, 4th, and 5th, Blood of the first, second, and third quality.

18. ellipt. = blood orange (see 19). 1907 N. Munro Daft Days i. 6 Oranges! Oranges!—rale New Year oranges, three a penny; bloods, a bawbee each!

19. A tribe of North American Indians belonging to the Blackfoot confederacy; a member of this tribe. Also attrib. 1794 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1810) 1st Ser. III. 24 The tribes of Indians which he passed through, were called.. Blood Indians, the Blackfeet tribe .. and several others. 1863 Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. XII. 249 The Blackfeet inhabit a portion of country farther north than the Bloods. 1957 Encycl. Canadiana I. 403/1 Together with the Piegan and the Blood, they [sc. the Blackfoot] covered an enormous area of the western prairies and lower foothills of the Rockies.

VI. Comb, and Attrib. 20. General combinations (These being formed at will, only a few samples are given): a. attributive, as (sense 1) blood-beat, -circulation, -clot, -corpuscle, -disease, -drop, -flaw, -freezer, -gout, -mark, -spoor, -spot, -stream, -supply, -system-, (senses 3, 4) blood-compensation, -field, -revenge, -rite, -sacrifice, -spirit, -trade, -value, -vengeance-, (sense 5) blood-curdler; (senses 8, 9) blood-affinity, -bond, -brother, -brotherhood, -covenant, -descendants, -feud, -friend, -kin, -kinship, -name, -tie-, b. objective, with pres, pple., n. of agent or action, as (sense 1) blood-circulating, -freezing, -spiller, -spilling, -sprinkling, -sweating-, (senses 3-4) blood-loving, -monger, -offering, -seller, -wreaker-, (sense 5) as blood-curdling, -stirring (hence -stirringness) adjs.; c. instrumental and locative, as (sense 1) blood-bedabbled, -besprinkled, -bubbling, -dabbled, -discoloured, -drenched, -dyed, -filled, -flecked, -frozen, -gushing, -masked, -plashed, -soaked, -sodden, -tinctured adjs.; (senses 3, 4) blood-bought, -cemented, -defiled, -fired, -polluted adjs.;d. parasynthetic and similative, as blood-black, -coloured, -dark, -faced, -hued, etc. (Such combs, are especially common in the writings of D. H. Lawrence, as, blood-being, -bondage, -consciousness, (also -conscious), , -desire, -knowing, -knowledge, -passion, -pride, -soul.) 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. x. 278 The seventh degree of *blood-affinity is the limit. 1947 E. Sitwell Shadow of Cain 11 The *blood-beat of the Bird. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 119 She prostrate lay Before their *bloodbedabled feet. 1895 Yeats Poems 22 Along the bloodbedabbled plains. 1915 D. H. Lawrence Let. 8 Dec. (1962) 394 All living things, even plants, have a *blood-being. If a lizard falls on the breast of a pregnant woman, then the blood-being of the lizard passes with a shock into the blood¬ being of the woman, and is transferred to the foetus... We have a blood-being, a blood-consciousness, a blood-soul, complete and apart from the mental and nerve consciousness. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 117 O *bloodbespotted Neopolitan. 1601 Yarrington Two Lament. Traj. 11. v. in Bullen O. PI. IV, His dissevered *bloodbesprinkled lims. 01918 W. Owen Poems (1963) 69 Sunlight seems a blood-smear; night comes *blood-black. 1645 Rutherford Tryal Gf Tr. Faith (1845) 178 *Bloodbonds, nature-relations are mighty. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent ix. 154 And there was a thin little thread of *blood-bondage between them. 1779 Cowper Hymn, ‘ There is a Fountain , A *blood-bought free reward. 1879 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 668/1 In which [apartment] are

«

BLOOD located the *blood-circulating organs. 1818 Carlyle Sart. Res. in. vii, A *blood-circulation, visible to the eye. 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. V. 562/2 The *blood-clot.. generally found contained within the ruptured airsac. 1762-71 H. Walpole Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786) V. 97 A •blood-coloured ribband with Death’s head, swords, &c. 1958 Middleton & Tait Tribes without Rulers 27 Such features are.. chiefship, •blood-compensation and nonempirical, religious sanctions. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Stud. Class. Amer. Lit. vii. 126 They [5c. Americans] admire the *blood-conscious spontaneity. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, 111. ii. 61 Might.. *blood-consuming sighes recall his Life. 1845 •Blood-corpuscle [see corpuscle 2]. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 137/2 The sacramental rites of mystical sacrifice are a form of *blood-covenant. 1889 Barrere & Leland Diet. Slang s.v., It will contain.. a *blood-curdler, by the murder-man. 1906 E. Dyson Factory 'Ands xv. 197 That one yowl was er blood-curdler. 1934 Essays & Stud. XIX. 13 The *blood-curdling nature of the cry. 1904 W. H. Hudson Green Mansions xxi. 306 Cla-cla’s wrinkled dead face and white,’’•'blood-dabbled locks. 1885 Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. July, A star-lit rapier, half *blood-dark. 1958 R. S. Thomas Poetry for Supper 38 You were born on a blooddark tide. 1930 D. H. Lawrence A Propos of Lady Chatterley's Lover 46 The two blood-streams are brought into contact, in man and woman, just the same as in the urge of blood-passion and *blood-desire. 1875 B. Taylor Faust II. hi. 171 With *blood-discolored eyes. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 557/1 Anaemia is often used as a generic term for all •blood diseases. C1390, a 1400 •Blood-drop [in M.E.D.] 1823 Byron Island m. iv, Blood-drops, sprinkled o’er his yellow hair. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Floivers 91 Away with a paean of derision You winged blood-drop. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 227 Hound not Those *bloodfaced, snake-encircled women on me. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 8 A *blood-feud, deep and ineffaceable divided the Douglases and the Hamiltons. 1535 Coverdale Matt. xxvii. 8 Wherfore the same felde is called the *bloudfelde vnto this daye. 1645 G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 II. 9 Though the *blood-fir’d Ruffian, rageing come. 1873 T. H. Green Introd. Path. (ed. 2) 329 Thrombosis from Retardation of the *Blood-flow. 1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 12/1 * Blood-freezer.. Schauerroman. 1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Exp. vi. 162 The grisly •‘bloodfreezing heart-palsying sensation of it [5c. evil] close upon one. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ix. 25 Yet nathemore.. Could his •blood-frozen heart emboldned bee. 1800 *Bloud-gout [see gout sb.1 5 a]. 1952 R. Campbell tr. Poems of Baudelaire 45 Sabres bleak With crimson blood-gouts lit the air above. /. a. [f. blouse si. +-ed2.] 1. Wearing a blouse, dressed in a blouse. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke xxxiii. (D.) There was a bloused and bearded Frenchman or two. i860 All Y. Round No. 54. 79, I have seen baby London short-coated, and frocked, and breeched, and jacketed, and bloused.

2. Of a bodice: made full, like a blouse. 1935 Times n Feb. 15/6 The bloused bodice is shirred into shape in front and at the back. 1958 Vogue May 122 Lanvin-Castillo’s spare little dress, the top lightly bloused and buttoned behind.

Hblouson (bluzo). [Fr.] A short jacket shaped like a blouse. Also attrib. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 27 Oct. 4/2 No doubt there will be many fur coats quite short in the bolero blouseon build and in the sac species. 1958 Woman's Own 6 Aug. 20/1 Crisply fresh at the office in a white drip-dry cotton ‘blouson’. 1959 Ibid. 20 June 12/2 Drip dry poplin hooded blouson with drawstring waist, i960 Guardian 22 July 8/4 The line leaves the shoulders in a blouson effect to end smoothly at hip-line. 1970 Ibid. 23 July 9/4 Suits with raglan blouson tops.

blousy, var. blowzy a. blout (blaut), sb. Sc. [App. onomatopoeic: cf. blow, blast, blash, etc.] 1. The sudden breaking of a storm; a sudden downpour of rain, hail, etc., accompanied by wind. 1786 Harvest Rig in Chambers Hum. Sc. Poems (1862) 52 For ’tis a blout will soon be laid, And we may hap us in our plaid. Till it blaws ower. 1804 Tarras Poems 63 (Jam.) Vernal win’s, wi’ bitter blout, Out owre our chimlas blaw.

2. Cf. gouts (of blood). 1827 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 338 Wringing her hauns as if washin them in the cleansin dews frae the blouts o’ blood.

f blout, a. Sc. Obs. Also blowt. [Cf. Du. bloot naked, bare, ON. blaut-r soft, wet. The ON. accounts best for the form, but the Du. agrees in sense.] Naked, bare, desolate. 1513 Douglas JEneis vii. Prol. 65 Woddis, forestis, wyth nakyt bewis blout, Stud strypyt of thair weyd in every hout. Ibid. xi. xvii. 8 The baneris left all blowt and desolait. Ibid. xiii. vi. 227 Planys .. blowt of bestis; and of treis bayr.

blout(e, obs. form of bloat. 'blouter. Sc. [f. blout sb.) A blast of wind. 1804 Tarras Poems 129 (Jam.) An’ blew a maikless blouter.

blouth, sb. [? Cf. BLOWTH.] 1643 Lightfoot Gleanings (1648) 10 He had hazzarded their lives.. both of them [mother and new-born child] being in their blouth and blood.

blouze, obs. form of blowze. blow (bbu), v.1 Pa. t. blew. Pa. pple. blown (also in sense 29 blowed). Forms: 1 blawan, 2-3 blawen, (2 blauwen), blouwen, 3 bloawen, 5 blowen, blowyn, 3-7 blowe, 5- blow; {north.) 3-4 blau, 4-6 blawe, 3- blaw. Pa. t. 1 bleow, blew, 2-3 bleu, 4 blwe, blee3, ble3, 3-5 blu, 5 blue, 4-6 blewe, 4- blew. Also 4 biowide, 7 blowd, blowede, 6- blowed. Pa. pple. 1 blawen, blouen, 4-7 blowen, 6-7 blowne, 7- blown; also 4 y-blowe, blowun, blowe, 4-6 i-blowe, 7 bloun; north. 3 blaun, 4 blawun, 4-5 blawen, 6 blawne, blawin, blauen, blaw, 6- blawn. Also 6- blowed. [OE. blawan, pa. t. bleow, pple. blawen, elsewhere as a strong vb. only in OHG. bla(h)an (pa. pple. blahan, blan):—Goth, type *blaian, *baibld, OTeut. ? *blsejan, cogn. w. L. fla-re to blow. (In OHG. this, like other verbs with ai in Gothic, passed into the weak conj. blaen, blahen, blajen, blawen, blan, MHG. blasjen, blsewen, blsen, Ger. bldhen.) In OE. only in a few senses: see 1, 2, 14; but an immense development of sense and constructions has taken place in middle and modern Eng., and in later times distinct senses have influenced each other, or run together, in a manner difficult to exhibit in a linear series.] I. properly. To produce a current of air; to set in motion with a current of air. * intransitively. 1. a. intr. The proper verb naming the motion or action of the wind, or of an aerial current. Sometimes with subject it, as ‘it blows hard’, and often with complement, as ‘it blew a gale, a hurricane’, to blow great guns: to blow a violent gale, to blaw up: to rise, increase in force of blowing. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xii. 55 Jjonne je jeseoS suSan blawan. cl 175 Lamb. Horn. 167 Lutel he hit scaweS..hu biter wind per blaweS. a 1225 Ancr. R. 124 3if a wind bloweS a lutel touward us. a 1300 Cursor M. 532 Wynd pat blaws o loft. 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xliii. 22 The cold northerne wind blee3 [1388 blew], 1530 Palsgr. 130 II uente, it bloweth. 1580 Baret Ah'. B 829, I turne sayle that way as the winde bloweth. 1653 Walton Angler 208 Heark how it rains and blows. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, hi. 549 All the Weste Allies of stormy Boreas blow. 1785 Burns Cotter's Sat. Nt. ii, November chill blaws loud wi’ angry sugh. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §313 It blowed very hard, especially on the night of lighting. 1802 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) III. 166 Straws and feathers, .show which way the wind blows. 1840 Marry at Poor Jack x, The gale had blown up again. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 14 It soon began to blow great guns.

BLOW

315

BLOW

b. Phr. blow high, blow low: whatever may happen. U.S.

Grove Diet. Mus. II. 577 The four bellows are blown in a manner which we here meet with for the first time.

61 These things which malitious Roxana blew into Statira’s ears.

*774 P• V. Fithian Jrnl. (1900) 235 Ben is in a wonderful Fluster lest he shall have no company to-morrow at the Dance—But blow high, blow low, he need not be afraid; Virginians, .will dance or die! [1776 C. Dibdin Seraglio I. 11 Blow high, blow low, let tempests tear The mainmast by the board.] a 1861 T. WlNTHROP John Brent (1883) vi. 52 I’ve booked Brother John fur Paradise; Brother Joseph's got a white robe fur him, blow high, blow low! 1923 R. D. Paine Comr. Rolling Ocean x. 171 There were three musketeers.. who were blithely resolved to stand by each other through thick and thin, blow high, blow low.

f b. fig. to blow the bellows: to stir up passion, strife, etc. Obs. (Cf. to blow the coals, 17 b.)

**** trans. To drive or transport by blowing. 12. a. trans. To drive or carry (things) by means of a current of air; also fig. Const, simply, or with preps, or adverbs of direction, as away, down, from, off, to, etc.

2. a. To send from the mouth a current of air (stronger than that produced by ordinary breathing); to produce a current of air in any way, e.g. said of bellows. (Cf. sense 7.) c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xx. 22 \>a bleow he on hi and cwaeS to him under-foS haline gast. a 1300 Cursor M. 12540 He .. hent his hand and bleu bar-in. 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxi. 31 In her of my wodnes Y shal blowe in thee. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 263 b, She waueth with her wynges and so bloweth, that by her mouynge she engendreth an hete in them. 1572 Gascoigne Wks. (1587) 1 My lights and lungs like bellows blow. an wax pe Amyral glad .. & gan to blowe bost. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) II. xlii, Blowynge psalmes & louynges to Jhesu. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 38 That samyn sound as thay beystis hed blauen. 01563 Becon New Catech. Wks. (1844) 344 He blowed out many furious and unseemly words. 1642 T. Taylor God’s Judgem. 1. 1. xii. 35 Threats were blowne out on every side against the Faithful. 1652 Cotterell Cassandra (1676) iv.

ai] were blouen to pe brode se in a bir swithe. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccles. Hist. (1619) 174 The heate of persecution was blowne against vs. 1593 Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 84 Looke, as I blow this Feather from my Face, And as the Ayre blowes it to me againe. 1597-2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 90 Fal. What winde blew you hither, Pistoll? Pist. Not the ill winde which blowes none to good. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 217 Winnow’d Chaff by Western Winds is blown. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 269 IP7 The Wind . .blew down the End of one of his Barns. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. iii. 38 What children call ‘blowing a kiss.’ 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 68 The roof was blown off.

b. intr. (for refl.) To be driven or carried by the wind; to move before the wind. Same const. Also (U.S. colloq.), to move as if carried or impelled by the wind. 1842 Tennyson Goose 51 Her cap blew off, her gown blew up. 1842 - Day-Dream 141 The hedge broke in, the banner blew. 1844 Knickerbocker XXIII. 51, I was half awake .. when Bob came in, blew about the room for a while, and cried out. 1868 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 42 She is a picturesque looking creature... Why she blows up and down the Nile year in and year out,.. I dunno.

c. to blow over (formerly in perf. to be blown orver): (of storms or storm-clouds) to pass over a place without descending upon it; to pass away, come to an end; also/ig. of misfortune, danger, etc. Also to blow off in same sense. 1617 J. Fosbroke Englands Warn. (1633) 25 When the storm is blown over, they return to their old bias again. 1641 Smectymnuus Vind. Answ. §13. 131 This cloud will soone blow over. 1692 South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 564 Do they think that.. this dreadfull Sentence [shall] blow off without Execution? 1794 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 399 The affair is blown over. 1850 Alison Hist. Europe VIII. Iiv.§i8 The danger had blown over.

d. to blow in: to appear or turn up unexpectedly; to drop in. colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1895 F. Remington Pony Tracks 104 We were all very busy when William ‘blew in’ with a great sputtering. 1904 G. H. Lorimer Old Gorgon Graham 47 Yesterday our old college friend, Clarence, blew in from Monte Carlo. 1913 R. Brooke Let. 6 Sept. (1968) 505, I ‘blew in’ here yesterday, & found about nine letters from you. 1940 War Illustr. 16 Feb. ii/3 He just blew in out of the black-out and asked if he might use the telephone.

e. To go away, to leave hurriedly, slang (orig. U.S.). [1902 B. Burgundy's Lett. 50 Then we had another and blew the joint.] 1912 Ade Knocking the Neighbors 93 She .. tied up the Geranium and took the unfinished Tatting and Blew. 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid 130 Sorry and all that, but I’m afraid I must blow now. 1937 E. Linklater Juan in China xxv. 315 ‘And what’s happened to Rocco?’..‘He’s blown. He’s gone up north.’ 1961 J. I. M. Stewart Man who won Pools iii. 38 All I want is that all these people should blow.

f. To depart (esp. suddenly) from; to vacate or quit. U.S. slang. 1902 [see blow v.* 12 e]. 1926 Flynn's 16 Jan. 640/1 Knock-’em Loose, the Bull, was on the razee an’ I got trun out, so I blew de joint. 1949 in Wentworth & Flexner Diet. Amer. Slang (i960) 45/2 Alive, you’re ready to blow town. 1971 ‘R. Macdonald’ Underground Man iv. 28 I’m blowing this town tonight and taking the money with me. 1984 J. Davis Garfield: Who's Talking? 75 ‘Let’s blow this joint, Garfield.’ ‘Hang on!’

13. trans. (fig.) To proclaim, publish, blaze, spread abroad, about, (out obs.), etc. C1205 Lay. 27021 pze king of Peytouwe, har[d] mon iblowen. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1139 And her fames wide yblowe. 1513 Douglas JEneis (ad fin.) Direction 129 Thy fame is blaw, thy prowes and renoun Dyvulgat ar. 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, xxi, They shal not openly blow it abrode. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 429 These news.. being blown out of the campe into the citie. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe 11. xi. 199 As soon as Richard’s return is blown abroad. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 151 A rumour wildly blown about.

II. To act upon an object, by blowing air into, upon, or at it. * To blow a musical instrument. 14. a. trans. To make (a wind-instrument) sound. (Formerly also with up, out.) to blow one's own trumpet: (fig.) to sound one’s own praises, to brag. b. To sound (a note or blast) on or with an instrument, c. To sound the signal of (an alarm, advance, retreat, etc.) on an instrument, d. Predicated of the instrument. ciooo Ags. Gosp. Matt. vi. 2 Ne blawe man byman beforan pe. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 115 J>e bemene drem pe pe engles blewen. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 774 Whan a pipe is blowen sharpe The aire ys twyst with violence, c 1450 Lydg. Mer. Missae 171 Pryd gothe beforen And schame comythe aftyr, and blawythe home. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xlvi. 139 They., blew vp their trompettes for to gyue a sharpe sawte. 1535 Coverdale j Macc. iii. 54 They blewe out the trompettes. 1611 Bible Psalm lxxxi. 3 Blow vp the trumpet in the new Moone. Ibid. Hosea v. 8 Blow yee the comet in Gibeah. 1842 Tennyson Pal. of Art 63 The belted hunter blew His wreathed bugle-horn. b. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1141 Blwe bygly in bugler pre bare mote, i486 Bk. St. Albans E vb, Iij. motis shall ye blaw

«

BLOW booth lowde and shill. ci6oo Rob. Hood (Ritson) n. ix. 60 Let me have my beugle horn, And blow but blasts three. 1793 Burns Soldier's Ret. i, When wild war’s deadly blast was blawn. 1843 Caroline Fox Jrnls. II. 12 Though he has blown so loud a blast. c. C1320 Sir Tristr. 1. xlviii, pe tokening when \>a\ blewe. c 1420 Anturs of Arthure v. 10 The king blue a rechase. 1552 Huloet, Blowe the Retreate in battayle. 1561 Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) Pref. 5 The Deuill.. bloweth the onset. 1634 Malory's Arthur (1816) I. 112 Then king Arthur blew the prize, and dight the hart there. 1621 Bp. Mountagu Diatribae 398 Wee must goe blow the Seeke, and cast about againe. a 1641-Acts ©* Mon. (1642) 385 He tels they were Grecians born.. where, when, upon what termes, you must, if you will, goe blow the seek. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. xviii, Ye blow the fall too soon! d. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, v. ii. 43 Let the generall Trumpet blow his blast. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 540 Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds. 1761 Beattie Ode to Peace ii. 3 The hoarse alarms Her trump terrific blows.

e. To play jazz on (any instrument). Also intr. colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1949 L. Feather Inside Be-Bop 11. 72 Nobody ever gave Diz or Bird a lesson in the art of blowing a jazz chorus. 1962 John o' London's 3 May 433/1 A blowin’ session is a general term used to describe that form of jazz where men get together for the pleasure of making free and spontaneous music. 1962 Radio Times 17 May 43/3 A jazz musician never plays an instrument—he blows it, whether it be drums, piano, bass, or horn. Should he ‘blow’ with feeling, or great excitement (‘like wild’) he is either ‘way out’ or ‘wailing’. 1966 Crescendo Sept. 27/1 The not-so-advanced suffered from insufficient outlet, and opportunity to blow and to improve. 1966 Melody Maker 15 Oct. 6 Dave Geliy is a school librarian who also blows jazz tenor with the New Jazz Orchestra. 1968 Jazz Monthly Apr. 23/2 His style was hard to fit into the standards of hard bop blowing sessions.

15. intr. a. Of a wind-instrument: To give forth a sound by being blown. (obs.).

BLOW

316

Also with up

a 1225 Ancr. R. 210 J>e englene bemen.. J>et schulen .. biuoren pe grureful dome grisliche bloawen. e borne [ = rivulet] blubred J?erinne, as hit boyled hade. 1750 R. Pultock Life P. Wilkins xii. (1883) 38/2 My kettle.. had been boiling, till hearing it blubber very loud .. I whipped it off the fire.

2. trans. fa. To allow (tears) to bubble forth, to give copious vent to (tears). Obs. b. To utter or cry out with copious tears and sobs. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 108 Blubbering foorth seas of teares. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 26 The teares trickled down the vermilion of her cheeks, and shee blubbred out this passion. 1720 Gay Poems (1745) II. 63 She thus begins, And sobbing, blubbers forth her sins. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvii. iii, Western, whose eyes were full of tears .. blubbered out ‘Don’t be chicken-hearted’.

3. intr. To weep effusively; to weep and sob unrestrainedly and noisily. (Generally used contemptuously and in ridicule for ‘weep’.) c 1400 Test. Love 11. (1560) 283/1 Han women none other wrech.. but blober and wepe till hem list stint. 1530 Palsgr. 458/1, I blober, I wepe, je pleure. 01553 Udall Royster D. ill. iv, What, weep? Fie for shame! And blubber? 1562 Phaer JEneid ix. Bbivb, Shee blobbryng still, and kindlyng further greif. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone 11. vii. Wks. (1616) 477 What, blubbering? Come, drie those teares. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xliv. (1804) 292 He blubbered like a great school-boy who had been whipt. 1826 Scott Woodst. iv, Phoebe Mayflower blubbered heartily for company. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown viii. (1871) 179.

4. trans. To wet profusely or disfigure (the face) with weeping; to beweep. Also fig. (The notion of ‘swell with weeping’ is later, and influenced by blubber a.) 1584 Greene Card of Fancy Wks. 1882 IV. i64Whomehe found all blubbered with tears. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 13 Her face with teares was fowly blubbered. 01631 Donne Serm. Iv. 553 God sees Teares in the heart of a man before they Blubber his face. 1638 Suckling Aglaura v. i. (1646) 56 The pretty flowers blubber’d with dew.

b. transf. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. I. (1873) 242 Trammels and pot-hooks which the little .. Elkanahs blotted and blubbered across their copy-books.

blubbe'ration.

= blubbering: see -ation. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. (1833) 155 They sung a quartetto in grand blubberation.

'blubbered,/>£/. a. Also

6 bloubred. [f. blubber v. + -ed.] Flooded with tears; said of the eyes, cheeks, face; in later usage also, swollen and disfigured with weeping. C1575 Cambyses in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 208 With blubb’red eyes into my arms I will thee take. 1591 Spenser Daphn. 551 Did rend his haire, and beat his blubbred face. C1630 Drumm. of Hawth. Wks. 51 A blubber’d band Of weeping virgins. 1718 Prior Poems 96 Dear Cloe, how blubber’d is that pretty Face? i860 Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1878) I. vii. 86 Representing the poor girl with blubbered eyes. |2. Loosely used for blubber a.: Swollen; a.

said of thick protruding lips. Obs. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 14, I omit their flat noses, and blubberd lips, bigge enough without addition. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. iii. 35. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week iii. 39 Her blubber’d Lip by smutty Pipes is worn.

fb.fig. Inflated like a bubble.

blue

322

Obs. rare.

1699 Pomfret Poems (1724) 72 Swell’d with Success and blubber’d up with Pride.

blubberer

('blAb3r3(r)). [f. as prec. + -er1.] One who blubbers or weeps violently.

1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 29 Without the counsels of that blubberer. a 1848 Marry at R. Reefer xxxi, The blubberer in the smock-frock.

'blubbering, vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ing1.] The action of weeping profusely and noisily. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 172 Lamentations made at the funerals of the dead, with blubbering and beating themselues. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xi. 22 He was angry, and said .. Cease your blubbering. 1872 Darwin Emotions vi. 156 Paroxysms of violent crying or blubbering.

'blubbering, ppl. a. Also 4-5 bloberond. [f. as prec. + -ing2.]

11. Bubbling, gurgling (like a spring). Obs. c 1400 Destr. Troy 9642 Till the bloberond blode blend with the rayn. 1646 Crashaw Steps to Temp. 33 At my feet the blubb’ring mountain, Weeping, melts into a fountain. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland xxi. 363 The bottom of this is also full of little blubbering springs.

2. Shedding tears profusely (obs.); weeping and sobbing noisily and unrestrainedly. A contemptuous expression for ‘weeping’. 1581 Newton Seneca's Thebais 49 b, My trickling teares, my blubbring Eyes, may put you out of doubt. 1753 Jane Collier Art Torment. 46 Begone out of my sight, you blubbering fool. 1862 Sat. Rev. 13 Sept. 301 The somewhat scornful astonishment which is aroused in the undeveloped English mind when it is first called upon to sympathize with the blubbering demigods of Ilium.

Hence 'blubberingly adv. 1835 Beckford Recoil. 116 Donna Inez was called..and embraced by his right reverence most blubberingly. 1844 Tupper Crock of G. xxv. 202 She.. kept calling blubberingly for ‘Simon,—poor dear Simon’.

'blubberous, a.

=

blubber a.

1863 Sala Capt. Dang. II. ii. 65 They went Raving Mad, gnawing their Tongues and poor blubberous Lips to pieces.

blubbery ('bHban), a. [f. blubber sb. + -y1.] Of the nature of (whale’s) blubber. Also fig. 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Card. 1. 44 Spears and javelins pierce his blubbery sides. 1853 Landor Last Fruit (1853) 345 Democracy is the blubbery spawn begotten by the drunkenness of aristocracy. 1880 Daily Tel. 20 Sept., The gelatinous and blubbery surface of the whale’s body.

‘blucher.

[Named after the Prussian commander Field-Marshal von Blucher (blYfsr), but commonly mispronounced ('blutfa(r)) or ('blu:ka(r)).] 1. A strong leather half-boot or high shoe, the actual pattern varying with the fashion. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. I. iii. (1838) 25 Ink-bottles alternated with .. tobacco-boxes, Periodical Literature, and Blucher Boots. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. 130 My own bootmaker wouldn’t have allowed poor F. B. to appear in Bluchers. 1859 Sat. Rev. 19 Feb. 220/2 If they [ladies] will trample on us with a hobnailed blucher.

2. (See quots.) 1864 Soc. Sc. Rev. I. 406 The railway companies recognize two other classes of cabs, called the ‘privileged’.. and the ‘Bluchers’ named after the Prussian Field Marshal who arrived on the field of Waterloo only to do the work that chanced to be undone. 1870 Athenaeum 5 Mar. 328 Nonprivileged cabs, which are admitted to stations after all the privileged have been hired, are known as Bluchers.

t'bludder, v.

Obs. Perhaps = To blunder; perh. To talk stuff; cf. blether, bluther. (Much used by Bale.) Hence 'bluddering ppl. a. 1553 Bale Vocacyon in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 359 The blinde bludderinge papistes. 1554 - Declar. Bonner s Articles xxxvi. (D.) This bussard, this beast, and this bluddering papiste.

bludder, variant of bluther v. blude, Sc. and north, dial, form of blood. t blude-black. Obs. rare~x. (See quot.) 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. viii. 60 The Bat or Blude-black, Crow, Lapwing. [? for blinde b[I\ack.]

bludge (bUd3), v. slang. [Back-formation from bludger.] intr. a. To act as a prostitute’s pimp, b. Austral, and N.Z. To shirk responsibility or hard work; to impose on. Also trans., to cadge or scrounge. 1919 Downing Digger Dial. 12 Bludge on the flag, to fail to justify one’s existence as a soldier. 1931 V. Palmer Separate Lives 264 I’ve stood you too long already, loafing around here, and bludging on your mother. 1937 L. Mann Murder in Sydney 222 A bludger is a ruffian living on the earnings of an immoral woman. Britannia may be.. an immoral woman, but there’s no need for Australia to bludge on her. 1939 K. Tennant Foveaux 11. iv. 176 Everybody bludges and robs. 1941-Battlers iii. 26 You .. bludging little mongrel! 1944 J. H. Fullarton Troop Target xxvi. 186 You were one of the 95 per cent who bludged at base in Enzed or England or Yankee-land. 1944 L. Glassop We were Rats xxv. 147 Probably a Free Frenchman bludging a lift. 1945 Southern Cross (London) 15 Dec. 4/1 Place seemed to be full of.. sisters and cousins, all staying with the blokes Herbert had aimed to bludge on. 1945 E. G. Webber Johnny Enzed in Middle East 43 Those oysters you bludged from me. 1967 I. Hamilton Man with Brown Paper Face vi. 73 He bludged three cigarettes off me. 1967 Southerly XXVII. 199 The bludging, dirty mong to whom she had .. entrusted heart and hand.

Hence as sb., an easy job or assignment; a period of loafing. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. viii. 156 Bludge, a soft job. 1949 J. Cleary Long Shadow 195 He was happy in his job, it was a good bludge. 1969 West Australian 16 Jan. 13/3 Prime Minister Gorton .. quoted .. as saying .. he was coming to .. the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference ‘on a bit of a bludge’.

bludgeon (’blAd33n), sb. [Not found before the 18th c.: origin unknown. Blogon (with g = j) is quoted by Dr. Whitley Stokes from the Cornish drama Origo Mundi (? 14th c.), but its relation to the English is uncertain. Other Celtic etymologies sometimes proposed are on many grounds untenable. A Du. vb. bludsen to bruise, has also been compared; and it has been suggested that the word is of cant origin, connected with blood.]

A short stout stick or club, with one end loaded or thicker and heavier than the other, used as a weapon. 1730 Bailey, Bludgeon, an oaken stick or club. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 135 These villains .. knocked him down with a bludgeon. 1798 in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 413

They were attacked by nine men .. armed with swords and short bludgeons. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi. (1873) 59 Scarce any weapons but staves and bludgeons had been yet seen among them. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 103 Called by the annalists the parliament of bats or bludgeons.

b. Comb, bludgeon-man, one armed with a bludgeon; bludgeon-work, fighting with bludgeons, hand-to-hand fighting. 1797 W. Taylor in Month. Rev. XXII. 528 Assisted by the bludgeon-men of some powerful faction. 1813 Wellington Let. 5 Aug. in Gurw. Disp. X. 602 The battle of the 28th was fair bludgeon work.

'bludgeon, v. [f. prec. sb.] a. trans. To strike or fell with a bludgeon or similar weapon. 1868 Doran Saints & Sin. I. 295 Such a preacher., would be bludgeoned into a mummy. 1884 Pall Mall G. 15 Oct. 3/1 To bludgeon an opponent who has a sharp tongue.

b. fig. To strike heavily, as with a bludgeon. Const, in: to drive in as with a bludgeon. Hence 'bludgeoning vbl. sb. and ppl. a. 1888 W. E. Henley Bk. of Verses 56 Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker xviii. 273 Repentance bludgeoned me. 1894 Athenaeum I4july55/i It is not.. the artful bludgeoning that gets the praise. 1906 R. Whiteing Ring in New 238 The militant knifing and bludgeoning men. 1928 E. Blom Limit. Music 37 A truth that has no need of literal bludgeoning-in.

'bludgeoned, a.

[f. bludgeon sb. + -ed2.] Armed with a bludgeon, or with bludgeons. 1780 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 194/2 They had a bludgeoned mob waiting for them in the street. 1831 Fraser’s Mag. IV. 505 The bludgeoned fury of the rabble.

'bludgeoned, ppl. a. [f.

bludgeon v. + -ed1.] Struck down or wounded with or as with a bludgeon. 1887 Stevenson Misadv. J. Nicholson vi, Next bludgeoned vanity raised its head again, with twenty mortal gashes.

'bludgeoner, -'eer.

[f. as bludgeoned a. +

-er1, -eer1.] One who uses, or is armed with, a

bludgeon. 1842 R. Oastler Fleet Papers II. 8 They have set their hired bludgeoners at me. 1852 Blackw. Mag. 224 Those brutal bludgeoneers .. go out.. in gangs to poach. 1855 Trollope Warden xiv. 144 Old St. Dunstan with its smiting bludgeoners has been removed.

bludgeonist ('blAd33nist). [f.

bludgeon sb.

-1ST.] One who strikes with or as bludgeon.

+ with a

1811 A nn. Reg. 1809 680 No hired bludgeonists astound him. 1903 Daily Chron. 25 May 3/3 Critic is a mild word to use. Bludgeonist would suit the case better.

bludger (’blAd3a(r)). slang. [Shortened from BLUDGEONER.] 1. = BLUDGEONER; Spec. a prostitute’s pimp. 1856 [see stick-slinger, stick sb.x 17]. 1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec. Red Page/2 A bludger is about the lowest grade of human thing, and is a brothel bully. 1936 ‘R. Hyde’ Passport to Hell vi. 103 The male defenders of the prostitutes’ quarters, known to the dictionary as souteneurs, and to the troops as bludgers. 1937 [see bludge u.]. i960 Observer 28 Aug. 28/2 They are strikingly different to the white prostitutes who ply their trade for coloured bludgers.

2. A parasite or hanger-on; a loafer. Now often in weakened sense. Austral, and N.Z. 1939 X. Herbert Capricornia (1949) 81 All the men here are loafers and bludgers. 1941 Baker Diet. Austral. Slang 11 Bludger, a loafer, idler, ne’er-do-well; one who imposes on others. 1942 2 N.Z.E.F. Times 21 Dec. 17/4 Some bludger’s got my tin hat. 1953 R. Braddon in I. Bevan Sunburnt Country 130 A bludger is a shirker. 1969 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 12 June 2/5 Surely if one is willing to give a good day’s work for a good day’s pay one should be given a chance to earn. I’m no bludger.

blue (blu:, blju:), a. Forms: 3 bleu, 3-8 blew, 4 blu(e, bluw(e, 4-5 blwe, 4-6 blewe, 7- blue. [ME. blew, a. OF. bleu, a Common Romanic word ( = Pr. blau, blava, OSp. blavo, It. dial, biavo, med.L. blavus), ad. OHG. or OLG. blaw-:—OTeut. blsewo-z blue, whence also ON. bid-, likewise adopted in ME. as bla, bio, now blae. The corresponding OE. form blaw (or *blsew) is known only in Erfurt Gloss. 1152, ‘blata, pigmentum: haui-blauum', and the derivative blsewen (:—blawino-) ‘perseus’. But neither of these survived into ME., where their place was supplied by the adoption of ON. bla, in sense of 'lividus', and of F. bleu in sense of ‘casruleus’. The OTeut. blaewo- was perh. cognate with L. flavus yellow (though bldwo-z would be the expected Teutonic form), the names of colours having often undergone change in their application; thus OSp. blavo was ‘yellowish-grey’. (The guess that blaewo- was derived from the stem *bliuwan, Goth, bliggwan to beat, as ‘the colour caused by a blow’ is not tenable.) The present spelling blue is very rare in ME., and hardly known in i6-i7th c.; it became common under French influence only

BLUE after 1700. In pronunciation, nearly all the dictionaries c 1887 still recognized (blju:), but the more easily pronounced (blu:) was already general in educated speech.] I. Properly. 1. a. The name of one of the colours of the spectrum; of the colour of the sky and the deep sea; cerulean. a 1300 [see blue sb. 1]. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 423 Art )>ou pe quene of heuenez blwe. 1366 Test. Ebor. (1836) I. 81 Unam robam blue. 1394 Ibid. I. 198 Un drape de blew saye. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxvi. 14 Another couertour of blew skynnes. C1386 Chaucer Sqrs. T. 636 And by hire beddes heed she made a mewe, And couered it with veluettes blewe [v.r. blue, bluwej. i486 Bk. St. Albans Aijb, It hade need to be died other green or blwe. 1570 Levins Manip. 94 Blewe, ceruleus. 1596 Spenser Astroph. 185 The gods.. Transformed them.. Into one flowre that is both red and blew. 1669 Boyle Contn. New Exp. 1. xliv. (1682) 153 Between blew and green. 1718 Pope Iliad xv. 195 And to blue Neptune thus the goddess calls. 1797 Coleridge Christabel I. Conch, The blue sky bends over all. 1855 Dickens Dorrit 1, A sea too intensely blue to be looked at. 1884 W. Sharp Earth's Voices, etc. 142 Bluer than bluest summer air.

b. Said of the colour of smoke, vapour, distant hills, steel, thin milk. Magnetism, defining the south pole of a magnet (of a steel-blue colour) as distinguished from the north (red) pole; also, the magnetism of this pole. 1602 Shaks. Ham. v. i. 277 The skyish head Of blew Olympus. 1728 Pope Dunciad in. 3 Him close she curtain’d round with vapours blue. 1809 J. Barlow Columb. vii. 400 His blue blade waved forward. 1831 Lytton Godolph. xxxiv, That chain of hills .. stretched behind .. their blue and dim summits melting into the skies, a 1859 De Quincey Wks. (1863) II. 14 Skimmed or blue milk being only one half-penny a quart—in Grasmere, i860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xi. 107 Sails of ships in the blue distance. 1893 Sloane Electr. Diet. 345 A two-fluid theory of magnetism has been evolved... It assumes a north fluid or Ted magnetism’ and a south fluid or ‘blue magnetism’.

c. Said of a pale flame or flash without red glare (as of lightning, etc.); e.g. in phr. to bum blue, which a candle is said to do as an omen of death, or as indicating the presence of ghosts or of the Devil (perh. referring to the blue flame of brimstone: see De Foe, Hist. Devil ch. x.). 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, v. iii. 180 The Lights burne blew! It is now dead midnight. 1601 -Jful. C. 1. iii. 50 The crosse blew Lightning. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle, Ribands black and candles blue For him that was of men most true. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Serm. Hosea i. 54 In a mine, if a damp come, it is in vaine to trust to your lights, they will burn blew, and dimme, and at last vanish. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil x. That most wise and solid suggestion, that when the candles burn blue the Devil is in the room. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xxvi, His taper Burnt, and not blue, as modest tapers use.. Receiving sprites.

d. Said of the veins as they show through the skin. Cf. blue blood (see blood 8). 1606 Shaks. Ant. & Cl. 11. v. 29 There is Gold, and heere My blewest vaines to kisse: a hand that Kings haue lipt. i84S Browning Bishop orders Tomb, Some lump. .of lapis lazuli.. Blue as a vein o’er the Madonna’s breast. 1885 Mrs. Oliphant Madam II. xxvi. 50 Blue veins showing distinctly through the delicate tissue of his skin.

e. Often taken as the colour of constancy or unchangingness (? with regard to the blue of the sky, or to some specially fast dye). Hence true blue (fig.): faithful, staunch and unwavering (in one’s faith, principles, etc.): sterling, genuine, real. See also 6 b. 01500 Balade agst. Women Unconst, in Stow’s Chaucer (1561) 340 To newe thinges your lust is euer kene. In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene. 1672 Walker Paroem. 30 in Hazl. Eng. Prov., True blue will never stain. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 171 It being true blew Gotham or Hobbes ingrain’d, one of the two. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Craft 11. viii. 86 The Old Beau is True-Blew, to the Highflown Principles [of] King Edward’s First Protestant Church. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. 1. s.v. Blue.

f. The particular shade is expressed by words prefixed, as clear, dark, deep, intense, light; azure, indigo, lavender, plum, sky, slate, ultramarine, violet; also by arbitrary words, as Prussian, Berlin, royal, navy. See also blue sb. 2, greyblue, powder-blue 2, smalt-blue (smalt sb. 4), STONE-BLUE 2. 1415 Test. Ebor. (1836) I. 382 Lectum de worstede de light blewe et sadde blewe. ?ci475 Sqr. lowe Degre in Dom. Archit. II. 140 Damaske whyte and asure blewe. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas, xvm. xii, Velvet, al of Indy blewe. 1611 Cotgr., Couleur perse, skie-colour, azure colour .. light blue. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gentl. 1. xxiii. (1634) 78 That which we call skye colour or heavens-blew. 1882 Garden 18 Mar. 183/3 Rich azure blue, dark blue.. violet blue, rich blue.

g. Defining a quality of sheep’s wool (see quot.). 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 656/2 In the worsted trade the classification [of wool] goes.. in descending series, from fine, blue, neat, brown, breech, downright, seconds, to abb. .. The greater proportion of good English long wool will be classified as blue, neat, and brown.

h. Applied to animals with fur of a bluish-grey colour. So blue hare (see 12 a). 1863, 1884 [see blue fox, sense 12 a]. 1887 P. M. Rule Cat v. 66 Blue or Silver Tabby.. . The ground-colour is a silver grey, with the stripes of a darker shade. 1909 Daily Chron. 15 Dec. 3/5 Cats of all colours, from ‘blue’ (which stands for smoke-grey in the cat-world) to ‘cream’. 1968 H. Harmar

323 Chihuahua Guide 232 Blue, a blue-gray, such color as might be seen in the whippet or Bedlington.

1. blue and white a., having a surface diversified with blue and white; spec, of china. Hence ellipt. as sb. 1719 Lady Fermanagh Let. 19 Mar. in M. M. Verney Verney Lett. 18th Cent. (1930) II. 11. xxiii. 60, I shall want a dozen of blew and white china plates. 1753 Aris's Birmingham Gaz. Nov. in E. Meteyard Life of J. Wedgwood (1865) I. 243 This is to give notice to all painters in the blue and white potting way, and enamellers on china ware, that [etc.]. 1830 P. Neilson Recoil. Six Years' Residence in U.S. 320 Trowsers and frocks made of common drugget, (or blue and white as it is called). 1848 H. R. Forster Stowe Catal. 1 Twelve fruit dishes, of old blue and white. Ibid. 215 A blue-and-white bowl and covers. 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain 1. i. 2 The fire-place .. was ornamented with blue and white Dutch tiles bearing marvellous representations of Scripture history. 1875 Cornh. Mag. XXXI. 538 The blueand-white porcelain of Nankin. 1941 E. Bowen Look at all those Roses 236 Blue-and-white plates, in metal clamps, hung in lines up the walls. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 120 The blue-and-white roo had chosen .. a day camp.

j. blue china. Cf. blue sb. 4. 1833 Lamb Old China in Last Ess. 218 A set of extraordinary old blue china. 1881 Trollope Ayala's Angel i, A few little dinner parties to show off his blue china. 1937 V. Woolf Years 9 A Dutch cabinet with blue china on the shelves.

2. a. Livid, leaden-coloured, as the skin becomes after a blow, from severe cold, from alarm, etc.; = obs. blo, and dial. blae. black and blue: see black a. 13, blae i b. Cf. also blue eye. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. iv. 125 pat fur shal falle and forbrenne al to blewe [1377 blo] askes The houses and pe homes of hem pat taken 3yftes. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) 1. 340, I shuld bete you bak and side tyll it were blewe. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. v. v. 49 There pinch the Maids as blew as Bill-berry. 1634 Milton Comus 434 Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. II. 23 My fingers cramped and my nose .. blue. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xxvi, His trembling lips are livid blue.

b. Phr. blue {in the face): livid with effort, excitement, etc. Used hyperbolically. 1864 Trollope Small Ho. at Allington II. xvii. 175 You may talk to her till you’re both blue in the face, if you please. 1917 ‘H. H. Richardson’ Fortunes R. Mahoney II. viii. 175 He alone must argue himself blue in the face over it. 1928 N. Coward C. B. Cochran's 1928 Revue 1. v. 10 Beckon and coo Till you are blue, Mermaids have got no dam chance at all. 1934 F. Baldwin Innoc. Byst. (1935) xi. 212 I’ve talked myself blue in the face to him. 1959 ‘P. Quentin’ Shadow of Guilt x. 89 Swear till you’re blue in the face that Chuck was with you all day. 1968 Observer 3 Nov. 3/3 I’ve been looking into.. cases of dealers’ rings .. until I’m blue in the face.

3. fig. a. Affected with fear, discomfort, anxiety, etc.; dismayed, perturbed, discomfited; depressed, miserable, low-spirited; esp. in phr. to look blue. blue funk (slang): extreme nervousness, tremulous dread; also blue-funk school, a jocular perversion of ‘blue-water school’; blue fear, a variant of blue funk. 01550 Peblis to Play ii. 6 Than answerit Meg full blew. c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) 11. xxxvi. 84 It made the sunne looke blue. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin 1. 316 But when he came to’t, the poor Lad look’t Blew. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) 1. s.v. Blue, He looked very blue upon it, valde perturbatus fuit. 1840 Disraeli Corr. w. Sister (1886) 15 Great panic exists here, and even the knowing ones.. look very pale and blue. 1861 Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 534 We encounter.. the miserable Dr. Blandling in what is called .. a blue funk. 1871 Maxwell in Life (1882) xii. 382 Certainly xXcopov 84os is the Homeric for a blue funk. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 600/1 I’m not a bit blue over the prospect. 1883 Stevenson in Longm. Mag. Apr. 683 The very name of Paris put her in a blue fear. 1908 Daily Chron. 24 Feb. 4/6 The identification by Mr. Harvey, M.P., of the ‘blue-water school’ with the ‘blue funk school’. Ibid. 20 July 4/3 The Jingo .. is a nobler being than the disciples of our ‘blue-funk’ school.

b. Intoxicated, slang (chiefly U.S.). 1818 M. L. Weems Drunkard's Looking Glass (ed. 6) 4 The patient goes by a variety of nicknames.. such as boozy— groggy—blue—damp, i860 [see sense 10]. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 166 A man who is drunk is said to be .. blue.

c. Of affairs, circumstances, prospects: dismal, unpromising, depressing. Chiefly in a blue look¬ out, to look blue. 1833 Mirror of Lit. 25 May 350 ‘Why it’s a blue look out, Master,’ said he. 1857 Trollope Three Clerks xxix, Charley replied that neither had he any money at home. ‘That’s blue,’ said the man. 1879 Hartigan & Walker Stray Leaves Ser. 11. xv. 257 If our present officers are like them .. it’s a blue look-out for the Afghans! 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robb, under Arms II. xvii. 258 It seemed a rather blue look¬ out. 1966 Wodehouse Plum Pie iii. 84 You don’t want Freddie’s whole future to turn blue at the edges.., do you?

d. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the singing or playing of the blues. So blue note: a minor interval occurring where a major would be expected; an off-pitch note; also transf. and fig■ 1919 Dancing Times Aug. 482/2 From the clarionet began to flow the weirdest blue notes ever heard. 1928 Melody Maker Oct. 1093/1 Gramophone enthusiasts will be able to determine, .the class of rhythm of the rendering, i.e. Blue, slow, or fast Fox-trot. 1930 E. Rice Voy. Purilia x. 134 In the jazz symphony of life, there are many blue notes. 1945 V. Thomson Musical Scene i. 30 The greatest master of ‘blue’, or off-pitch, notes. 1955 H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy (1956) vi. 49 Her voice trailed off in a forlorn bluenote fashion. 1969 C. Booker Neophiliacs iii. 68 The ‘blue

BLUE notes’ and ‘flattened chords’.. which provide sensations in jazz.

|4. Of the colour of blood; ? purple. Obs. 1483 Cath. Angl. 35 Blew [A. blowe], blodius.

II. transf. and fig. 5. a. Dressed in blue; wearing a blue badge. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. man in Hum. 11. iv, We that are Bluewaiters. 1605 Armin Foole upon F. (1880) 42 Blew John, that giues Food to feede wormes. 1647 May Hist. Pari. ill. vi. 112 The blew auxiliary Regiment. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4508/2 Two Battalions of the blue Foot-Guards. 1883 Reade Tit for Tat i, Gainsborough’s blue boy.

b. Blue Squadron: one of the three divisions made of the English Fleet in the 17th c. 1665 Lond. Gaz. No. 3/3, 17 or 18 sail of English Men of War (of the Blew Squadron). 1689 Ibid. No. 2467/4 This day Mr. Edward Russell, Admiral of the Blue Squadron, sailed from St. Helens. 1703 Ibid. No. 3896/3 John Leake, Esq. [is advanced] from Rear-Admiral of the Blue, to be Vice-Admiral of the same Squadron. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 160 Admirals of the red, white, blue, squadrons .. bear a square flag of the colour of their squadron at the main .. top gallant mast.

c. Blue was formerly the distinctive colour for the dress of servants, tradesmen, etc., also of paupers, charity-school boys, almsmen, and in Scotland of the king’s almoners or licensed beggars; cf. blue apron (see 13), BLUE-BOTTLE, BLUE-COAT, BLUE-GOWN. 1609 B. Jonson Case Altered 1. ii. (N.) [A serving-man] Ever since I was of the blue order.

d. See blue sb. 9. 6. a. Belonging to the political party which, in any particular district, has chosen blue for its distinctive colour. (In most parts of England the Conservative party.) 1835 Disraeli Corr. w. Sister (1886) 35, I.. have gained the show of hands, which no blue candidate ever did before. 1868 Holme Lee B. Godfrey li. 292 She had not won his promise to vote blue. Ibid. Iii. 297 This was a blue demonstration, a gathering of the Conservative clans.

b. true blue: (see above 1 e) specifically applied to the Scottish Presbyterian or Whig party in the 17th c. (the Covenanters having adopted blue as their colour in contradistinction to the royal red)\ but also with any use of blue, as in quot. i860 where it = ‘staunchly Tory’. 1663 Butler Hud. 1. 1. 191 For his Religion it was fit To match his Learning and his Wit; ’Twas Presbyterian true Blew. 1785 Burns Author's Earn. Cry xiii, Dempster, a true blue Scot I’se warran. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi. (1873) 75 A tough true-blue Presbyterian, called Deans, i860 Trollope Framley P. i. 10 There was no portion of the county more decidedly true blue.

7. Of women: Learned, pedantic. See blue¬ stocking. (Usually contemptuous.) 1788 Mad. D’Arblay Diary (1842) IV. 219 Nobody would have thought it more odd or more blue. 1813 Mar. Edgeworth Patron. II. xxvi. 117 They are all so wise, and so learned, so blue. 1834 Southey Doctor xv. (1862) 37 A Lady.. bluer than ever one of her naked, woad-stained ancestors appeared. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 38/2 Blue ladies there are, in Boston. 1864 Spectator No. 1875. 660 A clever, sensible woman, rather blue.

8. fig. Often made the colour of plagues and things hurtful, blue murder, used in intensive phrases: see murder sb. 3. Cf. senses ic., 3 b., and blue devil. 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 157 Riot, pride, perfidy, blue vapours breathe. 1742 R. Blair Grave 628 Racking pains, And bluest plagues, are thine. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) 1. s.v. Blue, It was a blue bout to him, istud illifatale fuit. 1847 Barham Ingol. Leg., Black Mousquet. 11. xv, Those mischievous Imps, whom the world .. Has strangely agreed to denominate ‘Blue.’ 1856 Bryant On Revisit. Country v, The mountain wind .. Sweeps the blue streams of pestilence away.

9. colloq. a. Indecent, obscene. Cf. blue sb. 14 and blueness 4. 1864 Hotten Slang Diet. 78 Blue, said of talk that is smutty or indecent. 1935 Economist 16 Mar. 584/2 The songs sounded not vulgar exactly, but.. ‘a bit on the blue side’. 1959 Spectator 14 Aug. 180/1 It meant that the theatre-going public were deprived of.. outstanding contemporary plays, yet allowed to visit ‘blue’ variety shows. 1965 Punch 2 June 799/1 He also wanted to see a blue movie.

b. (See quot. 1890.) 1890 Farmer Slang I. 256/1 To make the air blue, to curse; to swear; to use profane language. 1924 ‘R. Crompton’ William—the Fourth iv. 72 A man in his shirt-sleeves whose language is turning the air blue for miles around.

10. Phrases (colloq.). till all is blue: said of the effect of drinking on the eyesight, by all thafs blue: cf. Fr. parbleu (euphem. for pardieu.) 1616 R. C. Times' Whis. v. 1835 They drink .. Vntill their adle heads doe make the ground Seeme blew vnto them. 1838 Fraser's Mag. XVII. 313 Cracking jokes and bottles, until all is blue. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxiii, ‘The black cat, by all that’s blue!’ cried the captain, i860 Bartlett Diet. Amer., Blue., a synonym in the tippler’s vocabulary for ‘drunk’. To drink ‘till all’s blue’ is to get exceedingly tipsy. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., Till all's Blue: carried to the utmost—a phrase borrowed from the idea of a vessel making out of port, and getting into blue water.

III. Comb. 11. General combinations: a. qualifying the names of other colours, as blue-green, -grey, -lilac, -purple, -roan, -violet, -white', also blueblack.

%

BLUE 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 211 His eyeballs, flashing with a *blue-green glare. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 61 The keen glance of her *blue-grey eye. 1882 Garden 2 Dec. 481/2 The colour varies from a deep *blue-purple to a bright violetpurple. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2224/4 A Mare of a *blue roan colour. 1881 Daily News 24 Feb. 3/1 A blue roan .. which won at Oxford last summer. 1879 Rood Chromatics ix. 122 The three fundamental colours.. red, green, and ’"blueviolet. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 1 May 2/3 With half-mad eyes and ♦blue-white quivering lips.

b. parasynthetic and instrumental, as blueaproned [f. blue apron A- -ED2], -backed, -bleak, -blooded, -bloused, -brilliant, -cheeked, -chequed, -clad, -coloured, -faced, -flowered, -haired, -hearted, -laid [see laid], -lined, -mantled, -nailed, -skirted, -stained, -suited, -throated, -ticked, -washed, -winged’, blueglancing, -glirnmering. 1640 Bp. Hall Chr. Moder. 33/1 A separatist, a ♦blueaproned man, that never knew any better school than his shop-board. 1651 Cleveland Poems 51 On J. W. 17 A fair blew-apron’d Priest. 1845 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 174 A ♦blue-backed gull, and a curlew. 1877 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 29 And *blue-bleak embers.. Fall, gall themselves. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford vii. 128 The old ♦blue-blooded inhabitants of Cranford. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. iii. 129 Like an old blue-blooded hidalgo of Spain. 1885 Warren & Cleverly Wand, of Beetle i. 3 The women.. attended *by blue-bloused admirers. 1949 Blunden After Bombing 48 And blue-bloused workmen in the yards at meals. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 143 The peacock.. struts *blue-brilliant out of the far East. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, The Dominie, taking his *blue-checqued handkerchief from his eyes. 1787 Latham Synopsis of Birds Suppl. 93 *Blue-cheeked C[urucui]. 1956 Nature 3 Mar. 404/2 The blue-cheeked bee-eater, added to the British list only in June 1951. 1871 Whitman Passage to India 91 Disperse, ye *blue-clad soldiers! 1858 W. Ellis Visits Madagasc. xi. 280 The little . . *blue-flowered lobelia appeared in great abundance. 1647 H. More Song of Soul 11. in. 1. xxii, The Sun, the Moon, the Earth, ♦blew-glimmering Hel. 1634 Milton Comus 29 This isle.. He quarters to his *blue-haired deities. 1855 Kingsley Heroes v. 167 Poseidon the blue-haired king of the seas. 1956 R. Fuller Image of Society vii. 178 Rose conferred with a blue-haired saleswoman. 1894 Geol. Mag. Oct. 463 A *blue-hearted limestone, c 1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 153/1 Cream and *blue-laid paper. 1658 May Old Couple 1. i. in Dodsley (1780) X. 448 The blushing rose, ♦blue-mantled violet. 1920 T. S. Eliot Ara Vus Prec 15 A meagre, *blue-nailed, phthisic hand. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 6 May 7/1 The voiceless millions of *blue-shirted fellaheen. 1934 Times 19 Feb. 17/3 General O’Duffy was met by 2,000 blue-shirted men and women yesterday. 1925 Blunden English Poems 87 *Blue-suited Labour’s hoeing By Labour’s graves. 1961 Guardian 12 June 7/1 Blue-suited young organisation men. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. 11. ix. (ed. 2) 205 note, The *blue-throated warbler (Sylvia suecica) may be named as a rare visitor. 1908 Daily Chron. 29 Aug. 7/4 The *blue-ticked dog. 1637 Morton New Canaan 11. iv, Teales there are of two sorts, green winged and *blew winged. 1732 Blue-wing’d [see shoveller2 2]. 1789 Morse Amer. Geogr. 59 The Blue winged Teal. Ibid., The Blue winged shoveller. 1878 Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. 60 A blue¬ winged butterfly. 1931 Hardy's Anglers' Guide 60 Dry Flies .. Blue Winged Olive, Male.

12. Used more or less descriptively and distinctively, in forming the names of natural objects: a. Animals, as blue-bill U.S. and dial., = scaupduck; blue-breast, the Blue-throated Redstart or Warbler; blue bull, the Nyl-gau or Nhilgai of India; blue cat, a Siberian cat valued for its fur; also a North American species of cat¬ fish; blue cocks, the Salmo albus; blue fly, a blue-bottle fly; blue fox, a variety of the Arctic fox, and its fur; blue-grey (see quot. 1902); blue hare, the varying hare (see varying ppl. a. 3); blue hawk, (a) the Peregrine Falcon (F. peregrinus)\ (b) the Ring-tailed Harrier (Circus cyaneus), also called blue glede and blue kite; blue-head, a worm used as bait; blue heeler, an Australian cattle-dog with a dark blue speckled body; blue ling, popular name of a kind of ling, Molva byrkelange (earlier called lesser ling); blue pointer, the popular name of a shark of either of two species found esp. in Australasian waters (see quot. 1953); blue poker, a kind of duck, the Pochard; blue-poll, the Salmo albus (= blue cocks); blue-rock, a kind of pigeon; bluetail, (a) dial, the fieldfare; (b) red-flanked bluetail: an Asian bird, Tarsiger cyanurus; blue-throat, any of various birds esp. of the genus Cyanecula or Cyanosylvia (see quots.); blue tit, the Blue Titmouse; = blue cap 4; blue whale, a bluishgrey rorqual, Sibbaldus musculus; blue-wing, name of a genus of ducks; spec, an American variety of teal. Also blue goose, jay, linnet, shark, etc.; and in the names of many artificial angling flies, as blue dun, blue gnat, blue jay, etc. Also BLUE-BIRD, BLUE-BOTTLE, BLUE-CAP, BLUE-FISH. 1813 Wilson Ornith. VIII. 84 Scaup Duck., better known among us by the name of the ♦Blue Bill. 1890 J. Watson Nature & Woodcraft vii. 83 The fishermen hereabout call them [sc. scaups] ‘dowkers’ and ‘bluebills’. 1909 R. W. Chambers Firing Line x, The little blue-bill ducks came swimming in scores. 1965 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Jan. 13 Scaup (bluebill, cockleduck: Morecambe Bay, 1892). 1835 J. Martin Descr. Virginia 347 Fine fish, particularly the mud and *blue cat. 1877 R. I. Dodge

BLUE

324 Hunting Grounds Gt. West 250 The blue cat is also common in all the plain streams, attaining sometimes a weight of fifteen to twenty-five pounds. 1759 Goldsm. Bee No. 4 H 30 A large *blue fly fell into the snare. 1856 Stowe Dred 160 He just puts me in mind of one of these blue-flies. 1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars xi. 151 That howl brings half the forest against me, like blue-flies to meat. 1863 BaringGould Iceland 324 We disturbed a *blue Arctic fox. 1884 Daily News 27 Oct. 2/1 Costly fur, such as sable, blue fox, otter, or beaver. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 191/2 The cross between the Shorthorn and the Aberdeen-Angus [breed of cattle], known as the ‘’"Blue Grey’, i960 Times 25 Jan. 19/1 The original Galloways were put to a Shorthorn bull. This gave us a Bluegrey cow. 1895 R. Lydekker Handbk. Brit. Mammalia 226 The geographical distribution of the Mountain, Alpine, ♦Blue, Irish, or Polar, Hare, as the animal is variously called, is very extensive. 1962 M. Burton Diet. Mammals of World 92 Varying Hare.. also known as Blue Hare, Scottish Hare or Alpine Hare. . has bluish tinge in spring and autumn, at change of coat. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1. v. xi. 6 §3.312 The Marshworm or ""Blue-head is found in moist.. localities. 1946 F. D. Davison Dusty (1947) xvii. 196 One of the dogs was a ♦blue heeler, a cattle dog. 1530 Palsgr. 91 i The ♦blewe kyte,faulz perdrier. 1916 A. Meek Migrations of Fish xviii. 237 Genus Molva .. M. byrkelange. *Blue or lesser ling. Ibid. 238 The blue ling is occasionally landed at our ports from boats which have been fishing in deep water to the north. 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish of N.S. W. 95 (Morris), On the appearance of a ‘*blue pointer’ among boats fishing for schnapper outside, the general cry is raised, ‘Look out for the blue pointer’. 1917 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 588/1 Those that the Sydney fisherman knows best,.. and destroy human life, are the tiger shark, the blue pointer [etc.]. 1953 J. L. B. Smith Sea Fishes S. Afr. 49 Carcharodon car char is.. BluePointer (Durban)... This swift and voracious shark is a terror to all who venture on or in the water. Ibid. 50 Isurus glaucus.. Blue Pointer, Mako Shark... A famous angling fish, abundant in Australasian waters, very swift and powerful. 1780 G. White Selborne xliv. 111, I readily concur with you in supposing that house-doves are derived from the small *blue rock pigeon. 1863 H. Kingsley A. Elliot, A cage containing five-and-twenty ‘blue-rocks’. 1866 J. Bowring in Trans. Devonshire Assoc. Advancem. Sci. I. v. 18 The * blue-tail. .and many more will probably fly away. 1878 H. E. Dresser Hist. Birds of Europe II. lxvii. 2 Nemura Cyanura (Red-flanked Bluetail).. this richly coloured Asiatic bird is found throughout Asia. 1885 S wainson Prov. Names Birds 5 Fieldfare. .From the predominant bluish tinge of its upper plumage are derived: —Blue tail (Midlands; West Riding), [etc.]. 1948 S. Bruce in Scottish Naturalist LX. 6 {title) The Red-Flanked Bluetail in Shetland. Ibid., The bluetail will henceforward appear on the British list... The bluetail is related to the redstarts, bluethroats, robins, and chats. 1873 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Birds (ed. 4) I. 321 The *Bluethroat Phoenicura Suecica. Ibid. 323 The majority of Bluethroats which come to the rest of Continental Europe.. were.. first distinguished by Brehm as Cyanecula leucocyana. 1954 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles III. 307 Bluethroat, Cyanosylvia svecica.. . Red-spotted Bluethroat, Cyanosylvia svecica svecica... White-spotted Bluethroat, Cyanosylvia svecica cyanecula. 1845 Gard. Chron. 86 The robin .. seems to fear the ♦blue-tit. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick I. xxxi. 229 There are a rabble of uncertain, fugitive, half-fabulous whales., the Iceberg Whale .. the ""Blue Whale; &c. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 524/2 The ‘blue whale’, the largest of all known animals, attains a length of 80 or even sometimes 85 feet. 1937 Discovery Nov. 357/2 The largest animal known, the blue whale or Sibbald’s rorqual. 1709 Lawson Carolina 148 The Blue-Wings are less than a Duck, but fine Meat. 1754 [see teal 2]. 1768 Washington Diaries (1925) I. 294 Went into the Neck and up the Creek after Blew Wings. 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting xv. 192 They are a trifle smaller than the blue-wings. 1895 Outing (U.S.) Oct. XXVII. 43/1 A bunch of blue-wing teal rose from the ice-pond. b. Plants, as blue ash U.S., a North American variety of ash; blue-berry, the name of various species of Vaccinium, especially the American V.

corymbosum-,

blue-blaw,

blue-cup,

Centaurea cyanus: — bluebottle i; blue-bush, a popular name of any of several varieties of shrub, esp. the Australian Kochia pyramidata-, blue

chamomile

Starwort,

and

or

other

blue

daisy,

the

blue composite

Sea

flowers;

blue-gage, a kind of plum; blue gum (tree), the Eucalyptus globulus of Australia; blue-hearts, Buchnera

americana;

f blue-pipe,

the

Lilac;

fblue poppy {dial.), bluebottle i; blue rocket, Aconitumpyramidale-, blue star (see quot.); blue tangles, Vaccinium frondosum; blue-weed, Viper’s Bugloss, Echium vulgare. Also in numberless specific names, as blue crane's-bill, etc. See also bluebell, bluebonnet, bluebottle. 1783 W. Fleming in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Col. (1916) 667 ’Blue Ash a spieces of the White Ash and called so from the bark tinging water of that colour. 1819 D. Thomas Trav. 93 The blue ash .. is a fine stately tree of two or three feet diameter, generally of a straight grain, and may be easily split into rails. 1832 D. J. Browne Sylva Amer. 156 The Blue Ash is unknown to the Atlantic parts of the United States. 1772-84 Cook Voy. (1790) VI. 2181 ‘Blue-berries, black-berries, cran-berries, and crow-berries. 1883 Harper s Mag. Mar. 603/2 We are feasting now upon blue¬ berries. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 11. xiii. 161 This floure is called . .of Turner Blew bottell, and ♦Blewblaw. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 92 No sooner hath the Rose plaied his part, but the blew-blaw entereth the stage. 1611 Cotgr., Blaveoles, Blew bottles, Blew blawes, Corne-flowers. 1876 W. HARCUS South Australia 124 (Morris), Thickly grassed with short fine grass, salt and ‘blue bush, and geranium and other herbs. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 7 June 25/2 Blue bush is farfamed among cattlemen—a stout shrub of 2ft. or 3ft. high, with short thick leaves. 1934 Ibid. 5 Dec. 20/2 Sandalwoodtree .. grows over the whole s.-w. of Queensland, though not

always in commercial quantities, and is generally known as ‘plum’ or ‘bluebush’. 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling xviii. 177 All about this country grows a bluebush shrub (actually more green than blue), with closely assembled leaves, very good for sheep. 1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari i. 24 A cleft over-grown and purple with the shadow of blue-bush. 1597 Gerard Herbal lxxxviii. 334 Women that dwell by the sea side, call it.. *blew Daisies, or ♦blew Camomill. 1881 Miss Braddon Asph. II. 95 The purple bloom of grapes and *blue-gages. 1808 Home in Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 305 The tender shoots of the *blue gum tree. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xix. (1873) 435 The trees with the exception of some of the Blue-gums. 1884 igth Cent. Feb. 321 The Eucalyptus globulus or Blue Gum tree of Australia, has a special power of antagonising the spread of malaria. 1697 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XIX. 679 The Common Lilac or *Blew Pipe Tree. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 174/1 The *blue star [grass, of Queensland], Chloris ventricosa. c. Minerals, as blue asbestos = crocidolite; blue-billy (see quots.); blue clay, a clay of this

colour, esp. (a) that used in pottery manufacture (see quot. 1957); (b) = blue ground (see sense 13); blue copper, blue malachite, = azurite; see also copper sb. 1 b; blue copperas, blue vitriol, sulphate of copper (see vitriol); blue felspar, blue spar, = lazulite; blue iron = vivianite; blue lead (see quots.); blue metal, name given by the workmen to a sulphide of copper obtained during the process of coppersmelting; also, argillaceous shale of a bluish colour, used esp. in road-making; blue slipper, local name of the Gault clay. Also blue verditer, etc. See also Blue-John, bluestone. c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 118/1 Carbonic acid, cyanogen, and sulphuretted hydrogen, are extracted from the gas; these combine with the lime, and produce a.. compound, which is technically termed *blue-billy. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Blue-billy, the residuum of cupreous pyrites after roasting with salt. 1733 Ellis Chiltern Vale Farming 17 Black or *Blue Clays—I am now come to touch on the very best of all Clays. 1784 R. Kirwan Elem. Min. viii. 78 Blue clays. These sometimes lose their colour and become white when heated. 1886 G. A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert iii. 31 Two, three, four blasts followed.. and some tons of hard blue clay were loosened ready to be carried to the ‘floors’. 1938 Thorpe's Diet. Appl. Chem. II. 309/1 Diamonds occur sparingly in river beds or embedded in ‘blue clay’. 1957 Encycl. Brit. VII. 842/2 Ball Clay . This is found principally in Devon and in Dorsetshire, and is sometimes known as blue clay, owing to its greyish-blue colour, which is due to organic matter. When fired .. it becomes white. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts 1. 407 *Blue Lead, a name used sometimes by the miners to distinguish galena from the carbonate, or white lead. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Blue-lead (pronounced like the verb to lead), the bluish auriferous gravel and cement deposit found in the ancient river-channels of California. 1808 *Blue metal [see metal sb. 10]. a 1835 J. Phillips Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VI. 628/2 The least fragment of jet or morsel of bituminous shale, especially if accompanied by ‘blue metal’ is enough to make a credulous proprietor listen to an ignorant collier. 1892 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words 69 Blue metal, indurated argillaceous shale, of a bluish purple colour, resembling that of blue slates. 1909 A. H. Davis On our Selection (1953) vi. 30 We had been accustomed to pelt her with potatoes and blue-metal. 1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 102 They came close enough into the college to send messages to the teacher by showering blue metal on the roof of their Alma Mater. 1881 Daily News, A great deal of the most charming scenery of the Undercliff.. is due to the freaks of what is locally called the ‘♦blue slipper.’ 1770 Watson in Phil. Trans. LX. 332 *Blue vitriol, corrosive sublimate. 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 90 The qualities of blue vitriol used for soaking wheat. 13. Special combinations or phrases, t blue

one who wears a blue apron, a tradesman; blue baby, an infant suffering from congenital cyanosis; blue bag, a barrister’s (orig. a solicitor’s) brief-bag of blue stuff; hence, one carrying such a bag; so {nonce) to forget the blue bag, to ignore (the indications of) one’s rank; blue band, a band of glacier ice of a blue colour due to the absence of air-bubbles; blue beat [f. the name of the record label on which it was principally distributed in Britain], used chiefly attrib. of a style of popular music of Jamaican origin characterized by a strong off-beat; a British development of ska; blue blanket, the banner of the Edinburgh craftsmen; fig. the sky; blue blood (see blood 8); blue boy slang, a policeman (usu. in pi.): cf. boys in blue s.v. blue sb. 3 b; so Blue Force; blue brick (see quot. 1889); blue brittleness, the brittleness of steel at blue heat; blue butter = blue ointment-, blue cheese, a cheese marked with veins of blue mould (cf. bleu); blue-collar attrib. (chiefly U.S.), designating a manual or industrial worker, as distinct from a ‘white-collar’ worker; so blue-collared adj.; blue comb (disease), a disease affecting young pullets in which there is cyanosis of the comb; blue dahlia, an expression for anything rare or unheard of; blue disease, a popular name for Cyanosis- blue-domer colloq., one who does not go to church, preferring to worship beneath the ‘blue dome’ of heaven; hence blue-domeism, this attitude to worship, blue-domeist, one who has such an attitude; apron,

BLUE

325

blue earth = blue ground; blue fire, a blue light used on the stage for weird effect; hence attrib. sensational (cf. sense 1 c); blue flint (see quot.); Blue Force (see blue boy); blue gas (see quot.); blue ground, the dark soil, normally greyishblue, in which diamonds are found; Blue Guide [cf. F. Guide Bleu], one of a series of popular guide-books with blue covers; blue heat, a temperature of about 550° Fahr., at which ironwork assumes a bluish tint; blue jacket, a sailor (from the colour of his jacket); esp. used to distinguish the seamen from the marines; blue

jaundice (=

blue disease)-, blue-jean attrib.,

made of blue jean; as sb. pi., trousers made of blue jean; also transf.; hence blue-jeaned adj.; blue laws, severe Puritanic laws said to have been enacted last century at New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.; hence fig.; blue light, a pyrotechnical composition which burns with a blue flame, used also at sea as a night-signal; blue line (in Tennis), the service-line (so coloured); blue mantle, the dress, and the title, of one of the four pursuivants of the English College of Arms; blue measure (see quot.) Obs.; Blue Monday, (a) the Monday before Lent; (b) a Monday spent in dissipation by workmen (cf. Ger. der blaue Montag); blue moon (colloq.), a rarely recurring period; blue-mould, the mould of this colour produced upon cheese, consisting of a fungus, Aspergillus glaucus; hence blue-

moulded,

-moulding

a.;

blue-mouldy

a.,

blue mould; also fig.; Blue Mountain (coffee), a type of Jamaican coffee; blue mud, a marine deposit coloured by organic matter and iron sulphide; Blue Nun = conceptionist 2; blue oil (see quot.); blue ointment mercurial ointment (see mercurial a. 5); blue pencil, a blue ‘lead’ pencil used chiefly in marking corrections, obliterations, and the like; blue-pencil v. trans., to mark, score through, or obliterate with a blue pencil; hence, to make ‘cuts’ in; to censor; also used euphemistically (cf. blank sb. 12 b); hence bluepencilling vbl. sb.; Blue Peter, (a) a blue flag with a white square in the centre, hoisted as the signal of immediate sailing; hence, in Whist, the playing a higher card than is needed, as a signal or ‘call’ for trumps; (b) U.S. (see quots.); blue pigeon slang, f(a) (the act of stealing) lead, esp. that used for roofing; also attrib.; hence to fly the blue pigeon: to steal lead; (b) Naut. the sounding lead; see pigeon sb. 4 b; blue pill, (a) a mercurial pill of antibilious operation; (b) U.S. slang, a bullet; hence blue-pilled a.; blue-plate, U.S. (see quot. 1961); blue point (see point); blue pot, a pot made of a mixture of clay and graphite, a black-lead crucible; blue process (see quot.); blue (process) paper, a sensitized paper used for copying maps and plans, made by saturating the paper with potassium ferrocyanide; blue ruin (slang), gin, usually of bad quality; Blue Shirt, Blueshirt, one who wears a blue shirt as a sign of allegiance to or membership of a particular group, party, etc.; blue streak colloq. (orig. U.S.), (a) something resembling a flash of lightning in speed, vividness, etc.; (b) a constant stream of words; esp. in phr. to talk a blue streak; Blue Train [cf. F. Train Bleu] (see quot. 1951); blue-vinnied a. dial. [cf. finny, vinny a.2], having a blue mould; hence blue-vinn(e)y, a blue-mould cheese made in Dorsetshire; blue-washed a., (a) washed by the blue sea; (b) covered with a blue wash; blue water, the open sea; blue water-gas = blue gas; blue-water school, a collective term applied to politicians or political thinkers who regard a strong navy and the command of the sea as essential to the security of the country, or as the chief or the only sufficient defence. See also blue-beard, blue-book, etc. covered

with

1726 Amherst Terrse Fit. xliii. 230 For, if any saucy ‘blue apron dares to affront any venerable person .. all scholars are immediately forbid to have any dealings or commerce with him. 1903 R. H. Babcock Dis. Heart xxix. 692 The little patient had been a *blue baby from birth. 1964 M. McLuhan Understanding Media II. xxviii. 282 Watching a blue-baby heart operation on TV. 1809 Malkin tr. Le Sage’s Gil Bias 11. v. i. 343 Said I to myself, every now and then, when they forgot the *blue-bag: this is the way of the world! Every one fancies himself to be.. superior to his neighbour. 1817 Black Dwarf 31 Dec. 814 Black legs, bluebags, learned wig-blocks. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxiii, Mr. Pickwick.. followed Mr. Perker and the blue bag out of court. 1852-Bleak Ho. i, A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks. 1910 Blue bag [see brief sb. n], 1895 Dana Man. Geol. (ed. 4) 243 Lamellar or straticulate structure of glacier-ice modified by .. the ‘‘blue bands’, or 'veined structure’. 1937 Discovery Feb. 36/1 There are ‘blue bands’ or layers of a very much

harder ice, containing small bubbles of air. 1968 Listener 29 Feb. 284/3 Surprising.. to see his group of pugnacious London 13 to 14-year-olds acting out a kind of ballet about cowboys to their own selection of ‘blue-beat music. 1971 [see rocksteady], 1974 A. Ali Westindians in Gt. Brit. 96 He .. cherishes the memories of ‘the Blue Beat era’. 1980 Oxford Times 18 Jan. 15/1 The name most commonly applied to the Specials’ style is ‘ska’ or ‘bluebeat’, which means that it harks back to the pre-reggae sound of West Indian music. 1599 JAS. I. Basil. Doron (1603)51 If they in any thing be controlled, up goeth the *blew-blanket. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil 1. v, We must be content till we come ’tother side the Blue-blanket, and then we shall know. 1780 (title) Historical Account of the Blue Blanket or Craftsmen Banner, with the Prerogatives of the Crafts of Edinburgh. 1828-41 Tytler Hist. Scot! (1864) II. 224 Calling out the trained bands and armed citizens beneath a banner presented to them on this occasion [1482] and denominated the Blue Blanket. 1883 Jas. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 68 The instrumental ‘‘blue boys’ belonging to several metropolitan divisions. 1912 A. S. M. Hutchinson Happy Warrior v. vii. §2 The Blue Boys from the police-station.. scoured the country. 1850 R. Prosser in E. Dobson Manuf. Bricks & Tiles 1. iv. 99 An ordinary ‘blue brick weighs, wet from the mould, 12 lbs. 4 oz. 1889 E. J. Burrell Elem. Building Construction xiv. 218 Staffordshire blue bricks. These are composed of clay containing a large percentage of oxide of iron, which is converted into the black oxide by intense heat, giving a characteristic dark-blue colour to the bricks. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Diet. 99/1 Blue bricks, ..(made chiefly in Staffordshire and North Wales)., form the best quality engineering bricks. 1919 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. C. 521 Fettweis. .explains the phenomenon of ‘blue¬ brittleness and the aging of steel. 1959 Ibid. CXCI. 100/2 It was found that the best heat treatment for reducing blue brittleness in 0-55% C steel was subcritical annealing at 550° C. 1874 Hotten Slang Diet., *Blue Butter, mercurial ointment used for the destruction of parasites. 1925 L. J. Lord Pract. Butter Cheese Making xxvi. 145 This kind [sc. Stilton] and that next described are full-milk ‘blue cheeses. 1950 Tuscaloosa News 25 Nov. 1/5 ‘‘Blue collar’ workers also include helpers, laborers, and supervisors. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 631/1 The blue-collar people, the machine operators. 1959 Observer 1 Nov. 8/2 The split is no longer between white- and blue-collar workers, but between those with and those without the college diplomas. 1967 Boston Herald 1 Apr. 5/8 He thought his main appeal would be to the ‘little business men’, clerks, auto workers, building and trade workers and similar blue collar groups. 1959 V. Packard Status Seekers (i960) ii. 25 The recent great gain of white-collared workers over *blue-collared ones. 1967 Guardian 16 May 2/4 The traditional ‘iron curtain’ between white and blue collared civil servants. 1941 Amer. Jrnl. Vet. Res. II. 261/2 Depression is marked and the comb may be wilted and cyanotic, hence the popular name ‘*blue comb’. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. May 442/1 The condition of poultry known as pullet disease, blue-comb disease, new wheat disease, or X disease has been known in Great Britain and America for several years. [1820 Shelley Cloud vi, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams, Build up the blue dome of air.] 1945 A. Huxley Time must have a Stop xxx. 289 Those of us who .. have found that humanism and *blue-domeism are not enough. 1952 J. Masefield So Long to Learn 11. 100 There were .. Celtic Fringers,.. Blue Domeists, [etc.]. 1961 Partridge Diet. Slang (ed. 5) 1005/1 Bluedomer, an officer that absents himself from church parade. 1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Aug. 554/4 ‘Blue-domer’ parents in whose eyes the most damnable thing was to be ‘pi’. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 22 May 3/2 The well-known ‘*blue earth’ of the diamond mines. 1875 C. L. Kenney Mem. Balfe 131 The same theatre .. set up a formidable opposition .. in the shape of a *blue fire melodrama. 1861 J. Sheppard Fall Rome vi. 309 Many persons living can recollect that their English auxiliaries were termed *Blue Flints by the peasants of Vendee, from the unusual colour of the flints in their musket-locks. 1927 Daily Express 27 Dec. 1 The ‘*Blue Force’,—that is, the uniform branch of the police. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 602/1 Water gas in its original state is called ‘*blue gas’, because it burns with a blue, nonluminous flame. 1886 J. Noble Handbk. Cape Good Hope 192 The ‘*blue ground’.. far from being barren of diamonds .. yielded even better returns than the upper layers of ‘yellow ground’. 1911 Daily Chron. 25 Mar. 3/2 Of very great rarity is a piece of ‘blue ground’ with a diamond embedded in it... The ‘blue ground’.. is .. not uncommonly black or brown. 1918 (title) The *Blue Guides: London & its Environs. 1935 Discovery June 156/2 The Blue Guides. . bear the mark of an original and scholarly mind. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §328 The iron came to about, or rather above, a *blue heat. 1879 Cassells Techn. Educ. IV. 400/1 A temperature known as a blue or black heat. 1830 Marryat King's Own ii, Every *‘blue jacket’ would walk over. 1859 L. Oliphant Elgin's Miss. China I. 128 The ladders.. were soon swarming with marines and blue-jackets. 1855 H. Melville Israel Potter xx. 216 Across the otherwise *blue-jean career of Israel, Paul Jones flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. 1932 F. L. Wright Autobiogr. 1. 16 Blue-jean overalls with blue cotton suspenders. 1957 Blue jeans [see jean], i960 20th Cent. Dec. 557 A simple provincial gaucheness, a corny blue-jeans innocence. 1956 J. Potts Diehard viii. 138 She .. swung her *blue-jeaned legs. 1781 S. Peters Hist. Connecticut (1877) 44 Even the religious fanatics of Boston and the mad zealots of Hertford.. christened them the ‘*Blue Laws’. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes I. v. 175 The local legislature of Connecticut, which sage body enacted . . the renowned code of ‘Blue Laws’. 1876 Emerson Ess. Ser. 1. viii. 204 Simple hearts.. play their own game in innocent defiance of the Blue-laws of the world. 1805 Nelson Disp. (1846) VII. 57, I had rather that all the Ships burnt a *blue-light. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 51 Blue lights and Catharine wheels, .all firing away. 1616 Bulloker, *Blewmantle, the name of an office of one of the Purseuants at armes. 1766 Entick London IV. 27 The four pursuivants.. are Rougecroix, Bluemantle, Rougedragon, and Portcullis. 1814 Scott Wav. ii, A tie which Sir Everard held as sacred as either Garter or Blue-Mantle. 1891 Daily News 27 Apr. 3/2 The ‘*Blue’ Measure... A measure called the blue (which contained two-thirds of a pint, and was universally used in Wales). 1801 W. Render Tour through Germany I. 100 Germany is indebted to this wise emperor [5c. Joseph II], among many other abolitions, to the two following in particular; namely, Der blaue Montag, ‘the *blue Monday’,

BLUE and the ‘infamy of certain trades’. 1840 Boston Transcript 2 Mar. 2/2 This was blue Monday in the House. 1844 W. Howitt tr. Holthaus's Wand. Journeyman Tailor ix. 109, I did not omit on Sundays, and sometimes too on blue Mondays, to go about and observe the life and manners of this great city [sc. Constantinople]. 1885 Harper's Mag. 873/1 The workman getting sober after his usual ‘blue Monday’. 1821 P. Egan Real Life in London I. xiv. 249 ‘How’s Harry and Ben? — haven’t seen you this *blue moon.' [Footnote] Blue Moon—This is usually intended to imply a long time. 1869 E. Yates Wrecked in Port xxii. 242 That indefinite period known as a ‘blue moon’. 1876 Miss Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. xxiv. 246 A fruit pasty once in a blue moon. 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 28 *Blew mould and Mushromes. 1863 Cornh. Mag., Roundab. Papers xxvii, Carps . . with great humps of blue mould on their old backs. 1864 C. O’Dowd Men & Worn. 7 The Austrians, as Paddy says, are *blue-moulded for want of a beatin. [The expression is usually ‘blue-mouldy for want of a bating’.] 1876 Daily News 3 Nov. 5/5 If this [bad weather] continues there is a danger of us all getting blue-moulded. 1874 Hardy Madding Crowd II. iii. 39 Stales [5c. cakes], that were all but *blue-mouldy, but not quite. 1900 Daily News 3 Apr. 2/5, I was ‘blue-mouldy for want of a batin’,’ as they say in certain parts of the Empire. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 293, I was blue mouldy for the want of that pint. 1922 W. H. Ukers All about Coffee xxiv. 350 Jamaica produces two distinct types of coffee, the highland and the lowland growths. Among the first named is the celebrated *Blue Mountain coffee, which has a well developed pale blue-green bean that makes.. a pleasantly aromatic cup. 1963 L. Deighton Horse under Water xxxiii. 130, I was drinking a second cup of Blue Mountain. 1876 J. Murray in Proc. R. Soc. XXIV. 499 A *blue mud containing: A great many pelagic Foraminifera and some Pteropod shells. 1882 Geikie Text-Bk. Geol. ill. ii. 438 The deposits were found to consist of blue and green muds derived from the degradation of older crystalline rocks. 1885 Blue mud [see mud sb.1 1 c]. a 1700 in Harleian Misc. (1744) I. 425/2 A Monastery of Visitation-Nuns, otherwise *Blue Nuns, a 1848 E. Petre Notices of Eng. Colleges (1849) p. v, Nuns of the Conception, or Blue Nuns, at Paris. 1931 N. & Q. 22 Aug. 143/2 The most prominent of them is Elizabeth Anne, who helped to establish the Blue Nuns in Paris, and became their Abbess. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 242/2 The oil from which hard and soft paraffin are separated .. exhibits a blue fluorescence, and is hence called *blue oil. 1839 R. Hooper's Lex. Med. (ed. 7) 268/1 *Blue ointment, the mercurial ointment. 1888 N. Y. Herald 29 July (Farmer), The editor of the Century Magazine *blue pencils magazine articles by the bushel. 1893 Kipling Many Invent. 167 The blue pencil plunged remorselessly through the slips. 1899 Daily News 17 Feb., The actor will have a better chance after the blue pencil has eliminated the unnecessary verbiage in the dialogue. 1904 S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories iii. 48 One log had not been bluepencilled across the end. 1914 G. Cannan Old Mole 39 He blue-pencilled false quantities in Latin verse. 1925 Mus. Assoc. Proc. 60 He would blue-pencil an unprepared chord of the seventh in a motet in the style of Palestrina. 1940 New Statesman 13 Apr. 491/2 They certainly are blue-pencil unpopular with a lot of people in wartime. 1904 A. Bennett Great Man xxviii. 331 The *blue-pencilling of the play proceeded. 1709 Lawson Carolina 151 *Blue-Peters, the same as you call Water-Hens in England, are here very numerous. 1823 Byron Juan xi. lxxxiii, It is time that I should hoist my ‘"‘blue Peter’, And sail for a new theme. 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 23 At the foremast head .. the ‘blue Peter’ was flying as a summons to the hands on shore to come aboard. f 1875 Beeton’s Handy Bk. Games 358 Since the introduction of Blue Peter, the necessity of leading through your adversary’s hand has become less and less. 1917 Birds of Amer. I. 214 Coot. Fulica americana... Other names.—American Coot.. Blue Peter. 1732 Select Trials Old-Bailey (1735) II. 468/1 We could find no better Business than stealing Lead—We call it the *Blue Pigeon, or the Buff-Lay. 1781 G. Parker View of Society II. i. 63 Blue Pigeon-Flyer. These are Journeymen Plumbers and Glaziers who repair houses, and Running Dustmen. To fly the Blue Pigeon is cutting off lead from what they call a Prayer Book up to a Bible. 1789-Life's Painter xv. 165 Blue pigeon flying. Fellows who steal lead off houses, or cut pipes away. 1856 Harper's Mag. XIII. 589/1 The speed [of the ship] was slackened, and the ‘blue pigeon’ kept constantly moving. 1887 Judy 27 Apr. 200 A burglar whose particular ‘ lay’ was flying the blue pigeon, i.e., stealing lead. 1897 Blue pigeon [see pigeon sb. 4b]. 1794-1824 D’Israeli Cur. Lit., Med. & Mor., The most artificial logic.. may be swallowed with the *blue pill, or any other in vogue. 1834 ‘J. Downing’ Andrew Jackson 111 They saw no hopes from fitin, they wern’t fond of blue pills. 1861 E. Mayhew Dogs 102 A few years ago.. blue-pill with black draught literally became a part of the national diet. 1871 Planche K. Christmas, There are blue devils which defy blue pills. 1945 S. Lewis C. Timber lane (1946) xix. 112 They were taking the *Blue Plate Dinner. 1952 Auden Nones 27 Having finished the Blue-plate Special And reached the coffee stage. 1961 Webster Blue Plate. 1. A restaurant dinner plate divided into compartments for serving several kinds of food as a single order. 2. A main course (as of meat and vegetable) served as a single menu item. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 85 The.. crucibles for this purpose are known by the name of *blue-pots. a 1884 Knight Diet. Mech. Suppl., *Blue Process for Copying, a mode of copying tracings in lieu of re-tracing them. 1819 Moore Epist. fr. T. Cribb 15 One swig of *Blue Ruin is worth the whole lot! 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ill. x. 334 This latter [Potheen] I have tasted, as well as the English Blue-Ruin, and the Scotch Whisky. 1933 Yeats Let. 13 July in New Statesman (1965) 19 Mar. 441/2 Our chosen colour is blue and *Blueshirts are marching about all over the country. 1937 E. Snow Red Star over China i. 30 Chiang Kai-shek’s own Blueshirt gendarmes. Ibid., Over 300 Communists were imprisoned.. and the Blueshirts were hunting for more. 1938 Ann. Reg. 1937 274 He also demanded that the Blueshirts, a sort of private army of the Wafd, should be dissolved. 1965 C. D. Eby Siege of Alcazar (1966) ii. 48 Moscardo discovered the sixty Falangists hiding in the photography laboratory... Vela argued that if fighting broke out, the Blue Shirts would be useful to the Alcazar. 1830 Kentuckian 14 May, To pass.. with such rapidity as not even to leave a ‘*blue streak’ behind him. 1847 Knickerbocker XXX. 178 Interspersing his vehement comments with a ‘blue streak’ of oaths. 1895 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 289, I.. drove in her sort of.. carryall

I

BLUE .. talking a blue streak two miles to her house. 1937 Runyon More than Somewhat iii. 64 She hears .. a guy cussing a blue streak. 1949 Landfall III. 236 Sid was talking a blue streak to Jean. 1968 'R. Raine’ Night of Hawk xxii. 109, I was talking a blue streak, my expression like thunder. 1928 A. Christie Mystery of * Blue Train ix. 65 The best train is what they call ‘The Blue Train’. You avoid the tiresome Customs business at Calais. 1951 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IV. 46/2 Blue Train. This train, named from the colour of its cars, was originally the Calais-Mediterranean express, which carried passengers to and from the sea-side towns of the French Riviera. More recently, however, the main Blue Train has worked between Paris and Mentone .. though sleeping cars run through from Calais to Mentone without a change. 1893 Dartnell & Goddard Wiltshire Gloss. 14 * Bluc-vinnied, covered with blue mould. 1863 *Blue vinny [see finny a.2]. 1886 W. Barnes Gloss. Dorset Dial. 50 Blue-vinny>, or vinnied, cheese, blue mouldy. 1895 ‘C. Hare’ Down Village Street 231 Us do want., a pen’orth o’ blue-vinny cheese. 1955 J- G. Davis Diet. Dairying (ed. 2) 190 Dorset Blue cheese (also knowp as Blue Vinney).. is a skimmed-milk cheese. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 18 Nov. 6/3 A small stone city, set round a *blue-washed bay. 1906 Ibid. 13 Jan. 4/3 Out in the blue-washed bay. Ibid. 14 Nov. 2/1 From the blue-washed wall an unshaded lamp shone brilliantly. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 202 When we once are fairly out of harbour, and find ourselves in *blue water. 1921 Flight XIII. 387/2 There is also a hydrogen plant, of the blue water gas type, having a capacity of 200,000 cu. ft. per day of hydrogen at not less than 99 2 per cent, purity. 1944 Gloss. Terms Gas Industry {B.S.I.) 20 Blue water-gas {B.W.G.), gas consisting almost exclusively of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in nearly equal proportions. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 13 Jan. 3/2 Mr. Roosevelt is revealed .. as convinced a member of the *bluewater school as Mr. Clowes in England. 1908 [see sense 3]. 1966 New Statesman 25 Feb. 247/1 The differences between the Powellites and the Blue Water school on China, Vietnam, Aden [etc.].

blue, sb. [the adj. used absol. or elliptically.] 1. Blue colour. (It may have a plural.) a 1300 Cursor M. 9920 pe toiler.. Es al o bleu, men cals Ind. c 1500 Maid Magpie in Halliw. Nugae P. 43 His love was as a paynted blewe. 1599 Greene George a Gr. (1861) 258 Right Coventry blue. a tene bodewordess. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 361 For Shu min bodeword haues broken, a 1300 E.E. Psalter ii. 6 (Matz.) Spelland his bodeworde.

f2. Message, announcement. Obs. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2880 Codes bode-wurd bringe ic. c 1325 Metr. Horn. 44 Hou sain Jon bodword broht bald. He was ryt Cristes messager. 1375 Barbour Bruce xv. 423 Of this avow soyne bodword was Brocht till schir lames of douglass. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 58 Gladly they wold me greyf, If I syche bodworde broght. I5I3 Douglas JEneis vn. vi. 4 Of peax and concord bodword brocht agane. a 1700 Ballad lBatt. Harlaw' Sent nae bodword back again.

3. Premonition, presage. 1832-53 Whistle-binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. in. 84 Sae braw a mornin’ gae a bodeword fell, That some wanchance was no that far awa.

f bodge, sb.1 Obs. or dial. [f. bodge v.: cf. botch sb,2]. A clumsy patch; a botched piece of work. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 20 You shall blush at your owne bodges. 1598 Florio, Sbozzi, bodges, or bunger-like workes. 1877 Peacock North Lincolnsh. Gl., Bodge, a botch, a clumsy patch.

t bodge, sb.2 Obs. Also6bogge. A measure used in selling oats, etc.; app. about half a peck. 1520 MS. Acc. St.John’s Hosp., Canterb., iij bogges of benys. 1631 B. Jonson New (1692) 726 To the last Bodge of Oats, and 1683 Rob. Conscience in Harl. Misc. I. 50 which for half-pecks go, They vowed at my

f bodge, v.

BODILY

352

Obs. or dial.

iij busshellis & Inn I. v. Wks. Bottle of Hay. Their bodges, head to throw.

[An altered form of

botch v.; cf. grudge from grutch.]

1. trans. To patch or mend clumsily. 1552 Huloet, Bodge or botche olde clothes. 1570 Levins Manip. 156 To Bodge, sarcire. 1870-[in Leicestersh., Nth. LincolnshShropsh., and other dial. Glossaries].

2. to bodge up: to put together clumsily; to botch up, to do or make up in a clumsy fashion. 1578 T. White Serm. St. Paules Cross 33 To bodge up a house which will never abide the trial. Ibid. 47 A disease is but bodged or patched up that is not cured in the cause. 1593 Nashe Christ’s T. 55 b, They.. that bungle and bodge vppe wicked verses. 1881 Daily News 31 Aug. 2/2 Gaps bodged up by the rudest of post and pole barriers.

bodge, obs. or dial. f. badge v.2, budge. t bodged, ppl. a. Obs. or dial. [f. bodge v. + -ed1.] Made up clumsily, botched. 1519 Horman Vulgaria in Promp. Parv. 42 Thou hast but bodchyd and countrefeat Latten, imaginarie umbratilisque figure. 1569 J. Sanford Agrippa's Van. Artes 12 b, With bodged verses to delite the eares of fooles.

bodger, sb.1 Obs. or dial. [f. bodge v. 4- -er1.] One who ‘bodges’; a botcher. 1552 Huloet, Bodger, botcher, mender, or patcher of olde garmentes. 1567 H arding in Jewell Def. Apol. (1611) 500 Be they.. Tinkers or Tapsters, coblers or Bodgers. [In modern dialects.]

'badger, sb.2 Obs. or dial. [? = badger sb.1] ? A travelling dealer, a pedlar. 1736 W. Ellis New Exper. Husb. 49 (E.D.S.) The sheepbodgers or dealers. 1810 Crabbe Borough v. Wks. 1834 III. 108 The warmest burgess wears a bodger’s coat.

bodger ('bDd33(r)), sb.3 dial. In full chair bodger. A local name in Buckinghamshire for a chair-leg turner. Hence (chair-)bodgering, the action or process of chair-leg turning. 191X G. Eland Chilterns & Vale vi. 136 The men who thus work in the woods are called ‘chair-bodgers’. Ibid. 137 The purchaser then employs the ‘bodger’ to turn it [$c. a ‘fall’ of beech] into chair-legs. 1921 K. S. Woods Rural Industries round Oxford 11. i. 102 Most village turners or ‘chair bodgers’ confine themselves to the making of legs which they sell to the factories, mainly at Wycombe. 1939 D. Hartley Made in England i. 23 The shed for bodgering jobs may be left standing the whole year.

bodger ('bod39(r)), a. Austral, slang. Inferior, worthless; (of names) false, assumed. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. viii. 156 Bodger, worthless, second-rate. (This term is apparently related to English dialect in which bodge means to botch or work clumsily.) 1950 F. J. Hardy Power without Glory 383 This entailed the addition of as many more ‘bodger’ votes as possible. 1954 - in Coast to Coast 1953-4 76 We stuck together all through the war—we was in under bodger names.

f'bodgery. Obs. Botched work, bungling. 1592 Nashe Strange News Bivb, Doe you know your owne misbegotten bodgery?

bodgie ('bodji). Austral, and N.Z. [Perh. f. bodger a. + -IE.] A teenage boy who conforms to certain fashions in dress, etc. (see quots. 1952); the Australasian counterpart of a teddyboy. Hence 'bodgieism, the state or condition of being a ‘bodgie’. 1952 Sunday Chron. 6 Jan. 4/8 Bodgie, boy with crew-cut and zoot-suit, playing juke-box in milk-bar. 1952 H. Boyle in Wentworth & Flexner Diet. Amer. Slang (i960) 49/1 A bodgie is a jitterbug-crazy boy ‘who wears his hair curled and long and a sport coat too big for him’. 1958 A. E. Manning The Bodgie vii. 89/2 These ‘Bodgies’ and ‘Widgies’ are not bad however repellent their conduct may appear. 1958 N.Z. Listener 3 Oct. 10/3 Every psychologist who has talked with bodgies will know that fear of an uncertain future is one of the factors in youthful misconduct. 1958 N.Z. Herald 5 Nov. 14/7 Some of New Zealand’s suggested cures for ‘bodgieism’ were not only ‘wide of the mark’ but surprisingly ‘vindictive’, says Dr. D. P. Ausubel.

f'bodging, vbl. sb.1 Obs. Also 6 and 9 dial. bogging, [f. bodge v. 4 -ING1.] 1. The action of patching clumsily. 1633 Sanderson Serm. ad Aul. iii. (1681) II. 36 The Bodging in of a course Shred into a fine garment. 2. Botching, bungling. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 107 To tume the prose of the Poets into the Poets owne verse, without any bodging.

'bodging, vbl. sb.2 bodger3.

{dial.)

—

bodgering; see

1953 A. Jobson Househ. Sf Country Crafts xx. 178 Of all the woodland crafts, that of chair-bodging seems the most rural. 1957 Times 2 July (Agric. Suppl.) p. viii/7 The demonstration of chair leg bodging.

HBodhisattva (bodi'saetva). Buddhism. Also Bodhisat, Bodhisatta, Bodhisatwa, [Skr., ‘one whose essence is perfect knowledge’, f. bodhi perfect knowledge (budh to know: see Buddha) -1- sattva being, reality.] One destined to become a Buddha; a Buddhist saint who, having only one birth to undergo before attaining Nirvana, consents to be reborn for the sake of suffering mankind; a superhuman being of infinite wisdom and compassion. Hence bodhi'sattvahood, -ship, -'satship, the state of a Bodhisattva. 1828 Asiatic Res. XVI. 422 The form of the works.. is that of a lecture, or lesson, delivered by a Buddha to his Bodhisatwas, or disciples. 1850 R. Spence Hardy Eastern Monachism xviii. 170 The Jatakan, containing an account of 550 births of the Bodhisat who afterwards became Gotama Budha. 1889 M. Monier-Williams Buddhism v. 98 He [sc. Buddha] gave to every being destined to become a Buddha the title Bodhi-sattva (Bodhi-satta), ‘one having knowledge derived from self-enlightening intellect for his essence’. Ibid. 181 He had transferred the Bodhi-sattvaship to Maitreya. 1895 L. A. Waddell Buddhism of Tibet vi. 138 The Arhats being dead cannot be active, the Bodhisattvas as living beings can. 1926 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 96/2 The leaders of the Great Vehicle urged their followers to seek to attain, not so much to Arahatship, which would involve only their own salvation, but to Bodhisatship. 1927 A. Huxley Proper Studies 181 Buddhism became an entirely new religion, with a pantheon of Bodhisattvas. 1951 H. Zimmer Philos. India 510 His [sc. Fa Hian’s, c. 400 a.d.] account of the cities further west reveals that at Mathura the Bodhisattvas Manjusri and Avalokitesvara received worship as divinities —which is a Mahayana feature. Ibid. 553 Within the hearts of ail creatures compassion is present as the sign of their potential Bodhisattvahood. 1957 B. J. Gould Jewel in Lotus 210 The Dalai Lamas are Bodhisattvas in whom is incarnate Chenrezi, the God of Mercy.

bodice (’bodis). Forms: 6-7 bodies, 8-9 boddice, 7- bodice. [A variant of bodies (see body sb. 6), retaining the earlier sound of final -s, the original phrase being ‘a pair of bodies’; even with the spelling bodice the word was formerly (like pence, mice, dice, truce) treated as a plural.] 1. Formerly, a. An inner garment for the upper part of the body, quilted and strengthened with whalebone (worn chiefly by women, but also by men); a corset, stays; freq. called a pair of bodies (bodice) = ‘a pair of stays’. 1618 Fletcher Loyal Subj. ii. i. 31 If the bones want setting In her old bodies, a 1637 B. Jonson Elegie lx. (1854) 829 The whale-bone man That quilts those bodies I have leave to span. 1674 Grew Anat. Plants v. §3 A Flower without its Empalement, would hang as uncouth and taudry, as a Lady without her Bodies. 1679 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 23 Mowbray.. having a pair of bodice on, and falling down as if really dead, the assassinate fled. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4196/4 A pair of new blewish Bodice. 1779 Johnson Pope, L.P. (1787) IV. 91 [Pope] was invested in boddice made of stiff canvass, being scarce able to hold himself erect till they were laced.

b .fig. 1732 Fielding Covent Gard.Jrnl. No. 55 His sentiment, when let loose from that stiff boddice in which it is laced. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. (1872) III. 303/1 It was never.. found politic to put trade into straitlaced bodices. 2. The upper part of a woman’s dress, a tight-

fitting outer vest or waistcoat, either made in a piece with the skirt or separate (cf. body sb.);

formerly also, an inner vest worn immediately over the stays. 1566-7 Prec. Treas. in Chalmers Mary (1818) I. 207 Of ormaise taffatis to lyne the bodies and sclevis of the goune and vellicote. 1625 Fletcher Fair Maid 11. ii. 35 Nothing but her vpper bodies. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 1. 64 They wear a Bodies of Red or Green Velvet. 1712 Steele Sped. No. 276 If 3 He keeps me in a pair of Slippers, neat Bodice, warm Petticoats. 1873 Black Pr. of Thule vii. 98 She wore a tight-fitting bodice of cream-white flannel.

3. Comb, and Attrib., as bodice hand, -maker, -seller. 1672 R. Wild Declar. Lib. Consc. 2 A neighbouring Bodies-maker, that whistles a Psalm-tune. 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1980/4 Mr. John Nichols Bodice seller at the Falcon on London Bridge. 1701 Ibid. No. 375^/8 At Mr. Cade s, a Bodice-seller. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 40 |f 12 The taylors and boddice-makers of the present age.

bodied (’bodid), ppl. a. [f. body sb. + -ed.] 1. Having a body or trunk; usually with an adjective, forming a parasynthetic comb., as big¬ bodied, able-bodied, etc. a 1547 Surrey JEneid iv. 582 Like to the aged boysteous bodied oke. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. IV. ii. 20 He is deformed .. Ill-fac’d, worse bodied, shapelesse euery where. 1625 Purchas Pilgrims 11. 1421 The women in Camienitz goe with their Coates close bodied. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 339 He [unicorn] is commonly pictured, bodied like a buck. 1729 T. Cooke Tales, Propos. etc. 121 Light body’d Cranes. 1875 Blackmore C. Vaughan xv. 49 Of moderate stature, gauntly bodied, and loosely built.

b. Having substance, strength, consistency, etc. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. x. (1614) 19/1 Springs., gathering stil strength with more branches, lastly grow bodyed able to beare ships into the land, c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 372 The most firm, the best bodied, and lastingest wine. 1666 Evelyn Diary (1827) II. 260 Drebbell, inventor of y* boedied scarlet.

2. Endowed with material form or being; made corporeal or material; embodied. 1646 J. Hall Poems 39 Ne’re a body’d nothing shall perceive How we unite, how we together cleave. 1840 Carlyle Heroes iii. 140 Bodied or bodiless, it is the one fact important for all men:—but to Dante, in that age, it was bodied in fixed certainty of scientific shape. 1855 Browning One Word More, in Men Sf Worn. II. 240 Like the bodied heaven in clearness Shone the stone.

f'bodify, v.

Obs.

[f. body sb.

+ -fy.]

To

embody. 1685 Roxb. Ballads (1885) V. 541 Arch-Angels sure, leaving their glorious Sphere, Once more themselves have Bodified and here Resolve as English Nobles to appear.

t'bodi3lich. Obs. rare. [A compound used by Ormin; f. bodig, body sb. + lich, body; also used by him separately as synonymous terms.] = body sb. c 1260 Ormin 16294 Cristess hall3he bodi3lich. 16340 Adam .. Off whamm I toe mi bodi3lich.

Ibid.

bodikin, bodikie. Obs. Also bodkin, [dim. of body sb.: see -kin2, -kie.] 1. A diminutive body; a corpuscle, an atom. f

1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. 11. vi. 106 Small Boddikies or indivisible Particles of the Blood.. If any reliques of the said Bodikies did remain. 1721-1800 Bailey, Body kin, a little body. Obs.

2. {God's, ods) bodikins! bodkins! {bodlikins!) God’s dear body!: an oath. Cf. body sb.4. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 11. iii. 46 Body-kins M. Page. 1602 -Ham. 11. ii. 554 Gods bodykins [Qq. Bodkin] man, better. 1733 Fielding Quix. in Eng. 11. viii, Odsbodlikins.. you have a strange sort of a taste. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 63/1 As for the matter of dress, bodlikins!

bodiless (’bodilis), a. [f. body sb. + -less.] 1. Having no body, no material form or being; incorporeal; without substance, unsubstantial. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. 11. ii. (1495) 27 Angel is substancia intellectuall alway mouable . free and bodylesse. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 266 A vain bodylesse shew of fayth doth not iustifie. 1602 Shaks. Ham. iii. iv. 138 This is the very coynage of your Braine, This Bodilesse Creation extasie Is very cunning in. 1610 W. Folkingham Art Survey 11. vi. 58 Gum-water, very thinne and bodilesse. 1733 Swift Legion Club Wks. 1755 IV. 1. 203 Phantoms bodiless and vain. 1868 Robertson Serm. Ser. iv. xxix. 221 Man becomes for ever a bodiless spirit.

2. Wanting the trunk; trunkless. 1587 Censure loyall Subj. (Collier) 9 My eies saw their traiterous harts burned, and bodilesse heads aduanced to view. 1810 Southey Kehama xi. viii, Two winged Hands came in, Armless and bodyless. 1831 Blackw. Mag. XXIX. 219 The bodiless cherubs on our churchyard stones.

Hence 'bodilessness. 1847 J- C. & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth (series 1, ed. 3) 55 The living energy and definiteness and bodiliness of Homer’s characters. 1869 R. Wallis Delitzsch's Bibl. Pyschol. 513 In contradiction to. .bodilessness.

'bodilize, v. nonce-wd. [suggested by spiritualize.] trans. To make corporeal or material. 1843 Southey Doctor clxxxiv. (D.) Unless we endeavour to spiritualise ourselves.. age bodilises us more and more.

bodily ('bodili), a. Also 3-5 bodili, 4 bodi-, bodylich(e, 4-6 bodely, 4 bodeli, 6 bodelie, bodyly(e, 7 bodilie. [f. body sb. + -ly1.] f 1. Of the nature of body, corporeal, material, physical; as opposed to spiritual. Obs.

BODILY a 1300 Cursor M. 428 Wit angel pat es gastli, And with man pat es bodili. a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3129 Som clerkes, pat spekes of purgatory Says pat pe fire pare is bodily, And noght gastly als pe saule es. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 11. xvi. 243 The bodili heuen and hise seid bodili parties. 1528 More Heresyes 1. Wks. 152/2 That any bodily thyng should drawe an other without touching. 1633 Earl Manch. Al Mondo 178 There are three bodily Inhabitants already gone to heaven. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk Selv. 198 The World .. that bulk of bodily beings we see.

2. Of or belonging to the body or physical nature of man. bodily fear: alarm for one’s personal safety, apprehension of physical harm. 01300 Cursor M. 12929 (Gott.) Bodili fode. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 477 With bodyly bale hym blysse to byye. c 1380 Wyclif De Pseudo-Freris Wks. (1880) 305 Bodiliche chastite is ofte broken. 1454 E.E. Wills (1882) 132 Beyng in good bodely helth. 1494 Fabyan vi. clxxxi. 179 The bysshop .. myght departe thens without bodely harme. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. 11. xxvii. 155 The fear, .of corporeall hurt, which we call Bodily Fear. 1711 Budgell Sped. No. 161 f 5 Fatigues of bodily Labour. 1785 Reid Int. Powers 276 My memory is not limited by any bodily organ. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xl, ‘I’m in bodily fear.’ 1838- Nich. Nick, xxi, Bodily illness is more easy to bear than mental.

fb. Real; actual; physically carried out. Obs. 1607 Shaks. Cor. 1. ii. 5 What euer [counsels] haue bin thought one in this State That could be brought to bodily act, ere Rome Had circumuention. fc. bodily oath: = corporal oath. Perhaps,

originally, an oath taken on the consecrated host or ‘body’ of Christ; but used also of oaths taken with a ‘bodily touch’ of other sacred things. Obs. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 190 The bodelye ayth thai maid him with gud will. 1639 Council Rec. in Inverness Courier (1884) 25 Oct. 3/4 The said A. B. has givine his great and bodielie aith.

f3. Solid; of or pertaining to a solid. Obs. 1557 Recorde Whetst. Ciijb, Thereof be thei named bodily nombers, or sound nombers. The leaste of them all is commonly called a Cube. 1570 Billingsley Euclid xi. Introd. 312 In these bookes following he entreateth of., bodely figures: as of Cubes. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 20 That they [clouds] be thicke, grosse, and of a bodily consistence.

Hence f 'bodili.hede, 'bodili.ness, corporeality; 'bodily-wise adv., corporeally, in the body. c 1440 Hylton Scala Per/. (W. de W. 1494) II. xxxiii, The kynde of god that is .. ferrest fro bodily hede. 1587 Golding De Mornay xiv. 205 It behoueth the same [Soule] to be altogether bodylesse it selfe: for had it any bodylinesse at all, it could not receiue any body into it. 1869 Lynch Church St. 24 We cannot be in the country and in the town at the same time bodily-wise.

bodily (’bodili), adv. [f. as prec. + -ly2.] f 1. In the manner of, or with regard to, the body; corporeally (often = ‘unspiritually’). Obs. c 1370 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. App. iv. 630 God pat di3ed vppon pe tre, pat pe prest receyuede bodile. 1394 P. PI. Crede 619 All po blissed bep pat bodyliche hungrep. c 1440 Lonelich Grail (Roxb.) I. 450 Of man that in this world lyveth bodily. 1579 Fulke Heskin's Pari. 323 It fedde the faithfull, not onely bodily, but also spiritually. 1685 Baxter Paraph. N.T. Mark vi. 53 That we could as bodily believe and trust him for our .. Souls.

2. In or with the body; in the flesh; in person. c 1440 Three Kings (1885) 26 p>e tyme was to-come pat he schulde per appere bodelich. 1578 Thynne Let. in Animadv. Introd. (1865) 59 Since I ame.. barred bodely to approche your presence. 1640 Sir E. Dering Prop. Sacr. (1644) 45 Christ, .bodily present. 1803 Southey Wks. VI. 173 This is our father Francisco, Among us bodily.

3. transf. With the whole body or bulk, ‘body and all’; all together, in one mass, as a whole. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §322 The seas came in bodily over the Barbican wall. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 4 As if that, over brake and lea, Bodily the wind did carry The great altar of St. Mary. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile xviii. 520 A full-length portrait of Seti I., cut out bodily from the walls of his sepulchre.

bodiment (’bodimant). rare. [f. body sb. + -ment.] Giving of form or body; embodiment. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. Gf Mere iv. 25 No alive and outward bodiment.

bodin, var. of boden ppl. a. Sc. provided. f'bodiness. Obs. rare. [f. body sb. + -ness.] The state or quality of having bodily form; corporeity, material condition. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P R. VIII. xl, In what maner wise pey hep medlid togederes, askes and water, pe water abidep in his bodiness [1535 corporalnesse]. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 100 A least bitling is made as much for cleaving, if it had but a wherewith to be cloven; its leastness, not its bodiness forbidding it.

boding ('baudir)), vbl. sb. [f. bode v.1 + -ing1.] fl. Annunciation, proclamation, preaching. Obs. ciooo Ags. Gosp. Matt. xii. 41 H15 dydon dtedbote on lonas bodunge. cn6o Hatton G. ibid., Bodiunge. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 89 Godspelles bodunge.

2. Premonition, presentiment; prognostic, omen, portent.

BODY

353

concr.

1297 R. Glouc. 428 pe taylede sterre, pat gret bodynge ys. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (1495) 737 Beestes haue redynesse of wytte in bodynge of chaungynge of tyme and wedders. 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII. (1878) 280 A sorrowful boding of the.. mischief that.. did afterward chance. 1768 Goldsm. Good Nat. Man. v. i, I have had some boding of it these ten days. 1810 Wordsw. Scenery Lakes (1823) 115 A Shepherd accustomed to watch all mountain bodings.

3. Prediction, prophecy (generally of evil). 1668 Temple Let. Wks. 1731 II. 169 Too much entertained with ill Bodings and Complaints. 1817 Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves (1862) 188 Better fate be thine And mock my boding! 1833 Ht. Martineau Brooke F. iv. 54 Norton.. would listen to no evil bodings.

boding ('baudirj), ppl. a. [f. bode v1 + -ing2.] That bodes; presaging, portending, ominous. 1593 Shaks. Ven. & Ad. 647 My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest. 1594-Rich. Ill, v. iii. 228 The sweetest sleepe, And fairest boading Dreames. 1702 Rowe Amb. Step-Moth. 1. i. 434 Spight of my boding fears, a 1771 Gray Poems (1775) 53 No boding Maid of skill divine Art thou. 1785 Cowper Task 1. 205 The boding owl That hails the rising moon. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 257 Listening to the boding cry of the tree toad.

Hence 'bodingly adv. 1811 Shelley St. Irvyne i, They bodingly presag’d destruction and woe. 1839 Lowell Summ. Storm Poet. Wks. (1879) 81 All is so bodingly still. 1866 Motley Dutch Rep. iv. iv. 619 Sorrowfully and bodingly Mansfeld withdrew to consult again.

f'bodiship. Obs. rare. [f. body sb. + -ship.] Corporeality, material substance or condition. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 53 All bodiship, with those its belongers which make it sensible unto us.

bodken, -kin, variants of baudekin, Obs., cloth. bodkin ('bodkin). Forms: 4 boidekyn, boytekyn, bode-, boydekynne, 4-5 boyde-, bodekyn, 5 boddekyn, 6 boddkynne, botken, -kin, bodkyn, bodkine, 7 (boidkene), 5- bodkin. [Of unknown etymology: the orig. form in Eng. was boydekin, boidekyn, in 3 syllables. The form naturally suggests a dim. in -kin: but no primitive of the required form appears in Eng. or other related language. The phonetic history is also difficult. (In default of finding it elsewhere, the derivation has been sought in Celtic. The Welsh bi'dogyn 4 little dagger’, fixed on by some, must be discarded, both because it is accented on the penult, and because the ME. word was itself adopted in Welsh as bwytkin; but some still think it possible that boydekin may have originated in some kind of corruption of Ir. bideog, Gael, biodag, Welsh bidog dagger.)]

fl. A short pointed weapon; poniard, stiletto, lancet. Obs.

a

dagger,

1386 Chaucer Reeves T. 40 Slayn of Symkyn With panade or with knyf or boidekyn [v.r. boydekyn, boytekyn, Boydekynne]. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas vi. xii. {title). Victorious Julius Caesar., was murdred with bodkins. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 49 One of his disciples tooke a boddekyn & prikked him in his feete. 1535 Coverdale i Kings xviii. 28 They .. prouoked them selues with knyues & botkens [1611 lancets]. 1547 Salesbury Diet. Eng. & Welsh, Bwytkin, a bodkyn. 1580 Sidney Arcadia 276, I.. doe defie thee, in a mortall affray from the bodkin to the pike vpward. 1602 Shaks. Ham. m. i. 76 When he himselfe might his Quietus make With a bare Bodkin. 1657 Trapp Comm. Esther iv. 3 This was now a bodkin at their hearts. [1850 Mrs. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 137 The long bodkin with which those wicked Jews pierced his side.]

2. A small pointed instrument, of bone, ivory, or steel, used for piercing holes in cloth, etc. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 42 Boydekyn or bodekyn, subucula, perforatorium. 1555 Far die Facions 11. x. 212 About the poincte of the chinne thei haue a feawe heares as it ware pricked in with Bodkins. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 28 Wee challenge him at all weapons from the taylors bodkin to the watchmans browne bil. 1602 Plat Delightes for Ladies in. xxx, Make little holes in the Cowcumber first with a wodden or bone bodkin. 1609 A. Craig Poet. Recreat. 4 Who according to the antient custome hath bored his eare with a boidkene. 1785 Reid Int. Powers 11. xix. 325 A spire at a very great distance seems like a point of a bodkin.

3. A long pin or pin-shaped ornament used by women to fasten up the hair. 1580 Baret Alv. B 875 A bodkine or big needle to crest the heares, discriminale. 1635 J. Taylor (Water P.) in Harl. Misc. IV. 218 Women’s masks, busks, muffs, fans, perriwigs, and bodkins. 1714 Pope Rape Lock v. 95 Then in a bodkin grac’d her mother’s hairs. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. x. I. 32 Their hair is.. set out with three or four rows of bodkins (wonderfully large, that stick out two or three inches from their hair). 1820 Scott Monast. xvii, She undid from her locks a silver bodkin around which they were twisted. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. II. in. iv. 118 A rude bodkin of bone .. employed in fastening the dress. 1864 Longf. King Olaf vm. viii, ’Tis the bodkin that I wear When at night I bind my hair.

fb. A frizzling-iron. Obs. 1580 Baret Alv. B 874 A bodkine or fine instrument that women curie their heare withall.. a friseling iron.

4. A needle-like instrument with a blunt knobbed point, having a large (as well as a small) eye, for drawing tape or cord through a hem, loops, etc. 1714 Pope Rape Lock 11. 128 Wedg’d whole ages in a bodkin’s eye.

5. Printing. An awl-like tool used to pick out letters in correcting set-up type. 1846 Print. Apparatus Amateurs 17 The bodkin is used to pick out such of the types as are misplaced.

6. transf. (colloq.) A person wedged in between two others where there is proper room for two only; esp. in phr. to ride or sit bodkin. [1638 Ford Fancies iv. i. (1811) 186 Where but two lie in a bed, you must be—bodkin, bitch-baby—must ye?] 1798 Loves of the Triangles 182 (L.) While the pressed bodkin, punched and squeezed to death, Sweats in the midmost place. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair II. 241 (Hoppe), He’s too big to travel bodkin between you and me. 1872 Flor.

Montgomery Thrown Together ii. 62 The three called a hansom outside, and Cecily, .sat bodkin.

7. Comb, and Attrib., as bodkin-case, bodkin-work; bodkin-wise adv.; bodkin-beard, a pointed, dagger-shaped beard. a 1529 Skelton Elynour R. Prol. 82 Scarfes, feathers, and swerds, And thin bodkin beards. 1591 Lyly Endym. ill. iii. 36 Whether I shall frame the bodkin beard or the bush. 1565 Golding Ovid’s Met. iv. (1593) 97 Both his shankes do grow In one round spindle bodkin-wise with sharpned point below. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 41, I will have no more close hugs—no more bodkin work.

'bodkin, v. [f. prec.] trans. To make a bodkin of, squeeze in as a bodkin; cf. bodkin sb. 6. 1791 Gibbon Let. 31 May in Mem. (1839) 354 If you can bodkin the sweet creature into the coach.

bodkin, (Ods bodkins!) var. of bodikin. bodkin, bodkin-work, variant of baudekin. 'bodkinize,

v.

=

bodkin

v.

1833 Hook Parson’s Dau. 11. v. 202 Seat him in the carriage ’bodkinized’ between the two fair ladies.

bodle1 ('bod(3)l, -o:-). Sc. Also 7 bodel, bawdle, 8 boadle, 8-9 boddle. [Reputed to be from the name of a mint-master Bothwell, but no documentary evidence is cited.] A Scotch copper coin of the value of two pennies Scots, or (c 1600) one sixth of an English penny; the smallest coin; hence, like farthing, etc., in the phrase not to care a bodle. 1650 A. B. Mutat. Polemo 12 Whom they valued not really at the estimation of 200000 Scotch bawdies. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ill. ii. 29/2 A Bodel, three of them makes an half penny English, c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 42 The bridge is.. maintained by a toll of a bodle. 1820 Scott Abbot vi, It was not that I cared a brass bodle for his benison or malison either. 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xix. (1857) 279 All the placks and boddles of the party.

bodle2, obs. f. buddle, corn-marigold. 1557 Tusser 100 Points Husb. lxxx, Bodle for barley, no weede there is such.

Bodleian (bod'liisn, 'bodlian). [f. the name of Sir T. Bodley, who in 1597 restored and refounded the Library of the University of Oxford.] a. adj. Of or pertaining to Sir T. Bodley or the Library bearing his name; hence b. quasi-s6. The Oxford University Library; also colloquially called Bodley. c.fig. and transf. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 7 The mysterious Library, The Beatifick Bodley of the Deity. 1710 H. Bedford Vind. Ch. Eng. 45 The Bodleian Copies of the Articles. 1862 Whyte Melville Ins. Bar. vi. (ed. 12) 297 The richest mental food the Bodleian itself can afford. 1884 Spurgeon Clew of Maze 33 It is a million-times magnified Bodleian of teaching.

bodom, -ery, obs. form of bottom, -ry. Bodoni (bsu'dsuni). A book produced by the celebrated Italian printer Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813); a modern type based on that of Bodoni. Also attrib. in Bodoni type. 1880 [see Aldine a. and s6.]. 1922 D. B. Updike Printing Types II. 235 The ‘Bodoni’ type of commerce is a composite picture of many of Bodoni’s fonts, rather than a reproduction of any one of them. 1928 Scholar tis Press Catal. June, Printed by the Glasgow University Press in Bodoni type. 1967 E. Chambers Photolitho-offset ii. 12 Some families have dozens of different type faces (Caslon, Bodoni, Baskerville, Plantin, etc.).

f 'bodrag(e. Obs. Also bodrak(e, bordrag(e. [prob. a corruption of some Ir. word: cf. buaidhreadh molestation, disturbance (O’Reilly), buadre, tumult (Stokes).] A hostile incursion, a raid. Hence, in same sense, bo(r)draging. 1537 St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 480 The castelles be not for our defence agaynst ther stelthe and bodrakes. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. II. 172/2 Nothing liking the outrages, bodrages, and villanies dailie practised by Barrie, Condon, and others. 1595 Spenser Col. Clout 315 No nightly bodrags, nor no hue and cries. 1596-F.Q. 11. x. 63 Yet oft annoyd with sondry bordragings.

bod-stick, var. bott-stick: see bott 2. 1883 T. D. West Amer. Foundry Pract. (ed. 2) 331 The melter.. runs the bod-stick without any clay on it into the running iron. 1900 [see bott 2].

bodword, var. of bodeword Obs. body ('bodi), sb.

Forms: 1 bodij, 3 bodi3, 3-4 bodi, bode, 3-7 bodie, 4-6 bodye, 6 bodey, 3body. [OE. bodig neut., elsewhere in Teut. only in OHG. potah, botah, MHG. botich, -ech, potih str. masc. ‘body’; cf. mod.Bav. dial, bottech the ‘body’ of a chemise, Grimm. The word has died out of Ger., its place being taken by leib, orig. ‘life’, and korper from Lat.: but, in Eng., body remains as a great and important word. Since Ger. botah, potah, with final h, is not the exact phonetic equivalent of OE. bodig, there is ground for supposing that the word has been adopted in both from some foreign source. E. Muller connects botah with botahha fem., mod.G. bottich masc. ‘cask, tub, vat’, identified by

«

BODY Wackemagel with med.L. butica = Gr. airodrjKr). But there does not appear to be any clear way of connecting the two words. (Fick’s conjectural derivation from bhadh ‘to bind’ is out of the question. Gaelic bodhaig is from Eng.)]

I. The material frame of man (and animals). 1. a. The physical or material frame or structure of man or of any animal: the whole material organism viewed as an organic entity. (In Biol, sometimes also used of plants.) C890 K. /Elfred Bseda 111. xiv. (Bosw.) Waes Oswine se cyning on bodije heah. c 1200 Ormin 4773 Hiss bodi3 .. All samenn, brest, and wambe, and pes, and cnes, and fet, and shannkess, etc. a 1300 Cursor M. 869 Our bodis ar now al bare. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. lxxviii. 64 He shold come fyght with hym body for body. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. civ. 186 To fight body to body, or power to power. 1557 F. Seager Sch. Vertue 676 in Babees Bk. (1868) 347 Thy bodie vprighte, Thy fete iuste to-gether. 1665-9 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xi. (1675) 174 A Lark .. lighted among some clods of Earth.. of the colour of her Body. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 208 If 10 A body languishing with disease. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §870 The common Oyster.. always appears inclined to adapt its shell to the form of the body. 1881 Huxley in Nature XXIV. 346 The body is a machine of the nature of an army, not of that of a watch, or of a hydraulic apparatus. Of this army each cell is a soldier, each organ a brigade. 1875 Dawson Dawn of Life viii. 214 Their bodies like those of plants .. show tendencies to spiral modes of growth. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 222 The individual cells of which the body of the plant is made up.

(In early use almost always applied to that of man: hence) b. often contrasted with the soul. a 1240 Lofsong in Cott. Horn. 205 J?auh pet were nere i pe bodie pe wil was in pe heorte. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. i. (1495) 345 The body meuyth as the soule woll. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xlii. 112 Bothe body & sowle distroyed 3e be. 1651 Let. in Proc. Parliament No. 81. 1241 A great comfort to the godly, both to their soules and bodies. 1732 Pope Ess. Man 1. 268 All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's Field 377 The foul adulteries That saturate soul with body. Mod. ‘A hard struggle to keep body and soul together.’

c. The corporeal or material nature or state of man, the material body and its properties. c 1200 Ormin 15124 To clennsenn pe^xe bodi3 swa Off all pe bodi3 sinne. 1382 Wyclif 2 Cor. xii. 2 Wher in body, wher out of body, I woot not, God woot. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 4 This Phcea was a woman robber.. and naught of her body. 1611 Bible 2 Cor. xii. 2 Whether in the body, I cannot tell, whether out of the body, I cannot tell. 1816 Scott Old Mort. vi, While we are yet in the body. 1869 Goulbourn Purs. Holiness ix. 78 By ‘the body’ is to be understood the mass of matter which we carry about with us, with all the various animal properties that belong to it.

d. (Usu. hyperbolic.) Phr. over my (etc.) dead body. 1833 Seba Smith Life & Writings J. Downing (1834) 137 You don’t go through this door to-night, without you pass over the dead body of Jack Downing. 1936 H. Brighouse New Leisure in Best One-Act Plays 1936 81 Elsie Dixon doing confidential secretary! Over my dead body. 1963 Times 27 May 6/2 If the number of distinguished gentlemen who cry ‘Over my dead body’ really mean what they say, this will be a fairly lethal summer in Whitehall.

2. Short (or euphemistic) for ‘dead body’, corpse. C1280 Fall & Pass. 76 in E.E.P. (1862) 14 Iosep of arimathie.. nem pat swet bodi adun, an biriid hir in a fair plas. 01300 Cursor M. 14309 And quar haf yee his bode laid? c 1400 Destr. Troy 7150 J>ai.. brent vp the bodies vnto bare askis. 1535 Coverdale i Kings xiii. 24 The lyon stode by the body [1382 Wyclif careyn, 1388 deed bodi]. 1595 Shaks. John v. vii. 99 At Worster must his bodie be interr’d. 1619 Crooke Body of Man 19 Choose a bodie that is sound and vntainted, and either hanged, smothered, or drowned. 1835 Hood Dead Robbery ii, To steal a body. 1855 Tennyson Maud. 1. i. 5 In the ghastly pit long since a body was found.

3. Applied symbolically or mystically to the bread in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. [1357 Seven Sacr. in Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. 118 The sacrement of the auter, cristes owen bodi in likeness of brede.] 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxvi. 26 Take 3ee, and ete; this is my bodi. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Commun. Exhort., The holy communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ. 1562 39 Articles xxviii, The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Pari. 82 He caried the Lords body in a wicker basket. ci88o J. Candlish Sacraments 98 All who believe in Him receive that one body that was broken for all.

f4. Used in oaths and forcible ejaculations, as body of me!, body of our Lord!, God's body!, by cocks body!, etc. Obs. Cf. bodikin. c 1530 Redforde Play Wit & Sc. (1848) 7 Oh the bodye of me! What kaytyves be those. 1573 New Custom 11. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 32 Body of our Lord, is he come into the Country? 1596 Shaks. j Hen. IV, 11. i. 29 Gods body! the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved. 1613- Hen. VIII, v. ii. 22 Body a me: where is it? 1695 Congreve Love for L. 11. v. 35 Body o’ me, I have a Shoulder of an Egyptian King, that I purloin’d from one of the Pyramids. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth (i860) 9 ‘Body of me’ exclaimed Simon, ‘I should know that voice!’

II. The main portion; the trunk.

5. a. The main portion of the animal frame, to which the extremities, etc. are attached; the trunk. Opposed to the members or limbs; also to the head, esp. as the seat of intelligence and guidance. a 800 Epinal & Erf. Gloss. 947 (O.E. Texts) Spina, bodei. -Corpus Gl. 1891 Spina, bodeg. c 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-

BODY

354 Wiilcker Voc. 265 Truncus, bodig. ciooo /Elfric Minster Horn. 203 a in Sax. Leechd. III. 355 He naefdon )?aet heafod to pam bodije. 1382 Wyclif Ephes. iv. 16 Crist the heed; of whom al the body sett to-gidere, and boundyn to gidere by ech ioynture of vndirseruyng. 1593 Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 26 When the Fox hath once got in his Nose, Hee’le soone finde meanes to make the Body follow, c 1600 C’tess Southampton in Shaks. C. Praise 40 All heade and veri litel body. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. Iv. 86 A body without a head, unable either to act or to deliberate. 1867 F. Francis Angling x. (1880) 364 Body, orange-yellow, merging into.. burnt sienna at the shoulder.

b. The main stem, trunk, stock, of a plant or tree. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. § 13 3 Cut the boughe on bothe sydes a fote or two foote from the bodye of the tree. 1609 C. Butler Fern. Mon. ii. (1623) Ej, Boughes hanging out alone from the bodies. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 183 Cucumers.. With crooked Bodies, and with Bellies deep.

fc. The wood under the bark. L. corpus. Obs. 1603 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 167 The black rinde of a certaine tree.. betweene the bodie and the barke.

d.fig. In biblical or theol. language, the body of Christ: the Church of which Christ is the head. c 1200 Ormin 1555 Swa J?att te33 shulen alle ben An bodi3 and an sawle And Jesu Crist himm sellf shall ben Uppo patt bodi3 hasfedd. 1382 Wyclif Ephes. iv. 12 And he 3af summe sotheli apostlis, summe forsoth prophetis .. into the work of mynisterie, into edificacioun or Cristis body. 1535 Coverdale Col. i. 18 And he is the heade of the body, namely, of the congregacion. 1611 Bible j Cor. xii. 27 Now yee are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

6. The part of a dress which covers the body, as distinct from the arms; also the part of a woman’s dress above the waist, as distinguished from the loose skirt, a pair of bodies: see bodice. 1585 Wills & Inv. N.C. (i860) II. 114 One petticote of house-wyfe clothe.. An upper bodye of durance. 1611 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 92 That none should wear.. any body or sleeves of wire, whalebone or with any other stiffing. 1696 J. F. Merchant's Wareho. 38 Cut of Ell | off of one of the half bredths.. which take for the body of your Shifts. 1698 Lassels Voy. Italy II. 288 Twelve breast and back pieces (like womens close bodies). 1868 Q. Victoria Life in Highlands 124, I and the girls [were] in royal Stewart skirts and shawls over black velvet bodies.

7. a. The main, central, or principal part, as distinguished from parts subordinate or less important; the part round which the others are grouped, or to which they are attached as appendages, etc. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 402 Nim j>onne J?aet ssed sete on )?aes sulesbodij. 1595 Shaks. John iv. ii. 112 Neuer such a powre .. Was leuied in the body of a land. 1670 Cotton Espernon 1. 1. 35 The body of the Emblem was a figure of the Duke himself. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xx. 355 He got into the body of the tree. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 234 The body of all true religion consists.. in obedience to the will of the Sovereign of the world. 1863 H. Coxlnstit. 11. x. 562 Crimes committed at sea, or on the coast out of the body of any County. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. ix. 173 The body of the blade.

b. The foundation of a felt or silk hat. Also Comb, body-maker. 1845 Dodd Brit. Manuf. V. 159 The ‘body’, or ‘foundation’, of a good beaver hat is.. made of eight parts rabbits’ fur [etc.]. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 519/2 A silk hat consists of a light stiff body covered with a plush of silk. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 74 Silk Hat Making: Body Maker. Finisher. Shaper. 1906 Watson Smith Chem. Hat Manuf. 65 The stiffening and proofing of hat forms or ‘bodies’. 1921 Diet. Occup. Terms (1927) §409 Body-maker [of hats].

8. spec. a. The middle aisle, or the whole nave, of a church, b. In Fortification (see quot. 1862). c. The shaft of a pillar, d. The resonance box of a musical instrument, e. In Anat. The main portion of a bone, esp. of one of the vertebras, f. The main portion of a document, as distinguished from the introduction or preamble, and esp. from an appendix, a codicil, or other supplementary matter. 1418 E.E. Wills (1882) 30 To the werkis of the body of the Parisshe Chirche. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer, Commun. Rubric, The Table., shall stand in the body of the church. 1559 Abp. Hethe in Strype Ann. Ref. I. 11. App. vi. 7 The body of this acte touchinge the supremacy. 1580 Baret Alv. B 871 The bodie of a pillour, betweene the chapitre and the base. 1661 Bramhall Just Vind. iv. 80 The incroachments.. mentioned in the body of that law. 1712 Prideaux Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4) 24 In the City of London.. the Parishioners repair the Chancel as well as the Body of the Church. 1736 King in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 179 The tracts.. may be printed by way of appendix. This will be indeed less trouble than the interweaving them in the body of the history. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 17 In every vertebra, there are distinguished a body, seven processes, four notches, and a hole. 1862 Trollope Orley F. i. (ed. 4) 2 The body of the will was in the handwriting of the widow, as was also the codicil. 1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 262 The Body of the place, (or Enceinte) consists of the work next to, and surrounding the town, in the form of a polygon, whether regular, or irregular. 1878 H. H. Gibbs Ombre Pref. 7 Bringing the supplementary Chapter into the body of the Book.

g. (a) The part of a vehicle fitted to receive the load; (b) used for the corresponding part in a motor-car and in an aeroplane; (c) attrib. and Comb. (a) 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §5 The bodye of the wayne of oke. 1666 Pepys Diary (1879) VI. 68 There I do find a great many ladies sitting in the body of a coach. 1761, 1794 [see carriace 28]. 1881 J. W. Burgess Coach-building 42 The

body is a species of box, fitted with doors and windows, and lined and wadded for the purpose of comfort. 1897 JPhilipson Coachbuilding 2 The body is the most essential part of the carriage.

(b) 1896 Horseless Age May 20 Width of body [of motorcar] 32 inches; length of body 8 feet 6 inches. 1906 Motors 52 The Tonneau body was till lately most popular. 1909 A. Berget Conquest of Air 166 The body.. is the space designed to carry the motor, propeller, and the aviator. 1920 Jones & Frier Aeroplane Design 109 The main function of the body or fuselage is to provide accommodation for cargo, pilot, passengers, flying instruments, and a reliable bearing for the power unit. (c) 1611 [see body-maker, sense 29 below]. 1802 Sporting Mag. XIX. 205/1 In the first shop [of a coach manufactory] the body-makers are employed. 1846 Dodd Brit. Manuf. VI. 113 ‘Body-makers’ [are] employed principally on delicate framework and panelling. 1884 [see body 29]. 1891 Daily News 29 Dec. 6/4 The body-making and harness departments. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 19 Mar. 4/1 A large number of chassis.. fitted with every class of bodywork. 1909 Ibid. 17 June 4/1 The body-painting, smithy, and upholstery shops. 1914 C. W. Terry Motor Body-building 58 Materials used by body-builders. 1920 Jones & Frier Aeroplane Design 99 The outer, inner, and body struts. 1963 Times 14 May 7/3 The bodywork is virtually as good as new after years of operation. 1967 Autocar 28 Dec. 2/1 The Hillman Super Minx, with which the previous Vogue had shared a common body-shell.

h. Naut. The hull of a ship; the section of this as viewed from different positions. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 22 The whole Bodies of their Ships under Water. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) Dijb, The fore-body of the ship, i.e. before the midship-frame. C1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weak) 99 The figure of a ship, abstractedly considered, is supposed to be divided into different parts,.. to each of which is given the appellation of Body. Hence we have the terms Fore Body, After Body, Cant Bodies, and Square Body. Thus the Fore Body is the figure, or imaginary figure, of that part of the ship afore the midships or dead-flat, as seen from ahead... The Square Body comprehends all the timbers whose areas or planes are perpendicular to the keel and square with the middle line of the ship; which is all that portion of a ship between the cant bodies.

9. The main portion of a collection or company; the majority; the larger part, the bulk of anything. 1599 Shaks. Much Ado 1. i. 287 The body of your discourse is sometime guarded with fragments. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 1359 The bodie of the Turkes armie followed bihinde. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders v. ii. §64. 471/2 The main body of the Empire. 1732 Neal Hist. Purit. I. 19 The Body of the inferiour Clergy were disguised Papists. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 166 The great body of the people leaned to the royalists. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 66 Under Henry [VIII] the body of the people were prosperous.

f 10. The vessel in which a substance to be distilled is placed; a retort. (There appears to have been a reference here to spirit.) ? Obs. 1559 Morwyng Evonym. 1 Moist thinges put into a body (for so do they cal the bigger vessel from whence the vapour is lifted up) by the force of heate are extenuated into a vapour. 1594 Platt Jewell-ho. 11. 3 Put them into your pot, or body. 1641 French Distill, i. (1651) 28 Put this bread into a Glass-body, and distill it in Balneo. 1721-1800 Bailey, Body (in Chymistry) is the Vessel which holds the Matter in distilling the Spirits of Vegetables.

11. Type founding. The breadth of the shank of the type, which is the same throughout the fount, while the thickness varies with the letter (e.g. I and W); hence, size of type. 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. II. ii. 11 The several bodies to which printing letters are cast.. are nineteen in number.

III. Personal being, individual. 12. a. The material being of man, as the sign and tangible part of his individuality, taken for the whole; the person. Chiefly in legal phrases. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 208 She hath her owne body feigned, For fere as though she wolde flee Out of her londe. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony, With this Ring I thee wed.. with my body I thee worship. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 870 An armie.. consisting of most choice bodies. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 135. 2100 A Warrant in the nature of a Habeas Corpus.. to bring without delay the body of the same prisoner. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4695/3 A barbarous Murder was committed on the Body of Mr. Henry Widdrington. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., A man is said to be bound or held in Body and goods; that is, he is liable to remain in prison; in default of payment. 1822 Scott Nigel xxvii, Two pages of the body.

b. heir of the body, an heir who is a direct descendant. a 1626 Bacon Max. Uses Com. Law 51 The heires males of his body. 1732 Neal Hist. Purit. (1822) I. 12 An act of Parliament for settling the crown upon the heirs of her body. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 114 As the word heirs is necessary to create a fee, so, in farther imitation of the strictness of the feodal donation, the word body, or some other words of procreation, are necessary to make it a feetail. 1788 J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 469 You here find a child described as an heir of the body.

13. A human being of either sex, an individual. Formerly, as still dialectally, and in the combinations any-, every-, no-, some-body, etc., exactly equivalent to the current ‘person’; but now only as a term of familiarity, with a tinge of compassion, and generally with adjectives implying this. 1297 R. Glouc. 489 The beste bodi of the world in bendes was ibrou3t. c 1340 Cursor M. 3360 (Fairf.) A better body drank neyuer wine. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. x. 258 Ac blame how neuere body and how be blame-worthy. 1475 Caxton Jason 90 Euery noble body ought soner chese deth thene to

BODY do.. thing that sholde be ayenst their honour. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xiii[i]. 1 The foolish bodyes saye in their hertes: Tush, there is no God. 1539 Bury Wills 137, I will that my executors gyve. . in breade to iiij poore bodies j d. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 1. iv. 105 ’Tis a great charge to come vnder one bodies hand. 1653 Walton Angler 56 It shall be given away to some poor body. 1693 Locke Educ. § 143. iv, One angry body discomposes the whole Company. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 201 The countess was a good sort of a body. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. in. iv. Wks. 505 What do you din a body’s ears for? 1833 Ht. Martineau Loom and Lugg. 1. ii. 17 His wife was a more tidy body.

IV. A corporate body, aggregate of individuals, collective mass. 14. a. Law. An artificial ‘person’ created by legal authority for certain ends; a corporation; commonly a corporation aggregate, but also applied to a corporation sole (cf. quots. 1641, 1642). Always with defining adj. body corporate, body politic. 1461 Act 1 Edw. IV, i. §4 Any Fraternitie, Guild, Companie, or Fellowship, or other bodie corporate. 1528 Perkins Prof. Bk. i. §64 (1642) 30 A bodie politique, as a Maior and Comminaltie. 1641 Termes de la Ley, Bodies Politique are Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Deanes, Parsons of Churches, and such like, which have succession in one person onely. 1642 Milton Argt. cone. Militia 27 The King is a body politick, for that a body politique never dieth. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. 467 These artificial persons are called bodies politic, bodies corporate, or corporations. 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 46/2 For the purpose of maintaining and perpetuating the uninterrupted enjoyment of certain powers, rights, property, or privileges, it has been found convenient to create a sort of artificial person, or bodypolitic, not liable to the ordinary casualties which affect the transmission of private rights, but capable, by its constitution, of independently continuing its own existence. This artificial person is in our law called an incorporation, corporation, or body-corporate.

b. body politic has also the wider sense of ‘organized society’. 1634 Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 185 To knit themselves together in a spiritual outward society or body politic. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. 1. vi. (1852) 82 With mutual consent they became a body-politick, and framed a body of necessary laws and orders. 1839 Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. viii. 77 Associations and bodies politic within the church.

c. spec, the body politic: the nation in its corporate character; the state. (Orig. there appears to have been, in this use of body, a reference to the headship of the sovereign.) I532_3 Act 24 Henry VIII, xii. This Realm of England is an Empire.. governed by one supreme Head and King.. unto whom a Body politick, compact of all Sorts and Degrees of People.. been bounden and owen to bear a natural and humble Obedience. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. (Pref.) v. §2 A law is the deed of the whole body politic. 1636 Healey Epictetus' Man. xxxi. 40 But what place shall I hold then.. in the body politicke? 1782 V. Knox Ess. (1819) I. xii. 69 All conduct extensively injurious to individuals, is injurious to the body politic. 1874 Reynolds John Bapt. ii. 116 Radical changes in the body-politic.

d. (Cf. L. totum corpus reipublicx.) 1570 Act insue to the Pers. Tithes whole Body

BODY

355

13 Eliz. xviii. Pream., Beneficial Causes. . to Body of this Common Wealth. 1625 Burges 20 The Lawes.. enacted by the King and the of the Kingdome.

15. A number of persons taken collectively, usually as united and organized in a common cause or for common action, as for deliberation, government, business; a society, association, league, fraternity. 1689 Burnet Tracts I. 71 There are three different Bodies or Leagues. 1732 Lediard Sethos II. ix. 271 The Governor .. had not time to form a defensive body. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 165 It is seldom that a man inrolls himself in a proscribed body from any but conscientious motives. 1852 Bright Let. in Speeches (1876) 552 Grants of public money to any public body. 1866 Liddon Bampt. Led. i. (1875) 10 That little Body the disciples of Christ, and nucleus of His future Church. 1880 Chr. Leader 588/3 A preacher of the U.P. body.

16. An organized collection of fighting men acting together; a force. (The most general term that can be so applied.) 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, 1. iii. 66, I thinke we are a Body strong enough (Euen as we are) to equall with the King. 1651 Proc. Parliament No. 84. 1278 Leaving moving bodies behind to prevent their designes. 1693 Mem. Ct. Teckely 11. 151 Some pierced even to the Body of Reserve. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, V. iv. 390 Escorted by a body of horse. 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 117 The Athenians.. sent a body of troops to garrison it. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 4 The bodies now designated as the first six regiments of dragoon guards, etc.

17. (more loosely) An assemblage of units characterized by some common attribute, and thus regarded as a whole; a collective mass: a. of persons. 1598 Grenewey Tacitus' Descr. Germ. vi. 269 The Semnones .. by their great body, they take themselues to be the head of the Sueuians. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 10 A whole Body (consisting of number of Persons). 1677 C. Hatton in Corr. (1878) 152 The clergy did not goe in a body. 1755 Johnson in Boswell (1831) I. 275 We might go and drink tea with Mr. Wise in a body. 1832 Ht. Martineau Life in Wilds viii. 100 All formed in a body to go and meet the new arrivals.

b. of things. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. 1. xiv. §4 The entire body of the Scripture. 1796 Burke Let. noble Ld. Wks. 1842 II. 259 Since the total body of my services.. have obtained the acceptance of my sovereign. 1874 Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece x. 309 This large and respectable body of opinion. 1875

Whitney Life Lang. x. 181 The High-German body of dialects.

18. A comprehensive and systematic collection of the details of any subject; an arranged whole of information; hence, a pandect (cf. L. corpus juris)-, a text-book. [Cf. 1593 in prec.] 1647 Cowley Mistr., The Soul iii, If she do near thy Body prize Her Bodies of Philosophies. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 169 Whether they comment upon the bodie of Justinian. 1659 Milton Hirelings 92 Som wholesom bodie of divinitie as they call it. 1699 Bentley Phal. 361 A Body of Laws. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 121 f 8, I could wish our Royal Society would compile a Body of Natural History. 1830 Herschel Nat. Phil. iii. vi. (1851) 352 Digests and bodies of science, i860 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. Introd. 10 Science is a body of principles and deductions, Art is a body of precepts.

V. Transferred from the material part of man to matter generally as opposed to the immaterial. 19. A separate portion of matter, large or small, a material thing; something that has physical existence and extension in space: a. in common language and Physics. heavenly bodies: (in modern use) the masses of matter that exist away from the earth, the sun, moon, planets, comets, meteors, stars, etc.; orig. a phrase of the astro-alchemists, applied to the seven ‘bodies celestial’: see 22a. C1380 Wyclif De Dot. Eccl. Sel. Wks. III. 437j?e bemes of \>e sonne.. fat shynef freliche in bodyes. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. 15 To knowe the altitude of the sonne or of othre celestial bodies. 01568 Coverdale Hope Faithf. xiv. (1574) 91 A wal is a body. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 19 A bodie is a masse or lump, which, as much as lieth in it, resisteth touching, and occupieth a place. 1642 Rogers Naaman 348 Cannot the Lord.. restraine the influence of the upper bodies from the lower at his pleasure? 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. Pref., The onely Principles of Bodies, are Magnitude, Figure, Site, Motion, and Rest. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 207 If 9 All attraction is increased by the approach of the attracting body. 1754 Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. iv. 159 The Magnitudes and Distances of the heavenly Bodies. 1841 Liebig's Lett. Chem. vi, The ultimate particles of bodies, or atoms, must occupy a certain space.

b. viewed metaphysically. 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 102 A body is that, which having no dependance upon our thought, is coincident or coextended with some part of space. 1785 Reid Int. Powers 186 What we call a body, is only a bundle of sensations. 1846 Mill Logic 1. iii. §7 A body.. may be defined, the external cause to which we ascribe our sensations.

c. spec. In Physiol, often forming the base of nomenclature, as pituitary body, pacchionian body. 1866 Huxley Phys. (1869) 143 Nothing certain is known of the functions of any of these bodies [the ductless glands]. Ibid. The spheroidal bodies called corpuscles of the spleen,.. consist of a solid aggregation of minute bodies.

f20. Geom. A figure of three dimensions; a solid, regular body, one of the five Regular Solids. Obs. in modern Geometry. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 3 A thicke Magnitude we call a Solide, or a Body. 1570 Billingsley Euclid 1. def. xvi. 3 A superficies being moued maketh a solide or bodie. 1635 J. Babington Geometry 42 The cube.. is accounted one of the five regular bodies. 1796 Hutton Math. Diet. I. 215 The five Regular Bodies.. These bodies were called platonic, because they were said to have been invented, or first treated of, by Plato, a 1864 tr. Weisbach (W.) The path of a moving point is a line, that of a geometric body is another body.

21. a. A compact quantity or mass; amount; bulk; quantity. 1650 Fuller Pisgah 388 Ezekiels Temple had not the same body with Solomons, but greater. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 38 A proportionable Body to the.. weight it is to bear. 1772 Town & Country Mag. 161 A large body of land, extending thirty miles up the Coofaw river. 1828 Hutton Course Math. II. 139 Body is the mass, or quantity of matter, in any material substance. 1849 Murchison Siluna vi. (1867) 108 Another body of igneous rock lies subjacent. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. 11. ii. § 1 (1864) 224 A large body of light. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 40 A body of cold air.

b. spec. A mass or deposit of metalliferous ore. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 9 Feb. 11/4 The opening of an entirely new body carrying on an average 3 per cent, copper and 15 ounces of silver to the ton. 1929 Times 25 Jan. 12/3 A number of areas [in Great Britain] are worth prospecting in the hope of discovering new ore bodies.

22. A distinct form or kind of matter: fa. Alchemy and Astrol. The seven bodies terrestrial, the seven ancient metals answering to the seven ‘heavenly bodies’ (the sun, moon, and five old planets). Obs. c 1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. & T. 267 The foure spirites and the bodies seuene. The bodies seuene eek loo hem here anoon, Sol gold is, and luna siluer, we threpe, Mars yren, Mercurie quik siluer we clepe, Saturnus leed, and Iupiter is tyn, And venus copir, by my fader kyn. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 84 The bodies, whiche I speke of here, Of the pianettes ben begonne.

b. Chem. and Min. Any kind of ‘substance’, simple or compound, solid, liquid, or gaseous. simple bodies: the chemical elements; compound bodies: the substances formed by their combination. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. 1. 13 Niter, and other Aromaticall bodies, a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 12 A gummous body and dissoluble in water. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth (1723) 7 The said Metallick and Mineral Bodies. 1724 Watts Logic 16 They supposed the heavens to be a

quintessence, or a fifth sort of body. 1831 Brewster Optics xxiii. 204 Crystallised bodies, such as nitre and arragonite. 1841 Liebig's Lett. Chem. iv. (1844) 63 The employment of symbols enables the chemist to express .. the constitution of every compound body.

c. The paste or clay (of a particular kind) used in the manufacture of porcelain. 1774 J. Wedgwood Let. 21 July (1965) 163 At one time the body is white and fine as it should be, the next we make .. is a Cinamon color. 1839 Mortar body [see mortar sb.* 5 b]. 1893 E. A. Barber Pott. & Pore. U.S. 127 The proportion of phosphate of lime .. being .. a very much smaller percentage than in the English bone body. 1902 A. Bennett Anna of Five Towns viii. 169 The four sorts of clay used in a common ‘body’—ball clay, China clay, flint clay and stone clay.

23. abstractly (in Metaphysics, formerly also in Physics). That which has sensible qualities, or is perceptible by the senses; matter; ‘substance’. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 413 Spirit. The Opposite to which.. is Body. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 49 He that will undertake to prove that there is something else in the World besides Body, must first determine what Body is, for otherwise he will go about to prove that there is something besides He-knows-not-what. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. 11. xxiii. (1695) 164 The primary Ideas we have peculiar to Body, as contradistinguished to Spirit, are the Cohesion of solid, and consequently separable parts, and a power of communicating Motion by impulse. 1762 Kames Elem. Crit. (1833) 475 Every substratum of tangible qualities is called body. 1794 J. Hutton Philos. Light, &c. 288 Body in the abstract.. must be inert. 1870 Bowen Logic iii. 55 We cannot think of body without extension.

f24. Substance, as opposed to representation, shadow, etc.; reality. Obs. or arch. 1382 Wyclif Col. ii. 17 Whiche ben schadowe of thingis to come; forsoth the body is of Christ. C1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 552 Parfourned hath the sonne his Ark diurne No lenger may the body of hym soiurne On thorisonte. 1602 Shaks. Ham. iii. ii. 26 To shew Vertue her owne Feature .. and the verie Age and Bodie of the Time, his forme and pressure. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 327 Men suffer themselves to be enchanted with the shadow and appearance of a thing whose real body does not so much as affect them.

25. ‘Substance’ or substantial quality, as opposed to insubstantiality, thinness, weakness, flimsiness, or transparency: said of colours, wine, paper, textile fabrics, etc. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 371 In Greece there are no wines that have bodies enough to bear the sea for long voyages. 1735 Diet. Polygraph, s.v., To bear a body, a term us’d of painting colours .. capable of being ground so fine, and mixing with the oil so intirely, as to seem only a very thick oil of the same colour. 1784 j. Barry Lect. Art vi. (1848) 216 Those colours without body which are more immediately considered as transparent. 1851 H. Mayo Philos. Living i. 66 The vintages, differ in fulness of body and lusciousness. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 10 Less liable to be affected by damp than colouring with more body or substance. 1862 Times 12 Aug., Staffordshire cannot produce fine-grained iron equal to theirs in body, i.e. in its power of standing the fire. fig. 1824-8 Landor Imag. Conv. (1846) 80, I hate both poetry and wine without body. 1884 Spectator 4 Oct. 1304/1 Metaphor and language.. meant to conceal the want of body in the thought and emotion beneath.

26. Main substance; fundamental constituent. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 109 Every soil must contain as sufficient a body for those manures to act upon. 1875 Fortnum Maiolica i. 3 The characteristics of the soft wares are a paste or body which may be scratched with a knife.

f 27. Metaph. An entity, a thing which has real existence; an agent or cause of phenomena. Obs. 1587 Golding De Mornay ii. 21 To drawe some peculiar good .. out of another bodies workes .. as out of Poyson, health.. from the night, rest. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 326/1 The Soul is a Body, because it maketh us to be living Creatures. Ibid. 326/2 Night and Day are Bodies. Voice is a Body, for it maketh that which is heard; in a word, whatsoever is, is a Body and a Subject.

VI. Comb, and Attrib. 28. simple attrib. Of body, physical, material. c 1200 [see 1 c]. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk train of hangers on in the body kind.

Selv. 112 A fresh

29. General combinations: a. objective with pr. pple., vbl. sb., or agent-noun, as bodybending, -breaking, -curer, -killing, -maker, -making, -wearing', b. attributive: (a) pertaining to the human body, as body-armour, -being, -blow (also fig.), -build, -ease, -garment, -medicine, -odour, -play, -plague, -sin, -swing, -weight, (b) reserved for personal attendance or use, as body-carriage, -chariot, -coach, -coachman, -physician, -servant, -slave, -valet, also body-guard; (c) in various senses of body, as body-bolt, -girth, -lining, -scent, -wall, bodywise adv. 1828-41 Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 322 A breastplate and back-piece, etc... formed .. the *body-armour. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 105 If all *body-being in the world were destroyed. 1792 Sporting Mag. I. 43/2 After sparring some time.. Stanyard put in a *body blow. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii, That body-blow left Joe’s head unguarded. 1908 Daily Chr on. 24 Aug. 5/5 Its latest action is a bodyblow to the growers. 1950 Dempsey Champ. Fighting 39 Face-punches and body-blows. 1958 Times 22 Apr. 6/7 It is a body blow. I am carrying the can for somebody else. 1886 Ripon Chron. 4 Sept. 3/5 The *body bolt of the phaeton suddenly gave way, and the occupants were thrown out. 1533 Frith Answ. More (1829) 443 They believe not in his *body-breaking and blood-shedding. 1923 C. B. Davenport (title) *Body-build and its inheritance. 1961 Lancet 12 Aug. 341/2 On admission her weight was 129 lb., which was proportional to her height and body-build. 1766

I

BODY Entick London IV. 54 Wheels of ‘body carriages. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4052/1 Her Majesty’s ‘Body Chariot. 1702 Ibid. No. 3862/1 Then Her Majesty, habited in Purple.. in her ‘Body Coach drawn by 8 Horses. 1735 Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 135 Were his majesty inclined to-morrow to declare his *body-coachman his first minister. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 111. i. 100 Soule-Curer, and *Body-Curer. 1546 Bale Eng. Votaries 11. (1550) ivb, Fournished the Clery there with such possessions and ‘body-ease. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. i. 14 Dressed in arts and institutions as well as in ‘body-garments. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 135 Wrapped round her very tight, like a ‘body-girt to a horse. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy III. iv. 14 Your jerkin .. and the ‘body-lining to it. 1611 Rich Honest. Age (1844) 37 Then haue we those that be called ‘Body-makers. 1884 Birmingham Daily Post 24 Jan. 3/3 Coachmakers—Wanted, an experienced Bodymaker, for first-class work. 1544 Latimer Wks. 1845 II. 481 The popish consecration, which hath been called Gods ‘body-making. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise iv. 69 Do you ever ask yourself about *Body-Odour?v 1881 Gentl. Mag. CCL. 163 Ready equally for mind-play or ‘body-play. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1. 1. vii. §8 Few retrievers can hit off the ‘body-scent of a dead cock. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy (ed. 2) II. v. 34 Besides what he gained .. as a ‘body-servant. a 1240 Ureisun in Lamb. Horn. 189 Wasche mine fif wittes of alle *bodi sunnen. 1896 Daily News 13 Mar. 8/4 The form of the men at the slow stroke was admirable, ‘body-swing and feather alike being capital. 1950 W. Hammond Cricketers' School v. 54 Thus gaining the sort of body-swing that won Maurice Tate his wickets. 1847 Ld. Lindsay Chr. Art I. 25 The ‘body-wall bulging out and lopping over. 1873 C. H. Ralfe Physiol. Chem. 81 Men excrete little more urea in proportion to their ‘body weight than women. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 23 Aug. 4/2 He [sc. the batsman] throws his body-weight on the left, the forward foot. 1966 Lancet 24 Dec. 1380/1 No patient was preselected on the basis of serum-lipid level or body-weight. 1884 Homiletic Monthly Apr. 409 If., man were ‘body-wise related by descent to the brute creation.

30. Special comb.: body-bag, body belt, a belt worn close to box, a brood-box, body-builder, (a) one who

a bag to sleep in; the body; bodybrood-chamber; practises body¬ building to develop muscular fitness; (6) a manufacturer of vehicle bodies; body-building, the feeding and strengthening of the human frame by diet and exercise; also attrib. or adj.\ body carpet, carpeting, carpeting manufactured in strips that are joined together to form the required size; also body ellipt.; body-cavity Zool., the coelom; body cell Biol., a somatic cell; body-centred a., applied to a type of crystal structure in which an atom or ion occurs at each corner and in the centre of a cubic unit cell; body-chamber, the outer and largest chamber of a shell occupied by the body of the animal; body-check, a movement in lacrosse (see quot. 1892); also, a similar movement in icehockey; hence as v.; so 'body-.checking vbl. sb.\ body clock, the biological clock of the human body; cf. biological clock s.v. biological a.; body-cloth, a cloth, or rug, to cover horses or other animals; body-clothes, -clothing, clothes for the body; body-coat, a coat fitting more or less closely to the body, fa dress-coat; bodycolour, a colour that has consistency, or body, in distinction from a tint or wash (cf. 25); a colour rendered opaque by the addition of white; body count: in the war in Vietnam, the count of enemy soldiers killed by U.S. and allied troops in combat (see quot. 1968); also transf.; body drop, a throw in ju-jitsu; body-face = bodytype; body-hoop, a hoop securing the arris pieces of a made mast; body-horse (still dial.), a shaft-horse; body-image Psychol., the subjective picture or mental image of one’s own body; body language Psychol., the gestures and movements by which a person unconsciously or indirectly conveys meaning; also transf.\ bodylifter = body-snatcher-, body-line bowling, fast bowling delivered persistently on the leg side so as to be likely to strike the batsman’s body; also in other collocations; body-louse, a species of louse, Pediculus corporis, which infests the body of the uncleanly; body-mark, stroke Printing, the stem or ‘thick-stroke’ of the face of a typeletter; body-mind Philos, (see quots.); bodyplan, in Shipbuilding, an end elevation of a ship, showing the breadth, contour of the sides, timbers, etc.; body-popping vbl. sb. orig. U.S., a style of (street-)dancing popular among teenagers, esp. in urban areas, and characterized by robotic, jerking movements; hence as ppl. a. and body-pop v. intr., body-popper; body-rope Naut. (see quots.); body scanner [scanner 3 a], a scanning X-ray machine which with the aid of a computer can produce tomograms of the whole body; body-schema = body-image’, body-snatcher, one who secretly disinters dead bodies in churchyards for the purpose of dissection, a ‘resurrectionist’; so bodysnatching, -stealing; body-soul, body and soul regarded as a unified whole; also attrib. or adj.; f body-stead, the nave of a church; f body-

body

356 spirit

= esprit de corps-, body stocking (see quot. 1968); body strike [strike si.]: see quot. 1957;

body-tube,

the main tube forming the body of

an organ-pipe;

body-type,

printing the text of a book; passion; of an

body-wall Zool.,

animal

organism;

body;

the type used for

body-urge,

the cell-wall

body-whorl,

sexual

the general envelope the

last

of a and

lower largest

whorl of a shell, containing the body of the mollusc; bodywork (see sense 8 b (c)). 1885 Harper's Mag. Apr. 820/1 A fur over-coat and ‘body-bag. 1911 Alfred Weeks's Sales Catal. All Wool ‘Body Belts, .to clear 6fd. 1962 T. C. H. Jacobs Red Net xviii. 178 A wide body-belt which Carlo had worn next to his skin... Two rows of tiny pockets ran its entire length. 1881 T. W. Cowan Bee-keeper's Guide Bk. 37 A second hive, having eight frames the same size as those used in the *bodybox, is provided for use on the top of the other. 1895 Modern Bee-Keeping (ed. 8) 22 The body-box or brood-chamber. 1890 Boston Herald 21 Dec. 18/5 Prof. Robert J. Roberts, the noted ‘body builder now connected with the gymnasium of the Young Men’s Christian Association of this city. 1928 Daily Express 5 Oct. 2/1 In Paris body¬ builders are making use of a new base material with which the car is covered. 1970 Times 4 Mar. 13/5 A girl tom between a brainy weed and a manic body-builder. 1983 Truck & Bus Transportation Oct. 48/2 The Interbus is bound to intensify competition among bus bodybuilders. 1986 Strength Athlete June/July 32/2 Back in the old days, people may have flocked to see the ‘freaks’—nowadays, bodybuilders are regarded as exemplary fitness aficionados to be emulated. 1904 Daily Chron. 4 May 4/3 Proteid, or the ♦body-building element. 1904 E. Sandow {title) Body Building, or Man in the Making. 1962 Times 14 Nov. 3/7 The swimming club has 45 minutes on body-building. 1946 Carpet Rev. Oct. 15/2 A large quantity of special heavy Wilton *body carpet.. was also made by the firm for the cabin class. 1947 Ibid. May 23/1 As for piece goods, there is quite a demand for | stair and runners, but one often sells body goods to fill the want, as stair carpets are in short supply. A good deal of plain body is sold. 1947 J. F. C. Brinton Carpets v. 37 Originally, carpeting was only made in body or filling 27 in. wide, and border 22J or 18 in. wide. 1957 Times 14 Oct. 13/5 For close-carpeting it is more economical to buy ‘body’ carpeting for alcoves, fireplaces and other odd corners. 1963 Which? Mar. 71/1 This., carpet.. is made on a broad loom (6 ft. wide or more) instead of the usual ‘body’ carpet which is in rolls 18-54 in. wide. 1875 Huxley & Martin Elem. Biol. 100 The ‘body-cavity [in Hydra]. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life Introd. p. xxix, The cavity, or series of cavities, known as body cavities or coelome. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Anim. Biol. i. 10 The stomach and intestine lie in a space, the general body-cavity or coelom. 1896 E. B. Wilson Cell in Devel. & Inherit, ix. 329 Whether these variations first arise in the idioplasm of the germ-cells.. or whether they may arise in the ‘body-cells and then be reflected back upon the idioplasm. 1926 J. S. Huxley Essays Pop. Sci. i. 7 The nucleus of an ordinary body-cell. 1921 Physical Rev. XVII. 574 The calculated spacings are those of a ‘body centered cubic lattice, the side of the cube being 2 895 A., and the distance between nearest atoms 2 508 A. 1925 Jrnl. Iron Steel Inst. CXII. 502 There are only two polymorphous phases .. a cubic body-centred modification .. and a cubic face-centred modification. 1944 Electronic Engin. XVII. 142 In the case of iron the atoms form a regular cubic pattern known as ‘body-centred’ in which, if we consider an elemental cube of the crystal or unit cell, there will be an atom at each corner of the cube and another at the centre. 1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856) 79 The *body-chamber is always very capacious. 1892 Lacrosse: Laws 6 * Body-check is the placing one’s body in the way of an approaching opponent, so that the latter is simply impeded. No checker shall use force in the body-check. 1901 Encycl. Sport I. 608/1 When a player is dodging, no notice should be taken of his crosse, the Checker simply taking care to place his body in the way of the dodger. This is known as the body check, and no force may be imparted to it, or it becomes a charge, which is forbidden. Body checking is of most use out of the field. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 17 Dec. 12/2 It might be a hint to Forster to body check more efficiently [in lacrosse]. 1962 Amer. Speech XXXVII. 126 Bodychecks and unpermitted blows occurred [in ice-hockey]. 1936 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Mar. 227/2 It [ice hockey] offers to the eye the clash of bodies (for all the rules about ‘body-checking). i960 Times 29 Nov. 17/5 Oxford and Cambridge completed their lacrosse programmes for the term... Cambridge started slowly. Their defence was open, there was little body-checking. 1968 G. Household Dance of Dwarfs 163 How long did this take from the time the beast looked over the neck and saw me?.. One’s own ‘body clock is speeded up so fast that it is impossible to tell. 1986 Today 8 Dec. 3 {caption) He admitted to photographers: My body clock is still on 4 am and I haven’t had a chance to shave yet. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2021/4 Occasioned by the hindermost Buckles of a ‘Body-Cloth. 1706 Ibid. No. 4212/4 A white Streak down the Side, occasioned by *Body-Clothes. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. 1. ix. 46 They cover their cows with * body-cloths. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth v, God-a-mercy, wench, it were hard to deny thee time to busk thy bodyclothes. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. II. xvi. 168 Blankets were served out as the material for ‘body-clothing. 1820 T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. Introd. 62 His ring, his seal, his *body-coat, his perfume-box, his upper and under mantle. 1784 J. Barry Lect. Art vi. (1848) 215 Employing stiff ♦body colour on a white ground. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Painting 107 The difficulty of calculating when ‘wet’ the difference of tone the body-colour will assume when dry. 1968 Economist 29 June 25/2 The Americans have largely abandoned the ‘♦body count’ system, according to which a Vietcong was supposed to be reported dead only if his body was actually seen and counted. 1970 N. Y. Times 11 Sept. 40 State and Federal aid programs that are based on live body counts will provide less support to the cities and increase their support to the suburbs. 1984 Listener 22 Mar. 6/1 Since then, according to the body-count kept by the American Embassy, the rate of killings has dropped to around 100 a month. 1948 G. Koizumi Twelve Judo Throws 26 ‘Bodydrop (Taiotoshi).. is one of the hand throws, i960 Oxf. Mail 10 Mar. 8/3 Buley scored a point with a body drop

throw, but Garnett scored points with hip and body drop throws. 1898 J. Southward Mod. Printing I. 134 ‘Body or text faces. CI430 Lydg. Min. Poems 201 A belfry for the ♦bodyfaunt. 1597 Bacon Coulers Good & Evill x. (Arb.) 154 The ‘body-horse in the Cart, that draweth more then the forehorse. 1934 P. Schilder in Proc. Assoc. Res. Nerv. Ment. Dis. XIII. 466 {title) Localization of the ‘body image. 1935 —— Image & Appearance of Human Body 11 The body schema is the tri-dimensional image everybody has about himself. We may call it ‘body-image’. 1950 Lancet 25 Feb. 335/1 The expression body-image.. refers to the mental idea which an individual possesses as to his own body and its physical and sesthetic attributes. [1941 D. Efron Gesture Gf Environment 1. 5 The bodily language of the Mediterranean is a ‘swinging, and dancing of gestures’.] 1966 Psychol. Abstr. XL. 1252/2 Langage corporel et theorie de l’information (♦Body-language and information theory). 1967 P. L. Wachtel in Psychotherapy IV. in. 97 {heading) An approach to the study of body language in Psychotherapy. 1970 [see kinesics]. 1972 T. McHugh Time of Buffalo xiii. 152 Buffalo also express themselves in ‘body language’, assuming certain positions or moving in a particular way. 1983 Chem. Engin. 7 Feb. 90 Various types of ‘body language’—such as shuffling feet, yawns, glances at watches.. and so on—may signal that it’s time to call for a break. 1832 Southey in Q. Rev. XLVII. 517 Not coming from a professional ‘body-lifter. 1861 Ramsay Remin. Ser. 11. 133. 1933 Times 19 Jan. 12/6 The Australian Cricket Board of Control has sent the following telegram to the M.C.C.: ‘‘Body-line bowling has assumed such proportions as to menace the best interests of the game, making the protection of his body by a batsman his main consideration [etc.].’. 1955 I. Peebles Ashes 1954-55 ix* 93 Voce did so [sc. took ten wickets], aided by a wet wicket, and Larwood by a bodyline field. 1575 J. Still Gamm. Gurton 11. iv, She went as brag as it had ben a ‘bodelouce. a 1652 Brome Crt. Beggar Epil., As briske as a Body-lowse in a new Pasture. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon 11. vi. i. 294 The Body (or Clothes) Louse.. was for a long time confounded with the former [the Head Louse]. 1896 De Vinne Moxon's Mech. Exerc., Printing 414 Stem is the thick-stroke of a letter, sometimes called by type-founders the *body-mark. 1877 G. H. Lewes Physical Basis of Mind in. iii. 350 We know ourselves as ‘Body-Mind; we do not know ourselves as Body and Mind, if by that be meant two coexistent independent Existents. 1945 Mind LIV. 58 The defenders of this view have recently been making quite a point of speaking not of ‘a mind’ and ‘a body’ but of a ‘body-mind’, seeking to emphasize by the hyphen in this compound word the monistic identity or inseparableness of the mental and bodily components. C1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 137 The plan of projection, commonly called the *body plan, which exhibits the outline of the principal timbers, and the greatest heights and breadths of the same. 1984 Times 13 July 10/8 Dwellers on Planet Rock.. are often to be seen on pavements, ‘body-popping. 1986 J. Savarin Naja ii. 35 The black disc-jockey body-popped with unbelievable athleticism. 1984 N.Y. Times 15 Apr. x. 51/2 The girls wanted to go back to Covent Garden to watch the punks and ♦body-poppers. 1984 Financial Times 26 Mar. 11 A mute, ♦body-popping robot. 1984 Dance Theatre Jrnl. May 14/3 It’s a very strong statement from the streets.. that whole movement—breaking, ♦body-popping. 1985 Times 2 Feb. 9/4 The mechanical movements of body popping can be traced to mime and to robotic disco dancing. 1883 Man. Seamanship Boys' Training Ships 41 The ropes [for royals] are of two sizes only—viz., head rope from earring to earring, and a ‘body rope on the foot and leeches. Ibid. 46 The largest or body rope .. and the head rope. 1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 1 May 1/7 The ’body scanner is a refinement of a similar scanner for the brain and skull in use since 1972... The $575,000 body scanner will start clinical trials shortly in a hospital just outside London. 1978 Lancashire Life Mar. 115/2 The Pat Seed Appeal Fund for a body-scanner for the Christie Hospital in Manchester (itself a world leader in the treatment or cancer). 1983 Daily Tel. 29 Nov. 18/4 There are now plenty of consultants who are disappointed with the usefulness of the body scanner. 1935 *Body-schema [see body-image]. 1942 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Apr. 280 The notion of the ‘body schema’ (or ‘body image’) has come to enjoy something of a vogue in contemporary neuropsychiatry. 1962 Hoenig & Hamilton tr .Jaspers' Gen. Psychopathol. i. 89 The car I drive, if I am a good driver, becomes part of my body-schema or image and is like an extended body which I invest fully with my own senses. 1834 Sir F. Head Bubbles of Brunnen 126 Any one of our ‘body-snatchers would have rubbed his rough hands. 1863 Reader 22 Aug., At that time (1827-28) .. ‘‘body-snatching’ became a trade, a 1897 W. Wallace Lect. (1898) 152 As if we were to say of a human being (and it is what perhaps we dare say of the fewest), that he or she was ‘body-soul: the body the transparent and perfect temple of the spirit. 1956 E. L. Mascall Christ. Theol. & Nat. Sci. vii. 271 The doctrine that the human soul.. is only one part of the twofold body-soul unity of the man. 1958 D. M. Baillie Out of Nazareth 11. i. 150 Man is a body-soul organism. 1623 Resol. Ch. Cartmell in Sat. Rev. (1884) 5 July 14 The ♦bodystead of the Church shall be decentlye repaired. 1794 W. Taylor in Month. Rev. XIII. 39 He endeavoured to inspire the senate with a *body-spirit. 1880 S. Warren Grave Doings in Casquet Lit. (1877) V. 185/1 My .. exploit in the way of ‘body-stealing. 1965 Vogue 15 Apr. 93 New ‘body stocking.. body-coloured, body-shaped Lycra, just about invisible. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 66 Body-stocking, covering for the entire body from neck to feet, sometimes with sleeves; they are the same as a dancer’s leotard... They are worn as a single undergarment in place of brassiere, pants and stockings. Nowadays body-stockings are often flesh coloured and only opaque over the actual body, to give an impression of nudity under a transparent dress. 1969 P. Roth Portnoy's Complaint 203 Walking into a restaurant with a long-legged kurveh on his arm! An easy lay in a body stocking! 1937 Belschner & Seddon Stud. Sheep Blowfly Problem in Dept. Agric. N.S. Wales Sci. Bulletin No. 54 {title) Observations on Fleece Rot and ‘Body Strike in Sheep. Ibid. 24 Body strike follows the development in the fleece of the condition known as fleece rot. 1957 New Biol. XXII. 94 Strike starting on some other part of the body [of sheep] such as the shoulder or over the back, is referred to as body strike. 1959 S. J. Baker Drum no Flystrike, infestation of sheep by blowflies... Also, body-strike. 1898 J. Southward Mod. Printing I. 140 The thick lines.. are called the ‘body strokes.

BODY 1854 Bushnan in Circ. Sc. (1865) I. 283/2 The air.. passes out in undulating movements from the ‘body-tube. 1898 J. Southward 134 ‘Body or text types, used for plain paragraph matter. 1961 T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship (ed. 2)43/2 Body type, type suitable for reading matter (8 14 point) as in the text of a book, as distinguished from display type, used in headings, display lines in advertisements, etc. 1930 ‘Body-urge [see it pron. 1 f], 1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xvii. 237 Teck’s a good kid .. but he’s got no body-urge. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Arum. Life 357 The ‘body wall [in Vertebrata]. 1898 A. Sedgwick Zool. I. 549 The soft part of the body-wall [in Polyzoa], which consists of ectoderm and mesoderm. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 13/2 A special series of muscles in the body-wall. 1959 E. F. Linssen Beetles 1. 14 Another characteristic feature of insects is the hard, horny body-wall consisting of plates., composed mostly of chitin. 1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856) toi The last turn of the shell, or ‘body-whorl, is usually very capacious.

bceuf

357

'bodylet.

nonce-wd. [After armlet, etc.: see -let.] An ornamental ring for the body.

Boeotic (bi:'Dtik), a. [ad. L. Bceoticus, ad. Gr. Bolojtlkos Boeotian.] = prec. adj.

1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. ii. (1875) 55 The savage also wears necklaces and rings, bracelets and anklets, armlets and leglets—even, if I may say so, bodylets.

1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 741 The Dull Boeotick Air had too much Effect upon him. 1851 Jelf Greek Gram. ii. § 10. 9 The dialects then are .. The Doric, as spoken by the Dorians, The Boeotic, by the Boeotians. 1869 Eng. Mech. 19 Mar. 577/3 A.. man of a very blunt Boeotic dull wit.

'body-like, a. and adv. Also 6 bodilike. [f. body sb. + LIKE.] A. adj. Like a body; real, solid. 1570 Billingsley Euclid xi. def. 26. 320 The figure of the parallelipipedon, which appeareth more bodilike.

fB. adv.

In bodily form, bodily.

Obs.

1663 in Spalding Troub. Chas. I. (1829) 33 This monster was seen body-like swimming above the water. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 29 It might then be cut a pieces body¬ like.

bodym, obs. form of bottom sb.

body ('bDdi), v. [f. prec.] trans. 1. To furnish or provide with a body; to embody.

fbodysome, a. Obs. [see -some.] Corporeal.

c 1449 Pecock Repr. 245 We .. holden now oure God to be bodili and to be Bodied in a Maner which no Cristen man kan at the ful comprehend. 1621 Bolton Stat. Irel. 315 (an. II Eliz.) His head sundred from his bodie. . and . . bodied with a stake. 1634 Habington Castara 14 In some faire forme of clay Myself I’de bodied. 1656 Cowley Davideis 11. Wks. 1710 I. 353. 1858 Sears Athan. in. x. 335 The state where every man’s real and dominant life is.. bodied and robed according to its intrinsic quality.

boe, obs. form of bough, bow, and bo int.

f2. To give body, consistence, or strength to. lit. and fig. Obs. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. n. 41 Boyle them .. vntyll they bee well bodyed and incorporate together. 1657 May Satyr. Puppy 43 Bodying each word with active emphasis.

f3. To draw up or form (troops, etc.) into a body, to form in a body. (Also intr. for refl.) Obs. 1651 Proc. Parliament No. 80. 1215 The Earl of Sunderland .. hath bodied above 500 of his tenants, & other people under his jurisdiction. Ibid. No. 104. 1603 But we could not hear of any bodying considerably, so that we could onely disperse severall parties. 1653 Gauden Hierasp. 14 Bodying into small Corporations.

4. to body forth: a. to represent to oneself as in bodily form; to give mental shape to. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. v. i. 14 Imagination bodies forth the forms of things Vnknowne. 1820 Scott Monast. xiii, The beau-ideal which Dame Glendinning had been bodying forth in her imagination. 1855 Bain Senses Int. hi. iv. § 16 The power of bodying forth or realizing what is described in language, is one of the meanings of Conception.

b. To put (an idea) into outward shape or tangible form, to exhibit in outward reality. 1800-24 Campbell Chaucer Windsor 1 Long shalt thou flourish, Windsor! bodying forth Chivalric times. 1835 Lytton Rienzi iv. i. 191 Wonderfully did her beauty .. body forth the brightest vision that ever floated before the eyes of Tasso. 1840 Carlyle Heroes iv. (1858) 277 The spiritual will always body itself forth in the temporal history of men.

c. To represent; to symbolize, typify. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 54 One bodies forth a Virgin form Holding aloft a Cross of might. 1879 Church Spenser iv. (1883) 9° The allegory bodies forth the trials which beset the life of man. 1883 Spectator No. 2874. 958 Both as egotist and as patriot M. de Lesseps bodies forth the age.

d. To indicate, betoken. 1831 Scott Kenilw. xvii, A sharp, lively, conceited expression of countenance, seemed to body forth a vain hairbrained coxcomb.

5. to body out: to give body or a body to; to fill out (a skeleton), to clothe (a mind) with bodily form. 1839 Bailey Festus xxii. (1848) 285 If thus they bodied out The immortal mind. 1883 Academy 20 Oct., To bodyout the meagre accounts of Thucydides.

body-guard (’bDdi,ga:d). [cf. F. garde du corps.] 1. A guard for the petson (esp. of a sovereign or dignitary); a retinue or escort. 01735 Arbuthnot Wks. II. 107 (Jod.) Several bees go with him, as a bodyguard. 1738 F. Moore Trav. II. 404 (Jod.) Troops, .with increased pay and exclusive privileges under the denomination of bodyguards. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 182 That body-guard of Popery the Jesuits. 1820 Scott Abbot xxi, A page is a formidable addition to my body-guard of females. 1822 Byron Werner 1. i. 676 I’ll promote you to the ranks In the prince’s body-guard. 1847 Grote Greece (1862) III. xlii. 513. fig. 1858 J. Martineau Studies Chr. 72 Defended by a body-guard of passions.

2. A soldier of the body-guard, a guard’s-man. 1861 W. Sargent Andre 390 The.. execution.. of one of the body-guards.

bodyhood ('bodihod). [f. body sb. + -hood.] The quality of having a body or of being body. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 12 Upon the account of our animalities or beghosted bodyhood. Ibid. 46 Not only the things of body are given to things not body, but even bodyhood it self is. 1839 Bailey Festus xx. (1848) 254 Spirit lives: And gloriously falsified are all Earth’s caverned prophecies of bodyhood.

bodying ('bDdng), vbl. sb. [f. body v. + -ing1.] The action of the vb. body: embodiment. 1641 French Distill, v. (1651) 163 Vapours of Nitre., being neer to congelation, and bodying. 1841 Miall Nonconf. I. 401 The bodyings forth of that intelligence which is contained in the public mind.

1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 17 We and all body-some Beings.

boec, boef, obs. form of book, beef. Boehm (bo:m). The name of Theobald Bohm (1794-1881), German musician, applied attrib. to the system of keys and fingering which he invented in 1832. Hence applied to a flute which he designed, and to other wood-wind instruments with similar features. 1845 R. Carte (title) A Complete Course of Instructions for the Boehm flute. .. Preceded by an analysis of the Boehm flute and of the old eight keyed flute. 1889 G. B. Shaw London Music 1888-8g (1937) 77 In spite of the splendors of the Boehm flute, it is often lost in passages where the old flute used to tell when violins were less numerous. 1905 Harmsworth Encycl. IV. 2510/2 Nearly all concert flutes now in use are constructed upon the Boehm system, or modifications of it. 1935 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 727/2 The modern cylinder flute .. when combined with the Boehm fingering.. forms a nearly perfect instrument. 1954 Grove's Diet. Mus. (ed. 5) II. 324/1 In 1844 H. Klose.. and A. Buffet devised an entirely new clarinet.. now generally known as the Boehm clarinet.

Boehmenism

('b0:m3niz(3)m). Commonly Behmenism. The doctrines taught by Jacob Bcehme, a German mystic and theosophist (t 575-1624). So Baehmenish, Boehmenistic adjs.; Bcehmenist (also Bcehmist) sb. and a., Bcehmenite. 1656 More Euthus. Tri. (1712) 49 Ranters and Quakers took their original from Behmenism and Familism. 1655 Baxter Quaker's Catech. Pref. Ciijb, I could tell you of abundance of Popery that the Quakers and Behmenists maintain. 1731 Swift Let. 10 Sept, in Pope Wks. (1757) IX. 142 A very profound Behmist assures me, the style is poetic. *739 John Wesley Jrnl. 23 Oct. (1938) II. 297, I read over Mr. Law’s book on the New Birth.. Behmenish, void, and vain! 1824 Coleridge Aids Refl. (ed. 2) 135 By any favouring the errors of the .. Behmenists. 1846 Byron's Wks. 668 note, [founder of the sect called Behmenites]. 1854 Encycl. Brit. IV. 805/1 The sect of Boehmists. 1912 W. C. Braithwaite Beginnings of Quakerism ii. 38 We are reminded of the similar Familist and Boehmist teaching with respect to perfectionism. 1919 P. H. Osmond Myst. Poets Eng. Church viii. 258 The Behmenistic view is too much influenced by the thought of the caprice and passion associated with human anger. 1961 W. H. G. Armytage Heavens Below 1. iv. 38 Law channelled Behmenist thought into the main current of English mysticism.

boel, obs. form of bowel. Bceotarch (’bhaotaik). [ad. Gr. [3oicorapxys, f. /SoicoT-ia Boeotia -I- -apxqs ruler: cf. F. Beotarque.] A chief magistrate of the Boeotian league. 01822 Shelley CEdipus Tyr. Advt., Before the duties., had been repealed by the Baeotarchs. 1838 Thirlwall Greece V. xxxix. 108 The yearly term for which he held his office of Boeotarch had expired.

Boer (bua(r), bsu3(r), or boa(r), Afrikaans bu:(r)). Formerly boor. [a. Du. boer ‘countryman, peasant, farmer’, the same word that in a general sense is spelt boor. The latter was formerly used also for the Dutch settlers in South Africa, but in more recent times the Du. spelling boer has been appropriated to this sense.] a. A Dutch colonist in South Africa engaged in agriculture or cattle-breeding. ‘In recent newspaper language, the name has been applied especially to those of the Transvaal and other districts beyond the British dominions’ (N.E.D., 1887). See earlier quots. under boor 2 b. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. i. 127 Tall Dutch-African boors.. were bawling in Colonial-Dutch. Ibid. iv. 182 To begin the world respectably as a Vei Boer, or grazier. 1857 Livingstone Trav. ii. 29 The Boers of the Cashan Mountains .. The word Boer simply means ‘farmer’, and is not synonymous with our word boor. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. i. 11 Such a story .. would be naturally referred to the Dutch boers.

b. 'Boerdom, the community or state of the Boers. 1884 Pall Mall G. 15 Oct. 6/1 Boerdom develops faster than British progress.

2. 5. Afr. In special Comb, signifying made, produced, used by, or typical of Boers; often also ||boere- ('buira): boerbeskuit, boer biscuit, boermeal, boer{e)musiek, boer-rusk, boer(e)wors (-vo:s), boerwyn (-vein). 1943 ‘B. Knight’ Covenant (1944) iv. xix. 232 There was a good supply of.. biltong and Boerbeskuit and a couple of roasted fowls. 1882 Mrs. Heckford Lady Trader in Transvaal xxviii. 309 Hendrik managed to get some Boer biscuits from this man. a 1920 O. Schreiner From Man to Man (1926) iii. m One morning.. Baby-Bertie was kneeling in the pantry, making Boer biscuits. 1873 F. Boyle To the Cape for Diamonds x. 141 Boer meal (cheap at this moment (42s per muid (200 lbs)). [1878 Roche's ‘On Trek in the Transvaal' 110 (Pettman), Bread we could not get, only the Boer's meal, i.e. the flour of the country.] 1949 Cape Times 24 Sept. 8/7 We used to get on farms the boermeal bread made from wheat, and nothing but wheat. 1952 Ibid. 27 Sept. 4/4 The music blared forth real boeremusiek which sent the whole crowd dancing. 1937 S. Cloete Turning Wheels xxv. 392 Going without food except for the Boer rusks and biltong that he carried. 1944 V. Pohl Adv. Boer Fam. i. 12 Saddlebags stuffed to bursting with boer-rusks, bread and biltong. 1948 Cape Times 18 Sept. 9/6 An expert on sosaties, boerwors, and braaivleis. 1950 L. G. Green Land of Afternoon iv. 63 Boerewors is another farm product which some still make in the old way; a sausage in which the meat has been pounded with a wooden stamper rather than minced. Modern boerewors.. is usually a mixture of lean beef with pork fat, seasoned with wine or vinegar. 1947 Cape Times 14 May 3/6 Boerwyn—the unfortified wine sold to coloured patrons.

3. Special Comb. Boer War, the South African war (1899-1902), between the Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, and Great Britain and her colonies; cf. Anglo-Boer s.v. Anglo- 2. [1899 G. Meredith Let. 27 Oct. (1970) III. 1337, I need patience even to speak of this Boer War.] 1900 C. M. Yonge Let. 17 July in C. Coleridge C. M. Yonge (1903) xii. 345 Aimee tried to explain the rights of the *Boer War. 1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iii. v. 587 He.. figuratively marched across the road to the Canning . . galvanizing.. the Oxford Tories now wilting under the strain of the Boer war. I955 G. Greene Quiet American 1. iv. 52 Like a panorama of the Boer War in an old Illustrated London News. 1981 H. Domisse in D. Harrison White Tribe of Africa i. 24 This Boer War, was the stupidest war the English ever carried on.

Boeotia (bi:'3uj(i)3). A district of ancient Greece proverbial for the stupidity of its inhabitants: hence fig.

boe-spritte, obs. form of bowsprit.

1786 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. Boswell Wks. 1794 I. 313 A dim Boeotia reigns in every skull. 1884 Harper's Mag. Nov. 895/2 Essex appears to be looked on as the Boeotia of England.

t .boe'thetic. Obs. rare-1, [ad. Gr. porjOrjTiK-os, f. fior)0€-€Lv to help.] Helpful, curative.

Hence 'Boeotize Boeotian.

v.,

to

become

or

1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 164 Medecine is of five kinds; Boethetick, removeth disease.

make

1789 Parr Wks. (1828) VII. 410, I live quite in Boeotia, and Boeotize daily. 1846 Grote Greece (1854) I. 183 These inhabitants of Orchomenos, before it became bceotised.

Boeotian (bi:'3oJ(i)3n), a. and sb. [f. prec. + -AN.]

A. adj. a. Of Boeotia. b. Dull, stupid. 1598 Marston Pigmal. ii. 142, I dull-sprighted fat Boetian Boore. 1809 Byron Bards Rev. 82 To be misled By Jeffrey’s heart, or Lambe’s Boeotian head. 1831 Carlyle Sort. Res. in. i, The earnestness and Boeotian simplicity.. with which that ‘Incident’ is here brought forward.

B. sb. a. A native of Boeotia. b. A stupid clown, a ‘thick-head’. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, lix, These TrencherSts.; full-paunch’t Boetians, Contemne all Bodies bred in purer Ayre, As Atticke leanness. 1821 Lockhart Valerius II. x. 296 An opportunity.. which I should have been a Boeotian indeed had I neglected. 1839 Thirlwall Greece VIII. 465.

|| boeuf (bce:f). [Fr.] Beef; used with postpositive adj. to designate a beef dish cooked in a particular manner, the adj. indicating either the sauce in which the dish is served, as bceuf bordelais, or the region of supposed origin, as bceuf bourguignon, beef braised with red wine and served with bacon and mushrooms. Similarly used with a proper name, as boeuf stroganoff: see stroganoff. [1907 A. Escoffier Guide Mod. Cookery 379 Piece de Boeuf a la Bourguignonne. Lard the piece of beef, and marinade it for three hours in brandy and red wine.] 1936 Lucas & Hume Au Petit Cordon Bleu 92 Ragout de boeuf bourguignonne. 2 lb. topside beef. 1942 E. Paul Narrow St. iii. 25 Mary inspected carefully the two portions of boeuf bordelais. i960 E. David French Provincial Cooking 335 This is the French method even with what might be termed first-class secondary joints such as topside and the equivalent of our aitchbone, which are used for such delicious dishes as boeuf mode and boeuf bourguignon. 1965 M.

BOEZAR Kenyon May you die in Ireland i. 8 He would have liked someone to cook boeuf bourguignon for him in the evenings.

boezar, obs. form of bezoar. boff, bofet, boffet, obs. ff. buff, buffet. boffin ('bofin). slang. [Etym. unknown. Numerous conjectures have been made about the origin of the word but all lack foundation.] 1. An ‘elderly’ naval officer. 1941 C. Graves Life Line 143 Their ages are as youthful as air crews. Thirty-two is considered the maximum... In H. M.S. Wasps' Nest, anyone aged thirty-two is officially a ‘boffin’. There is even a song about them... ‘He glares at us hard and he scowls, For we’re the Flotilla Boffins.’ 1942 ‘Sea-Wrack’ Random Soundings 71 We were ‘Old Boffins’, the Pay. and I. He had been in the Bank of England for many years, and in the R.N.R. almost as long... I hadn’t been to sea ii\ a professional capacity for some eighteen years.

2. A person engaged in ‘back-room’ scientific or technical research. Hence 'boffin(e)ry, boffins collectively; also, the activity of a boffin. The term seems to have been first applied by members of the Royal Air Force to scientists working on radar. 1945 Times 15 Sept. 5/4 A band of scientific men who performed their wartime wonders at Malvern and apparently called themselves ‘the boffins’. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway iii. 61 ‘What’s a boffin?’ ‘The man from Farnborough. Everybody calls them boffins. Didn’t you know?’.. ‘Why are they called that?’.. ‘Because they behave like boffins, I suppose.’ 1948 Lord Tedder in A. P. Rowe One Story of Radar p. vii, I was fortunate in having considerable dealings in 1938-40 with the ‘Boffins’ (as the Royal Air Force affectionately dubbed the scientists). 1952 Picture Post 30 Aug. 20/1 Only a backroom boffin out of touch with the classroom could hold this pious belief. 1954 Economist 19 June Suppl. 6/3 The graduate from research -roughly .. the boffin of industry. 1957 R. WatsonWatt Three Steps to Victory xxxiii. 201 The proud title of Boffin was first conferred on a few radar scientists by Royal Air Force officers with whom they worked in close co¬ operation.I am not quite sure about the true origins of this name of Boffin. It certainly has something to do with an obsolete type of aircraft called the Baffin, something to do with that odd bird, the Puffin; I am sure it has nothing at all to do with that first literary Back Room Boy, the claustrophiliac Colonel Boffin. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Feb. 83/3 In one of those diverting interludes .. he writes an anatomy of Boffinry. 1958 Economist 25 Oct. 298/1 The unexpected success of the boffins’ conference at Geneva.. ending in agreement on the feasibility of controlling a nuclear test suspension, i960 J. MacLaren-Ross Until Day viii. 132, I was engaged in some boffinery in a blasted back¬ room unit.

Bofors ('bsufaz). [Site of munition works in Orebro, Sweden.] Used attrib. or ellipt. of a type of light anti-aircraft gun. 1933 Jane's Fighting Ships 406/2 Armament: 5-4-7 inch, 50 cal., Bofors. 1939 War Illustr. 25 Nov. 330 A quick-firing two-pounder Bofors anti-aircraft gun of Swedish design, built by licence in Great Britain. Such guns were introduced into the British Army in 1938, but they soon formed the standard equipment of light anti-aircraft units whose job it is to deal with low-flying .. aircraft. 1941 W. S. Churchill Secret Session Speeches (1946) 31 Already 200 Bofors or their equivalents have been ordered to be made available by A.D.G.B. and the factories.

bog (bDg), sb.1 Forms: 6-7 bogg, bogge, 7 boghe, 6- bog. [ad. Ir. or Gael, bogach a bog, f. bog soft, used in composition in the sense of ‘bog’, as bogluachair bulrush. In Scotland apparently from Gaelic, in England from Irish.] 1. 1. a. A piece of wet spongy ground, consisting chiefly of decayed or decaying moss and other vegetable matter, too soft to bear the weight of any heavy body upon its surface; a morass or moss. c 1505 Dunbar Of James Dog 15 Chassand cattell through a bog. 01552 Leland Brit. Coll. (1774) II. 545 They., fledde alle, and levyng theyr Horses, tooke the Marresis, or Bogges. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, iii. vii. 61 They that ride so .. ..fall into foule Boggs. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. (1614) 143/1 Certain places [of Ireland].. which of their softnesse are usually termed Boghes. 1631 Star Chamb. Cases (1886) 34 The Country of Ireland is full of boggs on the ground and mists in the aire. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 592 That Serbonian Bog Betwixt Damiata and mount Casius old, Where Armies whole have sunk. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The inconveniences of Bogs are .. that they are a great destruction to cattle: they are also a shelter to Tories and Thieves. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. xiii, The trembling bog and false morass. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 325 These bogs are included under the general designation of the Bog of Allen.

b. (without pi.) Bog-land, boggy soil. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 2 Bog may by draining be made Meadow. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 269 A large extent of hill pasture, moor, and bog. 1861 Times 29 Aug., Long brown gaps of stagnant-looking bog, where the piles of neatly-cut turf were stacked out in rough black cones.

C.fig. (Cf. ‘fog’.) 1614 Bp. King Vitio Palat. 30 Quagmires and bogges of Romish superstition. 1787 Burns To Miss Ferrier iii, Last day my mind was in a bog. 1840 C. Dickens Barn. Rudge (1849) 331 /1 He wandered out again, in a perfect bog of uncertainty. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 331 The Serbonian bog of dramatic rules.

II. Attrib. and Comb. 2. General comb., as bog-black adj. bog-bred adj.; -hay, -peat, -pit, -plant, -stalker, -turf, -water, -way.

BOG

358 1953 Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954) 48 The lickerish *bog-black tea. 1850 Marg. Fuller Worn, igth C. (1862) 324 Because that ‘bog-bred youth.. tells you lies. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 222 In general ‘bog hay.. is about one third inferior in quality to that from sown grass. 1743 Ellis Mod. Husb. III. 1. 113 In a low Meadow.. there is a Peat dug called * Bog-peat. 1958 New Biol. XXVI. 91 Peat is of two main types (with intermediates): (1) fen peat .... (2) bog peat formed under acid conditions. 1820 Scott Abbot xvi, The kelpie must flit from the black ‘bog-pit. 1854 S. Thomson Wild FI. iii. (1861) 138 Our common ‘bogplants. 01758 Ramsay Poems (1800) II. 338 Ill-bred ‘bog stalker. 1847 E. Bronte Wuthering Heights II. xiv. 280 The “bog-water got into her head, and she would have run home, quite flighty, but I fixed her. 1866 Carlyle Remin. I. 205 A gush of bog-water. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iii. (ed. 12) 12 Before coming to the black *bog-way.

3. In many names of plants growing in bogs: as bog asphodel, cinquefoil, pimpernel, etc.; bog bean, bog nut, bog trefoil, also called buckbean; bog berry, the Cranberry; bog moss, various species of Sphagnum, by the growth and decay of which bogs are chiefly formed; bog myrtle, Sweet Gale (Myrica Gale); bog onion: see onion sb. 2 b; bog orchis, Malaxispaludosa; bog pink, Lady’s Smock (Cardamine pratensis); bog rush, Schoenus nigricans; also U.S., a plant of the genus Juncus; bog violet = butterwort (Pinguicula). 1881 G. Allen in Academy 13 Aug. 113/3 A little marsh .... made room for *bog-asphodel. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xvi. 176 Marsh Trefoil, Buckbean or *Bogbean will discover itself to you immediately. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i, What the bog-bean and wood-sage are good for. 1858 Eliz. Twining Lect. Plants 345 Our marsh Bog-bean which I described to you as an intensely bitter herb. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. 297/1 ‘Bogberries, Vaccinium. 1892 J. Barlow Irish Idylls viii. 217 She made a feint of looking for bogberries. 1785 Martyn tr. Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. 493 Sphagnum, or ‘Bog-moss, has the capsule covered with a lid. 1840 [see sphagnum]. 1959 J. Clegg Freshwater Life (ed. 2) iii. 63 Of the mosses, the most important are the species of Bog Mosses (Sphagnum).. which form soft carpets of vegetation in the damp areas. 1884 Q. Victoria More Leaves 290 Bonnets with a black cock’s tail and ‘bog-myrtle. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. 315/1 Rush, Round black-headed, Marsh or ‘Bog, Schoenus. 1843 J. Torrey N.Y. Nat. Hist. Surv.: Flora II. 325 Juncus effusus.. Bog-rush. 1855 Lesser Bog Rush [see rush sb.x 4 a]. 1898 C. M. Yonge John Keble's Parishes xvi. 231 Bogrush (L. campestris). — Little rush.

4. Special comb.: bog-blitter, -bluiter, -bumper, provincial names of the Bittern; bogbutter, a fatty hydrocarbon found in the peat¬ bogs of Ireland; bog-deal = bog-pine; bogdown, Cotton-grass (Eriophorum); bog-earth, earth composed of, or largely mixed with, peat; bog fir = bog pine; bog-garden, a piece of ground laid out and irrigated to grow plants whose habitat is bog-land and a peaty soil; boghole, a natural hole with a swampy bottom; bog iron, bog iron ore, a brittle, porous variety of brown hsematite found in bogs; bog-jumper, (local) the Bittern; bog-land, marshy land, a boggy country; humorously, Ireland; hence bog-lander; bog Latin, a spurious form of Latin; cf. dog-Latin; also = shelta; bog manganese (see quot.); f bog-mine, bogmine-ore, bog ore = bog iron ore; t bog-mire, a quagmire; bog-mould = bog-earth; bog oak, the wood of oak preserved in a black state in peat-bogs, etc.; bog-pine, pinewood found buried in peat-bogs; bog-spavin, an encysted tumour on the inside of the hock of a horse; bogtimber, bog-wood, the trunks of trees found buried in peat-bogs. 1815 Scott Guy M. i, The deep cry of the *bog-blitter, or bull-of-the bog. 1866 Inverness Courier 4 Jan., The bittern of British Zoology; provincially the ‘bog-bumper and miredrum. 1863 Watts Diet. Chem. I. 617 ‘Bog-butter, a fatty substance found in the peat-bogs of Ireland. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xlvii. 301 Touch the needle with a piece of *bog-down, or a cork ball. 1865 Pall Mall G. 24 Oct. 5 Cloth made of bog-down (Anglice, cotton grass). 1787-8 Botan. Mag. II. 46 Soil, a mixture of loam and ‘bog earth. 1769 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LIX. 33 Why these ‘bogfirs may be found in places where there is no such tree at present. 1883 W. Robinson Engl. Flower Garden p. lxiii/i A more perfect ‘bog garden is made by forming a basin of brickwork and Portland cement, about one foot in depth. 1908 R. Farrer Alpines Bog-plants 154 The prime., necessity of the bog-garden is the most perfect drainage. 1788 G. O’Nial The Minor II. iii. iii. 14 He and his horse had bounced into a *bog-hole. 1839 ‘Mrs. M. Clavers’ New Home i. 15 Down came our good horse to the very chin in a bog-hole. 1936 P. Fleming News from Tartary iii. vi. 138 Slippery flats, pitted with bog-holes. 1789 Mills in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 89 ‘Bog iron ore is met with in the mosses. 1690 Dryden Prol. to Prophetess 31 Men without hearts, and women without hose. Each bring his love a *Bogland captive home. 1745 Ellis Mod. Husb. VI. 11. 47 A proper Plough to plow Bog lands. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 9 The night came down upon the bogland. 1730-6 Bailey Diet., * Bog-Landers, a nick-name given Irish-men. 1755 W. Moffat Irish Hudib., A bunch of three-leaved grass Called by the boglanders shamrogues. 1785 Grose Diet. Vulgar T., **Bog latin, (Irish) barbarous latin. 1891 [see shelta]. 1927 J. Joyce Let. 20 May (1957) 254 Dulce et decorum est prope mare sedere—boglatin for it is a sweet and seemly thing to sit down by the sea. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts III. 200 Wad, or ‘Bog Manganese, is the old English name of the hydrated peroxide of manganese. 1590 R. Payne Descr. Irel. (1841) 6

There is.. greate plentie of Iron stone, and one sort more than we have in England, which they call ‘Bogge myne. 1762 Eliot in Phil. Trans. LIII. 56 Add some bog mine ore, which abounds with cinder. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia 11. 32 They slew my men, and tooke me prisoner in a ‘Bogmire. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 414 When brought to the decayed condition of *bog-mould, or rich earth. 1813 M. Edgeworth Let. 24 Oct. in S. H. Romilly RomillyEdgeworth Lett. (1936) 60 This necklace, and bracelets, are genuine Irish—made of * bog-oak—that is, of oak found in our bogs. 1857 Parsons in Phil. Trans. L. 398 This is called bog-oak, or bog deal, well known to country people in many places. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 9 Stumps of hoary bog-oak. 1772 Pennant Tours Scotl. (1774) 2I9 That species of iron called ‘bog-ore. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xxxv. 336 A torch made of *bog-pine. 1631 Brathwait Whimzies 76 His stable is a very shop of all diseases; glanders, yellowes.. ‘bogspavings, with a myriad more. 1802 D. Blaine Veterinary Art (ed. 2) 499 Bog Spavin. This is only a bursal enlargement of the mucous capsule on the inner side of the hock. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 52 These morasses are found frequently to abound with *bog-timber. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth III. 107 A piece of lighted ‘bog-wood which he carried in a lantern. 1883 Longm. Mag. ill. 48 A generation ago the old art of carving bog-wood was revived in Dublin.

fbog, bogge, sb.2 Obs. [Possibly a variant of bugge, bug ‘terror, bugbear’, found in 14th c.: cf. bogle, boggle, and boggard.] A bugbear, a sourqe of dread, to take bog: to boggle v. 1,2. Cf. BOGGLE sb.1 1527 St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 206 Against whom .. it shal not a litel conferre, that this man be a bogge. 1656 Sanderson Serm. (1689) 128 Men who make no conscience of a lye, do yet take some bog at an Oath. 1676 Etheredge Man of Mode 1. i. (1684) 5 Farewel Bogg.

fbog, a. (sb.z) Obs. exc. dial. [Derivation unknown. In Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, etc. the dialectal form is bug, pronounced (bug).] A. adj. Blustering, bold, proud, saucy. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvii. (1612) 184 The Cuckooe, seeing him so bog, waxt also wondrous wroth. 1642 Rogers Naaman 18 Thy bog and bold heart to be abashed. 1691 Ray S. & E. Countr. Wds. 90 Bogge, bold, forward, sawey. So we say, a very bog Fellow. 1693 G. Firmin Daviss' Vind. iv. 32 A bog fellow, forward to put forth himself.

B. sb. Brag, boastfulness,

dial.

1839 C. Clark J. Noakes, Sfc. 3 Their bog it nuver ceases.

bog, sb.* slang. = bog-house, latrina. a 1789 in J. Howard Lazarettos (1789) 181 That no dirt.. be thrown out of any window, or down the bogs. 1864 Hotten Slang Diet. 79 Bog, or bog-house, a privy as distinguished from a water-closet. 1929 H. Williamson Beautiful Years xxiii. 165 His headquarters are in The Bog, .... where the kids go and hide, locking themselves in when they think those cads are after them. 1959 W. Golding Free Fall i. 23 Our lodger had our upstairs, use of the stove, our tap and our bog. i960 New Left Rev. May-June 61/1 Toilet paper in the bogs. 1962 P. Purser Peregrination 22 xv. 71 Rolls of brown bog paper.

bog (bDg), ti.1 Also 7 bogg, 8 bogue. [f. bog si.1] 1. trans. a. To sink, submerge, or entangle, in a bog. Also/ig. 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. (1851) 238 Whose profession to forsake the world .. boggs them deeper into the world. 1730 T. Boston Mem. ix. 245, I mistook the way and bogued my horse through the moss beyond R. 1865 J. Ludlow Epics Mid. Ages II. 194 He is unskilled.. and succeeds in bogging his cart.

b. (passive.) to be bogged: to be sunk and entangled in a bog or quagmire; also = sense 2. Also with down; chiefly fig. 1603 [see bogged]. 1743-7 N. Tindal Contn. Rapin's Hist. (1751) I. 136 His horse was bogged on the other side. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 63 Any other horse and rider must have been instantly bogged up to the saddle-girths. 1841 Arnold Let. in Life Corr. (1844) II. x. 304, I hope to see some of my boys and girls well bogged in the middle of Bagley Wood. 1928 Amer. Speech IV. 132 To be ‘bogged down’ or ‘mired dowrn’ is to be mired, generally in the ‘wet valleys’ in the spring. 1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait xii. 108 The investigation stopped when bogged down by official impatience. 1955 Times 11 May 10/3 His approach to them would not be bogged down by ‘minor points of protocol’.

2. intr. (for refl.) To sink and stick in a bog. Also with down and fig. a 1800 Trials Sons Rob Roy (1818) 120 (Jam.) Duncan Graham in Gartmore his horse bogged; that the deponent helped some others to take the horse out of the bogg. 1900 Smithwick Evol. State 325 The animal had bogged in crossing the little creek. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy xii. 77 Bob Blades attempted to ride out of the river below the crossing, when his horse bogged down. 1928 Sat. Even. Post 12 May 184/2 On a clean sheet of paper he wrote the words “We know’, and there he bogged down. 1937 Times 22 Nov. 12/5 Congress.. may bog down and do nothing. 1951 E. Taylor Game Hide-&-Seek 1. iii. 70 ‘I wish Tiny and Kitty would come,’ anxious young hostesses would think when parties bogged down.

t bog, v.2 Obs. [possibly related to bog a.] trans. To provoke. 1546 St. Papers Henry VIII, XI. 163 If you had not written to me.. we had broken now, the Frenchmen bogged us so often with departing. 1553 Grimalde Cicero’s Offices III. (1558) 164 A frenchman whom he [Manlius Torquatus] slewe, being bogged [provocatus] by hym.

BOG

BOG-HOUSE

359

bog, zj.3 [A low word, scarcely found in literature, however common in coarse colloquial language. Cf. boggard2 and bog-house.] intr. To exonerate the bowels; also trans. to defile with excrement.

f2. An object real or imaginary at which a horse shies or ‘boggles’. Obs.

boge, boget, obs. form of budge, budget.

1617 Markham Caval. 11. xii. 112 How to correct a horse that is skittish, and fearefull and findeth many boggards. 1639 De Grey Compl. Horsem. 28 The horse will.. stare and see boggards in his keepers face. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. II. s.v. Horses, It betrays a weak, slight and unnecessary Starting, or finding of Baggards. [1863 Standard 1 Jan., When a horse takes fright at some object unobserved by its master the vulgar opinion is that it has seen the boggart.]

bogen, obs. pa. pple. of bow

t boggard2. Obs. [f. bog v.3] A privy.

bog, boge, early form of bough, bow.

v.

bogey (’baugi). Golf. Also bogy, bogie. [The following story reproduces the current account of the origin of the term:One popular song at least has left its permanent effect on the game of golf. That song is ‘The Bogey Man'. In 1890 Dr. Thos. Browne, R.N., the hon. secretary of the Great Yarmouth Club, was playing against a Major Wellman, the match being against the ‘ground score’, which was the name given to the scratch value of each hole. The system of playing against the ‘ground score’ was new to Major Wellman, and he exclaimed, thinking of the song of the moment, that his mysterious and well-nigh invincible opponent was a regular ‘bogey-man’. The name ‘caught on’ at Great Yarmouth, and to-day ‘Bogey’ is one of the most feared opponents on all the courses that acknowledge him (1908 M.A.P. 25 July 78/1).]

a. The number of strokes a good player may be reckoned to need for the course or for a hole. 1892 Field 2 Jan. 6/1 A novelty was introduced in shape of a Bogey tournament for a prize... Fourteen couples started, but the Bogey defeated all. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 6/2 Jones, with a handicap of 17, receives an allowance against Bogey of 13 strokes. 1910 Encycl. Brit. XII. 221/2 There is also a species of competition called ‘bogey’ play, in which each man plays against a ‘ bogey’ score—a score fixed for each hole in the round before starting.

b. transf. and fig. Clicking of Cuthbert iii. 80 ‘Weren’t you giving yourself rather a large family?’.. ‘Was I?’ he said, dully. ‘I don’t know. What’s bogey?’ 1958 J. A. Barlow Elem. Rifle Shooting (ed. 5) iii. 43 It is a good plan to set oneself a definite score below which one must never fall. In other words, a bogey score for the practice or shoot. 1959 Listener 5 Nov. 802/1 Par Contract is a way of playing bridge against bogey. 1922 Wodehouse

c. A score of one stroke over par for a hole. U.S. 1946 E. C. Acree et al. Golf Simplified 113 Bogey, a hole scored in one stroke over par. 1951 Golf World 15 June 16/1 Hall had seven birdies, two eagles and one bogie. 1954 R. T. Jones in H. W. W’ind Compl. Golfer 302/1 One must really see Pine Valley to appreciate it... Thrill with one’s pars, be satisfied with a ‘bogey’, and continue on far from downcast after a ‘double bogey’. 1961 J. S. Salak Diet. Amer. Sports 54 Bogey (golf), the total score any average player might make on a hole. Not any hole shot in one over par, though this interpretation has at times gained some acceptance. 1974 Greenville (S. Carolina) News 23 Apr. 8/5 He made bogey from the woods. 1977 New Yorker 8 Aug. 56/2 He struggled down in two putts, holing from three and a half feet for his bogey 5 and a four-round total of 278. 1982 S. B. Flexner Listening to Amer. 266 After the rubber golf ball was invented in America in 1898 .., the bogey that had been established for the old gutta-percha ball became too easy and the British lowered their bogies by about one stroke per hole and kept the term, but Americans began to use the word par instead, keeping the old British word bogey to mean the older, easier expected score of a good player, usually one stroke more than the new par.

bogey ('bsugi), v. Golf {orig. U.S.). [f. bogey sb. c.] trans. To complete (a hole) in one stroke over par. Also absol. 1948 B. Hogan Power Golf v. 57 After he drove into the rough he bogeyed the hole and lost his advantage. 1971 Rand Daily Mail 27 Mar. 23/1 Gary Player bogeyed two of the last three holes. 1977 N.Y. Times 13 June 43 Player hooked his approach, missed the green and bogeyed. 1984 News (Mexico City) 12 Mar. 32/5 But he bogeyed again, catching a bunker on the 15th.

bogey, variant of bogie, bogy1, budge, fur. boggard1, -art ('begad, -at). Also 6 buggard, 8 bag-. [A word in popular use in Westmoreland, Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and the north midlands, and of occasional appearance in literature since c 1570. Evidently related to boggle, bogle, and bog sb.2-. if the status of the last-named were more assured, it would be natural to see in bogg-ard a derivative with the augmentative suffix -ard; or if the occasional variant buggard could be assumed as the etymological form, it might stand in the same relation to bug. See bogle.] 1. A spectre, goblin, or bogy; in dialectal use, esp. a local goblin or sprite supposed to ‘haunt’ a particular gloomy spot, or scene of violence. Manip. 30 A Boggarde, spectrum, c 1730 Scotl. (1818) I. 227 All that quarter of England is infested with boggarts of all sorts. 1821 Mrs. Wheeler Westmorld. Dial. 39 Sic a terrable boggart as I beleev nivver onny yan saa befoar. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Boggle, Boggart, a fearful object, a hobgoblin. 1857 in Bohn’s Handbk. Proverbs 152 He thinks every bush a boggard. 1570 Levins Burt Lett. N.

b. fig.

A bugbear, a source of dread.

Brieff Disc. Troubl. Franckford (1846) 160 Nor be such buggarddes to the poor, yff they may not beare the bagge alone. 1616 Rollocke's Hist. Passion 132 (Jam.) Hell is but a boggarde to scarre children. 1575

1552 Huloet, Siege, jacques, bogard, or draught, latrina. 1628 Shirley Witty Fair iv. vi. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 76 He [the Devil] thought it wisdome to keep the land [Ireland] for a Boggards for his unclean spirits.

'boggarty, a. north, dial. [f. boggart + -y.] Haunted by boggarts. 1867 Cornh. Mag. XV. 744, 'I darena come up the lone moor by night, for ’tis a very boggety bit.’

bogge, variant of bog, bodge sb.2 bogged (bDgd), ppl. a. [f. bog v.1 + -ed.] Plunged or entangled in a bog; bemired. Also fig■ 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus iv. (1692) 142 Bogg’d in his filthy Lusts. 1854 Hooker Himal.Jrnls. II. xxx. 323 My elephant got bogged in crossing a deep muddy stream.

'bogger. dial.

See quot.

So 'bogging vbl. sb.

1858 M. Porteous Souter Johnny 18 It was then the custom for the country shoemaker, like the tailor, to go to the house of his employer, and there do his work. This practice was technically called ‘bogging’, and on such occasions the accommodating bogger would make shoes for the whole family.

t'boggify, v. Obs. rare. [f. boggy a. + -fy.] To make boggy.

[1536 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 373 If I have one there to help me, I shall do the more good; if not I shall buggell myself as well as I can.] 1853 C. Auchester II. 9 He boggled at the lock for a minute or two, but at last admitted himself. 1880 L. Stephen Pope vii. 169 He uses only one epithet, but it is the right one, and never boggles and patches.

f5. trans. To cause to hesitate, to scare, rare. 1663 Flagellum or O. Cromwell (1672) 155 This bogled at first three quarters of them.

boggle ('bDg(3)l), sb. [f. prec. vb.] 1. The act of boggling as a horse, f to take boggle: to shy with fright, to take alarm. 1660 G. Fleming Stemma Sacr. 30 They had taken boggle at some State overtures. 1824 Craven Dial. 22 His skaddle tit, glentin its ee up at me, took boggle, maad a girt flounder, an ran back.

2. Demur, scruple, objection, difficulty, fuss; chiefly in to make boggle. Obs. or arch. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 459 The Dutch do make a further bogle with us about two or three things. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 140 The plain man makes no boggle at the ideas of creation, annihilation, or vacuity.

3. A bungle, boggle-de-botch, boggledy botch (colloq.): a complete bungle, a ‘mess’ See botch v. and sb. 1834 Mar. Edgeworth Helen xxvi, A fine boggle-debotch I have made of it. 1841 Gresley C. Lever 21 What a boggle he did make of it to be sure. 1862 Sat. Rev. XIII. 121 Jones of the 43rd, who got into that boggle in Armenia.

boggle,

dialectal variant of bogle, goblin.

'boggled,ppl.a. [f.

boggle v. + -ed.] Clumsily attempted, bungled. Cf. boggle v. 4. 1877 Lytteil Landmarks I. iv. 32 Camstraddin .. being clearly a boggled form of Kempu-stadrin.

'boggier,

[f. boggle v. + -er1.] boggles or hesitates; a stickler.

One who

1649 Blith Eng. Improv. Impr. viii. (1653) 43 Such Mills .. as are kept up, or dammed so high, as that they boggifie all the Lands that lye under their Mill-head.

1606 Shaks. Ant. & Cl. ill. xiii. no You haue beene a boggeler euer.

bogginess ('bDginis). Boggy quality.

boggling

1649 Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 37. 1670 Sharrock Vegetables 87 Bogginess.. breeds the rush and other incommodities. 1885 Standard 2 Apr. 5/2 The ‘haughs’ are wet, almost to bogginess.

t 'bogging, vbl. sb. Obs. [perh. an obs. spelling of bodging: see bodger, badge zj.2] Peddling, hawking; going up and down as a dealer; also/ig. 1554 Philpot Exam. Writ. (1842) 308, I would they would .. leave bogging of heresies to their own damnation & decaying of many. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 64 The busie bogging of the divell alwaies.

t'boggish, a.1 Obs. [f. bog a. -f- -ish.] ? Inclined to bluster or brag; puffed up; bold. Hence 'hoggishly adv., in a vaunting manner. CI440 Promp. Parv. 42 Boggyschyn [K.H. boggysche. 1499 boggisshe], tumidus. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1707 And bogeysliche as a boye busked to pe kychene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 42 Boggyschely, tumide.

t'boggish, a.2 [f. bog sb1.] Of boggy nature. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. xxi. (1821) 416 On the front a boggish Glyn.

boggle ('bDg(3)l), v. Also 6 buggell, 7 bogle, [app. f. boggle, var. of bogle a spectre, (such as horses are reputed to see). In later times there has been a tendency to associate the word with bungle, which appears in sense 4, and in the derivatives.] 1. intr. To start with fright, to shy as a startled horse; to take alarm, be startled, scared at. 1598 Chapman Iliad x. 420 They [steeds] should not with affright Boggle, nor snore. 1601 Shaks. All's Well v. iii. 232 You boggle shrewdly, euery feather starts you. 1638 Suckling Brennoralt iv. i. 35 Thou .. boglest at every thing, foole. 1655 Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xiv. 221/1 Balaam., spurs on his conscience (that boggl’d more than the Asse he rode on). 1678 R. Lestrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 426 We Boggle at our own Shadows, and Fright one another. 1769 Wesley in Wks. (1872) III. 373 The shaft-horse then boggled and turned short toward the edge of the precipice. 1865 Miss Braddon Doctor's Wife x. 93 Boggling a little when she turned the corners.

2. To raise scruples, hesitate, demur, stickle (1at, occas. about, over, etc., or to do a thing). 01638 Mede Wks. 1. xxxvii. (1672) 202 A Sound and Loyal heart is not that which boggles and scruples at small sins. 1667 Pepys Diary (1877) V. 241, I find the Parliament still bogling about the raising of this money. 1681 Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xxxix. §13 (1689) 287 They would not bogle to give 1000 sesterces. 1692 R. Lestrange Josephus' Ant. V. x. (1733) 125 He never shrunk or boggled for the matter, a 1734 North Exam. 11. iv. |f 115 He boggled at first against testifying at all. 1798 Mary Wollstonecr. Posth. Wks. IV. Ixviii. 8 Since you boggle about a mere form. 1868 Browning Ring & Book ix. 1378 Nor do thou Boggle, oh parent, to return the grace. 1876 Green Short Hist. vi. §6. 336 One, who was known to have boggled hard at the oath.

3. ‘To play fast or loose’ J.; to palter, quibble, equivocate. a 1613 Overbury A Wife (1638) 219 He doth boggle very often. 01649 Drumm. of Hawth. Skiamachia Wks. (1711) 199 Are ye not afraid to boggle thus with God Almighty? 01674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1704) III. xi. 206 He boggled so much in his answer, that they would be of opinion that, etc. 1816 Hazlitt Modern Apost., They have never sneaked nor shuffled, botched or boggled in their politics.

4. To fumble, bungle, make a clumsy attempt.

('bDglii)), vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ing1.] The action of the vb. boggle.

1640 Shirley Arcadia 11. i, Leave Your bogling & your trim-tram tricks. 1656 R. Robinson Christ all 117 He keeps a huge bogling, he doth exceedingly dodge with Jesus Christ. 1834 C Greville Mem. Geo. IV, (1875) III. xxiii. 79 He made a great boggling of reading his petition.

'boggling, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + boggles; starting bungling.

with

That stickling;

-ing2.]

fright;

1645 W. Lithgow Siege Newcastle (1820) 15 Like unto Calabrian Females with their bogling bushs. a 1683 Oldham Sat. Jesuits Wks. (1686) 10 Nice bogling consciences. 1870 Miss Broughton Red as Rose 252, I can mend stockings in a boggling.. sort of way.

bogglingly ('bDglii)li), adv.

[f. prec. + -ly2.] In

a boggling manner. 1863 All Y. Round 422 [He] slowly and bogglingly reads .. what has been written for him to say.

t'bogglish, a.

Obs. [f. boggle sb. Inclined to boggle; skittish.

+

-ish.]

1656 Artif. Handsomeness 172 Nothing is more sly, touchy and boglish.

boggy (’bDgi), a.

[f. bog sb. + -Y1.] Of the nature of, or characterized by, bog; swampy.

1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 168 Passed through the boggie mounteine of Slewlougher into Kerrie. 1652 French Yorksh. Spa ii. 5 Drunk up by some boggie, spongious earth. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 939 Quencht in a Boggie Syrtis, neither Sea Nor good dry Land. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. I. s.v. Fir tree, Venice and Amsterdam are built on Piles of this timber driven into boggy Places. 1872 Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 104 Composed of rocky hillocks and boggy hollows. fig. 1644 Quarles Barnabas and B. 44 Let me drain my boggy soul from those corrupted inbred humours.

b. transf. flabby.

Of a soft, spongy consistency;

1664 H. Power Exp. Philos. 1. 66 Carried with the Bloud ..up into the Brain, and there by that lax and boggy substance are imbibed. 1852 Fraser's Mag. XLV. 639 The flesh boggy to the touch.

bogh, boghed, etc.: see

bough and bow v.

Boghead, boghead ('bDghsd). The name of an estate near Bathgate in West Lothian applied attrib. to a deep brown shale found there. See TORBANITE. 1858, 1867 [see TORBANITE]. 1919 Chambers's Jrnl. June 390/2 The famous oil-shale of Torbanehill, torbanite or bog-head cannel, is often regarded as a variety of cannel coal. 1937 Nature 20 Feb. 340/1 Boghead coal is a comparatively rare and valuable material yielding gas and paraffin on distillation, i960 Gloss. Coal Terms (B.S.I.) 6 Boghead coal, Torbanite, coal resembling cannel coal in physical appearance and properties, but distinguished microscopically by the presence of the remains of algae.

'bog-house, dial,

and vulgar, [see boggard2.] A privy, ‘a house of office’ J. So bog-shop. 1666 R. Head Eng. Rogue x. 85 Fearing I should catch cold, they out of pitty covered me warm in a Bogg-house. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Cr. 11. v. 48 The Jaques, the Boghouse or House of Office. C1714 Arbuthnot, etc., M. Scriblerus 1. xiv, He cast them all into a bog-house near St. James’. 1761 Brit. Mag. II. 163 They had found the intrails of a body in the bog-house.

BOGHSOM boghsom, obs. form of buxom. boght, obs. pa. t. and pa. pple. of buy. bogie (’baogi). Also bogy, bogey. [A northern dialect word, which has recently been generally diffused in connexion with railways as applied to the plate-layer’s bogie, but especially in sense 2. Of unknown etymology: notwithstanding absurd stories in the newspapers (invented ad rem), it has (as the sense might show) nothing to do with bogy1, which is not a northern word.] 1. north, dial. A low strong truck upon four small wheels, also called trolly, hurly, etc. ‘A kind of cart with low wheels and long shafts, used by masons to remove large stones’ (Peacock Lonsdale Gloss.)-, ‘a rude contrivance for moving heavy articles, consisting of a simple plank on low wheels’ {Lane. Gloss.), esp. in Newcastle, A strong low truck (about 1 ft. high) on 4 small wheels, used, since c 1817, for transporting a single cask or hogshead from the quay to the town; also a flat board with 4 very small wheels on which lads career down steep banks or roads, as in the Canadian sport of tobogganing. Hence, in general use, the low truck used by platelayers on a railway.

BOGY

360 c 1505 Dunbar Tua mariit Went. 1 r 1 The luif blenkis of that bogill, fra his blerde ene. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 134 Like ane bogiil all of ratland banis. 1646 R. Baillie Anabapt. (1647) 44 The Devils are nothing but only boggles in the night, to terrifie men. 1752 Scots Mag. (1753) Sept. 451/1 There used to be bogles seen. 179° Burns Tam o'Shanter, Whiles glow’ring round wi’ prudent cares, Lest bogles catch him unawares. 1808 Cumbrian Ball. iii. 8 A boggle’s been seen wi’ twee heads. 1814 Scott Wav. lxxi, I played at bogle about the bush wi’ them. 1822 Bewick Mem. 20, I had not.. got over a belief in ghosts and boggles. 1824 BYRONjuan xi. lxxii, A sort of sentimental bogle, Which sits for ever upon memory’s crupper. 1832 Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 281 Boggles and Barguests are the only supernatural beings we hear of in these parts [Keswick]. 1864 Tennyson North. Farmer viii, Theer wur a boggle in it, I often ’eerd un mysen.

2. fig. and transf. a. A bugbear (not a phantom), b. A thing unsubstantial, a mere phantom. 1663 Lauderdale in Papers (1884) I. cvi. 185, I have written so much that I doe feare my hand shall grow a bugbeare, or as we say heir a bogell. 1792 Burns Despondency iii, The sillie bogles, wealth and state, Can never make them eerie.

3. transf. north.)

A scarecrow.

(In common use in

1830 Galt Lawrie T. vn. ix. (1849) 343 Bogles made of clouts. 1884 Gd. Words May 324/2 Potato bogles or scarecrows.. vary in size .. and dress, in nearly every parish.

Hence ,bogle-'bo [see bo.] = bogle; 'bogledom, the realm or domain of bogles.

C1817 [Remembered in Newcastle by living witnesses (1887)]. 1835 A. Gilchrist in Robson Bards of Tyne (1863) 416 In Dean Street, when carts or when bogies came down. 1840 T. Wilson Poems (1872) 93 A kind o’ hearse on bogie wheels. 1869 N. & Q. Ser. iv. IV. 570/1 In Scotland in the engineering works they have a small carriage.. which they call a ‘bogie.’.. I find it has been known by that name for fully 60 years. 1874 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Eng. II. 82 The slag may be allowed to deposit itself in layers in the truck or bogie, placed underneath the rolls. 1885 Birmingham Wkly. Post 26 Sept. 4/7 This work has often had to be done with a plate-layer’s bogie, propelled by feet touching the road. (See R. Oliver Heslop, in Newcastle Daily Journal, 1 Nov. 1886.)

1603 Philotus ii, Quhat reck to tak the Bogill-bo, My bonie burd for anis. 1678 Coles Lat. Diet., Boggle-bo. .an ugly wide-mouthed picture carried about with May games. 1730-6 Bailey, Boggle-boe, a bugbear to fright Children, a scare crow. ?enne boylyd blode take J>ou shalle. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 37 We went where we had boylde beefe. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. 1. vi. 125 Such boyl’d stuffe As well might poyson Poyson. 1676 Land. Gaz. No. 1137/4 One Set of.. Plate Buttons newly boyl’d. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. v. 185 To cut such capers as you eat with boiled mutton. 1881 Morley Cobden I. 245 Where men and women subsisted on boiled nettles. fig. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. in. iii. 4 These boylde-braines of nineteene and two and twenty.

b. ellipt. Boiled beef or mutton, colloq. 1804 M. Edgeworth Pop. Tales I. v. 277 Mr. Hill commenced a practice.. of going.. into the kitchen.. to take a slice from the roast or the boiled before it went up to table. 1834, 1856 [see roast sb. 2]. 1844 Dickens Christm. Carol (Hoppe) A great piece of cold boiled. 1861 [see stewed ppl. a.1].

c. Intoxicated, slang. Also phr. as drunk as a

boiled owl. [1885 Referee 31 May 3/3 Twiss.. had just the boiledowlish appearance that is gained by working all night in a printing-office.] 1886 J. A. Porter Sks. Yale Life 156 There is a balm for a headache caused by last night’s debauch to have it said you were ‘slightly cheered’ or ’slewed’ or ‘boiled’. 1892 Daily Tel. 12 Dec. 5/4 The expression, 'Intoxicated as a boiled owl’, is a gross libel upon a highly respectable teetotal bird. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 300 He brought him home as drunk as a boiled owl. 1928 Amer. Speech IV. 102 Expressions synonymous with or circumlocutory for ‘drunk’.. blotto, boiled. 1940 ‘H. Pentecost’ 24th Horse (1951) v. 45 He’s boiled to the ears.

2. Special Combs.: boiled crow (see crow sb.1 3); boiled dinner (orig. U.S.), a dinner of meat and vegetables boiled together; boiled oil, a preparation of linseed oil used as a drying-oil; boiled shirt, (a) U.S. a white linen shirt (see shirt sb. 1); (6) a man’s dress shirt. 1805 Pocumtuc Housewife (1906) 9 Directions for a Boiled Dinner may seem unnecessary. 1897 Howells Landlord Lion's Head iii. 13 The woman brought in a good boiled dinner of corned beef, potatoes, turnips, and carrots. 1858 Simmonds Diet. Trade 43/2 Boiled oil, a drying oil made by boiling a small quantity of litharge in linseed oil, till it is dissolved. 1887 F. B. Gardner Painters' Encycl. 53 Boiled oil,.. an oil which has been brought by the action of heat and of oxidising materials into a state of greater activity, in fact —into a state of incipient slow oxidation. 1921 C. Worth Yacht Cruising (ed. 2) 407 Boiled oil is darker and thicker than raw linseed oil and dries more quickly. 1853 in Amer. Speech (1954) XXIX. 7 When I get shaved and get a ‘boiled shirt’ on, which I have not had on since I left home, for we don’t boil our shirts here, for we think cold water quite enough in a country where there is no female society. 1854 [see shirt sb. 1]. 1872 Dublin Univ. Mag. Feb. 219 Every man arrays himself in ‘store-clothes’ and boiled shirts. 1920 ‘Sapper’ Bulldog Drummond ii. 47 If one goes about..in boiled shirts while pretending merely to be out for the afternoon, people have doubts as to one’s intellect. 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club xxi. 266 You’ve sent for a bloke in a boiled shirt to take your place, I suppose?

boiler (‘boil3(r)), sb. [f. boil v. + -er1.] 1. One who boils (anything). c 1540 Househ. Ord. 236 That the Cookes and Boylers doe dresse the Meate well. 01691 Boyle (J.) The boilers of saltpetre. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 204 Wool-sorters., fullers or millers, boilers, giggers.

2. a. A vessel in which water or any liquid is boiled. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 65 They had built several furnaces and boilers, a 1728 Woodward (J.) Several pots and boilers before the fire. 1815 Elphinstone Caubul II. 187 Messes of ten each, who have a tent, a boiler, and a camel between them.

b. spec. In a steam-engine, the large vessel, usually of wrought-iron plates riveted together, in which the water is converted into steam; the tank or vessel commonly attached to a kitchen grate; the vessel in which clothes are boiled before washing. 1757 Phil. Trans. L. 54 The engine at the York-buildings Water-works, the boiler of which is 15 feet diameter. 1829 R. Stuart Anecd. Steam Eng. 1. 305 Boilers built solely of cast iron. Mod. The boiler of a locomotive burst.

c. to bu(r)st one’s boiler (fig.), to come, or bring, to grief. U.S. colloq. 1824 in Thornton Amer. Gloss. (1912). 1834 Kentuckian in N.Y. I. 218 That’ll make somebody’s busted their biler. 1847 Paulding 189 May my boiler be eternally busted, if there lady.

BOIL-UP

363

Carruthers them think Madmen All isn’t that are

3. What makes anything boil, as in pot-boiler, a piece of work done to boil the pot: see boil v. 10 a. 4. A vegetable, fruit, etc. suited for boiling. 1812 Examiner 5 Oct. 634/1 Having but few Peas at Market.. fine boilers are ioj. per quarter dearer. 1864 Times 24 Dec., Peas in good demand for all descriptions, and boilers rather dearer.

5. In the West Indies and Bermudas, a sunken coral reef into which the sea breaks with foam and spray. 1909 in Cent. Diet. Suppl.

6. Comb, and Attrib. (in sense 2 b) as boilerhouse, explosion-, boiler-alarm, an apparatus

for indicating lowness of water in a boiler; boiler-deck U.S., the lower deck of a steamer, lying immediately above the boilers; boilerfeeder, an apparatus for supplying a boiler with water; boiler-float, a float which by its rising or falling turns the feed-water off or on; boilerful, the amount of water or steam that will fill a boiler; boiler-iron, rolled iron of J to J-inch thickness, used for making steam-boilers, etc.; boiler-maker, a maker of boilers for engines; boiler-man, a man who attends to a boiler; boiler plate (a) = boiler-iron-, (b) transf. (U.S.), stereotyped or formulaic writing; spec. syndicated matter issued to the newspaper press; (c) Mountaineering (see quot. 1957); boiler-protector, a coating to prevent the escape of heat from a boiler; boiler-smith, a boiler-maker; boiler suit, an outer garment combining overalls and shirt, worn to protect clothing; boiler-tube, one of the tubes by which heat is diffused through the water in a boiler. 1840 S. A. Howland Steamboat Disasters 131 ‘Boilerdeck,— being that part of the upper deck situated immediately over the boilers. 1877 Habberton Jericho Road i. 10 The new hand reached the boiler-deck, and reported to the mate. 1885 Pall Mall G. 14 Feb. 7/2 A •boiler explosion .. occurred at the Mid Kent Brickworks, Beckenham, yesterday. The ‘boiler-house was completely demolished. 1883 Knowledge 1 June 323/2 A ‘boilerful of steam. 1851 C. Cist Cincinnati 213 The yearly products are .. five hundred tons ‘boiler-iron, heads, etc. 1877 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines 29 It [rc. the water-jacket] is constructed of the heaviest boiler-iron. 1865 Derby Mercury 25 Jan., The principal engineers and ‘boiler makers in the united kingdom. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1859) 390 The cries of the ‘Boilermen to the fire makers, i860 W. Fordyce Hist. Coal, &c. 112 Various descriptions of Iron, such as nail-rods, ‘boiler-plates, hoop and sheet iron. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts I. 410 The average resistance of boiler plates is reckoned at 20 tons to the square inch. 1893 Congress. Rec. Aug. 465/1 The country weeklies have been sent tons of ‘boiler plates’ accompanied by.. letters asking the editors to use the matter as news. 1905 D. G. Phillips Plum Tree 190 He attended to the subsidizing of news agencies that supplied thousands of country papers with boiler-plate matter to fill their inside pages. 1924 J. Buchan Three Hostages xi. 165 Left me to finish my ascent by way of some very loose screes and unpleasant boiler-plates. 1957 R. G. Collomb Diet. Mountaineering 32 Boiler Plates, Overlapping, undercut slabs of rock; convex slabs are usual. 1965 ‘E. McBain’ Doll (1966) viii. 113 The rest of the will was boilerplate. Meyer scanned it quickly. 1969 Word Study Apr. 3/2 Other examples of standard slang are debugging and boiler-plate (used in regard to formula-type language standard for all reports). 1928 Sunday Express 28 Oct. 3/7 The students had thoughtfully attired themselves in ‘boiler suits. 1949 F. Maclean Eastern Approaches iii. ix. 412 The Prime Minister.. was wearing a bright blue boiler¬ suit.

boiler (’boib(r)), v. trans. To furnish (a steamship) with its boiler or boilers. So 'boilering vbl. sb. 1890 Whitby Times 3 Jan. 4/4 The steamers built and launched at this port have to go elsewhere to be engined and boilered. 1897 United Service Mag. June 226 The special conditions which .. govern the boilering of warships.

boilery (’boibri). Also 6 boillourie, boilary. [a. F. bouillerie in same sense, f. bouillir to boil: see -ery.] A place where boiling or evaporation is carried on; a place for boiling anything, e.g. salt or sugar. Usually in comb., as sugar-boilery. See also BULLERY. 1628 Coke On Lift. 4 b, By the grant of the boillourie of salt, it is said that the soile shall passe, for it is the whole profit of the soile. 1670 Blount Law Did., Boilary or Bullary of Salt, a Salt House, or Salt-pit, where Salt is boiled and made. 1838 Holloway Did. Provinc., Boilary, a place where salt is boiled.

boiling ('boilnj) vbl. sb. [f. boil v. + -ing1.] 1. a. The action of bubbling up under the influence of heat; ebullition. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 202 bis boylyng wole after quenche. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xxxvi. (1495) 251 The heete that makyth boyllynge and sethyng. 1552 Huloet, Bollynge or bubblynge vp of water. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 40 Evolved rapidly, with formation of bubbles, as in the ordinary process of boiling.

b. With down: the process of boiling or heating something to reduce its bulk or to liberate oil or the like. Also attrib. 1848 H. W. Haygarth Bush Life in Australia vi. 71 The process of ‘boiling down’, or converting the whole carcase into tallow. 1859 F. Fuller 5 Years' Resid. in N.Z. viii. 166 A boiling-down price for wethers would be reached in a few years. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 31 Jan. 8/1 A Grimsby fishing vessel.. if properly equipped with boiling down works could gather the oil [from seals].

2. transf. and fig. a. A bubbling like that of boiling water; disturbance, turmoil, raging, b. Heating of the body or mind; violent agitation, inflammation, fever, etc. 1382 Wyclif Jonahi. 15 The se stode of his buylyng. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvn. xcii. (1495) 660 Letuse kelyth hete and boyllynge of blood. 1580 Baret Alv. B 889 The boyling or risinge vp of water out of a spring, c 1660 J. Gibbon in Spurgeon Treas. David Ps. cxix. 9 A young man all in the heat and boiling of his blood. 1676 Hale Contempl. 1. 214 Tortures and boylings of mind. 1882 Observatory V.

357 It [a comet] shows a turmoil or boiling of the light about the nucleus.

3. a. The action of heating a liquid to boiling point; of subjecting (anything) to the action of a boiling liquid, esp. so as to cook it; of making or obtaining some substance by this process. 1481-90 Howard Househ. Bks. (1841) 422 For the dressynge and boylyng of iij. saltes, ijs. 1631 Jordan Nat. Bathes ii. (1669) 13 The boyling of Beans. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders iii. xliii. §15. 224/1 The boyling and baking of Sugar as it is now used. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xvi. 288, I set Friday to work to boiling and stewing. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. I. s.v. Goose, Give them fourteen or fifteen Boilings. 1845 E. Acton Cookery vii. (1852) 153 The advantages of gentle simmering over the usual fast boiling of meat.

b. With down: the process of condensing or abridging literary matter; concr. a condensation or epitome. (See boil v. 8.) 1898 Daily News 27 Jan. 8/4 The book is little more than a boiling-down of the vast literature on the subject. But the boiling-down is well done.

4. That which is boiled or being boiled, a decoction; a quantity boiled at one time: hence the whole boiling (slang): ‘the whole lot*. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk Selv. 113 Syrup, steepings, boylings, setlings or extract. 1837 Marryat Dog-Fiend xiii, [He] may.. whip the whole boiling of us off to the Ingies. c 1842 Lance Cottage Farm. 13 This liquor is to be boiled until it is a thick syrrup; skim the boiling.

5. Comb, and Attrib., as boiling-like adj.: boiling-furnace, a reverberatory furnace sometimes employed in the decarbonization of cast-iron; boiling-house, a building for boiling (soap, sugar, etc.), a boilery; boiling-heat, -point, -temperature, the temperature at which anything boils, i.e. turns from the liquid to the gaseous state; spec, the boiling-point of water (at the sea level 2120 Fahr., ioo° Cent.); fig. a high degree of excitement, indignation, etc. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts II. 1001 The construction of the ‘‘boiling’ furnace does not materially differ from that of the ‘puddling’ furnace. 1846 Punch IX. 206 The maids have subsided from *boiling-heat to simmering. 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 30 The ‘Boyling house. Two Yeomen. 1712 Act 10 Anne in Lond. Gaz. No. 5012/2 All Soap, Oil, Tallow.. in any private Boiling-house. 1835-6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 629/1 The water.. was thrown into a ‘boiling-like motion. 1773 Horsley in Phil. Trans. LXIV. 227 M. de luc’s ‘boiling point. 1807 Hutton Course Math. II. 243 At the freezing point is set the number 32, and.. 212 at the boiling point. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. iv. 55 One man is brought to the boiling-point by the excitement of conversation.

'boiling, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] 1. a. Bubbling up under the influence of heat; at boiling temperature. 11320 Seuyn Sag. 2460 A gret boiland cauderoun. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. 1318 Full of brimstane, pick, and bulling leid. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. (1827) VIII. lxiv. 34 Cast headlong into the boiling water. 1832 Athenaeum No. 219. 17 The cook with the boiling kettle in her hand. 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 229 Two boiling sulphureous springs.

b. Hyperbolically: extremely hot. colloq. 1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music 34 He was the sort of boy who would .. declare on the coldest day that he was boiling.

2. transf. Violently agitated, raging; fiercely hot; heaving with molecular disturbance. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lvii. 21 As the boilinge se, that resten mai not. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxii. 501 None coude abyde there, for it was all a quyeke boylyng sande. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. 1. 443 Rocks the bellowing Voice of boiling Seas rebound. 1868 T. W. Webb Celest. Objects 11. (1873) 39 [The comet] is quite hazy, luminous in the centre, and boiling (atmospherically unsteady).

3. fig. Inflamed, in a state of passionate agitation, bursting with passion, etc. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 238/2 Mens desires are too much boyling. 1600 Holland Livy xxi. x. 398 A youth boyling in ambition. 1672 Dryden Conq. Granada 11. (1725) 44 My boiling Passions settle and go down. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 1175 His understanding ’scapes the common cloud Of Fumes, arising from a boiling Breast. 1836 J. C. Young Mem. C. M. Young (1871) 236 She found him in a state of boiling indignation. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 319.

4. quasi-ad?;., in phrase boiling hot. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 312 Hogs grease and bran boiling hot. 1862 Enquire Within 83 It should be poured on boiling-hot.

'boilingly, adv. [-LY2.] In a boiling manner. 1817 Byron Manfred 1. i. 91 The lakes of bitumen Rise boilingly higher.

boilloury, obs. var. of boilery. fboi'loun. Obs. [a. OF. boillon, mod.F. bouillon bubble, f. bouillir to boil.] A bubble. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. 2488 Thise boilouns that boilen seuen.

boil-up ('boiUp). [f. boil sb.2 + up adv.1] a. = boil sb.2 1; the act of boiling or washing clothes, (Canad. and N.Z.) making tea, etc. Also attrib. 1728 E. Smith Compleat Housewife (ed. 2) 24 Strain out some of the liquor.. give it a boil up. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 103 Mix with it the cream and milk. Give one boil up, at the same time adding the tails. 1933 E. Merrick True North 262 Some of the peas we save for.. one of the boil-ups during the day. 1934 Detective Fiction Weekly 21 Apr. 108/2 The boil-up can is generally an oil can with the top removed. 1938 J. Robertson With Cameliers in

I

BOILY Palestine xiii. 113 No opportunity was lost of having a ‘boil up’. 1949 Here & Now (N.Z.) Oct. 17/3 Once a week or once a fortnight there’s a copper boil-up. 1958 Tararua XII. 26 The billy brings to our mind the inevitable boil-up, the boiling of the billy for a cup of tea. b. transf. and fig. 1871 L. W. M. Lockhart Fair to See( 1872) III. xxxiii. 85 Americans, filled with envious admiration by the costliness of the spectacle, were reminded of the superior though somewhat similar ‘boil-up’ of Mrs Thaddeus G. Cass of Boston, U.S. 1941 Baker Diet. Austral. Slang 11 Boil-up, a row or argument. 1963 Listener 14 Mar. 477/3 The girl.. swings into a symphonic boil-up of a popular number.

'boily, sb. dial. [a. F. bouillie in same sense, f. bouillir to boil.] A decoction of flour and milk; gruel. 1819 Anderson

Cumbld. Ballads 55. 1855 Whitby Gloss.

boily ('boili)-, a. In

+

-Y1.]

6 byly, 7 boylie.

.1

[f. boil sb

Full of, or characterized by, boils.

1559 Morwyng Evonym. 289 Certaine outwarde byly diseases, a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618) 166 They would have turned stricken, made boylie, or some such thing.

fboin, v. Obs. rare. [f. dial, ‘boine a swelling, Essex’ (Way and Halliw.), perhaps = OF. bugne, beugne, mod.F. bigne swelling from a blow: see bunny, bunion.] intr. To swell. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. vm. (1593) 206 And with exceeding mightie knubs her heels behind boind out.

boin,

BOISTOUS

364 the panels. 1909 Daily Chron. 20 Mar. 4/5 The ball-room .. is panelled with dark French boiserie work, the wood embellished with gilding. 1940 Horizon II. Nov. 263 A shadowy, oval room with gilt boiseries.

t boist, sb. Obs. Forms: 3-5 boist(e, 4-7 boyste. Also 3 buste, s bust; 4, 6 bost, 6-7 boost(e; 4 bouste; 5 buist, buyste, 9 Sc. buist. See boost, buist, bust. [ME. boiste, a. OF. boiste ‘box’, in Pr. bostia, repr., through late L. bossida, boxida, buxida, L. pyxida, a. Gr. nv^lSa, acc. of nv£ls box (Brachet). The phonetic history of the variant forms in Eng. and Sc. is obscure: but uy is prob. an early variant of oi, and the forms in o, u, seem due to simplification of the diphthong, as in 16th c. Sc. jone = join, etc.] 1. A box, a casket; chiefly used of a box for ointment, a vase or flask for oil, etc. (= box sb.2 I-) a 1225 Ancr. R. 226 He haueS so monie bustes [u.r. boistes] ful of his letuaries. a 1300 Cursor M. 14003 (Gott.) A boist of smerles has scho nomin. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. xii. 68, I haue a gret boyste At my bak, of broke bred pi bely for to fylle. c 1375 ? Barbour St. Nicolaus 294 Scho has brocht A boyst of oyle. c 1400 Destr. Troy 883 He anoyntide hym anon with his noble boyste. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xvii. 131 The awngel took a boist with oynement anon. 1633 Treas. Hid. Secrets cxv, Also of the wood of Rosemarie, make a boyst to smell thereto.

b. bleeding-boist: a cupping-glass. r 1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Bledynge boyste, ventosa, guna.

var. of boyne Sc., a tub.

Ilboina ('boina).

[Sp.]

A flat cap worn in

northern Spain. 1904 Gallichan Fishing in Spain 19 In his blue boina, a cap resembling the tam-o’-shanter, he looked like a ’braw Scot’. 1922 Chambers's Jrnl. 15 July 519/2 He wore a hat of soft black felt or else a Boina (the Biscayan bonnet). 1937 Times 16 Nov. 17/6 All over Spain the traditionalists donned their red boinas and rose in the name of Don Carlos to battle with innovation. 1957 R- Campbell Coll. Poems II. 153 The scarlet boinas trickled to the plain.

f 'boinard. Obs. Also boyn-. [a. OF. buisnart, buinard silly fellow.] A fool, simpleton; rogue, scoundrel. 01300 Siriz 288 (Matz.) Be stille, boinard. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeless 1. 110 Than wolde opzr boynardis • haue ben abasshyd. Ibid. 11. i64J?e blerneyed boynard • pat his bagg stall.

boing (boig), int. Also boing boing. [Echoic.] The noise made when a compressed spring is suddenly released; a reverberating sound. 1952 B. Cleary Henry & Beezus i. 21 ‘Boi-i-ing!’ shouted the two boys together. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Technique Film Music iii. 156 Gerald is the despair of his parents since he cannot talk; he only speaks sound effects of which the most formidable is the familiar ‘boing’ of the cartoon world, a noise made by a short length of strong wire spring attached to a sounding board. Ibid. 157 He didn’t talk words. He went ‘boing-boing’ instead. 1967 I. Hamilton Man with Brown Paper Face iv. 60 He had big coil springs fitted to the heels of his boots and with a merry boing boing he would spring out from the night shadows to confront ladies on the street. 1967 A. J. Marshall in L. Deighton London Dossier 141 The newest and nicest tower block is Centre Point—boing!

fboiny, a. Obs. rare. [f. boine sb. (see

boin v.)

+ -y.] Full of swellings, knotty.

2. Dialectal name for a rude hut. word.]

[? same

1840 Times 24 Apr. 3/6 Along the London and Brighton line of Railway there have been erected a great number of rude huts or cabins.. For the use of these places to sleep in, the workmen pay, each is. or is. 6d. a-week—two and not unfrequently three of them sleeping together in these ‘boists’.

f boist, v. Obs. rare. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To cup, to scarify. (Cf. boist sb. 1 b.) c 1440 Promp. Parv. 42 Boyston, scaro, ventoso.

t 'boisterly, adv. Obs.

1520 Whittinton Vulg. (1527) 41 Boysterly and rudely to anoye hym that sytteth next hym.

boisterous ('boistaras), a. Forms: 5-8 boistrous, 6-7 boystrous, boysterous, 6 bou-, bowstrous, 6boisterous. [Used in the same sense as the earlier boisteous, boistuous, boistous, of which it appears to be a variant modified by some obscure analogy.] I. Rough or coarse in quality. f 1. Rough, coarse, as e.g. food. Obs. 1474 Caxton Chesse in. i, The labourer of the erth vseth grete and boistrous metis.

f2. Of rough, strong, or stiff texture; stout, stiff, unyielding. Obs. 1572 tr. Buchanan's Detect. Mary in H. Campbell Lovelett. Mary (1824) 135 She could abide at the poop, and.. handle the boisterous cables. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 915/1 Hauing vpon him a great gowne of boisterous veluet. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. 11. viii. (1612) 37 About his boistrous necke full oft their daintie armes they cast. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 11. 33 Hee hath not made the ligaments.. nor the sinewes of any such boisterous or stiffe matter. 1700 Dryden Sigismonda & G. 59 The leathern out-side, boistrous as it was, Gave way.

1615 W. Hull Mirr. Maiestie A 4 b, For Mercury is not earned out of euery boynie block.

|3. Roughly cumbrous.

bois, boist,

1596 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. io His boystrous club. 1633 J. Fosbroke Warre or Conflict 30 Goliah, notwithstanding.. his huge and boisterous armour, etc. 1641 R. Brooke Eng.

obs. Sc. form of boss a. boast.

Ilbois brule (bwa bryle). AT. Amer. [Fr., ‘burnt wood’.] An American Indian half-breed, esp. one of French and Indian extraction. In popular use corrupted into bob ruly. 1805 Lewis in Deb. Congress 1047 The Tetons Bois brule killed and took about 60 of them last summer. 1840 C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer III. xiv. 260 Of Guisbert or Guise, as the ‘Bois-brule’, or half-blood child was generally called, we have as yet been enabled to gather but few traditions. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xxix. 380 Most of the drivers were of the pure Bois Brules stock, i960 Press (Vancouver) Dec. 14 The result of the Bay proclamations was to provoke civil disobedience on the part of the boisbrules and active opposition by the Nor’ westers.

Ilbois d’arc (bwa dark). N. Amer. Also bowdark, ||bodok. [Fr.,‘wood of bow’.] The wood of the osage orange, used by American Indians for making bows. 1805 Ann. qth Congr. 2 Sess. 1138 At this place Mr. Dunbar obtained one or two slips of the ‘bois d’arc'. 1848 Bartlett Diet. Amer., Bow-dark tree (Fr. bois d'arc), a western tree, the wood of which is used to make bows with. 1853 R B. Marcy & McClellan Expl. of Red River 98 (Bartlett), The bows [of the Comanches] are made of the tough and elastic wood of the bois d’arc, or osage orange. 1877 R. I. Dodge Hunting Grounds Gt. West 348 The best wood [for bows] is the Osage Orange (bois cTarc of the old French trappers, corrupted into ‘bow dark’ by plains Americans).

Ilboiserie

(bwazori). wooden panelling.

[Fr.]

Wainscoting,

1832 S. Austin tr. Piickler-Muskau's Tour German Prince III. 196 The walls of the dining room are covered with oaken boiserie. 1833 J. Dallaway Discourses Archit. Eng. v. 312 The walls of the state-chambers were painted, and sometimes lined with wainscot, of curious carved boisserie on

bulky,

big

fa. Full of rough violence to others, violently fierce, savage, truculent. Obs. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 753 Those boysterous Nemrothes, that neuer will be satisfied with the slaughter of Innocents. 1593 Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, 11. i. 70 Oh.. boyst’rous Clifford, thou hast slaine The flowre of Europe. 1681 E. Sclater Serm. Putney 11 What care boisterous Enemies for what these can do unto them? 1713 Pope Frenzy J.D. in Swift's Wks. (1755) III. 1. 144 By your indecent and boisterous treatment of this man of learning, I perceive you are a violent sort of person. 1791 Cowper Iliad v. 370 Distant from the boisterous war.

b. Rough and violent in behaviour and speech, turbulent; too rough or clamorous. (Orig. in a distinctly bad sense, but gradually passing into

c.) 1568 T. Howell Newe Sonets (1879) 139 Feare not his boustrous vantinge worde. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, 1. i. 4 Heere to make good ye boistrous late appeal. 1667 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. 1. 1. iii. (1743) 8 The men are strong and boisterous, great wrestlers, and healthy. 1690 Crowne Eng. Frier 1. i. 3 Pox o’ this boystrous fool. 1705 Otway Orphan v. xix. 2296 Stand off thou hot-brain’d boistrous noisy Ruffian. 1853 Marsden Early Purit. 55 Every form of church government.. had for awhile its boisterous advocates.

c. Abounding in rough but good-natured activity bordering upon excess, such as proceeds fronvunchecked exuberance of spirits. a 1683 Sidney Disc. Gov. iii. §25 (1704) 334 .That boisterous humor being gradually temper’d by disciplin. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 45 Jf 8 Their boisterous Mirth. 1752 Hume Ess. Treat. (1777) I. 5 It renders the mind incapable of the rougher and more boisterous emotions. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall xix. 167 A rich, boisterous, foxhunting baronet. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 213 Under the outward show of boisterous frankness.

f 10. quasi-adv. Boisterously. Obs. 1595 Shaks. John iv. i. 76 Alas, what neede you be so boistrous rough?

boisterously ('boistarasli), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] Roughly; violently; tumultuously; with rough and superabundant energy.

- boisterously.

massive,

9. Of persons and their actions.

and

Episc. 1. x. 59 The Pandects of the Civill Law are too boystrous, and of too great extent for any Civilian to comprehend. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. (1851) 292 If the work seeme more triviall or boistrous then for this discourse.

f4. Rough to the feelings; painfully rough. Obs. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. 1. iv. 26 Is loue a tender thing? it is too rough, Too rude, too boysterous, and it pricks like thorne. 1595-John iv. i. 95 Feeling what small things are boysterous there [in the eye].

|5. Rough in operation; not skilful or delicate. 1609 Paule Abp. Whitgift 28 This bishop was not so boysterous a surgeon.

f 6. Strong- or coarse-growing, rank. Obs. 1622 Wither Philar. in Juv. (1633) 590 [The pool] overgrowne with boystrous Sedge. 1671 Milton Samson 1164 As good for nothing else, no better service, With those thy boysterous locks.

II. Acting roughly, violent. |7. Violent in action or properties. Obs. 1544 Phaer Regim. Lyfe( 1560) N ii b, The saide venime is so swift, so fearce, and so boistrous of itselfe. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 349 A boisterous and bestial strength. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth vi. (1723) 294 The Heat becomes too powerful and boisterous for them.

8. Of wind, weather, waves, etc.: Rough, the opposite of ‘calm’ . 1576 Thynne Ld. Burghley's Crest in Animadv. App. iv. (1865) 113 In calme or boystrous tyde. 1596 Drayton Leg. iii. 488 The boyst’rous Seas. 1684 Contempl. State of Man I. ii. (1699) 20 A boystrous Wind had blown away the Leaves. 1726-7 Bolingbr. in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. lxxiii, This boisterous climate of ours. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xxi. 299 A boisterous passage of twentyfive days. 1843 Prescott Mexico (1&50) I. 194 Finding some difficulty in doubling a boisterous headland.

a 1550 Christis Kirk Gr. xii, The buff so boisterously abaist him, That he to the eard dusht doun. 1595 Shaks. John iii. iv. 136 A Scepter snatch’d with an vnruly hand, Must be as boysterously maintain’d as gain’d. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. Wks. 1738II.118 Godwin and his Sons did many things boistrously and violently. 1845 Ld. Campbell Chancellors (1857) V. cxi. 201 Respectable politicians have seen reason.. to join those whom they have been accustomed boisterously to assail. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. e men pere of bee^ boistous men of dedes. Ibid. Rolls Ser. II. 251 Nemproth the bostuous [robustus] oppressor of men. ? 0 1400 Morte Arth. 774 A blake bustous here. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 56/3 By strong hande he shal late you goo and in a boystous he shal caste you fro his land. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 5 A strong disease requyreth a stronge medecine.. A boysteous horse, a boysteous snaffell. Trevisa

3. Roughly massive; bulky; clumsy. (Still dial.; see note to Etymology.) c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 813, Brede vpon a bost-wys bem. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2175 The boustous launce pe bewelles attamede. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 29 Of body he was moche ample & boystous of stature, a 1547 Earl Surrey JEneid iv. 582 Like to the aged boysteous bodied oke. 1567 Turberv. Poems in Chalmers English Poets II. 616/2 Time makes the tender twig to bousteous tree to grow.

4. Coarse in texture, gross, rough; thick, stiff. 1388 Wyclif Matt. ix. 16 No man putteth a clout of buystous clothe in to an elde clothing. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. hi. xvi, J?e laste and pe moste boystous of alle [the senses] is gropynge, for pe kynde perof is erpi. c 1450 Merlin xi. 168 Grete boysteis shone of netes leder. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 1. xxix. 41 Medesweete.. hath .. leaues .. rough, boysteous and harde.

5. Rough, loud or violent in sound. C1430 Lydg. Bochas vi. xv. (1554) 143 b The boystous thunder. CI450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 30 Hee heard ane bousteous Bugill blaw. e fayre halle, & oper bold, fat hys fader let rere. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. VI. 169 He made hem bulde meny booldes.

bold (bauld), a. Forms: 1-4 bald, 3- bold, 4-7 bolde, 4-5 boold(e, 6 bould, 7 boulde. Also, 1 WSax. beald, 2-4 beld, 3 baeld; north. 3-6 bald, 3 baald, 4-5 balde (bowde), 5- bauld, 6 bawlde. [Com. Teut.: OE. bald (in WSax. beald) = OS., OHG. bald, MHG. balt-des (whence mod.G. bald adv. ‘quickly’), MDu. bout -de, Du. boud, ON. ball-r, Goth. *balps, only found in derivatives, as balpei, balpjan:—OTeut. *balpo-z. No related words appear outside Teutonic.] 1. a. Of persons: Stout-hearted, courageous, daring, fearless; the opposite of ‘timid’ or ‘fearful’. Often, with admiration emphasized = brave. a 1000 Ags. Ps. cxviii. [cxix.] 162 Ic blissige bealde mode. C1205 Lay. 16325 J?us bselde Haengest.. cnihten alre haendest. Ibid. 25410 Speke we of Arthur, baldest alre kinge. 1297 R. Glouc. 465 King Stefne was the boldore. 11314 Guy Warw. (A.) 669 Feir & beld to tellen by. 01340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6855 Swa hardy es na man, ne swa balde. C1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 36 So my3ten boolde men seie, to J?es ordris. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5952 So bold was no buerne his bir to withstond. C1470 Henry Wallace 11. 354 Baulder in battaill. 1593 Shaks. Lucr. 1430 When their brave hope, bold Hector, march’d to field. 1611 Bible Prov. xxviii. 1, The righteous are bolde as a lyon. 1790 Burns Tam O'Shanter, Inspiring bold John Barleycorn! 1842 Tennyson ToJf.S. viii, A man more pure and bold and just Was never born. 1863 C. St. John Nat. Hist. Moray vii. 171 The Cormorant.. is a bold, confident bird. fig. 1611 Shaks Wint. T. iv. iv. 125 Pale Prime-roses., bold Oxlips, and the Crowne Imperiall.

b. absol. A bold man. Now only pi. the bold. 01300 Cursor M. 16055 He beheilde pa bitter bald. ? 01400 Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 81 That many a bolde sythen a bought. C1400 Destr. Troy 1210 Lamydon.. Bare don mony bolde. Ibid. 1405 Mony boldes (?) for pat bright in batell be kylde. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington v, There he shall rest for ever Among the wise and the bold.

c. quasi-tfdtL = boldly. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, 1. iii. 3 The Duke of Norfolke, sprightfully and bold, Stayes but the summons of the Appealants Trumpet. 1598-9 Parismus 11. (1661) 24, I have the boldir presumed to detain you. 1786 Burns To Edinb., Bold-following where your fathers led!

2. Of words, actions, etc.: Showing requiring courage; daring, brave.

or

01250 Owl Night. 1715 J>urh belde worde. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2042 A dede queinte and beld. c 1340 Cursor M. 7033 Of troye & grece po batailes bolde [Cott. bald]. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 197 All these bold Feares.. I haue answered. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 386 The bold design Pleas’d highly those infernal States. 1712 Pope Rape Lock 1. 11 In tasks so bold can little men engage? 1844 Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxv. 351 [He] ventured on a very bold step. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 11 My former bold belief in my powers of conversing.

3. Phrases, to make (so) bold, to be (so) bold: to venture, presume so far as, take the liberty (to do a thing), f to make or be bold with (obs.): to take liberties, make free with. c 1385 Chaucer L.G. W. 879 Ho hath been so bold .. to sle myn lyf [i.e. Pyramus], 1393 Gower Conf. II. 259 Iason .. upon Medea made him bolde Of art magique. 0 1535 More Edw. V. (1641) Ded., I am bould to crave your patronage herein. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shrew 1. ii. 251 Sir, let me be so bold as aske you. 1598-Merry W. 11. ii. 262, I will first make bold with your money. 1599 —— Much Ado ill. ii. 8. 1601-Jul. C. 11. i. 86, I thinke we are too bold vpon your Rest. 1613-Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 318 You made bold To carry into Flanders, the Great Seale. 1676 ‘A. Rivetus, Jun.’ Mr. Smirke Kiib, Because they were all Christians, they thought.. they might make the bolder with them, make bolder with Christ, and wound him again. 1699 Bentley Phal. 216 Whether of these our Author made bold with, I cannot determin. 1852 McCulloch Taxation 11. ix. 337 We are bold to say that no instance can be found. 1876 Gladstone Homeric Synchr. 166 Nothing, I make bold to say, can be more improbable.

4. a. In bad sense: Audacious, presumptuous, too forward; the opposite of ‘modest’.

c 1200 Ormin 2185 Son se ma33denn wurrpej?)? bald, 3ho wurrpe^)? sone unn^aewedd. C1250 Gen. & Ex. 323 ‘Eue’, seide he, 6at neddre bold, ‘Quat o3et nu 6at for-bode owold’. 1340 Ayenb. 216 Na3t pe bolde ne pe na3t ssamueste. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 43 Bolde, presumptuosus, effrons. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. 11. 987 Ane deuill of hell, Is na compair to the iniquitie, Of bald wemen. 1505 Ansiv. Secret Instr. Hen. VII resp. Q. Naples, Not to bolde, but somewhat shamefast womanly. 1605 Shaks. Lear 1. iv. 263 Men so disorder’d, so debosh’d, and bold, That this our court.. Shewes like a riotous Inne. 1733 Pope Hor. Sat. 11. i. 106 The bold front of shameless, guilty men. 1847 Tennyson Princ. hi. 233 You are bold indeed: we are not talk’d to thus. Mod. A bold young woman.

f b. absol. An audacious or shameless person. Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 8693 Do me bote a-gain pis bald. Ibid. 15378 J?at ilk es he, pat baald.

c. quasi-atfo. a 1300 Cursor M. 7131 Vn-to pat birde was biddand bald, Sampson al pe'soth hir tald.

5. Strong, mighty, big. (obs.) Of grain, etc.: Well-filled, plump. fierce (Sc.)

BOLDO

366

BOLD

Of fire or wind: Strong,

CI300 K. Alts. 5004 Wymmen there ben mychel and belde. 11314 Guy Warw. (1840) 149 Forestes ful of hertes beld. a 1400 Cov. Myst. 3 He sent to Noe an Angel bolde. C1505 Dunbar ‘Now cumis Aige’ ii, Trew luvis fyre nevir birnis bauld. 1513 Douglas JEneis xm. iv. 65 The bald flambis and brym blesis stowt. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (I733) I- 1 r4 Boreas with his blasts sae bauld. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 186 Being a bolder and better grain, weighed heavier. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxix, ‘An the brandy hadna been ower bauld for your brain.’ 1864 Times 8 Dec., Coffee ..sold at 69s. to 72s. 6d., for good to fine ordinary bold.

f6. Confident (in), certain, sure (of). Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 2675 Qua es not sua |?ai mai be bald, pai sal not o mi folk be tald. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 169 This ilk Knight, that, be ye balde, Was lord and keper of that halde. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 2440 We wylle hym kepe and we may, Thereof be ye bold! c 1440 York Myst. viii. 119 He wille be my beylde, pus am I bowde. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 17 b, We sholde be bolde of his grace. 1588 Shaks. Tit. A.v. i. 13 Be bold in vs, weele follow where thou lead’st. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcel, xvm. iv. 109 Bearing himselfe bold of helpe from those nations. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. 11. iv. 2, I would I were so sure To winne the King, as I am bold, her Honour Will remaine her’s. 1616 R. C. Times' Whis. ii. 703 These he dares be bolde, And more then these.

7. fig. Showing daring, vigour, or licence of conception or expression; vigorous, striking. a 1667 Cowley (J.) The figures are bold even to temerity. 01687 Waller (J.) Bold tales of gods or monsters. 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. 11. ii. 165 Mark where a bold expressive phrase occurs. 1763 Johnson in Boswell xv. (1848) 137/1, I do not think Gray a first-rate poet. He has not a bold imagination.

8. a. ‘Standing out to the view; striking to the eye’ (J.)l firmly marked, ‘pronounced’. 1678 J. Phillips Tavernier's Trav. 11.1. x. 64 Had it been finish’d.. it had excell’d all the boldest structures of Asia. 1753 Scots Mag. July 318/2 Her pulse easy, bold, and regular. 1775 Sheridan Rivals hi. iv. (1883) 115 I’ll write a good bold hand. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxi. 225 His curling hair hung round a high, bold forehead. 1857 H. Miller Test. Rocks iii. 144 Standing out in bold relief. 1867 Lady Herbert Cradle L. vii. 175 The walls are panelled with precious inlaid marbles, in bold patterns.

b. Typogr. Of type = bold-face 2. Also ellipt. or as sb. C1871 V. & J. Figgins Types Specimen Bk., Pica Bold Italic. Long Primer Bold Italic. Brevier Bold Italic. Nonpareil Bold Italic. 1884 Type in Use at Messrs. Parker's Printing Office, Oxford May 25 Pica bold .. brevier bold.. nonpareil bold.. pearl bold. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise viii. 132 Can you cut away the headline and re-set in Goudy Bold? 1962 Which? Car Suppl. Oct. 114/1 Version tested [sc. is printed] in bold.

9. In Nautical lang., applied to a coast rising steeply from deep water; also, to the deep water close to such a shore: also, in ordinary lang., to any broad, steep or projecting face of rock. Of a ship: Broad and bluff in the bows. 1628 Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 13 It is a Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 34 A bold Shore,

bold shore. 1697 that is, high land and deep water close home by it. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) I. 96 At Honfleur. .they can ride in bold water, in a good bottom. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §170 Built unusually bold in their Bows. 1810 Scott Lady of L. 1. v. 12 The pine-trees blue On the bold cliffs of Ben-venue, i860 Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 196 The soundings.. show bold water, from 19 to 75 fathoms, close in shore. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. 1. v. (ed. 2) 111 The southern part of St. Ouen’s Bay is extremely bold. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bold-shore, a steep coast where the water, deepening rapidly, admits the near approach of shipping without the danger of grounding. Ibid., Bold-to, steep-to. 10. Comb., as bold-hearted, -spirited; bold¬

face. 1853 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun Wks. III. 23 Our boldhearted Kate. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. Ded., Confident and bold-spirited men. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 286 One of the souldiers.. a rough bold spirited fellow.

fbold, v. Obs. Forms: see bold a. [OE. bealdian, = OHG. balden, f. bald adj.: see prec.] 1. intr. To be, or show oneself, bold; to become bold, grow strong or big. a 1000 Beowulf 4360 Swa bealdode beorn Ecgpeowes. a 1300 Cursor M. 7539 To gar pam wit hope to bald, c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 223 And ther is warme eke hugely thai [plum-trees] bold. C1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 640 The wenche bygane to bolde. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Kk vij, Oure hardines soo boldeth. 1706 De Foe Jure Div. ix. 201 No tame Subjection did their Kingdoms yield, But bolding courted Freedom in the Field.

2. trans. To make bold, embolden, encourage. c 1205 Lay. 4385 To balden pine leoden [c 1275 to boldi]. a 1300 Cursor M. 10425 Men suld bald pam to be blith. c 1300 K. Alis. 2468 His Gregeys ful faire he boldith. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. iii. 198, I batered hem on pe bakke and bolded here hertis. 1535 Coverdale Deut. iii. 28 Geue Iosua his charge, and corage him and Bolde him. C1540 Lady Brian in Ellis Orig. Lett. 11. II. 79 Now et boldethe me to shew yow my powr mynd. 1605 Shaks. Lear v. i. 26 It toucheth us, as France invades our land, Not bolds the king,

b. To make (a fire) strong or fierce, north, dial. am wynne.

boldly (’bsuldli), adv. [f.

bold a. + -ly2.] In a bold manner. 1. Courageously, daringly, fearlessly.

a 1000 Juliana (Gr.) 492 Sume .. ic bealdlice .. minum hondum.. sloj. c 1205 Lay. 19923 her wes Bruttene weored .* baldeliche isomned [r 1275 boldeliche gadered]. c 1305 St. Christ. 36 in E.F..P. (1862) 60 Cristofre hem mette baldeliche. 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 14 He bauldly thaim abaid. 1480 Robt. Devyll 30 He thought boldlyer for to

4. With bold expression or handling; strongly, vigorously, strikingly. 1762 H. Walpole Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. I. 158 Several other figures, boldly painted, but not highly finished. 1828 Coleridge Eolian Harp 18 Its strings Boldlier swept.

t boldly, a. Obs. Also 3 baldli, 4 baldeli. [f. bold a. + -ly1; cf. goodly.] Bold-looking. 01300 Cursor M. 16032 (Gott.) Wid a ful baldli chere. Ibid. 8541 (Trin.) He was a boldly bachilere. 1819 Blackw. Mag. IV. 730 Scan ye near Those boldly lineaments.

boldness ('bauldms). [f. bold a. + -ness.] The quality of being bold. 1. Courage, daring, fearlessness. c 1400 Destr. Troy 226 That the flese.. Were brought throw pi boldness into pis big yle. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. II. xxxv. 151 The rommayns yssued ayenst hym by grete boldnes. 1577 tr. Bullinger’s Decades (1592) 175 There is demaunded a boldnesse of stomacke to dare to doe the thing. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, 11. i. 134 You call honorable Boldnes, impudent Sawcinesse. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. 11. xxiii. (1695) 156 Boldness is the Power to speak or do what we intend, before others, without fear or disorder. I876 Green Short Hist. v. § 3 The boldness of his words sprang perhaps from a knowledge that his end was near.

fb. to take (a or the) boldness: to venture, to take the liberty (to do a thing). Obs. or dial. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 74 b, The serpent toke a boldnesse to tempte the woman. 1650 Fuller Pisgah 11. x. 211 The Amorites took the boldness to keep possession thereof. ri68o Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 273 Who are we, that we should take the boldness to ask any thing of him? [1864 dial. (Epsom, Surrey), ‘Father’s boldness, Ma’am, and he’ve sent you a few flowers.’]

2. Impudence, shamelessness, presumption. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xvm. 386 J>e boldnesse of her synnes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 43 Boldenesse or homelynesse, presumpeio. 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, 1. ii. 42 Vnmanner’d Dogge.. lie strike thee to my Foote, And spume vpon thee Begger for thy boldnesse. 1601-All's Well 11. i. 174 A strumpets boldnesse. 1602 Manningham Diary (1868) 10 Nov., I told her of her saucy boldness. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxiii, Should licensed boldness gather force.

f3. Confidence, assurance, security, upon boldness of: in reliance on, on the security of. Obs. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 40 For boldenes he wild him bynd to som berde in boure. 1447-8 Shillingford Lett. (1871) 91 Upon boldenysse of the said nywe charter, a 1535 More Edw. V, in Southey Comm.-pi. Bk. Ser. 11. (1849) 91 Unthrifts riot and run in debt upon boldness of these places. 1603 Shaks. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 165 In the boldnes of my cunning, I will lay my selfe in hazard, a 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 28 Perfect righteousness shall give us perfect boldness both of sight and fruition. [1717 De Foe Hist. Ch. Scot. 6, I take upon me with Boldness to assure the World, it is not so.]

4. transf. Vigour or freedom of conception or execution; forcibleness. 01700 Dryden (J.) The boldness of the figures is to be hidden, sometimes by the address of the poet. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) II. 209 Rivalling the great masters .. in boldness of design. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. vi. 345 Brilliancy of colouring and boldness of outline. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. iii. §20 There is as much difference between the boldness of the true and the false masters, as there is between the courage of a pure woman and the shamelessness of a lost one.

boldo ('bDldsu). Also boldu. [Sp., a. the native Chilean word.] An evergreen tree of Chile, Peumus boldus; also, a medicinal preparation of the leaves of this tree, formerly used as a tonic. 1717 tr. Frezier’s Voy. to South-Sea 78 The woods are full of Aromatick Trees, as.. Boldu, the Leaf whereof smells like Frankincense. 1872 Pharm. Jrnl. & Trans. 26 Oct. 323/2 The boldo is a tree indigenous to Chili.. and belongs to the order Monimiacex. 1908 Practitioner Aug. 339 Slight cholagogues, such as.. boldo. 1924 Record & Mell Timbers Tropical Amer. 11. 172 Peumus Boldus Mol... is an aromatic evergreen tree 40 to 60 feet high, growing on the dry sunny hills in Chile, where it is known as the ‘boldo’ or ‘boldu’. 1934 Brit. Pharm. Codex 255 Boldo is now used principally in the form of tincture, as a diuretic and supposed liver stimulant. 1934 Tropical Woods XXXIX. 20 The leaves of Peumus yield a product known under such names as ’Folia

BOLDSHIP Boldo’ and ' Boldo Leaf Oil’, from which a stomachic is derived; this was formerly an article of commerce, but by 1900 had apparently become obsolete. 1951 G. H. M. Lawrence Taxon. Vascular Plants 512 Chilean boldo wood .. sometimes reaches our markets [in the U.S.A.] as a rarity for cabinet work.

Hence 'boldin [-in1], a glucoside having hypnotic properties found in the boldo; 'boldine (also f boldeine, f boldina) [a. F. boldine (Bourgoin & Verne 1872, in Jrnl. de Pharm. et de Chim. XVI. 191): see -ine5], a bitter, lightsensitive alkaloid, C19H2i04N, found in the boldo and formerly used as a hypnotic; boldo'glucin = boldin. 1872 Pharm. Jrnl. Trans. 26 Oct. 323/2 The leaves.. contain an essential oil and an organic alkali, to which the authors propose to give the name of boldine. 1907 Brit. Pharm. Codex 167 The leaves also contain a bitter alkaloid, boldine.. and a glucoside, boldin or boldoglucin. 1928 Solis-Cohen & Githens Pharmacotherapeutics 1189 Boldo .. contains.. a glucoside (boldin or boldoglucin), an alkaloid (boldeine or boldine), gum and tannin. 1939 T. A. Henry Plant Alkaloids (ed. 3) 324 Boldine, like bulbocapnine, antagonises but does not invert the action of adrenaline in raising blood pressure.

f'boldship. Obs. [see-ship.] Boldness. c 1275 Lay. 24943 Hire baldsipe [c 1205 raehscTpe] sal 3am seolue.1 to moche roupe teorne.

boldspreet, obs. form of bowsprit. bole1 (baul). also 7 boal(e, 7-8 boll. [a. ON. bol-r masc., also written bulr> trunk of a tree; cf. MHG. bole (fem.), mod.G. bohle plank.] The stem or trunk of a tree. c 1314 Guy Wane. (1840) 260 His nek is greter than a bole. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 622 By bole of pis brode tre we byde pe here. 1521 Fisher Wks. (1876) 315 The shadowe of the bole of the tree. 1641 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 32 Five upright and exceeding tall suckers, or bolls. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 158 Whose boughs shoot from the boal fifteen or sixteen yards. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Dressing, Boughs and Suckers, which have made themselves and the Boll knotty. 1848 Lytton Harold I. 306 Gnarled boles of pollard oaks and beeches. 1870 Bryant Iliad iv. I. 129 A fair, smooth bole, with boughs Only on high.

b. transf. Anything of a cylindrical shape like the trunk of a tree, as a roll, a pillar. 1676 True Gentleman's Delight (N.) Make it up in little long boles or rowles. 1884 Pall Mall G. 11 Jan. 1/2 The sky .. seen between the boles of stone.

c. Comb., as f bole-fashion adv., bole-like adj. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. 1. 508 Another Holy, whose roote is not bolefashion. 1854 H. Miller Sch. Schm. (1858) 313 The bole-like stems of great plants.

bole2 (baul). Also 4 bol, 5-6 boole. [ad. med.L. bolus, a. Gr. pw\os clod of earth; first used in Eng. in bole armeniac or armoniac: thence extended to similar substances.] 1. The name of several kinds of fine, compact, earthy, or unctuous clay, usually of a yellow, red, or brown colour due to the presence of iron oxide. 1641 French Distill, iii. (1651) 78 Such things as will flow must have bole, or powder of brick mixed with them. 1645 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 143 A. , paper of a red astringent powder, I suppose of bole. 1686 Phil. Trans. XVI. 144 It may perhaps be better reckon’d amongst Boles than Stones. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. 73 A red Bole, called by the Country People Redding, or Ruddle. 1843 Portlock Geol. 152 A soft clayey amygdaloid, decomposing into a rich and deep red bole. 1868 Dana Min. 476.

b. spec. bole armeniac, formerly also armoniak, etc.: an astringent earth brought from Armenia, and formerly used as an antidote and styptic. c 1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. & T. 238 Bol armoniak [armonyak, -ac, amoniak] verdegres, boras. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health liii. 24 Take of Terre sigillate, of boole Armoniake, of eche an unce. 1558 Warde Alexis' Seer. (1568) 40 b, Take.. Bolearmenicke. 1591 Percivall Sp. Diet., Bolarmenico, Bolearminack. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 34 Plaister is made thereof with Bole-Armorick. 1610 Markham Masterp. 11. cxxxii. 435 Take of bolearmony a quarterne. 1626 Bacon Sylva §701 Bole-Arminick is the most Cold of them. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 107 Bole Armonick .. is a natural Earth. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Obsery. Surg. (1771) 94 A Defensitive composed of Bole Armenia. 1799 G. Smith Laborat. II. 401 Take., bole armenic, parched barley, etc. 1832 Fraser's Mag. VI. 714 The best toothpowder in the world is Armenian bole.

f2. A large pill, a bolus; also fig. Obs. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 141 Thirty grains of Lentils swallowed down by way of Bole. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ill. xvi. 57 Ignorant.. persons, who swallow down the bole and the box that carries it. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. II. s.v. Water Germander, The plant.. may .. be prescribed in Boles as well as in infusion.

bole3 (haul). Sc. Also boal. [Origin unknown.] a. A small square recess in the wall of a room for holding articles, b. An unglazed aperture in the wall of a castle, cottage, stable, etc, for admitting air or light; sometimes closed with a shutter. 1728 Ramsey Wks. (1848) III. 167 Bring from yon boal a roasted hen. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxii. Open the bole wi’ speed, that I may see if this be the right Lord Geraldin. 1:1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. VI. 97 We have been benighted, and have been drawn hither by the light in your bole. 1834 H. Miller Scenes fif Leg. xxv. 365 The gold, which you will

BOLK

367 find in the little bole under the tapestry of my room. 1875 JVeitch Tweed 92 A narrow bole High near the top.

bole4. (See quot.) 1670 Peitls Fodinse Reg. Gloss, s.v., Boles or Bolestids are places, where in ancient time (before Smelting Mills were invented) the Miners did fine their lead. 1785 Archseologia VII. 170 (D.) There was a bole .. where in ancient times.. miners used to smelt their lead ores.

bole, obs. form of boll, bowl, bull. f 'bole-ax. Obs. Also 3 bulaxe. [a. ON. bol-ox, bul-dx ‘pole-axe’, prob. f. bolr, bulr bole of a tree + ox axe; cf. Sw. bolyxa ‘great axe’.] A large axe; ? a pole axe. CI200 Ormin 9281 Nu33U iss bulaxe sett Rihht to J>e treowwess rote. C1308 Satire in Rel. Ant. II. 176 Hail be 3e potters with 3ur bole-ax. .2] The act of bolting. 1. A sudden spring or start. 1550 Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 146 Bot with ane bolt on thame he bendit. 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 335 The two Consuls gaue a boylt aloft on their chariots.

2. The act of suddenly breaking away; breaking away from a political party (U.S. colloq.). a 1859 De Quincey Whiggism Wks. VI. 64 He suddenly made a bolt to the very opposite party. 1867 F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 62 He will make a bolt to his hold. 1884 Pall Mall G. 7 July 11/2 It is the ‘Blaine bolt’ which lends so extraordinary an interest to the Chicago Convention.

3. The act of bolting food. 183s J- Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXVII. 133 The difference between a civilized swallow and a barbarous bolt. 4. Comb. BOLT-HOLE.

bolt, boult, sb.3 In 5 bult(e, 6 bout, 5-7 boult. [f. bolt w.1] 1. A flour-sieve, a boulter. Hence (or from the verb-stem) f bolt-cloth, a cloth for bolting or sifting; a fabric suitable for this; bolt feeder, an apparatus for regulating the passage of meal to the flour-bolt; f bolt-poke, a bolter or bag for sifting. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-WCilcker 663 Hoc pollitridium, bultclathe. CI440 Promp. Parv. 55 Bulte pooke or bulstare ..politrudum. 1592 Wills & Inv. N.C. (i860) II. 212, xj yards of boutcloth 6s. 1611 Book of Rates (Jam.) Boultclaith, the eln xs. 1847 Craig, Bolt, a sieve.

BOLT

372

2. A hypothetical law case propounded and argued for practice by students of the Inns of Court. (Cf. bolting vbl. sb.1 2 b.) 1556 Black Books of Lincoln's Inn (1897) I. 316 Everi daye (except Sondayes and festifall dayes, when ther is a mote or abolte). 1570 in R. J. Fletcher Pension-bk. Gray’s Inn (1901) I. 4 Item it is ordered.. that upon the other dayes not appointed for the moting it shalbe lawful) to the utter baristers to keepe bolts. 1593- in Douthwaite Gray’s Inn (1886) 83 None shall be called to the barr but such as.. have put Cases at Bolts in Term six times. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 89/1 Bolts were of an analogous character, though deemed inferior to moots. Both had fallen into desuetude until lately. 1956 A. L. Rowse Early Churchills ii. 14 The readings, moots and bolts—the public exercises that tested the knowledge acquired by the students from their seniors.

bolting in a hurry out of one religious tyranny, and it was not so wonderful they should bolt into another.

b. To dart forth, forward, out. (Often with the idea of start running, as in 3.) 1513 Douglas JEneis v. vi. 58 Furth bowtis with a bend Nisus. 1550 Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 519 [He] bowtit fordward with ane bend, a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 92 Bolting out of Bushes in the dark. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. Ded. (1721) I. 188 Some bolting out upon the Stage with vast applause, a 1779 Garrick Lying Valet 1. Wks. 1798 I. 42 Out bolts her husband upon me with a fine taper crab in his hand. 1834 Pringle Apr. Sk. viii. 259 With.. a furious growl, forth he bolted from the bush.

c. Hawking. (See quot.) 1855 Salvin & Brodrick Falconry Brit. Isles Gloss. 149 Bolt, to fly straight from the fist at game, as Goshawks and Sparrow-Hawks do.

bolt, boult (bsult), v.1 Forms: 2-3 (Orm.) built,

d. Horticulture. To ‘run to seed’ prematurely.

4-6 bult(e, 6 boulte, bowlt, boolt, 5-8 boult, 6bolt, north. 5-6 bowt, 6 bout. [a. OF. bulte-r (now bluter):—earlier OF. buleter, which (as appears from OF. buretel boultel, meal-sieve = mod.F. bluteau) is for *bureter = It. burattare; no OF. *buret is recorded, but It. buratto is a meal-sieve, and also ‘a fine transparent cloth’. Diez and Littre refer it originally to bura, bure, a kind of cloth: see bureau, burrell. The historical spelling of the word is boult: unfortunately the dictionaries have confounded it with bolt v.2 (see Johnson) and authorized the spelling bolt: cf. BOULTEL.] 1. trans. To sift; to pass through a sieve or bolting-cloth, to bolt out: to separate by sifting.

1889 in Cent. Diet. 1961 Amateur Gardening 16 Sept. 12/2 In April or early May many of the plants ‘bolted’.

c 1200 [see bolted1]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvn. lxvii, The floure of pe mele, whan it is bultid [1535 boulted] and departid from pe bran. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 51 Fancy may boult bran, and make ye take it floure. 1617 Markham Caval. hi. 38 Grinde all these together, and boult them through an ordinarie bolting cloath. 1633 Gerard's Herbal II. cccxl. 912 Pouder of the roots.. searced or bolted into most fine dust. 1725 Pope Odyss. xx. 134 To bolt the bran From the pure flour. 1871 Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. I. ii. 77 Flour has the bran bolted from it.

b. transf. and fig. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, ii. ii. 137 Such and so finely boulted didst thou seeme. 1611-Wint. T. iv. iv. 375 The fan’d snow, that’s bolted By th’ Northeme blasts.

2. fig. To examine by sifting; to search and try. to bolt out: to find out, or separate by sifting. C1386 Chaucer Nonne Prestes T. 420, I ne kan nat bulte it to the bren. 1544 Ascham Toxoph. 1. 97 You Persians for your great wisdom can soon bolt out what they mean. 1553 Q. Mary in Strype Eccl. Mem. Ill App. xiv. 35 Wherby ye may the better bulte out the malicious. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 375 Neither may I.. boult out the whole Etymologie (or reason) of every Townes name. 1640-4 Sir B. Rudyard in Rushw. Hist. Coll. in. (1692) I. 25 Let the matters bolt out the Men; their Actions discover them. 1791 Burke Let. Memb. Nat. Assemb. Wks. VI. 49, I must first bolt myself before I can censure them. [1868 Browning Ring & Bk. 1. 923 The curious few Who care to sift a business to the bran Nor coarsely bolt it like the simpler sort.]

bolt (bsult), v.2 Forms: 3 bulten, 3-4 bult (3rd sing. pa. t.), 5 bult, 6 bolte, Sc. bowt, 6-7 boult, 7 bowlt, 8 Sc. bout, 4- bolt. [f. bolt sb.1 in its two main senses of ‘a missile’ and ‘a fastening’: the former has given rise to uses of the most diverse kinds, connected merely by the common notion of sudden or hasty motion or application of force, some of them being directly contrary to others: cf. ‘to bolt a dart’ 4 a, ‘bolt a cony’ 4 b, ‘bolt a paraphrase’ 5, ‘bolt an egg’, ‘bolt the bill’ 6, ‘bolt the ticket’ 7, besides ‘bolt the door’ 9, ‘bolt a ship’ 10.] 1. To spring, move suddenly, with its causal. * intr. To go off like a bolt. f 1. To start, spring. Obs. fa. To spring back, rebound, recoil; to fall violently backward. Obs. a 1225 Ancr. R. 366 Hit pulteS up [v.r. hit bultes] ajean o peo pet per neih stondeS. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7476 Both went backward & bult vppon the erthe.

3. To dart off or away, make off with himself, take flight, escape; to rush suddenly off or away. a. gen. of men or beasts, spec, of a rabbit, fox, etc.: to escape from its burrow or earth. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 179 Put in a Ferret close musseled, and she will make the Conies bolte out againe into your pursenets. Ibid., It will make the Conies bolte out of the earth. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philast. 11. ii, Here’s one bolted; I’ll hound at her. 1616 Fletcher Hum. Lieut, iv. viii. 142 He will Bolt now for certain. 1838 Hawthorne Amer. NoteBks. (1871) I. 156 The landlord of the tavern keeping his eye on a man whom he suspected of an intention to bolt. 1851 [see bolt-hole i]. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii, At once bolting off in cabs. 1879 F. Pollok Sport. Brit. Burmah II. 94 The rhinoceros bolted, and I got two shots as it crossed an open piece. 1900 A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 234 A rabbit will bolt much sooner from a ferret that is free. Ibid., A rabbit will sometimes decline to bolt, and will be killed in the burrow.

b. spec. Of a horse: To break away from the rider’s control; to make a violent dash out of his course. 1820 Scott Monast. v, The mule.. bounded, bolted, and would soon have thrown Father Philip over her head. 1877 A. B. Edwards Vp Nile xxii. 683 My donkey bolted about every five minutes. 1884 E. L. Anderson Mod. Horsemanship I. viii. 44 Bolting is the quick, determined movement, usually off the course and often against some obstacle, that a horse makes to break away from restraint.

c. transf. To break away from a political party. (U.S. politics.) Cf. 7. 1821 in E. S. Brown Missouri Compromises (1926) 43 Parker of Virginia, & some others, bolted. 1871 St. Louis Democrat 3 Apr. (De Vere), Several of our contemporaries have announced.. that Carl Schurz has bolted from the Republican party. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 11 July (heading) Belief that Butler and Tammany will bolt.

** trans. To send off like a bolt.

4. To let off or discharge like a bolt; to shoot. a 1420 Occleve De Reg. Princ. 2226 Disceyte.. Bultethe out shame, and causethe grete smertnesse. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 439 A frivolous devise boulted out of the forgeshoppe of Lumbarde. 1618 Barnevelt's Apol. C, Against your woundless brest he bolts his dart in vaine. 1648 Markham Housew. Gard. iii. viii. (1668) 71 One of these seeds put into the eye.. will.. bolt itself forth without hurt to the eye. 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. 169 Some may have been bolted off by the shock of an earthquake.

b. To drive out suddenly or forcibly; to expel. spec. To cause (a fox, rabbit, otter, etc.) to retreat from its hole or burrow. Also transf. and fig■ 1610 Guillim Heraldry iii. xiv. (1660) 166 You shall say Bowlt the Cony. 1612 Beaum. & Fl. Cupid's Rev. Wks. iii. 415 This is one of her Ferrets that she bolts business out withall. 1622 Fletcher Span. Curate v. ii. 48 All your devills wee will bolt. 1638 Guillim Heraldry (ed. 3) iii. xiv. 176 You shall say Bowlt the Conie. 1805 Wordsw. Prel. ill. 77 To have been bolted forth, Thrust out abruptly into Fortune’s way. 1863 Atkinson Stanton Grange 201 He intended to dig at his leisure until he bolted him [sc. an otter]. 1892 Mrs. J. E. H. Gordon Eunice Anscombe 176 The terrier.. was put into the hole to ‘bolt’ the otter. 1902 Daily Chron. 13 Mar. 8/2 A brace of foxes were next bolted from an artificial earth. 1914 R. Curle Life is a Dream 229 The dogs became wildly excited, pawing at the sand around the hole, bolting the crab, and then biting it. 1922 E. Phillpotts Grey Room vii. 172 He’ll bolt it [sc. the evil spirit] yet,.. like a ferret bolts a rat.

c. to bolt upright: to cause to stand on end.

fb. To spring or start; esp. with up, upright. Obs. or arch.

1794 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. Bruce Wks. 11. 463 Tales .. That bolt like hedge-hog-quills the hair upright.

CI425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. viii. 162 Suddanly He boltyd up welle nere-hand pame by Wyth twelf displayed Baneris. 1483 Cath. Angl. 36 To Bolt up, emergere. 1594 Pcat Jewellho. ill. 74 They shall not be able to rise or bolt vp againe. 1621 Quarles Esther (1638) 90 What made.. thy haire Bolt up? a 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 199 The patient, bolting upright in the bed, collared each of these assistants with the grasp of Hercules. 1813 Scott Trierm. n. x, Screaming with agony and fright, He bolted twenty feet upright.

5. To utter hastily, ejaculate, blurt out or forth.

2. To move or come as with a spring or sudden bound, to dart. a. To come or spring suddenly upon (obs.); to enter with a spring or sudden bound in, into. 1666 Pepys Diary 20 Feb., Bolting into the dining-room, I there found Captain Ferrers. 1666 Bunyan Grace Ab. If 143 Suddenly this sentence bolted in upon me. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 91 |f 1 Who came privately in a Chair, and bolted into my Room. 1779 Johnson Lett. 225 II. 96, I think to bolt upon you at Bath. 1839 De Quincey Murder Wks. IV. 72 In therefore he bolted and .. turned the key. 1840 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) V. 92 Men were

1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 392 He bolted out such rash and vnadvised sayings. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 123 Mahomet-Ally-Beg undesired, bolted out, that hee knew, etc. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, 347 The Rudest Head will bolt a Paraphrase. 1692 R. Lestrange Josephus' Antiq. xvi. vi. (1733) 431 The Princes.. bolted out at a Venture, whatever came at their Tongue’s End. 1821 Coleridge Lett., Convers., &c. xv. I. 161 What we struggle with inwardly, we find .. easiest to bolt out.

6. colloq. To swallow hastily and without chewing, swallow whole or with a single effort, gulp down. 1794 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Path. Odes Wks. III. 401 Bolting his subjects with majestic gobble. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi, xxviii, He.. bolted the alcohol, to use the learned phrase, and withdrew. 1835 Marryat Pacha ix, Bolting them down to satisfy the cravings of..hunger. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. xi. 362 Some hawks and owls bolt their prey whole. 1882 Pall Mall G. 2 June 3/1 It would be much simpler for the House of Commons to bolt the bill whole.

*** trans. development of 3, 3 b, c.

BOLT 7. To break away from (a political party or platform

BOLTING

373

to

which

one

has

hitherto

docilely

adhered); = bolt from in sense 3. (U.S. politics.) 1813 Portsmouth (N.H.) Oracle 20 Nov. 2/3 (Th.), Others, .. without sufficient courage to do their duty, bolted the question. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 11 July, It is believed that Butler and Tammany will bolt the ticket. 1884 U.S. Newspaper, Several prominent Irishmen had bolted Cleveland. 1885 Howells in Harper's Mag. July 262/1 The Democrat-Republican.. bolted the nomination of a certain politician of its party for Congress. II. To make fast or confine with a bolt. f8. trans. To fetter, shackle; also fig. Obs. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. vi. 138 If he be.. bolted with yrnes. a 1535 More Wks. (1557) 1246 He bolteth their arms with a paulsy, that they cannot lift their hands to their heads. 1606 Shaks. Ant. Cl. v. ii. 6 That thing.. Which shackles accedents, and bolts vp change. 9. trans. To secure (a door, etc.) with a bolt. 1580 Baret Alv. B 906 The olde woman bolted the dore. 1611 Bible 2 Sam. xiii. 17 Put now this woman out from mee, and bolt the doore after her. 1663 Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. 439 You haue obstinately bolted your heart against all these pious stories. 1720 T. Boston Hum. Nat. (1794) 142 Labouring to enter into heaven by the door, which Adam’s sin.. bolted. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xiii. 147 The kitchen door, which he locked and bolted. b. to bolt out, in, up: to exclude, shut in, shut up, by bolting a door, etc. Also fig. C1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 32 Yee grace barre out, and vanitie bolt in. 1691 E. Taylor Behmen's Incarn. 330 The Divine Substantiality did sit bolted up therein. 1839 Bailey Festus v, Where God is bolted out from every house. c. absol. or intr. 1847 Marryat Childr. N. Forest ii, We can bolt and bar. d. intr. for pass. 1907 Smart Set Feb. 77/1 The door bolts on the inside. 10. To fasten together or furnish with bolts. i7*7”38 Chambers Cycl. I. s.v. Keel, Into this are..the ground-timbers and hooks fastened, and bolted. 1780 Burke Sp. Bristol Wks. III. 419 The.. fabrick.. is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts. 1787 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 207, I have ordered her [a ship] to be new bolted. 1824 Ure Diet. Chem. 9 A disc of cast-iron well fitted and firmly bolted to it. 1875 McLaren Serm. Ser. 11. iii. 55 A strong shaft of iron bolting together the two tottering walls of some old building. III. 11. The vb.-stem in Comb, bolt-on a., of an optional addition to a car, machinery, etc.: able to be attached to the original parts by bolts; also fig., (able to be) added on to something when required; cf. add-on sb. (and a.) and screw-on a. s.v. screw v. 25 a. 1963 Times 8 Jan. i i/i To test the effectiveness of a ‘‘bolton’ conversion unit during everyday motoring, I had the latest Lockheed diaphragm servo system fitted to a Morris i ioo. 1967 Time 12 May 88/3 Decked out with bolt-on guns and rocket launchers, the shaking, rattling and rolling choppers are less than perfect for close-in fire support. 1974 Daily Tel. 4 Sept. 12/1 Bolt-on aerofoils for your Ford or Austin could be the next motor accessory craze. 1986 Tract. Gardening Mar. 12/1 We came up with the idea of a ‘bolt-on’ garden.

4. bolted arrows: (app.) arrows with blunt heads, bird-bolts.

2. Chem. A globular flask with cylindrical neck, used in distillation.

1864 Reader 24 Dec. 792/3 Shooting, with bolted arrows, partridge or pigeon.

1610 B. Jonson Alch. 11. ii, Blushes the bolts-head? Ibid. iv. iv, This doctor.. Will close you so much gold in a bolt’shead. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes c. specific airways conductance] was measured 5 min after intravenous salbutamol sulphate (25 /xg boluses) up to a cumulative dose of 300 ng. 1980 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 29 Mar. 922/2 All treatment was stopped and a bolus of 10ml of 10% calcium gluconate given.

2. A small rounded mass of any substance. 1782 A. Monro Compar. Anat. (ed. 3) 23 The bolus would be in danger of falling out of the mouth. 1835 T. Hook G. Gurney (1850) I. i. 3 A round mirror, encircled with gilt boluses. 1867 F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 9 A barley-meal bolus is the bait for roach. 1881 Sat. Rev. No. 1320, 206 One leaden bolus of the old ounce-of-lead pattern. 3. A kind of clay; = bole2 i . 1682 Grew Anat. Plants 242 Bolus’s are the Beds, or as it were, the Materia prima, both of opacous Stones, and Metals. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland xii. 210 The soil is composed of soft bolus full of splinters of trachyte.

Hence bolus-ways, -wise, adv., as a bolus. 1689 Moyle Sea Chyrurg. Pref., If the Patient cannot take a Medecine in one form (as Bolus-waies).

t bolwaie. Obs. ? A boil. 1628 P. M[athieu] Life Seianvs 88 His face full of pimples and Fistulas, knots and bolwaies.

bolwark, obs. f. bulwark.

boly, obs. form of

boil v.

fbolye. Obs. rare. [ad. med.L. bolis, a. Gr. fioXts sounding-lead.] (See quot.) 1552 Huloet, Bolye or plummet whyche mariners vse, bolis.

bolyen, bolyon, bolyn, var. bolys,

obs. forms of bullion.

of bollen sb., and obs. f. bowline.

obs. form of bullace.

Ijbom1, boma.

Also bomma, aboma. The native name in Congo, W. Africa, of ‘a huge non-poisonous snake swallowing deer, etc.’ (see Merolla, Vocab.; Proyart; Cavazzi Congo, Matamba, & Angola-, Magyar Siid-Afrika). Apparently carried by the Portuguese from Congo to Brazil (Roquete has bom boma ‘serpent d’Angola et du Bresil’), and there applied to the largest boas, in which sense it appears in some English works. (The history has been traced for us by Dr. E. B. Tylor.) 1864 in Webster and in other recent Diets.

bom2 (bom). [Of imitative origin.] The sound caused by the discharge of a gun, less deep and sonorous than a‘boom’. Also, the sound of a heavy object falling. 1906 Westm. Gaz. n June 8/2 A faint distant Bom! and everybody murmurs with one accord, ‘First Gun!’ 1922 Joyce Ulysses 97 Bom! Upset. A coffin bumped out on to the road.

bom, bomarang, obs. ff.

bum, boomerang sb.

boma ('bauma).

E. Afr. [Swahili.] a. An enclosure or stockade used for herding beasts and for defensive purposes, b. A police post. c. A district commissioner’s or magistrates’ office; an administrative centre associated with such an office. 1878 Stanley Dark Cont. I. vi. 137 From the staked bomas.. there rise to my hearing the bleating of young calves. 1898 Geogr. Jrnl. (R.G.S.) XI. 389, I went out on a sandspit into the lake and camped, cutting down the bush and placing it across the shore end of the bank so as to form a boma. 1903 Stordy in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 10 July 691/2 The construction of the boma employed fifty hands for the space of nine weeks. 1920 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 59/1 It [sc. the fort] was a typical Boma, built of bricks and plaster. 1961 New Scientist 24 Aug. 451 The innumerable trails that radiate from each cattle boma. 1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo iii. 49 A boma. .that would have held a herd of a hundred or more zebra. 1967 L. Kayira Looming Shadow (1968) v. 60 He did not have the vaguest notion about the implications of the Boma and the law. 1969 N. Carr White Impala ii. 20 The hunter was awarded the ‘ground’ tusk.., while the other was to be handed in to the Boma. Ibid., Nowadays the word ‘Boma’.. is used to mean a Government

administrative centre. But more particularly it means the District Commissioner’s office and all the services^ that go with it—dispensary, post office, agricultural officer’s office, and so on.

bomah (’bauma). Also boomah. [Cf. Zulu imboma aloe-berry.] bomah nut, the fruit of a southern African shrub Pycnocoma macrophylla, used in tanning. 1874 Lindley & Moore Treas. Bot. II. 943/1 Boomah Nuts. 1887 Moloney Forestry W. Africa 417 The Bomah Nut..is extensively cultivated by the natives near the Victoria Falls.

bomaree, var. of bummaree. bomb (brnn, bAm), sb. Forms: 6 borne, 7 bombe, bombo, boom(b, 7- bomb. [a. F. bombe, ad. Sp. bomba (see first quot.), prob. f. bombo ‘a bumming or humming noise’:—L. bombus. The word is thus ultimately identical with boom. Cf. the earliest Eng. instance borne, directly from Sp.; also 17th c. bombo from Sp. or It. Variously pronounced: see the rimes: in the British army (bAm) was formerly usual.] fl. Transl. of Sp. bomba de fuego ‘a ball of wilde-fire,’ Minsheu. Obs. 1588 R. Parke Hist. China (transl. fr. Span.) 65 They vse .. in their wars .. many homes of fire, full of olde iron, and arrowes made with powder & fire worke, with the which they do much harme and destroy their enimies.

2. a. An explosive projectile consisting of a hollow iron sphere filled with gunpowder or some other charge, and fired by a fuse ignited in the act of discharge from the mortar; a bombshell; now generally called a shell. In modern use: a case filled with explosive, inflammable material, poison gas, or smoke, etc., fired from a gun, dropped from aircraft, or thrown or deposited by hand. Also freq. in Comb., as atomic, flying, gas, incendiary bomb, etc. (see under the first elements). 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1937/2 They shoot their Bombes near two Miles, and they weigh 250 English Pounds a piece. 1687 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 275, I saw a trial of those devilish murdering, mischief-doing engines called bombs, shot out of the mortar-piece on Blackheath. 1687 Rycaut Hist. Turks II. 196 The Turks threw.. quantities of Bomboes and Stink-pots. 1692 Siege Lymerick 5, 800 Carts of Ball and Boombs. Ibid. 6, 600 Booms, a 1721 Prior Alma iii. 369 The longitude uncertain roams, In spite of Whiston and his bombs, c 1730 Young Sea-Piece Poems (1757) I. 246 A thousand deaths the bursting bomb Hurls from her disembowel’d womb. 1829 Southey Yng. Dragon iv, The hugest brazen mortar That ever yet fired bomb, Could not have check’d this fiendish beast As did that Holy Thumb. 1914 Times 9 Oct. 6/5 A German aeroplane flew over the outskirts of Paris early this morning and threw several bombs. 1914 Whitaker's Almanack 1915 821/2 Lieut. Marix, who also made an attack on the Dusseldorf shed, and by means of a bomb destroyed it. 1940 Times 15 Aug. 4/3 Numerous direct hits with heavy calibre bombs were scored .. and the crew of one aircraft whose bombs fell in a line across the main buildings, reported that one had hit and destroyed the main power house. Ibid. 17 Oct. 4/4 Almost as soon as the sirens sounded bombs fell in some districts in the London area. 1943 Times Weekly 18 Aug. 18/4 About 10 tons of light demolition bombs, besides incendiary bombs, were scattered over a wide area.

b. (the) bomb (also Bomb), a pregnant expression for the atomic or hydrogen bomb, as used or to be used by any country as a weapon of war, and regarded as unique because of its utterly destructive effects. [1932 H. Nicolson Public Faces 1. 23 True it was that their acute distaste for the bomb.. did credit to their humanity, to their state of civilisation.] 1945 Times 15 Aug. 5/5 (headline) Victory and the Bomb. 1959 Sunday Times 5 Apr. 19/5 Twenty years ago, I mean: before the war, the Bomb, the satellites, the space-travellers and the nudist paradises. 1966 Listener 20 Jan. 83/1 One of the most persistent fallacies of the .. debate about nuclear weapons is the proposition that ‘the bomb’, as it has come to be called almost with affection, has put an end to war. c. Short for radium bomb (radium b). 1930 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 Feb. 232/2 The apparatus to be described was designed .. to meet the problem of making.. use of the 4 grams of national radium that had been lent to the hospital for use as a ‘bomb’. d. A success (esp. in entertainment); also U.S.,

a failure. So phr. like a bomb and varr., with great speed; with considerable effectiveness or success, colloq. 1954 Amer. Speech XXIX. 99 Like a bomb, ..very fast. 1961 New Yorker 28 Oct. 43/2 What had once been called a failure became a ‘bomb’. 1962 Listener 11 Oct. 581/2 Leslie Crowther, introducing The Black and White Minstrel Show ..from the Victoria Palace, remarked, ‘We’re going like a bomb here.’ 1963 The Beatles 5 Once, Paul McCartney and I played Reading as the Nurk Twins. Went down a bomb, I recall. 1967 A. Diment Dolly Dolly Spy ii. 15 His straightbacked ‘visitor’s’ chair, which for pure discomfort would have gone down a bomb with the Gestapo.

e. A large sum of money, slang. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights 11. 79 There are not many bent screws the reason being that many of them are to honest or to scared to do any trafficing but the ones that do make a bomb. 1963 M. Levinson Taxi! x. 122 Large original oil paintings.. which, in cab-driver’s language, looked as though they were ‘worth a bomb’. 1969 A. E. Lindop Sight Unseen xxiv. 202 Can I have that instead of the five pounds? I might flog it for a bomb in me old age.

BOMB f. A (large) marijuana cigarette; = bomber 3 a. slang. i960 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Sept. 589/4 The Scene is written by a junkie with a bee for bombs... Mr. Cooper, that is to say, was once a dope addict. 1967 E. Wymark As Good as Gold xiv. 204 First they simply smoke marijuana... They refer to the smokes as sticks or bombs, depending on their size. 1968 J. Hudson Case of Need in. i. 173 Bombs... You know... Speed. Lifts. Jets. Bennies. f3. A mortar, a shell-gun. Obs. rare~l. 1684 J. Peter Siege Vienna 95 The enemy.. play’d on us with their Cannon and Bombs. f4. a. A small war-vessel carrying mortars for throwing

bombs.

Called

more

fully

bomb-

galliot, bomb-ketch, bomb-ship, bomb-vessel, and bombard. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4029/3 Portsmouth Bomb. Ibid. No. 3992/3 Her Majesty’s Ships the Mortar and Terror Bombs. *747 J- Lind Lett. Navy i. (1757) 21 Those who have the command of sloops, bombs, fireships. 1806 Duncan Nelson 45 He proceeded with the Thunder bomb . . to bombard the town. 1813 Examiner 18 Jan. 47/1, 18 sloops—4 bombs. b. An old car (see also quot. 1953). Austral. and N.Z. slang. 1953 Baker Australia Speaks iv. 106 Bomb, an old car or motor cycle. 1961 Coast to Coast 7959-60 120 Get out, buy yourself a car... Do as I did, start with a bomb and keep adding a bit and trading it in till you’ve got what you want. 1965 M. Shadbolt Among Cinders xviii. 163 The car., wasn’t much more than an old bomb. 1967 F. Sargeson Hangover vii. 53 We had a job shoving her into the bomb. 5. (volcanic) bomb: a roundish mass of lava thrown out of a volcano. 1798, 1833 [see volcanic a. 1 c]. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xxi. (1852) 493, I noticed volcanic bombs, that is, masses of lava which have been shot through the air whilst fluid and have consequently assumed a spherical or pear-shape. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 193 Sometimes the masses of lava .. fall as ..volcanic bombs. 1956 W. Edwards in D. L. Linton Sheffield 8 Tuffs are especially well seen in the Ashaver anticline,.. and are dark green, brown, and purple wellbedded basaltic ashes with ‘bombs’ of basalt, limestone, and chert. 1969 Nature 8 Nov. 557/2 Volcanic activity occurred at several places along this fracture and fresh bombs rest on the ice close to the edge of the chasm. 6. Comb., as bomb battery, -bed, -cart, -chest, -galliot,

-quay,

-ship,

-vessel;

bomb-battered

adj.; also in many obvious comb,

relating to

aerial bombs, as bomb-aimer, -aiming, -carrier, -carrying, -crater, -damage, -dropper, -dropping, -maker,

-dump

-raid,

[dump

-release,

sb.4

1 c],

-thrower,

-load,

-throwing;

bomb-damaged, -pitted, -shattered adjs.;

alley

bomb

Service slang, an area repeatedly attacked

by bombing;

bomb bay,

a compartment in an

bomb calorimeter bomb-disposal, the removal

aircraft for holding bombs; (see quot. and

1928);

detonation

action

bombs;

disposal squad;

of unexploded usu.

attrib.,

bomb door,

colloq.

[-happy],

and

esp.

delayedin

bomb-

usu. in pi.:

movable covering of a bomb bay; a.

mentally

the

bomb-happy affected

by

exposure to a bomb or shell explosion at close quarters;

shell-shocked;

hence

bomb-

bomb-lance, a harpoon with an explosive in its head; bomb line (see quot. 1944); bomb-rack, a rack (in an aircraft) for holding bombs; bomb run (also bombing run), happiness;

the line of flight of bombing aircraft over the target;

bomb sight

(also

bombing

sight),

a

device for sighting the target in bombing from an aeroplane; so bomb-sighting \bl. sb.;

site,

BOMBARD

375

bomb-

ground on which buildings, etc., have been

destroyed by aerial bombing.

See also bomb-

ketch, BOMB-PROOF, BOMB-SHELL. 1935 Meccano Mag. Oct. 577/2 The telegraphist is also acting as ♦bomb-aimer. 1937 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLI. 423 A stable platform for *bomb-aiming. 1942 W. Simpson One of our Pilots is Safe ii. 18 We were .. given an extra gun —firing downwards and backwards out of the bomb-aiming hatch. 1942 Hutchinson's Piet. Hist. War 10 June 1 Sept. 263 The narrow stretch of water between the island of Pantellaria and Sicily, officially known as the Sicilian Channel, but called ‘Bomb Alley by the Navy and Merchant Service. 1945 Ann. Reg. 1944 76 The inhabitants of the so-called ‘bomb alley’ had also suffered considerably. 1854 J. Abbott Napoleon (1855) I. xxxiv. 533 Having fled from their ♦bomb-battered and burning dwellings. 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3124/2 This day the *Bomb-Battery was begun. 1918 Aeronaut. Insp. Directorate Data Bk. (Handley Page V/1500) 3 The *bomb bay is rectangular, and built entirely of spruce. 1934 Flight 15 Feb. 156/1 Bombs are internally stowed in a bomb bay closed by doors controlled by the bomber. £1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 100 The beams which support the *bomb-bed in bomb-vessels. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 444/1 The potential energy.. is measured by the heat of combustion in the *bomb calorimeter. 1928 A. B. Callow Food & Health 29 The apparatus used for this laboratory oxidation is a small calorimeter which is known as the bomb calorimeter, because the oxidation takes place inside a thick-walled vessel which in some ways resembles a bomb. 1928 Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station vii. 109 The only standard ♦bombcarriers in service at this period were the single 16-lb bomb and the 20-lb gear for two Hale 20-lb bombs. Ibid., Equipping all the machines with *bomb-carrying and release gear. 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 4970/2 Two *Bomb Carts .. and five Pieces of Ordnance. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 377 Bomb-carts, filled with necessaries for the camp, were likewise sent. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn., ♦Bomb-chest, is a kind of chest, which being filled with Gunpowder and

Bombs.. is placed under Ground to blow it up into the Air, together with those that stand upon it. 1920 Blackw. Mag. July 76/1 Ploughed up with *bomb-craters. 1941 Partisan Rev. Nov.-Dec. 498, I can see no ♦bomb damage anywhere, except for a few churches. 1942 Ann. Reg. 1941 328 Four galleries .. being closed on account of bomb damage. 1945 W. S. Churchill Victory (1946) 157 *Bomb-damaged houses in the London area. 1954 R. Macaulay Last Lett. (1962) 150 It was one of the City churches very little bombdamaged, I think. 1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom I. vi. 77 A row of bomb-damaged houses. 1940 War Illustr. 4 Oct. 338 The *Bomb Disposal Sections of the Royal Engineers whose job it is to dig up and destroy the time-bombs. Ibid. 6 Dec. 612 The bomb-disposal squads of the Royal Engineers .. described .. the removal of delayed-action bombs. 1939 Meccano Mag. Mar. 150/3 Large *bomb doors cover the bottom of the fuselage. 1928 Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station vii. 104 The last three machines were classified as ‘Gun Machines’ and ‘♦Bomb Droppers’. 1910 R. Ferris How It Flies xvii. 372 There have been many contests by aviators in ‘*bomb-dropping’. 1939 R. Campbell Flowering Rifle vi. 148 Keep safe his ♦bomb-dump while our patience lasts. 1941 Illustr. London News CXCVIII. 728/2 Bombing up the ’planes is the work of the armourers, who also have charge of the vast station bomb-dump. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5301/2 Some *Bomb Galliots. 1944 J. H. Fullarton Troop Target iii. 29 Now, when ‘*bomb-happiness’ and the ‘jitterbugs’ threatened to touch the troop with palsied fingers. 1943 San Francisco Chron. 1 Dec. 2/2 A barrage so incessant.. that many troops of the crack 65th Nazy Division were rendered ‘♦bomb happy’ and fell easy prisoners. 1944 A. Jacob Traveller's War iv. 68, I was, in fact, slightly ‘bomb happy’. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) II. lxiv. 210 The entertainers landed at the *bomb-keys. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 199 The *bomb-lance, dartingbomb, and rocket-bomb. 1901 F. T. Bullen Sack of Shakings 18 He took.. an extra supply of bomb-lances, in the use of which he was an acknowledged expert. 1917 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 590/1 This monster.. was killed by a bomb-lance from a whale-boat. 1943 G. L. Cheshire Bomber Pilot i. 9 On the large map on the wall was a red line; they called it the ♦bomblin[e], and it was supposed to represent the area behind which we could [not] bomb. 1944 Times 17 Apr. 3/3 The ‘bomb line’—that is, the line ahead of the troops behind which aircraft supporting the ground forces should not drop their bombs. 1961 W. VaughanThomas Anzio ii. 23 We could not.. pick up any feature we could recognise... We turned tail and flew disconsolately back over the bomb line. 1921 Aeronaut. Jrnl. Mar. 166 The ♦bomb load of the standard.. four-engined machines amounted to 3,000 kilograms. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 19 June 5/1 The ♦bomb-makers .. were inextricably trapped. 1943 T. Horsley Find, Fix & Strike 15 Operating from ♦bombpitted aerodromes. 1917 Advis. Comm. Aeronaut., Rep. & Mem. No. 378 Tests were made up at the request of the Air Board, who supplied drawings of a ♦bomb rack to carry two 112-lb. bombs. 1918 Times (Engineering Suppl.) 26 Apr. 88/1 The bomb-racks in the covered-in passage.. are capable of holding five 25-pounder bombs. 1944 Times 23 May 4/2 The Spitfires .. saw the German aircraft pass them at high speed with bomb-racks full. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 259 A daylight *bomb raid is seldom a complete failure. 1945 W. S. Churchill Victory (1946) 29 Bomb-raid damage repairs in London. 1928 Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station v. 87 Very little work had been done with ♦bomb releases. Ibid. vii. 110 Bomb-release gears. Ibid. xiii. 224 Bomb release-slips. 1941 Science Digest Nov. 53/1 The pilot controls the ‘♦bomb run’, which is the line of flight of the plane. 1944 Hutchinson's Piet. Hist. War 12 Apr.-26 Sept. 30/2 The deliberate bomb run through the target flak itself. 1945 H. Read Coat of Many Colours lxvi. 319 The ♦bomb-shattered ruins of human tenderness and faith. 1949 M. Laski Little Boy Lost iil xvi. 209 The emptiness of the bomb-shattered square. 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3086/2 Having been to view the ♦Bomb ships in the Maese. 1806 Duncan Nelson 136 The bomb-ship and schooner gunvessels made their escape. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings vii. 176 Owing to the difficulty of correct aim, before the advent of modern *bomb-sights, all the early raids were carried out from a low altitude. 1928 Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station v. 87 Of the available bomb sights, the most practical and successful were those invented by Lieutenant Scott, U.S.N., and Zeiss. 1931 Air Annual Brit. Empire 230 The platform is filled with navigation and ♦bomb-sighting equipment for the observer’s use. 1945 Daily Express 23 May 3/3 (caption) British workmen from a *bomb-site about 100 yards away. 1959 Times 8 Dec. 5/6 Many of the bombsite parks in central London are seldom full. 1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 Dec. 5/2 The ♦bomb-thrower, who lost his life in attempting that of Mr. Russell Sage. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 24 The bomb-thrower seized the missile quickly,.. threw the bomb, and jumped back under cover. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 May 7/2 The workmen [of St. Petersburg] practised shooting and ♦bomb-throwing. 1908 Daily Chron. 14 Aug. 4/4 The attack from bomb-throwing airships is very little, if any, more alarming than from a gunboat. 1693 Lond. Gaz. No. 2893/4 ♦Bomb vessels lately Launch’d. 1828 Spearman Brit. Gunner (article), BombVessels.

bomb (bom, bAm), v. [f. prec.] 1. trans. a. To fire bombs at; to bombard. 1688 I. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 984 The Town could never be Bomb’d by Land. 01704 Sedley Poems Wks. 1722 I. 78 While you Bomb Towns in France. 1797 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1846) VII. p. cxlvi, The intention of bombing us still goes on.

b. To attack with an explosive bomb placed or thrown for the purpose of destruction; (of aircraft) to attack with bombs from the air; to drop a bomb or bombs upon. So to bomb one’s way: to advance by bombing; to bomb out: to clear by bombing; esp. in pa. pple. (see bombed out s.v. bombed ppl. a.2 1). Also transf. 1909 Daily Chron. 25 Feb. 1/6 Attempts had been made .. to bomb trains known to contain Europeans. 1915 Draconian Apr. 1683/1 They bombed us periodically during the day and night. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 174 He himself had known a line bombed out. a 1917 E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator (1918) 97 When we’re

bombing our way up the streets of Berlin. Ibid. 133 He turned to bomb the big dug-out. 1969 Daily Tel. 17 Dec. 3/8 Hundreds of pigeons congregated in the area, ruining washing and ‘bombing’ children.

2. To throw with violence, let fly. dial. 3. to bomb up: to load (aircraft) with bombs. 1939 Flight 28 Sept., (caption) ‘Bombing up’ a squadron of Ju 87s at Kitzingen-on-Main aerodrome. 1940 Illustr. London News CXCVII. 308/1 The order has been given to ‘bomb up’ this hardy squadron of ‘Whitley’ bombers. 1943 G. L. Cheshire Bomber Pilot i. 9 When we landed, the armourers were standing by to bomb up.

4. intr. To fail. Also const, out. slang (orig. U.S.). 1963 Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 168 To fail to pass an examination: flunk .., flag, blow, bomb. 1966 Listener 9 June 838/3 When a machine goes wrong it ‘bombs out’ and has to be‘debugged’. 1968 TV Times (Austral.) 10 Apr. 11/4 Everyone had expected it to be [good], so when it bombed it was a shock.

5. trans. To drug or dope (a racehorse). Austral, slang. 1950 Austral. Police Jrnl. Apr. no To bomb, to dope. 1959 Drum 92 Bomb v., to dope a racehorse.

Baker

6. intr. To move or travel quickly. With advb. (phr.) slang. 1966 R. Thorp Detective iv. 64 When my parents thought I was at Gloria’s house .. we were out bombing around town. 1969 N. Cohn Pop from Beginning xi. 93 At weekends, they bombed up and down the coastline in their hotrods. 1974 H. Evans et al. We learned to Ski 31 Nothing is more demoralizing for a beginner than having all the skiers in the resort bombing past him. 1982 Barr & York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 97/2 Social life revolves around your clique .. and dinner at each other’s houses, weekends bombing off somewhere together in your young Sloane motors.

bomb,

obs. form of boom and bum.

bombable ('bom3b(3)l), a.

[f.

bomb

v.

+

-able.] Open to attack by bombing. 1930 New Statesman 9 Aug. 570/2 It is very hard to say what part of a nation’s wartime industrial organisation is not bombable. 1938 Ibid. 24 Sept. 452/1 They [sc. the working class] are more numerous, live closer together, and are therefore more bombable, than other classes.

t 'bombace, -ase. Obs. Forms: 6 bombage, 6-7 bombase, -bace. [a. OF. bombace cotton, cotton wadding:—late L. bombace-m, acc. of bombax cotton, a corruption and transferred use of L. bombyx silk, a Gr. silkworm, silk.] 1. The down of the cotton-plant; raw cotton. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 13 This cotton, is otherwyse called Bombage or sylke of the trees. Ibid. 30 They tie the postes together with ropes of bombage cotton. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xvii. 679 Fayre white cotton, or the downe that we call Bombace. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 536 The oile is to be taken away with bombase or cotton dipt in it. 1609 Harington Schoole Salerne (1624) 358 To vse garments of Silke or Bombace.

2. Cotton fibre dressed for stuffing or padding garments; cotton-wool, cotton-wadding. 1592 Wills Inv. N.C. (i860) II. 212, xx yds. of course harden 6s. 6d. v lbs. of bombace 5s. 1635 J. Hayward Banish'd Virg. 149 A body that needed not the common helpes of rectifying its proportion by bombace or the like.

3. fig.

Padding, stuffing: see bombast sb. 2 b,

31662 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 34 A sermon.. to the university, the stuff, or rather bombace, whereof we have set down in our ‘Ecclesiastical History’.

bombaceous (bom'beijbs), a. Bot. [f. mod.L. bombax (f. L. bombyx silk) + -aceous.] Of or pertaining to plants of the genus Bombax, or the Silk-cotton family. 1864 Bates Nat. on Amazon xvi. 139 The trees the dometopped giants of the Leguminous and Bombaceous orders.

Ilbombachas (bnm'baitjsz), sb. pi. [S. Amer. Sp., f. bombacho loose-fitting, wide.] The characteristic baggy trousers, tied in at the ankles on men and at the knees on boys, worn in some S. American countries, esp. for agricultural and other outdoor work. 1936 H. Childs El jfeminy i. 32. He was dressed in the usual camp (country) style; bright scarf, baggy bombachas (wide trousers) bound about the waist with a gay handwoven sash, tied in at the ankles after bloomering out about the legs. 1956 G. Durrell Drunken Forest xi. 207 They were wearing the typical peon’s outfit: wrinkled, black half¬ boots with small spurs; bombachas, the baggy trousers that hang down over the top of the boot like plus-fours; [etc.]. 1977 B. Chatwin In Patagonia (1979) lv. no A young gaucho in bombachas came in. 1982 N. Y. Times 23 Aug. A2/5 Jose Sergio Scoane stood in his bombachas, the baggy pants of the pampas, sipping tea with lemon through a metal straw.

f'bombal. Obs. rare—'. [? Related to

bomb.] a 1659 Cleveland Sir I. Presbyter (1677) 6 In Pulpit Fire¬ works, which the Bombal vents.

fbombance. Obs. [a. F. bombance, variant of bobance boastfulness, ostentation: of uncertain deriv.: see Littre.] Ostentation, pride. c 1325 Coer de L. 4494 Come prykand with bombance.

bombard ('bom-, 'bAmbsd), sb.

Forms: 5-7 bumbard, 6 boumbard, 5-9 bombarde, 6bombard. [a. OF. bombarde ‘a murthering-piece’ (Cotgr.), in med.L. bombarda, originally a

t

BOMBARD mechanical engine for throwing large stones (see Du Cange); prob. f. L. bombus a humming noise + -arda, fern, form of Romance suffix -ard.] 1. 1. a. The earliest kind of cannon, usually throwing a stone ball or a very large shot. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas 1. iii. (1544) 6 a, That none engine may thereto attayne, Gonne, nor bumbard by no subtiltie. 1481 Caxton Reynard 77 All them that ben archers, and haue bowes, gonnes, bombardes .. to besiege Maleperduys. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxliv. 172 Fortyfied with springalles, bombardes, bowes, and other artillary. 1573 Sege Edinb. Castel in Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801) II. 290 The bumbard stanis directit fell sa euin. 1623 Cockeram, Bombards, great guns. 1664 Floddan F. iii. 22 With Bombard shot the walls he bet. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. 219 Towards the end of the 14th century pieces called bombardes were in existence, which threw balls of stone weighing as much as 200 lbs... These heavy bombards proved to be of very little practical use.

fb. transf. The ball or stone thrown by a bombard. Obs. rare~l. 1575 Churchyard Chippes (1817) 153 A kind of shot that we great bombards call.. And where that huge and mighty stone did fall.. it did great wonders breede.

fc. Bombarding volley, shot. Obs. rare~l 1809 J. Barlow Columb. vii. 228 Then bids the battering floats his labors crown, And pour their bombard on the shuddering town.

2. A bomb-vessel or bomb-ketch; = bomb sb. 41799 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) IV. 65 Buonaparte has passed Corsica in a Bombard, steering for France. 1812 Examiner 23 Nov. 740/1 The vessels captured consisted of a bombard, a lugger, 3 feluccas, i860 Earl Dundonald Autobiog. Seaman I. v. 99 A French bombard bore up, hoisting the national colours.

|3. a. A leather jug or bottle for liquor; a blackjack. Probably from some resemblance to the early cannons. Obs. exc. Hist. 1596 Shaks 1 Hen. IV, 11. iv. 497 That huge Bombard of Sacke. 1610- Temp. 11. ii. 20 Like a foule bumbard that would shed his licquor. 1635 Heywood Philocoth., The great black jacks and bombards at the Court, which, when the Frenchmen first saw, they reported.. that the Englishmen used to drink out of their bootes.

fb .fig.

A toper.

BOMBAST

376

Obs. See also bumbard.

1617 J. Taylor in Shaks. C. Praise 126 This bezzeling Bombards longitude, latitude, altitude, and crassitude.

f II. 4. a. A deep-toned wooden musical instrument of the bassoon family. Obs. Also BOMBARDO. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 358 Suche a soune Of bombarde and of clarioune. ?c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 1072 With pypes, organs and bumbarde. 1878 Statham in Grove Diet. Mus. I. 151 A class of instruments named bombards, pommers, or brummers.. seems to have been the immediate predecessor of the bassoon.

b. [Also in Fr. form.] A foot reed-stop of an organ. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Diet. Mus. Terms. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 833/1, 32 contra trombone, posaune, bombarde, sackbut (reed).

III. 5. Comb ., as f bombard- like adv.; f bombard-man, a servant who carried out liquor to customers, a pot-boy; f bombardphrase (trans. of L. ampulla), inflated language, bombast. 1664 Floddan F. vi. 53 Bombard like, did boasts discharge, a 1616 B. Jonson Love Restored 86 A bombard man, that brought bouge for a Countrey Lady or two that fainted. 1640- Horace's Ars Poet. VII. 173 (N.) They .must throw by Their bombard-phrase, and foot and half-foot words.

bombard (bom'baid), v. [f. F. bombarder (16th c.) ‘to discharge a bumbard, to batter or murder with bumbards’ (Cotgr.), f. bombard sb.: see prec. It has no immediate relation to bomb.) f 1. intr. To fire off bombards or heavy guns. Obs. (exc. as absol. use of 2.) 1598 Florio, Sbombardare, to shoote off peals of guns, to bombard. [1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3096/3 Colonel Richards, with nine English Bomb Vessels .. began to Bombard.]

2. trans. a. To batter with shot and shell; to assault with ordnance so as to destroy, disable, or reduce to submission. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2211/3 General Caraffa is making Preparations to bombard Agria. 1692 Siege Lymerick 7 We still continued to Batter and Bombard the Town very furiously. 1813 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. XI. 33 If the town is to be bombarded, it may as well be done from the sand hills. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. IV. 427 The admiral.. thought they might anchor and bombard the town.

b. fig. To assail with persistent force or violence. 1765 Falconer Demag. 405 Where fulminating, rumbling eloquence .. bombards the sense. 1853 Bright Admiss. Jews Pari, in Sp. (1876) 527 Go on year after year bombarding the Lords with this Jew bill. 01884 M. Pattison Mem. 332 Milton.. bombarding Salmasius with foul epithets.

3. Cookery. To stuff (a fillet of veal). 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery ii. 28 Bombarded veal. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 93 Bombarded Veal. Cut the bone nicely out of a fillet, etc. 1837 Disraeli Venetia 1. iv. (1871) 15 The tempting delicacies of bombarded veal.

4. Physics. To subject to a stream of ions or sub-atomic particles. 1907 J. J. Thomson in Phil. Mag. XIII. 562 All gums &c. when bombarded by the rays are liable to give off gas. 1913 Chem. Abstr. 1442 The most abundant supply of these gases was obtained by the process of bombarding with cathode

rays metals and other substances. 1932 Discovery May 139/1 The tiny nuclei at the centre of certain light elements were bombarded with the swift massive particles spontaneously ejected by the element polonium. 1941 Ann. Reg. 1940 352 Nishing and others.. examined the products obtained by bombarding uranium with fast neutrons. 1969 Times 11 Feb. 12/4 Elements beyond uranium are not known to occur naturally, although several have been prepared in the laboratory by bombarding heavy nuclei with atomic particles in circumstances that encourage fusion.

bombarder (bDm'baidsjr)). [f. prec. vb. + -er1, or ad. F. bombardier (16th c. in Littre).] He who or that which bombards; a bombarding vessel. In early use = bombardier. 1583 Exec. Treason (167s) 29 The Popes Canonists being as his Bombarders, do make his Excommunications.. appear fearful. 1808 Whitbread in Cobbett's Pari. Deb. (1808) X. 729 The bombarders of Copenhagen. 1866 Daily Tel. June, Stopped the bombardment by sinking the bombarder.

f bom'bardical, a. Obs. [f. bombard sb. 4-ICAL.] ‘Thundering, or roaring like a piece of ordnance.’ Blount Glossogr. 1656. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 72 He that entitles himself Most Puissant and Highest Monarch of the Turks., with other such bombardicall titles.

bombardier (bom-, bAmb3'dre(r)). [a. F. bombardier, f. bombard: see bombard and -ier.] f i. A soldier in charge of a bombard, an artilleryman. Obs. or arch. 1560 Whitehorne Arte Warre (1573) 82 Smithes, Masons, Ingeners, Bombardiers. 1611 Cotgr., Bombardier, a bombardier or gunner that vseth to discharge murthering peeces; and, more generally, any gunner. 1691 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 292 Our bombardeers are to practice the throwing bombs on ship board. 1709 Tatler No. 88 |f 3 The bombardier tosses his balls into the midst of a city. 1779 G. Smith Mil. Diet. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxxix, Her two brothers are lieutenants in the bombardiers.

2. spec. fa. in 17th and 18th c.: One of the master-gunner’s men, employed more especially about the mortars and howitzers. Obs. 1688 List of (Jas. ITs) Artillery Train, Firemaster to Trayne, Chief Bombardier, 12 Bombardiers, Chief Petardier, 4 Petardiers. 1746 Rep. Cond. Sir J. Cope 55 He ave the Witness a Bombardeer and four Gunners. 1769 alconer Diet. Marine (1789) Y y iij b, He has also the command of the gunners, matrosses, and bombardiers. [1855 Sargent Braddock's Exped. 136 A matross is an artillery soldier of a rank inferior to the bombardier or gunner.]

f

b. In the British army: A non-commissioned officer in the artillery. Several are attached to each battery of artillery. 1844 Queen's Regul. Ord. Army 4, Bombardiers of the Royal Regiment of Artillery rank as Corporals.

c. A bomb-aimer in an aircraft. U.S. 1932 in H. I. T. Creswell et al. Diet. Mil. Terms 55. 1942 Time 2 Feb. 35/2 At 30,000 feet, flying 200 m.p.h., a bombardier at best has only about 60 seconds in which to locate his target.

f3. A bomb-ship. Obs. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2142/2, 20 Men of War, 2 Fire-Ships and 3 Bombardiers.

4. Comb., as bombardier beetle, a genus of beetles (especially Brachinus crepitans) which, when irritated, eject fluid with a sharp report and blue vapour; f bombardier-galliot, a kind of bomb-vessel. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 147 The bombardier, or exploding beetle.. When it is touched, we are surprised with a noise resembling the discharge of a musket in miniature, during which a blue smoke may be seen to proceed from its extremity. 1861 Hulme tr. MoquinTandon 11. iv. i. 214 The.. Bombardier Beetles discharge a still more offensive fluid. 1805 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 391/2 A large flotilla.. of Bomba[r]dier galliots, gun sloops and flat bottomed vessels completely armed.

bombarding (bDm'baidii)), vbl. sb. [f. bombard v. -I- -ING1.] An assailing with shot and shell; a bombardment. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2226/2 The preparations for the Bombarding of Agria. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 31 The present perfection of gunnery, cannoneering, bombarding, mining. 1880 McCarthy Oum Times III. xlv. 357 There were more murders and more bombardings yet.

bombardment (boirTbairdmant). [f. bombard v. + -ment.] I. The process of bombarding; continuous attack upon a place with shot and shell. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3807/3 Which gives us great Apprehensions of a Bombardment. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. II. 402 To destroy these vessels .. by means of a bombardment. 1813 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. XI. 33 The Bombardment answered no purpose whatever, excepting to destroy the town.

2. Physics. Subjection to a stream of particles (see bombard v. 4). 1898 J.J. Thomson Discharge Electricity 191 The thermal effects are readily explained on the corpuscular theory by the heating of the substance by the bombardment with the particles. 1932 Discovery May 139/1 From a bombardment of nitrogen, aluminium and other elements in this way, the alchemist’s dream of changing one kind of element into another has been undoubtedly effected on an exceedingly minute scale. 1945 Electronic Engin. XVII. 669 The use of a-particles as projectiles for nuclear bombardment was responsible for the next great step forward. 1969 Times 5

Feb. 13/6 The Xi particles were formed in the bombardment of a tank of liquid hydrogen with very fast particles emitted by the accelerator.

Hbom'bardo. [It.: ‘a certain wind instrument resembling the oboe.’]

= bombard sb. 4.

'bombardon, -'one, Mus. [a. It. bombardone, augmentative form of bombardo.] A brass instrument of the trumpet-kind, in tone resembling an ophicleide; also a bass reed-stop on the organ. 1856 Mrs. C. Clarke tr. Berlioz' Instrument. 176 The Bombardon.. is a low instrument without keys and with three cylinders. 1876 Hiles Catech. Organ x. (1878) 71 Bombardone, Bombardon, Bombarde, a reed-stop of metal or wood. 1880 Grove Diet. Mus. I. 259 Bombardon, bombard.. were originally names of the different varieties of the oboe or bassoon family; the bombardon, or largest instrument, reaching to contra F. From these the name was transferred to a bass reed-stop on the organ, with 16-foot tone.

f bombase, v. Obs. Also 6 bum-, boombas; pa. pple. bombast, [f. bombace sb.: stress orig. on the last, and afterwards on the first syllable.] 1. trans. To stuff with cotton-wool; to pad. 1558 Will of R. Lee (Somerset Ho.), My doublett of sacke clothe that is bumbased. 1598 Florio, lmbottire.. to stuffe, to quilt, to bumbase.

b. fig. and transf. To stuff, pad. 1572 Gascoigne Voy. Holland in Southey Comm.-pi. Bk. Ser. II. (1849) 311 They march bumbast with buttered beer. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb., The camel.. is bumbast upon the backe for bearing of burdens.

2. To stop (the ears) as with cotton-wool. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneid iv. 107 What reason him leadeth to my suite too boombas his hearing?

bombase,

variant of bombace sb.

bombase, -baze,

variants of bumbaze.

bom'basic, a. rare. [f.

bombace (or bombasie) -(- -ic: perh. referring to the colour of Nankeen cotton, or ? of raw silk.] Of a pale yellow or straw colour; bombycinous.

1825 J. Fosbrooke Observ. Pathol. Relat. 53 Skin of a Bombasie tint. Ibid. 62 A fine straw-coloured or bombasie tint.

f 'bombasie. Obs. Also 6 bombezie. [variant of BOMBACE or BOMBASINE.]

1. Raw cotton, cotton-wool. 1576 Baker Gesner's Jewell Health 189 b, A feather or fine bombasie wette in the oyle. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xlvi. 719 Dip a little Cotton or Bombasie in the sayde milke, and lay it to your tooth. 2. = BOMBASINE 2. 1588 Record in Law Memorials Pref. 33 note, 3 elles of bombezie.

bombasine ('bom-, ’bAmbaziin).

Forms: 6 bombasyne, 6-9 -in, 7 bumbazine, 7-9 bombazin, 8 bumbasine, 8-9 bombazeen, 9 bombazine, 7bombasine. [a. F. bombasin, ad. late L. bombasinum, var. of bombycinum (Isidore) a silk texture, neuter of bombycinus silken, f. bombyx, -ycem silk-worm, silk. On the later transfer of bombyx, bombax, and its derivatives to ‘tree-silk’ or cotton, bombasin was also applied to cotton fabrics, ‘fustaine ou bombasin, et toute autre chose faicte de coton, xylinum’, R. Estienne Petit Diet.) fl. Raw cotton; = bombace i. Obs. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. 1. 11. (Arb.) 69 marg., This Cotton the Spaniardes call Algodon & the Italians Bombasine. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Du Bombasyn, Bombasin, cotton.

2. A twilled or corded dress-material, composed of silk and worsted; sometimes also of cotton and worsted, or of worsted alone. In black the material is much used in mourning. 1572 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) I. 373 One doblat of white bombasyne. 1611 Cotgr., Bombasin, the stuffe Bumbazine; or any kind of stuffe that’s made of cotton, or of cotton and linnen. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, iv. Sched., Boratoes or Bombasines—narrow the single piece not above 15 yards, vjZ. 1747 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) II. 478 Black bombazeen will do very well in a sack. 1789 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Expost. Ode xv. Wks. 1812 II. 248 In Sorrow’s dismal crape or bombazeen. 1820 Miss Mitford in L’Estrange Life (1870) II. iv. 83 Crape and bombazin and broad-hemmed frills. 1831 G. Porter Silk Manuf. 299 Bombasin .. a twilled manufacture, having its warp of silk, and its shoot of worsted,

b. attrih. and comb. 1666 Pepys Diary (1879) III. 494 Putting on my black stuffe bombazin suit. 1766 Anstey Bath Guide xi. (1804) 94 Who is that bombazine lady so gay. So profuse of her beauties, in sable array? 1819 P.O. Lond. Directory 19 Bombazeen Manufacturers. Ibid. 144 Bombazeen-dressers. t

'bombasing, sb. Obs. In 6

bum-, [f. bombase

V. + -ING1.] 1. = bombasine 2 (perh. a corruption). 1580 Baret Alv. Bumbasing or anything made of cotten.

2. Padding with bombace. 1598 Florio, Imbottitura .. a quilting, a bumbasing.

bombast ('bom-, 'bAmbsst, -baest), sb. Forms: 6 bom-, bumbaste, 6-8 bumbast, 6- bombast.

[A

BOMBAST variant of bombace, bombase (F. bombace), in 16th c. pronounced (bom'bais), the t being either simply phonetic (the converse of bass, bast) or perhaps influenced by the pa. pple. bombast of bombase v. Originally accented on second syllable, as still in Byron: but already in Shakspere on the first. Most dictionaries make the first syllable (bAm-), but contemporary usage favours (bom-).] fl. The soft down of the cotton-plant; raw cotton; cotton-wool. Obs. 1568 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 61 From all meate soft, as wooll and flaxe, bombaste and winds that bloe. 1582 Hester Seer. Phiorav. 11. xx. 99 Wet a little Bumbast in our Caustick. 1597 Gerard Herbal 11. cccxxxv. 901 Called in English & French, Cotton, Bombaste & Bombace. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 15 The head [of the Cotton plant].. ripening breakes, and is deliuered of a white soft Bombast. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. 23 Which linnen.. is altogether of Bumbast or Cotton, (there being no Flax in India).

FustianTerm. 1781 Gibbon Decl. F. (1802) VI. 134 note, Forty bombast lines. 1834 Fraser's Mag. X. 435 A frothy, verbose, and bombast writer. 1842 Maitland Notes &c. 11. 26.

bombast(e, variant of bombasted, ppl. a.

139 The bumbast and cotton bushes.

bumbaste v.

Obs.

[f. bombast v., which see

for pronunciation.]

f 1. Stuffed or puffed out. Obs.

padded

with

cotton-wool;

2. Inflated, turgid (language), arch. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 266 Vsing such bombasted wordes, as seeme altogether farced full of winde. 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creat. xi. §1. 99 With braggodokean and bumbasted words. 1829 Southey in Q. Rev. XXXIX. 103 The bombasted heroics of Dryden’s tragedy.

13. Characterized by bombast. Obs. a 1619 Fotherby Atheom. 11. i. §8. (1622) 190 Leontinus Gorgias, that bombasted Sophister. 1620 Melton Astrolog. 15 The souldiers bumbasted Tongue.

f2. Cotton-wool used as padding or stuffing for clothes, etc. Obs. exc. Hist.

fbombaster (see the vb.).

1572 Gascoigne B. Withipoll, To stuff thy doublet full of such bumbaste. 1601 R. J. Kingd. & Commw. 140 lacks quilted with bombast to resist arrowes. 1685 Crowne Sir C. Nice 11. 18 For the inside; do you like much bombast, madam? 1849 Mem. Kirkaldy of Gr. viii. 77 Their large.. trunk-hose, being quilted and stuffed with bombast.

1611 Cotgr., Embourreur, a stuffer, bumbaster or puffer up of things with flocks, etc. 1708 Motteux Rabelais' Pantag. Prognost. v, Stuflfers and Bumbasters of Packsaddles.

f b .fig. Padding, stuffing; stopping of the ears. *575 Gascoigne Wks. (1587) 83 It hath no bumbast now, but skin and bones. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. v. ii. 791 As bumbast and as lining to the time. 1631 Celestina x. 120 Frame .. for your eares the bumbast or stuffing of sufferance and bearing.

3. fig. Inflated or turgid language; highsounding language on a trivial or commonplace subject; ‘fustian’; ‘tall talk’. [This sense has been erroneously supposed to have originated in the name of Paracelsus (P. A. T. Bombast von Hohenheim).] 1589 Nashe in Greene Menaphon (Arb.) Ded. 6 To out¬ brave better pens with the swelling bumbast of a bragging blanke verse, a 1625 Fletcher Chances v. iii, I like his words well; there’s no bombast in ’em. 1710 Pope Lett. Wks. 1736 V. 107 The ambition of surprising a reader, is the true natural cause of all fustian, or bombast in poetry. 1762 Kames Elem. Crit. iv. (1833) 124 False sublime known by the name of bombast. 1811 Byron Hints from Hor. 44 Another soars, inflated with bombast. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke xxxiii. (1879) 342 Their eloquence is all bombast.

b. transf. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. 221 What might be called mental bombast, as distinguished from verbal. 1821 Craig Lect. Drawing iv. 213, I have insuperable objections to this sort of bombast in painting.

bombast, v. arch. [f. prec. sb., which see for pronunciation: in the vb. the accent is more frequently on the final syllable.] f 1. To stuff, pad, or fill out with cotton-wool, or the like. Obs. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) To Rdr. 2 To couer the smalnesse.. of their bodies, [he] had bomebasted, and embossed out their coates. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. Epil. 82 [They] bumbast, bolster, frisle and perfume. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. xvi. 162 They bumbast their Doublets. 1820 Scott Abbot xv. My stomach has no room for it; it is.. too well bumbasted out with straw and buckram.

2. fig. and transf. To stuff, swell out, inflate. 1566 Studley Seneca's Medea (1581) 136 Her hawty breast bumbasted is wyth pryde. 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe (1871) 58 The first should have his gut bombasted with beef. 1607 Chapman Bussy D’Amb. Plays 1873 II. 43 A great man .. that by his greatnesse Bumbasts his private roofes, with public riches. 1624 T. Scott Vox Dei 68 A place and people that.. bombasted their reputations with the winde of complement. 1633 Heywood Eng. Trav. Pro!, Not so much .. As Song, Dance, Masque, to bumbaste out a Play. 1822 Southey in Q. Rev. XXVII. 34 The want of incidents. . he has endeavoured to supply by invention, and in bombasting the fable with machinery.

b. To swell out, render grandiose (a speech or literary composition) with bombastic language. 1573 R. Scot Hop Gard. (1578) Epist., Not bumbasting the same with the figures and flowers of eloquence. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. 1. iv. 9 Then strives he to bumbast his feeble lines With farre-fetcht phrase. 1603 Florio Montaigne 1. xxv. (1632) 83 That doth. . bumbast his labours with high swelling and heaven-disimbowelling words.

'bombast, ppl. a. Also 6-7 bumbast(e. [pa. pple. of bombase v. to stuff; but in later use hardly separable from the sb. used attrib.] fl. Stuffed, padded, puffed out. Obs. 1575 Gascoigne Wks. (1587) 157 Hys bombast hose wyth linings manifold. 1656 Artif. Handsomeness 44 A bumbast or bolstered garment.

2. fig. Puffed, empty, inflated; over-elaborate. Of language: Turgid, grandiloquent, bombastic. 1604 Shaks. Oth. I. i. 13 A bumbast circumstance, Horribly stufft with Epithites of warre. 1616 Pasquil & Kath. iv. 316, I doe hate these bumbaste wits, That are puft vp with arrogant conceit. 1674 R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 122 He scorns to be frightened at a Bombast word, or

Obs. [f. as prec. + -er1.] One who stuffs or pads.

bombastic (bom'baestik), a. [f.

bombast sb. +

-IC.]

1. Of the nature of bombast; inflated, turgid. 1704 Key to Rehearsal Pref. 4 Outdoing them in their Bumbastick Bills. 1756 Nugent Montesquieu's Spir. Laws xxviii. i, Frivolous in the substance, and bombastic in the style. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 600. 1861 Tulloch Eng. Purit. ii. 326 His bombastic words signify nothing.

2. Given to the use of bombastic language. 1727 De Foe Hist. Appar. iv. (1840) 30 A certain bombastic Author. 1864 Kingsley Rom. Of Teut. iii. 59 Claudian, the poet, a bombastic panegyrist of Roman scoundrels.

bom'bastical, a. [f. as prec. + -ical.] 11. Of or pertaining to the padding of garments. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. xix. 195 If they be not corpulent [they] counterfeit [it] by the bombastical dissimulation of their garments.

2. =

BOMBASTIC. 1649 Bulwer Pathomyot. Pref. 7 Barbarismes.. fit only for the bombasticall Anatomy of Paracelsus. 1858 Halpin in Grosart's Spenser (1882) III. Introd. 94 He was., pedantic and bombastical.

bom'bastically, adv.

+ -ly2.] In a bombastic manner, with bombastic language.

[f. prec.

1803 Edin. Rev. II. 103 We are bombastically told that all the outcry.. arose from the new philosophy. 1853 F. W. Newman Horace 31 The strife between the two is bombastically terrific.

fbombasting, vbl. sb. Obs.

[f. bombast v.

+

-INC1.] Padding. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 623 The bombasting of my doublet, serves me now for no more use then a stomacher. 1611 Cotgr., Embourrement, a stuffing, or bumbasting with flockes, haire, etc.

bom'bastious, a. ? Obs. rare. [f.

bombast sb. +

-ious.] Of or pertaining to cotton. 1824 Galt Rothelan II. iv. i. 98 The spindle.. drawing in the bombastious rowan, and growing thicker and thicker.

fbombastly, adv. Obs. =

bombastically. (In

H. Walpole.) t

'bombastry. Obs. rare—1.

[f. bombast sb. +

-ry.] Bombastic composition. 1704 Swift T. Tub Wks. 1760 I. 27 Bombastry and buffoonry, by nature lofty and light, soar highest of all.

bombax (’bDmbaeks). [Altered from L. bombyx raw silk; see bombace.] A genus of tropical trees (N.O. Sterculiaceae), which bear a fruit containing seeds surrounded by a beautiful silky fibre; esp. B. Ceiba, the Silk-cotton tree of West Indies. 1834 Nat. Philos. III. Phys. Geog. (U.K.S.) 46 Humboldt measured .. a bombax ceiba more than 120 feet high. 1863 Wanderings W. Africa I. 143 Scattered with tall Bentangs or Bombax trees. 1884 Edin. Rev. July 159 Stately bombaxes, flecked with the snowy tufts of their bursting seed-pods.

bombax,

most artistic Bombay furniture are a special class with inherited traditions. 1967 M. Pegler Diet. Interior Design 59 Bombay furniture, furniture manufactured in India after 1740... The furniture is a conglomeration of French and Portuguese styles and forms which are overlaid with typically elaborate and minute Indian carving. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 447/1 Most of the products of this fishery [5c. in the Persian Gulf] are known as ‘Bombay pearls’, from the fact that many of the best are sold there. 1858 Simmonds Diet. Trade, Bombay Shells.

bombazeen, -zin(e, var. of bombasine.

1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 55 Stuffed, bombasted and sewed. 1611 Markham Countr. Content. (1649) 111 Which Hats are soft bumbasted routes of leather. 1626 T. H. Caussin’s Holy Crt. 224 Your garments playted, bumbasted, loose hanged.

fb. attrib. Cotton. Obs. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 1. 222 Scarlet, or white Bumbast cloth. 1600 Dekker Gentle Craft 15 You bombast cottencandle queane. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais ill. xli. (1737) III.

BOMBER

377

obs. f. bombyx.

Bombay (bmn'bei).

The name of a city in India, used attrib. in: Bombay chair (cf. Bombay furniture)', Bombay duck (see duck sb.1 10); Bombay furniture, a style of furniture combining European forms with Indian ornamentation; Bombay hemp (see hemp 5); Bombay pearl (see quot.); Bombay shell, the bull’s-mouth shell, Cassis rufa, used for cutting shell cameos. 1896 Pall Mall Mag. Mar. 399 [They] succeeded in installing themselves in two immense Bombay Chairs. 1910 Encycl. Brit. IV. 185/2 The workmen who manufacture the

bomb-boat, obs. form of bumboat. Ilbombe (bob). Cookery. [Fr.; see bomb $6.] A conical or cup-shaped confection, freq. frozen. Also attrib. 1892 T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 40/2 Apricot Bombe with Maraschino... Set two freezing-pots and a bombe-mould in some pounded ice and bay-salt. 1902 Daily Chron. 24 May 5/4 Fish bombes are made with any kind of cooked white fish. Ibid., Turn it out on a hot dish, place four little ‘bombes’ round it. i960 J. Betjeman Summoned by Bells ix. 101 Claret and tournedos; a bombe surprise.

||bomb& (bobe), a. [Fr., pa. pple. of bomber to swell out; cf. bombed ppl. a.1.] Having an outward swelling curve, esp. of furniture. Also in Comb. 1904 R. D. Benn Style in Furniture 109 A chest of drawers, or ‘commode’, and wardrobe, in which the bombe form is introduced. 1941 Burlington Mag. Feb. 59/2 The shaping of a base of a cabinet or chest of drawers (often termed today bombe).. was called in the eighteenth century ‘ comode shaped’. 1955 Times 21 May 5/4 Marquetry cabinet, in the French style, with slightly bombe front and curved and splayed sides. 1962 Times 1 June 8/5 A pair of eighteenth-century painted bombe-shaped Venetian commodes.

bombed (bDmd, 'bombid), ppl. a.1 rare. [ad. F. bombe rounded like a bomb.] Rounded, convex. 1872 Browning Fifine lx. 22 That bombed brow, that eye, a kindling chrysopras, Beneath its stiff black lash. 1896 A. H. Keane Ethnology 1. viii. 185 The small flat concave [nose] is usually correlated with high cheek-bones..; the short with wide nostrils and depressed root, with everted lips and bombed frontal bone (Negro).

bombed, ppl. a.2 [f. bomb v. + -ed1.] 1. Having come under attack by explosive bombs; esp. bombed out, driven by bombs out of a building, etc. (Cf. bomb v. i b.) 1940 New Statesman 19 Oct. 373/1 What., is happening to the host of shopkeepers.. driven from their shops .. or bombed out of them?.. Our ruined or bombed-out shopkeeper will pay out of his income. 1940 War Weekly 25 Oct. 1313 (heading) Story of a bombed-out family.

2. slang. Drunk; under the influence of drugs. Chiefly predic., esp. in phr. to get bombed. Freq. with out. Cf. bomb sb. 2 f, v. 5, stoned ppl. a. 7 a, b. 1959 N. Mailer Advts.for Myself 411 With each week of work, bombed and sapped and charged and stoned with lush, with pot,.. I was working live, and tiring into what felt like death. Ibid., I.. went home at closing, fell into a leaden bombed-out sleep. 1964 N.Y. Times Mag. 23 Aug. 64/2 Bombed, a stupor induced by alcohol or narcotics, as in ‘He was bombed out of his mind’. 1967 R. J. Serling President's Plane is Missing (1968) x. 190 Some night I’ll get bombed with you. 1969 Time 5 Dec. 62 Usually, when an editor says he got bombed last night, he means he had too much to drink. 1974 O. Manning Rain Forest iii. 55 ‘Poor little brat! They’ll take her off on the heroin trail and she’ll die between here and the Philippines.’ ‘They’re bombed out. Where do they get the stuff?’ 1978 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 12 Aug. 8/8 Stewart had been smoking cannabis all day and by nightfall he was ‘bombed’. 1984 A. Lurie Foreign Affairs iii. 78, I was bombed out—didn’t know what I was doing.

bomber ('bDmafr)). [f. bomb sb. or v. + -er1.] 1. One who throws a bomb; esp. in military use, one of a bombing party. 1915 J. Buchan Nelson's Hist. War V. 25 The bombers.. seizing one of these rocket-like bombs from their belts.. hurl them high above the parapet. 1927 Daily Tel. 8 Mar. 12/2 A fifth attempt to dynamite the Roman Catholic Church of S. Peter and Paul, San Francisco, ended yesterday in the killing of one bomber.

2. An aircraft equipped with bombs for bombing an enemy, his positions, territory, etc. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 260 The fighters guard the bombers until the eggs are dropped. 1923 Daily Mail 19 Mar. 9 Goods-’planes—all capable of transformation into bombers. 1940 Times Weekly 27 Nov. 10/3 Our medium bombers were the first to arrive. 1941 Ibid. 30 July 7/1 For 27 hours on end we were subjected to continuous attacks from bombers—high level, dive and torpedo. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 224 American bombers attacked.. the power station.

b. attrib. and Comb., as bomber aircraft, base, force; Bomber Command, an organization of bomber aircraft forming part of the Royal Air Force. 1935 C. G. Burge Complete Bk. Aviation 193/1 Bomber aircraft. 1959 Listener 22 Jan. 156/1 American bomber bases. 1939 Flight 7 Dec. 455/1 Bomber Command., pounces when a worthy objective is in sight. 1945 W. S. Churchill Victory (1946) 174 The glorious part., played by Bomber Command in forging the victory. 1940-Into battle (1941) 231 We have a very large bomber force also.

3. A marijuana cigarette. U.S. slang. 1952 Amer. Speech XXVII. 24 Bomber, giant-size marijuana cigarette. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road (1958) iv. v.

«

BOMBIC

378

283 Victor proceeded to roll the biggest bomber anybody ever saw.

b. slang. bomber.

A

barbiturate

drug.

Cf.

black

1962 K. Orvis Damned a let he Cu5briht ealdorma[n] x bonde-land [terram x manentium] aet Swines heafde.] 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 200 It is probable that the freemen upon bond-land were in the first instance Britons who retained their holding on condition of paying tribute. 1882 C. Elton Orig. Eng. Hist. 192 In some places .. there are two kinds of copyhold land, the one called ‘Bond-land’ and the other ‘Soke-land’.

bondless (’bondlis), a. [f. bond sb.1 + -less.] Free from bonds; unfettered, unrestrained. 1839 Bailey Festus iv. (1848) 33 Such as my bondless brain hath oft-times drawn.

t'bondling. Obs. rare-1, [f. -LING.] A slave; a slave-child.

bond sb.2

+

1587 Golding De Mornay xxiii. (1617) 379 They sacrificed none but their.. Changelings, Bastards and Bondlings.

f'bondly, adv. Obs. [f. bond sb. -F -ly2.] 1. ? By bondhold. 1465 Marg. Paston Lett. 504 II. 191 They wold put hem owte of such londs as they huld bondly of the Lordshyp. 2. Servilely; as a slave or slaves. 1553 W. Turner in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. 1. iv. 49 If ye saw them [the bishops] how slavely and bondly they handle the rest of the Clergy.

'bondmaid, -maiden, [bond a.] A slave girl. So 'bondservant, -service. 1526 Tindale Gal. iv. 22 Abraham had two sonnes, the one by a bonde mayde, the other by a fre woman. 1535 Coverdale Lev. xxv. 44 Yf thou wylt haue bonde seruauntes and maydens. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. 193 Behald the boundmaidin of our Lord. 1591 Spenser Virg. Gnat 489 Th’one was rauisht of his owne bondmaide. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. 11. i. 2 To make a bondmaide and a slaue of mee. 1611 Bible i Kings ix. 21 A tribute of bond-seruice. 1815 Scott Lord of Isles 11. xxv, Like a., bond-maid at her master’s gate.

bondman ('bondman), arch. [f. bond sb.2 + man: cf. husband, husbandman; but in later times evidently connected in thought with senses of BOND sb.1] Cf. BONDSMAN.

BONE

1. = bond sb.2 2. Obs. exc. Hist. c 1250 Owl & Night. 1577 Moni chapmon and moni cniht . .And swa def moni bondeman. a 1300 Havelok 32 Hym louede.. Knict, bondeman, and swain. 1503-4 Act 19 Hen. VII, xv. §4 Yf eny bondeman purches eny landes. .in fee symple. [1809 Bawden Domesday Bk. 289 The King has there sixteen villanes & two bordars & one bondman having four ploughs.]

2. A man in bondage; a villein; a serf, slave. e *boneache is I rotid. 15.. Becon Jewel of Joy in Catechism, etc. (1844) 464 Grieved with bone-ache. C1520 Skelton Magnyfycence 1907 To cry out of the bone ake. 1606 Shaks. Tr. Cr. 11. iii. 20 The vengeance on the whole Camp, or, rather the bone-ach. 1900 Daily News 15 Nov. 6/5 He was attacked with headache, bone-ache, lassitude, [etc.]. 1659 Clobery Div. Glimpses 35 (Halliw.) They a *bone-ague get to plague their crimes. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 284 The Assay-master tooke foure copples or teasts, which are made of *Bone-ashes. 1822 J. Platts Bk. Curiosities lxxiv. 719 The .. cupel, which was composed of bone-ash. 1600 Rowlands Let. Humours Blood iv. 64 And lets him see *Bone-baster; thats his staffe. 1841 Lyell Elem. Geol. (ed. 2) II. xxii. 82 There intervenes .. a dark-coloured stratum, well known by the name of the ‘*bone-bed’. 1880 Gunther Fishes 194 In the upper Silurian Rocks, in a bone-bed of the Downton sandstone. 1815 Specif. J. Taylor's Patent No. 3929 Bones converted either into ivory or *bone black, animal charcoal, or into white bone ash. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon 11. iii. 160 Known as animal charcoal, or bone black. 1843 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 216/2 Any trade or business such as .. *bone-boiler. 1906 Daily Chron. 26 May 2/7 Bone boilers and tallow melters. 1598 Florio, Ossifraga, a kind of hauke or eagle called a *bone-breaker. 1721-1800 Bailey, Bonebreaker, a kind of Eagle. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times 249 In a *bone-breccia of this nature the flint-implements would be relatively more abundant. 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 252/3 Artists Tube Oil Colors.. Blue Black—*Bone Brown —Brown Pink. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times 63 Our knowledge of this ancient period is derived principally from .. the *Bone-Caves. 1878 A. Ramsay Phys. Geog. xxviii. 459 Bone-caves.. always occur in limestone strata, a 1847 Todd's Cycl. Anat. III. 856/1 The *bone-cells.. form the outer layer of cells in the Haversian system. 1903 L. M. E. Solon Old Eng. Porcelain 220 Josiah Spode. .composed a new china body which.. from the nature of its chief constituent.. received the vulgar name of ‘*Bone China’. Ibid., This evergreen ‘bone china’ has remained unaltered ever since the first pieces of it came out of Spode’s oven. 1965 Finer & Savage in J. Wedgwood's Lett. 179 It abandoned true porcelain for a bone-china body. 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 854/1 The lacunae look like solid, black bodies, and.. were erroneously called by the earlier observers *bone-corpuscles. 1859 Yarrell Brit. Fishes (ed. 3) II. 519 The Picked Dog-fish .. along the south-eastern coast., is almost universally called the *Bone-Dog. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 397 Effects of *bone-dust and bones. 1848 Gard. Chron. 437 The clergyman had.. put a handful of bone-dust under every tree and shrub. 1851 Fraser's Mag. Feb. 246/2 They have a cheap substitute in superphosphate of lime, a soluble form of *bone-earth. 1886 A. H. Church Eng. Porcelain iii. 29 There can be no difficulty in identifying the earth produced by the calcination of certain animal and vegetable matters with bone-earth, that is, calcined bones which consist mainly of phosphate of lime. 1873 Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. 1. 373/2 For purifying *bone fat, melt the fat and a small quantity of saltpetre together. 1887 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry VI. 825/1 Loss of Nitrogen in the Manufacture of Bone-fat and the Analysis of Bone-fat. 1888 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry VII. 81/2 The bones.. are first broken up more or less finely, and go to produce what are known as—| inch bones. J inch bones. Crushed bones. Bonedust. Bonemeal. *Bone flour. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 259 One of these presented a bony growth, .the end of which was cut off with *bone-forceps. 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 40 A black-chinned and lanthorn-jawed *bone-grubber. 1908 C. Dryden in Chicago Daily Trib. 24 Sept. 12/1 Then came the *bone-head finish which left the bugs puzzled and wondering. 1909 R. Beach Silver Horde xx. 271 What’s the use?.. That bone-head wouldn’t understand! 1915 J. London Let. 5 Nov. (1966) 463 Now, why be serious with this bone-head world? 1917 Conan Doyle His Last Bow viii. 292 James was a bonehead

— I give you that. 1958 J. & W. Hawkins Death Watch (1959) 82 The best of us have made a bonehead mistake or two. 1903 Smart Set IX. 96 You talk like a *bone-headed fool! 1915 Wodehouse Something Fresh v. 149 You blanked bone-headed boob! 1923 - Adv. Sally xiii. 212 The wilful bone-headedness of our fellows. 1940 ‘G. Orwell’ Inside Whale 142 The ancient *boneheap of Europe, where every grain of soil has passed through innumerable human bodies. 1799 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 3/2 The *bone-house in the Church yard. 1846 Walbran Guide Ripon, The celebrated ‘Bone-house’ no longer exists. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Sol. vi. 119 This wonderful bone-house which is called man. 1899 Daily News 21 July 5/2 Defendant gave instructions for the *bone man to take away the bad meat. 1921 Diet. Occup. Terms (1927) §149 Bone manure man, general term for any unskilled worker, other than a maintenance man, employed in a bone manure factory. 1908 W. E. C. Dickson {title) The *Bone-Marrow. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Anim. Biol. ix. 189 An extra production of red blood-corpuscles by the bone-marrow. 1850 New Engl. Farmer II. 44 On Mr. Preston’s farm.. they began to use *bone-meal. 1933 Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 119 Prepared soil.. may consist of equal parts of loam and leafsoil to which has been added some bone-meal. 1849 Craig, * Bone-phosphate. 1871 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 219 Calcium phosphate, or bone phosphate. 1861 Mayhew Lond. Labour Extra vol. (1862) 314/2 The people who usually lodge here are crossing-sweepers, *bonepickers, and shoeblacks. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms i. 25 In the State of New York and in Canada there are .. many places.. where the Indians buried their dead, and these are known as *bonepits. a 1848 Marryat R. Reefer lvii, Master at arms, brush up the *bone-polishers. 1857 Old Commodore II. 192 He became body servant and bone-polisher to No. 2. a 1884 Knight Diet. Mech. Suppl., *Bone Porcelain, a ware into the composition of which enters phosphate of lime in the form of bone dust. 1888 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry \II. 133/1 The *bone-powders of commerce are not always products of manufacture solely derived from the grinding of bones. nfaia(r)), sb. Forms: Sc. 5- bane-, 6 bain-, 5-8 bone-, 6- bonfire; also 6 bonne, boane-, boun-, bond-, 7 boon(e, 8 burnfire; north, and Sc. 5-9 bane-, 6 bainfire. [f. bone sb. 1 4- fire = fire of bones. The etymological spelling bone-fire. Sc. bane-fire, was common down to 1760, though bonfire was also in use from the 16th c., and became more common as the original sense was forgotten. Johnson in 1755 decided for bonfire, ‘from bon good, (Fr.) and fire’. But the shortening of the vowel was natural, from its position; cf. knowledge, Monday, collier, etc. In Scotland with the form bane-fire, the memory of the original sense was retained longer; for the annual midsummer ‘banefire’ or ‘bonfire’ in the burgh of Hawick, old bones were regularly collected and stored up, down to c. 1800.] f 1. A fire of bones; a great fire in which bones were burnt in the open air. Obs. (The 17th c. quotations are chiefly allusive, implying a knowledge that bon{e)fires ought to bum bones.) 1483 Cath. Angl. 20/1 A banefyre, ignis ossium. 1493 Festyvall (W. de W. 1515) 105 In worshyppe of saynte Johan the people waked at home, & made iij maner of fyres. One was clene bones and noo woode, and that is called a bone fyre. a 1552 in Leland Brit. Coll. I. p. lxxvi, In some parts of Lincolnshire.. on some peculiar nights, they make great fires in the public streets of their Towns with bones of oxon, sheep, &c. which are heaped together before. I am apt to believe.. that from hence came the original of Bonefires. 1586 Marlowe 1st. Pt. Tamburl. iii. iii, Making bonfires for my overthrow. But, ere I die, those foul idolaters Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones. 1684 Dineley Dk. Beaufort's Progr. Wales 154 A fire of joy.. called a Bonfire.. being part wood and part bones. [1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. 52 Both parties.. would in a bonefire of their generall joy, have burnt this unhappy bone of dissention cast betwixt them. 1674 W. Stanley Rom. Horseleech 82 (Skeat) Causing all the bones of Becket to be burnt.. and how his arms should escape that bonefire is very strange.]

f2. A fire in which to consume corpses, a funeral pile, a pyre. (The ordinary transl. of L. pyra, rogus in 16-17th c.) Obs. 1552 Huloet, Bonefyre. .pyra. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. vii. Or els without solemnitie were burnt in bone-fires hie. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneid iv. (Arb.) 119 Madlye she [Dido] scaleth Thee top of her banefyer. 1639 Horn & Robotham Gate Lang. Uni. xcvii. §961 The dead corps is buried: they of old made a bone-fire, and therein burnt it. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot, ii. 22 Burning [was] perhaps not fully disused till Christianity fully established gave the finall extinction to these sepulchrall Bonefires.

3. A fire for immolation; a fire in which heretics, bibles, or proscribed books were burnt. Still familiarly applied to a great fire for burning up thorns, brushwood, or rubbish, though, as the purpose is not now specifically considered as constituting a bonfire, not distinguished from sense 4 b. 1581 J . Bell Haddon’s Answ. Osor. 483/2 You would have made boanefiers with y* blood of many good Preachers. i6ix Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. ix. (1632) 79 Their holy Bibles cast into Bone-fires. 1638 Shirley Mart. Soldier iv. ii. in Bullen O. PI. (1882) I. 228 Methinks Christians make the bravest Bonefires of any people in the Universe. 1640 Brome Sparagus Gard. 1. v. 132 Making a Bon-fire in Smithfield. 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I, 47 He [James I] thanks them for the Bonefire they made of certain Papers. 1678 Butler Hud. ill. 11. 1543. 17x1 Addison Sped. No. 98 |]*3

BONFIRE Many of the Women threw down their Head-dresses in the Middle of his Sermon, and made a Bonfire of them. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. II. 9 Luther’s writings were collected and publicly burned; but the emperor might be seen to smile ironically as he passed these bonfires.

fb. (Ireland) An incendiary fire. Obs. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. (1821) 231 That..the County of Clare might be freed from bonfires. Ibid. xvii. 183 They departed, before they had made any Bonfiers in Mounster.

4. A large fire kindled in the open air for a celebration, display, or amusement: a. (orig.) on certain anniversaries, esp. on the eves of St. John and St. Peter (cf. Fr. feu de la Saint-Jean, Ger. Johannis feuer, and bale-fire). These were originally bone-fires in sense 1 (where cf. quot. 1493), and appear to have come down from heathen times. 1493 Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VII, in Brand Pop. Ant. (1870) I. 174 To the makyng of the bonefuyr on Middesomer Eve, 10s. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iv. 54 b, Then doth the ioyfull feast of John the Baptist take his tume, When bonfiers great with loftie flame, in every towne doe bume. 1575 Ord. Cooks Newcastle in Brand Pop. Ant. (1870) I. 178 The said Felloship of Cookes shall yearelie .. mainteigne and keep the Bone-fires.. that is to say, one Bone-fire on the Even of the Feast of the Nativitie of St. John Baptist.. and the other on the Even of the Feast of St. Peter the Apostle. 1581 Sc. Acts Jas. VI. (1597) §104 Setteris out of Bane-fyers, singers of Carrales.. and of sik vthers superstitious and Papisticall rites. 1600 Rowlands Let. Humours Blood iv. 65 At leaping ore a Midsommer bonfier. 1867 in Brand Pop. Ant. (1870) I. 177 Bonfires are still made on Midsummer Eve, in the northern parts of England and in Wales.

b. (In general modern use) in celebration of some event of public or local interest, or on some festive occasion, as a victory, jubilee, the birth or marriage of the heir to an estate, etc.; but also applied to any great blazing fire made for amusement, or combining amusement with the burning of rubbish, thorns, weeds, etc. (Cf. sense 3.) (The Fifth of November bonfires combined various senses of the word.) I53° Palsgr. 199/2 Bonne fyre, fev de behovrdis. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 32 Commandement.. that there shulde be a gret bonfyer at Powlles churche dore.. for the good tydynges. 1558 Maitland Quenis Maryage, All burrows townis..To maik bainfyres, fairseis and clerk playis. 1582 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. 73 b Great bondfires. 1591 Raleigh Last Fight Rev. 17 Celebrate the victorie with bonefiers in euerie town. 1603 Drayton Bar. Warres iv. xxiii. With Bells and Bone-fires welcomes her ashore. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxxvii. 309 The People.. testified their Joy by numerous Bon-fires. 1710 Addison Whig-Exam. No. 2 If 9 The mob has huzza’d round bonefires. 1736 Byrom Rem. (1856) II. 1. 35 You have had burnfires and bells and shooting and drinking. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I . 384 Our custom .. of making bonfires on the fifth of November. 1836 W. Irving Astoria (1849) 365 They built a great bonfire.. and men and women danced round it. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 631.

c. attrib. or comb. 1596 Shaks. 1 Hen. IV, 111. iii. 47 Thou art a perpetuall Triumph, an euerlasting Bone-fire-Light. 1690 Hist. Wars Ireland 111 Bonfire-Works.. were no sooner lighted, but the Allarm-Signal was given.

bonfire ('bonfai3(r)), v. rare. [f. prec.] 1. trans. To illuminate with bonfires. 1605 Rowlands Hell's broke Loose 35 Boone-fier the streets; set Bells a worke to ring. 01797 H. Walpole in J. Doran Hanover Queens The streets were illuminated & bonfired.

2. intr. To make bonfires. Hence 'bonfiring. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI. xv. xii. 96 That was the Old Dessauer’s bonfiring for the Victory of Sohr.

bong (bog), sb.1 U.S. [Imitative.] ‘A deep resonant sound as of a bell’ (Webster 1934). Hence as v., to emit such a sound. 1924 in Dial. Notes V. 263. 1936 Steinbeck In Dubious Battle vi. 94 The pump bonged with a deep, throaty voice. i960 V. Nabokov Invit. Beheading iv. 43 The merciless bong of the clock. 1961 Steinbeck Winter of Discontent 181 The clock bell of the firehouse began bonging.

387

BONIFORM

bong (bDi)), sb.3 Chiefly U.S. [ad. Thai baung, lit. ‘cylindrical wooden tube’.] A kind of waterpipe used for smoking marijuana. 1971 Marijuana Rev. Jan.-June 18 Many thanks to Scott Bennett.. for the beautiful special bong he made for my pipe collection. 1975 High Times Dec. 11/1 One hit of this weed produces creeping nirvana when smoked in a bong. 1977 Rolling Stone 24 Mar. 81/2 (Advt.), Genuine bamboo bongs with removable bamboo bowls are wax lined and come in two sizes; the one-foot bong.. and the two-foot bong. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. B2/2 Bongs, looking like pot-bellied vases.., give the most concentrated ‘drag’ possible by channeling smoke and preventing its escape into the air. 1979 Christian Science Monitor (Eastern ed.) 21 Nov. bi/i Bongs, roach clips, coke spoons are as familiar as blue jeans to kids in the US today.

bong, bongle, obs. forms of bong, var.

bung a

bung, bungle, v.

3

bongo1 (’boggau). [Cf. Bangi mbangani, Lingala mongu.] An antelope, Boocercus eurycerus, found in central Africa, from Sierra Leone to Kenya. 1861 P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xvi. facing p. 306 (1caption) The Bongo Antelope... The chief features of the animal are the stripes on each side. 1902 O. Thomas in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. X. 309 No evidence as yet exists as to whether the true western Bongo has horns in the female. 1910 Westm. Gaz. 1 Mar. 11/1 Next come nine white rhinoceroses and a couple of bongos, a specimen of the latter animal never before having fallen to the gun of a white man. 1911 Roosevelt in Ld. Chamwood T. Roosevelt (1923) 243 He had killed a bongo, a bull. 1958 E. S. Warner SilkCotton Tree xvii. 175 The chiefs., were announced .. with great blasts blown on bongo horns. 1964 E. P. Walker et al. Mammals of World II. 1418/1 Bongos live in the densest, most tangled parts of the forest.

bongo2 (’bDijgau).

orig. U.S. PI. bongo(e)s. [Amer. Sp. bongo.] One of a pair of small (Cuban) drums, usu. held between the knees and played with the fingers; in full bongo drum. 1920 J. Hergesheimer San Cristobal de la Habana 232 My head filled with the resonant bos and bongos of naniguismo. 1928 Vanity Fair Nov. 72 A fashionable evening event along the Havana water-front is a concert by black boys with their primitive instruments, the bongo., and claves. 1934 S. R. Nelson All about Jazz 167 Then we have the Bongos, which are a kind of tom-tom, used in pairs. 1952 New Yorker 1 Nov. 6/2 Candido, whose peculiar fancy is bongo drums. 1956 Ibid. 11 Feb. 92/2 She’s been doing her calypso act —with bongo accompaniment—since 1941.

t'bongrace. Obs. Also 6 bun-, 6-7 bone-, boone-, 7 bond-, boun-grace. [a. F. bonne-grace ‘th’ vppermost flap of the down-hanging taile of a French-hood (whence belike our Boon-grace)' Cotgr.; f. bonne good, grace grace.] 1. A shade or curtain formerly worn on the front of women’s bonnets or caps to protect the complexion from the sun; a sunshade. (See quot. 1617; the later one may consequently belong to 2.) 1530 Palsgr. 907 The bone grace, le moufflet. 1533 Pardoner & Fr. in Hazl. Dodsl. I. 203 Her bongrace which she ware, with her French hood, When she went out always for sun-burning. 1595 R. Wilson Pedlar's Proph. Bij, Fillets and bungraces. 1604 Dekker King’s Entert. 311 This boon-grace hee made of purpose to keepe his face from heate. 1617 Moryson /tin. III. iv. i. 170 A French shadow of veluet to defend them from the Sunne, which our Gentle¬ women of old borrowed from the French, and called them Bonegraces, now altogether out of vse with us. 1636 Davenant Platon. Lovers Wks. (1673) 411 Had she been but old enough to wear a Bongrace. fig. 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy vi. civ. 137 A Grove through which the lake doth run, Making his bowes a Bon¬ grace from the Sun.

2. A broad-brimmed hat fitted to shade the face. arch, or Obs. 1606 Holland Sueton. 75 A broad brim’d Hat [marg. or Bond-grace = petasatus] upon his head. 1638 Songs Costume (1849) 140 Straw hats shall be no more bongraces, From the bright sun to hide your faces. 1719 D’Urfey Pills (1872) IV. 107 Her Bongrace of wended Straw. 1815 Scott Guy M. iii, An old-fashioned bonnet called a bon-grace.

work-tables, nothing more elegant can be seen. 1902 Provisional Catal. Furnit. etc. in Wallace Coll. 283 Small Bureau of the ‘Bonheur du Jour’ type, in marqueterie of various natural and stained woods. 1926 H. Schmitz Encycl. Furnit. xxii. 53 The writing-table for ladies, known as the bonheur dujour, receives a rectangular upper part, the panels of which imitate book backs. 1955 Times 21 May 5/4 A magnificent Louis XVI black lacquer bonheur-du-jour, on slightly square, curved and tapering legs. 1967 Times 7 Mar. 21/5 (Advt.), A Hepplewhite bonheur du jour.

|| bonhomie (bonomi, 'bDnami). Also bonhommie. [mod.F. bonhomie, formerly bonhommie y f. bonhomme.] Good nature; the quality of being a good fellow. 1803 Mar. Edgeworth Belinda (1832) I. iii. 48 My lord swallowed the remedy.. with a bonhommie which it did me good to behold. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, The bonhommie of his character. 1850 W. Irving Goldsm. xiv. 174 That bonhommie which won the hearts of all who knew him. 1878 Morley Diderot II. 259 Diderot’s candour, simplicity, happy bonhomie, and sincerity.

I Bonhomme (bonom). Also 6-7 bon-, bonehome. [Fr.; = good man.] fl. A member of an order of begging friars who came over to England in the 13th c. f 1526 Pynson {title) The Extirpacion of Ignorancy. By Sir Paule Bussle preest and Bonhome of Edyndon. 1530 Palsgr. 199/2 Bonhom a religious man, bonhomme. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 1. 244 William de Edindon.. erected a Colledge Bonis hominibus, Bon-homes, as they called them, that is for good men. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. III. 278. 01697 Aubrey Wilts Coll, in Sat. Rev. (1864) XVIII. 462/1 This Country was very full of Religious Howses; a man could not have travelled but he must have mett Monkes, Fryars, Bonhommes.. in their severall habits.

fb. A member of a reformed order of Franciscan friars, said by Littre to owe their name to the appellation Bonhomme given by Louis XI. to St. Francis de Paule, their founder; a friar minim. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Bonhomes, a religious order of Fryers entituled by Saint Francis de Paulo. 1678 Phillips, Bon-hommes.. were also called Fryer Minims, or Minorites.

f2. A name given to the Albigenses. Obs. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Albigenses, They were also known by various other names; as.. Bons-hommes, Passagers, etc.

|| 3. A peasant. French peasant.

Jacques

Bonhomme'.

the

1851 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. (1864) III. 2 The bon-homme Sperling.. and house-folk, and the Duke and his circle each kept themselves to themselves.

bonhomous (’bonamas), a. Also (rare) bonhomm(i)ous. [f. bonhom(ie + -ous.] Full of bonhomie or good-fellowship. Hence 'bonhomously adv. 1905 Spectator 18 Feb. 257/2 A delightful bonhommious person. 1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister Street II. iii. v. 593 ‘He’s not a very bonhomous lad,’ said Lonsdale. 1927 Observer 10 July 6 The hearty and bonhomous J. D. Marstock. 1928 E. Waugh Decline & Fall x. 109 Lady C.’s hardly what you might call bonhommous. i960 Spectator 5 Feb. 185 An air of bonhomous candour. 1965 Economist 5 June 1126/1 The American Secretary of Defence departs .. waving bonhomously.

bonibel, variant of bonnibel. Boniface ('bomfeis). [Proper name.] The name of the jovial innkeeper in Farquhar’s Beaux' Stratagem 1707; whence taken as the generic proper name of innkeepers; ‘mine host’, or ‘the landlord’ of the inn. [Not in Bailey, Johnson or Todd.] 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour I. 120 To give the characteristic features and to stamp the peculiar traits of honest Boniface. 1829 Scott Wav. Note 5, The devolution of the whole actual business .. of the Inn upon the poor gude wife was very common among the Scottish Bonifaces. 1861 Emerson Cond. Life ii. 42, I knew a burly Boniface who for many years kept a public-house in one of our rural capitals.

Hence (humorously) boni'facial a. 1859 Sala Gaslight & D. viii. 99 There is the landlord, in .. his bonifacial apron.

3. ‘Junk-fenders; for booming off obstacles from a ship’s sides or bows’. Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.

t'bonifate, a. Obs.—° [ad. late L. bonifatus ( = Gr. evfioLpos), f. bonum good, fatum fate.] Lucky, fortunate, well-fated.

f bongre, adv. and prep. Obs. [a. F. bongre (for de bon gre of good will), in advb. phr. bon gre mal gre willingly or unwillingly: cf. maugre.] A. adv. With good will, agreeably. B. prep. Agreeably to.

bonification (bomfi'keijan). [a. F. bonification, n. of action f. bonifier: see bonify.] fl. Amelioration, bettering; augmentation of the produce of a tax, etc. Obs.

1656 Blount Glossogr., Bonifate, that hath good fortune.

bong (bog), sb} Mountaineering (orig. U.S.). [? Echoic or var. of bung sfc.1] A variety of large angle piton (see quots.). Also redupl. as bongbong. 1965 Mountaineering (ed. 2) xi. 171 Sizes [of pitons] vary from the tiny ‘crack-tack’ or 'rurp'.. to giant ‘bong-bong' angle pitons... Bong-bongs up to 6 inches in width can be used in cracks too small for stemming. 1965 A. Blackshaw Mountaineering (1968) ix. 252 Recently, hard steel hollow wedges (‘bongs’) have become available from America; these are more robust than wooden wedges, and are becoming generally used. 1968 P. Crew Encycl. Diet. Mountaineering 27/1 Bong-bong, an American chromemolybdenum piton, made with a U-shaped blade,.. intended for use in wide cracks of 2" and over. The name comes from the sound made by the bongs when knocked together. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xvi. 224 Rusty took six hours to lead the pitch, clearing away the loose sand, hammering in his bongs. 1976 [see rurp]. 1979 Clarke & Price Rock Climbing v. 81 When an angle piton is wider than 1 * in (37 mm) it is usually called a ‘bong’ and is available up to a width of 6 in (150 mm)... Bongs are quite often drilled out to reduce weight.

c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 56 be had bowed to his bode, bongre my hyure. 1598 Tofte Alba, The Months Minde (1880) 30 His seruice is not tooke boun gree.

bonham.

Irish, [dial. var. (in Ulster and Connaught) of Ir. banbh pig.] A sucking-pig. Cf. boneen.

1789 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 460 He showed that this could be made up without a new tax, by economies and bonifications which he specified.

2. The paying of a bonus. 1876 Goschen in Daily News 4 Oct. 6/3 The bonification of 25 per cent, to the holders of the floating debt.

Ilbonheur du jour (boncer dy 3ur). [Fr.] A small writing-table or desk, sometimes fitted to hold toilet accessories.

boniform (’bonifaim), a. [ad. mod.L. boniformis (f. bonum good -I- -formis having the form of), used by H. More (Enchir. Ethic, i. ii.) to translate Plato’s ayaOoeiSijs.] Having the form of good; akin to the Good. Used by H. More to denote a faculty by which moral goodness is appreciated.

1878 B. Palliser tr. Jacquemart's Hist. Furnit. i. iii. 66 In small objects for ladies, such as ‘bonheurs-du-jour’ etageres,

1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iv. 254 The divine effulgence and operation is one essence, both simple, and impartible,

1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim & Down 11 Bonham. 1938 J. Cary Castle Corner v. 279 She’s as fat as a bonham.

«

BONIFY and boniforme. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 204 Knowledge and Truth, may..be said to be Boniform things, and of Kin to the Chief Good. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 186 The Moral Tast and Relish, that which the Platonists call Aya.doei.8cs the Boniform faculty of the Soul. 1793 T. Taylor Or at. Julian 21 The heavens are replenished from the sun with boniform powers. 1830 Mackintosh Eth. Philos. Wks. 1846 I. 93 Dr. Henry M[ore .. seems to have given the first intimations of a distinct moral faculty, which he calls ‘the Boniform Faculty’.

bonify ('bDnifai), v. [ad. F. bonifie-r (in Cotgr.), f. L. bonus good + -fieri—h. -ficdre to make.] f 1. trans. To do good to, benefit. Obs. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 493 To bonifie or benefit.

2. To make good, turn into good. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 221 To be able to Bonifie Evils, or Tincture them with Good. Ibid. 876 The Divine Art.. appeareth, in Bonifying these Evils. 1880 Minerva Aug. 177 The Romans did .. bonify the air and soil of their city by filling Up marshes and constructing sewers.

boniness ('bsunmis). Bony quality. 1884 Annie Thomas in West. Morn. News 26 Aug. 6/4 The .. extra boniness .. of bullocks.

boning ('baunirj), vbl. sb.1 [f. bone v. + -ing1.] 1. The removing of bones from meat, fish, etc. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, xxiii, For bonyng napyng and packing of a barell fisshe, jd. 1884 Girl's Own Paper June 491/3 Boning meat and poultry.

2. The applying of bones to land as manure. 1875 Agric. Holdings Act xcii. §5 An improvement comprised in following.. Boning of land with undissolved bones.

boning ('bsumi)), vbl. sb.2 Surveying, Building, etc. The process of levelling or of judging of the straightness of a surface or line by the eye, as by looking along the tops of two straight edges or along a line of poles placed some distance apart; also attrib., as in boning rod, sticky telescope. 1785 Roy Survey, in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 411 Twentyfour boning rods had been originally provided. 1795 Trigon. Surv. ibid. LXXXV. 477 Using the transit as a boning telescope. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 581 Joiners try up their work by boning with two straight-edges, which determine whether.. the surface be twisted or a plane. 1877 Peacock N.W. Line. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Boning-stick, a simple instrument used for setting out the depth of drains or other cuttings in the soil. 1886 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 326/1 Spirit level, boning rod and telescope.

t'bonish, a. Obs. rare. [f. bone sb. + -ish.] Having large or prominent bones. 1530 Palsgr. 306/2 Bonysshe, that hath great bones, ossu.

bonism ('bDniz(3)m). [f. L. bonus good + -ism.] The doctrine that the world is good, but not the best possible. So 'bonist, one who favours this doctrine; hence bo'nistic a. 1882 J. W. Barlow Ultim. Pessimism 5 So we see that Optimist and Pessimist are no longer suitable names ..; and the positive forms Bonist and Malist would certainly be more appropriate. 1893 Myers Sci. & Future Life 10 The view of the universe loosely styled optimism, but which some now term bonism, with no greater barbarism in the form of the word, and more accuracy in its meaning. 1895 Tollemache Jowett 91 Jowett’s optimism verges on pessimism, or, let us say, his bonism verges on malism. Ibid. 95 After putting side by side the bonistic and malistic sayings of Jowett.

bonitarian (bDni'tearran), a. Rom. Law. [f. late L. bonitari-us (cited only in Greek spelling, SeoTTOTTjs ftovLrdpios, Theophilus i. 5* 4)> I* L. bonus good, or bonitas good quality, in reference to the classical in bonis esse, in bonis habere.] = next. 1861 Maine Anc. Law viii. (1876) 295 The Roman distribution of rights over property into Quiritarian or legal, and (to use a word of late origin) Bonitarian, or equitable. 1876 Digby Real Prop. vi. 281 Beneficial, or, as it was barbarously called by the commentators, bonitarian ownership. 1880 Muirhead Gaius 458.

bonitary ('bDnitari), a. [see prec.] Beneficial; having possession with all its benefits, but without a legal ‘title’. 1833 J. Kenrick in Philol. Museum II. 634 They were compelled to concede to the revolted plebeians at first only the bonitary dominion of their lands, i.e. the power of using them liable to perpetual revocation. 1875 Poste Gaius 11. com. 188 He [Theophilus] also calls bonitary dominion natural dominion, as opposed to statutory, civil, or quiritary dominion.

|| bonito (bo'nito). Forms: 7 bonuto, 7-9 -eto, 8 bineto, boneeto, -ite, -ata, 8-9 -eta, -ita, -etta, 6bonito. [a. Sp. bonito, of doubtful origin: bonito adj. ‘pretty good, pretty’ is a native Sp. word; but the Sp. Academy derive the name of the fish from an Arabic bainith, which looks like an adaptation of the Spanish.] The striped tunny; a fish growing to the length of three feet, common in tropical seas, living chiefly on the flying-fish. The name is also given to one or two other similar fish. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. n. 105 Bonitos and flying fishes. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 67 The bonito, or Spanish makerell, is altogether like unto a makerell, but that it is somewhat more growne. 1713 Phil. Tram. XXVIII. 234 We took .. a Fish which some thought was a Boneta. 1773

BONNE

388 Cook 1st Voy. I. 98 The heaviest and most vigorous fish, such as bonettas and albicores. 1829 Southey O. Newman I. Wks. X. 275 Gay bonitos in their beauty glide. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 217 The bonetas and dolphins.. chased the flying fish. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. viii.

fbonity. Obs. [ad. L. bonitas ‘goodness’, which it has been formed to represent in the original sense, no longer present in the living representative F. bonte, Eng. bounty.] Goodness. 1585 R. Parsons Chr. Exerc. n. iii. 295 Bonitie, in hurting no man. a 1619 Fotherby Atheom. 11. x. §3 (1622) 304 He is ..a Super-good.. as surpassing all other Bonitie. a sunder Italian and pa boceras. c 1205 Lay. 32125 Alle pa bocares wise.

2. One who enters in a book; a book-keeper; b. spec, (see quot. 1863.) 1863 All Y. Round 11 July 472/2 Persons technically known as ‘bookers’, who were, in fact, spies, travelling in the omnibus, and yielding to the company as account of every assenger. 1881 Whitehead Hops 62 The number of ushels..is entered in a book by a booker. 1883 J. Y. Stratton Hops & Hop-p. 31 All being carefully entered in the account kept by the booker.

3. techn. 1864 H. Bruce in Parlt. 14 June, With regard to the finishers and bookers .. representation had been made to the Government.

bookery. [f. book sb. + -ery.] 11. Study of books. Obs. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. 11. ii. 28 Let them alone for me Busie their braines with deeper bookerie.

2. A collection of books, a library. 1812 Mad. D’Arblay Diary VI. 346 The abbe..has a bookery in such elegant order that people beg to go and see it. 1870 Pall Mall G. 4 Oct. 5 If these bookeries were not saved in time.. the town authorities have reason to be ashamed.

t 'book-fell. Obs. (exc. Hist.) A skin prepared for writing upon, a sheet of vellum or parchment; a parchment or vellum manuscript. a 1000 in Thorpe Laws II. 244 (Bosw.) Daet hi habban blaec and bocfel. a 1225 St. Marker. 23 pat ich hit write on boc-felle. 1863 Furnivall in Reader 28 Feb. 214 Those who love tall folios and book-fells. 1868 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. ix, Our ancient bookfells.

bookful ('bukful), sb. [see -ful.] As much as fills a book; the entire contents of a book. 1599 Shaks. Much Ado v. ii. 32 A whole booke full of these quondam carpet-mongers. 1879 Bain Higher Eng. Gram. 80 A bookful of problems.

bookful, a.

rare. fl. Full gathered from books. Obs.

of knowledge

1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 616 The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head.

2. Full or stored with books. 1896 Literary World 7 Aug. 115/2 Coleridge, in this bookful age, is .. getting to be more and more nominis umbra. 1904 Daily Chron. 3 Oct. 3/4 In bookful loneliness.

f 'book-hoard. Obs. [OE. boc, book, + hord, hoard.] A repository for books or documents. (An exclusively OE. word which was treated by Blount, and thence included in later Diets.) a 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 194 Bibliotheca.. bochord. [1670 Blount Law Diet., Boc-hord (Sax.), a place where Books, Evidences, Writings, or other like Monuments are kept, as the Rolls. So Phillips, Bailey, etc.]

'bookiness. rare. [f. booky a.] Bookishness.

book-keeper ('bukki:pa(r)). 1. A person who keeps the accounts of a mercantile concern, public office, etc. 1555 Act 2-j Phil. M. vii. §4 The parties to the bargaine.. shall come to the open place appointed for the toll taker, or for the booke keeper.. and there enter.. their names.. in the toll takers book. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 109/2 Melancholy ghosts of departed book-keepers, who had fallen dead at the desk.

2. One who hoards books; a book-miser, rare. booking ('bukn)), vbl. sb. [f. book v. + -ing1.] f 1. The action of making into a book. Obs.

1884 Harper's Mag. Nov. 828/1 The old-fashioned book¬ keeper, who fears his precious books will be hurt by using.

1643 Herle Answ. Feme i What hath bin all this while a booking.

book-keeping ('bukkiipiij). The art of keeping

2. The action of entering in a book, esp. in order to engage a seat or place; also the issuing of tickets, entitling to the same. 1884 Pall Mall G. 5 Aug. 7/2 The number of bookings was much larger than .. last year. 1884 Daily News 9 Apr. 5/3 The old second-class fares were retained.. for first-class bookings.

3. Sc. Law. A tenure peculiar to the burgh of Paisley, whereby the proprietors held their lands under the magistrates, the conveyance being entered or ‘booked’ in the Burgh Register. (Abolished by ‘The Conveyancing (Scotland) Act, 1874’). 1868 Act 31 2 Viet. ci. § 152 Lands in the burgh of Paisley, held by the peculiar tenure of booking.

4. Comb, booking-clerk, the clerk or official who books passengers or goods for a conveyance, or who sells tickets at a bookingoffice; booking-office, an office where places may be booked for a coach or other conveyance, or where goods may be booked for transit; also the place where tickets are sold at a railway or steam-boat station; the place where tickets are sold for a theatre or other place of entertainment (1889 Cent. Diet.). 1836-7 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 79/2 Sally forth to the booking-office to secure your place. Ibid. 80/1 You wonder what on earth the booking-office clerks can have been before they were booking-office clerks. 1881 R. Grant White Eng. Within & W. iii. 60 At the ‘booking-office’ no booking is done.. But as there were booking offices for the stagecoaches which used to run between all the towns.. of England, the term had become fixed in the minds, and upon the lips of this nation of travellers. 1948 Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. I. 453 Punch's theatre article used to be headed ‘Our Booking Office'. Today everybody speaks and writes of the box-office of a theatre. Only a railway ticket-office is a booking-office. 1952 Granville Diet. Theatr. Terms 30 Booking office, a theatre-booking agency in the city. Patrons are able to book seats through the agency, which communicates with the theatre concerned.

bookish ('bokif), a. [f. book sb. + -ish.] 1. Of or belonging to a book or books; literary. 1567 Drant Hor. Epist. xiii. Eiij, Thou must retaine thy bookish charge. 1594 Ord. of Prayer in Liturg. Serv. Q. Eliz. (1847) 657 Did not Saunders second his bookish treasons .. by commotion in Ireland? 1816 Q. Rev. XVI. 1 A phenomenon, in these days of bookish luxury. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. 10 Natural Language, neither bookish nor vulgar. 1878 S. Cox Salv. Mundi (ed. 3) Pref. 8 To recast these Lectures into a more bookish form.

2. Addicted to the reading of books; studious. 1570 Levins Manip. 144 Bookish, studiosus. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. iii. iii. 73 Though I am not bookish, yet I can reade Waiting-Gentlewoman in the scape. 1665 D. Lloyd State Worthies (1670) 672 [Raleigh] An accomplished Gallant, and yet a bookish man. 1775 T. Sheridan Art Reading 330 Bookish men are remarkable for taciturnity. 1874 Maurice Friendship Bks. i. 12 In this bookish time of James I.

b. Disparagingly: only.

Acquainted

with

books

1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, 1. i. 259 Whose bookish Rule, hath pull’d faire England downe. 1680 Crowne Misery Civ. War 11. 16 Under the reign of this tame bookish Henry. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 482 If 2 A bookish man, who has no knowledge of the world. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 68 A monkish, bookish person, who meddles with nothing but literature.

3. quasi-a^.

= next.

1591 Florio 2nd Frutes Aiv. b, To. .speake bookish.

bookishly ('bukifli), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] In a bookish way, studiously. a 1668 J. Thurlow St. Papers II. 104 While she..was more bookishly given. 1840 Mrs. Trollope in New Month. Mag. LIX. 481 Whether bookishly disposed or not.

a merchant’s or tradesman’s books or accounts. 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2480/4 Merchants.. who desire to be accomplish’d with the Famous Art of Book-keeping. 1817 J. Scott Paris Revisit. 82 What is poetry to one, may be book-keeping to another. 1849 J. Freese Comm. Class-bk. iii. 95 An introduction to book-keeping by single and double entry.

t bookland. Obs. exc. Hist. Forms: 1 bocland; Antiq. 7 bock-, 8-9 boc-, 9 bok-, bookland. The Old English name for land taken from the folcland or common land, and granted by boc or written charter to a private owner; thus, at length, applied to all land that was not folcland. (Hence the common place-name Buckland.) a 1000 Laws of Edgar i. 2 (Bosw.) De on his boclande cyricean haebbe. 1641 Termes de la Ley 42 Bockland, in the Saxons time.. was by that name distinguished from Folkland. 1670 Blount Law Diet., Bocland. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 90 Book-land, or charter-land, i860 C. Innes Scotl. Mid. Ages ii. 54 Bocland or Charterland was such as was severed by an act of the government, that is, by the King with the consent of his parliament, from the public land. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v. 76 As the primitive allotments gradually lost their historical character.. the ethel is lost sight of in the bookland. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 368 The man who received a grant of bookland on such terms as made it practically as much his own as a primitive efiel.

book-lare, -lear, Sc. forms of book-lore. book-latin: see boc-leden. book-learned ('buk,l3:nid),

a. Learned in books or the knowledge acquired from them. (Now generally in disparaging sense). Hence book-learnedness.

c 1420 Anturs Arth. lv, Boke-lornut bymus, and bischoppus of the beste. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heauen 328, I am somewhat ignorant, I am not book-learned. 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. 1. (1709) 79 Your old Heroes in Homer (for want of being Book-Learned), were none of the Gentilest-Men. 01700 Dryden (J.) Whate’er these booklearn’d blockheads say. 1837 Emerson Misc. 77 The book-learned class, who value books as such. 1661 K. W. Conf. Charac. (i860) 37 He hath obtained to so high a measure of book-leamednes.

So 'book-(learning, learning derived books (merely), knowledge of books.

from

1589 Hay any Work 2 In my book learning, the one was some popish Trull, c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. 14 The extravagant humour of our Countrey is not to be altogether commended, that all men should aspire to booke learning. 1838 Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1871) I. 157 Intelligent as respects book-learning, but much deficient in worldly tact. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 308 He had as little book-learning as the most stupid ploughboys of England.

t book-lered. Obs. [see lere v. to teach.] = BOOK-LEARNED. c 1205 Lay. 25624 Biscopes pis iherden & bocilaerede men. a 1275 Prov. Alfred 4 in O.E. Misc. 103. C1325 Allit. P. B. 1551 He bede his bumes bo3 to pat were bok lered.

bookless ('buklis), a. [see -less.] 1. Ignorant of books, unscholarly. poet. 1735 Somerville Chase i. 395 How mean, how low, The bookless saunt’ring Youth. 01763 Shenstone Wks. (1764) I. 293 Why, with the cit, Or bookless churl.. deign’st thou to reside? 1847 Tennyson Princess 11. 42.

2. Destitute of books. 1788 Cowper Lett. (1824) II. 123 Inform a bookless student in what region.. his long-lost volumes may be found. 1865 Pall Mall G. 7 Oct. 11 The dusty tourist, lounging in the deserted streets of bookless Caceres, or Alcantara.

booklet (’boklit). [see -let.] A tiny book. 1859 Sat. Rev. 19 Feb. 220/1 The infant booklet, deprecating rigid criticism and modestly pleading the advice


att he 3eorrnde. C1305 Pilate 229 in E.E.P. (1862) 117 Grante me ane bone, 3if me an appel to ete. C1400 Ywaine Gaw. 2790 The yonger mayden than alsone Of the King askes this bone. C1440 York Myst. xviii. 36 f»is bone of pe I crave. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour Cij, I pray yow alle .. to graunte me a bone and a yefte. 1575 Appius & Virg. in Hazl. Dodsl. IV. 143 Then tender your child that craveth this bound. 1588 Shaks. Tit. A. 11. iii. 289 Vpon my feeble knee, I beg this boone, with teares, not lightly shed. C1650 Rob. Hood & Fryer 116 A boone, a boone, said the curtail fryer.. Give me leave to set my fist to my mouth. 1862 Trench Mirac. xxiii. 343 She has a boon to ask for her daughter.

t c. to pray (one) of a boon. Obs. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 207 He.. praid him of a bone. To se this Custe. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 411,1 pray the,.. of a bone, that thou wilte herborow me this nyght. 1481 Caxton

BOON Reynard (Arb.) 34, I pray you of a bone, that I may to fore you alle make my confession.

4. A favour, a gift, a thing freely or graciously bestowed: a. in response to asking, arch. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 282 Send us, lord, this blissid bone. C1520 Adam Bel 509 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 160 Madame, ye myght have asked a bowne, That shuld have ben worth them all three. 1630 Prynne God No Impostor 30 We deserue no boone, no fauor at his hands. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1727) 71 What art thou asking of them, after all? Some mighty boon? 1839 Thirlwall Greece VI. 319 A boon like that which Aristotle had obtained from Philip.

b. without the notion of asking. In 17th c. applied to a largess, gratuity or present; but now onlyyig. and arch. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) 11. 508 The Queen.. seldom gave boons, and never forgave due debts. 1677 Marvell Season. Argument Wks. 1776 II. 558 He .. has got by boones, at several times .. 3000?. Ibid. 579 A boon given him in the excise which he sold for 13500/. 1679 Pepys Diary VI. 130, I have never.. done it to the obtaining sixpence from the Crown by any boon extraordinary. 1738 Glover Leonidas 1. 144 The choicest boons of fate. 1830 D’Israeli Chas. I, III. viii. 161 The Earl.. had accepted with difficulty, the boon of his freedom. 1845-6 Trench Huls. Led. Ser. n. viii. 269 The gods had no better boon for him than an early death.

fc. Grace, favour, rare. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxiv, Down she knelt for heaven’s grace and boon. 1821-Isabel xix, Of thee we now should ask forgiving boon.

5. A gift considered with reference to its value to the receiver; a benefit enjoyed, blessing, advantage, a thing to be thankful for: sometimes without even the notion of giving, but always with that of something that one has no claim to, or that might have been absent. (The usual current sense.) 1767 T. Hutchinson Hist. Prov. Mass. Bay i, The charter of Massachusets was not so great a boon. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xxxix, An elfin storm from faery land, Of haggard seeming, but a boon indeed. 1855 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea iii. (i860) § 185 The presence of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream .. is a great boon to navigation. 1856 Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. App. 270 The inestimable boon of articulate language. 1876 Green Short Hist. iii. §3 (1882) 124 The boon of free and unbought justice was a boon for all.

6. An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord. Cf. ‘benevolence’. Obs. exc. dial. 1634 Sanderson Serm. II. 294 Racking their rents, taking in their commons, overthrowing their tenures, diminishing their wages, encreasing their boons. 1703 Bp. T. Wilson in Keble Life v. (1863) 194 To leave all such carriages, Boones and services on the same foot as already provided for by Law. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Boon, a stated service rendered to the landlord by the tenant.

b. Hence boon-day, -loaf (a loaf allowed to a tenant when working on a boon-day), -man, -work-, also c. boon-ploughing, -shearing, a day’s ploughing or shearing given gratuitously to a farmer by his neighbours on a special occasion. 1679 Blount Anc. Tenures 153 The custom was here for the Natives and Cottagers to plow and harrow for the Lord, and to work one *boon-day for him every week in Harvest. 1788 Marshall Rur. Econ. Yorksh. (1796) I. 41 Tenant agrees.. to perform the customary leadings, or boondays. 1863 Atkinson Provinc. Danby, &c. s.v. Boon-days. 1679 Blount Anc. Tenures 143 Every plow was to be allowed four *boon-loaves. 1727 Bp. T. Wilson in Keble Life xx. (1863) 680 The *boon-men i.e. they who owe him rent in the way of work. 1886 Carlisle Jrnl. 23 Feb. 2/4 *Boon Ploughing at Burgh. 1875 Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) *Boon-shearin (N. Lane.), a quantity of shearing given as in the case of a boonploo [= boon-ploughing]. 1883 Seebohm Eng. Vill. Community 78, Precariae or *boon-work, i.e. special work at request.

Occasionally boon appears to have the sense of ‘good’, but in the earlier instances at least the sense of ‘favour asked’ or ‘conferred’, is more or less apparent. Modern archaists complete the confusion with boon a. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1089 Hade bodyly bume abiden pat bone .. His lyf wer loste. c 1650 Came you not, &c. 12 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 254, I haue Land att durham will feitch my hart to boone. 1874 Holland Mistr. Manse xxi. 83 The steps were scaled for boon or bale. 1884 Skrine Und. Two Queens 11. 34 Boon we mingle and bane.

boon, sb} Forms: 4 bon(e, 5-6 bunne, 9 boon: see also bun. [Of unknown etymology: see bun.] The stalk of flax or hemp after the fibre has been removed; the stalks of cow-parsnip and other umbelliferous plants. 1388 Wyclif Isa. i. 31 3oure strengthe schal be as a deed sparcle of bonys j v.r. stobil], ether of herdis of flex, c 1440 Promp. Parv. 277 Kyx, or bunne, or drye weed. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. (1649) 182 All the loose buns and shivers that hang in the hemp or flaxe. 1838 Penny Cycl. X. 305 The flax plants are passed between these cylinders .. and the stalk, or boon, as it is technically called, is by this means completely broken without injuring the fibres.

401

BOOR

sense 3 it was probably associated with the Eng. sb. boon1, in its later sense of ‘favour, benefaction, good gift’.] A. adj. fl. Good, goodly. Obs. (in 17th c.) c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 28 He schal loke on oure lorde with a bone chere. c 1325 Coer de L. 1540 They come to cyte boon, c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1022 Seint lulian! lo, bon hostelle! c 1425 Seven Sages (P.) 1013 Maugre have thow, bone sire, c 1435 Torr. Portugal 2143 Of speche he is fulle bone. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. 1. cccxcix. 692 Euery man drewe in bone order into the feldes. 1537 Latimer 2nd Serm. bef. Convoc., Let vs all make bon chere [ed. 1635 good cheer] . 1617 J. Taylor (Water P.) Trav. Wks. (1630) iii. 78/1 Four pots of boone beere as yellow as gold, a 1641 Bp. Mountagu Acts £s? Mon. (1642) 302 Nicolaus Damascenus; a great Orator and boon pleader. 1686 W. de Britaine Hum. Prudence xviii. (ed. 3) 83, I am of that boon Courage.

f2. Advantageous, fortunate, favourable, prosperous: esp. in the once universal phrase boon voyage prosperous journey, also fig. good success. Hence, to drink upon or in boon voyage. Obs. 1494 Fabyan vi. ccx. 225 One broughte forthe a bolle full of mede. .to drynke vpon bon vyage. 1563-87 Foxe A. & M. I. 384/2 Drinking one to another in boun voyage of the spoil of them whom they would take as their prisoners. 1590 Greene Never too Late Wks. 1882 VIII. 20, I may wish boone fortune to thy iourney. 1631 Heywood Maid of West iv. Wks. 1874 II- 311 Quaffe unto the health of our boone voyage. C1645 Howell Lett. 1. i. iv. (1726) 21. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying Ins. 329 These cunning Philosophers.. can., with Judas embrace a man with a courtly boonecongee, and at parting cut a mans throat. [1680-: cf. bon voyage s.v. bon a. k].

3. Gracious, bounteous, benign; = L. almus, alma, poetic. a 1612 Harington Epigr. 11. (1633) 50 Our boon God did benignly heare. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 242 Flours.. which .. Nature boon Powrd forth profuse. ci8oo K. White Poems (1837) 146 But may all nature smile with aspect boon. 1814 Cary Dante (Chandos) 301 Its boon influence. 1841 Emerson Method Nat. Wks. 1875 II. 224 This wasteful hospitality with which boon nature turns off new firmaments. 1869 M. Arnold Switzerl. iii. Farewell xxi, How sweet to feel, on the boon air, All our unquiet pulses cease!

4. In boon companion, lit. ‘good-fellow’, used in a jovial bacchanalian sense, transferred to other phrases, and occas. predicatively: Jolly, convivial. 1566 Drant Med. Morall A v, He is my bone companion, its he that cheares up me. 1604 Meet, of Gallants at Ord. 21 A boone companion lighted amongst good fellowes, as they call good fellowes now a dayes, which are those that can drink best. 1622 Dekker & Massinger Virg. Martyr 11. i, Bacchus, .this boon Bacchannalian skinker. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 793 Hight’nd as with Wine, jocond and boon. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1755) 6 A boon companion, loving his bottle and his diversion. 1827 Lytton Pelham xiv, He was also the boonest of companions. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxi. (1856) 268 The effort of each man to. .be very boon and jolly. 1884 Tennyson Becket 61 My comrade, boon companion, my co-reveller.

b. Hence boon companionship; boonfellow (treated as a single word). 1844 Disraeli Coningsby 1. v. 23 All the resources of boon companionship. 1876 G. Meredith Beauch. Career II. ix. 171 A good friend and not a bad boonfellow.

f B. adv. Well, gently, favourably. Old Song, 'Oh! firm as Oak\ While boon the wind blows, And smooth the tide flows.

boon, v. Obs. or dial. Also 7 beun. [f. boon sft.1] f 1. To pray for, ask as a boon. Obs. c 1200 Ormin 694 }?att Zacariass Godess preost..O Drihhten haffde bonedd. Ibid. 5223 Lef faderr, icc J?e bone, 3iff me nu )?att twifalde gast.

2. trans. to boon away, to give away in boons. c 1661 in Harl. Misc. (1746) VIII. 27/1 What was got by Oppression, will be booned away by the King’s Liberality.

f3. intr.

To do boon-work: see boon sb.1 6.

1691 Ray N.C. Wds. 9 To Boon or Beun, to do Service to another as a Landlord.

f4. trans. To repair (public roads). dial. Perhaps as one of the chief forms of boon-work: but there may be influence of boon sb.1 or a. in other senses. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) i To boon [repair the roads], vias hyeme corruptas sestate reparare. 1877 E. Peacock N.W. Line. Gloss., Boon, to repair a highway, ‘I’d hev’ all cheches pull’d doon to boon th roads wi’.'

Cf,

1610 Folkingham Art of Survey iv. iv. 84 Boonage, Fines, Heriots, Reliefes.

boondock (’buindok). U.S. slang, [ad. Tagalog boon (bum), a. (and adv.) Forms: 4-9 bon, 4-7 bone, 4-5 bonne, (6 boun), 6-7 boone, (7 boune), 4- boon. [a. OF. bon, bone good: used esp. in what were orig. French phrases (e.g. bone chere, bon sire, bone order, bon voiage, bone fortune, etc.), but to some extent in general Eng. use from 14th to 17th c.; after 1600 it seems to have been consciously recognized as French, and gradually dropped, exc. in senses 3 and 4. In

dumping a can of footpowder into his boondockers. 1957 New Yorker 16 Nov. 193/1 My hacking jacket and pair of old Marine Corps boondockers.

boondoggle ('bu:ndDg(9)l), sb. and v. U.S. slang. [Origin unknown.] A. sb. a. (See quots. 1935.) b. A trivial, useless, or unnecessary undertaking; wasteful expenditure. B. v. intr. To engage in trifling or frivolous work. Hence 'boondoggle!-, 'boondoggling. 1935 R. Marshall in N. Y. Times 4 Apr. 2 ‘Boon doggies’ is simply a term applied back in the pioneer days to what we call gadgets today. 1935 Word Study Sept. 2 Boondoggle was coined for another purpose by Robert H. Link of Rochester. Through his connection with scouting the word later came into general use as a name given to the braided leather lanyard made and worn by Boy Scouts. 1935 Chicago Tribune 4 Oct., To the cowboy it meant the making of saddle trappings out of odds and ends of leather, and they boondoggled when there was nothing else to do on the ranch. 1935 H. L. Ickes Secret Diary (1953) I. 435, I am for substantial, worth-while, and socially desirable public works, while Hopkins is for what has come to be known as boondoggling. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 6 [In the 1936 American election] boondoggling became the current term for describing the waste assertedly evident in .. government agencies and bureaus. Administrators of relief became boondogglers to the Republican press and orators. 1947 Chicago Tribune 8 June 1. 22/2 The cost of this boondoggle has been estimated at perhaps 50 million dollars. 1949 R. K. Merton Social Theory (1951) vi. 178 This eliminates the very rationale of the intellectual’s work and dissipates his interest in his work, leading to the ‘boon doggling neurosis’. 1969 N. Y. Rev. Books 2 Jan. 5 (heading) Nixon and the arms race: the bomber boondoggle.

boonfellow, boon companion; see boon a. 4. boong (bu:ij).

Austral, slang. Also boang. [Aboriginal word.] An (Australian) Aboriginal; a native of New Guinea; also, any coloured person.

1941 K. Tennant Battlers ix. 110 Those boangs are all too matey with the police. 1943 Baker Diet. Austral. Slang (ed. 3) 13 Boong, an aboriginal; a native of New Guinea. 1945 R. J. Oakes in Coast to Coast 1944 99 He had six wounded men .. and four boongs to help him. 1950 ‘N. Shute’ Town like Alice 75 ‘I thought you were a lot of boongs,’ he said. ‘You say you’re English.’ 1962 Economist 10 Nov. 577/1 In Australian eyes, Indonesia was a nation of poor struggling ‘boongs’ (a slang word which in its narrowest sense is applied to the natives of New Guinea). 1969 Times 1 Apr. p. ii/5 He is trying to lead Australians away from what he calls the ‘poor old bloody boong’ mentality.

boong, obs. form of bung. boongary (buin'geari). [Native name: bangaray in the Port Jackson dialect.] The tree-kangaroo of North Queensland, Dendrolagus lumholtzii. 1889 R. B. Anderson tr. Lumholtz's Among Cannibals xviii. 227 Upon the whole, the boongary is the most beautiful mammal I have seen in Australia. 1965 E. Troughton Furred Animals Austral, (ed. 8) 175 The blacks concluded the Boongary never drank.

booning ('bumiij) vbl. sb. [f. boon

v.

+ -ing.1]

Doing of boon-work; repairing of public roads. 1862 Life Among Colliers 29 The tenants took it in turn to lead our coals, which custom was known as booning. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. Gloss., Booning (Line.), carting material for repairing the highways.

'booning, ppl. a. [f. boon v. + -ing2: prob. involving confusion with boon a.] Giving boons. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 134 As labour strength regains, From ale’s booning bounty given.

boonk.

A local name of the Little Bittern (Botaurus minutus). 1862 in G. Montagu Ornith. Diet. (1833) 49.

boonless (’buinlis), a. [f. boon sb. + -less.] Without a boon. (In boonless boon (imitating Gr. aSwpov Swpov) ‘a gift that is no gift.). 1863 P. S. Worsley Phaethon, Poems & Transl. 6 Thou hast asked a boonless boon. Ibid. 13 How boonless were the boon, if this were all.

boopic (bao'Dpik), a. rare-1, [f. Gr. flowms (f. /3ous, jSo- ox + d»i/i eye).] Ox-eyed. 1854 Badham Halieut. 66 A collyrium for the eyes of horses and bo-opic patients.

boon(e, boond(e, dial, or obs. ff. of bound. t'boonage. Obs. [f. boon sb.1 + -age. bonage.] = boon sb. 6; boon-work.

Hence 'boondockers, shoes suitable for rough outdoor use. *953 L. M. Uris Battle Cry n. iii. 127 Andy Hookans was

bundok mountain.] Rough country; jungle; an isolated or wild region. Usu. in pi. Also attrib. 1944 C. Wynn in C. Metcalf Marine Corps Reader m. 139 The sand and boondocks of Paris Island. 1950 H. L. Miller in Word Study Oct. 7/1 Today Marines use boondock clothes and boondock shoes for hikes and maneuvers. 1951 N.Y. Times Mag. 10 June 39/1 Sculthorpe is known to its temporary guests as ‘the boondocks’, as much for its isolation as anything else. 1965 Spectator 12 Mar. 317/1 Those who have been feeling the public pulse out in the boondocks report a good deal of unrest.

boor (bua(r)).

Forms: (5 boueer), 6-7 boore, bour, (7 bore, boar), 7- boor (9 bauer). [A word of involved history in and out of English, though the ultimate etymology is clear enough. The 16th c. bour, boore, may possibly have been native Eng., repr. an earlier *bur, short for OE. gebur ‘dweller, husbandman, farmer, countryman’ (Bosw.), a deriv. of bur ‘dwelling, house, cottage, bower’, f. the verb root, bu to dwell: cf. the compound neighbour:—ME. nejebur:—OE. neahsebur ‘nigh-dweller’, also modern East Anglian bor ‘neighbour’ as a form of address. But on the whole, in its literary use, the word is more likely to have been adopted from LG. bur, Du. boer: see the quots. under

«

BOOR sense 2, and Boer. These words are themselves etymological equivalents (or nearly so) of OE. Sebur; the OHG. form being gibur, giburo, MHG. gebur, gebure, MLG. gebur, and bur (occurring 1365), mod.LG. buur (made bauer in mod.HG.), MDu. ghebure, ghebuer, and buer; also (late) geboer, which was not properly a Du. form, but probably, according to Cosijn, adopted from Frisian, or, according to Franck, from the LG. on the eastern frontier of the Netherlands. This last is in mod.Du. boer. The original sense of WGer. gibur, giburo, was ‘inmate of a bur or bower, fellow-occupier of a dwelling, farm, or village; neighbour, mate’. Partly from being preserved mainly in rural use, but largely from association with the vb. buan (MHG., MDu. buwen, Ger. bauen, Du. bouwen) to inhabit, cultivate, till (of which, as we have seen, it was not a derivative, though a cognate word from same root bu-), its original connexion with bur, bower, was lost, and the sense more and more confined to that of ‘peasant, rustic’, and thence ‘clown’. While mod.Ger. has merged the word in form with bauer, agent-noun from bauen ‘to cultivate, to build’, mod.Du., on the contrary, makes a distinction in use between the native buur (MDu. ghebure, ghebuer) ‘neighbour’, and the adopted boer (MDu. geboer) ‘peasant, husbandman, farmer, clown, knave at cards’, and keeps both distinct from bouwer ‘tiller, builder’ (though in MDu. the latter was used in senses subsequently taken up by geboer, boer.]

1. A husbandman, peasant, countryman. Obs., exc. as in sense 3, into which it passes in later use. [1430: see bower sb.b] 1551 Turner Herbal {1568) Aiiij b, Absinthium rusticum, that is bouris or pesantes wormwode. 1592 R. Johnson 9 Worthies Biv, A countrie Boore, a goodlie proper swayne. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. v. ii. 173 Not swear it?.. Let Boores and Francklins say it, lie sweare it. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) III. App. iii. 633 Some remains of the ancient slavery of the boors and peasants. 1798 Malthus Popul. (1878) 326 While the land is cultivated by boors. [1820 Scott Monast. xxxvii, Times of action make princes into peasants, and boors into barons. 1850 Mrs. Browning Vis. Poets, Poems I. 204 The boor who ploughs the daisy down.]

2. Particularly, a Dutch or German peasant. (For the latter more definitely bauer occurs.) 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 254 To accuse Luther for the uproares raysed by the countrey Boores in Germany. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 58 My self chanced in Holland into the house of a Bore (as they term him) to lodge. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. 11. xviii. 116 Germany hath her Boores, like our Yeomen. 1645 Pagitt Heresiogr. (1662) 3 Upon this his preaching, about 40000 Bores and Trades-men rose up in Suevia. 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 977/3 The Bores, assisted with 800 Spanish Soldiers. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Netherl. I. 41 The people of Holland may be divided into five classes. 1. The boors or husbandmen. 1800 Coleridge Piccolom. 1. ii, The Boors Can answer fresh demands already [= der Bauer kann Schon wieder geben]. i860 Motley Netherl. (1868) II. ix. 11 Guarded by fifty men mostly boors of the country. [1879 Baring-Gould Germany I. 50 Lands were divided and sub-divided till the owners sank from being nobles to bauers.]

b. A Dutch colonist in Guiana, South Africa, etc. (For the latter Boer is now employed.) 1824 Burchell Trav. I. 13 The Boors must be heard, the Hottentots must be heard. 1832 Ht. Martineau Demerara ii. 23 The state of a boor as to health, comfort and security of property. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. iv. 184 Few but the very poorest boors.

c. Extended to foreign peasants generally. 1687 Cleveland Rustick Ramp. 488 What Boars of other Countrys could have compared with the Riches of our Peasants. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 3 The rude Carinthian boor. 1798 Canning in Anti-Jacobin 12 Mar., Russian boors that daily kick. 1798 Malthus Popul. 11. iii. (1806) I. 368 The fortune of a Russian nobleman is measured by the number of boors that he possesses.

3. A peasant, a rustic, with lack of refinement implied; a country clown. Pygmal. ii. 142, I dull-sprighted fat Boetian Boore. ci6io Rowlands Terrible Batt. 38 A paltry rusticke peasant boore. 1750 Wesley Wks. (1872) II. 207 Three or four boors would have been rude, if they durst. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xxii. 14 A dunce more boorish e’en than hedge-born boor. 1874 Sayce Compar. Philol. viii. 336 The country boor is blind to the beauties of nature. 1598

Marston

b .fig. Any rude, ill-bred fellow; a ‘clown’. 1598 Florio, Grossolano, a lubber, a clowne, a boore, a rude fellow. 1723 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 4 He was as to manners a mere boor or clown. 1849 Miss Mu loch Ogilvies i. (1875) 4 Hugh Ogilvie is a common-place, stupid boor. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xiii. 177 An ill-conditioned boor, not fit for the society of well-bred ladies.

4.

boor’s mustard, [ad. early mod.Ger. baurensenfe peasant’s mustard.] A name given by herbalists (since Turner) to Thlaspi arvense, a British wild plant; by Gerard to Lepidium ruderale. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes, Thlaspi.. is called in duche Baurensenfe.. It may be named in englishe dyshmustard, or triacle Mustard, or Boures Mustard. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 628 Turner calleth Thlaspi.. Bowers mustarde. 1597 Gerard Herbal 204/5 Bowiers or Bowyers mustard. 1878 Britten & Holl. Plant-N., Boor’s mustard.

boor(e, obs. form of boar, bower. boord(e, obs. var. of board, bord(e, bourd.

.

BOOSTER

402

boordly, variant of buirdly a. Sc. boorelie, -lye, obs. forms of burly. fboorinn. Obs. rare—1. [Pad. Du. boerin countrywoman, fern, of boer, boor.] A peasant woman, a female boor. 1649 Lovelace Poems 93 And th’ blood in each veine doth appeare Part thick Booreinn, part Lady Cleare.

boorish ('buarij), a. For forms see boor. [f. boor + -ISH1.] Of or pertaining to boors; rustic, clownish, uncultured, rude, coarse, illmannered. 1562 Turner Herbal 11. 51 Horehounde .. groweth .. in suche places as the bourishe wormwod groweth. c 1620 [Fletch. & Mass.] Trag. Barnavelt. 1. i. in Bullen O. PI. (1883) II. 210 With a boorish patience suffer The harvest that I labourd for to be Anothers spoile. 1660 Pepys Diary 19 May, Many Dutch boors eating of fish in a boorish manner. 1697 Dryden Virg. Ded., The Boorish Dialect of Theocritus has a secret Charm in it. 1726 Amherst Terras Fil. xlvi. 245 You are the first.. that ever call’d Oxford a boorish, uncivilized place. 1866 Mrs. Stowe Lit. Foxes 105 Comparing.. a polished rascal with a boorish good man.

fb. quasi-sb. the boorish: the vernacular of a boor; rude, illiterate speech, humorous. Obs. 1600 Shaks. A.Y.L. v. i. 54 You Clowne.. leaue the societie: which in the boorish, is companie, of this female.

boorishly ('busnfli), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2]. In a boorish manner. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. x. (1628) 330 A house bourishly built without carpentrie. 1826 Scott Rev. Kemble's Life (1849) 242 A young man .. boorishly educated and home-bred. 1862 Miss Braddon Lady Audley iii. 24 ‘Are you glad to see me?’ ‘Of course I’m glad, lass’, he answered, boorishly.

boorishness (’busnjnis). [f. as prec. + -ness.] The quality of being boorish; rusticity, rudeness. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 247 The boorishness of his rank in society. 1866 Sat. Rev. 13 Jan. 37/1 The curious mixture of feudal arrogance and clumsy boorishness.. surviving among Prussian aristocrats.

boorka, var. burka1,2. f boorn. Obs. [cf. ‘Exmoor bourn yeast’ (Halliw.).] ‘Wort, or boiled liquor.’ (Fuller.)

excellent. 1969 Gramophone Apr. 1502/3 A small amount of bass boost gives a well balanced performance. 1969 Scotsman 26 Apr. 6/6 [Scottish manufacturers] have expressed the opinion that they are doing all right.. with their exports and need no additional boosts.

2. In an internal-combustion or jet engine: = supercharging vbl. sb.; supercharger pressure. Also, = booster 2 c. Hence attrib. and Comb. 1931 Air Ann. Brit. Empire 88 It has been necessary to evolve a practical automatic boost-controlling mechanism. 1931 Handbk. Aeronaut, viii. 500 Boost Gauge, Mark II A. 1934 Aircraft Engin. Apr. 110/3 Boost pressure is the difference between induction pipe pressure and 760 mm. of mercury. 1941 P. Richey Fighter Pilot 57, I immediately started clambering after them, with my ‘plug (boostoverride) pulled. 1943 L. Cheshire Bomber Pilot i. 13 He tested .. the airscrew pitch controls and the boost. 1950 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanet. Soc. IX. 174 The thrust of the boost motors. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics ix. 385 The boost phase of flight.

boost (buist), v.

1. trans. To hoist; ‘to lift or push from behind (one endeavoring to climb); to push up. {Low)' Webster. Also fig. To assist over obstacles, to advance the progress of; to support, encourage; to increase (in value, reputation, etc.); to praise up, to extol; also absol. orig. U.S. colloq.

1815 D. Humphreys Yankey in England 103 Boost, raise up, lift up, exalt. 1834 Seba Smith Major Jack Downing 139 You.. give me a lift into public life, and you’ve been a boosting me along ever since. 1845 Yale Lit. Mag. XI. 34 (Th.), There is one poor fellow getting his comrade to boost him, while he hangs to the skirts of the one above. 1848-60 Bartlett Diet. Amer. s.v., Boost me up this tree, and I’ll hook you some apples, a i860 N. Y. Herald (Bartlett) Lord Palmerston was boosted into power by the agricultural interest of England. 1884 Harper's Mag. Aug. 484/1 To boost a jurist of so much helpless avoirdupois in through the carriage door. 1887 F. Francis Jr. Saddle & Mocassin 121 If you think that I’m trying to boost the place up because it belongs to us. 1909 Daily Chron. 21 Oct. 3/5 In times like these, when trade and other factors are bad, it is the duty of the Press to ‘boost’ in the interests of the nation, for when trade is good it will ‘boost’ itself. 1923 Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves ii. 22 Young Bingo must have boosted me to some purpose. 1926 Publishers' Weekly 16 Jan. 147 Perhaps advertising might help boost their sales.

2. Electr. To increase or otherwise regulate the electromotive force in (a circuit, battery, etc.).

boorn(e, obs. form of bourn, a brook.

1906 A. Russell Theory Altern. Currents II. x. 282 The pressure can be boosted positively or negatively. 1911 Engineer 10 Mar. 237/2 It is far more profitable to boost the pressure at the generating station. 1959 H. Burstein Stereo, How it Works ii. 43 With stereo program material it is no longer necessary to boost the intensity above live concert level to hear fine details.

boor-tree, var. of bour-tree Sc., elder.

3. To steal, esp. to shoplift; to rob. Also absol. Cf. booster 3. slang (orig. U.S.).

1609 C. Butler Fern. Mon. x. The end of boiling is thoroughly to incorporate the Boorne and the Honie. 1662 Fuller Worthies iv. 6 [in a receipt for metheglin] Take., one Gallon of the finest Honey, and put it into the Boorn.

boos, obs. form of boss. boosa, var. of boza, an oriental drink. boose (bu:z), sb. north. Forms: 5 booc, boce, buse, 5, 9 boos, bose, 5-9 boose, 9 bouse, boost. [First found in 15th c., but pointing to an OE. *bos (whence bosig, boosy, cow-stall), corresp. to ON. bas-s:—OTeut. *banso-z: cf. Ger. banse, Gothic bansts barn. (The phonetic forms in mod. dialects, Eng. and Sc. cannot be derived from the ON. word, but require an OE. form with o.)] A stall for a cow or (less usually) a horse; esp. the upper part of the stall, where the fodder is placed. See also BOOSY.

1912 [implied at booster 3]. 1915 W. Healy Individual Delinquent xviii. 548 He was a booster himself, he had already stolen. He says ‘You come on, I know a place where we can boost.’ 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. 24/2 Boost, steal, especially by shoplifting. 1951 Life 11 June 126/3 Boys turn to picking pockets, car ‘boosting’ and other forms of thievery. 1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned et is riht religiun, J?et euerich.. boruwe et tisse urakele worlde so lutel so he euer mei, of mete, of cloSe, of eihte. C1380 Wyclif De Dot. Eccles. Sel. Wks. III. 434 Wipout autorite borewid of o^er. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vm. xvii. (1495) 325 The mone hath no lyght of herself, but borowyth and takyth of the plente of the sonne. 1423 Jas. I. King's Q. 1. v, I in purpose, at my boke, To borowe a slepe, at thilke tyme began. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.) 80 Let hym borowe example at Salomon. 1595 Shaks .John v. i. 51 Inferior eyes That borrow their behauiours from the great. 1600 Holland Livy xxiv. xxii. 524 You were best therefore to borrow [sumeret] some respite of time of the Embassadours. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. 1. 96 Borrow part of Winter for thy Corn. 1706 A. Bedford Temple Mus. vi. 113 The Rabbies would.. borrow Words from other Languages. I7^3.J- Brown Poetry & Mus. xi. 184 Their [the Romans’] Music and Poetry was always borrowed and adopted, a 1847 R. Hamilton Rew. ou settest py selfe yn borghe gage.

f 'borrowgang. Obs. Forms: 4 borghegang, 4 Sc. borowgange, (erron. borrowgane), 7 Sc. borrowgang(e. [f. borrow sb. + gang (act of going); app. implying the existence of a phrase ‘to go borrow’; cf. to go bail.] Suretyship; the responsibility incurred by a surety. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9582 Quyte pe weyl oute of borghegang. a 1375 ? Barbour St. Egipciane 967, I kepyt nocht pe borowgane I drew hyr ine. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 48 The pledges .. either.. confes their borrowgange .. or they deny the samine.

fborrow-head1 (’borauhed). Obs. exc. Hist. [f. 3 4- head; cf. borsholder. The fuller form fridborhheved occurs in the (Latin) Laws of Edward the Confessor xx. Writers from the 16th c. onwards have often confounded borrow sb. 3 with borough; hence the incorrect form borough-head, commonly adopted in dictionaries.] Originally the head of afridborh or tithing (see borrow sb. 3); the word, with its synonyms borsholder, headborough, afterwards came to denote a parochial officer, now called a Petty Constable. borrow sb.

1581 Lambarde Eiren. i. iii. (1602) 13 Borowhead, Borsholder and Tythingman, bee three severall names of one selfe same office and do signifie The chiefe man of the free pledges within that Borowe or Tything. 1613 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 336 The conseruator of peace.. In a Tything [is called] a petie Constable, Borsholder, HeadBorough, Third-borough, Boroughhead, Tything-man, or Chiefe pledge. 1857 Toulm. Smith Parish 121 Tything¬ man, borsholder, borrowhead, headborough, chief-pledge, or provost. t'borrowhead2, -hood. Obs. [f. borrow sb. 2 + -head, -hood.] Suretyship. C1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. io pe boruheed of Crist pat witnessip ech trewe mannis tru)?e. ? 01500 Robin Hood (Ritson) 1. i. 955 Of the borowe hode thou spekest to me Herde I never ere.

borrowing (’bDraunj), vbl. sb.1 [f. borrow v.1] The action of the verb borrow (senses i, 2); taking on loan, taking at second-hand, etc.; also concr., that which is borrowed. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. 46 The Englysh prouerbe .. testyfyeth that he that goeth a borowynge, goeth a sorowynge. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 15 Sauying by borowyng, tyll we be in det. 0 1630 S. Page in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. li. 3 Our food and raiment, the necessaries of life, are borrowings. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. 11. xxiii. 147 Confession puts the difference betwixt stealing and borrowing. 1830 Coleridge Table T. iii So borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. 1882 J. W. Legg Liturgical Colours 11. 14 These colours.. seem to be a modern borrowing from Rome.

fb. In certain obsolete phrases: to do, give, lend borrowing: to lend, to take borrowing: to borrow, to ask in borrowing: to ask as a loan. C1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 277 J>at.. borwyng and lynynge be frely don to pore men. 1382-Prov. xxii. 7 He that taketh borewing, seruant is of the usurer. Ibid. Luke vi. 34 If 3e 3yuen borwynge to hem, of whiche 3e hopen to take a3en, what grace is to you? C1570 Leg. Bp. St. Andrews in Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801) II. 328 Sowmes of silver fra him [he] ast In borrowing. 1573 Sege Edinb. ibid. II. 287 Lend vs ane borrouing of 30ur auld blak bellis.

c. borrowing days: the last three days of March (Old Style), said in Scottish folk-lore to have been borrowed by March from April, and supposed to be specially stormy.

by the use of pipes of another stop or set. 1840 in Grove Diet. Mus. (1880) II. 600/2 ‘Borrowed’ Solo Organ. 1880 Ibid. 595/1 Choir Organ. 2 real stops; 4 borrowed... Borrowed by communication from the Great Organ. Ibid. 595/2 The extra department consisted of a complete borrowed organ of 13 stops derived from the Great Organ. Ibid., Second Great Organ. 13 borrowed stops.

1549 Compl. Scot. 38 The borial blastis of the thre borouing dais of marche. 1791 Statist. Acc. Scotl. I. 57 Born in the borrowing days. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi, xxviii, The bairns’ rime says, the warst blast of the borrowing days couldna kill the three silly poor hog-lams.

borrowee

1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) Il7 The norther part of the bay hath foule ground, and rockes under water; and therefore it is not wholesome borrowing of the mayne.

(.borao'i:). rare.

[f. as prec. + -ee.]

One from whom something is borrowed; 1885 Spectator 13 June 779/2 Nobody ever met a borrower who was not savage at a refusal, unless the borrowee were a bank.

borrower (’bDr3U3(r)). [f. as prec. + -er.] 1. One who takes a thing on security or

on

credit. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 44 Borware [1499 borower], mutuator, sponsor. 1602 Shaks. Ham. 1. iii. 75 Neither a borrower, nor a lender be. 1677 Yarranton Eng. Improv. 15 Here are both to the Lender and Borrower great Advantages. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. II. iv. 360 Sober people are universally preferred as borrowers. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 314 The borrower should be under no obligation to repay either capital or interest. 2. transf. and fig. One who adopts a thing, uses it temporarily, or takes it at second-hand. 1605 Shaks. Macb. in. i. 27, I must become a borrower of the Night, For a darke houre, or twaine. 1750 Harris Hermes Wks. (1841) 236 We have been remarkable

borrowing ('bDrauii}), vbl. sb2 Naut. [f. borrow v.2] Sailing close to land or to the wind.

'borrowing, ppl. a. [f. borrow v.1 + -ing2.] That borrows. Hence 'borrowingly adv. 1640 Brome Sparagus Gard. 1. iii, I hope you will not.. urge me beyond patience with your borroughing attempts. Ibid. Your countenance.. lookes so borrowingly. 1855 Dickens Dorrit ix, They eyed him with borrowing eyes. 1866 Crump Banking vii. 148 As an import to the lending country, and as an export to the borrowing country.

'borrow-pit. [app. f. borrow a.1] In civil engineering, an excavation formed by the removal of material to be used in filling or embanking. Also 'borrow-hole. 1893 Kipling Day's Work (1898) 2 Tiny asses climbing out of the yawning borrow-pit below with sackfuls of stuff. 1901 Practitioner Mar. 258 ‘Borrow-holes’ in railway embankments. 1907 Notes on Books June 267/2 An easily applied check on borrow-pit measurements.

BORROWSHIP f 'borrowship. Obs. rare. = borrowage. c 1440 Promp. fidejussio.

Parv.

44

Borwage

[K.

borweshepe],

borsch (bo:J, borjtj). Also borscht, borshch, bortsch. [Russ, borshch.] A Russian soup of several ingredients, esp. beetroot and cabbage. 1884 J. Paget Let. 2 Sept, in Mem. & Lett. (1901) 11. vi. 346 A real Russian dinner—first there was a strange thing called Borsch. 1927 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 294/1 Caviare, crimson bowls of bortsch, with thick seasoned cream. 1929 Daily Tel. 22 Jan. 7/6 The borscht is a delicious consomme of beef and duck, ham, beetroot. 1939 Collier's 21 Jan. 40/1 The other new words came in a steady flood: Big time .. the borscht circuit (Catskill Mt. summer resorts booking lifeof-the-party m.c.’s). 1963 V. Nabokov Gift iii. 153 She was slowly mixing a white exclamation mark of sour cream into her borshch.

borsella Jjbofseb). [Perversion of It. procello.] In glass-making, an instrument for modifying the form of vessels. [1699 tr. H. Blancourt's Art of Glass 31 The Instruments mark’d B. serve to finish the Work, which the Italians call Ponteglo, Passago, Procello, Spiei, and also Borsello, whereof we want the Figure.] 1823 G. Crabb Technol. Diet., Borsella (Mech.), an instrument with which glass makers contract or extend their glasses at pleasure.

borsholder ('bo:sh3uld3(r)). Obs. exc. Hist. Also 6 borsolder, 6-8 bosholder, 7 bursholder, 9 in historical writers bors-, borhs-ealdor. [The spelling borghesaldre in the AF. Statutes of the Realm (I. 223) points to OE. *borges aldor, f. borges, gen. case of borh (borrow sb. 3) 4- ALDER sb,2 Not connected with borough.] The chief of a tithing (borrow sb. 3) or frank¬ pledge; afterwards a parish officer identical in functions with the Petty Constable (= BORROWHEAD,

BOSE-EINSTEIN

420

HEADBOROUGH,

TITHINGMAN).

(Also fig.) 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, x, Euery.. hedborowe, thyrdborowe, borsholder, and euery other lay officer, 1609 Sir E. Hoby Letter to T.H. 3, I dispatched this paper, as my Borsholder. 1618 Dalton Country Just, in Halliwell Shaks. VI. 324 There be other officers of much like authority to our constables, as the borsholders in Kent, the third-borow in Warwickshire, and the tythingman and burrow-head, or headborow, or chiefe-pledge in other places. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1357/1 His Majesty doth hereby strictly Charge all Constables, Churchwardens, Headboroughs, Tythingmen, Borsholders, and other Parish Officers. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. 356 The antient headboroughs, tithing-men, and borsholders, were made use of to serve as petty constables. 1857 Toulm. Smith Parish 15 Elsewhere, the name headborough, and elsewhere that of borsholder, was and is in use. 1872 E. Robertson Hist. Ess. 114 The.. Parish Constable and beadle, representatives of the Borh’s Ealdor and the Bode or messenger of the Court.

Borstal, borstal ('bosstsl). [Name of a village near Rochester in Kent.] In full Borstal institution: a reformatory for ‘juvenile adults’, conducted according to the method first put into practice at the reformatory at Borstal and adopted afterwards elsewhere. Also attrib. So Borstal system: a system established in 1908 whereby young persons convicted of criminal offences between the ages of 16 and 23 may be sent to a Borstal institution for a period of reformative training, usu. 3 years, after which they are released subject to further supervision by the Borstal Association. Hence Bor'stalian, an inmate of a Borstal. [1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 8/1 In 1901.. a ‘juvenileadult reformatory’ was opened at Borstal, near Rochester, by the conversion of a part of the existing convict prison.] 1907 Daily Chron. 6 June 5/4 The ‘Borstal prisoner’. 1907 Borstal System 2 Every lad who is imprisoned in Dartmoor or Borstal passes into the care of the Borstal Association on his discharge. 1917 Times 7 Feb. 5/6 Four youths have escaped from the Borstal Institution, Rochester. 1921 Glasgow Herald 15 Nov. 6 The Borstal boys have five meals a day at Portland. 1923 (title) The Borstalian. 1951 Lancet 3 Mar. 519/1 The only open borstal for girls is at East Sutton. Ibid. 519/2 A survey of 300 borstal girls. 1957 Encycl. Brit. III. 924/1 There are now in England four Borstal institutions—at Chatham, Feltham and Portland for youths, and that for girls at Aylesbury. 1958 Observer 19 Oct. 21/6 There are sharp sketches of fellow Borstalians.

Also transf. as adj. 1936 ‘J- Tey’ Shilling for Candles x. 112 Grant thought how Borstal she was in spite of her soignee exterior. That air of resentment against the world in general and her own fate in particular was very familiar to him.

'borstall. local. Also 7 bostal. [? f. OE. beorh a hill (barrow sb.1) + OE. stigel(e, stile. But the explanation ‘seat on the side or pitch of a hill’ given by Bp. Kennett (see Halliwell), suggests OE. *beorh-steall.] (See quot.) 1674 Ray 5. & E. Country Wds. 59 Bostal, a way up a hill. Suffolk. 1880 L. J. Jennings Rambles among Hills 199 One of the steep paths up the hillside known in the South Down district as bostalls or borstalls. 1884 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 330 The steep paths which wind up to the summit [of the Downs] retain their Saxon name of borstalls.

fborstax. Obs. rare—1. ? Some kind of axe. c 1300 Song Husbandm. in Pol. Songs 151 Mi bil ant my bors tax.

borsten, obs. form of burst.

borstyan, variant of bustian, Obs., cloth. bort (bo:t). Also 7 bourt, 9 boart. [Possibly a. OF. bord, bort, bastard; the word is used in mod.F. (Littre, supplement) as bord and bort, but is not in Cotgr. 1611.] The fragments removed from diamonds in cutting, when too small for jewellery; also diamonds of too coarse a quality for jewellery: used to make diamond powder. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 74 The Flat Diamonds, which are in the superficies of the Bourt of Diamonds, and are impure, commonly beaten therefore into powder for the vse of the other Diamonds, that are cut and polished by the Millne. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. in. iii. 113 A flat Press, where under Steel-wheels the Diamonds are fastned; and with its own Bort are worn into what Cut the Artist pleases. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India I. II. viii. 353 In a flat press, where under steel wheels, the diamonds are fastened, and with its own bort are worn into what cut the artist pleases. 1884 F. Britten Watch & Clockm. 129 Drills are selected from needle-shaped pieces of bort. 1959 Times 18 Nov. 21/1 The diamonds produced in the laboratory. . are similar to so called boart or abrasive grit.

boru(gh, boruwen, obs. forms of borrow. boru(3, obs. form of borough. 'boruret. Chem. [f. bor-on + -uret.] Earlier name for a boride, now generally disused. 1847 in Craig.

Borussian (bau'rAjan), sb. and Borussi pi. or Borussia (app. perversion of stem Prusas if f. alongside + Russia): see -ian.]

a. [f. med.L. etymologizing Slavonic po by,

= Prussian. 1607 Topsell Four-F. Beasts 211 They [elks] are .. found .. in the wood Hercynia, and among the BorussianScythians. 1608 -—- Serpents 23 The auncient Borussians, worshipped a naturall Serpent of the earth. 1718 T. Purney Chevalier de St. George 49 As regal Beast From Dwolm Borussian bursts. 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 702/1 The Lithuanian stem was divided into three main branches:—the Borussians or Prussians; the Letts.. and the Lithuanians. 1921 Trans. Scott. Eccles. Soc. 126 So far as they are free from Wendish or Borussian admixture. 1925 Contemp. Rev. Jan. 72 The country was occupied by aboriginal tribes of Finns, Letts, Lithuanians, Borussians, and Poles or kindred Slavs.

of

1570 Levins Manip. 60 A Borwen, cumulus.

borzoi ('boizDi). Also 9 barzoi. [a. Russ, borzoi, a male dog of the breed called borzaya, f. borzyi swift.] A breed of dog, also called the Russian or Siberian wolf-hound. 1887 Field 14 May 679/1 The Russian barzoi, or Siberian wolfhound, is one of the noblest of all dogs. 1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 11 Feb. 7/2 The Grand Duke owns seventy of these barzois or Russian wolfhounds. 1892 Field 5 Mar. 325/1 There seems to be a general feeling among owners of Borzois that the time has now arrived for the successful starting of a special club. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 9 Oct. 7/2 The Borzois Club is going to be remodelled, but I am glad to hear.. that there is no immediate intention of altering the existing scale of Borzoi points. 1945 C. L. B. Hubbard Observer's Bk. Dogs 30 The Borzoi arrived in England about 1875. 1969 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Mar. 236/4 One inevitably comes up with Gollancz’s yellow jackets,.. Alfred A. Knopfs borzoi colophon, and so on. v.

a 1734 North Lives II. 181 His garden was exquisite, being most boscaresque.

bosce, obs. form of boss. || bosch1 (properly bos, usually boj). Also bosh. [Du. bosch a wood, bush.] Used by the Dutch settlers in South Africa, and thence in comb., as: bosch-bok, an antelope of South Africa, the Bush-buck; bosch-man = Bushman (the word used in Holland, however, is boschjesman); bosch-vark, a species of wild pig in South Africa. 1786 tr. Sparrman’s Voy. Cape G.H. 271, I saw and gave chase to the bosch-bok. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. 76 The boschbok oft would bound away. Ibid. iii. 161 The boschvark, or wood-swine. 1854 H. Miller Footpr. Creat. ix. (1874) 156 The degraded boschmen of creation.

bosch2, bosh (bDj). [In full, bosch butter, i.e. artificial butter manufactured at ’sHertogenbosch or ‘Bosch’ (Bois-le-duc) in Holland.] An imitation of butter, otherwise called butterine, usually consisting of oleomargarine with a small proportion of genuine butter. Also bosch butter. 1879 Echo 7 Apr. 3/4 It was known in the trade by the name of‘bosh’. 1880 Daily News 26 Feb. 5/2 Oleomargarine .. is generally sold in this country under the name of ‘butterine’, but it is also known commercially by the more expressive term ‘bosch’.

Bosch(e: see Boche. boschayle, var. of bushaile, Obs., copse, bosche, boscher, obs. ff. bush, butcher. 1654 Gayton Fest. Notes 11. iii. 42 The boscos, and suboscos (I mean) the dulapes and the jawy part of the face.

borwch, borwe-n, obs. forms of borrow.

bos = behoves: see bus

t boscaresque, a. Obs. rare—1, [f. It. bosco wood, or perh. boscareccio (Florio) woody; after picturesque. (Cf. F. boscaresque, used by Rousseau.)] Picturesque with sylvan scenery.

f bosco. Obs. ? Distortion of boss.

borw(3, obs. form of borough, burrow.

t'borwen. Obs. rare. [? Parallel form burien:—OE. byrgen] A mound, heap.

xii. § 1 (1615) 88 To be quit of Boscage.. is to be discharged of paying any duetie for windfall woods. 1672 Cowell s lnterpr., Boscage, is such sustenance as Wood and Trees yield to Cattel, viz. Mast. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Boscage sometimes denoted a tax or duty laid on wood brought into the city.

Obs.; also obs. f. boss.

bosa, var. of boza, an oriental drink. bosard(e, obs. form of buzzard. boscage, boskage ('bDskid3). Also 5 buscage, (7 boxage). [ME. boskage, a. OF. boscage (mod.F. bocage) wooded country, a thicket:—late L. boscaticum, f. late L. boscu-m wood: see -age; cf. the It. equivalent boscaggio.] 1. A mass of growing trees or shrubs; a thicket, grove; woody undergrowth; sylvan scenery. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 1671 Als he went in that boskage, He fond a letil ermytage. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour I ij b, She .. suffred so moche euylle and meschyef in the buscage. 1522 Skelton Why nat to Court II. 50 And with such corage Hunte the boskage. 1626 Bacon New Atl. (1650) 1 A Land Flat to our sight, and full of Boscage. 1719 J. Aubrey Surrey IV. 173 Thick Boscages of Box-Trees. 1830 Tennyson Dream Fair Women 243 The sombre boskage of the wood. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. vn. vii. 260 The cool boscages and orangeries of the place.

f2. The pictorial representation of wooded landscape; also, a decorative design imitating branches and foliage. Obs. 1610 Folkingham Art Survey 11. vi. 58 Compartiments are Blankes or Figures bordered with Anticke Boscage or Crotesko-woorke. 1624 Wotton Archit. (1672) 59 Chearful Paintings in Feasting and Banquetting Rooms.. Landskips and Boscage, and such wild works in open Tarraces. 1679 The Confinement 57 Boscage within each Chamber must be shown, Or the mean pile no Architect will own. f3. Law. (Meaning disputed; see quots.)

Obs. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 145/2 He gaf to them of that hows the fee ryall of that buscage. 1598 Manwood Lames Forest

bose (baus), sb.1 Colloq. abbrev. of bosun. 1912 J. Masefield in English Rev. XII. 376 The bose half blind, Spat. 1927 J. Sampson Seven Seas Shanty Book 47 A handy Bose and a handy Sails.

Bose (bauz), sb.2 The name of S. N. Bose (see boson) used attrib. in place of Bose-Einstein, as Bose condensation, statistics. 1931 Sci. Abstr. A. XXXIV. 187 The Bose statistics. 1932 Physical Rev. XL. 1029 One can as yet not decide from isotherm measurements alone whether or not real gases obey the Bose statistics. 1967 J. Wilks Liquid & Solid Helium xi. 309 A perfect gas of even atomic mass should obey Bose statistics, and exhibit a Bose condensation below a certain temperature. 1968 C. G. Kuper Introd. Theory Superconductivity ix. 156 This formalism is a generalization of the quantum mechanics of a single particle to a system of many non-interacting particles obeying Bose statistics.

bose(b3us), v. [cf. E.D.D. Bors v.3 to bang, Boss adj. hollow, empty (= boss a.).] To test (ground) for the presence of buried structures by noting the sound of percussion from a weighted rammer. So 'boser, an instrument used for this purpose; 'bosing vbl. sb., the action or process of testing ground in this way. 1929 Antiquity III. 231 The plan made by Dr. Curwen, based upon ‘bosing’ and excavation, is full of interest. 1930 Ibid. IV. 30 The ‘boser’ can easily be made out of a narrow cylindrical tin filled with about 8 lbs. of lead. 1953 R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. (ed. 2) i. 31 The first of these [methods], known as 'bosing', consists in percussing the surface of the ground with a weighted rammer and listening to the sound thus produced. Over undisturbed ground the sound is dull;.. over a filled-up ditch or pit it changes to a more resonant note... A heavy pick-axe may be used as a boser.

bose, obs. form of boose, boss, bush. Bose-Einstein (.bauz'ainstain). Physics. [The names of S. N. Bose (see boson) and Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American physicist.] Bose-Einstein condensation, in a system of bosons, the existence of a proportion of the particles in a zero-energy state when the temperature is below a certain value; BoseEinstein particle = boson; Bose-Einstein statistics, a type of quantum statistics used with systems of indistinguishable particles which have the property that any number can occupy the same quantum state; cf. Fermi-Dirac statistics. 1928 Proc. Physical Soc. XL. 329 In the Bose-Einstein statistics A is essentially positive. 1938 Physical Rev. LIV. 7 (heading) On the Bose-Einstein condensation. 1948 ott & Sneddon Wave Mech. 1st its Applications xi. 354 Field theory for Bose-Einstein particles. 1955 H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 131 The remarkable feature

BOSEY of Bose-Einstein condensation is that a sizable fraction of the particles is forced by the statistics into.. a state which should have curious and essentially non-classical properties. 1968 C. G. Kijper Introd. Theory Superconductivity ix. 156 A collection of particles obeying Bose-Einstein statistics has a wave function which is symmetrical under the interchange of any two particles.

bosey:

BOSOM

421

see bosie.

bosh (bo]), sb.1 [Origin unknown; senses 1 and 2 may be of distinct derivation. Sense 1 has been compared with Ger. boschen to slope. The plur. form is due to the fact that blast-furnaces were formerly of square section, and the ‘boshes’ were the four sloping walls of the lower portion.] 1. pi. In a blast-furnace, the lower part of the shaft, sloping downwards from the belly, or widest part, to the hearth. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 162 Where these oblique walls terminat, which they term the boshes. 1864 Q. Jrnl. Science I. 492 The body and boshes being made of distinct truncated cones.

2. ‘A trough in which bloomary tools (or, in copper-smelting, hot ingots) are cooled.’ Raymond Mining Gloss. 1881. fbosh (bo]), sb.2

Obs. [Origin unknown: perhaps a corruption of F. ebauche outline, rough-hewn figure.] An outline, rough sketch. Hence (?) to cut a bosh: to make a figure, to make an imposing, swaggering appearance.

the most exquisite anguish. 1882 ‘F. Anstey’ Vice Versa iv, There was no dancing, only boshy games and a conjuror.

118 The Middle Stone Age people—the Boskop race—of South Africa were not one race but several.

bosie

bosky (’boski), a.1

('bauzi). Austral. Also bosey. [Hypocoristic f. the name of B. J. T. Bosanquet, an English cricketer: see -IE.] = googly sb. Also attrib.y as bosie bally bowler, bowling. 1912 Australasian 2 Mar. 481/2 Then he lifted the ‘Bosie’ bowler high to the on. 1920 E. R. Wilson in P. F. Warner Cricket ii. 74 The ‘googly’ or ‘Bosie ball’ as it was afterwards christened in Australia. 1927 Observer 13 Feb. 23/6 The finest exponent of ‘Bosie’ bowling in the world. 1930 C. V. Grimmett Getting Wickets i. 22 It was at this time that I learned to bowl the ‘bosie’ or ‘googly’—an off-break with a leg-break action. 1954 A. G. Moyes Austral. Batsmen xiv. 186 The changes in bowling style and tactics .. from off-spin to speed, to ‘boseys’.

bosk (bosk). Also 3-4 boske, (9 bosque, rare).

bosky.

1297 R. Glouc. 547 Hii houede vnder boskes. c 1300 Prov. Hendyng xx, Vnder boske shal men weder abide, quoj? Hendyng. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 322 BoJ?e boskez & bourez & wel bounden penez.

fbosman. U.S. Obs. Also bosseman. [ad. Fr. bosseman (cf. G. bootsmann boatswain).] = bowsman. Obs.

2. A thicket of bushes and underwood; a small wood.

[1807 C. C. Robin Voyages II. 212 Les rameurs sont distribues egalement de chaque cote; a l’arriere est le patron qui gouverne, et en avant un homme, nomme bosman, une perche a la main, sonde les lieux oil Ton craint de toucher.] 1876 Scribner's Monthly Jan. 404/2 A man in the bow called the bosman, who generally wielded a sort of a boathook, watched the course. 1906 Trans. Kansas State Hist. Soc. IQ05-6 IX. 272 The captain of the boat, called the ‘patron’, did the steering, and his assistant, called the ‘bosseman’, stood on the bow, pole in hand, and gave directions to the men at the cordelle.

bosh (boj), sb.3 slang or colloq. [a. Turk, bosh

Hence f boske addre, lit. viper, a serpent (L. coluber).

2. int. Stuff and nonsense! Humbug! 1850 C. Kingsley Let. 31 May in Life & Works (1902) VII. 28 Theirs is now discovered not to be a necessary trade. Bosh! The question is this—[etc.]. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxi, Bosh! It’s all correct. Ibid, xxiv, Bosh, what’s my head running against!

bosh, sb.4 slang, [ad. Romany bosh- to crow, fiddle, etc., a. Skr. vas-to low, bellow.] A fiddle. Comb.: bosh-faker, -killer, -man, one who plays a fiddle. 1846 Swells Night Guide 47 A boshman every Tuesday night for hopping and chaunting. 1859 Hotten Diet. Slang, Bosh, a fiddle. Bosh-Faker, a violin player. 1865 F. H. Nixon Peter Perfume 102 ‘Boshman’ in the old-hand vernacular signifies a fiddler. 1876 W. Green Cheap Jack 231 Can you rocker Romanie, Can you fake a bosh? 1935 X. Petulengro Romany Life xxxiii. 119 Rudy and Adolphus were the 6o$/z-killers (we spoke English Romany now); I played the melodeon.

fbosh, v.1 Obs. [f. bosh si.2] intr. To cut a dash; to make a show; to flaunt. 1709 Steele & Swift Tatler No. 71 [P 8 When to the plain Garb of Gown and Band a Spark adds an inconsistent long Wig, we do not say now he Boshes, but there goes a Smart Fellow. 1726 Amherst Terrae Fil. xxxiii. 180 Bosh it about town in lace ruffles.

bosh (boj), v.2 slang, [f.

trans. To make of no effect; to spoil; to humbug. bosh s6.3]

1870 Macm. Mag. XXI. 71 You ‘bosh’ his [a man’s] joke by refusing to laugh at it; you ‘bosh’ his chance of sleep by playing upon the cornet all night in the room next to him. 1883 Miss Braddon Gold. Calf xiv, Boys would get on capitally with Jardine. They’d never try to bosh him.

bosh:

slang, [f. bosh sb.3 -I- -er.1] One who talks ‘bosh’ or nonsense. ('bD[3(r)).

1913 D. H. Lawrence Let. 17 Jan. (1932) 94 Don’t ever mind what I say. I am a great bosher, and full of fancies that interest me. 1939 H. G. Wells Holy Terror 1. iii. 89 ‘The man’s a blatant bosher.’ ‘He’s not. He knows exactly what he is up to.’

bosholder,

obs. form of borsholder.

bosh-shot:

see boss-shot.

boshy

‘bush-adder’:

a

('bDji), a.

[f. bosh sb.3 + -Y1.] Of the nature of bosh; contemptible, worthless. i860 J. M. Atkinson Let. 6 May in Richmond-Atkinson Papers (i960) I. x. 577 The concentration of ‘boshy’ gossip in town is wearisome. 1864 ‘Mark Twain’ Sk. Sixties (1927) 11. 132, I read your boshy criticisms on the opera with

1730-6 Bailey, Bosky, half or quite fuddled. 1824 Blackw. Mag. XVI. 573 He may be tipsy, bosky, cut, or anything but drunk. 1843 T. Hook in New Month. Mag. LX. 11 Became, to use a colloquial expression, uncommonly

1382 Wyclif Ex. vii. 9 Tak thin 3erde, and throw it bifore Pharao, and be it turned into a bosk eddre .. The 3erde .. was tumyd into a boske addre.

Bosniac (’bozmaek). Also -ak. [ad. F. Bosniaque, or G. Bosniake, ad. Russ. Bosnyak.] = Bosnian sb.

boskage, variant of boscage.

1836 Penny Cycl. V. 231/1 The inhabitants of Bosnia are composed of Bosniaks, a race of Sclavonian origin. 1848 E. Lear Jrnl. of Landscape Painter in Albania (1851) 17 The packed Wallachians, and Bosniacs, and Jews started crampfully from the deck. 1920 Edin. Rev. Oct. 218 The ruling race absorbed large numbers of Christians, Greeks, Slavs, and later on Albanians and Bosniacs.

boske(n, obs. form of busk v. to prepare. bosker ('bDsk3(r)), a. Austral, and N.Z. slang. Now obsolescent. Also formerly 'boscar, 'boshter. [Origin unknown.] Good, excellent, delightful. Cf. bonzer a. Hence as sb. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands i. 1 ‘She’s er little boshter!’ he said vehemently. ‘Y’ orter seen ’er.’ Ibid. xii. 151 He promised to show Feathers a ‘boshter knack for passing out gazobs’! 1909 A. H. Adams Galahad Jones i. 8 It’s a ‘bosker’ castle. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought' of Darling xxxv. 314 ‘That’s it—my word, it’s a bosker, that is’ the driver whispered to the Sydney passenger. 1911 ‘Kiwi’ On Swag vii. 14 We gave him a boscar funeral. 1916 Anzac Book 36 ‘A boshter night for a walk,’ I remarked, buttoning my coat about me. 1922 A. E. Mulgan Three Plays N.Z. 36 That’s a boscar song. 1926 I. M. Peacocke His Kid Brother iv. 54 What bosker fun. 1943 F. Sargeson in Penguin New Writing XVIII. 63 It turned out a bosker day. 1952 A. Grimble Pattern of Islands 68 ‘Cripes!’ he said. ‘She’s a fair bosker, ain’t she, son!’

,

bosket, bosquet ('boskit). [18th c. a. F. bosquet

ad. It. boschettOy dim. of bosco wood. See also the earlier forms bushet, busket; and cf. bouquet.] A plantation in a garden, park, etc., of underwood and small trees; a thicket. 1737 Miller Gard. Diet., Bosquets.. are small Compartments of Gardens.. form’d of Trees, Shrubs, or tall large growing plants. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 316 There are bushes and boskets enough by the river side. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. 11. viii. 238 A gravel circle encompassing a bosquet of laurel, laurestinus and holly. 01847 Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor IV. xviii. 27 Nothing was to be seen but stiff parterres, trim avenues, close bosquets, grottoes, and Chinese bridges. 1859 L. Oliphant China (sf Japan I. xii. 237 Charming little boskets with mossy seats.

Hence bo'squettish a. 1881 Academy No. 491. 252 To him plants become bosquettish.

boskiness ('boskinis). [f. bosky a.1 + -ness.] The quality of being bosky. 01844 in W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. (1855) iv. 57 Tangled, .boskiness. ci86o Imperial Gaz. Scotl. I. 222. 1863 Hawthorne Old Home (1879) 56 A shadowy secluded grove, with winding paths among its boskiness.

see bosch2.

bosher

dial, or slang, [perh. a humorous use of prec., with the notion of ‘overshadowed’ or ‘obscured’.] Somewhat the worse for drink, tipsy.

[The early ME. bosk(e was a variant of busk, bush; bosk and busk are still used dialectally for bush; but the modern literary word may have been evolved from bosky.] f 1. A bush. Obs. exc. dial.

1814 Scott Ld. Isles v. xv, Meantime, through wellknown bosk and dell, I’ll lead where we may shelter well. 1847 Tennyson Princ. i. no Blowing bosks of wilderness. 1862 Lytton Str. Story II. 82 Every bosk and dingle. 1878 H. Phillips Poems fr. Span. Germ. 69 In a flowery bosque there flies a bird. 1885 Century Mag. 544 It is planted with pleasant little bosks and trim hedges.

[1834 Morier Ayesha I. 219 This firman is bosh—nothing. Ibid. I. 283 The parts [of the Koran] which are taken from the Christian Bible are divine; [the other parts] are spurious. They are bosh—nothing.] 1850 P. Crook War of Hats 19 Some nameless bosh—seduction—or crim. con. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. (1878) 174 And were pure bosh and wind. 1864 Miss Yonge C’tess Kate xii. 212 Don’t talk bosh out of your books. 1885 Illustr. Lond. News 23 May 539/2, I can write something that is not bosh.

1593 Peele Chron. Edw. I. (1874) 407 In this bosky wood Bury his corpse. 1610 Shaks. Temp. iv. i. 81 My boskie acres, and my vnshrubd downe. 1634 Milton Comus 312 And every bosky bourn. 1757 Dyer Fleece (1807) 79 The bosky bourns of Alfred’s shires. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. xiv, The bosky thickets. 1851 H. Melville v. 33 A brown and brawny company with bosky beards.

bosky (’bDski), a.2

bosjesman: see Bushman.

1726 Amherst Terras Fil. xlvi. 245 Who has handsomer tie-wigs, or more fashionable cloaths, or cuts a bolder bosh than Tom Paroquet? Ibid. 247 Laughing at everybody., that does not cut as bold a bosh as they do. 1751 Student II. 287 A man who has learned but the bosh of an argument, that has only seen the shadow of a syllogism.

empty, worthless; the word became current in Eng. from its frequent occurrence in Morier’s novel Ayesha (1834), which was extremely popular, especially in the ‘Standard Novels’ edition 1846.] 1. Contemptible nonsense, ‘stuff; trash; foolish talk or opinions.

[f. bosk (not recorded between 14th and 19th c., but preserved in dial.) + -y; or alteration of busky, after It. boscoso.] Consisting of or covered with bushes or underwood; full of thickets, bushy. (Also transf.)

Boskop (’boskop). [The name of a place in the Transvaal, South Africa.] In attrib. use with man, racey etc.: of or belonging to the early type of man indicated by the skull of the late Pleistocene period found at Boskop. Hence 'Boskopoid a. [-oid], characterized by the type of skull found at Boskop; also as sb. 1915 Nature 5 Aug. 615/2 The Boskop man was of the Neanderthal race, but more advanced in intelligence. 1926 Bantu Studies II. 219 Comparison has been made mainly with the Boskopoid remains from Zitzikama reported upon .. during the last two years, and with the descriptions of the original Boskop remains. 1948 A. L. Kroeber Anthropol. (ed. 2) iii. 108 Undoubtedly Neanthropic is the Boskop type. .. The Boskop type skulls are massive and large. 1959 J. D. Clark Prehist. S. Afr. iv. 97 The physical types belonging with the earlier occupation levels at this site were in fact ‘Bush-Boskopoids’. 1966 E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo vii.

Bosnian ('briznisn), a. and sb. [f. Bosnia: see -ian. Cf. F. bosnien.] A. adj.

Of or pertaining to Bosnia, a province of Yugoslavia. B. sb. A native of Bosnia. 1788 [see Servian sb.]. 1830 C. Fraser Hist. War in Bosnia 17 A number of females who, like the ancient Bosnian women, acquired the courage of heroes. Ibid. 63 Mohammed set off with five or six thousand horsemen, Bosnians. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 230/1 The Verbas, another Bosnian river, rises in the heart of the country. 1847 [see Turk1 2]. 1847 Mrs. A. Kerr tr. Ranke's Hist. Servia 167 He opposed to the great Bosnian army about 1500 men. 1924 Contemp. Rev. Nov. 620 ‘The Bosnians are never satisfied’, we were told. 1949 L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 103 The Bosnian peasants in their dramatic costume.

bosom ('buzam), sb. Forms: i bosm, bosum, 2-3 bosm, bosem, Orm. bosemm, 3-6 bosum (in 6 only Sc.), 4-7 bosome, (6 bosym, bowsum, boosome), 4- bosom. [OE. bosm = OFris. bosm, OS. bosom (MDu. boesem, Du. boezem), OHG. buosam (MHG. buosem, mod.G. busen):—WGer. *bosm- (not in EGer.). Remoter etymology unknown: it has been conjectured that *bdsmostands for *boh-smo, f. *bohu-:—OAryan *bhaghu-s arm (bough); the word would then, like the partially synonymous fathom, primarily mean the space embraced by the two arms.] I. 1. a. The breast of a human being; also poet. of a bird, etc. c 1000 ^lfric Numb. xi. 12 Dset ic hij baere on minum bosume, swa fostormodor dej> cyld. 1382 Wyclif John xiii. 23 Oon of his disciplis was restinge in the bosum of Jhesu. c 1440 York Myst. xv. 104 A baren broche by a belle of tynne At youre bosom to be. 1592 Shaks. Ven. & Ad. 646 Within my bosom .. My boding heart pants. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 19 Progne, with her Bosom stained in Blood. 1847 Tennyson Princ. 11. 88 Doves That sun their milky bosoms on the thatch. 1864 - Aylmer's F. 687 The babe Too ragged to be fondled on her lap, Warm’d at her bosom?

b. The enclosure formed by the breast and the arms, in one's bosom: clasped to one’s breast. Now only arch.y and chiefly in fig. Scriptural phrases, e.g. in Abraham's bosom (cf. Luke xvi. 22): in the abode of the blessed dead. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 53 Alse heo heom [heore euencristene] walde in to heore bosme puten. C1200 Ormin 19391 Iesu Crist.. J?att inn hiss Faderr bosemm iss. 1382 Wyclif Mic. vii. 5 Hir that restith in thi bosum. 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 47 That he resseyue me yn-to pe brode bosum off his mercy. 1578 Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 36 Quhen Lazarus he saw .. In his bosome. 1816 W. Hollar Dance Death xix. 53 Death .. attacks this warrior, in the bosom of victory. 1866 Neale Seq. & Hymns 162 The child was in Abraham’s bosom.

c. wife of one's bosom: orig. a Hebraism adopted in the Bible of 1611; but its Eng. use is influenced by senses 6 a and b. (The similar

BOSOMFUL

422

BOSOM phrase husband of one's bosom, Deut. xxviii. 56, never became current.) Hence, to take to one's bosom: to marry. 1611 Bible Deut. xiii. 6 The wife of thy bosome. Ibid. xxviii. 56 The husband of her bosome. 1747 Hervey Medit. (1753) II. 53 The Wife of his Bosom may expire by his Side. 1814 T. Jefferson Corr. (1830) 233 Not even the wife of his bosom. 1881 W. Pitt Lennox Plays, &c. I. 37 The woman he had taken to his bosom.

fd. transf. The womb. Obs. 971 Blickl. Horn. 5 Heo onfeng on hire medmycclan bosm God Fseder Sunu. C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 131 Of alle pe bernes, pe ben boren of wifes bosem. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 411 Sonnis als of thair bosumis tha bair.

e. pi. In recent use, a woman’s breasts, colloq. 1959 C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 68 Snaps of the Dean sell like hot ice-cream among vintage women with too many bosoms and time on their hands. 1961 L. Hughes Ask your Mama 72 Sojourner.. Bared her bosoms, bared in public To prove she was a woman. 1965 I. Fleming Man with Golden Gun\. 70 She gave him a quick glimpse of fine bosoms as she bent to the door of the icebox. 1978 Beaton Parting Years 2 Can you really imagine that is the way the arm comes out of the socket? Look at their bosoms —they’re nowhere near where they should be. Have you ever seen a naked woman? 1986 Observer 2 Mar. 60/1 She was larger than lifesize: enormous buttocks and stomach, with two medium-sized watermelons for bosoms.

c.

2. fig. Applied to the surface of the sea, a lake, a river, or the ground: with various associations from the literal sense. a 1000 Andreas 444 (Gr.) Of brimes bosme. 1595 Shaks. John iv. i. 3 When I strike my foot Vpon the bosome of the ground. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, in. 557 [A river] which before Tall Ships of Burthen on its Bosom bore. 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 220 From the bosoms of some of the upper leaves rise small pedicles. 1816 G. S. Faber Orig. Pagan Idol. III. 11 A small island was consecrated in the bosom of a deep lake. 1837 Wordsworth Tour Italy Sonn. xxvi, Tossed on the bosom of a stormy sea. 1873 Black Pr. Thule x. 160 The broad bosom of the stream.

3. transf. a. The part of the dress which covers the breast; also the space included between the breast and its covering. b. spec. Considered as the receptacle for money or letters, formerly answering to modern use of ‘pocket’, c. to give (requite, etc.) into one’s bosom (a Hebraism derived from the Bible). .3] The act of tying up in ‘bottles’ or bundles. 1576 in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. II. 48 Measuring, carriage, and botillage of wheat.

botken, -kin, botlere,

obs. forms of bodkin.

botles(se,

obs.

ff.

butler

sb.,

BOOTLESS.

botling

('botlir)).

stumpy.]

The

Also bottlin(g. fish

called

[cf.

chub

or

Du. bot chevin

(Cyprimis cephalus). 01613 J. D[ennys] Seer. Angling in Arb. Garner (1877) I. 175 The peel, the tweat, the botling, and the rest. 1653 T, Barker Art Angling, It [salmon-roe] is a special bait for dace or dare, good for chubb, or bottlin, or grayling. 1833 J. Rennie Alph. Angling 105 The chub, chevin, or bottling neither affords good sport to the angler nor a good dish.

botme, botom,

obs. forms of bottom sb.

f'botment.

Obs. rare. [f. bot, boot sb.1 + -MENT. (The later form would have been bootment.)] Amendment, remedy. c 1440 York Myst. xix. 90 per may no botment be.

botone, -ee, -y ('bDtsunei, -i).

Her. Also 7 bottony, 8 botonny. [a. OF. botone, mod.F. boutonne covered with buds.] Having an ornament of three knobs or bud-like projections resembling a trefoil leaf; hence sometimes called trefoiled or treffled. 1572 Bossewell Armorie 11. 64b, S. beareth Sable, two Delphines d’Argent.. betwene sixe Crosses Botony. 1760 Porny Heraldry (1777) Gloss., Botonny. 1827 Gentl. Mag. XCVII. II. 533 A cross botone. 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xv. (ed. 3) 182 The crosslets are botonee.

fbotorescle. Obs. rare—[? Cf. F. bouterolle scabbard tag.] 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 41, I beqwethe to William Lawshull my botorescle set in gold with nedil werk.

botoume, obs. form of

bottom sb.

fbo'tozio. Obs. rare—1. ? = It. bottaccio cask. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 150 Five hundred botozios of wine.

fbotraiUe. Obs. rare-1. Meaning uncertain: can it be an early form of BUTTRESS? cf. next. ! 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 170 Paterfamulias, wise and expert.. Shulde sette botraille atweyne derk and Iighte.

botreaux, botreulx,

obs. forms of buttress. 1569 Newton Cicero’s Old Age 46 a, The strong botreaux of the Romaine people. 1552 Huloet, Botreulx or butrese of a brycke wall.

bo-tree ('bautri:). [f. Singhalese bo, corruption of Pali bodhi (Skr. bodhi) the bo-tree, more fully called bodhi-taru, f. bodhi ‘perfect knowledge’, taru ‘tree’; it having been under such a tree that Gautama attained the enlightenment which constituted him ‘the Buddha’ . In Singhalese Bogaha (gaha a tree).] The ficus religiosa or plpal tree, specifically allied to the Banyan. [1681 R. Knox Hist. Ceylon 18 This tree they call Bogahah; we the God-Tree.] 1862 Mrs. Speid Last Years Ind. 276 The Banyan, par excellence, sometimes called the Bo-tree, is the specially sacred tree of the Bhuddhists. 1871 Alabaster Wheel of Law 20 note, This Bo or Bodhi tree is the tree under.. which Buddha attained to omniscience.

t 'botriform, a. Obs. rare. [f. Gr. jSorp-u? bunch of grapes + -form.] = botryoidal. 1805 T. Weaver tr. Werner's Fossils 84 Rounded particular forms, as botriform, globular, kidney-form. 1806 Ann. Rev. IV. 889 Fistuliform and botriform, are less proper than the received.. fistulous, and botryoidal.

botrycymose ObDtrisal'msos), a. Bot. [f. Gr. jSoTpu-y cluster of grapes + cymose.] See quot. 1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. 399 Botry-cymose, Racemes or any botryose clusters cymosely aggregated. botrylle (bo'tril).

Zool. rare. [ad. mod.L. botryllus, as if ad. Gr. *jSot/>uAAos, dim. of /3orpvs cluster of grapes.] A genus of tunicate molluscs, giving its name to the family Botryllidse. The Lat. name is usually adopted unchanged. Hence bo'tryllian a., belonging to the family Botryllidae. 1835 Kirby Hab. Inst. Anim. I. vii. 219 Sometimes they are parasitic: thus a species of botrylle envelopes, like a cloak, certain ascidians. 1849-52 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 1208/2 The botryllian group of Tunicates.

botryoid ('botrioid), a. [ad. Gr. PoTpvoeiSfjs, f. fSorpv-s cluster of grapes: see -oid.] Resembling a cluster of grapes. 1747 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 432 Smooth polished Knobs, in Form like to the botryoid Iron Ore.

botryoidal

BOTTLE

430

(bDtri'Dictal), a. = prec. 1816 Cleaveland Min. 544 Earthy arseniate of cobalt.. occurs in crusts, which are sometimes reniform or botryoidal. 1841 Trimmer Pract. Geol. 74 Minerals presenting an aggregation of large sections of small globes are called botryoidal.

botryolite ('bDtriaulait). Min. [f. as prec. + AIdos stone: see -LITE.] See quots. 1850 Dana Geol. xv. 605 Datholite.. presenting the radiated spheroidal forms of the variety botryolite. 1852 W. Phillips Min. (Brooks and Miller) 411 Botryolite.. is merely an amorphous variety of datholite.

botryose (.bntri'sus), a. Bot. [f. as prec. + -OSE.] Bearing flowers in clusters or racemes, which develop successively from the base upward. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. v. 144 note, The kinds of Inflorescence are all reducible to two types.. the Indeterminate and Determinate.. Also named by Eichler the Cymose and Botryose types.

bott (bDt). [cf. BAT s6.2] 1. The name given by lace-makers to the cushion on which lace is woven. 1849 in Craig.

2. ‘In founding, a clay plug used to close a hole against molten iron’ (Cent. Diet. Suppl. 1909). Also attrib. So 'botting vbl. sb. (see quot. a 1877). a 1877 Knight Diet. Mech., Batting, restopping the tapping-hole of a furnace after a part of its charge has been allowed to flow therefrom. 1888 Lockwood's Diet. Mech. Engin., Bott Stick. 1900 J. Sharp Mod. Foundry Pract. 144 A round ball of this [loam] is placed on a disc of iron at the end of an iron rod, and is forced into the tap-hole .. when it is wished to stop a tapping out with the bott or bod stick.

bott(e, obs. form of boat sbboot. bott, see bot. f botte. Obs. or dial. ? A brand or marking on sheep. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 12 The manner is to give lambes a tarre marke before they goe to the field, and our usuall way is to give them only the botte on the farre buttocke, and sometimes to run the edge of the botte downe the neare liske.

fbottebolt, var. of butt-bolt: see butt sb. Ilbottega (bot'tega). [It. bottega small shop, studio, f. L. apotheca: see apothec.] An artist’s workshop or studio, esp. in Italy. 1900 F. Litchfield Pott. & Pore. vii. 198 The group of ateliers or bottegas in .. Italy.. where work of this kind was carried on by individual artist potters, and their assistants or pupils. 1934 Burlington Mag. July 30/1 A frieze of blue terra-cotta from the bottega of Andrea della Robbia.

Ilbottekin ('bDtkm). [cf. OF. bottekin (botekin) ‘dimin. de botte’ (Godef.).] A kind of small fancy boot. Cf. bootikin. 1882 Standard 19 Sept. 5/1 We live in a time of tightlacing, high heels, and bottekins.

bottelle, obs. form of bottle. Bottger ('bcetgsr). The name of J. G. Bottger (1682-1719), a German maker of porcelain, used attrib. to designate a type of red stoneware. [1850 J. Marry at Hist. Pott. & Pore. 233 Bottcher Ware, a fine red stoneware which was made by a chemist of that name, at Dresden, and which led to the discovery of porcelain in Europe.] 1869 Lady C. SchreiberJ™/. (1911) I. 32 Bottger tankard. Ibid. 43 Two white Dresden teapots .. and a red Bottger one. 1925 W. W. Worster tr. Hannover's Pott. & Pore. III. iii. 43 The Plaue ware is., thicker in the body and coarser in its shape than Bottger ware.

bott-hammer (,bDt,haem3(r)). [ad. G. botthammer, f. botten to break flax + hammer hammer s6.] A wooden hammer used to break the stalks of flax. 1858 Simmonds Diet. Trade, Bott-hammer, a wooden block with a long bent helve or handle, and having channels or flutings under its face used to beat flax, a 1877 Knight Diet. Mech., Bott-hammer, a wooden mallet with a fluted face, used in breaking flax upon the floor to remove the boon.

Botticellian (bDti'tJelran), a. [f. the name of Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510), Florentine painter: see -an.] Having the characteristics of Botticelli’s work. Also Botticell(i)'esque a. and Botti’celli attrib. 1890 G. B. Shaw in Star 28 Apr. 2/3 Her slim figure, Tuscan school profile, and Botticellian grace. 1927 Observer 8 May 7 Mr. Berenson traces the original Botticellian type of the head. 1929 P. Ashburner in Oxf. Poetry 3 Quivering Botticelli leaves Tantalize the water-plants. 1934 S. Beckett More Pricks than Kicks 256 Enormous breasts.. Botticelli thighs. 1939 Burlington Mag. Feb. 100/1 All the Botticelliesque material. Ibid. June 298/1 PollaiuolesqueBotticellesque forms. 1966 Cox Illustr. Diet. Hairdressing & Wigmaking 23/2 Botticelli style, from the hair style depicted on women in his painting ‘Spring’. J967 Coast to Coast IQ65-6 173 The.. lacquer-red of their lipsticks had caused .. even Botticellian schoolgirls to feel barbaric.

bottine ('bDtiin). Also 6 Sc. botyn(e. [a. F. bottine, dim. of botte boot. Adopted in Sc. in 16th c., and independently in Eng. in 19th.] 1. A buskin, a large boot partly covering the leg151.3 Douglas .lineis 1. vi. 57 With rede botynis on thair schankis hie. 1884 J. G. Bourke Snake Dance i. 4 The

women in the Pueblos north of Santa Fe .. wear a bottine, or legging, shaped somewhat like a Wellington boot.

2. A light kind of boot worn by ladies and children, a half-boot. C1845 C. Bronte Professor (1857) I. xii. 194 Large feet tortured into small bottines. 1866 Illust. Lond. News 2 June 546 The fashionable bottines have merely the toes of leather, the remainder of the boot being of some thin textile fabric. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. 367 Some white gloves and some new bottines.

f bottle, sb.1 Obs. Forms: 1 botl, 2-3 buttle, (Orm.) bottl, 4- bottle. [OE. botl, corresp. to OS. bodl, OFris. bodel, ON. bol (:—boSl):—OTeut. *boplo-, from bu-, bo- ‘dwell’, with instrumental suffix -plo = -pro (Gr. -rAo-, -rpo-). Cf. bold if).1] A dwelling, habitation, building. [In place-names, as Harbottle, Newbottle, Morbattle.] ciooo Ags. Gosp. St. Matt. xxvi. 3 Da wteron jesamnode pa ealdras paera sacerda .. to psera sacerda botle. c 1105 Gloss. in Wr.-Wiilcker 552 Palatium, kinelic botl. a 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 185 Elch bilefful man pe is fider iboden shal finden pare his buttle. c 1200 Ormin 2788 pe laffdi3 Marje comm Till Zacari-jess bottle.

bottle ('bDt(a)l), sb.'1 Forms: 4 hotel, 5 bottelle, botill, botyll, 5-6 botell(e, bottell, 6-7 botle, bottel, 6- bottle, [a. OF. bouteille, also hotel, common Romanic = It. bottiglia, Sp. botella, Pg. botelha:—late L. buticula, dim. of late L. butis, buttis Vessel, butt.] 1. a. A vessel with a narrow neck for holding liquids, now usually made of glass; originally of leather. c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 147 Jres newe hoolis, pat ben maad in oold botelis. CI380 Sir Ferumb. 510 3under at my sadel boje hongep o botel, Ful of baume. 1436 E.E. Wills (1882) 108 A pere of botell of siluer. a 1529 Skelton C. Clout 652 Ye were wonte to drynke Of a lether bottell. 1611 Bible Jer. xix. 1 Goe and get a potters earthen bottell. 1716 Addison Freeholder No. 34. Boisterous Clubs, that.. throw Bottles at one another’s Heads. 1836 Dickens Pickw. vii, Bottles, glasses, and dessert were placed on the table.

b. The quantity (of liquor) which a bottle can hold, a bottleful. Cf. cup, glass. Often attrib. (preceded by a numeral), as a three-bottle man: i.e. who drinks three bottles of wine at a sitting. 1687 [Montague & Prior] Hind & P. Transv. 2 [We] never trouble our heads with National concerns, till the third bottle has taught us as much of Politicks, as the next does of Religion? 1751 Carlyle in Ramsay Remin. iii. (ed. 1864) Being a five-bottle man, he could lay them all under the table. 1791 Boswell Johnson 99 Port wine, of which he then sometimes drank a bottle. 1812 L. Hunt in Examiner 11 May 289/1 Six-bottle Ministers and plenitudinous Aldermen. 1821 Byron in Moore Life xli. 472.

c. fig. in phrases of Biblical origin (after Job xxxviii. 37, Matt. ix. 17). 1560 Bible (Geneva) Job xxxviii. 37 Who can cause to cease the bottels of heauen? 1599 Broughton's Lett. iii. 13 The bottles of the clowdes, as lob calleth them. 1635 Swan Spec. M. iv. §2 (1643) 58 The aire is often clear, and those bottles of rain are not always there. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlv. 366 These old empty Bottles of Gentilism. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 II. 72 The wide seas.. supplying the bottles of heaven with water.

d. to pass the bottle of smoke: to give countenance to a conventional falsehood, to cant. 1855 Dickens Dorrit 1. xxxiv, To help myself in my turn, and pass the bottle of smoke. Ibid. To keep up the pretence as a labour and study, and patience.. and all the rest of it —in short, to pass the bottle of smoke, according to rule.

e. A baby’s feeding-bottle, to bring up on the bottle: said of an infant reared by means of a feeding-bottle instead of at its mother’s breast. 1848 Thackeray Pendennis I. iii. 25 His first socks, .his bottle, and other interesting relics of his infancy. 1858Virginians I. xviii. 141 Baby .. is bawling out on the stairs for his bottle. 1966 Child Care {Brit. Med. Assoc.) 21 An expectant mother who .. has decided .. to put the baby on the bottle is probably influenced by one or more of the following objections.

f. A hot-water bottle. 1857 Mrs. Gaskell Let. 9 Oct. (1966) 889 We got two great bottles& slept together St heaped shawls on us to get warm. 1967 R. Mackay House & Day 142 The bottle’s in your bed. I put a wee flask on the table. Ovaltine. 1968 R. V. Beste Repeat Instructions xiv. 147 I’ve just put a kettle on for my bottle.

g. In various slang uses, (a) Phr. no bottle no good; bad(ly), useless(ly). 1846 Swell's Night Guide 76 She thought it would be no bottle, cos her rival could go in a buster. 1931 W. F. Brown in Police Jrnl. Oct. 501 When he got up the steps, he had a mouthpiece who was no bottle.

(b) A collection or share of money. 1893 P. H. Emerson Signor Lippo v. 12 We never count the denarley on the pitch, but put each man’s bottle into the sack just as it is till sharing time. 1928 Radio Times 2 Nov. 302/1 His [sc. a busker’s] show ended, he passes along the line with his hat and proceeds to investigate the contents, or ‘bottle’. 1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing x. 256 Knocker brought out some money... ‘Not much bottle. A nicker, half a bar.’

(c) A reprimand. Naval. 1938 ‘Giraldus’ Merry Matloe Again 177 A ‘bottle’ from the captain of the quarter-deck who is usually the ugliest P.O. in the ship. 1950 G. H. Jones Worst Enemy 220 Others came in to see me over-anxious to please, full of ‘yes, sirs’ expecting always to be given what is called a ‘bottle’.

(d) Courage, spirit, ‘guts’; esp. in phr. to lose one's bottle, to lose one’s nerve.

BOTTLE This use prob. derives from the phrase no bottle ‘no good, useless’ (sense 1 g(a) above). It is however often popularly associated with the rhyming slang term bottle and glass = ‘arse’ and other similar expressions. T95$ F. Norman Bang to Rights 62 We all began to ask each other.. why he hadn’t made a dash for it. ‘What’s the matter Frank, your bottle fallen out?’ 1965 Sunday Times 30 May 24/3 It’s the worst that could be said about you, that you’d lost your bottle. 1969 It 4-17 July 11/2 You’ve gotta have a helluva lot of bottle to do something like that, and I believe that Morrison did it out of sheer contempt. 1978 P. Marsh et al. Rules of Disorder iii. 73 Clowns in the social world of soccer fans .. aspire to being hooligans but lack the ‘bottle’ to succeed in such a role. 1982 A. Price Old 'Vengeful' vii. 114 Danny’s real hard, and got a certain amount of bottle. 1985 T V. Times 31 Aug.-6 Sept. 17/1, I don’t think I handled the intrusion so well. I tend to lose my ‘bottle’. 2.transf. The practice of drinking, over a (the) bottle: while drinking; at the wine: see over. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 2 |f 1 My Spark flies to the Bottle for Relief. 1762-71 H. Walpole Venue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 240 Most of his performances were produced over a bottle. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 258 A dull man whose chief pleasures were derived from his dinner and his bottle. attrib. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 507 If 2 Our bottle conversation is so infected with them, that, etc.

f3. a. Something resembling a bottle; as: the seed-vessel of a plant, the honey-bag of a bee. Obs. 1609 C. Butler Fern. Mon. vi. (1623) O iij, The Nectar or liquid hony the Bees gather with their tongues, whence they let it downe into their bottles which are within them like unto bladders. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 499 The cocke heads, bells, or bottells which beare the seeds.

b. colloq. A thermionic valve. 1940 in Chambers’s Techn. Did. 1945 Electronic Engin. XVII. 424 Vacuum bottles.. had to be produced on an everincreasing scale.

4. Comb, and Attrib., as (sense 1) \ bottle-ale (also attrib.), f -beer, -belly, -case, f -cider, -conjuror, -cork, \-drink, -faucet, -filter, -maker, -rinsing, -room, -stand, -stopper, -■works: (sense 2) bottle-bravery, -companion, -friend, -swagger, talk; also bottle-bellied, -like, -shaped adjs. 1586 Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 37 A Booke in Ryme .. in commendations of Copper noses or ‘Bottle Ale. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, n. iv. 140 Away you Bottle-Ale Rascall. 1641 French Distill, v. (1651) 122 It will tast as quick as •bottle beer. 1820 W. Irving Sketch-bk., J. Bull (D.) Some choleric, ‘bottle-bellied old spider. 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. (1814) II. 203 A .. thick-headed fellow, with a ‘bottle belly and a bulbous nose. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. vi. viii. (1849) 290 His fits of ‘bottle-bravery. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 89 |f 1 Sam .. is a very good ‘Bottle-Companion. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 65 ‘Bottle-conjurors, and persons who will jump down their own throats. 1746 W. Dunkin in P. Francis tr. Horace’s Ep. II. ii. 134 The Felon’s Fork Defac’d the Signet of a ‘Bottle-Cork. 1791 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 6/2 He carried home all the bottle-corks he could come at. 1940 Dylan Thomas in Life fef Lett. 274 A bursting sea with bottlecork boats. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 164 All such ‘Bottle-Drinks are infected with a yeasty furious foaming matter. 1849-52 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. it93/1 The ‘bottle-like form of the Ascidia. 1483 Act 1 Rich. Ill, xii. §1 Weavers, Homers, ‘Bottlemakers, and Coppersmiths. 1711 Customs' Notice in Lond. Gaz. No. 4862/5 Bottle-makers, and other Dealers in.. Skins. 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3114/4 Glass Works, Stone and Earthen ‘Bottle Works. 1733 P. Miller Gard. Did. (ed. 2) s.v. Cucurbita, The Fruit of some Species is long, of others round or ‘Bottle-shap’d. 1952 A. G. L. Hellyer Sanders' Encycl. Gardening (ed. 22) 426 Bottle-shaped fruits.

5. Special comb.: bottle-age, the length of time that a wine, etc., has remained in the bottle; bottle-arsed a. (Printers' slang), of type: wider at one end than at the other; bottle-baby, a baby reared by means of a feeding-bottle; bottle bank, a collection point (usu. one or more covered skips) to which members of the public can take empty bottles for recycling; also attrib.; f bottle-bearer, one who carries a bottle, a butler (cf. cup-bearer): bottle-boot, ‘a leather case to hold a bottle while corking’ (Ogilvie); bottle-boy, an apothecary’s assistant; bottlecharger, an apparatus for charging bottles with a liquid under pressure; bottle-chart, a chart of ocean surface currents compiled from data obtained by means of bottles thrown from ships and subsequently picked up at a distance; f bottle-clay, clay of which earthenware bottles were made; f bottle-coaster, a stand on which decanters were passed round the table; bottledrainer, a frame in which inverted bottles are placed to drain; f bottle-dropsy, dropsy affecting the abdomen only; bottle-end, a round of glass resembling the bottom of a bottle, used in windows; bottle-fed a., (of an infant or young animal) brought up on the bottle (see sense 1 e); cf. breast-fed: hence (as back-formation) bottle-feed v. trans.; bottle-feeding vbl. sb., feeding (e.g. of infants) by means of a bottle; bottle-fish, the Saccopharynx ampullaceus, a fish which can inflate its body so as to resemble a leathern bottle; bottle-glass, a bottle-shaped glass (obs.): the coarse kind of glass of which common bottles are made; also attrib.: bottle-

BOTTLE

43i gourd, a kind of flask-shaped gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris): bottle-grass U.S., a variety of foxtail grass, esp. Setaria viridis: bottle-green a., of a dark green colour, like bottle-glass; as sb. this colour; bottle-heath, bell-heather (Erica tetralix): bottle-house, a building in which bottle-glass is made; bottle-imp, an imaginary imp inhabiting a bottle; also, a Cartesian devil, a hollow figure suspended in a bottle of water; bottle-jack, (a) a jack for roasting meat, shaped like a bottle; (b) applied to an escapement in a clock or watch resembling that of a bottle-jack; (c) a kind of lifting-jack (Knight Diet. Mech., a 1877); f bottle-man, a servant or official who has charge of bottles; bottle-nest (= bottle-tit): bottle-opener, an implement for opening bottles; bottle-ore, a kind of sea-weed (bladderwrack, Fucus vesiculosus): bottle-party, a party to which each guest contributes a bottle (of wine, etc.); also an establishment, usu. a night¬ club, where drinks ordered in advance are served after licensed hours; f bottle-pear, a kind of pear so called from its shape; bottlerack (= bottle-drainer): bottle-screw, a corkscrew; bottle-shaker, an apparatus used in centrifugation; bottle-shop, a shop licensed to sell wines and spirits only in the bottle; f bottleslider, -slide, a tray for a decanter (= bottlecoaster): bottle-stone, a variety of obsidian; bottle-stoop (Med.), a block of wood with a groove on the upper surface, so sloped that the contents of a bottle placed upon it may be easily removed with a knife in dispensing; bottle store (a) S. Afr. — bottle-shop: (b) a place where bottles are stored; bottle-swallow, an Australian bird, a species of martin; bottle-tit, bottle-tom, the Long-tailed Tit (Parus caudatus), from the shape of its nest; bottletrack, the track taken in the ocean by a bottle thrown overboard at a given point; cf. bottlechart; bottle-washer, one who or a machine which washes bottles; also (humorous) one who looks after affairs, a factotum; bottle-windowed a., having windows made up with bottle-ends (see above). Also bottle-brush, etc. 1959 Spectator 28 Aug. 255/3 It • • will be better still with a little more *bottle-age. 1770 Luckombe Hist. Printing 233 It [sc. the type] drives out, or gets in, either at the head, or the foot, and is, as Printers call it, *Bottle-arsed. 1838 Timperley Printers’ Man. 64. 1890 Farmer Slang, Bottlearsed, type thicker at one end than the other—a result of wear and tear. 1893 Daily Nevis 9 Mar. 2/7 Was it what you call a ‘bottle-baby? 1905 Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 4/1 Wanted, nurse for night duty only; one thoroughly accustomed to bottle babies. 1963 M. McCarthy Group x. 221 Most of our babies are bottle babies. 1977 Grocer 27 Aug. 7/1 (heading) ‘Bottle banks start. 1979 Observer 30 Dec. 3/8 The Glass Manufacturers’ Federation has sponsored the Bottle Bank scheme (with 125 skips in 45 towns), to recycle the glass from bottles. 1984 Which? Aug. 355/3 Why not take your old non-returnable glass bottles to your local bottle bank instead of throwing them away? 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vn sommelier, a ‘bottle bearer. 1656 Trapp Comm. Matt. ix. 17 Certain heretics called .. bottle-bearers, because they bare a bottle on their backs. 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago i. (D.) He.. fulfilled the ideal of a *bottle-boy. 1679 Plot Staff or dsh. (1686) 122 ‘Bottle clay, of a bright whitish streaked yellow colour. 1801 Mar. Edgeworth Belinda v, Their father pushing them on together, like two decanters in a ‘bottle-coaster. -Angelina iii, Angelina’s letter was.. found in a ‘bottle-drainer. 1562 Turner Baths 3 The ‘bottel dropsey whych is about the stomack. 1907 W. De Morgan Alice-for-Short ix. 92 A .. window.. filled with what some called ‘bottle-ends, and others German rounds. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 10 Apr. 10/1 This might be one of the causes of.. infantile mortality, especially amongst •bottlefed children, i960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 29 Mar. 65/2 She has built up an enterprise which last year bottle-fed 80 lambs. Ibid. 84/3 The other three [lambs] are being bottlefed. 1962 Guardian 12 Jan. 8/7, I breast-fed one and bottlefed the other at alternate feeds. 1966 Ibid. 28 Oct. 10/5, I watched two of them bathing and bottle-feeding the tiny babies. C1865 Circ. Sc. I. 362/1 ‘Bottle-feeding will be preferable to the employment of a wet-nurse. 1626 Bacon Sylva §213 Take therefore a Hawks-Bell.. and hang it by a thred within a ‘Bottle-Glass. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3821/8 A Round Bottle-Glass-House 94 Foot High, and 60 Foot broad. 1765 Delaval in Phil. Trans. LV. 24 Several pieces of green bottle glass. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts II. 651 The coarsest and simplest form of this manufacture is bottleglass. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. PI. II. 309 The •bottlegourds {Lagenaria).. being shaped like flasks. 1814 J. Green in Trans. Soc. Promotion Useful Arts III. 121 Panicum viride. *Bottle grass. 1840 Dewey in Mass. Zool. & Bot. Surv.: Plants 244 Setaria. Bottle Grass. 1816 Coleridge Statesm. Man. (1817) 360 Black, blue, or •bottle-green. 1862 Enquire Within 112 From the darkest bottle-green.. to the lightest pea-green. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. i. 13 Red fly-catchers, and pink *bottle-heath, and sweet white orchis. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts II. 652 A •bottle-house has generally eight other furnaces. 1822 De Quincey Confess. Wks. I. 106 The letter would poison my very existence, like the *bottle-imp. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xxix. 5598 *Bottle imps. 1947 Antiquity XXI. 105 A toy known sometimes as a Bottle-imp, sometimes more grandly as a Cartesian Devil or Diver. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery (ed. 2) vii. 155 The *bottle-jack.. is wound up like a watch, by means of a key. 1850 Denison Clock & Watchm. 50 The bottle-jack or ‘vertical’ pallets, i860 Ibid. (ed. 4) 35

The bottle-jack escapement is precisely the same as in De Vick’s clock. 1869 Curzon Visit Monast. 283 Twisting round and round like a leg of mutton hanging to a bottle jack. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Farew. Tower bottles, Each •Bottleman (but I) Had alwayes a crack’d crowne or a black eye. 1634 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons Introd. 19 To the porters musicians and bottlemen for their rewardes. 1931 Kansas City Times 17 Dec. 20 There were a few keys and a corkscrew and *bottle-opener in the bunch. a 1953 Dylan Thomas Quite Early One Morning (1954) 31 Why should the bottle-opener be under the hall-stand? 1756 W. Borlase Observ. State Scilly Isl. 120 The gross •Bottle-ore, which has hollow nobs or pustules in it, is reckoned to make the best kelp. 1926 C. Beaton Diary 9 Dec. in Wand. Years (1961) 151, I was invited to Madge Garland’s *bottle-party. 1931 A. Powell Afternoon Men 1. i. 23 ‘Is it a bottle party?’ ‘You’d better bring a bottle of something,’ said Barlow, ‘in case there isn’t anything to drink at all.’ 1937 Daily Herald 26 Jan. 4/5 There may also be provisions to deal with bottle parties. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 439 Peares take their name, .of the forme of their neck, as the *Bottle-peares. 1846 French Dom. Cookery 323 Rinse them [bottles] as they become empty, and invert them on the *bottle-rack. 1702 Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1367 A close spiral revolution like the Worm of a * Bottle Screw. 1775 J. Granger Biogr. Hist. Eng. (ed. 2) III. 148 Her hair is dressed in many formal curls, which nearly resemble bottlescrews. 1938 Masefield Dead Ned 133 A clasp-knife having at its back a bottle-screw. 1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 60 Corkscrews, also known as bottle screws, screws, and steel worms, were being made in Tudor times. 1913 Oxford Univ. Gaz. 4 June 943/2 Motor driven centrifuge and •bottle-shaker. 1929 Times 30 Jan. 9/7 These were what were known as ‘‘bottle shops’, and could not sell less than a bottle of spirits and a half-bottle of wine at any one time. 1785 Lounger No. 86 As harmless as e’er a ‘bottle-slider at the table. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxvi, His head crowned with a bottle-slider, his eye leering with an expression betwixt fun and the effects of wine. 1862 G. H. Mason Zululand ii. 17 Another.. formerly kept a small *bottle store. 1944 J. A. Lee in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 104 There are rats in the bottle store, dozens of them! 1950 Cape Times 17 June (W.-e. Mag.) 5 As soon as the bottlestore opens, the mailer is there. He gets his regulation two bottles and takes this to the shebeen. 1898 Morris Austral Engl. 47/2 *BottleSwallow, a popular name for the bird Lagenoplastis ariel, otherwise called the Fairy Martin... The name refers to the bird’s peculiar retort-shaped nest. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 72 The *Bottle-tit.. has a long hanging nest like a bottle. 1837 Southern Lit. Messenger III. 656 They have yet founded no city to themselves.. but are willing to remain the boot-cleaners and the ‘bottle-washers of the whites. 1865 Derby Mercury 1 Mar., Thoroughly cleaned by the steam bottle-washer, a 1887 Mod. colloq. Head cook and bottle-washer of the establishment. 1894 Daily News 8 Mar. 8/6 (Advt.), Handy man as Bottlewasher or Kitchen Porter. 1928 East End Star May 3/3 She is Superintendent, Treasurer, cook and bottlewasher. 1899 Kipling Stalky 224 A little ‘bottle-windowed, half-dairy, half-restaurant, a dark-browed, two hundred-year-old house.

bottle (’bDt(3)l), sb.3 Forms: 4-6 hotel, 5 bottelle, 5-6 botell(e, 6 bottel, 6-7 bottell, 7 botle, 6- bottle, [a. OF. hotel, dim. of *bot, masc. form = botte bundle.] 1. A bundle of hay or straw: now somewhat local in use. to lookfor a needle in a bottle of hay: to engage in a hopeless search. Cf. Needle in a haystack. C1386 Chaucer Maunc. Prol. 14 Al-though it be nat worth a Botel hey. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 85 A peck of otys and a botell of haye. 1530 Palsgr. 620 He is aboue in the haye lofte makynge botelles. 1578 Scotter Manor Roll in Peacock N. Line. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., No man shall gett anie bottells of furres [i.e. furze]. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier (1871) 4 b, He.. gropeth in the dark to find a needle in a bottle of hay. 1617 in Hearne Coll. (1885) I. 53 Hay being 20s. a load, the Penny Bottle ought to wey 3^. 1798 D. Graham Wks. II. 120 Shaking down two bottles of straw. 01845 Hood Lost Heir ii, A child as is lost about London streets .. is a needle in a bottle of hay.

2. bottle-horse, a horse for carrying bundles or packages, a pack-horse. 1461-83 Ord. R. Househ. 75 This office [of Sellar] hath a sumpter-man and horse, and also a bottle-horse. 1469 Ibid. (1790) 97 Item, A maile horse and a botell horse.

bottle (’bDt(3)l), sb.* Bot. [Partly corruption of bopel, buddle; partly a special use of bottle sb.1, from the shape of the ovary or calyx in some of the plants so named.] The popular name of several plants, chiefly with adj. denoting colour, as blue-bottle, q.v.; white bottle, Silene inflata: yellow bottle, Chrysanthemum segetum (= buddle); bottle of all sorts, the Pulmonaria officinalis ‘no doubt in allusion to the flowers of two different colours’. See Britten and Holland. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 95 Herbes, branches, and flowers, for windowes and pots. Botles, blew, red and tawnie. 1633 Gerard’s Herbal II. ccli. 734 The Violetcoloured Bottle or Come-floure.

‘bottle, sb.b Obs. Corruption of

boltel. 1660 Bloome Archit. A a, Astragulus, a bottle and fillet .. Echinus a bottle cut with edges... Torus, any bottle.

bottle (‘bDt(a)l), v.1 [f. bottle sb.2] 1. trans. To put into a bottle for the purpose of storing or keeping. Often with up. to bottle off: to transfer (liquors) from the cask into bottles. 1641 French Distill, v. (1651) 122 Let it stand a week, and then bottle it up. 1650 H. More in Enthus. Triumph. (1656) 111 How so subtil a thing as this Anima is can be either barrel’d up, or bottled up, or tied up in a bag, etc. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 321 Let it stand seven weeks, then bottle it. 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. (1814)

BOTTLE III. 272 You might as reasonably attempt to dissect a bubble, or to bottle moonshine. 1882 Garden 18 Mar. 183/3 Keeping Grapes after they are bottled. 1885 H. Conway Fam. Affair ix. 70 They were very busy bottling off a quarter cask of sherry.

2. fig. To store up as in bottles; to keep under restraint (anger or other feelings); to shut up, in, down, out. 1622 T. Scott Belg. Pismire 53 Vapours.. botteled vp in cloudes. a 1711 Ken Anodynes Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 429 He ..Bottles my Tears, accepts my Prayers. 1853 H. Drummond in Croker Papers (1884) III. xxviii. 268 Twenty years of wrath bottled up. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xxii. 486 To anticipate the process of being ourselves bottled in, by bottling the country out. 1865 Sat. Rev. 7 Jan. 23/1 To catch and bottle up his now evaporated ‘Spirit of the East’.

3. Printing. To make bottle-arsed. 1877 Design & Work 15 Sept. 341 The letters stand fair and square on the shank—that is, not ‘bottled’, as we say in the trade. ‘Bottling’ arises from the following cause— imperfect locking'up, or lines badly spaced out... The risk of getting ‘bottled’ letter is, however, not very great... Amateurs are in .. danger of ‘bottling’ their own letter.

4. intr. To collect money. So 'bottling vbl. sb. slang.

BOTTLING

432

Cf. bottle sb.2 i g (b).

1934 P. Allingham in Evening News 9 July 11/3 He is an expert at that delicate part of the business [street entertaining] known as ‘bottling’, which means the art of persuading people to put money into your hat. 1936 W. A. Gape Half Million Tramps vi. 159, ‘I only sing the old favourite songs. You can “bottle” until you learn some.’.. To ‘bottle’ is the slang term for collecting. 1939 Adeler & West Remember Fred Karno? iii. 47 They commenced operations, performing as often as they could draw a crowd, and collecting, or ‘bottling’, before the crowd dispersed.

5. trans. To admonish. Naval slang. 1946 J. Irving Royal Navalese 37 To bottle someone is to dress them down very thoroughly.

2. Kept or corked up in a bottle, bottled gas, gas stored in liquid form in portable containers. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys.-Mech. xxviii. 217 A Vessel full of bottl’d drink. 1662 Fuller Worthies 11. 115 This is believed.. the Original of bottled-Ale in England. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 359 Any kind of bottled fruit. 1829 Southey Sir T. More II. 345 Brisk reputations, indeed, are like bottled twopenny, or pop. 1837 Marry at Dog-Fiend xlviii, Give them some bottled beer. 1930 Engineering 4 July 28/2 In the United States, ‘bottled’ gas, in the form of liquified propane and butane.. is employed, i960 News Chron. 20 July 6/6 The little bottled gas cookers are just like ordinary ones.

3. fig. a. Kept under restraint, pent up. 1840 Hood Up Rhine 45 One with whom he could pour out his bottled-up grievances. 1853 C. Bronte Villette xvi, He fumed like a bottled storm.

b. Stored up, concentrated. 1872 W. W. Reade Martyrdom of Man 399 Life is bottled sunshine. c. bottled lightning: (a) = lightning sb. 2; (b)

concentrated vigour or energy; also attrib. 1839 Dickens Nickleby xlix. 489 Bring in the bottled lightning, a clean tumbler, and a corkscrew. 1899 W. James Talks 209 To all who looked upon her an impression as of ‘bottled lightning’ was irresistibly conveyed. Ibid. 210 There are plenty of bottled-lightning temperaments in other countries, and plenty of phlegmatic temperaments here.

4. slang. Drunk; intoxicated. 1927 N. Y. Times 9 Jan. (heading) British pilot tells police, ‘If you say I am bottled, I will agree.’ 1932 A. Huxley Brave New World v. 91 Bottled as she was .. Lenina did not forget to take all the contraceptive precautions prescribed by the regulations. 1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing iii. 64 The gov’nor must be good an’ bottled.

bottleful

('bDt(a)lful).

[f. bottle sb.2 + -ful.]

6. intr. With out: to lose one’s nerve (see bottle sb.2 1 g(d)); to back out of an action at the last minute, ‘chicken out’, slang.

As much as a bottle will contain.

1979 Listener 8 Mar. 343/3 This is the big crime, for them: if they are informers or if they don’t have the courage to do a crime. They, as they say, ‘bottle out’. 1979 Daily Tel. 12 Sept. 19/7 Asked if she went on the robbery, she said: ‘I was supposed to, but I bottled out.’ 1980 S. McConville in Michaels & Ricks State of Lang. 527 He was challenged and he bottled out. 1985 Times 17 July 12/1 Why did Ken Livingstone ‘bottle out’ and vote to set a legal GLC rate?

bottle-head. [f. as prec. + head.] f 1. A var. of beetle-head (see beetle sb.1 3); a

c 1865 in Circ. Sc. I. 119/1 Collecting a bottleful of the gas.

f2. Some plant. Obs. 188

Purple

3. The Bottle-nosed Whale (so-called); see Hence f 'bottle-headed = beetle-headed; ‘void of wit’. Grose 1796.

bottle-holder ('bDt(a)l,h3uld3(r)). [f. as prec. +

1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. 190 note, Antennae; plain in the Female [Gnat], in the Male feathered, somewhat like a Bottle-brush. 1883 Leisure Ho. 473/1 Suggestive of gigantic feather-brushes, or rather bottle-brushes.

HOLDER.] One who holds a bottle; spec, one who waits on a pugilist at a prize-fight: fig. a second, a backer, a supporter.

2. Bot. a. The popular name of the Horse-tail (Equisetum) and Mare’s-tail (Hippuris vulgaris), from their shape. Also applied to various other plants or flowers (see quots.); bottle-brush grass: Asperella hystrix. b. Also applied to an Australian shrub, the Banksia marginata (Rhind’s Veg. Kingd. 1874, 711), and to the Metrosideros floribunda (The Garden 10 June (1882) 4I7/3)-

1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (L.) An old bruiser makes a good bottle-holder. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxix. Tutors, dependents, and bottle-holders of every description. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. I. iv. v. 442 His Majesty’s bottle-holder in that battle with the Finance Nightmares and Imbroglios.

bottlebump, dial. var. butterbump, bittern. ‘So called on our east coast.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.

bottled (’bDt(3)ld), ppl. a.

[f. bottle sb.2 and

t;.1] fl. Resembling swollen.

a

bottle,

protuberant,

1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, 1. iii. 242 Why strew’st thou Sugar on the Bottel’d Spider, Whose deadly Web ensnareth thee about? 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 448, I.. saw a black bottled spider as big as myself. 1768 Wales in Phil. Trans. LX. 109 Their noses small, and .. what is generally termed bottled. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) Cciij b, The chambers of mortars.. are spherical.. conical, bottled or concave.

bottle-nose ('bDt(o)l,n30z). Also 6 bytyl-. [f. as bottle sb.2 + nose. In sense i pronounced and usually written as two words.] 1. A nose resembling a bottle, a swollen nose. (With the form bytyl-nose = beetle-nose, cf. the confusion of bottle-head and beetle-head.) [1547 Boorde Brev. Health cclxxxvi. 94 b, There be two kyndes [of polypus], the one is a bytyl nose.] 1635 Brereton Trav. (1844) 94 Captain Ragg .. famous.. for his great bottle nose. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. i. 1811 Byron Hints fr. Hor. 58 Black eyes, black ringlets, but—a bottle nose!

2. The Bottle-nosed Whale: a name given to several of the Dolphin family, esp. the genus Hyperobdon. 1668 T. Smith Vox to Constant, in Misc. Curiosa (1708) III. 15 We saw..several Bottle-noses, fish of about three yards long. 1775 Dalrymple in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 397 Some bottle noses, and vast flocks of Hying fish. 1807 Home ibid. XCVII. 97 The bottle-nose porpoise and large bottlenose whale. 1854 R. Owen in Circ. Sc. Org. Nat. I. 278 The great bottle-nose or hyperoodon. 1863 Kingsley WaterBab. vii. 279 Razor-backs, and bottle-noses.

f3. A dial, name of the puffin. Obs. 1678 Ray Willughby’s Ornith. 325 The Bird called in South-Wales Gulden head, Bottle-nose and Helegug.

'bottle-nosed, a.

[f. prec.

+ -ed.]

Having a

1568 Like will to Like in Hazl. Dodsl. III. 311 My dame called thee bottle-nosed knave. 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xliii. cxxviii, A Gipsen.. blab-lipt, beetle-browd, and bottle-nozed. 1863 Buckland Cur. Nat. Hist. Ser. n. 325 A bottle-nosed whale.. cast ashore from the Thames in 1783. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii, The bottle-nosed regular customer.

bottle-nose 2. 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v., Bottle-head, a species of whale.

3. attrib. and in comb.

1932 H. Simpson Boomerang vii. 140 No bottle-necked alleys to delay them.

1654 Gayton Fest. Notes, Is it the custom of your country, you bottle-head, to use knight-errants after this manner? 1815 Scott Guy M. xliv, But why, for a blind bottlehead, did ye not ask the guineas?

1611 Cotgr., Boteler, to botle or bundle vp. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 1. xxiv, They.. did recreate themselves in botteling up of hay.

1851 Q. Rev. Dec. 40 Bottle-brush-flowered, zigzag¬ leaved, grey-tinted, odd-looking things. 1885 Lady Brassey The Trades 265 The.. Entada scandens.. bears an insignificant yellow, bottle-brush, acacia-like flower.

So 'bottle-necked ppl. a., shaped like the neck of a bottle.

bottle nose.

1713 Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. Salamanca Bottle-head. Ray 324. 8.

1843 J. Torrey N.Y. Nat. Hist. Surv.: Flora II. 478 Bottle-brush Grass... Moist, rocky woods, and along shady ravines: not rare. 1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. ii. 76 The Bottle-brush, one of the most characteristic plants of the bush.. has rough, twisted branches, and a leaf something like the holly. Sir Joseph Banks gave it the botanical name of Banksia. 1883 A. Easther Gloss. Dial. Almondbury 15 Bottlebrush, a plant otherwise called Common Spurry, or Farmer’s Ruin: Spergula arvensis... Another plant bears the same name—the Mare's Tail, or Hippuris vulgaris. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XX. 174/1 Bottlebrush [in Queensland], the Callistemon lanceolatus. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Kangaroo xviii. 397 Gold red bushes of the bottle-brush tree. 1957 P. White Voss iii. 70 Belle had a spray of the crimson bottlebrush that she had torn off recklessly. 1961 Amat. Gardening 30 Sept. Suppl. 8/3 Callistemon.. the unusual flowers.. have a mass of prominent stamens giving the appearance of a bottle brush. This has given rise to the popular name of bottle brush plant. 1967 Southerly XXVII. 199 The flame of bottle¬ brush.

1928 Daily Express iz June 3/4 He is ‘bottle-necked’ between Hungerford Bridge and the Hotel Cecil. 1933 Planning I. VIII. 8 It is easier to organise an export trade, which is necessarily bottlenecked through one channel. 1954 Information Please Almanac J955 35 Bottleneck, to delay progress; to hold up a process, especially at a critical point.

stupid fellow. Obs. or arch.

'bottle, v.2 ? dial. [f. bottle sb.3: cf. F. botteler.] To make up (hay) into bottles.

bottle-brush, [f. bottle sb.2 + brush.] 1. A brush for cleaning bottles, with bristles diverging on all sides from a central stem.

bottle-neck, bottleneck ('bDt(3)lnek), v. [f. prec.] trans. To confine or impede in a bottleneck; to pass (something) through a bottleneck.

So 'bottle-holding supporting.

vbl.

sb.,

backing,

1884 Pali Mall G. 5 Apr. 3/1 The Spectator.. does a good deal of injudicious bottle-holding for Mr. Chamberlain.

bottle-neck, bottle sb.2 + (see neck sb.1

bottleneck

('bDt(3)lnek).

(f.

NECK rft.1] 1. The neck of a bottle 11 a). 1922 Joyce Ulysses 423 A room lit by a candle stuck in a bottleneck.

2. A narrow entrance to or stretch in a road, comparable to the neck of a bottle in shape; gen. a narrow or confined space where traffic may become congested. 1896 [see sense 4 below]. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 5/2 The bottle-neck, known as London-road, at the Elephant and Castle. 1915 W. J. Locke Jaffery x. 123 Through the bottle-neck of Brentford,.. we crawled as fast as we were able. 1928 Britain's Industr. Future (Liberal Ind. Inquiry) iv. xxiii. 314 Any failure to maintain dock and harbour facilities .. results in delays... Ports then become the ‘bottle-necks’ of ocean traffic and congestion results.

bottle-o(h

('bDt(3)bu). Austral, and N.Z. colloq. Also bottle-o-er. [f. bottle sb.2 + O inf] A collector of empty bottles. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xvi. 217 Half-a-dozen of them would have died for the bibulous comp, despite the bottle-o’s stock garnered in the trouser fringe. 1914 Bulletin (Sydney) 14 May 36/2 Bottle-o Bill and his tart Could join in the catchy refrain. 1915 E. N. G. Poulton in Countess of Liverpool's Gift Bk. 95 He was the great panjandrum of his ‘profession’, the King of Bottle-O-ers. 1943 Coast to Coast IQ42 105 A bottle-o followed him crying cheerily, ‘Bottles, bottles, any empty bottles.’ 1954 Ibid. 1953-4 161 They must pay for what they took; no thieving like other bottleohs. 1967 D. Whittington In Search of Australian 90 ‘What do you do for a living?’..‘I’m the local bottle-O’.

bottler

('bDtb(r)), sb.1 [f. bottle sb.2 and v.1 +

-ER.]

f 1. A bottle-maker. Obs.

1415 York Myst. Introd. 22 Pouchemakers, Botellers, Capmakers. 2. One who bottles liquor. 1878 F. Williams Midi. Railw. 349 The bottling room, where the bottler is at work.

bottler ('bDtb(r)), sb.2 and a. Austral, and N.Z. slang. [Cf. bonzer somebody) excellent.

a.]

(Something

or

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer x. 154 He’s a bottler, that’s what he [sc. a horse] is. 1941 Baker N.Z. Slang vi. 51 Of children’s terms .. we may note .. bottler and snozzler, descriptive of something superlative or excellent, both as nouns and adjectives. 1959 G. Slatter Gun in Hand 239 Congratulations boy, a glorious try, a real bottler, you won the game.

3. fig. Anything obstructing an even flow of production, etc., or impeding activity, etc.

bottle-tree ('bot(3)ltri:). [f. bottle sb.2 + tree sfe.] An Australian tree of the sterculia family, either the Queensland tree Sterculia rupestris or the similar Sterculia diversifolia of Victoria, so called from the bottle-like shape of its trunk.

1928 Observer 15 July 10/3 It is hoped to make one side of the higher science forms of the school a bottle-neck through which boys of special intelligence.. may pass. 1936 Economist 14 Mar. 581/1 Frequent complaints of deliveries falling into arrears.. reveal the existence of numerous ‘bottlenecks’. 1947 Ann. Reg. 1946 13 Import programmes, the bottleneck of which was no longer shipping, but finance. 1968 Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 192/2 The technology, therefore, exists; the bottle-neck.. is in the education and training of those whose activities can benefit from its effective use.

1846 C. P. Hodgson Remin. Australia 264 The sterculia or bottle-tree is a very singular curiosity. It generally varies in shape between a soda water and port wine bottle. 1885 Mrs. C. Praed Head Stat. 179 In dense scrub, where the bottle-trees rose weird and white. 1889j. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants 60 A ‘Kurrajong’. The ‘Bottle-tree’ of N.E. Australia, and also called ‘Gouty-stem’. 1891 'Coo-ee' 284 A great white bottle tree, its trunk perfectly bare. 1931 F. D. Davison Man-Shy (1934) vii. 107 Through open bottle-tree country. 1958 R. Stow To Islands 52 Not far from the aerodrome strip there, under the bottle tree.

4. attrib. and Comb.

Also

quasi-ad/.,

=

BOTTLE-NECKED ppl. a. 1896 Daily News 26 Dec. 3/1 The widened portions at Holloway and elsewhere are rendered useless by narrow, bottle-neck approaches to Finsbury-park. 1898 Ibid. 19 Oct. 3/1 [He] called Old Jewry ‘a bottle-neck-shaped street’. 1908 Daily Graphic 21 Mar. 13/3 Our desire at present is to look so feminine that bottle-neck shoulders are praised. 1938 L. MacNeice Earth Compels 7 The bottle-neck harbour collects the mud.

bottlin(g,

variant of botling.

[f. bottle v.1 + The act of putting into, or keeping in, bottles; fig. keeping under restraint. Often with up.

bottling ('bDtlii)), vbl. sb. -ING1.]

1594 Plat Divers Chem. Concl. 14 The bottleling uppe of your best Ale. 1626 Bacon Sylva §46 You may drink it well after 3 daies Botteling. 1691 Swift Athen. Soc. Wks. 1755

BOTTOM IV. i. 235 An art as vain as bottling up of winds. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 309 The bottling of the cider.

bottom ('botam), sb. Forms: 1 botm, 3-4 bo|?em, -om, -um, botham, -em, -um, 5 botym, botme, 5-7 botome, bottom(e, botoume, 6-7 bothom(e, 9 dial, botton, 6- bottom; north. bodome, -dom, -dum, mod.Sc. boddem. [OE. botm str. masc., representing WGer. *bopm-, whence OS. bodom, OHG. bodam, MHG., Du. bodem, mod.G. boden; the ON. botn appears to point to *bopno- as the OTeut. form; but both may have been OTeut.: cf. Gr. 7Tvdprjv, also Skr. budhnd, L. fundus (for *fud-nus): —Aryan *bhudhno-. The phonology of the Teut. forms is not yet clearly explained; the ME. variants bopom boddom also present difficulties.]

I. The lowest surface or part of anything. 1. a. The lowest part of anything, considered as a material thing; the lower or under surface, that surface of a thing on which it stands or rests; the base. Applied spec, to the keel of a ship (cf. 7), the circular end of a cask, etc. Proverb, ‘Every tub (vat) must stand on its own bottom’. a 1000 Caedmon's Satan 721 (Gr.) pa he on botme [pacrc helle] stod. c 1050 Ags. Gloss, in Wr.-Wiilcker Voc. 181 Cimba uel carina, scipesbotm. 1382 Wyclif Wisd. v. 10 A step is not to finde, ne a path of his [a ship’s] botme in the flodis. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 809 The credyl bothume turnyd on hyghe. c 1460-70 Bk. Quintessence 5 pat pc necke of pc glas be turned dounward, and pc botum be turned vpward. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. in. xxxviii. 242 A pit without a bottome. 1727 Swift Gulliver hi. i. 180 It appeared to be a firm substance, the bottom flat, smooth and shining. 1768 Ross To the Begging (Jam.), I’ll then unto the cobler And cause him sole my shoon An inch thick i’ the boddom. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 289 Boil your artichoke bottoms in hard water. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. (1872) III. 38/2 Barrels with the bottoms knocked out served the purpose of chimneys. Mod. A drawer with a false bottom.

b. The sitting part of a man, the posteriors, the seat. (Colloq.) Also, the ‘seat’ of a chair. 1794-6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) III. 253 So as to have his head and shoulders much lower than his bottom. 1835 j. Wilson Noctes Ambr. xxxix. (1864) IV. 79 The Dunghill cock .. hides his head in a hole .. unashamed of the exposure of his enormous bottom. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. i. 185 Patriot women take their hazel wands, and fustigate.. broad bottom of priests. 1885 Leisure Ho. Jan. 47/1 Women and children will be found caning or rushing the ‘bottoms’.

c. bottoms up!\ a call or toast to finish one’s drink to the last drop. Cf. bottomer c. Hence as adv. phr. 1917 G. J. Nathan (title) Bottoms up. 1928 Vanity Fair Dec. 79 Bottoms up to Vanity Fair! 1934 S. Kingsley Men in White 1. iii. 48 Come on! Bottoms up! She smiles back at him, and drains the glass. 1934 J. O’Hara Appt. in Samarra (i935) iv. XI9 The old priest.. drank his highball almost bottoms up. 1964 L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence 51,1 say bottoms up both to women and to glasses! [He raises his glass.]

2. a. The ground or bed under the water of a lake, sea, or river. Hence to go to the bottom: to sink, founder; to be wrecked. a 1000 Beowulf 3016 pa heo to botme com. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 144 pc wawes .. Durst nowhere for ro3 arest at pc bothem. c 1400 Maundev. xxx. 300 Men may see the botme of the See. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 90 Now.. to the botham is it sonken. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 21 Soom synck too bottoms, sulcking thee surges asunder. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. iii. ix. 149 So great an abundance of water, that they can neither find the bottome or bounds thereof. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 618 The Sun., darting to the bottom, bak’d the Mud. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphit. 376 The Bottom is very good anchoring Ground. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms 11. 22 Down to the bottom must she go With all who wake or sleep. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. 11. ii. 73 The oozy bottom of clear lakes and pools.

b. to touch bottom: to reach the lowest point, to have no bottom: to be unfathomable, inexhaustible, etc. Often fig. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 63 Forgetting.. the vicissitude of good and evil, they apprehend no bottom in felicity. 1886 Pall Mall G. 22 Apr. 11/2, I do not believe we have touched bottom; I believe the reduction will go on.

f3. A deep place, a depth, either in the sea or land; an abyss. Obs. a 1000 Caedmon's Gen. 361 (Gr.) He haeffl us befylled fyres to botme. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1030 He bode in pat boj>em [the Dead Sea] bropely a monyth. 1611 Bible Wisd. xvii. 14 The same sleepe.. came vpon them out of the bottomes of ineuitable hell. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 289 So low Down sunk a hollow bottom.. Capacious bed of Waters. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 557 In the Carpathian Bottom makes abode The Shepherd of the Seas. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) Add. 4 A great.. Rock, separated by a great gulph or natural bottom, from the land. 1759 Borlase in Phil. Trans. L. 504 They called to their companions above to be drawn up from the bottoms.

4. a. The bed or basin of a river, b. Low-lying land, a valley, a dell; an alluvial hollow. Now esp. U.S. c 132s E.E. Allit. P. B. 383 Vch bof>om watz brurd-ful to pe bonkez eggez. 1481 Ripon Ch. Acts. 347 Head-rack Bothome. 1513 Douglas JEneis vii. Prol. 57 Bank, bra, and boddum blanschit wolx and bair. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 239 They [streams] all passe in one bottome to Wie and to Canterbury. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. 11. i. (1772) II. 2 Past gloomy bottomes and high-waving woods.

BOTTOM

433 1687 A. Lovell tr. Bergerac's Comic. Hist. i. 177 Do you perceive, said he to me, what bottom we are going down into? 1732 Lediard Sethos II. ix. 294 This bottom, or inclosure.. was about two hundred paces broad. 1803 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) III. 504 There are on the borders of the rivers some rich bottoms, formed by the mud brought from the upper country. 1837 Peck Gaz. Illinois 1. 3 The term ‘bottom’ is used throughout the west to denote the alluvial soil on the margin of rivers, usually called ‘intervals’ in New England. 1851 C. Cist Cincinnati 18 Cincinnati itself is built on an ancient alluvial plain, lying in two levels called the ‘upper and lower bottoms’. 1907 Mulford Bar-20 xx. 200 They crawled to the last line of brush and looked out over an extensive bottom. 1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses i. 33 Messing around up yonder in the bottom all last night!

c. In gold-mining, the channel of an old river (also called the gutter) containing rich deposits of gold; also, the layer below it. Austral. 1855 W. Howitt Land, Labour & Gold I. xiii. 223 We have a hole within a few feet of the bottom, which I am confident will turn out well. 1887 Hayter Christmas Adv. 5 (Morris), We reached the bottom, but did not find gold.

5. a. The lowest part of anything, considered as a place or position in space; the lowest point or locality, the ‘foot’. Said both of vertical direction, and of the lowest point, on a slope. a 1300 Cursor M. 1699 In pc boJ?em [of the ark] sal be na stall For al peir filth sal J?edir fall. C1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2143 Til pou be bro3t to pc boj?em of pc brem valay. 1526 Tindale Matt, xxvii. 51 The vayle of the temple dyd rent in twayne from the toppe to the bottome [1382 Wyclif, fro the he^est til doun; 1388 to the lowest]. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. ill. v. 13 If the bottome were as deepe as hell, I shold down. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 204 Cutting the.. Roots a little, especially at bottom. 1853 Lytton My Novel iii. xxiv, Two cherry trees, standing at the bottom of the Park. 1863 Kingsley Water-bab. 14 At the bottom of a hill they came to a spring. 1873 Morley Rousseau I. 296 Rousseau was alone at the bottom of his garden.

b .fig. in phr. from (to) the bottom of the heart, etc. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Commun. Serv. Rubr., If one of the parties.. be content to forgive from the bottom of his heart all that the other hath trespassed against him. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1619) 146/2, I loue thee from the bottome of my stomacke. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 334 From the bottom of my heart I confess with St. Paul, Minimus sum. 1802 Mar. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. x. 83 He wished, from the bottom of his heart, that he had a thousand. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 169 Worthless men .. to the very bottom of whose hearts he saw.

c. The foot of a page; the last place in a list or class; the lower end of a table, in point of dignity or precedence. 1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 916 The rest he placed in the bottom of the wax, that is, in the last part of his will. 1863 A. J. Horwood Yearbks. 30 & 31 Edw. I. Pref. 32 The case at the bottom of p. 141 acknowledges the rule. 1866 C. D. Yonge Naval Hist. Eng. I. xi (L.), Justice was satisfied by his being placed at the bottom of the list of post¬ captains. 1884 Mrs. Craik G. Helstone 246 Mr. Beresford’s genial face at the bottom of his table, did more to give zest to the viands than an appetizing sauce.

d. Mining. Usually/)/. The lowest workings in a mine. Also attrib., as bottom captain, coal, worker. 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 174 The Bottom-Captains, whose business is to see that the common men perform due labour down in the mine, i860 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2) 5 Bottoms, the lowest workings either in a stope, level, or elsewhere. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Bottom, the bottom of the shafts and roadways, &c., near the shafts. 1892 Daily News 26 Feb. 5/6 It comprises about 280,000 miners, of whom 200,000 are ‘bottom workers’. 1900 Daily Express 28 June 7/3 There is an immense quantity of coal known locally as ‘bottom coal’ practically intact. 1967 Gloss. Mining Terms (B.S.I.) vm. 7 Bottom coal (bottoms, floor coal), the lowest part of a seam, which may or may not be extracted.

e. The part of a boot or shoe below the uppers; the sole, heel, and shank. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 410/2 The employing master., prepares and sorts the sole or bottom-stuff for the maker. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 76 Bottom Finisher. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 831/1 He then pares off inequalities and ‘levels the bottoms’. 1911, 1921 [see bottom-scourer in 19]. 6. a. transf. The deepest or most remote part

of a recess, bay, or the like; the farthest point, or inmost part. 1603 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 117 Venice.. is a city seated at the bottome of the Adriatique sea. 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. 1. i, At the bottome [of Massachusetts Bay] .. are situated most of the English plantations, a 1674 Milton Hist. Mosc. i. Wks. (1851) 476 The way thither is through the western bottom of Saint Nicholas Bay. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 20 Mahomet hid in the Bottom of the sands of Arabia. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. I. viii. 82 Almost at the bottom of this indentation. b- fig1587 Golding De Mornay viii. 100 Trogus Pompeius beginneth his Histone at the bottome of all antiquitie.

7. a. bottom (of a ship): generally, as in 1 (where see quots.); spec, ‘the part of the hull of a ship which is below the wales’ (Adm. Smyth); also, the hull as a whole; hence, A ship, boat, or other vessel. 1522 Wolsey in Fiddes Life (1726) 64 To bring their wines upon strangers bottoms. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, xiv, Laden.. in any shyppe botome or vessell of this realme of England. 1600 Holland Livy xxxm. xxxvii. 845 They., passed over the Po in small bothomes and punts. 1665 Lond. Gaz. No. 11 /4 They were bound for Bordeaux with several others, all Dutch Bottoms. 1697 Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 143 When they come to Panama, [they] dispose of the Goods

and Bottom together. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 138/2 Amintas..and Sosicles.. who sailed in one bottom, bore down upon him. 1817 Byron Beppo xcvii, He transferr’d his lading.. to another bottom. 1883 American VII. 162 Goods imported in foreign bottoms.

b. fig1636 Featly Clavis Myst. vii. 85 All private mens estates are ventered in the bottome of the Common-wealth. 1697 Establ. Test. 2, I do not pretend .. to meddle with the Needle and Compass of the Publique Bottom. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 442 In no bottom can it be more safe than in land. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's x, I wish Clara’s venture had not been in such a bottom. 8. fa. The dregs, sediment of liquors; the last

portion of the wine in a cask (obs.). b. In Coppersmelting (see quot.). 1660 Howell Diet., Bottom, or the settling of liquor at the bottom. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3963/3 The White Wines .. at 401. per Tun, the White Bottoms at 10I. 1870 Eng. Mech. 18 Feb. 547/3 Known as black copper or ‘bottoms’. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Bottoms, in copper-smelting, the impure metallic copper.. which separates from the matt, and is found below it.

9. bottom of a wig: the portion hanging down over the shoulder, full bottom: short for ‘fullbottomed wig’. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. ii. 89 The fathers of theology did not think it decent to appear except in a full bottom.

II. That which underlies or supports a thing, f 10. a. That upon which anything is built or rests; the foundation. Obs. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 45 Botme, or fundament, basis. 1647 H. More Song of Soul 11. App. civ, All the stately works and monuments Built on this bottome. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 39 That canon will certainly hold longer which is best built in the bottome. 1674 Allen Danger Enthus. 5 Several Orders among the Papists have been built upon the same Bottom.

fb. The ground under a plant; the soil in which it grows. Obs. a 1620 J. Dyke Worthy Commun. (1640) To Rdr., A plant that growes upon its own bottom. 1649 Blith Eng. Improv. Impr. To Husb., No less than may.. yield good bottome and rooting to the corn.

11. fig. a. A foundation, basis, footing. J. Dyke Worthy Commun. (1640) 194 Hee comes off from all bottom he hath in himselfe and in nature. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 155 This glorious name Shaddai, was a noble bottom for Abraham to act his faith upon. 1697 Snake in Grass (ed. 2) p. xv, This was the Bottom upon which the Quakers first set up. 1718 Penn Life in Wks. 1726 I. 136 If we could not all meet upon a Religious Bottom, at least we might upon a Civil One. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xxxvi. 262 Authority established on the same bottom with the privileges of the people. 01620

b. Phrase, to stand, on one’s own bottom: to act for oneself, be independent. 1606 Holland Sueton. 97 Hee had used also before, to stand upon his owne bothom. a 1656 Bp. Hall Content. 45 Man, though he.. stand upon his own bottome, yet [is] he not a little wrought upon by examples. 1680 Morden Geog. Red. (1685) 106 Everyone endeavours to stand on their own bottom. 1788 Reid Aristotle's Log. vi. §1. 129 When reason acquires such strength as to stand on its own bottom. c. In fig. phrases: the bottom falls (or drops)

out of: there is a collapse of; to knock the bottom out of : see knock v. 6 b. 1637 Rutherford Let. 9 Sept. (1664) 144 The bottom hath fallen out of both their wit and conscience at once. 1868 Iowa Agric. Soc. Rep. 1867 64 The bottom has at length dropped out of this humbug. 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It (1873) lviii. 42° Gould and Curry soared to six thousand three hundred dollars a foot! And then—all of a sudden, out went the bottom and everything.. went to ruin and destruction! 1923 Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves iv. 45, I felt as if the bottom had dropped out of things with a jerk. 1926 E. M. Dell Black Knight 1. x, ‘I try to take things as they come.’.. ‘And when the bottom falls out of everything— what do you do then?’ 1957 M. Banton W. Afr. City vi. 103 In the 1930s the bottom fell out of the market in ginger and coffee.

12. The fundamental character, essence, reality. Phrases, to search, etc., to the bottom: to examine thoroughly, to find out the real character of. at (the) bottom: in reality, as distinguished from superficial appearances, to be at the bottom of: to underlie, to be the real author or source of. 1577 Harrison England 11. i. (1877) 12 When the pope understood the botome of the matter. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 11. 391 There is nothing in man which .. God .. searcheth not vnto the bottome. 1600 Tourneur Transf. Metamorph. lviii, Doth demonstrate presently The bottome of his mind effectually. 1651 Proc. Parliament No. 94. 1446 The examination of that business to the bottom. 1683 Apol.for Prot. France vi. 88 The Clergy in the bottom judges that the Pope has Right to lay an Ecclesiastical Censure upon the Kingdom of France. 1711 Steele Sped. No. 43 f 5 We are by no means yet sure, that some People are not at the Bottom on’t. 1720 Ozell tr. Vertot's Rom. Rep. III. xiv. 325 Antony, at the Bottom, very indifferent about this Revenge, pretended to be in earnest. 1748 Anson Voy. in. x. (ed. 4) 544 If this matter was examined to the bottom. 1773 Monboddo Language (1774) I. 1. iv. 42 In order to get at the bottom of this question. 1780 Sheridan Sch. Scand. 1. i. 8 Every body was sure there was some reason for it at bottom. 1809-10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 75 With whomsoever we play the deceiver and flatterer, him at the bottom we despise. 1838 Dickens Nickleby xxiii. 215 He’s a good pony at bottom. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 387 The Jesuits were at the bottom of the scheme. 1866 Argyll Reign Law vi. (1871) 320 That which is really at the bottom of all this ambiguity of language. 1873 Morley Rousseau II. 171 It is bad, because it is at bottom, a superstition.

BOTTOM fl3. A pecuniary ‘foundation’ or ‘basis’ for commercial enterprise; capital, resources; hence, financial stability, commercial standing. Obs. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 451 Beginning on a good bottom left him by his father. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 206, I know of no mercantile house in France of surer bottom.

14. Physical resources, ‘staying power’, power of endurance; said esp. of pugilists, wrestlers, race-horses, etc. 1774 Goldsm. Atiim. Nat. II. 106 Though the Savages held out and, as the phrase is, had better bottoms, yet for a spurt the Englishmen were more nimble and speedy. 1790 Bewick Quadr., Race Horse (1800) 7 What is called in the language of the turf, bottom. 1822 Byron Juan vm. cx, [He] died all game and bottom. 1835 Penny Cycl. III. 421/2 They .. have their manes and tails cropped.. under the supposition that it adds to their strength and bottom. 1862 R. Patterson Ess. Hist. Art 180 For solidity, bottom, and a courage that never wavers, they [British troops] are incomparable. v

f 15. a. A clew or nucleus on which to wind thread; also a skein or ball of thread. Also fig. Obs. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 45 Botme of threde. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxxi. 120 He must take wyth hym a botom of threde. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. 1. v. (Arb.) 85 Of gossampine cotton ready spunne foure great bottomes. 1611 Cotgr., Fondrillon, a bottom to wind silke, thread or yarne on. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World n. 367 He received from her [Ariadne] a bottome of thred. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 267, I will twist up what I know upon as narrow a bottom as may be shut up within the compass of this letter. 1698 S. Clark Script. Just. 112 It’s high Time now to wind up my Bottoms. 1731 Sir E. Peyton Div. Catastr. Ho. Stuarts 64, I have ravelled out the Pieces to wind up this Bottom. 1754 Bp. Warburton Lett.fr. Late Prelate (1809) 168 So you see I am winding up my bottoms.

fb. The cocoon of a silkworm. Obs. 1609 Mulb. Trees in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 86 Upon the branches.. the wormes will fasten themselues, and make their bottomes. 1655 Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xiii. §3 (1669) 42/2 The Silk-worm.. works her self out of her bottom. 1665 Phil. Trans. I. 88 The manner of winding their Silk from their Bottoms.

fl6. ? The lap. Obs. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. II. s.v. Lithotomy, The Operator lays the sick Person upon a soft pillow, in the Bottom or Lap of some Strong Man.

17. Particle Physics. [An arbitrary choice of name.] The name of (a quark carrying) a flavour with a charge of — J; symbol b. 1977 Sci. News 13 Aug. 100/1 Once the charmed quark was in the picture, symmetry principles and other considerations led to openings for a fifth and a sixth. The last two have been designated rather whimsically ‘truth’ and ‘beauty’ although in a recent statement Lederman names them more prosaically ‘top’ and ‘bottom’. 1977, 1978 [see top sb.1 18]. 1979 N.Y. Times 13 Feb. C2 The upsilon, formed of a bottom quark and a bottom antiquark, is 10 times more massive than the proton. 1980 Sci. Amer. Jan. 28/2 A first order of business for the new accelerators will be filling in the blanks in the catalogue of hadrons, particularly those that incorporate top and bottom quarks in their structure. 1983 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 1984 282/2 The recently discovered B meson.. is stable, providing the first direct evidence for the existence of a very heavy quark, carrying a new flavor, called beauty or bottom.

III. Attrib. and Comb. 18. simple attrib. or adj. Of or pertaining to the bottom; lowest, basal, fundamental; last. (Hence superlative bottom-most.) 1561 T. Norton Calvin s Inst. 1. 8 b, The presumptuous boldnesse.. is throwen downe euen to the bottome point of the earth. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 221 The bottom width of the Hollow. 1685 W. Adams Dedham Pulpit (1840) 97 This is the bottom cause. 1885 Pall Mall G. 2 Dec. 3/1 The bottom political fact just now. 1885 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 20 Dec. Advt., All kinds of Horse Furnishings at Bottom Prices.

19. General comb., chiefly attrib., in senses a. At the bottom, forming the bottom, as bottomdischarge, -rock (also fig.), -water-, bottomheavy adj.; b. That remains on the bottom (of sea, river, etc.); done at or near the bottom, as bottom-fish, -fishing, -liver, -living, -trailing-, c. That belongs to or forms the bottom of anything, as bottom-board, -timber-, d. fig. Fundamental, as f bottom-ground-, e. Of or pertaining to low-lying ground, as bottomglade, -grass, -land-, f. (sense i b) bottompincher, -pinching. 1881 C. A. Edwards Organs 42 The ’bottom board is made of thick pine, a 1877 Knight Diet. Mech., * Bottomdischarge Water-wheel, a turbine from which the water is discharged at the bottom instead of at the sides. 1900 Daily News 24 Oct. 7/7 Orders for 160 bottom-discharge trucks have been placed in America. 1847 Ansted Anc. World vi. 106 ’Bottom-fish, living on offal and on the invertebrated groups. 1830 Howitt Seasons, Mar. 59 His sport is., confined to ’bottom-fishing. 1634 Milton Comus 532 Hard by i’ the hilly crofts That brow this ’bottom-glade. 1592 Shaks. Ven. Gf Ad. 236 Within this limit is relief enough; Sweet ’bottom-grass, and high delightful plain. 01679 T. Goodwin Wks. 1865 X. 431 The reason or ’bottom-ground of all that wickedness. 1927 Sunday Times 6 Mar. 7/3 The double basses are generally too plentiful at these concerts, and .. they too often made the music sound ’bottom-heavy. 1882 H. Lansdell Through Siberia I. 220 We had a splendid view of the noble Yenesei at sunset, of its verdant ’bottom¬ lands on either side. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. xii. 302 They are all marine and essentially ’bottom-livers. 1881 Jrnl. Microsc. Soc. Jan 68 The porcellanous Foraminifera.. are known to be exclusively ’bottom-living

434 species. 1959 J. Blish Case of Conscience xii. 119 He was fundamentally nothing more complicated than a ’bottompincher. 1939 Auden & Isherwood Journey to War 53 Their horse-play, ’bottom-pinching .. and endless jokes about les poules. 1955 Auden Shield of Achilles ii. 41 The honking bottom-pinching clown. 1864 Dana Text-Bk. Geol. (1874) 45 In Great Britain, the whole thickness above the unfossiliferous ’bottom-rocks is about 100,000 feet. 1887 C. B. George 40 Yrs. on Rail v. 93 About the time I had reached bottom rock in my financial troubles,.. I met A. B. Pullman. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. Il.xxvi. 266 The ice had strained her ’bottom-timbers. 1822 Edin. Rev. 300 They gave us our elementary lesson of ’bottom-trailing. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 152 The surface freezes while the ’bottom-water remains several degrees warmer.

20. Special comb., as bottom-bed, the lowest stratum of a formation of rocks; bottom¬ boarding, the bottom-planks of a boat; bottomboards, boards at the bottom of a boat serving to protect the outer planking; bottom-cargo, the cargo carried in the hold; bottom-dish, that placed at the lower end of the table; bottom dog = underdog (cf. top dog s.v. top sb.1 34); also attrib.-, so bottom-doggy a., pertaining to or characteristic of a bottom dog; bottom dollar U.S., (one’s) last dollar, usu. in collocations with bet-, bottom drawer, lit. the lowest drawer of a chest of drawers, etc., in which a woman stores clothes, linen, etc., in preparation for her marriage; bottom facts U.S., the fundamental facts; bottom fermentation, that during which the yeast cells collect at the bottom of the liquid; also attrib.; bottom gear, the lowest-speed gear (see gear sb. 7) in a motor; bottom-heat, heat supplied to plants through the soil; bottom-ice, ice which forms on the bottom of a river or sea; bottom-land, bottomland U.S., low-lying land, esp. a stretch of level land near a river; = bottom sb. 4 b; also attrib.; bottom-lift (see quot.); bottom-line, (a) the lower part of a fishing-line; (b) orig. U.S., the last line of a profit-and-loss account, showing the final profit (or loss); also loosely, the net profit; yig., the final analysis or determining factor; the point, the crux of the argument; bottom-moraine, debris dropped from icebergs on the bottom of the sea; bottom-planks the outer planking of the bottom of a boat; bottom-plate, (a) an iron plate in a printing-press; (b) the set of knives forming the bed of a pulping machine in paper-making; bottom prairie U.S., a prairie lying along the bank of a river; bottom-sampler, a grab for dredging samples from the sea-bottom; hence bottom-sampling ppl. a. and vbl. sb.; bottomscourer, an operative who smooths the ‘bottoms’ of boots and shoes; bottom-set bed Geol. (see quots.); bottom-side = sense 1 a; bottom timber U.S., timber growing in bottom-lands; bottom-tool, a tool used in wood-turning; bottom-up, -upwards adv., in an inverted position, upside-down; fbottomward, the part near the bottom; bottom-wigged a., wearing a wig with full bottom; bottom-wind (see quot.); bottom wool (see quot.); bottom yeast = bottom fermentation yeast. 1845 P. B. Brodie Hist. Fossil Insects 58 Hard blue limestone, (‘‘bottom bed’) with Ostrea, Modiola minima, and other shells. 1900 G. Swift Somerley 110 At the risk of tearing out what was left of the ‘bottom-boarding, we hauled her on to the beach. 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford I. xi. 192 I’ve larded the ‘bottom boards under my seat so that not a drop of water will.. come through. 1883 Man. Seamanship for Boys' Training Ships 84 Q. What are bottom boards? A. Long pieces of wood nailed together, which lay from the stern sheets to the bow. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxiii, Our ‘bottom cargo consisted of.. crockery. 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery ix. 94 A collar of Fish in Ragoo... This is a fine ‘Bottom-dish. 1796 Mrs. Glasse Cookery v. 79 A porcupine of a breast of veal.. is a grand bottom-dish. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 12 July, I can’t help sympathizing with the ‘bottom dog [in a fight]. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent vi. 119 There was a touch of bottom-dog insolence about her. 1927 Daily Express 12 Aug. 9/5 The award will be received with disappointment by .. the ‘bottom dogs’ of the service. 1925 D. H. Lawrence Let. 2 Apr. (1962) II. 832 Canaille of the most ‘bottomdoggy order. 1857 San Francisco Call 24 Jan. 4/1 Sometimes, however, luck will run against him, and .. he ‘slips up for his ‘bottom dollar’. 1866 Congress. Globe Mar. 1474/1 His opinion is that a State can go out of the Union and he is willing to bet his bottom dollar on his judgment. 1904 Harben Georgians v. 43 You bet yore bottom dollar I’m open to criticism myself. 1958 Dissent V. 1. 80 And I’d bet my bottom dollar that Negro hipsters, among themselves, often put down the whites. 1886 R. Holland Gloss. Cty. Cheshire 407 If a young woman were to buy a set of teathings, or a tablecloth, or what not, and were asked what use she had for such things, she would answer, ‘Oh! they’re to put in my *bottom drawer.' 1902 A. Bennett Anna of Five Towns xiii. 343 The bride took all the house-linen to her husband... As soon as a girl had passed her fifteenth birthday, she began to sew for the ‘bottom drawer’. 1959 Woman's Own 14 Feb. 58/3 She had been saving furiously for her ‘bottom drawer’ ever since she became engaged. 1877 N. Y. Tribune 17 Mar. (Bartlett), Curiosity has been on the tiptoe these many weeks to know the ‘bottom facts. 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life Mississippi xiii. 393 Though there ain’t

BOTTOM only one or two ways when you come down to the bottom facts of it. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 367/1 In the Continental * bottom-fermentation system, the pitching and fermentation take place at a very low temperature. 1905 J. L. Baker Brewing Industry 100 Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is divided into two classes, top fermentation and bottom fermentation yeast. 1923 Westm. Gaz. 2 Feb., A stiff climb on ‘bottom gear brings Mosul.. in sight. 1968 Listener 1 Aug. 140/3 Still our red-hot old bus engines ploughed on uphill in bottom gear. 1882 Garden 14 Jan. 26/3 The cuttings .. are planted out in frames in a gentle ♦bottom-heat. 1882 Geikie Geol. 11. 11. §6. in Water-ice is formed .. by the freezing of the layer of water lying on the bottom of rivers, or the sea (*bottom-ice, ground-ice, anchor-ice). 1728 Boston News-Letter 23-30 May 2/2 Fifty Acres of. .Meadows and Meadow ‘Bottom Land. 1841 C. Cist Cincinnati 66 The larger streams are now found meandering through alluvial plains called ‘bottom lands’. 1903 N.Y. Even. Post 12 Sept., The tract consists of a bottom land along the Ohio River, and a plateau elevated 300 feet above the bottom land. Ibid. 19 Sept., To complete the maturity of the bottomland crops. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 May 345/1 The lakes and sloughs ran in a vast network over the bottom lands. 1961 L. Mumford City in History xiii. 405 A discouraging site: bottomland, bordered by a swamp on the Potomac side. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Bottom-lift, the deepest lift of a mining-pump, or the lowest pump. 1837 Kirkbride Northern Angler 91 The ♦bottom or casting-line must consist of three lengths of twisted gut. 1967 San Francisco Examiner 8 Sept. 35/7 George Murphy and Ronald Reagan certainly qualified because they have gotten elected. I think that’s the ‘bottom line. 1970 R. Townsend Up the Organization 76 All overheads should be brought down to the bottom line for bonus purposes. 1982 Sci. Amer. Oct. 14/2 The bottom line is that invention is much more like falling off a log than like sawing one in two. 1984 Observer 26 Feb. 37/2 So much goddam effort has gone into improving profitability right down to the bottom line. 1882 Nature XXV. 470 The Devonian rocks.. are covered with a thick sheet of typical ‘bottom-moraine. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed ii. 27 The whale-boat.. chose to hit a hidden rock and rip out half her ‘bottom-planks. 01877 Knight Diet. Mech., *Bottomplate (printing), a plate of iron belonging to the mold of a printing-press, on which the carriage is fixed, a 1884 Ibid. Suppl., Bottom-plate (paper-making), the gang of knives forming the concave or bed beneath the cylinder of a rag¬ grinding machine or pulping engine. 1804 J. Ordway in Wis. Hist. Coll. (1916) XXII. 95 A beautiful ‘Bottom Prarie .. about 2000 acres of Land covered with wild rye and wild potatoes. 1882 Worthen Econ. Geol. Illinois II. 73 The latter are the so-called ‘ridge prairies’, while the former are sometimes designated as ‘bottom prairies’. 1911 Petersen & Jensen Danish Biol. Station Rep. XX. 73 By means of ‘bottom-samplers.. it is shown that the uppermost brown layer of the sea-bottom must be regarded as dust-fine detritus. 1959 A. Hardy Fish & Fisheries v. 104 Petersen’s quantitative bottom-sampling grab. 1911 F. Sellers in Rep. Labour Social Conditions in Germany III. 95 ‘Bottomscourers 24s. (Frankfurt per week). 12s. to 16s. (Leeds per week). 1921 Diet. Occup. Terms (1927) §429 Scourer,.. designated according to parts upon which he works, e.g. bottom or naumkeag scourer, heel scourer. 1905 Chamberlin & Salisbury Geol. iii. 191 The sediment rolled at the bottom of the current is dumped on reaching the steep slope, and constitutes the inclined fore-set beds... The material in suspension is carried farther, settles more gradually, and constitutes the *bottom-set beds. 1942 C. A. Cotton Geomorphology (ed. 3) xv. 206 In a delta some of the silt layers are covered over by advancing fore-set beds, and then become the bottom-set beds of the delta. 1856 COZZENS Sparrowgr. Papers vii. 88 It was vexatious enough to see our lawn ‘bottom-side up on a festive occasion. 1869 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. 1868 327 Put the box in a pan of water and turn it nearly bottom-side up. 1964 New Scientist 12 Mar. 686/1 The regions above and below the height of maximum density are generally referred to as the ‘topside’ and ‘bottomside ’ 1834 Peck Gaz. Illinois 11. 150 The ‘bottom timber consists of oaks [etc.]. 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting ix. 150 How much better walking it is in this bottom-timber than in the woods of New England. 01877 Knight Diet. Mech., * Bottom-tool.., a turning-tool having a bent-over end, for cutting out the bottoms of cylindrical hollow work. 1858 Merc. Mar. Mag. V. 67 A ship *bottom-up.. might easily be taken for a ‘danger’. 1694 Lond. Gaz. No. 3006/4 More towards the middle to the ‘bottomward. 1884 Harper's Mag. Oct. 801/2 Our heavy ‘bottom-wigged monarchy outlived that.. invader. 1849 G. Soame New Curios. Lit. I. 151 The ‘Bottom-Wind has its name from being supposed .. to arise from the bottom of those lakes which are situated amongst mountains. 1848 H. W. Haygarth Bush Life Australia v. 47 The wool nearest the skin, or, as it is called, the ‘‘bottom wool’, which is the hardest to cut, but the most weighty and valuable. 1910 Encycl. Brit. X. 278/1 It has not., been possible to transform a typical top yeast into a permanent typical ‘bottom yeast.

bottom ('bDtam), v. [f. prec.] 1. trans. To put a bottom to. Cf. bottomed i. 1544 Coventry Acc. in T. Sharp Dissert. (1825) 185 Item payd for bottomyng a cressyt vjd. Mod. Send this saucepan to be new bottomed.

|2.fig. a. To find a bottom or foundation for; to serve as a bottom for; to establish firmly. Obs. 1656 J. Bentham Two. .Treat. (1657) To Rdr., Such grounds.. as may sufficiently bottome the Negative in the controversie. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 1. i. 8 We stand in need of the discoveries of sense.. to bottom any sound conjecture concerning the Nature, Causes, and effects of the things in Nature. 1685 F. Spence House Medici 248 He affected to bottom his own repute by disclosing the ignorance of others.

b. to bottom upon: to set upon a foundation; to base, found, ground upon; also refl. 1637 Sanderson Serm. II. 88 Upon this base the apostle had bottomed contentation. 1678 Norris Coll. Misc. (1699) 241, I may not.. bottom myself upon such a centre, as will moulder away, a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Matt. xi. 6 Such as .. bottom their expectations of heaven and salvation upon him. 1824 Coleridge Aids Refl. App. xvi, To bottom all our

BOTTOMAGE convictions on grounds of right reason, i860 Forster Gr. Remonstr. 67 He bottomed it strongly on the precedents and language of law.

fc. intr. (for refl.) To rest as upon a foundation; to be based, grounded, lit. and fig. Obs. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §5 (1810) 19 Smallridge takes its name from.. a very slender ridge, and bottoms on three parts thereof. 1660-3 J- Spencer Prodigies (1665) 212 In all Knowledg which bottoms upon Experience Men should attend indifferently to any kind of Instances, a 1704 Locke Posth. Wks. (1706) 61 Readily take a view of the Argument, and..see where it bottoms. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. I. 12. 179° Burke Fr. Rev. 20 All the oblique insinuations concerning election bottom in this proposition. 13. To wind (as a skein), fig. Obs. Cf. bottom

sb. 15. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. in. ii. 53 As you vnwinde her loue from him. .You must prouide to bottome it on me. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. vii. 104 As neatlie bottom’d up as nature forth it drew.

4. a. trans. to reach the bottom of; to drain to the bottom, to empty. Also intr. To reach the bottom. 1808 Cumbrian Ballads liii. 119 They push’d round a glass like a noggin, And bottom’d the greybeard complete. 1845 Whitehall xii. 79 The provost.. in return bottomed the goblet. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1. 1. xi. §7 A cap.. is placed upon the point and pushed into the case till it bottoms. 1882 Jefferies Bevis I. ix. 140 He bottomed with his feet and stood upright [in the pond].

b. fig. To get to the bottom of, examine exhaustively, understand thoroughly. 1785 R Cumberland in Observer No. 102 That mystery is thoroughly bottomed and laid open. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. I. x. 176 Openly declaiming on subjects, .which they had never bottomed, i860 Smiles Self-Help vii. 195 He had bottomed the whole inquiry.

c. intr. Of prices, trade, etc.: to reach the lowest level. Also with out. 1892 Daily News 17 Nov. 7/1 Discount rates appear to have bottomed for the time. 1920 Glasgow Herald 6 Sept. 9 Others with shallower purses are content to wait until prices have bottomed. 1958 Times 14 July 13/3 With the recession apparently having bottomed out there is now much less insistence .. that the Government take some vigorous action. 1969 Daily Tel. 21 Apr. 2/1 This is not the time to go liquid. If the index bottoms at 420 unless your timing is absolutely spot on it will pay to sit tight and ride out the squalls. 1970 Ibid. 10 Feb. 19/4 Analysts saw the advance as part of the market’s ‘bottoming out’ pattern.

5. a. trans. In mining, to reach the bottom of (a mine); to reach a point (in a mine) beyond which further mining is useless; also absol., to get down to the bed-rock or clay; to reach earth which contains gold. So to bottom on: to strike or reach (gold); also fig. b. intr. Said of a claim, etc.: to be worked to the bottom. Austral, and N.Z. 1853 E. Clacy Lady's Visit to Gold Diggings of Austral, v. 73 Their hole had been fairly ‘bottomed’, a nice little nest of nuggets discovered. 1858 McCombie Hist. Victoria xv. 219 In their anxiety to bottom their claims, they not seldom threw away the richest stuff. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right I. viii. 214 As soon as the main body of block claims began to bottom, gold flowed in with almost fabulous profusion. Ibid. II. xiii. 25 Though they had a week’s start of us, we bottomed on the same day, and by nightfall the field was aware that Olivera’s half-share men had bottomed another duffer. 1892 R. Wardon McPherson's Gully 14 They shifted their pegs to fresh ground and again ‘set in’ —and again bottomed on gold! 1900 H. Lawson On Track 143 One day Peter., told us that his party expected to ‘bottom’ during the following week. Ibid., Later came the news that ‘McKenzie and party’ had bottomed on payable gold. 1926 J. Doone Timely Tips for New Australians Gloss., To ‘bottom on to gold’, to strike gold. To succeed. 1963 A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 79 Shafts have been sunk ‘blind’,.. on the chance of bottoming on ‘opal-dirt’.

6. intr. In mechanics, to strike or touch the bottom or far end (see quot. a 1877). 01877 Knight Diet. Mech. s.v., Cogs are said to bottom when their tops impinge upon the periphery of the co-acting wheel. A piston which strikes or touches the end of its cylinder is said to bottom. 1959 Motor Manual (ed. 36) v. 123 The spring deflections with a full load will become excessive and the vehicle will ‘bottom’ if a bad bump is encountered.

7. Electr. (See quot. i960.). 1946 Electronic Engin. XVIII. 143 A master oscillator produces a sine wave.. . This is amplified and squared by ‘bottoming’ a valve anode. 1948 Ibid. XX. 63 To operate the screen grid on its negative resistance portion the anode must ‘bottom’. 1954 K. W. Gatland Devel. Guided Missile (ed. 2) 237 When a valve ‘bottoms’ its anode can draw no more current. i960 H. Carter Diet. Electronics 32 Bottoming, a thermionic valve is said to ‘bottom’ when, by reason of the potential applied to one or other of its grids, the anode current falls to zero.

f'bottomage. Obs. =

bottomry. 1678 in Phillips; hence in Bailey, etc.

bottomarie, -ery, bottomed V.

obs. forms of bottomry.

(’bDtsmd), ppl. a. [f. bottom sb. and

+ -ED.]

1. Having a bottom; furnished with a bottom of some special material or form; usually in composition, as foul-, full-, gravel-, sharpbottomed. 1559 Richmond. Wills (1853) 135 One trussin bedde bothomed with girth webbe. 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon (1630) 29 In Frigats bottom’d with rich Sethin planks. 1702 W. J.

BOTULIN

435 Bruyn's Voy. Levant xxxvi. 139 We came into a chamber 18 foot long .. the Roof being sharp bottom’d. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4691/4 Wearing a light brown Wig, sometimes full bottomed. 1742 R. Blair Grave 326 Nor margin of the gravel-bottom’d brook. 1841 Orderson Creol. xvi. 192 Leather-bottomed chairs, c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 100 Vessels.. full-bottomed for large cargoes. 1859 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 114 Unless the shot are bottomed.

b. Covered at the bottom, having as a bottom or foundation. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 485 Most of our extensive mosses are bottomed by clay. 1872 Daily News 28 Feb., A narrow creek flanked with warehouses, and bottomed with its foetid deposit.

2. Founded, based, grounded; mostly fig. C1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 395 It was far from being any opinion.. bottomed upon weak grounds. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. 11. x. (1865) 298 Our literary talk.. was bottomed well; had good grounds to go upon. 1874 Morley Compromise 134 A strong and well-bottomed character.

Hence f 'bottomedness, the quality of resting upon a sure foundation, stability. 1642 Rogers Naaman 19 The freedome, bottomednesse, and unchangeablenesse of the promise.

bottomer ('bDt3m9(r)). [f. bottom v. + -er1.] a. One who puts a bottom to anything, b. One who works at the lowest station, c. A draught in which the cup is drained to the bottom. 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6194/7 Elizabeth Squibb.. CaneChair Bottomer. 1876 Blackmore Cripps III. xvi. 259 He firmly restricted good feeling .. to three good bumpers, and a bottomer. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Bottomer, the man stationed at the bottom of a shaft in charge of the proper loading of cages, etc. a 1887 Shop Notice-board. A. B. Chaircaner, Rush-bottomer.

bottoming ('bDtamir)), vbl. sb. [f. bottom v. + -ING1.] 1. a. The action of putting a bottom to anything, b. The action of setting on a sure basis, c. concr. An under layer, a foundation. 1526 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Payd for botomyng of a basket. 1642 Rogers Naaman 179 So farre as may further him in the bottoming of the soule in mercy. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells Table, Our hopes differ from others.. in the bottoming of them by expectation. 1823 McAdam Road-making 49 These previous beds of stone are called the bottoming. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 51 A road.. with a foundation or bottoming of large stones.

d. attrib., as bottoming-hole, the open mouth of a glass-making furnace; bottoming-tap, a square-edged tap for cutting an internal thread uniformly to the bottom of a hole.

set.. all the folks .. bottommost side upwards. 1884 Public Opinion 3 Oct. 427/1 We might arrive at the ‘bottommost’ lock before nightfall. t’bottomrer.

Obs.

bottomry ('bDtamri).

b. fig. Without foundation, baseless. 1563 Davidson Confut. Kennedy in Misc. Wodrow Soc. (1844) 241 The rest of his lessone..is on ane boddomles ground. 1642 Prince Rupert Declar. 6 Strange, false and bottomlesse untruths. 1866 Crump Banking viii. 175 Speculators.. are often encouraged in their bottomless enterprises by obtaining credits with certain companies.

2. fig. Inexhaustible, unfathomable. 1526 Tindale Doctr. Treat. (1848) 400 The judgments of God are bottomless. 1545 Brinklow Lament. (1874) 86 Oh ye dispisers of the bottomlesse mercy of God. 1640-4 Sir J. Culpepper in Rushw. Hist. Coll. in. (1692) I. 31 Besides the bottomless Perjury of an Et csetera. 1743 Tindal tr. Rapin's Hist. Eng. II. xvn. 129 Bottomless graces and immeasurable benefits. 1826 Scott Woodst. (1832) 190 He must be bottomless if I cannot sound him before the night’s out.

Hence 'bottomlessly adv., unfathomably; 'bottomlessness, bottomless state or quality. 1627-8 Feltham Resolves xix. (1636) 65 Who..is so bottomlessly ill, as to love vice, because it is vice? 1642 Rogers Naaman 180 That wearisomenesse of Selfe, never settled, that bottomelessenesse, never grounded. 1854 Thoreau Walden xvi. 306 Men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.

'bottommost, a. superl. [f. bottom sb. 18 + -most; cf. topmost.] That is at the very bottom, lowest. 1861 Sala Tw. round Clock 206 The bottommost round of the sporting ladder. 1880 Mrs. Parr Adam & E. xxi. 292 To

Also 7 bottommarie, -y,

sb. 7 + -ry, after Du. bodmerij.] A species of contract of the nature of a mortgage, whereby the owner of a ship, or the master as his agent, borrows money to enable him to carry on or complete a voyage, and pledges the ship as security for repayment of the money. If the ship is lost, the lender loses his money; but if it arrives safe, he receives the principal together with the interest or premium stipulated, ‘however it may exceed the usual or legal rate of interest’. Also attrib., as in bottomry-bond, -money. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 171 The name Bottommarie is deriued by the Hollanders from the Keele or Bottome of a ship .. The money so taken vp by the master of the ship, is commonly done vpon great necessitie.. the vse payed for the same is verie great, at 30, 40, and 50 pro cent. without consideration of time. 1663 Pepys Diary 30 Nov., A master of a ship who had borrowed twice his money upon the bottomary. 1682 Scarlett Exchanges 253 Amongst conditional bills, Bills of Bodomery may be reckoned, that is, Bills that are made upon the Keele of the Ship, which are accidentally conditional. 1708 Termes de la Ley 86 Bottomry. 1741 Johnson Debates Pari. (1787) I. 218 It is a common practice to take money upon bottomree. 1748 Anson Voy. 1. i. 9 The remaining [£] 5000 they raised on bottomry bonds. 1755 Magens Insurances I. 26 We have no fixed Laws.. in England, for settling partial losses on Bottomry-Monies. 1842 Park Mar. lnsur. II. xxii. 869 In this consists the difference between bottomry and respondentia, that the one is a loan upon the ship, the other upon the goods. 1848 Arnould Mar. Insur. 1. iii. 76. bottomry ('bDtamri), v.

[f. prec.]

trans.

To

pledge (a ship) as security for money lent: see prec. 1755 Magens Insurances I. 26 A Master cannot bottomry his whole Ship at a place where her Owners reside. 1848 Arnould Mar. Insur. iii. viii. (1866) II. 931 The repairs abroad for which the ship was bottomried had been done by strangers.

botty ('bnti). slang,

c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1022 For hit [the Dead Sea] is brod & bo^emlez, & bitter as pe galle. 1535 CoverdaleJM xxxvi. 16 So shall he kepe the .. from the bottomlesse pytte that is beneth. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 325 Let his neck be yoked in an old bottomless pail. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. 11. Wks. (1851) 180 Unlesse her bottomlesse gorge may be satisfi’d with the blood of the Kings daughter the Church. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 172 Jupiter puts the discourses and promises of lovers into a bottomless bag. i860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xi, How knowingly (with a sheaf and a bottomless chair at our back) we should lounge on bridges.

[f.

bodomery, 8 bottomree, bottomery. [f. bottom

2. Austral. In mining, the process of reaching bed-rock. Cf. bottom v. 5.

3. Electr. See bottom v. 7.

bodomerer.

1682 Scarlett Exchanges 253 The sum of the damage.. must be deducted from the Sums that D. E. and G. are to receive, they being as Bodomerers or Assurers.

t'bottomy, a.

bottomless ('botsmlis), a. [see -less.] 1. That has no bottom.

7

a bottomry bond.

1839 Ure Diet. Arts 582 This spheroid having become cool and somewhat stiff, is next carried to the bottoming hole. 01877 Knight Diet. Mech., Bottoming-hole, the open mouth of a furnace at which a globe of crown glass is exposed during the progress of its manufacture, in order to soften it and allow it to assume an oblate form, a 1884 Ibid., Suppl., Bottoming tap, one for carrying the thread of full size to the bottom of the hole.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right I. vii. 189 The bottoming of three or more shafts on the supposed line of lead shall be a sufficient test.

In

bottomry t). + -er1.] One who lends money on

Obs. [f. bottom sb. Lying in a ‘bottom’, low-lying.

+

-Y1.]

1635 Swan Spec. M. (1670) 156 Caused by the Waters.. settling themselves in those declive and bottomy places. bottony, variant of botone.

[f. bottom sb. 1 b 4- -y6.]

(See quot. 1874.) 1874 Hotten Slang Diet. 94 Botty,.. an infant’s posteriors.—Nursery. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 759 Like a wellwhipped childs botty. 1924 R. Firbank Prancing Nigger v. 36 De time de scorpion bit her botty.

('bDtjuli,fo:m), a. [ad. mod.L. botuliformis, f. L. botulus sausage: see -form.] Sausage-shaped.

botuliform

1861 Henslow, Diet. Bot. Terms. botulin ('bDtjuilin).

Med. rare. [f. L. botul-us sausage + -in1.] Botulinus toxin (see below). So botu'linic a., derived from, pertaining to botulin; botulinum (bDtjui'lainam) [mod.L.], specific name of the bacillus of botulism, used attrib.-, botu'linus [mod.L. (E. van Ermengem 1896, in Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. XIX. 443)], former specific name of the bacillus of botulism, used attrib., as botulinus toxin, an exceptionally powerful neurotoxin produced by the bacillus Clostridium botulinum, usu. in preserved foods that have been imperfectly sterilized. 1890 Billings Med. Diet. 178/2 Botulinic acid, Buchner’s name for a substance found in poisonous sausages. 1899 Clinical Jrnl. 7 June 112/2 An efficient antitoxin for the botulinic poison. 1900 Dorland Med. Diet. 117/1 Botulin, a poisonous ptomain sometimes found in preserved meats: it is produced by Bacillus botulinus. 1902 Muir & Ritchie Man. Bacteriol. (ed. 3) xvi. 382 The properties of the botulinus toxin.. have been found to correspond closely,.. with the toxins of diphtheria and tetanus. 1910 F. W. Mott in Allbutt's Syst. Med. (ed. 2) VII. 185, I have observed also in experimental poisoning by botulin, absinthe, phosphorus, and other poisons,.. that the neurons are not equally affected. 1928 W. Giltner Elem. Text Bk. Gen. Microbiol, xviii. 243 The bacteria either split the protein of the food into a toxic molecule .. or they secrete a true toxin, —botulinum toxin, while growing in the food. 1929 W. Bulloch in Syst. Bacteriology III. 380 In preserved vegetables.. antigenic substances are formed capable of absorbing complement in the presence of ordinary botulinus antitoxin. Ibid. 386 Botulinus toxin is unaffected by peptic digestion. Ibid. 394 Botulism can hardly arise from the ingestion of botulinus spores. Ibid. 397 The botulinus serum should be a polyvalent one. 1962 Jrnl. Neuropath. & Exper. Neurol. XXI. 610 Botulinus toxin in its purified form is the most toxic biological substance known. 1970 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 20 Feb. 21 Six ounces of botulinus toxin is enough to kill everybody in

BOTULISM Britain (or North America) if it is distributed in the right way.

botulism ('bDtju:liz(9)m). Med. [ad. G. botulismus (also in Engl, use), f. L. botul-us sausage: see -ism.] Poisoning caused by eating food, usu. imperfectly preserved, that contains botulinus toxin. 1878 W. B. Woodman tr. von Ziemsseris Cycl. Med. XVII. 539 In the larger towns, botulismus occurs extremely seldom. 1887 A. M. Brown Anim. Alkaloids 156 In Germany it is known by the term botulism, a form of poisoning of the organism observed to result from the ingestion of putrefying meats. 1899 Clinical Jrnl. 7 June 112/1 This disease or botulism is quite different in its nature. 1922 H. Zinsser Textbk. Bacteriol. (ed. 5) xxxvi. 742 Botulismus toxin is produced under conditions of strict anaerobiosis. 1922 Times 6 Sept. 7/3 He had no doubt the deaths in this case were due to botulism, for which disease antitoxins.. had proved disappointing. 1959 Science 25 Sept. 769/2 In botulism the immediate cause of death is usually a paralysis of the skeletal musculature.

botume, -ym, obs. forms of bottom sb.

bouchees (buje), sb. pi. Cookery, [a. F. bouchee ‘mouthful’, f. bouche mouth.] Small baked confections, patties. Also sing, and attrib. 1846 Soyer Cookery 153 The bouchees must be cut with a fluted cutter not larger than half-a-crown piece. 1928 Blunden Undertones of War iii. 27 Their front windows.. exhibited .. chocolate bouchees in silver paper, i960 Good Housek. Cookery Bk. 48/2 Bouchees, very small pastry cases filled with a savoury mixture, and served as after-dinner savouries, or with cocktails. Special tins, like miniature patty pans (called bouchee moulds), are used to bake the pastry cases.

f boucher. Obs. Also bowchyer, bowger. [Boucher appears to be a corruption of bowger, and this a deriv. of bowge, bouge ‘bag, wallet,’ perh. in sense of ‘purse’; but cf. bowser1.] A treasurer, cashier, bursar. c 1450 Gregory's Chron. 139 At the same tabylle the bowgerys of the chauncery. 1494 Fabyan vii. 586 At y* same table sat the bowchyers of the Chauncery. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. 29 Pigmalions riches., that pinchepeny boucher.

boucher, boture, obs. form of bittern, butter. boty(e, botyng(e, obs. f. booty, booting. bou, boua, obs. forms of bough, bow, boa. bouat, var. of bowet, Sc., a lantern. boucan, boucasin, var. buccan, bocasin. fbouce Jane. Obs. rare~l. A dish in olden cookery, consisting of minced fowl boiled in milk with pot-herbs, currants, etc. ^1420 Anc. Cookery in Ord. R. Househ. A. (1790) 431.

t bouche, sb.1 Obs. Also 5-7 bouch. See also bouge sb.2 [a. F. bouche lit. ‘mouth’.] 1. An allowance of victual granted by a king or noble to his household, his attendants on a military expedition, etc. Only in (or with reference to) the phrase to have bouche of (in) court — F. avoir bouche a (en) corn lit. ‘to have mouth at court’. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 998 The eorl.. ffayre hym gan praye To dwel at hys costage, At bouche and court and wage. 1441 Plumpton Corr. Introd. 55 The said people., kept the said towne of Ripon like a towne of warr, takeing some vid. a day, & xiid. a day, & bouch of court. 1526 Househ. Ord. in Thynne's Animadv. (1865) Introd. 38 For their Bouch in the morning, one chet loafe, one manchet, one gallon of ale. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie 45 [The emperor] called for Virgil and gave him not onely a present reward, with a good allowance of dyet; a bouche in court, as we use to call it. 1601 in F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II, §49 (1876) 31 He shal have for his bouch, iiijd ob, a dai. 1662 Fuller Worthies 1. 173 All having Bouch of Court, (bread and beer) and six pence a day.

2. Mouth; esp. in phrase ball, bullet in (en) bouche; cf. also ball or bullet in mouth. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 111. (Arb.) 92 Heere loa behold Boreas from bouch of north bio Pelorus Oure ships ful chargeth. 1591 Garrard Art Warre 76 The valiant repulse of a sodaine invading enimie by Bawll en bouche. 1650 Sir W. Butler in Carlyle Cromwell's Lett. Gf Sp. Let. cxxiii, With their drums beating, colours flying, matches burning, and bullet in bouch. [1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4479/5 The Garrison is to march out.. with loaded Arms, flying Colours, Drums beating, Match lighted, Ball in Mouth.]

3. d bouche: (see quot,) 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. iii. (ed. 3) 14 In these shields a curved notch is cut out, for the lance to pass through, in the dexter chief; when thus pierced the shield was said to be a bouche.

f bouche, sb.2 Obs. Also 6 bowche. [App. variant of botch sb.1, confused with bouge sb.1] A hump, swelling. a 1300 Cursor M. 8087 (Gott.) Crumplid knes, and bouch [t>.r. bouche, boce] on bac. 1538 Bury Wills (1850) 135, iij candylstyke of lattyn, on sylver pece wyth the bowche of the letter in the botom.

BOUFFON

436

obs. form of butcher.

boucherize ('buijsraiz), v.

[f. Boucherie the name of a French chemist + -ize.] trans. To impregnate timber with sulphate of copper as a preservative. Hence 'boucherizing vbl. sb. 1871 Culley Handbk. Prac. Telegraphy 363 The method of boucherising may be described as follows.

f bouchet. Obs. [? Application of F. bouchet a drink composed of sugar, cinnamon, and water.] 1706 Phillips, Bouchet (Fr.), a round white Pear, about the bigness of a midling Bergamot, with a fine tender Pulp, and sugar’d Juice; being ripe about the middle of August. 1755 in Johnson. 1847 in Craig: and in other mod. Diets.

bouchon (bujo).

[a. F. bouchon plug.] A cylindrical brass plug, tubular at the ends, to be inserted in the plate of a watch when the bearings are considerably worn. (The bouchon is a patent article of French manufacture: the English means of effecting the same purpose is called bushing.) 1884 F. Britten Watch & Clockm. 35 A bouchon is selected as small as the pivot will admit.

boucht,

var. form of bought.

bouchue,

var. or misspelling of buchu.

f'bouchy, a. Obs. rare. [?

f. bouch(e sb2 +

-y1.] Bulging, convex. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. li. (1495) 168 The thies ben .. bouchy afore and haue two sharpnesses.

bouck, boucle,

1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 186 Bouches, vents. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bush, or Bouche.. the plug .. screwed into the metal of the gun at the place of the vent, which is then drilled in it.

t bouche, sb.4 ? misprint for benche or boncke. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 39 Thise traytours.. ben now most preuy of counseyl aboute the kynge, and sytte by hym on the hye bouche.

bouche, v. [prob. a. F. boucher to plug.] 1. trans. To insert into (a cannon) the metal plug in which the vent is drilled: see bouche sb.3, bush sb.3 Hence bouching vbl. sb. 1781 Phil. Trans. LXXI. 264 If these pieces were bouched with iron .. they would stand fire. 1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. 52 Bouching a gun is fixing a pure copper vent into it.

|2. (See quot.) Obs. rare. 1721 Bailey, Bouched him, stopped his mouth. O. Phrase.

1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery xiii. 279 Small mushrooms .. stewed quite tender in butter may be mixed with the boudin after it is taken from the mortar. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 472 Boudins of a long shape, the size of the dish they are intended to be served on. 1947 M. Lowry Under Volcano i. 25 Puddings known as black or blood puddings .. boudin, don’t you know, Jacques. 1967 C. Durrell tr. R. Oliver's French at Table viii. 316 The hors d’oeuvre.. were.. solid stuff: sausage, white boudin, truffled pasties.

boudin, var. bolden ppl. a. Sc. Obs. swollen. || boudoir (budwar). [a. F. boudoir lit. ‘a place to sulk in’, f. bouder to pout, sulk.] a. A small elegantly-furnished room, where a lady may retire to be alone, or to receive her intimate friends. Formerly sometimes applied to a man’s private apartment. 1781 Hayley Tri. Temper n. 130 As the French boudoir to the Gothic tower, Such is the peer, whom fashion much admires, Compar’d in person to his ancient sires. 1785 Cowper Let. to J. Hill 25 June, I write in a nook that I call my boudoir. 1786 J. Adams Diary Wks. 1851 III. 405 In what he calls his boudoir—a little room between his library and drawing-room. 1851 Kingsley Yeast ii. 24 Argemone was busy in her boudoir (too often a true boudoir to her). 1886 Morley Crit. Misc. I. 31 The paltry affairs of the boudoir and the ante-chamber.

b. transf. The occupants of a boudoir. a 1830 Hazlitt Vulgarity, The callous insensibility of the drawing room and boudoir.

c. attrib. 1803 Lett. Miss Riversdale III. 92 The duke had fitted up these pretty little boudoir recesses. 1858 Bagehot Coll. Works (1965) II. 50 The Lady of the Lake is a sort of boudoir ballad. 1903 Daily Chron. 17 Jan. 8/4 A dressing gown. , is sometimes glorified .. into a compromise between a dressing gown and a teagown, and then is known as a boudoir gown. 1912 in A. Adburgham Shops G? Shopping (1964) xxii. 258, 2 boudoir caps, at 18/9. 1914 Wyndham Lewis Let. 2 Apr. (1963) 59 The boudoir suggestiveness and Yellow Book Gallicisms. 1937 M. Sharp Nutmeg Tree vii. 78 Mrs. Packett was sitting up in bed wearing a very smart boudoir-cap. 1966 Cox Illustr. Diet. Hairdressing Gf Wigmaking 23/2 Boudoir helmet, a decorated hair net of silk or other suitable material for wear by a woman in her boudoir to keep her hair in position during her toilet activity.

Hence boudoi'resque a. [see -esque], of the kind appropriate to a boudoir, 'boudoirize v. [see -ize], to sit in or frequent a boudoir. 1880 Mrs. C. Reade Brown Hand Gf White II. iii. 59 How fond modem French painters seem to be of boudoiresque humanity. 1883 Harper's Mag. July 321/1 ‘It is a sweet hour’, said Glorvina.. ‘It is a boudoirising hour’, said I.

boue, bouwe, obs. forms of bow

v.

obs. forms of buck, buckle.

|| boucle (bukle), a. [Fr., = buckled, curled.] (See quot. 1909.) Hence as sb.y a yarn of looped or curled ply; fabric made from this. 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 30/3 Boucle Cloth .. plain, smooth weave, over the surface of which is the boucle effects, produced by curly mohair noils of same colors, woven irregularly through the cloth, and having the appearance of silk tufts. 1909 Webster Boucle, woven so as to have a knotted and curled appearance, by using a two-ply yarn one thread of which is partly drawn out into a loop. 1930 News Chron. 6 Oct. 13/2 Another good fabric.. is boucle coating, an all-wool material with a boucle surface. i960 Which? Feb. 39/2 Boucle. Fabric named from its fancy looped yarn, which gives characteristic, uneven surface. Often in wool, silk and viscose rayon. Used for dresses and coats, i960 Times 14 Mar. 15/1 Dior’s two-piece of navy boucle wool. 1964 Which? Sept. 284/2 Loop or boucle, a compound yarn with loops at regular intervals.

Ilboucon. Obs.—° [F. boucon ‘a bit, morsell, mouthfull; especially such a one as is empoisoned’ (Cotgr.), ‘mets ou breuvage empoisonne’ (Littre), = Pr. bocon, It. boccone ‘morsel’.] 1706 Phillips, Boucons (Fr. in Cookery), Veal-stakes rolled up with thin fat slices of Bacon and Gammon. 1730-6 Bailey.

bouche (bu:J), sb.3 Often written bush; see bush sb.2 [prob. f. bouche v. to plug.] A metal plug which is drilled to form the vent or touchhole of a cannon.

llboudin (bude). [Fr.] A blood-sausage, a black pudding; also, force-meat shaped like a sausage. Also -white boudin [Fr. boudin blanc], a white pudding.

fboud. Obs. or dial. Also 5 boude, 5-7 bowde, 6 bowd, 8 bood, 9 bude. [Of unknown origin; identity with OE. budda, ME. bod(de in scharnboddes dung-beetles, has been conjectured.] A weevil; an insect or worm which breeds in malt, etc. Also in comb., as boud-eaten. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Bowde, malte-worme, gurgulio. 1580 1 Pusser Husb. (1878) 52 Bowd eaten malt, for health or for profit, find noysome thou shalt. 1691 Ray 5. Gf E. Country Wds., Bouds, weevils, an insect breeding in malt. 1713 Lond. Gf Countr. Brew. iii. (ed. 2) 222 In some Counties they call it Bood, others Pope, and Whool. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bude, an old name for the biscuitweevil.

boud, = behoved: see

bus v.

boueer, bouel, obs. ff. boor, bower, bowel. bouerd, var. of bourd sb. and v. Obs., jest. t'bouerie. Obs. rare—E [ad. Du. bouwerij, f. bouwer peasant: cf. bowery, boor.] Boorishness. 1577 Holinshed Descr. Brit. n. ix. 178 King John..did extinguish it [the ordeal].. as flat lewdnesse and bouerie.

bouet, var. of bowet, Sc., a lantern. bouf, boufaleau, obs. ff. beef, buffalo sb. t'bouffage. Obs. rare—h [a. OF. bouffage ‘any meat that (eaten greedily) fils the mouth, and makes the cheeks to swell; cheeke-puffing meat’ Cotgr.] A satisfying meal. 1672 Sir T. Browne Let. to Friend ix. (1881) 134 His inwards and flesh remaining could make no bouffage, but a light bit for the grave.

E|bouffant(e (bufa, -at), a. [F. bouffant, -ante, pr. pple. of bouffer to swell.] a. Dressmaking. Puffed out, bulging. 1880 Cassell's Mag. June 441 Dress improvers are coming in.. and all the Parisian short dresses are more or less bouffante. 1883 Ibid. Nov. 756/2 Mantles.. are .. quite short at the back, and bouffant.

b. Of a hair-style: puffed out; arranged in a swelling or fluffy style. Hence as sb., such a hair¬ style. 1955 Vanity Fair’s Guide for Bride 52 Rene .. designed a simple hairstyle... Watch that smooth but bouffant silhouette. 1959 S. Gibbons Pink Front Door xx. 232 Her eyes glistened dreamily within their little burrow of white wool and bouffant fair hair. 1959 Sunday Times 27 Sept. 21/1 The bouffant, hair-styler’s joy and milliner’s grief. 1966 Economist 9 Apr. 130/1 Since lofty bouffant hairdos have long been favoured here, Spain had a head start in the manufacture of. .switches, chignons, postiches, wiglets and wigs.

f bouffe1. Obs. [cf. F. bouffee puff of wind or steam, f. bouffer to swell the cheeks.] A puff. 1475 Caxton Jason 74 He apperceyuid many bouffes of flambe .. springe into the ayer.

il'bouderie. rare. [F. bouderie.] Pouting. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes II. 239 Practise artless smiles upon him, gentle little bouderies, tears.

II bouffe2 (buf). [a. F. bouffe, ad. It. buffa jest.] Short for Opera bouffe comic opera: see opera.

boudget, obs. form of

bouffon, boufoon, obs. ff. buffoon.

budget sb.

BOUGAINVILLAEA II Bougainvillaea (buigeinvi'liia, commonly buigsn'vilia). Also -ea, -ia. [Named after the Fr. navigator Bougainville 1729-1811.] A genus of tropical plants of the order Nyctaginacese, having flowers almost concealed by large leafy bracts. 1866 Treas. Bot. I. 160/2 Bougainvillaea spectabilis is a climbing shrub or small tree, with alternate leaves and small spines. 1881 Mrs. Praed Policy & Pass. 1. 145 A wide verandah .. festooned by bougainvillea. 1883 Sunday Mag. Sept. 547/2 Cascades of bougonvillias, passion-flowers, banksias and roses.

'bougar ('bu:g3(r)). Sc. Etymology unknown. 1. pi. ‘Cross spars, forming part of the roof of a cottage, used instead of laths.’ Jamieson.

Plutarch (1676) 460 He had fewer galleys than they, yet he budged divers of theirs and sunk them. 1600 Holland Livy XXI. 1. 421 One vessell.. was bouged and pierced [perforata],

2. intr. To suffer fracture in the bilge; = bilge v. 2. a 1577 Gascoigne Voy. Holland, Lest therupon Our shippe should bowge.

3. To swell out, to bulge; = bulge v. 3. 1398 [see BOGGING.] 1647 H. More Song of Soul 1. 1. xlvi, From this first film all bulk in quantity Doth bougen out. 1851 S. Judd Margaret ii. 6 When it reaches the stone that bouges out there.

bouge, obs. form of budge. t bouged, ppl. a. Obs. [f. bouge v. + -ed.] Having the bottom staved in; = bulged 2.

a 155° Chnstis Kirke Gr. xiv, With bougars of barnis thay beft blew kappis. 1858 M. Porteous Souter Johnny 28 This braw lid Made frae the bougars o’ the Kirk.

1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 146 Not halfe so fast the bowdged shippe, The water in doth drinke.

2. Comb., as bougar-stakes, ‘the lower part of rafters, that were set on the ground in old houses’; bougar-sticks, ‘strong pieces of wood fixed to the .. rafters of a house by wooden pins’.

fbougeron. Obs. rare. [OF.] A sodomite.

t bouge, sb.1 Obs. or dial. Also 4-6 bowge. [a. OF. bouge (also boulge, huge, buche, Godef.) a small leather bag or wallet:—L. bulga a leathern bag, also the womb; of Gaulish origin (Festus): OIr. bolg, bole, a sack. The variant bulge is found still earlier, and runs parallel to bouge in senses 1 and 2; 2 has also the variant form bulch; 3 has the parallel and later form bilge.] 11. A wallet or bag, esp. one made of hide; a skin-bottle; = bulge s&. 1. Obs. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls Ser.) VII. 385 His malys were i-serched his bouges and his trussynge cofres. 1388 Wyclif Ps. xxxii. 7 He gaderith togidere the watris of the see as in a bowge [1382 botel]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46/1 Bowge, bulga. c 1470 Hors, Shepe, & G. (1822) 7 By draught of horse fro ryuers & wellis Bouges be brought to brewars for good ale. 1557 Paynell Barclay's Jugurth 96 He charged bottels and bowges to the hydes of the same beaste. 1600 Holland Livy xxi. xxvii. 408 Fastning their apparrell to bouges of lether like bladders [in utres].

b. Her.

Cf. bouget.

1572 Bossewell Armorie 11. 30 b, D. beareth Or, three water bowges Sable in chefe.

f2. A swelling, a hump; = bulge sb. 2. Obs. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xl. (1495) 155 The caas of the galle is a certayne skynne sette vppon the bowges of the lyuer. c 1430 in Wyclif Lev. xxi. 20 (MS. S.) If he hath a botche or a bouge on his bak. 1483 Cath. Angl. 38 A Bowge, gibbus, struma.

3. The protuberant part of a cask; = bilge 2. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece 1. v. 266 Then give it Vent at the Bouge, with a Hole made with a Gimblet. 1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman IV. ii. 109 Turning the cask sideways, on its bouge, immediately cork up the lower holes. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 122 Bouge or Bowge and Chine, or Bilge and Chimb, the end of one cask stowed against the bilge of another. 1875 Parish Sussex Dial., Bouge, a water cask. The round swelling part of a cask.

4. A cowrie, rare. [a. F. bouge ‘coquillage servant de monnaie aux Indes’ (Boiste).] 1875 Jevons Money iv. 24 The cowry shells, which, under one name or another—chamgos, zimbis, bouges, etc.

5. Comb., as (sense 1) bouge-maker, -man, bowge-work, bulged or raised work. 1530 Palsgr. 187 Faysevr de bahus, a lether coofer maker or a bouge maker. C1500 Cocke Lorelles B. 10 Tankarde berers, bouge men, and spere planers. 1596-7 Bond in Hist. Croydon App. (1783) 154 The windoes with bowge worke.

t bouge, sb.2 Obs. Also 5 bowge, 7 budge. Corrupt form of bouche sb.1, court-rations; also used by Ben Jonson in the sense of ‘provisions’. 1461-83 Ord. R. Househ., Liber Niger Edw. IV, 19 The Lyvery for horses at bouge of Court, of gentlemen & many other, &c. now is lefte. 1540 St Papers Hen. VIII, I. 623 Every of them to have lyke bouge of courte. 1611 Cotgr., Avoir bouche a Court, to eat and drinke scotfree, to haue budge-a-Court, to be in ordinarie at Court, a 1616 B. Jonson Love Restor. 87 A bombard man, that brought bouge for a Countrey Lady or two that fainted.. with fasting.-Mercurie Vind. Wks. (1692) 377, I am to deliver the buttry in, so many firkins of aurum potabile, as it delivers out bombards of budge to them.

t bouge, sb.3 Obs. rare. A species of trout. 1705 Act 4 Anne viii, Bouges, otherwise called Sea Trouts.

f bouge, sb.* Obs. rare—1. (possibly misprint.) A horsehair noose. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. I. s.v. Ducks, Fasten your Collars or slipping Bouges to the End of your Stick.

bouge, sb.5

In silver manufacture, a hollow running round any article. f bouge, v. Obs. Also 5-7 bowge, 6 boulge, budge, [f. bouge sb.1: there are also partially differentiated variants bilge, bulge, and BULCH.]

1. trans. To stave in a ship’s bottom or sides, cause her to spring a leak; = bilge v. i . 1485 Caxton Treviso’s Higden vii. xxvi (1527) 284 He. toke . . one of the Soudans grete shyppes .. and bowged and thyrled it in y' nether syde. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 15/2 Sir Anthonie Oughtred folowing the Regent at the Sterne, bowged hir in diverse places, and set hir powder on fire. Ibid. II. xvii. (1877) 288 Our ships will either bowge those of other countries or put them to flight. 1580 North

BOUGHT

437

c 1400 Rom. Rose 7024 If ther be castel or citee Wherynne that ony bougerons be. 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 192 Thou now speak’st perfect, Bougeroon.

bouget ('bu:d3it). Her. Also 6 boget, 7 bowget. [Earlier spelling of budget $£>.] A representation of an ancient water vessel, consisting of a yoke with two leathern pouches, or buckets, attached. [i486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. Bivb, Gorgys be called in armys water bulgees.] 1592 Wyrlev Armorie 136 Who did in gules three siluer Bogets bear. 1688 R. Holme Armory hi. vi. 75 He beareth Or, a Water Bowget, Sable. 1859 Turner Dom. Archit. III. 11. vii. 250 Two shields of arms, on one of which are three water bougets.

t bouget. Misprint or bad spelling for bought, the bend of the elbow. 1548 VlCARY Englishm. Treas. (1626) 30 Till it appeare in the bouget of the arme.

bough (bau), sb. Forms: 1-2 boh, bos, 2-4 boj, 2- 3 bo3h, bou, 3 bohu, bohw, bouh, bu3, 3-4 bugh, 3- 5 bogh, 3-7 bow, 4 boghe, (boght), boow, bou3(e, bouw, bow3e, buh, 4-6 bowe, 5 boe, Sc. bwy, 5-6 Sc. bew, 5-7 boughe, 6 bewch, boowe, bouwe, 5-9 Sc. beugh, 5- bough. [Common Teut.: OE. bog, boh = OHG. buog (MHG. buoc, mod.G. bug) shoulder, foreleg; MDu. boech, Du. boeg, ON. bog-r shoulder, bow of a ship:—OTeut. *bogu-z:—Aryan *bhaghu-s, Skr. bahu-s arm. foreleg, Gr. tragus fore-arm. The sense ‘bough of a tree’ appears to be of exclusively Eng. development; the Bow of a ship is ultimately the same word, but of recent adoption from Scandinavian or Low German. Notwithstanding a certain fitness of sense, this word is in no way related to the vb. stem *beug~, OE. bug-an to BOW.]

f 1. The shoulder of an animal. Obs. c 1000 j*Elfric Ex. xxix. 22 J>u nymst pone rysle of pam ramme .. & J>one swypran boh. ? 01400 Morte Arth. 188 Seyne bowes of wylde bores with pe braune lechyde.

2. A limb, leg. Sc. c 1550 A. Scott in Evergreen II. 183. xvi, Ryde down this brae, Thocht ye suld brek a beugh. 1706 in Watson’s Coll. Poems I. 46 (Jam.) Came and tuik her by the beugh.

3. a. One of the larger limbs or offshoots of a tree, a main branch; but also applied to a smaller branch. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 8 Sume heowun J>aera treowa bojas [cii6o Hatton boges]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 219 j?e huuemeste bou of pe treuwe. c 1200 Ormin 10002 All ewike & grene bo3hess. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 608 A grene oliues bo3. a 1300 Cursor M. 8291 Apon a bogh pan can he seit. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. iv. (1842) 2 Vndur boes thay byde. 1423 Jas. I. King's Q. xxxv, From beugh to beugh thay hippit and thai plaid. £1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 45 The Bewes braid blomed about mine head. £1500 God speed Plough 30 Our payment shalbe a styk of A bough. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. III. x. 183, To couer the same with bouwes. 1653 Walton Angler 154 Fasten that line to any bow. 1716-8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxviii. 150 Followed by a man dressed in green boughs. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. xxi. 182 Boughs are groaning and breaking.

t b. transf. and fig. A main branch, as of a vein or artery; a branch of a family, or of anything metaphorically referred to as a tree. Obs. a 1225 Ancr. R. 336 Bigin uormest et prude, & sech alle pe bowes perof. a 1300 Cursor M. 24274 All sal be sauued thoru a man pat born es on pis bogh. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 40 He wedded pe dukes douhter . . J>re bouwes of pam spronge. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 54 b, The religyous ersone shold not.. haue.. deed bowes ne corrupte raunches. 1668 Culpepper St Cole Barthol. Anat. 1. vi. 12 The Boughs of the Vein., are sent unto the transverse Muscle.

4. transf. A gallows: cf. similar use of tree. Legal Proverb. ‘The father to the bough, the son to the plough’: supposed to mean that, according to Kentish custom, attainder for felony does not deprive a man’s children of the succession to his property, arch. 1590 Swinburn Testaments 53 Or in Kent in Gauelkind.. for there it is said, the father to the boughe, and the son to the ploughe. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (1862) 553/2 Some.. have beene for their goods sake caught up, and carryed straight to the bough. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 77 If she doom thee to the bough.

5. Comb., as bough-flecked a., flecked by the partial shadow of boughs (poet.): bough-house, (a) U.S., a temporary structure made of boughs; (b) dial., see quot. 1852; bough-runes,

Stephens’s name for the runic characters modified so as to resemble branching trees; also boughless adj. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 404 The *boughflecked dazzling light of mid-day shone. 1811 Wilson Amer. Ornith. III. 111 Their destroyers construct for themselves lurking holes made of pine branches, called *bough-houses. 1852 N. & Q. 17 Apr. 371/2 Witnesses spoke of a ‘bough-house’, and the explanation given was, that certain houses where beer, &c. was sold at fair-time only had boughs outside to indicate their character. 1882 Mrs. Chamberlain Gloss. West Worcs. Words 4 Bough-house, house opened at fair-time only, for the sale of liquor. (Pershore.) Suppressed 1863. 1894 Outing (U.S.) July 281/1 Down in the bough house the campers reclined. 1946 Blunden Shelley i. 20 To the July Fair.. folk came in from the country by hundreds and thousands, and ‘bough houses’ for their refreshment crowded the roadways. 1839 Fraser's Mag. XX. 345 A birch-tree, entirely *boughless, branchless, and twigless. 1868 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. 240 The Icerunes are read in the same way as the * Bough-runes on the Maeshoue stones. 1669 J. Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 249 Field-fares and *Bow-thrushes.

fbough, v.1 Obs. [f. prec. sb.] a. trans. To strip of boughs, b. intr. To send out boughs. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. § 132 Dresse the wode and bowe it clene, and cut it at euery byght. 1852 [see boughed].

though, v.2 Obs. exc. Sc. (pron. baux) [f. the sound; cf. bow-wow.] intr. To bark as a dog. Hence ’boughing ppl. a. 1566 Studley Seneca's Agamem. (1581) 155 b, Nor barke with any boughinge throate.

bough, obs. form of bo2, bow. t’boughage. Obs. [f. bough ri.1 + -age: cf. branchage.] Boughs collectively. J594 Carew Tasso (1881) 71 High Firres, Beeches, and Holmes of thicke bowage.

boughed (baud), ppl. a. [f. bough sb. and v.1 + -ed.] a. Having boughs (chiefly with descriptive adj., as dark-boughed, law-boughed): also, covered or shaded with boughs, b. Stripped of (its) boughs. £ 1400 Lay le Freine 169 An asche .. fair and heighe, Wele y-bowed. 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 304 They build their nests in low bough’d trees. 1805-6 Coleridge 3 Graves 111. iii, A mossy track all over boughed. 1852 Tupper Proverb. Philos. 391 The tree is felled, and boughed, and bare. 1877 M. Arnold Grande Chartreuse, Many a dark-bough’d pine.

boughery (’bauari). nonce-wd. [f. bough -ery; cf. rookery.] A structure of boughs.

+

1855 Household Wds. XII. 435 Each family was squatted down under a few gum-tree boughs.. all except the unmarried young men, who were located in groups at bougheries of their own.

boughie, obs. form of boughy. bough-pot (’baupDt). arch, or dial. Also 7 bowpott, 7- bow-pot. [f. bough sb. + pot: cf. beaupot.] A pot or other vessel for holding boughs, etc., for ornament; a flower-pot; in 19th c. also a bunch of flowers, bouquet. 1583 J Higins Junius' Nomenclator 388 Bough-pots, or flower pots set in the windows of private houses. 1665 Pepys Diary 13 Sept., The wind. . flung down a great bow-pott that stood upon the side-table. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. ill. iii, Not.. a twig but what’s in the bough-pots out of the window. 1841 Blackw. Mag. L. 206 Bough-pots decorate their windows. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair i, ‘We have made her a bow-pot.’ ‘Say a bouquet.. ’tis more genteel.’ 1884 Leisure Hour Apr. 233/1 Removed to make place [in grates] for the ‘bough-pots’, or posies.

thought, sb.1 Obs. Forms: a. 5 bou3t, bowght, 6 boughte, bught(e, 4-7 bought; /3. 6 bowt(e, 6-7 bout. [A comparatively late word (certain only from 15th c.); parallel in its senses to bight, ME. byst, OE. byht\ and corresp. in form and sense to MLG. bucht (whence modG. bucht, Du. bocht. Da. and Sw. bugt). The Eng. word may also have been from LG.; but more probably it arose out of an assimilation of byght to bow v., or was itself formed from bow on the pattern of byght, etc. (cf. Bucht in Grimm). When the guttural became weak or mute, bought began apparently to be associated with the adv. ’bout, about (see 2 b, quot. 1435), and in 16-17th c. was commonly spelt bout, whence, with special development of sense, the current bout, sb.3 q.v.] 11. a. A bend or curve; esp. a hollow angle or bend in the animal body. Cf. bight i. Obs. a. 1519 Horman Vulg. 25 b, There is a scabbe in the bought of myne arme [in ancone]. 1530 Palsgr. 200/2 Bought of the arme, le ply du bras. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. 1. vii, To make a plumbe lyne.. on the vtter or inner bughte [of a circle]. 1610 Markham Masterp. 11. lxv. 327 Ouerthwart the very bought or inward bent of the knee. 1658 Franck North. Mem. (1821) 159 On the bought of her near buttock was branded a remarkable patch. /3. 1609 C. Butler Fern. Mon. (1634) 40 If there be any crook or bout in the Belt. 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xvi. xxxiii. (1678) 364 If the elbow be dislocated . .some put some round thing into the bout of the elbow.

t b. A bending in a coast-line, mountainchain, etc. Cf. bight 3. Obs.

t

BOUGHT a. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxiii. 222 They, .met the baillol and his companye at an hongyng bought of the more. j9. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1331/2 To enter in at the great chanell of Middleborough by the bout of the foreland. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 1. 643 In the very boute well neere of the shore. 1675 Pennsylv. Archives I. 34 Over agl the Boute aboue Verdrick-teige-hooke.

|2. a. The bend or loop of a rope, string, or chain; the part between the ends or points of attachment (cf. bight 2); the fold of a cloth, etc.; a turn or involution; also fig., and in comb, as bought-wise. a. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 129 Draw streight py clothe, & ley pe bou3t on pe vttur egge of pe table. 1570 Levins Manip. 217 A Bought, plica. 1611 Bible i Sam. xxv. 29 marg., In the midst of the bought of a sling. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 712 Net., fastened bought-wise unto the end of a long pole. j3. 1562 Inv. Q. Mary's Dresses in Sat. Rev. (1863) 12 Dec. 764/2 [Fardingales.. expanded by whalebones] bowtis of quhaill home. 1575 Banister Chyrurg. 11. (1585) 279 Let it be tyed first with ij inuolutions or bowtes. 1632 Milton L'Allegro (1863) 140 In notes, with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out. a 1648 Ld. Herbert Life, One curl rising by degrees above another, and every bout tied with a small ribband.

b. A coil, fold, or ‘knot’ formed by the body of a serpent, the tail of a horse, etc. Now poet. (revived by Tennyson). a. [C1300 K. Alis. 4712 Of theose bought was heore croune.] C1435 Torr. Portugal 558 Abowght the schyld he lappyd yt ther, Torrent the bowght asondyr schere. 1591 Spenser Virg. Gnat 255 He .. wrapt his scalie boughts with fell despight. 1633 H. Cogan Pinto's Trav. xxxv. (1663) 140 An Adder of Brass, infolded into I know not how many boughts. {}. 1596 Spenser F.Q. 1. xi. 11 His huge long tayle.. Whose wreathed bouts when euer he vnfoldes. 1872 Tennyson Gareth ou bot [v.r. a-bute] mani dede. Ibid. 21695 Quen strijf was bute pe preisthede. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. lvii. 250 An Agnus Dei bout her neeke, a crost-Christ in her hand. 1622 Massinger Old Law v. i, The nimble fencer.. made me tear ..’bout the chamber. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 17 Discourses.. ’Bout work being slack, and rise and fall of bread, a 184s Hood Agric. Distress vi, While we bargain ’bout the hay.

B. adv. In Nautical phr. ’bout ship = ‘put about the ship’, that is, turn her head, alter her course. 1830 Marryat King's Own xvi, ’Bout ship, Mr. Pearce.

bout (baut), v.

[f. bout sb.2 ib.] trans. To plough in such a manner as to make bouts. Hence 'bouted ppl. a., ploughed in this manner.

1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. ii. 36 Bout it up at Allhollantide. Ibid. 37 In June harrow it down and bout it the same way; in July hack it overthwart, or bout it up across. 1844 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. 1. 16 Two of these harrows cover a single ridge of four furrows; four cover an eight-furrow stretch, consisting of two ridges bouted into one. 1864 Ibid. XXV. 11. 291 The fallows are broken up in the autumn .., ploughed back in spring, then twice across, and bouted in 27-inch ridges.

bout, obs. f.

bolt, and of bought sb. & pa. pple.

bou'tade, bou'tado.

Also butado [mod.F. boutade, taking place of OF. boutee (see -ade), f. bouter to thrust: for boutado, see -ado.] A sally, a sudden outburst or outbreak. 1614 Bacon K. James (L.) It was but a boutade of desire and good spirit. 1654 Earl Monm. tr. Bentivoglio 321 This (said he) may be termed a French Butado. 1661 Mercurius Caledonius 1 Mar. in Chambers Cycl. Eng. Lit., All our boutadoes and capriccios. 1704 Swift T. Tub iv. 67 His first boutade was to kick both their wives.. out of doors. 1865 ‘Ouida’ Strathmore I. x. 164 One of those tantalising boutades that were her most cruel and certain witcheries. 1905 Spectator 28 Jan. 141/2 Miss Burney had the good fortune to see only the better side of the Doctor... She was seldom witness of his boutades. 1924 Blackw. Mag. June 783/2 A certain notoriety for boutades among my associates.

boutant:

see arc-boutant.

boutaraga, -argue, boutcloth, boute,

bouter

('bauta(r)).

dial.

[f. bout adv.]

(See

quot.) 1834 Crabbe in Life & Wks. I. vi. 144 The female servants at a side table called a bouter.

f'boute-selle. Obs. rare. [a. F. boute-selle, f. bouter to put + selle saddle.] A trumpet-call, warning knights or cavalry to put on the saddle; = Boot and saddle-, see boot sb.3 1 b. 1628 tr. Mathi/eu's Powerf. Favorite 136 At Executions, the Trumpets sounded the battaile, as the alarme, or the bouteselle [misprinted bonteselle], to go to death. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch. Hen. V, cli, The Towne-pent Rutters., attend to Bot et Selle. a 1658 Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 8 The sprightly Chanticlere.. Sounds Boutesel [v.r. Bootesel] to Cupid’s Knight.

fboutgate. Obs. Sc. [f. bout, aphet. f.

about +

gate, going.] lit. A going about; hence, ambage, circumvention; equivocation, quibble. 1591 R. Bruce ii Serm. Tija (Jam.) The boutgates and deceites of the hearte of man are infinite. 1657 Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 138 They bring but bout-gates, and golinzies. 01734 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 463 Witnesses to his shifting and boutgates. 1768 Ross Helenore 79 (Jam.) Nory.. Made shift by boutgates to put off the day.

bouthe,

obs. form of booth.

bouting ('bautii)), vbl. sb. -ING1.] (See quot.)

[f. bout sb.2 i b +

Also attrib.

1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm, xxxviii. 311 Bouting, or Bouting-up, is a Half-ploughing of the Ground. Ibid. 312 Bouting-down, is done by making a shallow Thorough on each Side of the Ridge of the Bout. 1786 Washington Diaries (1925) III. 43 The field., is divided into 3 parts, by bouting Rows running crossways. 1834 Penny Cycl. II. 224 Sometimes (in ploughing land) two ridges are set up against each other, which is called ridging or bouting.

boutique (bu:'ti:k). [F. (14th c. in Littre), f. OPr. botica (It. bottega), ad. L. apotheca, a. Gr. anodfiK-q (see apothec).] A small shop. 1767 J. Long Sel. Unpubl. Rec. Govt. (Fort William) (1869) 501 The street., has been greatly encroached upon by a number of golahs, little straw huts, and boutiques. 1780 India Gaz. 9 Dec. (Y.), Mrs. Henpeck.. is a great buyer of Bargains, so that she will often go out to the Europe Shops and the Boutiques, and lay out 5 or 600 Rupees in articles that we have not the least occasion for. 1854 Househ. Words IX. 43/1 A collection .. presided over by a very solemn man .. calling aloud at intervals to the passers-by to patronise the boutique at six sous. The attractions of his booth include soaps of all colours and patterns. 1859 Sala Twice round Clock 185 The merchants who have here [Burlington Arcade] their tiny boutiques. 1926 Glasgow Herald 18 Sept. 4 A small Sinhalese child.. disappears into one of the ‘boutiques’ (small native shops) on the other side.

b. spec. A small fashion-shop that sells ready-to-wear clothes couturier; a small shop selling clothes or other articles, esp. fashionable people. Also attrib.

or department designed by a ‘trend-setting’ for young or

1953 N. Y. Times 26 Jan. 12/5 The usual boutique sports clothes were not so evident as swirls of summer cocktail and evening dresses went by. 1954 New Yorker 27 Nov. 143/1 On the first floor is still another boutique, this one awave with ostrich-feather fans on new or antique mountings. *957 Times 21 Oct. 13/1 Boutique departments in the big stores, designed to fill the gap between custom-made couture clothes and those made by wholesale houses are now well established. 1957 Observer 17 Nov. 11/3 The idea of ‘Boutiques’, those small shops set inside couture establishments to sell ready-to-wear. 1964 Queen 1 Jan. 57/2 [In] the third of the .. boutiques .. is a pot-pourri of pretty rococo and sometimes gilded objects, handsome ranges of household glass and china, and a special men’s section. 1966 Vanity Fair May 116/2, I.. love the look of boutique clothes. 1966 M. Quant Quant by Quant 35 It was agreed that if we could find the right premises for a boutique .. we would open a shop. It was to be a bouillabaisse of clothes and accessories.. sweaters, scarves, shifts, hats, jewellery, and peculiar odds and ends.

fboutisale. Obs. rare-', [f.

variants of botargo.

.3

obs. f. bolt-cloth: see bolt sb

obs. form of BOOT.

fboutefeu. Obs. Also 7 beautifew, beutifew, -efeau, -w, boutfeu, boutefeau, -ieu, boutifieu, -ure, bowtifeu, 7-8 boutefew, 8 botefeu. [a. F. boutefeu a linstock, an incendiary, f. bouter to put + feu fire. Very common in the 17th c.] An incendiary, a firebrand; one who kindles discontent and strife; also attrib. 01598 Ld. Burleigh Advice Q. Eliz in Hart. Misc. (1809) II. 281 The Guisards happen to serve for boutefeus in Scotland. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 68 A very Boutefeu. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. 1. 35 Close enemies of the Empire, and secret beutefeaus of rebellion. 1642 Observ. his Majesty's A ns 11. Declar. Pari. 12 Theeves and boutifures. 1656 Bramhall Replic. iii. 138 Such Bigots and Bowtifeus. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety xix. 364 Lusts. . are confestly the boutefeaus among us. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. /$2g He became., a great Boutifieu & firebrand in the Church. 01734 North Exam. 1. iii. If 106. 196 Factious Boutefews, Bawlers for Property & against Popery, etc. 1754 Richardson Let. in Mrs. Barbauld Life (1804) III. 106 The sanguine expectations of their boutefeu editor.

boutell,

BOVARISM

45°

variant of boltel, and boultel.

booty + sale.] A sale of booty, in order to divide the proceeds. 1630 Hayward Edw. VI, 88 To speake nothing of the great Boutisale of Colledges and Chantries, to speake nothing of all his other particular pillages.

bouton (but5). [Fr., = button.] 1. In pearl bouton, bouton pearl, anglicization of perle bouton, a round pearl with a flat back marking the place where it was attached to the shell. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. III. 689 Brilliant tiara, ornamented with fine oriental pearl drops and boutons. 1907 Daily Chron. 5 Apr. 4/5 An exquisite pearl and brilliant necklace, formed as fifteen graduated drops, each composed of one bouton pearl, one brilliant, and one pear-shaped pearl drop. 1927 Daily Express 9 May 5/3 If it is a round pearl, with a flat back showing where it was attached to the shell, it will be called a ‘bouton’ pearl.

2. The tongue.

button-like

end

of a

honey-bee’s

1886 F. R. Cheshire Bees & Bee-Keeping 95 The central and side ducts run down to that part of the tongue where the spoon, or bouton is placed.

II boutonniere (butonjsr). [Fr.] 1. A spray of flowers worn in the buttonhole. 1877 B. Harte Story of a Mine xi, She had distributed it to make boutonnieres for other gentlemen. 1883 Standard 10 Nov. 3/2 Sir John Bennett came into court.. carrying a huge bouquet, as well as a scarlet boutonniere. 1919 Hist. Amer.

Lit. II. 268 He had worn a high hat, cane, and boutonniere. 1970 Daily Tel. 26 Feb. 17 Mr Bronson cooks and receives diners alternately.. wearing a boutonniere in the lapel of his dark lounge suit.

2. Surg. An incision made in the urethra in order to extract a calculus or remove a tumour. 1884; H. Thompson Tumours of Bladder 76 The high operation is a much more formidable and hazardous proceeding than the simple boutonniere. 1908 Practitioner Feb. 180 A projecting intravesical lobe was wrenched out through a boutonniere incision.

boutrisse, obs. form of buttress. || bouts-rim&s (burime), sb. pi. [F. bouts ends + rimes rimed.] Rimed endings: see first quot. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 60. |f 8 The bouts-rimez were the favourites of the French nation for a whole age together. .. They were a List of Words that rhyme to one another, drawn up by another Hand, and given to a Poet, who was to make a Poem to the Rhymes in the same Order that they were placed upon the List. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. 1, Sonnets to herself, or bouts rimes. 1840 Hood Up Rhine Introd. 4 Weary of repeating such bouts rimes as the Rhine and the land of the vine.

bouty, bouw(e, obs. ff. booty, bough, bow. bouvardia (bui'vaidia). Bot. [mod.L., f. the name of Dr. Charles Bouvard (died 1658), superintendent of the Jardin du Roi, Paris: see -IA.*] Any plant of the rubiaceous genus of this name, which was introduced from Mexico and Central America, bearing handsome red, yellow, or white flowers. 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 764 The fragrance or beauty.. of the Gardenias,.. Bouvardias, Catesbaeas, &c. is unsurpassed in the vegetable kingdom. 1873 A. D. Whitney Other Girls vi. 64 Scarlet bouvardias and snowy deutzias. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 9 Oct. 2/1 The garden, with odorous bouvardias all awake.

bouvier ('buiviei). [F., lit. ‘cowherd’.] A breed of dog (see quots. 1934 and 1947). 1934 Webster, Bouvier des Flandres, a powerfully built, rough-coated dog of a breed originating in Belgium. It has a slightly tousled appearance, with definite eyebrows, a mustache, and a beard. In color it ranges from fawn to black, through pepper-and-salt, and gray and brindle. 1947 G. L. Hubbard Working Dogs ii. 58 The Bouvier des Ardennes is the Cattle Dog of the Belgian Ardennes... It has many rivals among other local Bouviers or Bouvier types... It appears to be a descendant of the Bouvier de Flandres. 1963 Guardian 5 Jan. 5/3 Among the dogs successfully trained for police work are the Rottweiller, the Reisenschnauzer, and the Bouvier.

fbouvrage. Obs. [ad. OF. buvrage, buverage, now breuvage, beverage.] Beverage, drink. a 1815 Culloden Papers 184 (Jam.) Picking the pockets of the people of any ready money they have, to pay for foreign bouvrage.

bouwel, bouxome, obs. f. bowel, buxom. bouye, obs. form of buoy. bouza, variant form of boza. bouze, variant of bouse, boose. bouzouki (bu:'zu:ki). [ad. mod.Gr. pnovCovKi-, cf. Turkish bozuk.] In Greece, a sort of mandoline. Also attrib. 1952 L. MacNeice Ten Burnt Offerings ii. 22 Not all The gadarene jeeps nor all the tavema bouzoukis Can utterly drown the pack that yelps on the scent. 1959 ‘N. Blake’ Widow's Cruise 90 The three Greek musicians were warming up with bouzouki songs. 1964 Punch 4 Nov. 700/3 A bouzouki, the most haunting sounding of all Greek musical instruments.

bouzy, boozy (’bu:zi), a.'

Sc.

[? variant of

BUSHY.] BOSKY, BUSHY. 1807 Hogg Mount. Bard 154 (Jam.) In a cottage, poor and nameless. By a little bouzy linn, a 1810 Rem. Nithsdale Song 67 A paukie cat.. Wi’ a bonnie bowsie tailie. 1808 Jamieson s.v., A tree rich in foliage is said to have a boozy top.

'bouzy, a.2 north, dial. Also boozy, bowsy. [Cf. Ger. baus, ‘swollenness, inflation’: see bouse w.1] Big, bulky, corpulent. 1807 J. Stagg Poems 62 Down his boozy burden fell. 1808 Jamieson Diet., Bouzy-like, having the appearance of distension, or largeness of size. 1875 F. K. Robinson Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.), Bowzy, big-bellied.

bouzy, -ie, a.3 obs. forms of bousy, sotted. bovarism ('b3uv3nz(3)m). Also bovarysm(e. [ad. F. bovarysme, f. the name of the principal character in Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary (1857) + -ism.] (Domination by) a romantic or unreal conception of oneself. Hence bovaric, bovaristic adjs.; bovarize, bovaryze v. trans. and intr. [1902 J. de Gaultier (title) Le Bovarysme.] 1929 A. Do what you Will 273 By a process of what Jules de Gaultier has called ‘Bovarysm’.. we impose upon ourselves a more or less fictitious personality. Ibid. Our earnest efforts to bovaryze ourselves into imaginary unity. Ibid. The bovaric personage .. is firmly established. 1934 T. S. Eliot Eliz. Essays iii. 40, I do not believe that any writer has ever exposed this bovarysme, the human will to see things as they are not, more clearly than Shakespeare. 1936 A. Huxley Olive Tree 30 The French philosopher, Jules de Gaultier, Huxley

BOVATE

bovate (’bsuveit). Also 7 bovatt, 8 boviat. [ad. med.L. bovata, f. bos, bov-is an ox; cf. -ate1.] An oxgang, or as much land as one ox could plough in a year; one-eighth of the carucate or ploughland; varying in amount from 10 to 18 acres according to the system of tillage, etc. 1688 R. Holme Armory in. iii. 59 Bovatt of Land is as much as 15 Acres, in some places 20 Acres. 1723 H. Rowlands Mona Antiqua (1766) 122 Gavels, measured out by Boviats and Carucats. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 345 William, the son of Roger de Beltoft, is returned as having two parts of one bovate of land. 1883 Seebohm Eng. Vill. Community 61 The full husband-land or virgate was composed of two bovates or oxgangs. [1886 I. Taylor, The normal oxgangs in the Boldon Buke are 15 and 12 acres.]

bove, adv. and prep.

Forms: 1 be-ufan, 1-2 bufan, bufon, 2-3 bufen, buuen, buven, buve, 3-4 boven, bove. [ME. bove(n, earlier buven, bufen:—OE. bufan, earlier be-ufan, a West Ger. compound (OS. bi-oban, Du. boven), f. bi-, by, beside + ufan (OS. oban, OHG. obart, obana), OTeut. *ufana, ubana from above, above, f. uf up + -ana suffix orig. expressing motion from.] f 1. (In OE. and early ME.) The earlier and simpler form of above. Obs. The compound a-bufan appeared in the 12th c. in the north and n.e. as an adverbial form; by the end of 13th c. abuven was also prepositional, and generally used instead of buven, buve; and in 14th c. bove became obsolete. The following examples show the forms; the development of meaning will be found under above. e, he seiS, aduneward.. peo buh6 hire, pet to his fondunde beie8 hire heorte. a 1300 Cursor M. 11683 (Gott.) Boue pe till vs.. tre. c 1300 in Wright Lyric P. xvi. 54 Hire loue .. beh him to me over bord. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 335 He bowethe hym down & 3eldethe vp pe lyfe. 1611 Bible Eccles. xii. 3 When .. the strong men shall bowe themselues. b. in sense 2. c 1205 Lay. 7499 Beiene pa eorles bu3en heom [c 1275 wende] togaderes. 1382 Wyclif John v. 13 Ihesu bowide him fro the cumpany. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 265 An holy abbot was J?er-by & he hym peder bowethe. c. in sense 5. a 1300 Cursor M. 19132 Bot mani turnd par and.. To baptim tak J?am-seluen buud. Ibid. 19529 pe folk was in t?at tun to pe baptiszing pam buud. d. in sense 6. a 1300 Cursor M. 8961 Dun sco bugh hir to pe grund [v.r. bowid hir]. Ibid. 10902 To goddes sande scho gan hir bow [Cott. bu]. 1535 Coverdale Dan. ii. 46 [He] fell downe vpon his face, and bowed him self vnto Daniel. 1611 Bible Ex. xx. 5 Thou shalt not bow downe thy selfe to them. e. in sense 7. a 1626 Bacon New Atl. 11 He bowed himself a little to us. Ibid. 15 At which speech we all rose up and bowed our selves. III. Causative uses, in which bow has taken the

bow (bao), v.2 [f.

bow sb.1 6.] trans. and intr. To

play with or use the bow (on a violin, etc.). 1838 W. Gardiner Music Nat. 202 A single bar of music ..may be bowed fifty-four different ways. 1861 Times 16 Oct., His artists and amateurs bow and finger in thoroughly good style. 1864 G. Meredith Emilia xxv. 194 How differently he bows from the other men, though it is only dance music.

bow (bau), v.3 Naut. [f.

bow ii.3] trans. Of a ship: To cut (the water) with the bow. 1858 Merc. Mar. Mag. V. 199 Sea very turbulent, .ship bowing it admirably. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bowing the sea, meeting a turbulent swell in coming to the wind.

bow, bowe,

obs. forms of boll2, bough.

fbowable, a. Obs. [f. bow v.1 + -able.] 1. That may be bowed or bent; flexible, pliable. 1483 Cath. Angl. 38 Bowabylle, vbi pliabylle. 1583 Anat. Abus. (1877) 1. 76 It is flexible and bowable to any thing a man can desire. 1611 Cotgr., Ploy able, pliable, bowable, bendable. Stubbes

2. fig. Complaisant. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 200 Make the patroun (that is to seie Crist) to be to us inclineable or boweable or redi to heere us. 1623 Wodroephe Marrow Fr. Tongue 323 (L.) If she be a virgin, she is pliable or bowable.

Hence 'bowableness. CI475 Found. St. Barthol. Ch. 1. xxvii. (1886) 63 The synowys were dryed up & alweys lackid bowablenesse.

place of the obs. causal bey.

9. trans. To cause (a thing) to bend; to force or

bowall(e, -aly, -ayl,

bring into a curved or angular shape; to inflect,

bowall, obs. form of

curve, crook, arch, and dial, (as in Sc.). a 1300 K. Horn 427 Armes heo gan bu3e, Adun he feol iswo3e. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 164 Take a graff and bowe it in bothe endes. 1598 j Dickenson Greene in Cone. (1878) 133 Tender twigges may with ease be bowed. 1600 Holland Livy xxi. lviii. 427 They could hardly bend and bow their joints. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, 11. iii. 36 A threepence bow’d would hire me. 1626 Bacon Sylva §426 Take a low Tree, and bow it. 1680 Baxter Answ. Stillingfl. Pref. Aiijb, Iron is too stiff for me to bow. 1875 Darwin Insectiv. PI. viii. 194 The tentacles after a time being bowed backwards. fb.fig. Obs. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, 1. ii. 14 God forbid.. That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading.. With opening Titles miscreate. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 289 Latin words are bowed in their modern senses. 1678 Butler Hud., Lady's Answ. 156 Marriage, at best, is but a Vow: Which all Men either break, or bow. c. esp. to bow the knee: i.e. to bend it in adoration or reverence. 1382 Wyclif Phil. ii. 10 That in the name of Ihesu ech kne be bowid. -1 Kings xix. 18 Seuen thousand of men of whom the knees ben not bowid before Baal. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1067 To make courtesie or to bowe the knee. 1875 B. Taylor Faust II. 11. iii. 142 To Ops and Rhea have I bowed the knee. f 10. To cause to turn in a given direction; to incline, turn, direct; fig. to incline or influence (the mind). Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 17588 His blissing to paa men he buus. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 422 As poipei wolde bowe him [God] as maysters of his conseile. e 1449 Pecock Repr. 1. i. 7 He or sche ou3te bowe awey her heering, her reeding and her vndirstonding. 1513 Douglas JEneis xm. vi. 106 All our prayeris and requestis kynd Mycht nowder bow that dowr mannis mynd. 1651 Hewson Let. in Proc. Parliament No. 92. 1413 The Lord God hath abundantly bowed their hearts and affections.. to the Parliament. 1705 Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 17 You may .. bow him to better manners and gain him. U In to bow the ear, the eye, there appears to be a mixture of the notion of ‘direct or turn with attention’, and of ‘bend the head downwards’. See senses to and 11. c 1230 Hali Meid. 3 Bihald & buh I'in eare. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxx[i]. 2 Bowe downe thine eare to me, make haist to delyuer me. 1578 Gude & Godlie Ballates, Lament. Sinner i, Bowing doun Thy heavenly eye. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 16 Bowe your eares vnto my dolefull dittie. 1611 Bible Ps. lxxxvi. 1 Bow downe thine eare, O Lord, heare me. 11. To bend (anything) downwards; to incline, to lower (often in fig. expressions). c 1205 Lay. 15740 pe nunne beh hire haefde adun. [a 1225 Ancr. R. 130 Ase brid vleoinde buhS pet heaued lowe (perh. this = byhd, from bey i;.).] 01300 Cursor M. 11690 Yeit it [pe tre] boghud dun ilk bogh. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxxi. 3 The Lord shal boowen [1388 bowe doun] his hond. 1601 Shaks. All's Well 1. ii. 43 And bow’d his eminent top to their low rankes. 1747 Hervey Medit. Contempt. (1818) 192 Wave, ye stately Cedars .. wave your branching heads to Him who meekly bowed his own on the accursed tree. 1842 Tennyson Dora 103 She bowed down her head, Remembering the day when first she came. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 95 Lanfranc refused to bow his shoulders to such a burden. b. fig. To bend (a thing) in submission. a 1300 Cursor M. 15291 f>is suete iesu .. pat bued sua his lauerd-hede to buxumnes of therll. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (1494) 11. xvi, Yf he woll bowe his wyll to God. 12. To cause to stoop, to crush (as a load does). 1671 Milton Samson 698 With sickness and disease thou bow’st them down. 1725 Pope Odyss. xi. 239 And bow his age with sorrow to the tomb. 1738 Wesley Psalms (1765) Ivii, To Thee let all my Foes submit, Who hunt and bow my Spirit down. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 97 The load which had bowed down his body and mind.

obs. forms of bowel.

bole3, Sc., recess. a 1600 Aberdeen Reg. (Jam.) All fyir that cumis in [is

carried into] the kirk to be keepit in the bowall in the wall.

bowand,

obs. Sc. form of bowing.

boward, variant of bowat,

bourd, Obs., a jest.

variant of bowet, a lantern.

bow-backed ('bao.baekt), a. [prob. f.

bow sb.1 (but perh. in sense a. from bowe ppl. a., bowed, crooked) + back.] a. Having the back permanently bent, crook-backed, b. Having the back arched, as an angry cat. Hence bow'backedness. 1470 Harding Chron. clvii. iii, This Edmond.. Brokebacked and bowbacked bore, Was vnabled to haue the monarche. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1311/2 When they wax crooked & bow backt. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vi. 339 The two great cats.. Bow-back’d with fear. 1864 N. Brit. Rev. Dec. 405 By a sudden effort.. overcoming his bowbackedness.

bow-bearer ('b3u,be3ra(r)). 1. One who carries a bow.

[f. bow s6.’]

a 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) 11. xii. 70 Bow-bearer after mee.

2. An under-officer in a forest, who looked after trespasses affecting vert and venison. >538 Leland Itin. VI. 95 §4 Ther be 9. Kepers, to Raungers, a Bowberer, and the Lord Wardein. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 1. 723 Bowbearer to King William Rufus. 1820 Scott Monast. xviii, We will name this youth bow-bearer in the forest granted to us by good King David. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life v. ii. (1862) 377 This forest., has also two rangers, a bowbearer, and landwarden.

Bow-bell, -bells. The bells of Bow Church, i.e. St. Mary-le-Bow, formerly ‘Seyn Marye Chyrche of pe Arches’, in Cheapside, London (so called from the ‘bows’ or arches that supported its steeple. Cf. arch.) This church having long had a celebrated peal of bells, and being nearly in the centre of the City, the phrase ‘within the sound of Bow-bells’ has come to be synonymous with ‘within the City bounds’. Also attrib., as in Bow-bell cockney, transf. A loud tongue (obs.). 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood iv. 65,1 scorne .. To let a Bowe-bell Cockney put me downe. 1611 Coryat’s Crudities Pref. Verses, Peale thy praise with Roupe & Bowbell clapper. 1616 T. Adams Soul's Sickn. Wks. 1861 I. 499 The tenor or bow-bell is the abused creatures, a 1659 Cleveland Talkative Worn. 38 Thy Tong..That Tom a Lincoln and Bow-bell. 1884 Punch 30 Dec. 294/2 Having been born within the sound of Bow Bells, he cannot help being a son of Cockaigne.

t'bowbert, -art, -ard. Obs. Sc. [app. a. OF. bobert ‘stupid fellow, lout’ (Godef. quotes ‘li fous bouviers li fous bobers’, and ‘e’est un bobers, un soz noez’): cf. Swiss Romance bobet ‘sot, bete’.] A sluggish fellow, a dull lout. Also attrib. or as adj. (Only in Gawin Douglas.) 15*3 Douglas JEneis 1. vii. 33 Fra their hife Expellis the bowbart [*>./•. buobert] beist, the faynt drone be. Ibid. xi. xiv. 18 Quhou happynnis this .. That $e sal evir sa doillit and bowbartis [v.r. bowbardis] be Onwrokyn sik iniuris to suffyr heir.

bow-case ('bsukeis). [f.

bow sb.1 4.]

A case in which a bow is kept. In 16-17th c. applied humorously to a lean starveling, a ‘bag of bones’. 1464 Mann. 1544 Ascham

& Househ. Exp. 267 Item, for a bowcas, viij.2] 1. Playing at bowls; the action of rolling a bowl or other round body. *535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, xxv, Any open plaieng house or place for common bowling. 1612 Bacon Studies, Ess. (Arb.) 13 Bowling is good for the Stone and Reines. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Cr. 11. vi. 66 They go to Shooting or Bowling as soon as Afternoon Service is done. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. in. vii. 235. 1879 Daily News 2 Sept. 3/1 Bowling was at all times a mild species of recreation.

2. Cricket, ball.

a. The action of ‘delivering’ the

1755 Game at Cricket 6, Laws. 1859 All Y. Round No. 13. 306 Jim .. go in: cut over the slow bowling. 1879 Sat. Rev. S July 21 Oxford was once more aided by the bowling of Mr. Jellicoe.

bowlster, bowlt, obs. ff. bolster, bolt v.1, 2. 'bowly, a. Sc. Also bowlie, boolie. [perh. f. bow sb.1 or 2 + -ly1; but cf. bowl v.3 and boul.] Bent, rounded. 1821 Galt Ann. Par. 131 It was of the goose species, only with short bowly legs. 1864 J. Brown Plain Wds. Health 87 Your bowly back, your huge arms.

bowman1 ('baumsn). Also 4-5 boumon. [f. bow sb.1 + MAN.] 1. A man who shoots with a bow; esp. a fighting man armed with a bow. 1297 R. Glouc. 378 Spermen auote & bowmen, & al so arblastes. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5536 He was boumon of the best. 1581 j. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 492 You are a prety bow man but your luck is very ill. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres I. i. 3 Were there such bowmen as were in the old time. 1611 W. Barksted Hiren (1876) 105 Saturn wounded by loues little bowman. 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 375 Heavy infantry, with bowmen and slingers.

|2. Some kind of fish. Obs. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey iv. iii. 63 Conger, Lampson, Bowman, Soles.

3. bowman’s root: a name given to certain plants: Gillenia trifoliata. Euphorbia corollata, and Isnardia alternifolia. bowman2 ('bauman). Naut. [f. bow sb.2 + man.] The oarsman who sits nearest to the bow of a boat. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xix, The bowman holding on with the boat-hook. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii. 71 The bow-man had charge of the boat-hook and painter.

Bowman3 ('baumsn). Anat. [The name of Sir William Bowman (1816-1892), English surgeon.] Used in the possessive in Bowman's capsule: a Malpighian capsule; Bowman’s glands: tubular glands in the olfactory mucous membrane; Bowman’s membrane: the anterior elastic lamina (see quot. 1900). 1882 D. B. Delavan in T. E. Satterthwaite Man. Histol. (ed. 2) xxii. 372 Bowman’s glands, peculiar to the olfactory mucous membrane, are found in it in large numbers. A. Mayer in Ibid. xiv. 206 Bowman’s capsule is composed of a structureless basement-membrane surrounding each glomerulus. 1898 W. H. H. Jessop Man. Ophthalmic Surgery v. 69 The anterior homogeneous membrane (Bowman’s). 1900 E. H. Starling Elem. Hum. Physiol, (ed. 4) x. 445 The glomerular epithelium acts simply as a filter allowing the water and salts of the blood-plasma to pass into Bowman’s capsule. 1900 C. H. May Man. Diseases of Eye viii. 112 Bowman’s membrane is a thin, homogeneous membrane which separates the corneal epithelium from the proper substance of the cornea. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. iv. 115 The end of the kidney tubule..is dilated to form a capsule (Bowman’s Capsule).

bown(e, -nn(e, obs. ff. boon, boun, bound. bownce, bowns, obs. forms of bounce.

b. The strength or resources of the bowlers in a cricket team.

bownd, -en, obs. form of bound, -en.

«

bow-net ('bsunet). [f. bow sb.1 + net: possibly the original form of the thing explained the name.] 1. A kind of trap used for lobsters, crayfish, etc., consisting now of a cylinder of wicker-work closed at one end and having a narrow, funnelshaped entrance at the other; also called, a bowweel.

Knickerbocker XVI. 270 The delicious white-fish are so numerous, that the bow’s-man takes his scoop-net and literally dips them into the boat. 1851 Melville Moby Dick II. xii. 107 The mutineer was the bowsman of the mate. 193s Geogr.Jrnl. LXXXV. 271 Not only the steersman but the bowsman. 1968 R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 63 The six members of Black’s crew.. consisted of bowsman and steersman, and four middlemen.

oiooo .fliLFRic Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 167 Nassa bogenet, uel leap. Ibid. 181 Nassa, aewul, uel bojanet. 1552 Huloet, Bowe nette or weele, nassa. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 37 They take them in bow-nets.. whereinto they enter for the food, but being entrapped cannot go forth again. 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Uni. xxxviii. §427 A Fisherman fisheth with a bownet or weel, in a river. 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xix. 145 Bow-nets set in the runs.. for tench and eels.

fbowson obs. dial. f. bauson, badger.

2. A kind of net attached to a bow or arch of wood or metal, used by fowlers. 187s ‘ Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. iv. i. §4. 293 [Hawks] must be captured either by the bow-net or the hand-net.

bownogh, soldier.

var.

BOW-WINDOW

460

BOW-NET

of bonagh,

Obs.,

an

Irish

bownte, obs. form of bounty. bow-pot, variant of bough-pot. bowpres, var. of beaupers Obs., a fabric. bowr, bowre, obs. ff. bower sb.1, 3. bowrd(e, bowrder, var. of bourd, bourder. fbowrugie. Obs. Sc. [A corrupt derivative of burgess or ad. Fr. burgeoisie.] The ‘Burgesses’ or third estate of the Scottish Parliament. c 1470 Henry Wallace vm. 4 In Sanct Jhonstoun.. assemblit clerk, barown, and bowrugie.

f bowse, sb. Obs. rare. [a. MDu. buis gun: cf. bus and harquebus.] A harquebus. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 42 All London musterd in harnes, morys pykes, bowses, hand gons, and whytt cottes.

bowse, bowsie, var. of bouse, bousy. f'bowser1. Obs. Also bowcer, bowsier. [Derivation uncertain: perhaps a corruption of AF. bourser, OF. boursier, bursar, f. bourse, purse. Notwithstanding the form bowcer, and the agreement in sense with bowcher, the two words can hardly be identical, since there was no OF. boucier, bouchier, with suitable sense. But the two bowser and bowger, (bowcher) may have been confused in English.]

A treasurer, bursar. Hence bursar’s office, a bursary.

'bowsery,

a

1534 Hen. VIII. Liber Regis (1786) p. xi, To serche and knowe the .. names of the .. almoner, bowser, hospyteler. 1552 R. Hutchinson Serm. Lord's Supper (1842) 225 Masters of colleges do call their stewards and bowsers to an account and audit. 1626 Scogin's Jests (N.) Had every night the keys of the bowcery and buttery delivered. 1631 T. Powell Tom of All Tr. 149 To be head Bowsier of the Colledge. 1721-1800 Bailey, Bowser, the Purser, or Treasurer of a College.

bowser2 (’bauz3(r)). [Trade name.] A petrol pump (chiefly Austral, and N.Z.); also, a petrol tanker used for fuelling aircraft, tanks, etc. Also transf. 1921 Trade Marks Jrnl. 26 Oct. 2060 Bowser... Oil and petrol pumps. S. F. Bowser & Company Incorporated... Fort Wayne .. State of Indiana. 1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 18 July 11/4 In those days there was but one [petrol] pump storage system—the Yankee line, manufactured by one Bowser... ‘Bowser’ had found general acceptance, at least in Australia. 1935 ‘H. Adair’ Wanted a Son 11. viii. 228 They came to a petrol pump—a ‘bowser’ Alec called it. 1942 W. Simpson One of our Pilots 18 The hundred odd vehicles of our M.T. columns —petrol bowsers, tractors,.. etc. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 87 [In New Zealand] a pump at a filling-station is a bowser. 1963 D. Irving Destruction of Dresden in. iii. 139 The bowsers were waiting to top up the tanks once again. 1968 P. Sharp Railway Stations 16 A water bowser (or tank on wheels) refills the cisterns in the roof of the coaches for the kitchens and toilets.

bowshot ('bsujnt). Forms: 3-5 bow(e)-schote, 6 -shote, bow-shotte, 7-8 bowshoot(e, 7- bowshot, [f. bow sb.1 + shot s6.] The distance to which an arrow can be shot from a bow. c 1300 K. Alis. 3491 A bowe-schote fro the brynke. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xiii. 316 More than fowre bowschote. c 1532 Ld. Berners Huon xcv. 308 Themperour.. auaunsyd hym selfe a bowe shote before his companye. 1652 Cotterell Cassandra 1. v. 474 Within a Bow-shoot of their gates. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. 11. 101 Within bowshot of it. 1814 Scott Wav. viii, About a bow-shot from the end of the village.

bowsie, var. of boozy, bousy. bowsman (’baozman). [ad. Fr. bosseman bosman, misunderstood as ‘bow’s-man’.] = bowman2: used of a man positioned at the bow without an oar, having certain specified duties. 1776 M. Cocking Jrnl. 10 Mar. in Pubn. Hudson's Bay Rec. Soc. (1951) XIV. 37 He .. will make a proposal to them for employing Canadians to be engaged by him for a term of years at Montreal to serve as Bowsmen. 1804 Lewis in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1904) I. 34 The one not engaged at the oar [of the batteau] will attend as the Bowsman. 1840

Termes de la Ley 172 Garble is to sort and chuse the good from the bad as the Garbling of Bowstaves. 1720 Stow s Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) II. v. xiii. 304/2 Bow Staves and arrows at low prices.

bowstar, -ster, -stowre, Sc. t

ff. bolster.

bow-sting. Obs. Sc.

= bowstaff. Aberdeen Reg. V. 21 (Jam.) Valit bowstingis, price of the scoir vi 11. Scottis money.

1551

bowsom(e, -sum, obs. forms of buxom. 1617 Assheton Jrnl. (1848) 18 We had a bowson: wee wrought him out and killed him.

bowsprit ('bausprit). Forms: a. 4 bouspret, 6 boespritte, 7- bowsprit; /?. 6-7 boresprit, 7 borespritt, boar-spright; y. 6 boltspreet, 7 boultspret, 7-9 boltsprit; 8. 7 boldspreet; e. 7 bolesprit, bowle-, boulspret, boule spret, -sprit. [Found in all the mod. Teut. langs.: Du. boegspriet, LG. bogspret, Ger. bug-, bogspriet (from LG. or Du.), Sw. bogsprot, Da. bogspryd; in all connected with the ship’s bow, and with a word, in OE. spreot pole (ME. spret, spreet), Du. spriet spear, javelin, Sw. sprot insect’s feeler. Cf. also OHG. spriuzan, MHG. spriuzen to prop. The origin seems to lie between LG., Du., and English: in the latter spreot was itself used in a nautical sense in OE. and ME. (see sprit). But against the compound bow-sprit being of English rise, are the late appearance of bow in the language, and the numerous perverted forms with bore, boar, bolt, bold, bole, bowle, which seem to show that the connexion with bow was not evident to English sailors, either in sense or pronunciation. (Quotations for the word are very rare before 1590.)] 1. A large spar or boom running out from the stem of a vessel, to which (and the jib-boom and flying jib-boom, which extend beyond it) the foremast stays are fastened. a. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (K.O.) Bouspret. a 1500 Chester PI. (MS. 1592) 1. (1843) 48 With toppe-castill and boe-spritte. 1634 Brereton Trav. I. 169 The bow-sprit or sprit-sail [mast] which stands sloping even over the beakhead. 1700 Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 833 Their Bowsprits armed with Iron. 1805 in Nicolas Disp. Nelson VII. 189 note, Found the bowsprit badly wounded, and bowsprit-shrouds shot away. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 56/2 By the water side, where the bowsprits of ships stretch across the footway. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 11. viii. i. §3 The forward rig also changed, from the bumpkin bowsprit and one head sail, to a long running bowsprit and full-sized flat jib. 1594 W. Phillips Linschoten's Trav. in Arb. Garner III. 428 Our boresprit touched the shore. 1610 Shaks. Temp. 1. ii. 200 On the Top-mast, The Yards and Borespritt, would I flame distinctly, a 1623 tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. in. (1688) 413 Brake her Fore mast or Boresprit. 1655 Heywood Fortune by Land. iv. Wks. 1874 VI. 416 Our Mainsail, Boar-spright, and our Mizen. y. 1591 Percivall Sp. Diet., C evader a, the saile of the boltspreet. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 125 The yce.. touched their boltsprit. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram., Boultspret Ladder.. made fast ouer the Boulspret to get vpon it. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1869) 294 She had lost her Maintop-mast, Fore-mast and Boltsprit. 1815 Scott Ld. of Isles 1. xiv. 12 Her boltsprit kissed the broken waves. 8. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 170 Putting out the Parliaments Jack on the Boldspreet end, and the English Ensign on the Poop. c. 1617 Minsheu Sp. Diet., Bauprez. .the bole-sprit of a ship. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 15 The fore mast, misen and bowlespret.. the boulespret hath no bow lines. 1634 Sir. T. Herbert Trav. 182 Her bole-sprit broke our mizen shroudes. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 120 From the extremity of the Boulsprit to the Lanthorn.

f2. fig. The human nose, humorous. Obs.

f'bowstowre. Obs. rare. [perh. a. OF. *bosteor, var. of bouteor, f. bouter (also boster) to strike, knock, as in ‘bosterent a la porte’ (Godef.).] perh. = Striker, knocker (a battering-ram). C1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxiv. 23 Browcht a Gyne, men callyd Bowstowre For til assayle that stalwart towre.

Bow-street ('baustriit).

A street in London near Covent-Garden, in which the principal metropolitan police-court is situated: hence Bow-street officer, -runner, etc., a police officer. 1812 Examiner 19 Oct. 663/1 Supported by a Bow-street Officer. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxx, ‘It’s the runners!’ .. ‘The what!’.. ‘The Bow-street officers.’

bow-string, bowstring

.1

('bsostrir)). [f. bow sb

+ STRING s6.] 1. The string of a bow; also^ig. i486 Bk. St. Albans Bvi, Tho saame lewnes J?ou shalt fastyn slackely as a bowstryng vnocupyede. 1564 Act 8 Eliz. x. §4 An Armouror, Fletcher or maker of Bowstrings. 1626 Bacon Sylva §993 Sound will be conveyed to the Eare, by striking upon a Bow-string, if the Horne of the Bow be held to the Eare. 1809 Campbell Gertrude in. xiv, The bow¬ string of my spirit was not slack. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxii, At once ten thousand bow-strings ring, Ten thousand arrows fly!

2. As used in Turkey for strangling offenders. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 258 [He] commanded the executioner presently to strangle him with a bow string. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 79 The Turks can now., discharge their ministers by other methods than the bow¬ string. 01839 Praed Poems (1865) II. 45 As if apprenticed to the work, He ties the bowstring round the Turk.

3. Attrib. and Comb., as bow string-maker-, bow-string bridge, a bridge consisting of an arch and horizontal tie, to resist the horizontal thrust; hence bowstring-girder; bowstring hemp, plants of the genus Sanseviera, N.O. Liliacese, found both in Africa and India, of the fibres of which bow-strings are made. t53° Palsgr. 200/2 Bowstryng maker faisevr de cordes a larc. 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6249/6 William Boyworth .. Bow¬ string-maker. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Sanseviera, The Bowstring Hemps are stemless perennial plants.

bowstring fbaustraj), v. [f. prec. sb. The pa. t. and pple. ought to be bowstringed, but bowstrung is also found, from the vb. to string.] trans. To strangle with a bow-string. 1803 Edin. Rev. I. 359 The vizier who commands a vanquished army .. is generally bowstringed. 1840 Poe Wks. 1864 I. 132 It was high time for her to get up and be bowstrung. 1884 Graphic 23 Aug. 204/2 He took his bow and bowstrung him.

Hence 'bowstringer and 'bowstrung ppl. a. 1820 Byron Juan v. cxlvii, His lately bowstrung brother caused his rise. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 426 The first settler was chief of the bow stringers who attended his [the Conqueror’s] army.

bowsum, bowsy,

obs. form of bosom, buxom.

variant of bousy, boozy.

bowt(e,

obs. form of bolt, bout, bought.

bowtel(l,

variant of boltel,

a plain circular

1690 Shadwell Am. Bigot v. Wks. 1720 IV. 295 Thy.. nose, that bolt-sprit of thy face. 1691-Scowrers v, They do not consider the tenderness of my bolt-sprit.

moulding.

bowthe, bowther,

obs. ff. booth, boulder.

f 'bowssen, v. Obs. Also boossen, bous(s)en, bowsen. [ad. Cornish beuzi ‘to immerge, drown’, according to Williams ‘a later form of bedhy, bidhy, or budhy, Breton beuzi, Welsh boddi to drown: {Bidhyzi, mentioned by Borlase, is a different word, being ‘a late form of bedidhia to dip, baptize’, Breton badeza, Welsh bedydhio, ad. L. baptiza-re.)] trans. To immerse or duck (in a holy well). Hence 'bowssening vbl. sb.

bowtifew,

of

1602 Carew Cornwall 123 a, There were many bowssening places, for curing of mad men.. if there appeared small amendment he was bowssened again and againe. 1758 Borlase Cornwall 302 The Cornish call this immersion Boossenning, from Beuzi or Bidhyzi, in the Cornu-British, and Armoric, signifying to dip or drown. 1856 J. Allen Hist. Liskeard iv. 46 The spring.. is said to have been used for bowsening or plunging an insane person suddenly, in order to restore him. 1865 L’Estrange Yachting W. Eng. 300 Holy wells.. used as bowssening, or ducking pools for the cure of madness.

fbowstaff. Obs. PI. bowstaves. [f. bow sb.1 4.] A stick to be made into a bow. [1394 in Hakluyt Voy. I. 167 In the yeere of our Lord 1394 .. werke, wax, osmunds, and bowstaues, to the value of 1060 nobles.] 1436 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 171 Osmonde, coppre, bow-staffes, stile, and wex. 154® Act Hen. VIII, xiv, For euery xxiiii. bundelles of bowstaues xxvis. viiid. 1641

var.

boutefeu,

Obs.,

an

incendiary.

bow-weed, corruptly bow-wood.

A popular name of Centaurea nigra: cf. bullweed. Britten

& Holland cite Appendix to Gerard.

bow-window ('bau-'windau). [f. bow ti.1] 1. A Bay-window segmentally curved on plan; called in A.P.S. Diet. Arch., a Bow Bay-window. Often used as co-extensive with bay-window, whence ‘such absurdities of diction as "square bow windows’’ ’. Bay-window is generic, bow-window specific, and of much later rise, this form of bay being rare in earlier times. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) VI. xxiv. 136 The other seats of the bow-window. 1794 Repton Landscape Card. (1805) 178 Large recesses or bays, sometimes called bowre windows, and now bow windows. 1816 Jane Austen Emma 11. ix. 198 A string of daw'dling children round the baker’s bow-window. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xxxv. (1884) 339 His common lounge was the bow-window of White’s.

2. slang. A big belly. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack i, A very large man .. with what is termed a considerable bow-window in front.

Hence 'bow-, windowed, having windows; also (slang) big-bellied.

bow-

1868 Holme Lee B. Godfrey ix. 44 The upstairs bowwindowed room. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xxxiv. (1884) 334 Look at that very bow-windowed man.

BOW-WISE

461

bow-wise (’baowaiz), adv.

[f. bow sb.1 -wise.] In the form or figure of a bow.

+

1398 Trevisa Barth, de P.R.yIII. xvii. (1495) 320 Now she [the mone] shewyth herself shape a bowe wyse and now as a cercle. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis in. (Arb.) 87 The hauen from the eastcoast, in bowewise, crooked apereth. 1842 Mrs. Browning Grk. Chr. Poets. (1863) 61 Streaked bowwise, with a livid white and red.

bow-wow, int. and sb.

Also 7 bowgh-wawgh, bough-wough, 8 bough waugh. [Imitative. Other forms are baugh, bough, baw-waw, q.v.] 1. ('bao'wau) An imitation of the barking of a dog. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 233. [See bawwaw.] 1610 Shaks. Temp. 1. ii. 382 Harke, harke, bowgh wawgh: the watch-Dogges barke. 1651 Ogilby JEsop (1665) 53 Bough wough, Whose that dare break Into my master’s House? 1682 Otway Venice Pres. in. i. 35 Now, bough waugh, waugh, bough waugh (Barks like a dog). 1855 Browning Holy-Cross Day in Men & Worn. II. 160 Bow, wow, wow,—a bone for the dog!

2. a. as sb. The bark of a dog; also/ig. 1785 [see BARKING ppl. a.' 2 b]. 1826 Galt Last of Lairds xviii. 165 It’s a sore thing for a man to be frightened into his first marriage by the bow wow o’ a kirk session. 1849 W. Irving Crayon Mtsc. 211 With a deep-mouthed bow-wow. 1854 Gilfillan Beattie's Poems Introd. 16 The deep bow¬ wows of Johnson’s talk.

b. attrib. (’baowau), as in bow-wow theory, applied in ridicule to the theory that human speech originated in the imitiation of animal sounds. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 14 Mar. (1939) I. 135 The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going. 1864 Max Muller Sc. Lang. Ser. 11. 87 The strong objection.. to what I called the Bow-wow and the Pooh-pooh theories. 1883 Century Mag. XXVI. 33 Advocates of the ‘Bow-wow’ theory of the origin of language may find convincing facts among the Zuiiis.

C. quasi-ad/. Dog-like, snarling, barking. 1785 Ld. Pembroke in Bos well Jrnl. Tour Hebrides 8 Dr. Johnson’s sayings would not appear so extraordinary, were it not for his bow-wow way. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 344 He could recite in the ‘big bow-wow style’.

3. transf. A dog. humorous or as nursery term. Also to go to the bow-wows: to go ‘to the dogs’. jocular colloq. 1785 Grose Diet. Vulgar T., Bow-wow, the childish name for a dog. a 1800 Cowper Beau’s Reply (D.) Nor some reproof yourself refuse From your aggrieved bow-wow. 1839 Dickens Nickleby lxiv. 617 It is all up with its handsome friend, he has gone to the demnition bow-wows. 1893 W. K. Post Harvard Stories 114 Everything was going to the bow-wows. 1917 H. A. Vachell Fishpingle xiii. 263 He was going fast to the bowwows before I went to India. 1931 R. Campbell Georgiad i. 20 All the bow-wows, poodles, tykes and curs.

bow-wow (bau'wau), ti. [f. prec.] intr. To bark; also fig. to snarl, growl. bow-'wowing.

Hence bow-'wower,

1832 Marryat N. Forster i, To be snarled at, and bowwowed at, in this manner, by those who find fault, a 1845 Hood To Hahnemann vi, Stop his bow-wow-ing. 1850 Carlyle Latt.-day Pamph. viii, To be bullied and bowowed out of your loyalty to the God of Light.

bowy, obs. form of boughy a, and bowie. bowyang ('baujaerj).

Austral, and N.Z. Also boyang. [f. dial, bowy-yanks (see E.D.D.), bowyankees (see Halliwell), leather leggings. Cf. also Sc. Nat. Diet. s.v. Booyangs, Bonanks.] A band or strap worn about the trousers below the knee, esp. by labourers. 1893 Warracknabeal Herald 22 Sept., To those not in the cult of ‘boyang worship’, it may be necessary to explain that the two straps used to hitch the lower part of labourers’ trousers are ‘boyangs’. 1927 J. Devanny Old Savage 121 He missed his bowyangs dreadfully. 1948 A. P. Gaskell in Coast to Coast IQ47 259 Progressive all right... I was the first in my district to appear at a dance without bowyangs. 1956 G. Bowen Wool Away! (ed. 2) ii. 15 Without bowyangs, and with sheep working on the legs all the time, trousers would soon work down. 1965 N.Z. Listener 26 Feb. 15/1 Bow-yangs, laces tied around the trouser legs below the knee to prevent drag when shearers bend over.

bowyer ('b3Ui3(r)). Forms: 3 bowiare, 5 bow3ere, bowyere, 6 boier, bowier, 7 boweyer, 6bowyer. [f. bow sb. + -yer: cf. lawyer.] 1. One who makes, or trades in, bows. 1297 R. Glouc. 541 The bowiares ssoppe hii breke & the bowes nome ech on. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Bow3ere [1499 bowyere], arcuarius. 1514 Fitzherb. Justyce Peas (1538) 92 Every boier make.. two bowes of elme. 1544 Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 20 No man will be offended—excepte it be summe fletchers and bowiers. 1697 View Penal Laws 8 Concerning Bowyers and the making and keeping of Bows. 1862 Marsh Eng. Lang. xii. 182 The arrow-makers, or fletchers.. had as full a vocabulary as the bowyers.

2. A bowman, an archer. Also attrib. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46/1 Bow-Jere .. architenens. 1725 Odyss. viii. 260 Who boldly durst defy the Bowyer God. 1808 Scott Marm. 11. xv, His Norman bowyer band. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. v. 156 The bowyer-god, Apollo.

Pope

Bowyers mustard: see boor. bowza, variant of boza, a drink, bowze, bowzy, var. of bouse, bousy. bowzey, obs. form of boosy dial., cow-stall.

box (btiks), sb.1 Bot. Also 4-7 boxe. [OE. box, ad. L. bux-us box-tree, Gr. triposf 1. A genus (Buxus) of small evergreen trees or shrubs of the N.O. Euphorbiacese-, specially B. sempervirens, the Common or Evergreen Boxtree, a native of Europe and Asia; a shrub with deep-green leaves of a thick leathery texture. It is much used in ornamental gardening, esp. in a dwarfed variety (dwarf or ground box) for the edgings of flower-beds. 931 Chart. JESelstan in Cod. Dipl. V. 195 Of Sere jemearcodan aefsan to Son readan slo .. of Sam treowe to Sere wican set Sam boxe. a 1000 ^Elfric Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 139 Buxus, box. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lx. 13 The fyrr tree, and box, and pyne tree togidere. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. vi, Vndur a lefe tale Of box and of barbere byggyt. 1551 Turner Herbal Gvja, The wood of boxe is yelowe and pale. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xxxii. 699 The smal Boxe is called of some in Latine, Humi Buxus: that is to say, Ground Boxe, or Dwarffe Boxe. 1713 Guardian No. 173 (1756) II. 360 There ships of myrtle sail in seas of box. 1830 Tennyson A Spirit haunts, Fading edges of box beneath. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 75/2 The Majorca box.. is a handsomer plant.. with broader leaves, and a more rapid growth.

2. The wood of the box-tree, box-wood; much used by turners and wood-engravers. Also fig. 1:1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 867 Pale as box sche was. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xix, Also of boxe bep boxes made to kepe in muske and oper spicerye. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 16 Rhinoceros.. of the coloure of boxe. 1635 J. Babincton Pyrotechn. 1 You must get of the best drie Box you can finde. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 347 Made on Box or Brass of most Mathematical Instrument Makers. 1852 McCulloch Diet. Comm. 189 Box is a very valuable wood. It is of a yellowish colour, close-grained, very hard, and heavy.

3. Comb, and Attrib. a. attrib. Of box or box-wood; pale as box. 1382 Wyclif Isa xxx. 8 Wryt to it vp on a box table. 1598 E. Gilpin Skial. (1878) 43 Their box complexions . .Their iaundice looks. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1245/4 One Box Comb. One Pocket Handkerchief. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 276 Boxteeth, teeth as yellow as box. 1714 Fr. Bk. of Rates 359 The Trade of Ivory-Combs, and also HornCombs, and Box-Combs. 1884 Cassells Fam. Mag. Feb. 141/2 Anything.. in the way of box edging.

b. Comb., as box-bordered, box-like adj.; boxberry, the fruit (and plant) of the winter-green of America (Gaultheria procumbens)\ box-edged a., having a border of box plants; so box-edge (cf. quot. 1884 under 3 a); box-elder, -alder, a North American tree, the Ash-leaved Maple (Acer negundo); box-gum Austral., one of various species of Eucalyptus (cf. c below), boxholly, a name of Butcher’s broom (Ruscus aculeatusf, box-slip, a slip of box inlaid in the beechwood of some carpenters’ planes in order to give durability to the edge; box-thorn, common name for shrubs of the genus Lycium, esp. L. barbarum. Also box-tree, box-wood. 1851 S. Judd Margaret ii. i. 162 The path was strewn with old claret *boxberries. 1884 Harper's Mag. Oct. 661/2 A *box-bordered plat. 1932 Auden Orators 11. 63 Between *box-edges, past the weathering urns. 1909 Cent. Diet. Suppl., *Box-edged. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 71 The box-edged walks of the kitchen gardens. 1866 Treas. Bot. 781/1 The *Box Elder., is sometimes introduced into English shrubberies. 1887 D. Macdonald Gum Boughs 7 The clumps of *box-gums clinging together for sympathy. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 79 They [Rhinoceroses] have.. a *Boxe-like colour. 1678 W. Salmon Pharm. Lond. 1. iv. 74 Lycium, Pyxacantha, Buxea spina.. *Boxthorn. 1846 Mrs. Loudon Ladies' Comp. Flower-Gard. 130 Lycium, Solanaceae, Boxthorn.

c. Applied with distinguishing epithet to several other plants, as bastard box, Polygala chamsebuxus; flowering box, Vaccinium Vitis-Idsea, having leaves like those of the box; grey box, Eucalyptus dealbata of S. Australia; f prickly box, the box-thorn (Lycium), also the butcher’s broom, Ruscus aculeatus (Lyte); Queensland box, Lophostemon macrophyllus\ red box (of New South Wales), L. australis-, spurious box, Eucalyptus leucoxylon, of S. Australia; Tasmanian box, Bursaria spinosa. Applied to many Australasian species of Eucalyptus (see quots.), Tristania conferta (bastard, brisbane, brush, red, or white box), and some other trees: see Morris Austral English. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xiii. 674 Butchers broome.. is called.. in base Almaigne, Stekende palme, that is to say, Prickley Boxe. Ibid, xxxiii. 699 Prickley Boxe is a tree not much vnlyke to the other Boxe. 1820 J. Oxley Jrnl. Two Exped. into N.S. Wales 15 The timber, dwarf box, and gum trees (all eucalypti), with a few cypresses and camarinas. Ibid. 227 The country.. thickly timbered, chiefly with the species of eucalyptus called box. 1866 Lindley & Moore Treas. Bot., Box.. White, of Australia, Eucalyptus albens. Yellow, of Australia, Eucalyptus melliodora. 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native PI. Australia 121 Native box., is greedily eaten by sheep,.. usually a small scrub, in congenial localities it develops into a small tree. Ibid. 468 Eucalyptus hemiphloia... This is a common ‘Box’ of New South Wales and Queensland. 1964 R. Holt in R. Ward Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads 198 Gidgee, myall, box and jarrah.

box (boks), sb.2 Also Sc. boxse, boxe. [OE. box neut. or masc.: it is not clear whether this was (i)

BOX another sense of box, the name of the tree, (2) an independent adoption of L. buxum boxwood, in the sense of a thing made of box, or (3) an altered form of L. pyx-is (puxis, med.L. buxis) box: see pyx. In favour of the latter cf. OHG. buhsa fern. (MHG. buhse, biihse, Ger. biichse, MDu. busse, bosse, Du. bus, bos) on OTeut. type *buksja-, ad. L. pyxis or Gr. rrvgis box. As the latter was f. ■nvtjos box-wood, the L. form of which was buxus, late and med.L. had many forms with initial b, as buxis, buxida, buxta, boxta, bosta, bossida (cf. boist), from some of which the Teutonic forms might well be derived.] 1. 1. A case or receptacle usually having a lid; a. orig. applied to a small receptacle of any material for drugs, ointments, or valuables; b. gradually extended (since 1700) to include cases of larger size, made to hold merchandise and personal property; but (unless otherwise specified) understood to be four-sided and of wood. a 1000 z^lfric Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 124 Pixis, bixen box. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 7 Da genealaete him to sum wif, seo haefde box [Vulg. alabastrum] mit deorwyrCe sealfe. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 145 Hie nam ane box 3emaked of marbelstone and hine fulde mid derewurfie smerieles. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xiv. 54 As pe messager.. beret? bote a boxe a breuet J?er-ynne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Box or boyste, pixis. 1480 Cath. Angl. 39 A Box, pixis. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 286 b, The swete oyntement.. was closed and shutte in the boxe. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1083 Boxes or chestes where grocers put there spices and wares. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. v. i. 45 And about his [the apothecary’s] shelues A beggerly account of emptie boxes.. thinly scattered, to make vp a shew. 1611 Bible 2 Kings ix. 1 Take this boxe of oile in thine hand. -Transl. Pref. 1 Certaine bare themselves as auerse from them as from .. boxes of poison. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1263/4 Three Silver Boxes, one for Sugar, one for Pepper, and one for Mustard. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 171 IP7 My landlady.. took the opportunity of my absence to search my boxes. 1862 Burton Bk.-hunter 1. 15 His spoil, packed in innumerable great boxes. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts II. 471 Sand and loam (packed tightly into metal boxes, called flasks). c. fig. 1606 Shaks. Tr. & Cr. v. i. 29 Why thou damnable box of enuy thou, a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1664) 89 It is an essentiall property of a man truly wise, not to open all the boxes of his bosome. 1653 Walton Angler 220, I have several boxes in my memory in which I will keep them all very safe.

d. Austral, and N.Z. A mixing up of different flocks of sheep; also transf.-, also with up. Cf. sense 21 and box v.1 5 b. 1872 C. H. Eden My Wife & I in Queensland iii. 67 Great care must of course be taken that no two flocks come into collision, for a ‘box’, as it is technically called, causes an infinity of trouble. 1941 Baker N.Z. Slang v. 39 A box-up, a state of confusion, and to be in a box, to be in a confused state of mind, in a quandary.

2. With various substantives indicating its purpose, position, etc., as bonnet-, cartridge-, coal-, collecting-, dirt-, hat-, letter-, light-, match-, missionary-, money-, pepper-, pill-, pillar-, poor-, sand-, savings-, snuff-, tar-, touch-box-, also dice-box, and with a more specific signification, fire-, smoke-, steam-box, etc. 1638 Shirley Mart. Soldier iv. iii. in Bullen Old. PI. (1882) I. 236 The Sand of a Scriveners Sand-boxe. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 79 Pi, I made her resign her Snuff-Box for ever. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6068/8 One Pepper-box, two Salts, c 1730 Swift Directions Housemaid, Leave a pail of dirty water, a coal-box, a bottle, a broom. 1808 R. Porter Trav. Sk. Russ, Swed. (1813) Li. 11 A broad belt, to which hangs an unwieldly cartridge-box. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts III. 1079 Water-Meter, A dirt box is attached to each end of the meters. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 217 Cigar boxes, jewel boxes, handkerchief boxes, glove boxes, match boxes.

3. In various contextual applications: fa. The pyx or receptacle for the consecrated host; f b. A surgeon’s box, used as a cupping-glass (cf. boist); c. A ballot-box; d. A dice-box; e. A letter-box; f. The receptacle for infants at the gate of a foundling hospital. 1297 R- Glouc. 456 pe box ek, pat hong ouer the weued, myd Godes fless & blod. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 61 Application of boxes about the stomake, in hot feuers, are to be eschewed. 1549 Thomas Hist. Italic (1561) 79 Boxes, into whiche, if he wyll, he may let fall his ballot. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 55 Spekyng agayne the sacrament of the auter.. callyd it Jacke of the boxe. 1562 Bulleyn Sicke Men, &c. 52 b, Aplie boxis with skariffaction. 1604 Breton Pass. Sheph. iii. in Spenser's Wks. (Grosart) III. Introd. 29 Or to see the subtle fox, How the villain plies the box. 1680 Cotton in Singer Hist. Cards 332, I have seen a losing gamester greedily gnawing the innocent box. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Box, Our sharpers have opportunities of playing divers tricks with the box, as palming, topping, slabbing, a 1853 A. Opie Bank Note, It is .. necessary that a person whom I can trust should put the letter in the box. 1873 Morley Rousseau I. 118 The new¬ born child was dropped into oblivion in the box of the asylum for foundlings.

g. A receptacle or pigeon-hole at a post office in which letters to a subscriber are placed; hence, a similar receptacle or the like at a newspaper office in which replies to an

*

BOX advertiser are placed, orig. U.S. Cf. box-letter, box number, box-rent (sense 24). 1832 [see box-letter]. 1833 B. F. Hallett Trial E, K. Avery 43 E. K. Avery had a private box at my office. 1897 E. W. Brodhead Bound in Shallows 242 The following evening Dillon found in his post-office box a letter of one line. 1919 Wodehouse My Man Jeeves 119 My address will be Box 341, London Morning News. 1971 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Apr. 487/2 The Times Canadian Service Division, Box 490, King City, Ontario.

h. (See quot.) 1889 Atalanta June 597/1 For flower-painting never use what is technically termed ‘box’, viz.: the muddy colour.. that is left on the sides of the colour-box from former usage.

i. = safe sb. i b. slang (orig. U.S.). 1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing xiii. 261 We got a country jug on our first touch, but the box wasn’t heavy enough for five. 1904 H. Hapgood Autobiogr. of Thief vi. 120 He was one of the most successful box-men (safeblowers) in the city. 1926 J. Black You can't Win viii. 89 We’ve got the combination of that box, kid. Ibid. ix. 104 Shorty was one of the patricians of the prison, a ‘box man’ doing time for bank burglary.

j. colloq. A gramophone, wireless set, or television set; spec, the box: television; a television set. Cf. magic box. 1924 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 436, I.. play Beethoven & Mozart to myself on the box. 1930 Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 208 It was one of his prerogatives to announce what the Man in the Box [i.e. wireless announcer] said about the sick Padishah. 1950 G. Marx Let. 6 Dec. (1967) 168, I have solved the television problem by having a remote control installed on the ugly box. 1958 Observer 18 May 14/2 ‘Contradiction is the very moving principle of the world!’ The Box, with its abrupt switches from the trivial to the profound, is always providing illustrations to Hegel’s pet dictum. 1963 E. Humphreys Task 1. xi. 120, I saw one of your plays, Dicky. On the old box.

k. A coffin, slang. Cf. quot. 1674 s.v. black a. 1 a. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 34 The box, a coffin. 1957 ‘W. Henry’ Jesse James 66 Personally, I’ll believe he’s dead when the box is shut and covered up.

4. a. esp.

A money-box, containing either private or public funds, often with a defining word added. c 1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 26 Ffor often tyme he foond his box [v.r. boxe] ful bare. 1393 Langl. P. PL C. 1. 97 And boxes ben [broght] for)? [I-] bounden with yre. 1552-3 Inv. Ch. Goods Stafford 87 The poore mans box. a 1555 Lyndesay Tragedy 70, I purcheist—for my proffect singulare, My Boxsis and my Threasure tyll auance,—The Byschopreik of Merapose, in France. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1079 A boxe for almes or the poore mens boxe. 1607 Shaks. Timon hi. i. 16 Nothing but an empty box, Sir, which.. I come to intreat your Honor to supply. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. iv, He., was to have a halfpenny on Sunday to put into the poor’s box.

b. transf. The money contained in such a box; a fund for a particular purpose. Cf. box-club. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 5 He schal haue of pe comune box xiiij.] trans.

To line with brasque. Hence brasqued ppl. a. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 319/2 The bed of this latter [finery] is ‘brasqued’ or lined with charcoal powder moistened and rammed in. 1885 Spons’ Mechanics' Own Bk. 17 If brass be heated in a brasqued crucible.

brass (bra:s, -se-), sb. Forms: 1-2 bras, 2 bres, 3 breas, 3-5 bras(e, 4-7 brasse, 3- brass. [OE. brses, of unknown origin: not found elsewhere. (It has been compared with OSw. brasa fire, brasa to flame, Da. brase to roast; but no connexion has been traced. The alleged ON. bras ‘solder’ is a figment.)] I. 1. a. Historically. The general name for all alloys of copper with tin or zinc (and occasionally other base metals). To distinguish alloys of copper and tin, the name bronze has subsequently been adopted (Johnson 1755-73 explains the new word bronze as ‘brass’). Hence b. In strict modern use, as distinguished from ‘bronze’: A yellow-coloured alloy of copper and zinc, usually containing about a third of its weight of zinc. The OE. brses was, usually at least, an alloy of copper and tin (= bronze); in much later times the alloy of copper and zinc came gradually into general use, and became the ordinary ‘brass’ of England; though in reference to ancient times, and esp. to the nations of antiquity, ‘brass’ still meant the older alloy. When works of Greek and Roman antiquity in ‘brass’ began to be critically examined, and their material discriminated, the Italian word for ‘brass’ (bronzo, bronze) came into use to distinguish this ‘ancient brass’ from the current alloy. Corinthian brass: a reputed alloy of gold, silver, and copper. c 1000 ^Elfric Gram. vi. 15 Aes, braes oSSe ar. c 1150 Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 550 JEs, bres. CI200 Ormin 17417 He shollde melltenn brass, a 1225 Juliana 30 Brune of wallinde breas. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3898 Moyses 8or made a wirme of bras, a 1300 Cursor M. 5903 pe king hert wex herd as bras. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 67 Men take glasses, bras and other suche thinges for as moche gold. 1552-3 Inv. Ch. Goods Stafford 12 On chales of silver.. ij of brasse, a sensor of brasse, ij candelstikes of brase. 1623 B. Jonson in Shaks. C. Praise 141 O, could he but have drawne his Wit., in Brasse. 4718 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. liii. 74 Inscriptions on . .tables of brass. 1781 Thompson in Phil. Trans. LXXI. 327 Brass in a very fine powder, commonly called brass dust. 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves iv. 34 A compound like Corinthian brass into which many pure ores have been fused.

c. Taken as a type of imperishableness, insensibility, etc.

hardness,

1388 Wyclif Job vi. 12 Nethir my strengthe is the strengthe of stoonus, nether my fleisch is of bras, c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. exx, Unless my nerves were brass or hammer’d steel. 1613-Hen. VIII, iv. ii. 45 Mens euill manners liue in Brasse, their Vertues We write in Water.

fd. transf. Copper. Obs. 1382 Wyclif Deut. viii. 9 Of the hillis of it ben doluen metallys of brasse [1535 Coverdale and 1611 thou mayest dig brass(e]. 1617 Moryson I tin. 1.11. iv. 177 Mines of Iron and Brass.

e. A wide-spread miner’s name for iron pyrites in coal. Cf. brazil2. 1829 S. Glover Hist. Derby I. v. 234 Many of the coalseams .. have considerable quantities of brasses or drosses in them, which are lumps of iron pyrites. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 271/1 Detached masses of pyrites.. are called ‘brasses’ by the colliers.

f. in Organ-building. (See quot.) 1852 Seidel Organ 167 A great portion of the pipes are often composed of brass. This is nothing but a mixture or composition of lead and tin. Ibid. Good brass consists either of fifteen parts pewter and one part lead, or of fourteen parts pewter and two parts lead.

[1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. xiii. 1 As bras sownnynge or a symbal tynkynge.] 1832 L. Hunt Poems 208 Ev’n the bees lag at the summoning brass. 1876 G. B. Shaw How to become Mus. Critic (i960) 10 A good deal of piccolo, drum, and cymbal, relieved by an effective melody for the brass. 1885 Truth 11 June 928/1 There are not enough of them [fiddles]; the brass blows them all to pieces. 1926 Whiteman & McBride Jazz ix. 195 Musicians recognize four general classes of instruments in speaking of the orchestra—strings, wood winds, brasses, and the battery of traps.

e. slang (orig. U.S.). Senior officers in the armed forces (in allusion to their brass or gold insignia); ‘brass-hats’ collectively; esp. the big (or top) brass. Also transf. and attrib. 1899 Boston Herald 26 July 4/8 It was not a big brass general that came; But a man in khaki kit. 1945 Life 2 July 13/3,1 don’t suppose that Congress and the Big Brass would ever agree to that. 1949 Bulletin (Philad.) 14 Sept. 4/1 The top police brass spreads out a hot carpet for the local cops. 1951 E. Ambler Judgment on Deltchev xvii. 204 Some of his revelations.. were deeply shocking to the Anglo-American brass. 1951 Economist 15 Dec. 1463/1 The ‘high brass’ of American business was also well represented at the meeting. 1952 Newsweek 19 May 21 Top Pentagon brass are taking the aviation-gasoline restriction seriously. 1959 A. C. Clarke Across Sea of Stars 123 The general was unaware of his faux pas. The assembled brass thought for a while.

f. Typogr. A brass block or die, esp. one used for a design or lettering on the cover of a book. Often with defining word. 1930 M. Sadleir Evol. Publishers' Binding Styles 1770igoo 90 Such lettering was printed from a specially cut binding-brass... This brass was sometimes discarded and plain type lettering employed. 1951 S. Jennett Making of Books 175 The brass from which the lettering and decoration is blocked on a modern book.

BRASS and brasse money. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Warresx. 3, 15 great Brasse-Cannon. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 34. 2081,5 small brasse guns. 1710 Hearne Coll. II. 363 The Antients us’d Brass Arms before Iron ones. 1720 Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) II. v. xvii. 363/2 We recieve ..also Whalebone Train Oil, Brass Battery. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. 11. 147 Whoever received or uttered brass coin. 1776 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 36/1 Brass field pieces. 1876 Humphrey Coin Coll. Man. xvi. 196 Not worth a brass button.

b. Colloq. phr. to come (or get) down to brass tacks (or nails): to concern oneself with basic facts or realities, orig. U.S. 1897 H. A. Jones Liars 1. 23 Come down to brass tacks. What’s going to be the end of this? 1903 N. V. Sun 28 Nov. 3 This bold sister was the first.. to get down to brass tacks in a discussion of the scandal. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone N. xi. 288 When you come down to brass nails. 1927 Daily Express 20 June 2 (Advt.), Let’s get down to Brass Tacks. 1932 T. S. Eliot Sweeney Agonistes 25 That’s all the facts when you come to brass tacks: Birth, and copulation, and death. 1953 L. A. G. Strong Personal Remarks 10 When we put theories aside, and come down to brass tacks. 6. General comb.: a. objective or obj. genitive,

as brass-caster, -finisher, -founder, -foundry, -finishing adj.; b. instrumental, as brass¬ armed, -bound, (also fig.), -mounted, -shapen\ c. similative, as brass-bold, -bright, -coloured, brass-like; d. parasynthetic, as brass-browed, -footed, fronted, -handled, -headed (f-head), -hilted, -plated, -scaly, -studded, -tipped, etc. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 11. (Arb.) 45 A *brasse bold merchaunt in causes dangerus hardye. 1880 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 50 Now the other was brass-bold. 1867 W. Morris Jason vi. no The *brass-bound tiller. 1901 Daily Chron. 29 Aug. 3/1 The soldierly old brass-bound General. 1913 W. de la Mare Peacock Pie 88 His brass-bound cart. 1908 Hardy Dynasts III. v. vi. 451 The flames making the faces of the crowd *brass-bright. 1630 Prynne Anti-Armin. 238 Dare any *brasse-browed Arminian be so shamelessly absurd. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxiv. 607 The *brass-cheek’d helmet. 1851 Ruskin King Gold. River i, A very large nose, slightly *brass-coloured. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. in. ii. v. i. (1651) 544 She taught him how to tame the fire-breathing •brass-feeted Bulls. 1879 Melbourne Argus 24 Dec. 2/1 The same rates are paid in the fine *brassfinishing shops. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 486 A third society..of *brassefounders. 1716 Lond. Gaz. No. 5450/3 A *Brass Foundery is .. building at Woolwich. 1613 Heywood Braz. Age 11. ii. Wks. 1874 III. 212 And these our *brasse-head buls. 1692 Lond. Gaz. No. 2804/4 A *Brass-hilted Sword. 1598 Chapman Iliad viii. 36 His *brass-hooved winged horse. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile xix. 536 An antique •brassmounted firelock. 1591 Greene Maiden's Dr. Wks. 1881-3 XIV. 306 *Brass-renting Goddesse, she cannot lament. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xi. 11 His long *bras-scaly back. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis ii. (Arb.) 67 Brandisht tergats, and •brasshapen harneise. 1858 Longfellow M. Standish iv. 53 A Bible, Ponderous, bound in leather, *brass-studded, printed in Holland. 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 32 Gaugers with their *brass-tipped rules.

5. a. simple attrib.: (Made) of brass, brazen.

7. Special comb, and phrases: brass band, a band of musicians with wind instruments of brass; brass bason, a basin of brass, also fig. a barber or surgeon barber; brass-blacking, a dead black surface given to brass ornaments by treatment with chemicals; brass-bounder, (a) see quot. 1890; (b) an apprentice on board ships of English companies, so called from the brass on his uniform; brass-colour, (a) a preparation used to colour objects to resemble brass; (b) a preparation of oxidized brass used to stain glass to various tints of blue and green; f 'brasscut, a copperplate engraving (cf. woodcut); brass edge (see quot.); f brass-face, an impudent person; brass farthing, an emphatic equivalent of farthing in depreciatory expressions; brass-foil, brass-latten, Dutch leaf or Dutch gold made by beating out plates of brass very thin; brass-hat slang, an officer of high rank in the British army (or other Service), so called from the gilt insignia on his cap; hence brass-hatted adj.; brass-helmeted a., wearing a brass helmet; f brass-leaf = brasscut; brass lump, a miners’ term for massive iron pyrites or marcasite; brass-man, one who plays a brass musical instrument; brass nail [rhyming slang for tail si.1], a prostitute; fbrass-plate, copper-plate for engraving; brass plate, a plate of brass, bearing an inscription, e.g. on or at a door or gate, bearing the resident’s name; also a monumental ‘brass’ (2 a); brass-plater slang, a man of the professional class; brass-powder, a powder consisting of copper or one of its alloys used in varnish; brass-rag, in slang (orig. Naut.) phr. to part brass-rags, to quarrel; brass-rubbing, the process of rubbing a brass (see rub v.1 1 e); also, the impression thus obtained; so brass-rubber; brass rule, a strip of brass, type-high, used to separate lines or columns of type; 'brass-smith, an artificer in brass; 'brass-work, artificers’ work in brass; pi. an establishment for making or working in brass; 'brass-worker, an artificer in brass.

(In former times sometimes united with hyphen.) 1408 E.E. Wills (1882) 15 A bras pot. 1420 Ibid. 46, 1 petit brase morter. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 84 Alle othir golde, silver,

1834 C. Bronte in W. Gerin C. Bronte (1967) vi. 84 There are to be five *brass bands each consisting of two trumpets, three bombardones, [etc.]. 1837 Hawthorne in Democratic

g. slang. = brass nail. 1934 [see sense 7]. 1952 N. Streatfeild Aunt Clara 161 If Mr. Willis thought she was a brass, he had got another think coming... If you looked at those brown eyes you could see she was innocent as a baby. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights 10 His old woman who was a brass on the game.

3. Money. f a. Copper or bronze coin; also fig. Obs. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. III. 189 Beere heor bras on pi Bac to Caleys to sulle. [ Perhaps belongs here.] 1526 Tindale Matt. x. 9 Posses not golde, nor silver, nor brasse yn youre gerdels. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, iv. iv. 19 Luxurious Mountaine Goat, offer’st me Brasse? 1775 Crabbe Inebriety, Where canvass purse displays the brass enroll’d.

b. Money in general, cash, slang or dial. 1597-8 Bp. Hall Satires 1. iii. 58 (D.) Shame that the muses should be bought and sold For every peasant’s brass. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 486 Obaerati..pressed with the heauy burden of brasse, i. debt. 1794 Burns lWhat can a young lassie', His auld brass will buy me a new pan. 1811 Byron Hints fr. Hor. 548 Who ne’er despises books that bring him brass. 1848 C. Bronte J. Eyre (1857) 349 ‘You’ve like no house, nor no brass, I guess?’ 1871 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 27 You wouldn’t have gone near him .. if it hadn’t been for his brass.

4. a. fig. Taken as a type of insensibility to shame: hence, Effrontery, impudence, unblushingness. [1588 Shaks. L.L.L. v. ii. 395 Can any face of brasse hold longer out?] 1642 Fuller Holy Gf Prof. St. v. x. 395 His face is of brasse, which may be said either ever or never to blush. 1682 Dryden Satyr to Muse 236 And like the Sweed is very Rich in Brass. 01734 North Exam. iii. viii. ]p 17 The Author hath the Brass to add, etc. 1780 Mad. D’Arblay Diary Lett. I. 318, I entered the room without astonishing the company by my brass. 1853 Lynch SelfImpr. 45 An empty, vaunting person, who has brass enough to face the world.

b. Colloq. phr. as bold as brass: very bold(ly) or impudent(ly); brazen-faced(ly). 1789 G. Parker Life's Painter 162 He died damn’d hard and as bold as brass. An expression commonly used among the vulgar after returning from an execution. 1849 Lytton Caxtons I. 1. iv. 27 Master Sisty (coming out of the house as bold as brass) continued rapidly [etc.]. 1922 S. J. Weyman Ovington's Bank xvii. 188 Seeing as he hung back I up to him bold as brass.

II. Attrib. and Comb.

BRASS Rev. Oct. 35 A company of summer soldiers,.. attended by the ‘brass band’. 1849 Theatrical Programme 9 July 44 The Brass Band on the Lawn will perform an admired Selection of Popular Overtures. 1861 N. Brit. Rev. Nov. 392 The gentlemen of the Brass Band. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merck. II. vi. 170 The brass band plays horribly. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. i. 162 Esculape! how rife is phisicke made When ech *brasse-basen can profess the trade, a 1884 Knight Diet. Mech. Supply * Brass-blacking, a dead black color; used freely with French optical instruments. 1890 Farmer Slang, * Brass-Bounder (nautical), a midshipman. 1927 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 374/2 There were none but sailors, brass-bounders, stewards. 1797 Encycl. Brit. III. 519/2 The finest *brass-colour is made with powder brass.., diluted into a varnish. 1839 Ure Diet. Arts 169 Brass Colour., is prepared by exposing for several days thin plates of brass upon tiles in the leer or annealing arch of the glass-house, till it be oxidized into a black powder. 1662 J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII. (1867) 70 With all the scenes in excellent *brasscutts. 1884 F. Britten Watch & Clockm. 36 *Brass Edge in commonvwatch movements, [is] a brass rim fitted round the pillar plate. 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. evii. 538 An impudent fellow, a *Brasse-face, yet of good understanding. 1642 Rogers Naaman 33 As bare and beggarly as if he had not one *brasse farthing. 1880 Besant & Rice Seamy Side x. 78, ‘I care not one brass farthing.’ 1893 Kipling Many Invent. 210, I tell you der big *brass-hat pizness does not make der trees grow. 1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. 546/1 No one today hears sarcastic reference to ‘brass hats’, the traditional term for the staff officers of the High Command. 1903 Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 73 There’s a crowd of *brass-’atted blighters there which will say I’ve been absent without leaf. 1917 ‘Taffrail’ Off Shore 82 The brasshatted potentate who regards our quarterly list of breakages with a horny and unsympathetic eye. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 22 Nov. 9/1 The *brass-helmeted firemen. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 53 A thin piece of *Brass-latin. 1654 Gayton Fest. Notes 111. i. 66 In the book, .a great Cut or *Brasse leafe. 1674 Phil. Trans. IX. 222 Pieces of the ordinary Fire¬ stones or Marcasite of the Coal-pits which here we call *Brass-lumps. 1757 Walker in Phil. Trans. L. 146 It is.. exceeding ponderous, and of a shining yellow colour, and is called by the miners brass lumps. 1872 T. Hardy Under Greenwood Tree 1.1. iv. 50 They should ha’ stuck to strings. Your *brass-man, is brass—well and good; your reed-man, is reed—well and good. 1958 B. Rust in P. Gammond Decca Bk. of Jazz iv. 60 These two fine brassmen made good jazz. 1934 P- Allingham Cheapjack 317 Brass (*Brassnail), prostitute. 1938 F. D. Sharpe S. of Flying Squad i. 15 Ladies whom the Underworld calls ‘brass nails’. 1655 Mrq. Worcester Cent. Inv. § 100 All.. of these Inventions.. shall be Printed by *Brass-plates. 1771 Encycl. Brit. III. 511/1 The compositor. . puts .. this slip of brass-plate .. in the composing-stick. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz I. 96 A brass-plate on the private door with'Ladies School’ legibly engraved thereon, i860 Mrs. Gaskell Right at Last, I saw a brassplate with Doctor James Brown upon it. 1894 Brass plate [see plate sb. 5 b]. 1921 Glasgow Herald 9 Apr. 6 Steelworkers and bankers, ship-platers and ‘*brass-platers’, ‘workers’ and ‘parasites’, we shall all have to take off our coats. 1839 Ure Diet. Arts 169 Only so much of the *brass powder and varnish should be mixed at a time as is wanted for immediate use. 1898 W. P. Drury Tadpole of Archangel 141 The graceful figures stiffened, passing each other with ..eyes fixed on futurity... ‘Don’t you know that we’ve parted *brassrags?’ Ibid. 142 When ‘Pincher’ Martin, Ordinary, and ‘Nobby’ Clarke, A.B., desire to prove the brotherly love.. with which each inspires the other, it is their.. custom to keep their brasswork cleaning rags in a joint ragbag. But, should relations.. become strained between them, the bag owner casts forth upon the deck .. his sometime brother’s rags; and with the parting of the brassrags hostilities begin. 1903 Kipling Traffics Discov. (1904) 49 You’ll shut your mouth.. or you an’ me’ll part brass rags. 1922 Mrs. A. Sidgwick Victorian vii, If you dare to use that word flapper in my hearing.. we part brass rags. 1959 Economist 14 Mar. 979/2 He seems to have finally parted brass rags with the Arab nationalists and President Nasser. 1856 Athenaeum 17 May 626 The quiet haunts of the *brass-rubber. 1886 C. M. Yonge Chantry House II. xiv. 135 Her greatest achievement in *brass-rubbing, a severe and sable knight. 1890 H. W. Macklin Monumental Brasses ii. 27 Brass-rubbings are greatly improved by being mounted. 1897 (title) The Oxford Journal of Monumental Brasses, being the Journal of the Oxford University BrassRubbing Society. 1952 E. Coxhead Play Toward ii. 68 He’d cycled over with one of your girls, and they were taking brass rubbings in the church. 1831 Carlyle Sort. Res. 11. iv. Has he not seen the Scottish *Brasssmith’s Idea? 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 25 In the *Brass-works of Tivoli. 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2509/4 Black Japan Gilt Brass-work. 1761 Wesley Jrnl. 13 Sept., Employed in the neighbouring brass-works. 1805 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 378/1 The brass work being over¬ heated. 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6171/10 Benjamin Gibbons .. *Brassworker.

16 The verb brass off means to tell off severely. 1964 V. Scorpio Lett. iv. 75 After I’d brassed you off for pinching my parking space. Canning

f brass, v.2 Obs. rare—I. [a. OF. brasse-r to burn.] ? To burn, to scorch. 1481 Caxton Myrr. hi. xv. 167 They rested them not by the grete fyres ne brassed not as som doo now.

brassage ('braesid3). [a. F. brassage, f. brasser to stir together melted metals.] A mint-charge levied to cover the expense of coining money. 1806 Edin. Rev. VII. 275 Not content with levying..a brassage. 1884 Times 20 Mar. 11 They might take brassage or ‘mint charge’ to mean the equivalent of the cost of coining.

brassard

(bra1 said). Also brassart. [a. F. brassard, f. bras arm; see -ard.] 1. Armour for the upper part of the arm. (Only Hist.) 1830 James Darnley x. 47/1 This brassard is a little too close. 1834 Planche Brit. Costume 122 Brassarts connect the shoulder with the elbow-pieces. 1866 Fortn. Rev. 1 Sept. 152 Talbot is wearing brassards and a tabard.

2. A badge worn on the arm; an armlet. 1870 Daily News 21 Sept., Brassards seem to be obtainable for the asking. 1879 Fife-Cookson Armies of Balkans vii. 100 An English doctor who. , had the white brassard with the red crescent on his arm.

brassate

C1865 G. Gore in Circ. Sc. I. 213/1 Solutions used for coppering or brassing iron. Ibid. 222/1 Copper articles may be superficially brassed.

b. fig. To cover with effrontery, to brass it (colloq.): to put on a face of brass, to behave with effrontery. 1859 Times 18 Mar. 8/6 To wipe his mouth and brass his brow, and charge us with underrating our fellow countrymen.

2. intr. To pay up. Also trans. slang. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 147 Now .. p’raps you’ll pay the man. Go on—brass up! Ibid. 150 Along comes Mister Internashonal, an’ brasses up every stiver o’ that twenty-eight quid. 1939 F. Thompson Lark Rise vi. 119 Husbands and sons at work 'brassed up’ on Friday nights. 1949 Wodehouse Mating Season viii. 79 What did he soak him? Five quid?.. And Gussie brassed up and was free?

3. slang (orig. Services'), a. (See quot. 1925.) b. (See quot. 1943.) 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 35 To brass off: to grumble. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang

(’braeseit).

[f.

brass-ic

Liibben), Ger. brassen a bream (cf. brassem).] A name of a fish of the perch family. 1847 Craig, Brasse, the pale-spotted perch. obs. ff. brace, -let.

brassed (braist, -as-), ppl. a. brast. [f. brass 4- -ed.]

Also 4 brased, 7

1. Made of, or overlaid

with brass: also fig. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cvi[i]. 16 Yhates [that] brased ware, And slottes irened. 1611 Chapman Iliad xvii. 425 Both cast Dry solid hides upon their necks, exceeding soundly brast. 01734 North Lives I. 363 None so brassed in this kind as demure pretenders who complain of popery and arbitrary power.

2. With off: disgruntled, ‘fed up’, ‘browned off. slang (orig. Services’). 1941 J. Sommerfield in Penguin New Writing VIII. 46 I’m brassed off waiting. 1943 P. Brennan et al. Spitfires over Malta 12 Very tired and brassed off, we bundled our kit on our shoulders. 1959 I. Jefferies 13 Days x. 158, I thought you was brassed off!

Brassell,

obs. form of Brazil.

H'brassem. Obs. [a. Du. (and MDu.) brasem bream; = OS. bressemo, OHG. brahsema (MHG. brahsem, brasme, brahsen, Ger. brassen): bream.] A kind of fish; ? a sea-bream. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G.H. II. 196 There are two sorts of Brassems in the Cape Sea. 1772-84 Cook Voy. (1790) I. 322 The brassem is found only about the cape. Of this fish there are two sorts.

brassen,

obs. form of brazen.

brasser,

obs. f. bracer; see balloon i, io. 1650 Weldon Crt. Jas. I. (1817) 47 Lifting up his hand over his head with a Ballan brasser.

|| brasserie (brasari). [Fr., orig. = brewery, f. brasser to brew.] A beer saloon, usually one in which food is served. 1864 Realm 15 June 8/3 May his monument outlive all other brasseries1 1887 Athenaeum i Jan. 10/3 [They] are delighted to earn a cheap reputation at the cafe or the brasserie. 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 6 Mar. 4 The employment of girls in brasseries, which have so evil a name. 1926 Sunday at Home June 536/1 You are impressed at once by the contrast of the innumerable brasseries and restaurants with our wretched public-houses. ('brassit).

[? A bad form of brassard.]

? = brassard. 1751 Chambers Cycl., s.v. Armor, A compleat Armor antiently consisted of a casque or helm, a gorget, cuirasse, gantlets, tasses, brassets, cuisses, and covers for the legs, to which the spurs were fastened. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic. xii. (1833) 306 A cuirass with its brassets.

brassey, brassie:

1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 5 July 3/7 (Advt.), Brassieres of fine cambric, lace and embroidery trimmed. 1912 Queen 27 July 10 (Advt.), The Stylish Figure of ToDay requires a Brassiere. 193(6 W. Holtby South Riding iv. vi. 262 Her young body, partially covered by pink brassiere, trunks, [etc.]. 1961 J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) iv. 39 An unhooked brassiere was as close as you ever hoped to get to Paradise.

t'brassik. Obs. rare. Also brasik. brassica: see brassica] Cabbage.

[ad.

L.

c 1420 Pallad on Husb. IX. 53 Rave as brassik for vyne as ille is fonde. Ibid. x. 137 Nowe brasik to growe For November plauntyng.

'brassil. Iron pyrites; coal containing pyrites: see brazil2.

brassily ('braisili, -ae-), adv.

[f. brassy a. +

-LY2.]

1. With impudence or brazen confidence. 1889 in Cent. Diet. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer iv. 61 He doesn’t mind sticking his bespectacled face into things and grinning broadly and brassily.

2. With a brassy noise. 1898 Kipling Day's Work 94 Its band playing clashily and brassily a popular but impolite air.

+

brasse (braes). [Cf. LG. brasse (Schiller and

brasse, -lat, -let,

‘leading strings (of infant)’.] A woman’s undergarment worn to support the breasts.

brassin, obs. f. brazen.

Chem.

-ate4.] A salt of brassic acid. 1863 Watts Diet. Chem. I. 655 Brassate of sodium gives by analysis 8.5 per cent. soda.

brasset brass (bra:s, -as-), t;.1 [f. prec.: cf. to tin.] 1. a. trans. To coat with brass by electro¬ plating or otherwise.

BRASSY

494

.2

see brassy sb

brassic ('braesik), a. [f. next.] Pertaining to or derived from the genus Brassica. 1879 Watts Diet. Chem. I. 655 Colza oil is a mixture of two glycerides, which yield by saponification brassic acid.

|| brassica ('braesika). Bot. [L.; = cabbage.] A genus of cruciferous plants, containing the cabbage in its many varieties, the turnip, rape, etc. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 258 Some species of brassica .. was introduced into this country by the Romans. 1854 Bushnan in Circ. Sc. (c. 1865) II. 27/2 The leaves of the various species of brassica.

brassiere ('braesi£3(r), -is, -z-). Also

brassiere.

[Fr., orig. (17c.) bodice, now chiefly in pi.

[f. brassy sb.1 + -ness.] Brassy quality or appearance. Also fig.

brassiness ('braisims, -ae-).

1731 in Bailey II. 1847 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 5. 238 The brassiness of the elytra. 1921 H. Crane Let. 17 Oct. (1965) 67, I have the apparent brassiness to call myself a person of rather catholic admirations. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer iv. 61 But there was more to Perry than., brassiness or quick brain. 1958 Listener 4 Dec. 964/3 He [sc. a horn player] seems to have acquired .. the characteristic mellow tone free from any disagreeable brassiness. v.1 + -ING1.] The process or art of coating with brass.

brassing (’braisii), -ae-), vbl. sb. [f. brass

c1865G. Gore in Circ. Sc. I. 222/2 Another liquid which he uses for brassing. attrib. Ibid. 223/1 All the brassing solutions.. are imperfect.

brassish ('braisij, -ae-), a. Somewhat brassy. 1774 Mrs. Delany Lett. Ser. n. II. 473 A little brassish coperish, goldish thread-like stuff.

Brasso ('braisau, -ae-).

[f. brass sb.] The proprietary name of a preparation for polishing brass and other metals. 1905 Trade Marks Jrnl. 24 May 670 Brasso... Preparations for polishing Metals and other articles, included in Class 50. Reckitt and Sons, Limited,.. Yorkshire; Manufacturers. 1925 Glasgow Herald 24 Mar. 8 A tin of Brasso, oily rag. 1936 C. Day Lewis Friendly Tree iii, Anna had once seen a duck dive its head and emerge with the top of a Brasso tin in its beak and swallow it. 1942 A. L. Rowse Cornish Childhood 83 Friday.. was the day on which the scales and weights in the shop were cleaned: whether it was.. the smell of the brasso, I don’t know, but I disliked Friday.

brassure, obs. form of bracer. brassy ('braisi, -ae-), a. Also 6 brassie, -ye. [f. brass sb. + -y1.] 1. Consisting of or covered with brass. 1583 Stanyhurst .Lineis i. (Arb.) 32 Thee stayrs brassye grises stately presented. 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie 11. vi. 200 That dreamed of Imagery, Whose head was gold, brest siluer, brassie thigh. 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur 328 On the left the brassy legions of Caesar.

2. Of the nature or appearance of brass, in colour, sound, taste, etc. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 426 [It] left a brassy taste in my mouth for a whole day. 1803 Phil. Trans. XCIII. 68 Of a pale brassy colour. 1847 Motherwell Spirits of Light Hark, to their trumpets’ brassy blare. 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago I. 65 The sky. .is brassy green.

3. fig. with many varieties of sense. a. Hard as brass, pitiless, unfeeling. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. iv. i. 31 And commiseration of his state From brassie bosomes.

plucke

b. Having a ‘face of brass’, unblushing, impudently confident, or forward. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 156 To make them blush .. were they never so brassie and impudent. 1690 Def. Dr. Walker 2 A brassy Impudence. 1792 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Churchw., Betty was too brassy, We never keep a sarvant that is saucy. 1846 Douglas Jerrold Chron. Clovernook Wks. IV. 415 A brassy confidence in his face.

c. Of brass, as opposed to ‘golden’; debased yet pretentious. 1586 Ferne Lacies Nobilitie 2 This present age, which is growne so harde and brassye, for the golden dayes are long sithence ouer-passed. 1842 Tennyson Amphion ix, In such a brassy age I could not move a thistle.

d. Harsh and feelingless in tone, like a brass instrument; having a strident artificial tone. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. 74 That hard, brassy, over¬ stretched style. 1870 Daily News 26 July 5 Its brassy clangour of quickly-recurring rhymes. 1884 J. A. Symonds Shakspere's Predecessors 508 Aretino .. proved his originality by creating a new manner, brassy and meretricious.

e. In medical use, describing a cough. 1880 Barwell Aneurism 91 Severe brassy cough. 1895 Oracle Encycl. II. 221/2 The patient.. awakens.. with a peculiar cough, called by physicians ‘brassy’.

BRASSY 'brassy, sb.1 Sc. Also bressie. [Cf. brasse.] A fish, ‘the ancient Wrasse’ (Jamieson). Fife (1803) 128 Turdus vulgatissimus Willoughboei: I take it to be the same our fishers call a Bressie. 1710

Sibbald

brassy ('brassi), sb.2 Golf. Also brassey, brassie. [f. brass sb. + -y6.] A wooden club shod with brass. Daily Neuis 2 July 5/1 The golfer will hunt for his brassey in vain. 1889 Linskill Go//iii. 20 A brassey is very similar to a wooden niblick, but.. the sole of the head is shod with a plate of brass as a protection to the wood and bone. 1890 [see cleek sb. 1 b], 1929 Wodehouse Mr. Mulliner Speaking vi. 203 John Gooch, smiting vigorously with his brassie. 1888

b. ellipt. for brassy shot. Daily Chron. 22 May 9/5 He sliced his drive badly, but played a perfect brassey to within four yards of the pin. 1909 Ibid. 22 Apr. 8/4 His tee shots and brassies being of fine length and direction. 1906

C. attrib., as brassy player, shot, stroke. Westm. Gaz. 21 Dec. 7/2 To the third hole in, he got away a fine tee shot, which he followed by a good brassy stroke to the green. 1897 Ibid. 30 Dec. 7/3 Mr. Ramsay Islay .. killed a seagull on the wing with a brassey shot. 1904 Ibid. 1 Jan. 3/1 He is a good brassy player. 1894

brast, v., northern form of burst. 01300 Cursor CI450 Songs &

M. 7170 bat all J>e bandes of him brast. Carols 51 (Matz.) Tyll both hys eyen in watyr gan brast. 1513 Douglas JEneis xn. Prol. 39 The fyry sparkis brastyng fra his ene. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. 1. lxxviii, Mid wounds, and clinging darts, and lances brast. 1865 Miss Lahee Betty o’ Yep's T. 10 in Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., Laughin’ fit to brast their soides.

brast, obs. form of brassed. brastle ('brass(3)l), v.

[OE. brastlian, ME. brastlien; cf. MHG. barsteln, Sw. prassla. But the modern (Scotch) use may be a recent onomatopceia. Cf. brattle, brustle.] 11. intr. To crackle, clatter; to roar (as flames). c 1000 ./Elfric in Thorpe Horn. II. 508 (Bosw.) Daet treow brastliende sah to Sam haljan were, c 1205 Lay. 27463 Sceldes brastleden.

2. To rush with clattering noise, or with excited haste. Sc. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 234 Plouterin in the dubs, or brastlin up the braes. 1835 Blackw. Mag. XXXVIII. 156 A small trout or two brastled away to the other side of the shallow.

BRATTICE

495 it the same word as the prec., but evidence of the transition of sense has not been found.] ‘A child, so called in contempt’ J. In 16th and 17th c. sometimes used without contempt, though nearly always implying insignificance; the phrase beggar's brat has been common from the first. c 1505 Dunbar Flyting 49 Irsche brybour baird, wyle beggar with thy brattis. 1557 TotteVs Misc. (Arb.) 109 Yong brats, a trouble: none at all, a maym it seems to bee. a 1577 Gascoigne in Farj’s S.P. (1845) I. 35 O Abrahams brats, O broode of blessed seede. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 25 What syn hath ./Eneas, my brat, committed agaynst the? fli593 H. Smith Wks. (1866-7) I- 197 Where any sectary hath one son, Machiavel hath a score, and those not the brats, but the fatlings of the land. 1650 Cromwell in Carlyle Lett. & Sp. (1871) III. 9, I should be glad to hear how the little brat doth. 1712 Steele Sped. No. 479 |f 1 The noise of those damned nurses and squalling brats. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 15 As cheap as any two little brats can be kept. 1808 Scott Mem. in Lockhart i. (1842) 8/1, I felt the change from being a single indulged brat, to becoming a member of a large family, very severely. 1879 Dixon Windsor II. vi. 65 Repulsed in her appeal for mercy like a beggar’s brat.

b. fig. Offspring, product. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 1. v. 891 An ignoble and bastardly brat of fear. 1720 Ormond in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 9 The South-sea was said to be my lord Oxford’s brat. 1790 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. S. Urban Wks. 1812 II. 257 Ambitious that the Brats my Rhymes Should see the Gentlefolks of future times.

brat (brast), sb.3 Also

bratt. [A variant of bret.]

A fish: the turbot, birt, or bret. Also attrib., as in brat-net. 1759 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 68/2 It.. had a head like a turbot or Bratt. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 12 Brat or Turbot Net complete.

brat (braet), sb* Mining, [perhaps akin to brat1, 2.] ‘A thin bed of coal mixed with pyrites or carbonate of lime.’ Bainbridge Law of Mines 1856.

brat (braet), v. rare.

[f. brat sfc.1]

trans. To

wrap up in a brat or clout. 1570 Levins Manip. 37 To Bratte, panniculis circumdare. 1862 [see bratting vbl. s6.].

bratch, -et,

obs. forms of brach, brachet.

Brasyle, -lie, obs. forms of Brazil.

f'bratchel. Obs. [perh. from brake v.1 or sb.3: cf. sack, satchel.] ‘The husks of flax set on fire’ (Jamieson).

brasyn, brasynge, obs. ff. brazen, brazing.

1815 Clan-Albin I. 77 (Jam.) The blaze of a bratchel, and above all the superlative joys of a waulking.

brat (brast), sb.1 Obs. exc. dial. Also i bratt, 6 bratte. [Of Celtic origin. OE. (Northumbrian) bratt was prob. adopted from OIrish bratft masc., ‘cloth’, esp. as a covering for the body, ‘plaid, mantle, cloak’ (cf. Gael, brat ‘haircloth for a kiln, apron; covering, mantle, veil’, OWelsh *breth (or *brath), pi. brith, bryth, applied to the swaddling-clothes of an infant: the mod. Welsh brat ‘pinafore, rag’, is merely the Eng. word.] 1. A cloth used as an over-garment, esp. of a coarse or makeshift character. fa. (in OE.) A cloak, b. in midi., west., and north, dial., A child’s pinafore; a woman’s or girl’s pinafore or apron. (See also quot. 1962.) c. contemptuously. A rag, or article which is ‘a mere rag’. Hence 'bratful, apronful. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. v. 40 Daem se6e wil.. cyrtel Sin to niomanne forlet eac hrsegl vel haecla vel bratt [L. pallium, Ags. waefels, Rushw. hryft]. C1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. & T. 329 A brat [ v.r. bak] to walken in by day-light. 1529 More Supplic. Souls Wks. 337/2 There is none so poore as we, yl haue not a bratte to put on our backes. 1570 Levins Manip. 37 A Bratte, panniculus. 1691 Ray N.C. Wds. 8 Bratt, a course Apron, a Rag. 1775 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) Tummus & M. 60 Th’ treacle butter cake stickt to Seroh’s brat. 1786 Burns The Author’s Earnest Cry xxiv, Sowp’s o’ kail an’ brats o’ claise. 1867 E. Waugh Owd Blanket i. 19 in Lane. Gloss., A brat-full o’ guinea gowd. 1885 Mrs. Lynn Linton Chr. Kirkland 1. i. 15 The women held their aprons (‘brats’ we called them). 1959 Times 15 Oct. 14/6 The picking basket or pail was rejected in favour of the ‘brat’, a long apron made from a meal sack into which the potatoes were first picked. 1962 J. B. Priestley Margin Released 1. iii. 24, I.. had put on the chequered overall known locally as a ‘brat’.

2. A jacket for a sheep’s back. 1862 J. Wilson Farming 487 This ‘Brat’.. prevents the wool from parting over the spine.

f3. Rubbish, beggarly stuff. Cf. beggary 5. Obs.

bratchet

('braetjit). Also in 6 bratchart, [Apparently the same word as brachet: cf. the application of whelp, cub, etc. to a child; but perhaps associated with brat sb 2 as if a diminutive of that.] bratshard.

1. = BRACHET.

2. A little brat, a child.

(contemptuous or

playful.) a 1600 Montgomerie Flyting 284 That bratchart in ane busse was borne. 1832-53 Whistle-binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. III. 74, I.. took the bratchet [Cupid] on my knee. attrib. 1821 Scott Kenilw., To play child-keeper.. to be plagued with a bratchet whelp.

bratful,

.1

var. bretful, Obs.; see also brat sb

fbrath, sb.

1.

Also 3 bmppe (Orm.), 4 (? [Ormin’s brappe appears to imply a formation from brap, brath a. + -th1 (:—OE. -po) as in length, wrath (:—OE. wrsep-po).] Impetuosity, violence, wrath, ire. braith),

Obs.

brath(e.

c 1200 Ormin 1233, & dafftelike leden pe, wipputenn brace and brappe. Ibid. 4707 Clene of brappe. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 916 In pe brath of his breth pat brennez alle pinkez. C1375 ? Barbour St. Christina 275 A1 pai bestis socht hyme to Ine mykil brath. C1400 Destr. Troy 5075 Priam .. Bade horn blynn of hor brathe.

fbrath, braith, a. Obs. Also 3-4 bmp. [ME. brap, a. ON. bradr; which became in midland Eng. broth(e. The northern dial, retained brath, spelt in 15-16th c. Sc. braith, brayth.] Impetuous, violent, wrathful. c 1200 Ormin 7164 Forr 3iff pe riche mann iss brap, & grimme. a 1300 Cursor M. 16164 For to do his breth to bu of him pat was ful brath. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1909 per bayen hym mony brap houndez. C1440 Syr Gowghter 108 And afterwarde wax breme and brathe. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 171 Nese, mouth and eyn Throuch the braith blaw, all byrstit out of blud.

brathe, variant of

braythe v. Obs.

Gate Lat. Uni. §336. 93 The Threshers— with a whisk of feathers purge it from the refuse—& with a siev from the brat or beggery.

f'brathel.

4. (Sc.) The tough film or skin which forms on porridge, rice pudding, and the like.

1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 24 a, The scoldyng of brathels is no more to bee passed on then the squekyng of welle wheles.

1656 Dugard

1795 Statist. Acc. XV. 8 note (Jam.) Brat, a cover or scurf. 1864 J. Brown Jeems 11 Saying his grace over our bickers [of

Obs. rare—1. Variant of brethel, brothel, wretch, worthless person.

porridge] with their brats on.

f'brathful, braithful, a. Obs. Also 6 breth-, breithfull. [cf. brothful.] Violent, wrathful.

brat (brast), sb.2 Also 6-7 bratt(e. [Of uncertain

1513 Douglas JEneis x. vi. 155 With brethfull [o.r. braythful] blastis. Ibid. XII. viii. 133 All kynd of wreth and breithfull ire now he Leyt slip at large.

origin: Wedgwood, E. Muller, and Skeat think

f'brathly, braithly, a. and adv. Obs. north, dial, and Sc. Also 4 brathely. [f. brath, braith a. or brath sb. + -ly. Cf. brothely.] A. adj. Impetuous, violent, angry. a 1455 Houlate n. 14 (Jam.) The battellis so brym brathly and blicht. 1513 Douglas JEneis 1. ii. 11 [Eolus] braithlie tempestis by his power refrenis.

B. adv. Impetuously; furiously, violently. a 1300 Cursor M. 2240 Brathli pai pis werk bigan. Ibid. 21400 Brathli on his fas he brast. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3220 This comlyche kynge .. Bownnys brathely to bede. c 1400 Melayne 255 Barouns ondir blonkes fate Braythely ware borne doun. c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 212 The bailful teris bryst braithly fra hys eyne.

bratishing, obs. form of bratticing. bratling ('braetlii]). [f. brat sb.2 + -ling.] A little brat, an infant. 1652 Brome Jov. Crew 11. Wks. 1873 III. 387 The Bratling’s born, the Doxey’s in the Strummel. 1796 Coleridge in Cottle Remin. (1847) 100 We are all—wife, bratling, and self, remarkably well.

|| brattach ('bratax). [Gaelic (and Irish) bratach fern. (Manx brattagh) a standard, banner, flag, f. brat cloth.] An ensign, banner, or flag. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth vi, No five of each clan have a rusty shirt of mail as old as their brattach.

bratte, obs. form of brat. brattery ('braetari). [f. brat sb2 + -ery.] A collection of brats, a nursery, (contemptuous.) 1788 Ld. Sheffield in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1861) II. 220 We hope the Brattery will continue well. 1834 Beckford Italy, &c. I. 4 The apartment above my head proves a squalling brattery.

brattice ('braitis), sb. Forms: a. 3 brutaske, 4 brytasqe, 5 betrax (= bretask). j9. 4 brutage, 4-5 bretage, 5 bretayge, britage, brytege, (9 Hist. bretache, brattish). y. 4-5 bretais, -ays, 5 bretise, -asce, -ys, -is, brettys, bertes, bartes. 8. 9 (sense 2) brettis, brattice, -ish. [Found in many types: a. ME. brutaske, brytasqe, a. ONF. breteske, -aske, -esque: ft. ME. brutage, bretage, etc., a. AFr. brutesche (Matt. Paris), OF. bretesche, mod.F. breteche: y. ME. bretasce, -ais, -is, etc., a. OF. bretesce, bretasce. The OF. breteske, -esche, -esce (rarely bertesque, -esche, -ece), correspond to Pr. bertresca, It. bertesca (baltresca), med.L. bretachia, bertescha, breteschia, etc. Of uncertain origin; according to Mahn (to whom Diez adheres) prob. a derivative of Ger. brett board, with Romanic suffix -esca, with sense of ‘boarding’, ‘boardwork’. The early forms in bru-, bry-, app. of English or Anglo-French origin, are due perhaps to the obscurity of the first vowel. The 15- 16th c. forms in ber-, barwere northern: see bratticing. The original sense became obs. before 1500. To modern times the word has come down in local use, chiefly in connexion with coal-mining, in the forms brettis (Derbyshire), brattice (Newcastle, etc.), brattish. Although brettis is the best form etymologically, brattice has become more generally known, and accepted in literary use; brattish has given the architectural brattishing.] The general sense is ‘boarding, planking, a structure of boards’. Hence spec. fl. A temporary breastwork, parapet, or gallery of wood erected on the battlement of a fortress, for use during a siege. Obs. a. type breteske. 1297 R. Glouc. 536 Atte laste hii s[s]ende A1 the brutaske withoute, & the brugge brende. C1380 Sir Ferumb. 3315 pe kernels .. wer broke & schente, & pe brytasqes on pe tour an he3e dulfuly a-doun wer caste, c 1440 Promp. Parv. 50/1 Betrax of a walle, propugnaculum.

p. type bretesche, bretage. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1190 Bigge brutage of borde bulde on pe walles. C1350 Will, of Palerne 3001 Here walles were broke • wip engynes strong, here bretages al a-boute • forbrent & destroyed, c 1430 Wyclif Song Sol viii. 9 (Lamb. MS.) If it is a wal, bilde we theronne siluerne touris, ethir britagis. C1450 Gloss. Garlande's Diet, in Wright’s Voc. 130 Propungnacula, brytegys. c 1475 Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 784 Hoc propinaculum, a bretayge. [1851 Turner Dom. Archit. II. v. 193 A drawbridge with a bretache above it. 1861 Sat. Rev. 6 Apr. 345/2 A very graphic report.. describing the siege of that place in 1240, makes frequent mention of., brattishes, breastworks or turrets of timber.]

y. type bretesce, ? bretis. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. (Sel. Wks.) I. 191 Bi pis weye mai no man eende pe laste bretais of pis tour, c 1400 Ywaine fef Gaw. 163 A bretise brade. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxvi. 233 (Jam.) To mak defens and brettys. C1440 Promp. Parv. 50 Bretasce [1499 bretays], propugnaculum. c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 731 Hoc signaculum, a bretys. c 1500 Lancelot 873 Towart ther bretis. Ibid. 1005 A bertes. Ibid. 2897 To the bartes to behold and see. [1885 C. Oman Art of War 59 The brattice was a wooden gallery fitted with apertures in its floor, and running along the top of the wall.]

b. The ‘battlement’ of a cup. 1465 Test. Ebor. (1855) II. 272, j. peciam argenti stantem cum uno bretis.

BRATTICE 2. In form brattice (dial, also brattish): A partition, generally of deal. a. (esp.) A partition for the purpose of ventilation in the shaft of a coal-pit (shaft brattice), or in a drift, or other working of a colliery {drift, headways, or board brattice). 1851 Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 11 Shaft or main brattice is usually made of 3-inch Memel plank.. Common brattice is made of §-inch American deal.. It is nailed to props set for the purpose (called brattice props). i860 Times 10 Dec. 10/2 Where only one shaft is sunk, .a downcast and an upcast are created by running an airtight partition, or ‘brattice’ to the bottom. 1883 Standard 23 Nov. 3/7 Gas still showed .. on both sides of the brattice.

b. A partition of boards in a room. dial.

BRAVASHING

496

Fardorougha (ed. 2) 81 There comes an accidental brattle of thunder. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xxi. 426 [Each] striving which can produce the loudest brattle while turning. 1870 Daily News 3 Sept. 5 The brattle of a drum under my window.

2. The sound or onset of sharp rattling blows. a 1600 Montgomerie Poems (1821) 75 3e dou not byde a brattill. 1786 Burns Winter Nt. iii, Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle O’ winter war.

3. The sound of scampering feet; a resounding scamper, rush, or spurt. a 1758 Ramsay Poems (1844) 79 Bauld Bess flew till him wi a brattle. 1785 Burns To a Mouse i, Thou need na start awa .. Wi’ bickerin brattle. 1828 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 294 A breast-brushing brattle down the brae.

1851 Turner Dom. Archit. I. vi. 201 A rude partition, called a brattish, rises to the eaves 1863 Atkinson Danby Provine., Brattice, a wooden partition, serving to divide a closet or store room into two parts.

brattle (’braet(3)l), v. Chiefly Sc. [See prec.] 1. intr. To produce a forcible rattling noise.

c. A lining of timber to a shaft or a headway in a pit.

51 Harsh engines brattled night and day.

1881 Raymond Alining Gloss., Brettis (Derb.), a crib of timber filled up with slack or waste.-Brettis-way, a road in a coal-mine, supported by brettises built on each side after the coal has been worked out.

1852 D. Moir Winter Wild vii, His iron heels .. Brattling afar their under-song.

3. In form brattish: ‘A shelf: also a seat with a high back, north, dial.’ (Halliwell.) 4. attrib. in sense 2, as brattice-cloth, stout tarred cloth used in mines instead of wooden bratticing; brattice-nail, -work; brettis-way: see 2C. 1885 Engineer 15 May (Advt.) John Marsden, manufacturer of Tarred, Oiled, and Fire-Proof Brattice Cloth. 1880 Daily Tel. 5 Oct., The miner, .scratched with the point of a rusty brattice nail the farewell letter to his wife.

brattice ('brastis), v. In 5 bretexe. [f. prec.] fl. (in obs. form bretexe): trans. To fortify with a wooden breastwork. Obs. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy n. xi, Euery towre bretexed was so clene. 2. to brattice up: to line the sides of a shaft, or

the like, with planking or boarding. 1862 Times 21 Jan., The stone was all carefully bratticed up. 1869 Blackmgre Lorna D. lviii (D.), A great round hole or shaft bratticed up with timber.

bratticing ('braetisir)). Also in 4 briteysing, 5 bretaysynge, 6 Sc. bertising, -ene, 6-9 brattishimg, dial, braddishing. [f. brattice v. (or sb.) + -ING1.] f 1. (In the obs. forms): The furnishing of the ramparts of a castle, etc., with temporary (wooden) parapets or breastworks; the parapet and its works collectively. Obs. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 191 pe hijest part of his tour is briteysing of charite. 1483 Cath. Angl. 43/1 A bretasynge, propugnaculum. 1651 Rec. Pittenweem in Statist. Acc. IV. 376 That the town’s colours be put upon the bertisene [ = bertising] of the steeple. (From the preceding illiterate Sc. spelling bertisene, Sir Walter Scott appears to have evolved the grandiose bartizan, vaguely used by him for bretising or bratticing, and accepted by later writers as a genuine historical term.)

2. Brattice-work in a coal-pit. 1866 Morning Star 18 Dec. 6/2 The ‘braddishing’ or tarred sheet at an opening near him being suddenly carried away. 1868 Even. Standard 25 Aug., That might easily have been remedied by bratticing or air-pipes. 1883 Standard 23 Nov. 3/7 By means of bratticing he was able to explore the place.

3. Arch. See brattishing. bratting ('braetiri), vbl. sb. [f. brat v. + -ing1.] The covering with a brat; spec, covering the backs of sheep with a cloth or apron.

1513 Douglas JEneis vn. Prol. 133 Branchis brattlyng, and blayknit schew the brays, a 1849 Mangan Poems (1859)

b. with cognate object.

2. To rush with rattling noise, as a mountain brook over a stony bed; to bicker. Orig. Sc. 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xxxi. (1857) 457 A mossy streamlet comes brattling from the hill. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 18 Many little livelier runlets that brattle down the green hills on each side. 1882 Macm. Mag. Oct. 472 The becks that brattle through the brake.

3. To run with brattling feet; to scamper. Sc. 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. 1. ii, Our twa herds come brattling down the brae. 1826 Blackw. Mag. XIX. 382 Brattle not away so, ye foolish lambs.

brattling ('braetluj), vbl. sb.

[f. brattle v. + -ing1.] The action of the verb to brattle; the production of harsh rattling sounds. a 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1793) I. 34 The bursting, belching, and brattling of the French horns. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 35 His voice sounded not unlike the brattling of a tin trumpet. 1821 Byron Sardan. 111. i. 394 As a lute’s [voice] pierceth through the cymbal’s clash, Jarr’d but not drown’d by the loud brattling.

brattling ('braetliij), ppl. a. [f. brattle -ing2.] That brattles: see the verb.

v.

+

1820 W. Irving Sketch-bk. (1849) 420 The hoarse brattling tone of a veteran boatswain. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 136 To gie them [dogs].. a brattlin run o thretty miles after a fox. i860 J. Kennedy Horseshoe R. i. 11 A rough and brattling mountain torrent. 1863 Jean Ingelow Poems 178 She wondered by the brattling brook, And trembled with the trembling lea.

'brattock, local, [dim. of brat s6.2] A tiny brat, a young one. Chamb. Journ. X. 108 A solitary pair of eider-ducks may sometimes venture to rear their progeny of ‘brattocks’ on the rock. 1858

bratty ('braeti), a. colloq. (orig. U.S.). [f. brat sb.®: see -Y1.] Of a child or adolescent: spoiled, badly-behaved; of an adult: immature, given to behaving like a spoiled child. 1961 in Webster. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 15 Chinless elitist and bratty whey-faced lordling that I most unquestionably was, my move to London had nothing to do with any antipathy towards themselves, nor towards the village. 1977 M. French Women’s Room (1978) ii. 115, I.. took care of your bratty kids all day. 1980 J. Wenner in S. Terkel Amer. Dreams 397, I was always considered bright or spoiled or precocious or bratty. 1985 Maledicta VIII. 235 John McEnroe, the bratty tennis champ pictured as cute on his BIC razor commercials, ‘is as cute as a razor nick’.

|| bratwurst ('braitvurst). PL bratwiirste. [G.] A type of German sausage.

brattish ('braetij), a. [f. brats6.2 + -ish.] Of or befitting a brat; childish.

1911 Cosmopolitan Feb. 314/1 See that I have blutwurst, brattwurst, and mettwurst every day for breakfast. 1932 L. Golding Magnolia Street 1. viii. 128 The gentile guests drank beer and ate Bratwurst. It was a real German party. 1962 Punch 11 July 51/2 We ate two delicious Bratwiirste apiece.

1879 Beerbohm Patagonia vi. 99 By the time they [children] abandon their brattish ways.

braugham, dial. var. bargham, a horse-collar.

brattish, dial, var, of brattice.

1807 J. Stagg Poems 14 Kit gat a braugham in his han’, Wi’ veng’ance whurl’d it at him, The collar leeghted roun’ his neck, An’ to the fluir it pat him.

1862 J. Wilson Farming 487 Where the bratting plan has been adopted, the usual rate of mortality has been reduced.

brattishing ('brastifir)). A variant of bratticing, used in Architecture, in sense: A cresting of open carved work on the top of a shrine.

braul(e, obs. form of brawl.

braun(e, braunfalne, obs. ff. brawn, -fallen.

1593 Rites & Mon. Ch. Durh. (1842) 35 Ther was a brattishing on the fore parte of the wainscott or rowffe, very fynely and curiously wrought. 1845 Gloss. Gothic Archit. I. 69 Brattishing. 1851 Pugin Rood Screens 32 A very elaborate screen of carved oak, surmounted by open bratishing. 1862 G. Scott Westm. Abbey (ed. 2) 68 A piece of cresting or brattishing. 1867 H. T. Ellacombe in Trans. Exeter Dioc. Archit. Soc. I. 106 Surmounted by a brattishing of Tudor flower in burnished brass.

braunce,

H Also a dial. var. of bratticing in other senses.

Penny Cycl. XIV. 380/2 Braunite .. before the blow¬ pipe melts and effervesces slightly with borax. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 233 Manganese sesquioxide .. occurs in nature as the mineral braunite.

brattle ('braet(3)l), sb. Chiefly Sc. Also 6 brattill, brattyll. [This and its verb are onomatopoeic, prob. with association of break, brast and rattle-, cf. also brabble, brastle.] 1. A smart rattling sound, esp. of something breaking or bursting. C1505 Dunbar Turnament 73 His harnass brak and maid ane brattill. 1513 Douglas JEneis ix. xi. 96 The hydduus scheild abufe him mayd a brattyll. 1839 W. Carleton

braundise,

obs.

ff.

branch,

BRANDISH.

braunite ('braunait). Min. [Named after Mr. Braun of Gotha (Dana).] An anhydrous oxide of manganese, a brittle dark brownish-black mineral occurring both crystallized and massive. 1839

|i brava ('braiva), int. and sb. [It., fern, of bravo int. and s6.2] A term of approbation addressed to a woman: excellent! well done! Hence as sban exclamation of brava! 1803 Lett. Miss Riversdale I. 92 Lord Grantin.. encouraged me with bravasl 1943 C. Knight Affair of Fainting Butler iv. 43 The secretary looked dourly at the black object for a moment, then.. clapped it into her mouth

and swallowed without so much as a sip of water. ‘Brava!’ exclaimed Hinckley, applauding with hands held high. 1951 P. Branch Wooden Overcoat xi. 117 ‘Brava!’ said Hugo calmly. ‘I couldn’t have done better myself.’ 1977 Washington Post 9 May B7/4 To have enforced this would have been to deprive an opera audience of its favourite indoor sport, cheering arias and crying ‘brava’. 1984 N.Y. Times 22 July 1. 44/1 Alicia de Larrocha.. played a Mozart concerto, won protracted bravas, and .. eclipsed everything else on the Mostly Mozart program.

tbra’vade. Obs. [a. F. bravade, (according to Littre) ad. It. bravata bragging, boasting, f. bravare to brag, boast, f. bravo: see brave. Cf. also Sp. bravada, and see -ade.] = bravado. *579 J- Stubbes Gaping Gulf Cvj, Euen so will it be harder then yron for Englishmen to digest.. the french insolencies and disdaynefull brauades. 1676 Packet Adv. to Men of Shaftesh. 40 What occasion or need his Lordship had of this high Bravade. 1778 Robertson Hist. Amer. II. v. 80 He.. disregarded this vain bravade. 1833 Fraser’s Mag. VIII. 304 He ventured, by way of bravade, upon a single glass of claret.

fbra'vade, v. arch, or Obs. [f. prec. sb.] 1. intr. To look brave, assume a bold or defiant front, to bravade the street: to swagger along it. 1634-46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 464 Ilk shaimles lowne, With his silk goune, Bravades the street. 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pott. Cerem. Ord. Ciij, The Archbishop of Spalato commetn forth .. stoutly brandishing and bravading. 1667 R. Law Mem. (1818) 18 The Dutch fleet bravading there attacks the river.

2. trans. To dare, brave, defy. 1676 Row Contn. Blair’s Autobiog. xii. (1848) 479 The Dutch navy bravades the English upon their coast.

Hence bra'vading vbl. sb. and ppl. a. 1812 J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec 88 Many.. wrote and spoke of this bravading.. with much applause. 1820 Scott Monast. ix, Listening to the bravading tales of gay Christie. 1823 Blackw. Mag. XIII. 278 Sir Joshua, .with his arm akimbo, bravading cap, and chosen air of importance.

bravado (brs'veictau, -'vaictau), sb. Also 6-7 brauado, braueado, 7 brauardo, bravadoe, brevada; pi. bravadoes (also -os), [ad. Sp. bravada and F. bravade: see bravade and -ado2.] 1. Boastful or threatening behaviour; ostentatious display of courage or boldness; bold or daring action intended to intimidate or to express defiance; often, an assumption of courage or hardihood to conceal felt timidity, or to carry one out of a doubtful or difficult position. Now usually in the singular, without a: less commonly a bravado or in pi. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 1. 287 It was not that Spanish brauado. 1626 Caussin’s Holy Crt. 62 To sound vain¬ glorious Brauado’s. 1630 Brathwait Eng. Gentl. (1641) no These Gamesters, who in a bravado will set their patrimonies at a throw. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 362 Hee retreats with a bravado, that it deservs no answer. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. 1. 128 Notwithstanding all his Bravadoes, he [Shame] promoteth the Fool, and none else. a 1707 Bp. Patrick Serm. 1 Sam. xvii. 8 To have been done out of a bravado. 1800 Weems Washington x. (1877) 119 To hear their bravadoes, one would suppose, etc. 1816 Jane Austen Emma 11. viii. 181 A sort of bravado—an air of affected unconcern. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Introd., A series of idle bravadoes. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. in. xvii. 214 We may do it in bravado or in wantonness.

fb. to make or give a bravado: to make a display in the face of the enemy, to offer battle. Obs. 1600 Holland Livy iii. lx. 128 When they made bravadoes, and challenged them to come forth and fight, not one Romane would answer them again. 1617 Moryson Itin. 11. 11. ii. 164 That some foote should bee drawne out of the Campe, to give the Spaniards a brauado. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2361/3 A Party of the Moors making a Bravado.

c. attrib. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. 11. 50 The barbers .. haue one maner of cut called the French cut., one of the brauado fashion. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby v. iv. 204 It is a day.. of hopes and fears.. bravado bets and secret hedging.

|2. A swaggering fellow, a hector, a bravo. Obs. [app. after Sp. masculines in -ado already used in Eng., as desperado, renegado, etc. Cf. bravo.) 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I 28 Roaring Boys, Bravadoes, Roysters, &c. commit many insolencies. 1668 Pepys Diary 28 Feb., The Hectors & bravadoes of the House. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. II. xxi. 121 But idlers and bravadoes.. must beware. 1825 Knapp & Baldw. Newgate Cal. III. 397/2 Webb .. was the greatest bravado.

Hence bra'vadoism.

rare.

1833 Fraser's Mag. VIII. 527 Was .. his apparent strength and defiance, real weakness and bravadoism?

bravado (bra'veidau, -'va.’dsu), v. [f. prec. sb.] intr. To show bravado, talk defiantly, put on a bold face. Hence bra'vadoing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. 1800 Mar. Edgeworth Belinda I. iv. 72, I bravadoed to Harriet most magnanimously. 1809-12-Almeria Wks.

doing

a_

_

apparent offers of battle. 1840 T. Hook Fitzherbert III. xvii. 333 They tried to bravado it out.

fbravashing, ppl. a. Obs. rare~l. [f. F. bravache ‘a Swaggerer, Swash-buckler’ (Cotgr.), ad. It. bravaccio bully (f. brav-o +

BRAVE -accio, pejorative suffix) swaggering.

BRAVERY

497 +

-ing2.]

Boasting,

1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 255 Which he did do • ■ in a lofty and bravashing humour, that, etc.

brave (breiv), a., sb., int. [a. F. brave, not an original Fr. word, but adapted from It. bravo brave, gallant, fine: cf. Sp. and Pg. bravo, Pr. and Cat. brau. Ulterior derivation uncertain. Nearly all the Eng. senses may have been adopted from French. Cf. braw. (Prof. Storm would associate bravo (in Sp. also bravio) with Olt. braido, brado wild, savage, which is also a sense of Sp. and Pg. bravo\ cf. Pr. braidiu fiery, spirited (horse). These he would refer to a Latin type *brabidus, formed from rabidus mad, fierce, of the existence of which there appears to be other evidence. See Romania 1876, p. 170. A more recent conjecture (Romania XIII. no) tries to derive it from barbarus, but this does not suit Pr. brau.)]

A. adj. 1. a. Of persons and their attributes: Courageous, daring, intrepid, stout-hearted (as a good quality). 1485 Caxton Paris ’-S V. Prol., It is very good to relate the brave deeds. 1591 Shaks. i Hen. VI, ill. ii. 134 A brauer Souldier neuer couched Launce. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. II. xviii. 118 Innocence and Independance make a brave spirit. 1644 Milton Educ. (1738) 137 High hopes of living to be brave men, and worthy Patriots. 1732 Pope Mor. Ess. I. 115 Who combats bravely is not therefore brave. He dreads a Death-bed like the meanest slave. 1769 Junius Lett. iii. 16 A brave man has no rules to follow but the dictates of his courage. 1839 Thirlwall Greece II. 233 For six days they made a brave defence. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 157 Extolled by the great body of Churchmen as if he had been the bravest and purest of martyrs.

b. absol. the brave (now only pi.). 1697 Dryden Alexander’s F. 15 None but the brave deserves the fair. 1726 Gay Fables 1. i. 33 The brave Love mercy, and delight to save. 1782 Cowper Loss Roy. George 1, Toll for the brave! The brave that are no more. 1852 Tennyson Wellington vm, To glorious burial slowly borne Follow’d by the brave of other lands.

2. Finely-dressed; = Sc. braw; splendid, showy, grand, fine, handsome. (Rare in 18th c.; in 19th c. apparently a literary revival, or adopted from dialect speech.) 1568 Like will to L. in Hazl. Dodsl. III. 312 To go more gayer and more brave, Than doth a lord. 1570 Levins Manip. 42 Braue, splendidus. 01593 H. Smith Wks. (1866-7) I- I5° The lilies which are braver than Solomon. 1612 Heywood Apol. Actors Author to Bk., One man is ragged, and another brave. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia 1. 11 At length he came to most braue and fayre houses. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 257 Lord Montague’s brave House in Bloomsbury. 1810 Scott Lady of L. 11. xvi, Now might you see the tartans brave. 1855 Browning Bp. Blougrairis Apol., His coat.. Brave with the needlework of noodledom.

3. loosely, as a general epithet of admiration or praise: Worthy, excellent, good, ‘capital’, ‘fine’, ‘famous’, etc.; ‘an indeterminate word, used to express the superabundance of any valuable quality in men or things’ (J.). arch. (Cf. braw a.) a. of persons. 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. in. iv. 43 O that’s a braue man, hee writes braue verses, speakes braue words. 1603 Mournef. Dittie in Shaks. C. Praise 56 You Poets all, brave Shakspeare, Johnson, Greene. 1673 Ess. Educ. Gentlewom. 29 Zeuxes and Timanthes were brave Painters. 1679 Penn Addr. Prot. 1. §5 (1692) 20 Many brave Families have been ruin’d by a Gamester. 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 57 His Son is a brave Scholar.

b. of things. 1577 Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 102 Nowe are the braue and golden dayes. 1599 Shaks. Much Ado v. iv. 130 lie deuise thee braue punishments for him. 1605-Lear in. ii. 79 This is a braue night to coole a Curtizan. 1653 Walton Angler 104 We wil make a brave Breakfast with a piece of powdered Bief. 1798 Southey Eng. Eclog. ii, Here she found.. a brave fire to thaw her. 1834 — Doctor xxii. 51 Knowledge is a brave thing. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems I. 5 Here’s a brave earth to sin and suffer on!

c. brave new world (also with capital initials): the title of a satirical novel (1932) by Aldous Huxley (after Shakespeare’s Tempest v. i. 183) portraying a society in which ‘progress’ has produced a nightmarish ‘utopia’; freq. used allusively. 1933 Ann. Reg. 1932 35 The driving force that sweeps Mr. Huxley on to presenting every nook and cranny of his Brave New World to the fiercest light of inquiry is the heartcorroding disgust he feels for human society as it will become according to his vision. 1935 H. G. Wells Things to Come x. 93, I will go for this Brave New World of theirs— tooth and claw. 1947 J. Hayward Prose Lit. since 1939 16 The practice and particularly the theory of agriculture were the subject of many of these treatises on post-war planning — ‘blueprints’.. of a brave new world.

d. brave west winds, the strong prevailing westerly winds in ‘the Roaring Forties’. 1883 [see forty sb. 4].

4. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic, as bravehearted, -horsed, -minded, -sensed, -spirited, -spiritedness. 1617 Hieron Wks. II. 313 Termes of Worth, of Gallantrie, of Braue-spiritednesse, and the like. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 636 That braue-spirited politickewise Lord. 1663 in Spalding Troub. Chas. I. (1829) 12 The earl of Angus., and thirty other brave-horsed gentlemen, came to the Bog. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets iii. 70 The whole people mourns.. for the death of a brave-hearted man.

5. quasi-atfti. = bravely. (Now only poet.) 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 8 There sat most braue embellished .. A mayden queene. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. 1.1. xlvi. 345 Noble and brave-built structures. 1808 Scott Marm. 1. x, The trumpets flourish’d brave. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. IV. 184 Better housed, or braver clad.

B. sb. [in sense 1, directly from F. brave.] 1. a. A brave man, a warrior, soldier: since 1800 applied chiefly to warriors among the North American Indians [after the French in N. America]. 1601 Chester Love's Mart. (1878) 55 We haue no cause to feare their forreine braues. t tables pat in hand he bare, To pees he J?am brak right par. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xx. (1495) 125 The thynge that is kytte and broke bi the foreteeth, c 1440 Promp. Parv. 49 Brakyn a-sunder cordys and ropis. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. v. xxvii. 137 Spurres hewen off the heeles, and Swords broke ouer head. 1601 Bp. Barlow Serm. Paules Crosse 17 A threefold rope is not easily broken. 1652 Proc. Pari. No. 136. 2130 His Coach was broke to peeces. 1653 Walton Angler 123 He should not have broke my line by running to the Rods end. 1700 Blackmore Job 70 All my members were in pieces broke. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 222 f 3 A natural Inclination to break Windows. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 261 He [the fish] will certainly break you, as we term it (that is, snap your line) and make his escape. 1814 Scott Ld. Isles vi. xiv, I’ve broke my trusty battle-axe.

b. intr. for refl. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 83 pet gles ne breke8. c 1230 Hali Meid. 15 pat hit ne breke ne beie. a 1300 Cursor M. 4389 He drou, sco held, pe tassel brak. C1400 Maundev. ii. 13 Thei breken for dryenesse, whan Men meven hem. 1526 Pilgr. Per/. (W. de W. 1531) 47 Anone it breketh, and so shedeth the wyne. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. 1. v. 24 If both [points] breake, your gaskins fall, i860 Tyndall Glac. 11. §17. 317 The glacier was evidently breaking beneath our feet.

grete fischis.. the nett is not brokun. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 37 There had you seen many a gowne torne and broken. 1516 T. Allen in Lodge Illust. Brit. Hist. (1838) I. 23 After the sight thereof, your Lordship should break or bum it [the letter]. 1557 Order of Hospitalls Gij, Mending of such [sheets, etc.] as shalbe broken from time to time.

b. To cut up (a deer); to tear in pieces (a fox), also with up; to carve (a fowl), also with out, up (obs.). C1320 Sir Tristr. 452 Bestes pai brae and bare. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 267 Breke that egryt. Ibid. 277 Take the capon by the legges .. & breke hym out. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. iv. i. 58 Boyet, you can carue, Breake vp this Capon. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iv. v, Raven.. watching while the deer is broke. 1875 Buckland Log-bk. 155 Like hounds breaking up a fox.

fc. To comb (wool) roughly, being the first process in carding. Obs. or arch. 1511-12 Act 3 Hen. VIII, vi. §1 Every Clothier, .which shall.. delyver to eny persone eny Wolle to breke, kembe, carde, or spynne. 1514 Act 6 Hen. VIII, ix. § 1 The Breaker or Kember to deliver again .. the same Wool! so broken and kembed.

fd. To wreck (a ship). Obs. 1382 Wyclif i Kings xxii. 48 Thei ben broken in Aziongober [1611 Bible The shippes were broken at Ezion Geber]. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 529 Ane schip .. wes brokin on ane sand. 1547-64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) xi. 167 When the ship is broken, [they] may swim and escape. 1611 Bible Jonah i. 4 The ship was like to be broken.

e. To destroy the completeness of; to take away a part from; to divide, part (a set of things). Spec, to change (a banknote or the like), to break with: to divide and share writh. Cf. to break bulk, 431741 Richardson Pamela xvii. (L.) You should have given them [4 guineas] back again to your master: and yet I have broken them. 1808 Jamieson Scot. Diet., To Break a Bottle: to open a full bottle; especially when it is meant only to take out part of its contents. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 67 My last-earn’d sixpence will I break with thee. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xliii. 494 It was the same note; he hadn’t broken it. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim & Down 12 Can you break that pound note for me? a 1888 Mod. The shopkeeper would not break the set. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself {1961) 81 He stretched himself out,.. thinking.. of the thrill of breaking a five-dollar bill.

ff. To dissolve (parliament), disband regiment). Obs.; cf. break up, 57 d.

(a

1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 1997/2 The Regiments he brought into the Emperors Service are broken. 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 209 The Earl of Danby’s prosecution was the point on which the parliament was broken. 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 106 Lord Robert Sutton’s regiment, .having refused to be broke. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xl. 291 The Grand Seignior can neither touch the public treasure, [nor] break the Janizaries.

fg. intr. (for refl.) Obs. 1601 Shaks. Alls Well iv. iv. 11 The Army breaking, My husband hies him home.

h. In Music: To break a chord, a note, q.v. i. In leather manufacture, to scrape a skin smooth and clean on the flesh side. 1842 Penny Mag. XI. 215/2 The lamb-skins having been steeped in water, ‘broken’ on the flesh side, and drained. 1845 Dodd Brit. Manuf. V. 187 The goat-skins are .. soaked in water.. to soften them, and then undergo the process of ‘breaking’.

j. Phonology. To cause breaking (breaking vbl. sb. 1 e) of (a vowel). Also intr. 1845 J- M. Kemble in Proc. Philol. Soc. II. 135 Not satisfied with transforming i into e, before h, l, m, it [sc. Anglo-Saxon] broke the vowel into eo. 1871 F. A. March Compar. Gram. Anglo-Saxon 1. 11 Before a consonant combination beginning with l, r, h, it [sc. a] breaks to ea. Ibid. 20 l, r, h, oftenest before a consonant, break foregoing a to ea. 1959 A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. v. 56 ae was broken, and appears as ea.. before r followed by a consonant.

k. to break the wicket (Cricket): to dislodge a bail or the bails in stumping or running out a batsman. 1875 F. Gale in Baily’s Mag. Sept. 274 He took her [sc. the ball] close to the bails and just broke the wicket. 1901 Strand Mag. June 616/1 The ball was thrown in from the field, the bowler took it, and broke the wicket, so as to run the batsman out.

l. (See quot. 1889.) orig. U.S. 1889 Cent. Diet, s.v., To break a gun, to open it by the action. 1956 M. Procter Pub Crawler 125 With the casual ease of long practise he ‘broke’ the gun and ejected the six rounds.

3. In phrases: to break bread: see bread, 2 c. to break a lance with: to enter the lists against, enter into competition with, to break blows, words with: to exchange blows, words with, f to break a straw with: to fall out with {humorous). 971 Blickl. Horn. 37 Brec pinne hlaf pearfendum mannum. 1589 Greene Menaph. (Arb.) 85 Breaking a few quarter blowes with such countrey glances as they coulde. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. hi. i. 75 A man may breake a word with you sir, and words are but winde. 1591-1 Hen. VI, hi. ii. 51 Breake a Launce, and runne a-Tilt at Death. 1603 Florio Montaigne hi. viii. (1632) 520, I shall breake a straw or fall at ods with him that keepes himselfe so aloft. 1862 Thornbury Turner I. 263 In 1800 Turner entered classical ground to break a lance with Claude.

fa. To rend or tear (cloth, paper). Still in s.w. dial. (See also broken.)

4. trans. and intr. To burst. Of an abscess or boil: To burst the surface, so that the contents escape. Sometimes also of a vein, blood-vessel, etc.

a 1000 Beowulf 1511 Sae deor monij hilde tuxum here syrean braec. 1382 Wyclif John xxi. 11 The nett..ful of

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vn. xxi. (1495) 239 Yf the postume of the eere be broke it is knowe by rennynge of

2. In various spec, uses, as

quytter. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 38 A boyle or impostume comen forthe and broken. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall. Pr. (1582) 452 b, They brake the vaines of their hands and feete, and offered the bloud thereof. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 408 As the evill humor ..(gathered to a boyle, or head) will easily breake. 1592 Shaks. Ven. Ad. 460 The berry breaks before it staineth. 1602-- Ham. iv. iv. 28 This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace, That inward breaks. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. 17 Laid warm on a Boil [it] will ripen and break it. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4894/2 Most of their Bombs break before they fall. 1802 R. Reece Med. Guide (1850) 306 Boils .. after they break .. require only to be kept clean.

5. Said in reference to the rupture of a surface: a. To part or lay open the surface of (anything), as of land (by ploughing, etc.). Also to break up, 57 f: and see to break ground, 44. 1499 Promp. Parv. 49 Breken claddis, occo. 1526 Pilgr. Per}. (W. de W. 1531) 23 Our soyle or lande is our hertes, whiche we.. breke with the plough of abstynence. 1552 Huloet, Break land with a plough, obfringo. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. viii. 97 Verse breaks the Ground, and penetrates the Brake. 1813 Byron Giaour i, No breath of air to break the wave. 1847 Longf. Ev. i. ii. 114 The merry lads .. breaking the glebe round about.

b. To crack or rupture (the skin); to graze, bruise, wound, as in phrase to break one's head, to break Priscian's head: to violate the rules of grammar. c 1305 Jud. Iscariot 50 in E.E.P. (1862) 108 Children .. he wolde smyte, And breke here armes and here heued. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon x. 256 Atte the fallyng that he made, he brake alle his browes. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. 11. i. 78 Backe slaue, or I will breake thy pate a-crosse. 1592Rom. Jul. 1. iii. 38 Euen the day before she broke her brow. 1711 Budgell Spect. No. 161 |f 3 A Ring of CudgelPlayers .. breaking one another’s Heads. 1785 R. Cumberland Observer No. 22 §6 Observe how this.. orator breaks poor Priscian’s head for the good of his country. 1883 Daily Tel. 10 July 5/4 Does Shakespeare never break Priscian’s head?

c. intr. Of the surface of water: to present a broken appearance, caused by water-bloom (see quots. and breaking vbl. sb. 2 c). dial. 1873 G. C. Davies Mountain, Meadow, and Mere 16 The Ellesmere water.. breaks. Every summer.. the water becomes full of some matter held in suspension... The other meres do not break to such an extent. 1887 T. Darlington Folk-Speech of S. Cheshire 128 Bar-mere’s bin breekin’ this afternoon.

6. intr. To crack without complete separation. Formerly said of a bell; hence possibly, from the similarity of the sound emitted, of a boy's voice on reaching the age of puberty. i486 Bk. St. Albans D iij, That thay [the bells on a hawk’s neck] be hoole and not brokyn and specialli in the sowndyng place. 1667 Pepys Diary 21 Aug., This morning come two of Captain Cooke’s boys, whose voices are broke; and are gone from the Chapel. 1706 A. Bedford Temple Mus. ix. 172 Lads, when their Voices did Break, or Alter. 1880 in Grove Diet. Mus. I. 703/2 His voice began to break.

II. With regard chiefly to the state or condition produced: to break so as to disable, destroy cohesion, solidity, or firmness, crush, shatter. 7. a. trans. To crush, shatter {e.g. a bone), to break the leg or arm: i.e. the bones of the limb. a 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xix. 32 [Hi] brsecon serest 8ses sceancan pe mid him ahangen waes. a 1300 Cursor M. 21145 A wicked iuu .. him brae his harn panne. 1382 Wyclif Ex. ix. 25 Eche treo of the cuntree it [the hail] breke togidere. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 142, I shuld with this steylle brand Byrkyn alle his bonys. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 11. 331 [19] The elephant.. with the poise of his body breaketh him. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. I. xv. (1762) 100 When the distemper’d grain is broke. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxxiii, Break my leg!—break my leave, you mean?

b. to break on the wheel: to bind a criminal to a wheel, or similar frame, and break his limbs, or beat him to death; so f to break on the torture: to put to the torture, dislocate on the rack, etc. to break one’s back or neck: to dislocate the bones of the back or neck; also fig. to overpower, render nugatory, crush, to break the neck of a journey, a piece of business, etc.: to get through the most serious part of it. to break the back of a ship: to break the keel and keelson, dislocate the framework of the centre, so that the two ends tend to fall apart. a 1300 Cursor M. 22202 Ouer hogh to lepe his hals to brek. c 1400 Gamelyn 712, I ne hadde broke his nekke, tho I his rigge brak. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. vn. (1599) 289 To break the necke of the wicked purposes and plots of the French. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. 11. x. 47 Her good-man.. kindly bad her breake her necke, olde Jade. 1598 Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xi. vii. (1622) 148 Being broken on the torture, he confessed nothing. 1610 Shaks. Temp. iii. ii. 26, I had rather cracke my sinewes, breake my backe, Then you should such dishonor vndergoe. 1634 Massinger Very Worn. v. iv, Rack him first, and after break him Upon the wheel. 1690 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 147 A Dutch man of war.. run upon the sands and broke her back. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 308 Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? 1864 Times 24 Dec., The.. delusion that a single campaign would ‘break the neck of the rebellion’. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 201 A country where youths were broken on the wheel for levity in face of an ecclesiastical procession.

c. to break the heart: to kill, crush, or overwhelm with sorrow. Also intr. (for refl.) c 1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 96 Hym thoughte J?at his herte wolde breke. 1593 Drayton Eclog. x. 93 Thou with thine Age, my Heart with sorrow broke. 1605 Shaks. Macb. iv. iii. 210 The griefe that do’s not speake, Whispers the o’refraught heart, and bids it breake. 1713 Addison Cato iii.

BREAK iii. 31 Thy disdain Has broke my heart. 1832 Tennyson (Enone 31 My heart is breaking and my eyes are dim. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 253 The great calamity which., had almost broken his heart.

d. Cricket, to break one’s duck(’s egg): to score one’s first run in an innings, thus avoiding a ‘duck’ (duck sb.1 7). 1867 G. H. Selkirk Guide to Cr. Ground ii. 26 If he makes one run he has ‘broken his duck’s egg’. 1900 W. A. Bettesworth Walkers of Southgate 19 Parr broke his duck, but could get no further, being bowled by Atkinson for one run. 1912 A. Brazil New Girl at St. Chad’s vii. 112 Her first ball, being a wide, served to increase the confidence Honor had felt in breaking her duck.

8. f a. To dissolve (anything hard or coherent). 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 81 The herbe boyled or drunke raw with Wine breaketh the stone, a 1648 Digby Closet Open. (1677) 87 Set them [honey and water] over so gentle a fire as you might endure to break it in the water with your hand.

b. intr. To dissolve, relax. As said of a frost there may be some admixture of the notion of a break of continuity (branch V). Also of weather: to change suddenly, esp. after a long settled period. Cf. sense 57 h. 1530 Palsgr. 754/2 It thaweth, as the weather dothe, whan the frost breaketh. 1570-87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) I. 273 The frost breake and the snowe melted. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 291 His Cough breaketh more and more. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 287 Or if they shou’d, their Interest soon would break. 1767 Watson in Phil. Trans. LVII. 444 On the next day.. the frost broke. 1887 Yeats Lett. (1954) 1. 51 The weather breaking might send me off any time, as my uncle stops here only so long as it is fine. 1930 W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale viii. 91 The weather broke suddenly.

c. Of prices of commodities, stocks, etc.: to fall suddenly or sharply, orig. U.S. 1870 W. W. Fowler Ten Yrs. in Wall St. 435 Gold had broken to 87, and then.. ran up to 194. 1899 Daily News 15 May 2/6 Under the influence of Mr. Flower’s death, what are known as Flower stocks broke in overwhelming volume. 1929 Times 30 Oct. 14/1 Prices broke far below the previous low levels of the year.

9. a. trans. To demolish, smash, destroy, ruin; to defeat, foil, frustrate (things material or immaterial); esp. to defeat the object of (a strike) by engaging other workers. a 1300 Cursor M. 12018 Thoru envie and wreth and tene [He] brack pe lackes al bi-dene. 1513 More Edw. V (1641) 13 Each laboureth to breake that the other maketh. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxxviii [ix]. 10 Thou breakest the proude, like one that is wounded. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders v. i. § 103. 468/2 Ferdinand the third.. broke the Great power of the Swedes. 1719 De Foe Crusoe xiv, The number of them broke all my measures. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 47 Their moral force was utterly broken. 1905 [implied in strike-breaker, strike sb. 20]. 1914 Round Table Mar. 367 The farmers contributed the bulk of the power that.. broke the strike.

b. To nullify or set aside (a will) by legal methods. 1891 Melbourne Argus 12 Dec. 11/8 [New York.] Under the law [she] would be entitled to one-half of the estate, should the will be broken.

c. To better (a record, a score, etc.). Also in Financial and Stock Exchange jargon, = breach v. 1 b. (See record sb. 5 d.) 1886 [see record sb. 13 a]. 1909 Webster s.v., He broke the record for the high jump. 1955 F. Brown Angels & Spaceships 171 Up to that hole he [sc. a golfer] had an excellent chance to break a hundred. [1959 Economist 21 Feb. 705/2 There is now a firm conviction that the [DowJones industrial] average will break through 650 this year.] 1964 G. W. Cooke Stock Markets xxv. 339 Both averages continued the rise in October 1962, and the industrial broke its previous high in September 1963. The rail average broke above its 1959 and 1961 highs. 1981 Times 25 Apr. 19/5 The index failed to break the 600 level. 1984 Financial Times 28 Feb. iv. p. vi/2 The Tokyo Stock Exchanges got off to a good start this year with the Dow Jones index breaking the historical yen 10,000 mark for the first time in early January.

d. To win against (an opponent’s service) in lawn tennis or a similar game. Also intr. or with through. 1959 Times 2 July 3/1 Mackay saved his next game, broke to 8-7 in an uproar, and served out heroically for the set. Ibid. 4 July 3/7 He broke service in the first game. 1961 Ibid. 4 July 4/1 True, Wilson .. did break for 2-4 and then move to 3-4. 1964 Observer 1 Nov. 19/1 Sangster broke service in the ninth game and went on to win 6-4. Ibid., Sangster broke through Bungert’s service in the fifth game.

e. To disprove (an alibi). 1932 D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xxv. 338 I’ll break that alibi if I die for it. 1961 *N. Blake’ Worm of Death ix. 128 He had just seen an apparently broken alibi rendered intact again by a few words. 1984 Daily Tel. 22 June 12/3 Parry, however, had had an alibi which Mr Wilkes is confident that he has broken.

1°. trans. To shiver or dash in pieces a wave, billow, or moving mass of water, as a rock or other obstacle does; also intr. said of waves, etc. when they dash against an obstacle, or topple over and become surf or ‘broken water’ in the shallows. (But in the ‘breaking’ of waves, the sea, etc., various other senses are often combined: see the quots.) CI37S Barbour Bruce iii. 699 Wawys wyd [that] brekand war. 1593 Shaks. Lucr. 1440 Their [the waves] ranks began To break upon the galled shore. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ill. 406 About him, and above, the Billows broke. 01744 Pope (J.) That tumult in the Icarian sea, dashing and breaking among its crowd of islands. 1795 Southey Joan of

508

Arc viii. 306 Some huge promontory whose broad base Breaks the rough wave; the shiver’d surge rolls back. 1842 Tennyson, Break, break, break On thy cold gray stones O Sea! i860 Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 259 In heavy.. weather Point Pinos breaks the swell.

11. a. To ruin financially, make bankrupt (a person or bank), to break the bank: formerly also in the sense ‘to become bankrupt’. (To break the bank, in Gambling means to clear out the amount of money which the proprietor of the gaming table has before him: see bank sb.3 4.) 1612-15 Bp. Hall Contempt. O.T. xix. vii, The holiest man may be deep in arrearages, and break the bank. 1644-7 R. Stapylton Juvenal 123 Meer expence in paper breaks you all. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1703) II. vii. 330 The necessities of the Army still pressed us.. to break the Merchants here. 1705 Tate Warriour's Welc. x. 7 Britain’s Gen’ral came., and broke the Bank of Fame. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis lvi. (1884) 548 He had seen his friend .. break the bank three nights running at Paris.

b. intr. (for reft.) To become bankrupt, to ‘fail* (commercially). Now less usual. 1596 Shaks. Merck. V. iii. i. 120 Hee cannot choose but breake. 1661-2 Pepys Diary 19 Jan., Our merchants here in London do daily break. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ill. 248 By which some Glorious Feats atchieve, As Citizens, by breaking, thrive. 1793 Ld. Spencer in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 82 Hutchinson is going to break, and to show the world that honesty is the best policy. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits v. 89 In trade, the Englishman believes that nobody breaks who ought not to break. 1879 H. George Progr. & Pov. v. i. (1881) 250 A bank breaks., and on every side workmen are discharged.

12. a. trans. To crush the strength of, wear out, exhaust; to weary, impair, in health or strength. 1483 Caxton Gold Leg. 224/1 He was broken with the hete of the sonne and wyth labour. 1583 Babington Commandm Ep. Ded., Your servants, that breake both bodie and braines in your affaires. 1666 Pepys Diary (1879) VI. 78 Whom I have not seen since he was sicke.. he is mightily broke. 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 340 Lord Essex told me he was much broken in his thoughts. 1725 Pope Odyss. xii. 143 O worn by toils, oh broke in fight. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 16 None had been broken by toil.

+ b. So to break one's brain, mind, wind (cf. broken-winded). Obs. CI340 Hampole Prose Treat. 37 He sail mowe breke his heuede and his body and he sail neuer be pe nerre. 1530 Palsgr. 464/1, I breake my brayne to do hym good. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health §321 Breaking a mans mynde about many matters the which he can nat comprehende. 1596 Shaks. 1 Hen. IV, 11. ii. 13 If I trauel but foure foot.. further a foote I shall breake my winde. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 77,1 shall neuer leaue breaking my braines til I finde it. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 22 It would breake his [the Devil’s] wind and wits to attend such a Province. 1690 W. Walker Idiom. Anglo-Lat. 70 He breakes his brains with studying.

c. intr. To fail in health, decay, give way. See also to break up, 57 i. 1713 Swift Cadenus & V. Wks. 1755 III. 11. 15 I’m sorry Mopsa breaks so fast. 1804 G. Rose Diaries (i860) II. 194 The Archbishop.. is breaking fast. 1876 Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay II. vii. 2 His health was breaking fast.

13. To crush in spirit or temper; to discourage; to overcome, prevail upon (obs.). [1513 Douglas JEneis viii. vii. 33 Aurora wyth hyr teris so the brak, For tyl enarme hir child.] 1618 Bolton Floras ix. xvii. 144 Cato., brake the hearts of the Celtiberians.. by certaine encounters. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 887 That Golden Scepter Is now an Iron Rod to bruise and breake Thy disobedience, a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1704) III. xv. 458 By breaking their Fortunes and Estates, he had not at all broken their Spirits. 1752 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 192 A person .. easily broken by affliction. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 96 The slaughter of Aghrim had broken the spirit of the army.

14. a. To reduce to obedience or discipline, tame, train (horses or other animals, also human beings); to subject or habituate to. Now also to break in 53 a. 1474 Caxton Chesse 32 His hors wel broken. 1519 Horman Vulg. 254 It is better to breke a mannys owne people in warr than to hyre straungers. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 80 a, The same children he broke and taught how to awayte on their parentes. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. 11. i. 148 Why then thou canst not break her to the Lute? 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. 11. xiii. §7 (1873) 156 Cicero himself being broken unto it by great experience. 1668 Pepys Diary 14 Dec., About breaking of my horses to the coach. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 149/2 To Break or Back a Colt is the first riding of him. 1766 Go LDSM. Vic. W. x, They had never been broken to the rein. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. 1. (1863) 113 Whose dog hath he broken?

b. to break from. Cf. also break of, 33 b. IS3ou carl, qui brekes pou vr lau? c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 95 He brae pe Sabot. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. 11. 82 Unboxome and bolde to breke pe ten hestes. 1591 Spenser Virgil’s Gnat lix, Cruell Orpheus.. Seeking to kisse her,

BREAK brok’st the gods decree. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, v. v. 43 Keepe time: How sowre sweet Musicke is, When Time is broke, and no Proportion kept? 1668 Marvell Corr. ci. Wks. 1872-5 II. 255 We had broke no privelege of the Lords. 1678 Butler Hud. in. III. 592 He Ingag’d the Constable to seize All those that would not break the Peace. 1771 Junius Lett. liv. 284 The laws have.. been shamefully broken. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis lxi. (1884) 603 As refined as Mrs. Bull, who breaks the King’s English.

b. a contract or covenant of any kind; a treaty, indenture, league, truce, peace, or the like. 911 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) Her braec se here on NorS hymbrum pone friS. 1340 Ayenb. 16 Prede brek uerst uela3rede and ordre. c 1440 Promp. Pam. 50 Breke conuenant, fidifrago. 1513 Douglas JEneis xii. v. Advt., Quhou Iutuma.. Breikis the peax, and hasty batale sent. 1552 Huloet, Breake truce, fcedusfrangere. 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 372 Which made me break my indentures, and run away. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 150 The contract is thereby broke. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. V. lvii. 153 The English were the first to break the peace.

c. an oath, promise, pledge, vow, one’s word, (one’s) faith. 01000 Beowulf 4132 Jionne bioS brocene, aS-sweord eorla. c 1205 Lay. 705 Brutus him swar an teS, breken pat he hit naelde. c 1340 Cursor M. 10674 Hir vou to breke. 1496-7 Act 12 Hen. VII, xii. Pream., In breking his seid promys. 1552 Huloet, Breake fayth, othe, or promyse. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 91 False King, why hast thou broken faith with me?-Rich. II, iv. i. 214 God pardon all Oathes that are broke to mee. 1664 Butler Hud. 11. II. 138 Some, to the Glory of the Lord, Perjur’d themselves and broke their word. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 201 f 9 A promise is never to be broken. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 79 The king would gladly have broken his word. Ibid. (1857) II. 471 That men who are in the habit of breaking faith should be distrusted when they mean to keep it is part of their just and natural punishment.

d. f to break spousehood (ME.), wedlock, matrimony (16th c.): to break the marriage vow, commit adultery, to break a marriage: to dissolve or annul it, obtain a divorce. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 143 pe sunfulle Men pet spushad brekeS. 1530 Tindale Gen. Prol., David, though he brake wedlock. 1535 Coverdale Matt. xix. 18 Thou shalt not breake wedlocke. —— Luke xvi. 18 Who so euer putteth awaye his wife and marieth another breaketh matrimony. 1844 Ld. Brougham Brit. Const, xiv. (1862) 212 His desire to break his first marriage from his wish to espouse Anne Boleyn.

t e. to break day: to fail to keep an appointed time (for payment, etc.). Obs. c 1300 Beket 769 Com to morwe.. that thu thane dai ne breke. c 1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. & T. 487 That in no wise he breke wol his day. c 1590 Marlowe Jew of M. 1. ii. 340 If we break our day, we break the league. ci6io Rowlands Terrible Batt. 8 Sirrha, your day is broke, ile keepe your pawne. 1642 Rogers Naaman To Rdr., Breaking daies, promises, yea oaths and vowes.

f. to break ship: to fail to rejoin a ship on the expiration of leave. 1905 ‘Q’ Shining Ferry ill. xviii, I brought across a sailor¬ looking chap... Thinks I, ‘You’ve broken ship, my friend.’ 1907 Daily Chron. 3 Apr. 1/7 The serious offence of 'breaking ship’. 1909 Ibid. 28 June 8/7 In the afternoon he broke ship, but was undiscovered.

IV. To make a way through, or lay open by breaking; to penetrate; to open up. 16. a. To burst (a barrier) so as to force a way through it. Also to break open: see 17 b. 01000 Byrhtnoth 277 Eadweard braec Sone bordweall. 01200 Moral Ode 92 in E.E.P. (1862) 27 Ne brecS neuereuft crist helle dure, c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1239 He brek pe bareres as bylyue. 1384 Chaucer Mother of G. 86 And broken been the yates eek of helle. 1607 Shaks. Cor. 1. i. 210 They., sigh’d forth Prouerbes That Hunger broke stone wals. 1766 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xvi. 419 The doors were instantly broke open, i860 Smiles Self-help i. 10 Admiral Hobson.. broke the boom at Vigo, in 1702.

b. To solve (a code or cipher); to decipher. 1928 P. Buranelli et al. Cryptogram Bk. p. ii, We were amazed at the ease with which anyone could break a coded message. 1931 N. & Q. 30 May 379/2 Their centre in New York receives messages by the thousand in a code that has not yet been broken. 1956 C. Simak Time & Again xxxv. 168 No one else could break the language in which his notes were written.

17. a. To enter (a house, an enclosed place, etc.) by breaking part of its circuit; to enter by force or violence. Cf. to break open, or into, 42; and to break up, 57j. (See housebreaker.) In modern use, only in phr. to break and enter: see BREAKING vbl. sb. I C. 851 O.E. Chron. [The Danes] braecon Contwara burs and Lundenbur$. eofas.. breokan pa minstre of Burh. c 1305 Jud. Iscariot 73 in E.E.P. (1862) 109 ludas brae pe 3ard anon. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xxi. 383 [}?ou] by-glosedest hem and bygyledest hem and my gardyn breke. 1403 Cath. Angl. 42 To Breke garth, desepire. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, lix. Pream., Evyll disposed persones.. intendyng.. to have broken the hous of your seid Subget. I533"4 Durham Depositions (Surtees) 49 The said Dicson did break the churche of West Awkelande. c 1677 Marvell Growth Popery 29 Clauses most severe .. one for breaking all Houses whatsoever on suspicion of any such Pamphlet. 1745 Wesley Wks. (1872) XII. 69 Shall George Whitfield be charged with felony, because John Wesley broke a house? 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 209 Every unwarrantable entry on another’s soil the law entitles a trespass by breaking his close. 1797 Tomlins Jacob's Law-Diet. I. Bb3/3 To break and enter a shop.. is not burglary, but only larceny. 1817 [see enter v. 10 d]. 1959 A. Sillitoe Loneliness LongDist. Runner 11 There’s a shop to break and enter. 1961 J. Maclaren-Ross Doomsday Bk. 1. iv. 56 He broke-andentered through a back window.

BREAK

509

b. to break open: to open or enter by breaking. Cf. also to break up, 57j. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. in. i. 73 Go fetch me something, lie break ope the gate. 1593 - Lucr. 446 She, much amazed, breaks ope her lock’d-up eyes. 1621 Quarles Esther (1638) 89 Break ope the leaves, those leaves so full of dread. 1623 Meade in Ellis Orig. Lett. 1. 289 III. 150 The king siezes upon all the Merchants Letters from Spain, breaks them open. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 109 Advt., His stable being broke open, was stoln one Brown bay gelding. 1753 W. Douglass Brit. Settlem. N. Amer. 287 They broke open his house and carried him from his naked Bed. 1853 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 266 The very robbers who had broken open and pillaged his house.

18. To make or produce (a hole, opening, passage, way, etc.) by breaking. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1261 An hole thai bregen. 1633 P. Purple Isl. xi. xii, A renting sigh way for her sorrow brake. 1698 in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 387 Morgan set his soldiers to break avenues for their marching out. 1705 Hearne Coll. 5 Oct. (1885) I. 52 Dalton being forc’d to break way. 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot, ii. 70 Their predecessors who have broke a path upon this field of noble and expansive good will. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. ii. 20 A way for thought is already broken. Fletcher

19. To escape from (an enclosed place) by breaking part of the enclosure, as in to break prison or jail, also to break bounds. c 1300 Beket 48 Gilbert and his felawes siththe .. Prisoun breke. 1482 Caxton Chron. Eng. cclvii. 336 The prysoners of Newgate brake theyr prison, c 1593 Spenser Sonn. Ixxiii, My hart.. Breaking his prison, forth to you doth fly. 1674 J. B[rian] Harv.-Home viii. 52 Who is himself; and breaks the jayl, must die. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 8 Am I to congratulate an highwayman . . who has broke prison, upon the recovery of his natural rights? 1813 Byron Giaour 534 The faithless slave that broke her bower. 1816 Jane Austen Emma III. vii. 116 You had .. broken bounds yesterday, and run away from your own management. 1856 [see bound sb.x 4]. 1857 Buckle Civilis. I. xii. 670 A hatred and jealousy which broke all bounds. Mod. Scholars gated for a week for breaking bounds.

20. a. to break covert or cover: to start forth from a hiding-place; also absol. to break; cf. 37, 391602 Return fr. Pamass. 11. v. (Arb.) 31, [I] stood to intercept from the thicket: the buck broke gallantly. 1859 Jephson Brittany ix. 149 The wolf, a cub, broke cover in fine style. 1859 Tennyson Enid 183 They break covert at our feet.

b. to break water or soil: said of a stag. i486 Bk. St. Albans E vij b, Then brekyth he water ther to take yow tent. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 241 When he goeth quite through a ryver or water, we say he breaketh soyle. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 91 They love the lakes and strong streams, breaking the floods to come by fresh pasture.

21. a. To penetrate (as light breaks the darkness, sound the air). Cf. 41. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, hi. iii. 40 Whiles the mad Mothers, with their howles confus’d, Doe breake the Cloudes. 1676 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 666 All her fellow Nymphs the Mountains tear With loud Laments, and break the yielding Air. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc iv. 44 To-morrow’s sun, Breaking the darkness of the sepulchre. 1813 Byron Giaour 1145 What beam shall break my night? 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 265 Only one ray of hope broke the gloom of her prospects. 1871 Swinburne Songs bef. Sunrise, Eve of Rev. 49 The night is broken eastward; is it day?

b. intr. Said of the darkness (rare). 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, v. iii. 86 Flakie darkenesse breakes within the East.

22. a. f or reveal news, a disclose, delicacy.

to break what is matter, divulge

one's mind (heart): to deliver in one’s mind (obs.). to break a secret, to make it known, it; now implying caution and

c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxxvi. 274 A1 3owre herte thanne to me breke. 1474 Sir J. Paston Lett. 747 III. 118 To whom she brake hyr harte and tolde hyr yr she sholde have hadde Mastr Paston. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxii. [lxv.] 212 A squyer of Bretayne, to whome he had broken his mynde. 1528 Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. ioi His holiness demanded whether the king’s highness had at any time broken this matter to the queen. 1683 Penn. Archives I. 83, I broke y* bussiness to Pr. Aldrix. 1712 Steele Sped. No. 455 IF3 She began to break her Mind very freely, .to me. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull 102 With a design to break the matter gently to his partners. 1759 Dilworth Pope 64 After a short acquaintance.. he broke his mind to him upon that subject, a 1779 G. Colman in G. Colman (Jun.) Posth. Lett. (1820) 339 Here it may be resolved .. that she shall break the secret of their marriage to the old Earl. 1840 Hood Up Rhine 1 Now, however, I have some news to break.

1589 Pappe w. Hatchet B, Your Knaueship brake your fast on the Bishops, by breaking your iests on them. 1599 Shaks. Much Ado 11. i 152 Hee’l but breake a comparison or two on me. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. v. III. 119 On the Scaffold (a place not to break jests, but to break off all jesting) he could not hold. 1709 Swift Adv. Relig. Wks. 1755 II. 1. 107 He is . . in continual apprehension that some pert man of pleasure should break an unmannerly jest, a 1774 Goldsm. Double Transf. 57 Jack. .often broke A sigh in suffocating smoke. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc. x. 151 Welcoming his gallant son, He brake a sullen smile. 1833 Fraser's Mag. VIII. 54 The landlord and waiter.. were not suffered to do any thing, save to break their jokes on the members.

24. To open, commence, begin. In certain obs. phrases, as to break parle, break trade. Also at Billiards: to break the balls: to make a stroke from the formal position in which the balls are placed at the beginning of a game, or after a foul stroke. In Billiards (Snooker, Pool, etc.): now also intr. and with off. (But cf. 31.) 1588 Shaks. Tit. A. v. iii. 19 Romes Emperour and Nephewe breake the parle. 1788 Falconbridge Afr. Slave Tr. 12 After permission has been obtained for breaking trade .. the captains go ashore. 1850 Bohn Handbk. Games 565 Breaking the balls is to take them all off the table, place the red on its spot, and .. begin again from the baulk. 1893 Funk's Stand. Diet. I. 234/2 Break.. i[ntr]... Games. To make the first play, as in pool. 1949 J. Davis How I play Snooker 170 (heading) Breaking off. 1957 R. Holt Teach yourself Billiards & Snooker 8 The winner of the toss or ‘stringing’ thus has choice of balls, and of ‘breaking’ (commencing the game) or asking his opponent to ‘break’. 1965 J. Pulman Tackle Snooker this Way xi. 56 After winning the toss in the professional game we never think of allowing our opponent to ‘break off.

V. To make a rupture of union or continuity by breaking. * of union. 25. a. trans. To break a bond, or anything that confines or fastens; to disrupt; hence to dissolve, loosen. Also fig. often with asunder. a 1225 St. Marher. 18 Aire kingene king brec nu mine bondes. 1382 Wyclif Judges xvi. 9 She criede to him, Philistien upon thee, Sampson, The which brak the boondis. 1535 Coverdale Ps. ii. 3 Let us breake their bondes a sunder. 1578 Timme Calvin on Gen. 241 The ambition of Nimrod, brake the bonds of this modesty. 1717 Pope Eloisa 173 Death, only death, can break the lasting chain. 1837 Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 3) I. xv. 226 Distrust .. breaks the very bonds of human society. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 95 The spell which bound his followers to him was not altogether broken.

b. intr. (for rejl.) See also i b for literal use. c. Naut. trans. To free and shake out (a flag or sail which has been furled); also with out. Times 6 Aug. 8/3 The Royal Standard was broken on board the Victoria and Albert, and immediately H.M.S. Valorous.. began to fire a salute. 1899 Daily News 9 Oct. 6/2 The Columbia broke out her spinnaker. 1901 N. & Q. 9th Ser. VII. 176/2 When a standard is ‘broken’ it is unfurled after being hoisted. 1928 Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 13/7 The Afghan standard was broken from the Majestic’s mainmast. 1945 C- S. Forester Commodore 36 A black ball was soaring up the mast, and as it reached the block a twist of the seaman’s wrist broke it out. 1889

26. a. trans. To make a rupture in (the ranks of the enemy). (Also in one’s own ranks, by quitting them, or fleeing.) C1205 Lay. 27506 pene sceld-trume breken: pe Bruttes per heolden. 1375 Barbour Bruce xii. 217 And luk 3he na vay brek aray. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6679 Mony batels he broke, buernes he slough. C1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 46 Nor yet to may breke a mighty Flote gatheryd of Purpose. C1532 Ld. Berners Huon (1883) 344 He drew his swerde.. & brake the thyckest presse. 1636 Massinger Bashf. Lover 11. iii, He dies that breaks his ranks Till all be our’s. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) Aaiij, It cannot easily break the enemy’s line. 1803 Munro in Owen Wellesley's Disp. 790 After breaking their infantry, your cavalry.. was not sufficiently strong to pursue any distance. 1842 Tennyson Two Voices 155 The foeman’s line is broke.

b. absol. Said of a band of fighting men: to break their ranks, fall into disorder; also of the ranks. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres 1. i. 4 To perform execution if the enemie break or flie. 1781 T. Jefferson in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) III. 308 They broke twice, and ran like sheep. 1824 Macaulay Ivry 43 Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale. 1878 Bosw. Smith Carthage 221 The 4,000 Roman cavalry.. broke and fled.

fb. Hence, intr. to break with (rarely to a person), of or concerning (a thing). Obs.

c. intr. (for reft.) Said of clouds, mists, etc.: to divide, disperse.

1463 Paston Lett. 473 II. 134 He kept not his owyn councell but brak to every man of it. 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. 11. Wks. 1188/1 Wyth hym she secretely brake, and offered hym ten ducates for hys labour. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. ill. i. 59, I am to breake with thee of some affaires. *599-Much Ado 1. i. 328 Then after to her father will I breake. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. Song xii. 200 With him to breake Of some intended act. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. vi. §8 To this effect Scipio brake with the Consul.

1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vm. iv. 485 The storm cannot last long thus.. I am sure the clouds are breaking. 1875 Green Short Hist. viii. §1. 448 Cromwell saw the mists break over the hills of Dunbar.

c. To publish or reveal (an item of news); to make available for publication. (Cf. sense 39 b.) Journalists' colloq. 1906 G. W. Peck Bad Boy with Circus 21 (Weingarten). 1935 M. M. Atwater Murder in Midsummer xxviii. 262 Are you breaking the story in the morning papers? 1961 ‘B. Wells’ Day Earth caught Fire vii. 108 But she didn’t break the story.

23. trans. to break a jest: to utter, crack a joke. 50 to break a sigh, a smile, etc.

d. intr. Bridge. Of the outstanding cards in a suit: to be distributed (evenly: i.e. favourably from the declarer’s point of view; etc.) between opponents. 1952 Bridge Mag. Apr. 36/2 If the spades break no worse than four-two and the trumps three-one, establishment of the spade suit should be easy. 1959 Listener 8 Jan. 84/1 The trumps broke badly and the contract was down. Ibid. 19 Nov. 904/2 The diamonds failed to break. 1981 H. W. Kelsey Bridge ii. 29 The 4-1 trump split was a bit of a blow, but the slam would still be safe enough if either the spades or the diamonds broke evenly. 1983 V. Mollo Winning Bridge i. 5 As the trumps didn’t break kindly either, he had to concede defeat.

** of continuance or continuity.

BREAK f27. trans. To cut short, stop, bring to a sudden end. to break the siege: to raise the siege. Obs.; but see to break off, 54 a. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 111 (Matz.) Our tale wille we no breke, bot telle forth the certeyn. c 1386 Chaucer Melibeus IF 77 Wei ny alle atones bigonne they to rise for to breken his tale. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. II. 415 Penthesilea.. brak pe sege of pe Grees. 1534 More Answ. Poysoned Bk. 1058/2 A better then we both shall breake the strife betwene vs. at he breke purgh the burd to the bare throte. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 528 Hypanis, profound, Breaks through th’ opposing Rocks. 1711 Steele Sped. No. 53 [f8 A Satyr peeping over the silken Fence, and threatening to break through it. fig■ 1597 I Iooker Keel. Pol. v. xlix. §6 Neither are they able to break through those errors wherein they are settled. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne 11. 24 Wit, like beauty, can break through the most unpromising disguise. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, £2? Bks. II. xi. 262 Those conventional hypocrisies of which most people are ashamed, even when they would be far more ashamed to break through them.

512

b. To burst through restraints of, transgress. 1712 Budgell Sped. No. 401 f 7, I purpose to break through all Rules. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones 1. iii, A custom he never broke through on any account. 1808 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 129, I was unwilling it should be broke through by others.

c. To project abruptly through. i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. §11. 80 Two rocks break through the snow.

d. absol. 1526 Tindale Matt. vi. 19 Where theves breake through and steale. 1659 Burton’s Diary (1828) IV. 273 The Chair broke through and rose without a question. 1690 Locke Educ. §70 After Corruption had once broke thro’.

57. break up. a. trans. [from 1.] To break into many parts; to disintegrate. 1752 Beawes Lex Mercat. 52 If a ship be broken up or taken to pieces .. and afterwards .. be rebuilt.. she is now another, and not the same ship. 1864 Derby Mercury 7 Dec., The steel pieces were broken up, and the iron ones were beaten up into bars. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 7 He cannot understand how an absolute unity.. can be broken up into a number of individuals. 1876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. I. ii. 54 Heraclius succeeded in.. breaking up the Persian power.

b. To rend or tear: see 2 a. c. To cut up, carve: see 2 b. d. [from 2 f.] To dissolve, disband, put an end to, give up; as in to break a regiment, gang, parliament (obs.); to break up a house, household, housekeeping, school, an assembly. Colloq. phr. break it up\ (a) imp. disperse; stop (a fight); (b) U.S. (see quot. 1946). 1483 Act 1 Rich. Ill, ii, Many worshipful Men.. were compelled by Necessity to break up their Housholds. c 1500 Song in Rel. Ant. I. 117 To brek upe the scole. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 12 Glad to heare the Devill is breaking up house in England, and removing somewhether else. 1721 Lond. Gaz. No. 5977/2 They., broke up their Assembly. 1833 Marry at P. Simple xxix, My uncle.. had .. broken up his housekeeping. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 70 We fairly gave way and broke up the company. 1936 S. Kingsley Dead End 11. 113 Break it up!.. Come on, break it up!.. go on home! Go on, break it up! 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 371 Break it up, bring the house down. 1947 ‘N. Blake’ Minute for Murder vii. 149 A policeman .. forced his way.. through the crowd, shouting ‘.. Stand aside! Break it up!’ 1959 Encounter Aug. 28/2 If someone had stepped in and said, ‘break it up’,.. all would have gone well.

e. absol. and intr. from preceding, spec, of a school. *535 Coverdale Isa. xxxvii. 36 So Sennacherib the kinge of the Assirians brake vp, and dwelt at Niniue. 1536 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I- 52 Thetwentith daie of Julie, the Convocation brooke upp at Poules. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Ivstine 14 b Euery one bethinking how he might priuly breake vp, and steale home to resist the Enemy. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. v. 77 Then vp the Session brake. 1707 C. Mordaunt Let. 5 May in E. Hamilton Mordaunts (1965) iv. 74 Wee break up the Saturday after next and I desiare if you be in town to send for me, 1740 Richardson Pamela II. 364 When you break up next, my Dear, said he, if you’re a good Girl, you shall make your new Aunt a Visit. 01855 C. Bronte in Cornh. Mag. (i860) Apr. 495, I wrote .. to the friends of my pupils, notifying the day when we break up. 1882 Boy's Own P. IV. 283 A few days later the school broke up for the summer holidays.

f. trans. [from 5.] To open up (ground) with the spade or plough. 1557 Tusser ioo Points Husb. lxi, In January, husbandes will breake vp their lay. 1611 Bible Jer. iv. 3 Breake vp your fallow ground. 01771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 192 The roads having been broke up by the heavy rains in the spring, were., rough. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 129 The beginning of October is the best season for breaking-up old pasture-lands.

fg. intr. [from 5 b.]

= break out, 53 d. Obs.

1561 Hollybush Horn. Apoth. 1 a, [It] maketh the skin stronge, harde, and also cleane, that it break vp no more.

h. [from 8 b.] Of frost, (formerly) of an epidemic: To give way, cease. Of any kind of weather: to change. 1544 Late Exped. Scot. (1798) 10 And for asmoch as the myst yet contynued, and dyd not breake .. we concluded, if the wether did not breake vp, to haue encamped our selues vpon the same ground, a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1912) 11. ix. 202 The weather breaking up, they were brought to the maine lande of Pontus. 1626 Bacon Sylva §383 In Barbary, the Plagues break up in the Summer Moneths. 1801 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) IV. 355 Before the frost broke up at Cronstadt.

i. [from 12 c.] To fail in physical organization. fj. trans. [from 16, 17.] To burst open (a barrier), make forcibly way into (a house), open forcibly (a letter, box, etc.). 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxii. 501 With great axes they brake vp the dore. 1552 Huloet, Breake vp a wryt or letter, resigno. 1578 Timme Calvin on Gen. 199 The Lord brake up the floodgates of the waters. 1646 Burd. Issach. in Phemx (1708) II. 309 If any should offer violence to breakup the Doors. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 278 When we had broken it [the letter] up and had read the contents thereof. 1700 B lack more jVjA 108 He in the dark Breaks houses up, on which he set his mark. 1712 Prideaux Direct. Ch.Wardens (ed. 4) 87 If any Person doth in the Night-time break up the Church. 1827 Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 223 Fixlein.. broke up the presentation as his own.

fk. absol. [from prec.] Obs. 1528 Tindale Doctr. Treat. (1848) 203 Let the judges., not break up into the consciences of men. 1535 Coverdale Matt. vi. 20 Where theues nether breake vp nor yet steale.

1. To begin or commence operations upon.

BREAK1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2344/4 There was 500 Acres of Fresh Grass.. broak up on May Day. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 60 If 4 As a Mine not broken up.

fm. intr. [from 39.] To transpire. Obs. 1584 J. Carmichael Let. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. 418 The murder of the Prince of Orange first brack up and came by speciall post.

f n. [from 40]. To burst (into flower). Obs. c 1450 Henryson Mot. Fab. 45 The blossomes blyth brack vp on banke and bra.

o. trans. To disconcert, upset, disturb; to excite; spec. (orig. U.S.) to convulse with laughter. Also intr. colloq. 1825 J. Constable Let. 23 Oct. (1964) H. 404 She says, her sister is going to be married—& that she fears it will break her up. i860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. i. 11 This episode broke me up, as the jockeys say, out of my square conversational trot; but I settled down to it again. 1895 ‘Mark Twain’ in N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 61 Well, humour is the great thing, the saving thing,.. so, when M. Bourget said that bright thing about our grandfathers, I broke all up. 1895 Harper's Mag. Sept. 545/2 A most pathetic stream of arguments and blasphemy, which broke Joan all up, and made her laugh as she had not laughed since she played in the Domremy pastures. 1902 L. Bell Hope Loring 240 What language you use!.. If you knew how it breaks me up when you use slang! 1959 H. Gardner So What Else is New? 2 The remark broke up the other people in the elevator, but the diminutive culprit continued to stare defiance. 1967 New Yorker 21 Jan. 52 The number broke the place up, and Marsala* invited me back to play that night. 1968 Listener 4 Jan. 27/3 The camera had only to turn to Tommy Cooper for the audience to break up with laughter. m-Phrase-key of break v. (in addition to the adverbial combinations):—b one’s back, 7 b; b ball, 31; b balls, 24; b bank, 11; b in billiards, 24; b blows with, 3; boils b, 4; b bonds, 25; b bounds, 19; b brain, 12 b; b bread, 3; buds b, 40; b bulk, 43; b cloth, 2 a; b cover, covert, 20; b in cricket, 31; day b, 41; b day, 15 c; b deer, 2 b; b fall, 28 b; b fast, 29 c; fish b, 37 d; flowers b, 32 c, 40; b fowl, fox, 2 b; b free, 36; frost b, 8 b; b ground, 44; b of habit, 33; b one’s head, 5 b; b one’s heart, 7 c, 22; b horse, 14; b house, 17; b ice, 45; b into, 38, 42; b jail, 19; b jest, 23; b joint, 31; b journey, 28 b; b a lance with, 3; b law, 15; b loose, 36; b marriage, matrimony, 15 d; b matter, 22; b one’s mind, 12 b, 22; morning b, 41; b one’s neck, 7 b; b news, 22; b oath, 15 c; b officer, 35; b on, 39, 41; 6 open, 17 b; b parle, 24; b parliament, 2 f; b peace, 15; b in pieces, 1; b of practice, 33; b Priscian’s head, 5 b; b prison, 19; b promise, 15 c; b ranks, 26; b regiment, 2 f; b rest, 29; b sheer, 31; b ship, 2d; b siege, 27; b sigh, 23; b silence, sleep, 29; b small, 1; b smile, 23; b soil, 20 b; b spirit, 13; b spousehood, 15 d; b square(s, 46; b stillness, 29; b a straw with, 3; b on torture, 7 b; b trade, 24; b upon, 39, 41; b vein, 4; voice b, 6; b water, 20 b; waves b. 10; b on wheel, 7 b; b wind, 12 b, 47; b with, 2 e, 22 b, 34; b wool, 2 c; b one’s word, 15 c; b words with, 3.

break-. The verb-stem in composition forming sbs. or adjs. I. With verb + object. 1. Forming sbs., as break-bones, the Ossifrage or Osprey; break-bulk, one who breaks bulk, a captain that abstracts part of his cargo; breakcircuit, a device for opening and closing an electric circuit; break-club (Golf), any obstacle on which the player might break his club; f break-forward, an alleged old name of the hare; fbreak-gap, that which opens a passage; f break-hedge, a trespasser; f break-league, a breaker of a league or treaty; f break-love, a disturber or destroyer of love; f break-net, the Dog-fish or Thresher; f break-peace, a peacebreaker; f break-promise, a promise-breaker; f break-pulpit, a boisterous preacher; f breakvow, a breaker of vows; breakwind, (a) dial, a disease of sheep; (b) a screen or protection against the wind. 1881 A. C. Grant Bush Live Queensl. xxix. II. 133 One of the men .. has managed to stop the ‘break-aways. 1838 Poe A. G. Pym Wks. 1864 IV. 123 It is frequently called the •break-bones, or osprey peterel. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 166 To smother their owne disloyalties, in suffering these *breake-bulks to escape. 01884 Knight Did. Mech. Suppl., * Break-circuit, an arrangement on an electro-magnetic or magneto-electric instrument, by which an operator can open or close the circuit at pleasure. 1857 Chambers Inform. II. 67, Lifting of ^Break-clubs.—All loose impediments within twelve inches of the ball may be removed on or off the course when the ball lies on grass. c 1300 Names of Hare in Rel. Ant. I. 13 The make-fare, the •breke-forwart. 1645 Pagitt Heresiogr. (1662) Ep. Ded., The ‘break-gap to all those mischiefs that flowed in upon the King. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 33 Keepe safe thy fence, scare ‘breakhedge thence. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iv. (Arb.) 113 A1 faythlesse ‘break leages. Ibid. 143 Like a ‘breaklooue mak’bat adultrer. 1583 J. Higins Junius’ Nomenclator, ‘Breakenet, a sea-dog or dogfishe. 1623 Minsheu Sp. Diet., Lamia, a certaine dog-fish called a Breaknet. 1593 Pass. Morrice 73 Our only ‘breakepeace. 1600 Shaks. A.Y.L. iv. i. 196, I will thinke you the most patheticall ‘breake-promise. 1589 Marprel. Epit. F, Som of our bishops are very great ‘breakepulpits. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iv. (Arb.) 444 This ‘breakuow naughtye. 1596 Shaks. John 11. ii. 569 That Broker, that still breakes the pate of faith. That dayly breake-vow. 1823 Hogg Sheph. Cal. I. no It never saw either braxy or •breakwind. 1833 in W. S. Ramson Austral. Eng. (1966) 95 Breakwind. 1862 J. S. Dobie S. Afr.Jrnl. 26 Sept. (1945) 32 A tarpaulin hung on weather side for a break-wind. 1863 Fraser’s Mag. Mar. 282/2 What the Australians call a ’breakwind’, i.e., a pent roof, looking like the falling flap of a large bird-trap. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 317/2 The Norway maple.. is a hardy tree, used as a breakwind in exposed situations on the east coast. 1890 Athenseum 18 Oct. 516/1 [Tasmanians] were frequently content with a mere breakwind in lieu of any covered structure. 1934 A. Russell

BREAK Tramp-Royal vii. 54 The only form of shelter I needed was a small breakwind.

2. Forming adjs., as break-axe, that breaks axes, as in break-axe tree, Sloanea Jamaicensis; break-bone, bone-breaking, as in break-bone fever, the dengue, an infectious eruptive fever of warm climates; also elliptr, break-covert, that breaks covert; f break-dance, disturbing, turbulent; break-teeth or -tooth, difficult to pronounce. See also break-back, break-neck. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 250 The *Brake-axe Tree. It is so very hard that it is found a difficult matter even to cut it down. 1862 N. Y. Tribune 16 May, Another fever, to which the natives [of the south-western United States] give the name .. of *Breakbone. 1866 A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 1073 Excruciating pains in the head, eyes, muscles of the neck, loins, and extremities are prominent traits of the affection; hence the name breakbone fever. 1885 Lady Brassey The Trades 395 A ship with several cases of ‘Dengue’, or ‘Breakbone fever’ on board. 1820 Keats Isabella xxviii. The ’break covert blood-hounds. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. Ep. Ded., This brainesicke and •breakedanse Girald of Desmond.. did breake into treasons. 1788 Grose Diet. Vulgar T. (ed. 2), * Break-teeth Words, hard words, difficult to pronounce. 1825 H. Wilson Mem. I. 48 Not to put in any break-teeth long words. 1827 Scott Jrnl. 11 Feb. (1939) II. 21 The Admiral with the break-tooth name.

II. With the vb. used attrib. = breaking', as breakriron, etc.; break crop, in arable farming: a different kind of crop sown to break the continuity in repeated sowing of cereals; break¬ dancing orig. U.S., a style of dancing popularized by U.S. Blacks, often individual or competitive, and characterized by a loud insistent beat to which dancers perform energetic and acrobatic movements, sometimes spinning around on their backs on the pavement or floor (pioneered during the late 1970s by teams of Black teenaged dancers in the south Bronx, N.Y.); also break-dancer; break-piece = break sbT 17 a; break-roll, one of a pair of rollers between which wheat-grains are split; break-signal, a signal used to separate distinct parts of a telegraphic message. 1967 Punch 10 May 687/2 Other.. *break crops include roots, oats, and oil seed rape. 1971 Country Life 23 Sept. 771/1 The break crop was needed firstly to restore the drain on fertility as a result of successive cereal crops. 1984 ‘D. Archer’ Ambridge Years 114 Rape provides a very useful ‘break crop’ by preventing some of the diseases you can get if you plant corn over and over again on the same land. 1982 Village Voice (N.Y.) 21 Sept. 61/1 The Smurf is a fusion dance.. a dance incorporating smoothed out elements of *break dancing. Ibid, 31 Aug. 55/2 Men in battery-powered visors lit up and dimmed,.. break dancers broke. 1983 Daily News 23 Sept. 18 They are young street dudes, nearly all of them black, anywhere from 10 to 23 years old, and what they are doing is a new style of dancing known as ‘breaking’ or ‘break dancing’. It is the first new dance phenomenon in the cities in more than a decade. 1984 New Yorker 5 Mar. 43/2 The Bronx is very bebop—street music with a heavy, funky brass beat—which is good for electric boogie and break¬ dancing. 1985 Sunday Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 3 Feb. 32/4 The streets of New York and Los Angeles might twitch with coke-sniffers, break-dancers and the denizens of the eighties, but the old America was not dead yet. 1881 Mechanic § 383. 166 The *break-iron by which the shaving is turned in its upward course. 1842 Francis Diet. Arts Q 2 b/i The fore part of the spindle is terminated by a wire, and a *break piece at the end of it. 1879 G. Prescott Sp. Telephone 253 An electromagnet with a self-interrupting breakpiece attached to its armature. 1910 Encycl. Brit. X. 551/2 The first pair of *break-rolls used to be called the splitting rolls, because their function was supposed to be to split the [wheat] berry longitudinally down its crease. 1876 Preece Telegraphy 287 These parts are separated from each other by a distinct signal, called the *break signal.

break (breik), sb.1 Also 4 brek, 5-6 breke, 5-7 breake. [f. break v.] 1. a. An act of breaking; breakage, fracture. a 1300 Cursor M. 6344 Wit-vten ani brek or brist. Ibid. 8044 Wit-vten brek of ani bogh. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 49 Breke, or brekynge, ruptura, fractura. 1870 Standard 12 Dec., The great operation had been stopped by the break of a bridge of boats.

b. With adverbs, expressing the action of the corresponding verbal combinations (break v. 48-57); as break-away, break-in, break-out, (also Austral. and N.Z. slang, a drinking bout), break-down, break-up, etc; break-back, a sudden backward movement (see also sense 5, and break-back a. 2). 1885 Times 4 June 10/3 After several *breaks away the 12 competitors were despatched to an excellent start. 1920 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 196/2 This ‘*break-back’ of his had certainly been a brilliant achievement, i960 E. S. & W. J. Higham High Speed Rugby xvii. 239 If the scrum-half tries a blindside run, the flank will follow him round just far enough to make a break-back impossible. 1856 Kane Arc. Expl. II. vii. 83 My joy at this first *break-in upon its drudgery. 1903 Daily Chron. 10 Feb. 6/4 There was a further break-in of the river bank. 1944 Times 22 July 4/4 A successful break-in by the British.. is never exploited by pursuit. 1820 Scott Abbot xxvi, They would be sure to make a *break-out if the officers meddled with the auld Popish witch-wife. 1870 Standard 12 Dec., On the break¬ out of the war. 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms I. xi. 128 He saw him once in one of his break-outs, and heard him boast of something he’d done. 1908 W. H. Koebel Anchorage 49 A break-out doesn’t seem to oil your tongue to run any more’n usual. 1947 Ann. Reg. 1946 24

BREAK

513

The Russian break-out from the Baranovo bridgehead. 1958 Economist 29 Nov. 764/1 Nothing is more important than a British breakout from the rigid positions of the cold war.

b. in a course of action or time. spec, of a trotter or pacer, the act of breaking away from a level stride (cf. break v. 38 c) (orig. U.S.).

2. break of day or morn: the first appearance of light, the dawn. So break of June: the beginning or opening days of June.

1689 Sherlock Death iii. §4 (1731) 114 It makes a Break in our Lives. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 134 This remarkable break in the regular sequence of physical events. 1839 Spirit of Times 13 July 222/3 It was as bad a break as we ever saw. a 1867 H. Woodruff Trotting Horse of Amer. (1868) i. 41 The penalty of a break was such that the rider.. would be afraid to push his horse up to the top of his speed. 1878 Lady Herbert Hiibner's Ramble 1. xii. 184 The run is 5,000 miles without a break. 1878 Morley Diderot I. 252 He would pass a whole month without a day’s break, working ten hours a day at the revision of proof-sheets. 1903 A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden xxii. 200 When rounding into the home stretch his horse broke, and suddenly went to a wild swerving break that carried him to the complete outside of the track. 1968 Wanganui Chron. 15 Nov. 6/3 Stylish Major, the beaten favourite on Tuesday after going into a break trying to match the early pace.

1584 Lodge Alarum, Forb. Prise. 21b, The careful Marriner.. sought for his Loade starre, and at breake of morning.. found it out. 1597 Drayton Mortimer. 107 The misty breake yet proues a goodly day. 1647 W. Browne Polex 11. 205 At the fifth dayes break, those that were in the top of the maine Mast began to cry, Land 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4471/3 Lieutenant-General Dedem was.. order’d to march Yesterday at break a-Day. 1755 Young Centaur vi. (1757) IV. 252, I see the break of their moral day. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms in. 749 Now dim, now dazzling like the break of morn. 1820 Keats Isabella iv. 26 A whole long month of May in this sad plight Made their cheeks paler by the break of June.

3. f An irruption, a breaking in. Obs. 11565 R. Lindsay Chron. Scot. (1728) 57 The Englishmen had wasted so much on the borders, without any occasion or break of him to England.

f4. a. A breaking forth, a burst (of sound). Obs. 1750 [R. Pultock] Life P. Wilkins xxxiii. (1883) 90/1 The order of their flight was admirable, and the break of the trumpets so great.. that I wondered how they could bear it. b. An act of breaking out or away (see break v.

49 c and 55 b); a rush or dash; an escape; freq. with to make. orig. U.S. *833 Sk. & Eccentr. D. Crockett 82 Just before I got there, the old bear made a break and got loose. 1846 J. J. Hooper Adv. Simon Suggs (1851) xii. 143, I maid a brake on a bee line for Urwinton. 1888 T. Roosevelt in Cent. Mag. May 49 Our three men .. understood perfectly that the slightest attempt at a break would result in their being shot down. 1910 [see jail sb. 2]. 1929 ‘G. Daviot’ Man in Queue vi. 65 The man had gone to ground instead of making a break for it.

c. Hort. A bud or shoot that sprouts from a plant-stem. Also attrib., as break bttd (see quot. 1954)1933 Jrnl. B. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 99 There are varieties too that on natural break buds are not good. Ibid., Secure the plants well at the top break. 1954 A. G. L. Hellyer Encycl. Garden Work 30/2 A break is a branch or fork. Ibid. 31/1. If a rooted chrysanthemum cutting is left to its own devices, it will after a time, produce an abortive flower bud at the top of the stem, which will prevent further lengthening of this particular stem and force it to produce side shoots or breaks. In consequence, this abortive flower bud is often known as the ‘break bud’. 1959 Listener 22 Oct. 706/1 From these [shoots], new breaks will appear which will produce the blooms for next season.

5. Cricket. A ‘twist’ or deviation of the ball from its previous direction on touching the ground, break-back: the breaking in of a ball from the off side (i.e. with a right-handed bowler). 1851 Pycroft Cricket Field vii. 137 Look hard for the twist, or a ‘break’ will be fatal. 1855 F. Lillywhite's Guide to Cricketers 21 Without a ‘break-back’, the thing is impossible with any but an over-pitched ball. 1866 Jerks in from Short Leg 74 The break-back removing a bail destroys in a moment the vision of triumph. 1881 Standard 18 June 3/1 Steel beat him with the break, and Hone stumped him well. 1881 Macm. Mag. XLIII. 288/2 By virtue of a good pitch and a break back. 1884 I. Bligh in Lilly white's Cricket Ann. 7 Considerable command over the ball in respect of pitch and break. 1886 Daily News 22 July 5/1 Mr. Tylecote .. was bowled by an unplayable break-back of Mr. Spofforth’s.

6. a. Billiards. A consecutive series of successful strokes; the number of points thus scored, b. Similarly in Croquet. 1865 Times 10 Apr., Mr. Russell vastly improved in his play, making some very excellent breaks. 1874 J. Heath Croquet Player 55 Do not let the balls you are playing on in your break get too close together. 1883 Land & Water 10 Feb. 99 It is evidently possible, given the necessary nerve and skill, for breaks of 500 and upwards to be made on the billiard tables of the present make.

7. a. A broken place, gap, or opening: of more general application than breach. a 1300 Cursor M. 14012 par sco fand ani breck or sare, Wit hir smerl sco smerd J?are. 1539 Act 31 Hen. VIII, v, It shalbe lawfull.. to make dere leapes and breakes in the said hedges. 1688 J. Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 987 At the breakes of some banks, I have found veins of Clay. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 97 Where these Holes or Breaks are met with. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. ii. 39 The Peak of Teyde .. appeared in a break above the clouds. 1879 Seguin Black For. xiv. 236 He might wander.. without finding a break in the mountain wall. fb. An opening, a bay. Obs. 1557 Paynel Barclay's Jugurth 80 For about the extreme partes of Affrike be ij brekes of the sea [L. sinus] nere together.

8. An interruption of continuity: a. in anything material; spec, in geological strata, a fault; also in the deck of a ship (see quot. 1850). 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 264 The hollow channel in the middle where there was a kind of fall or break in it. 1747 Hooson Miner's Diet. Y viij b, Signs of some Break, Chun, or Vein. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §209 Probably with several breaks, as is usual in the arrangement of the Strata of the earth. 1832 Marryat N. Forster xxxii, Captain Drawlock walked to the break of the gangways. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xiii. 32 Foster went as far as the break of the deck, and there waited for him. C1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 101 Break, the sudden termination or rise in the decks of some merchant ships, where the aft and sometimes the forepart of the deck is kept up to give more height between decks.

c. in a discourse or composition; in the rhythm of a verse; also in printed matter. Occas. attrib., as in break-line. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. Aiiij b, You finde the word in the Margent in that breake [paragraph] against it. 1710 Swift Tatler No. 230 jf6 The Breaks at the End of almost every Sentence. 1779 Johnson Dryden, L.P. (1816) IX. 393 The Alexandrine.. invariably requires a break at the sixth syllable. 1885 Law Rep. Queen's B. XIV. 727 There is no break in the section, and the words ‘in any highway’, govern all that follows.

d. Marks [-] employed in print or writing to indicate abrupt pauses. 1733 Swift On Poetry Wks. 1755 IV. 1. 186 In modern wit all printed trash is Set off with num’rous breaks — - and dashes —. 1862 T. Trollope Marietta I. x. 183 An unlimited supply of question stops, marks of admiration, italics and breaks.

e. A short interval between lessons, usu. in the middle of morning or afternoon school. Also transf. Cf. coffee-break, tea-break. 1861 H. Spencer Educ. ii. 65 Short breaks during schoolhours, excursions into the country,.. in these and many like traits, the change may be discerned. 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister Street I. 1. vi. 94 Well, see you to-morrow in the break, young Fane. 1921 S. Thompson Rough Crossing ii. §1, At ‘break’ Elizabeth met Lilian again. 1933 Mrs. C. S. Peel Life's Enchanted Cup xi. 133 In many workrooms no morning break was permitted... We finally decided that.. the girls should be allowed a ten minutes’ break at 11 o’clock.

f. On the Stock Exchange, a sudden decline in prices. U.S. (Cf. break v. 8 c.) 1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 203 To endure an occasional ‘break’ in stocks. 1931 Economist 23 May 1110/2 The trend continued downwards, with particularly sharp breaks among high-priced stocks.

g. slang. A collection taken in aid of a prisoner awaiting trial or recently discharged. 1879 Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 502/1 The mob got me up a break (collection). 1896 A. Morrison Child ofjfago xxv. 252 Get up a ‘break’ or subscription to pay for his defence.

h. The angle between the brim and crown of a hat. 1881 in Ogilvie.

i. A mistake, blunder; esp. in phr. a bad break: a serious mistake, colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1884 E. W. Nye Baled Hay 200 Possibly science may be wrong. We have known science to make bad little breaks. 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 146 You’ve made one or two bad breaks since you’ve been in town. 1902 G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant 311 When a clerk makes a fool break, I don’t want to beg his pardon for calling his attention to it. 1905 Kipling Actions & Reactions (1909) 26 We’re .. moving in worlds not realised, and we shall make some bad breaks. 1931 Wodehouse If I were You vii. 82 He’d always be worrying.. for fear he was going to make a break of some kind.

j. A freak or abnormal development from the parent stock. 1921 Conquest Sept. 491/3 These ‘mutations’, ‘sports’ or ‘breaks’, as they are variously called. 1933 Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. 388 We are always looking out for natural breaks or variations.

k. Broadcasting. (See quot. 1941); spec, in phr. natural break (see quot. 1962). 1941 B.B.C. Gloss. Broadc. Terms 5 Break, interruption, either momentary or prolonged, in the transmission of a programme. 1959 Manch. Guardian 11 Aug. 4/5 The only reason grandpappy hasn’t been on television is that he never could learn to wait for the natural breaks. 1962 Rep. Comm. Broadc. i960 72 Fourth among the main specific duties laid upon the [Independent Television] Authority is the obligation to ensure that advertisements do not occur except at the beginning or end of programmes, or in natural breaks in them... What was meant by the term was a break which would have occurred even had there been no advertisement: for example, in the interval between the acts of a play, or at half-time in football matches.

9. Music, a. The point of separation between the different registers of a voice, b. ‘In an organ stop: The sudden alteration of the proper scaleseries of pipes by returning to those of an octave lower in pitch’ (Stainer and Barrett). 1881 C. A. Edwards Organs 153 As a rule on modern organs the breaks are made on the C sharp keys. 1883 Curwen Standard Course 105/2 Passages running across the ‘break’ can be sung with an even quality of voice. Ibid. 107/1 The break between the upper and lower thick registers is easily noticed in male voices.

c. In jazz, a short solo or improvised phrase; a passage of a few bars during which an

BREAK instrumentalist U.S.

plays

unaccompanied,

orig.

1926 A. Niles in W. C. Handy Blues 8 The notes.. which follow this rest, fill in the following break, and themselves are called ‘the break’, or ‘the jazz’. 1927 Melody Maker Apr. 377/1 Now try a two-bar break composed of Type A and Type B. 1958 P. Oliver in P. Gammond Decca Bk. of Jazz i. 21 Of each line of four bars, he may sing only two or three, allowing room for an instrumental or vocal ‘break’.

10. a. Something abruptly breaking the line, or level; an irregularity, roughness, knot, etc. spec. rough, irregular country; broken country (local U.S.). 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 241 The fine variation is lost in wrinkles, sudden breaks, and right lines. 1771 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. iv. (1876) 362 A portrait-painter.. leaves out all the minute breaks.. in the face. 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 168 Break, a knot in the joint of a rod. 1820 J. C. Gilleland Ohio & Miss. Pilot 171 Some of the breaks rise in deep circular glens called coves. 1902 Webster Suppl., Break.., a line of cliffs, and associated spurs and small valleys, at the edge of a mesa. (Western U.S.) 1903 Clapin Diet. Amer. 74 Break, a rough, irregular piece of ground. (Neb.) 1918 S. S. Visher Geogr. S. Dakota 117 Badlands or ‘breaks’ afforded protection from winter storms.

b. Archit. (see quots.) 1685 Evelyn Diary (1827) III. 178 Windows and Columns at the break and entrance of free-stone. 1807 Hutton Course Math. II. 88 The breaks of the windows themselves are 8 feet 6 inches high, and 1 foot 3 inches deep. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 441 Any portion of the exterior side of a building which protrudes itself towards the spectator, is denominated a projection or break.

c. A broken or disturbed portion on the surface of water. U.S. 1852 Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. III. 231 They will make a break in the water near the shore with their tail. 1897 ‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator ix. 109 With..the ‘break’ spreading away from its head, and the wake following behind its tail.

11. A number of chests of tea, a lot or consignment. 1864 Times 4 Nov. Breaks of Canton scented orange pekoe. 1883 Ibid. 24 Mar. 6 In a break of 600 chests you will find an absolute uniformity of weight, both of package and contents and of quality.

12. A portion of ground broken up for cultivation; a appearance.

BREAK-DOWN

514

tract

distinct

in

surface

or

1674 Ray S. & E. Count. Wds. 60 Break, land plowed the first year after it hath lain fallow in the sheep walks. Norf. 1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 11, I have..seen Breaks of wheat of five quarters per acre. 1794 Statist. Acc. Scot. XI. 152 Such farms as are divided into 3 inclosures, or, as they are commonly called, breaks. 1878 Black Green Past. II. 14 Young rabbits.. scurried through the dry heather to the sandy breaks. 1883 Nature XXVII. 446 The ‘break’ or oasis, believed.. to exist in the interior of Greenland.

13. dial. A large number or quantity. 1808 Jamieson Break, a considerable number of peo pie, a crowd; as a break of folk, Fife. 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss. (E. D. S.), Brake, a large quantity: particularly applied to flowers, as a ‘brake of honeysuckle’. 1884 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxxii. 247 The sky was cloudless, & the stars remarkably brilliant.. Alluding to the ‘break’ of stars above us, the man said that it foretold rough stormy weather.

14. In type-founding, a surplus piece of metal remaining on the shank of a newly cast type. 1683 Mqxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 370 Break, ..the Mettle that is contiguous to the Shank of a New Cast Letter: This Break is formed in the Mouth-piece of the Lettermould, and is called a Break, because it is always broke from the Shank of a Letter. 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 324 The breaks, or the runners, of the types are first broken off. a 1877 Knight Diet. Mech.

15. The quantity of hemp which is prepared or sold in one year. U.S. 1796 Mass. Mercury 29 Apr. (Cent. Diet.), Best St. Petersburg clean Hemp of the break of the year 1796. 1907 Daily Chron. 7 Mar. 6/6 A ‘break’ of hemp, which in America means the quantity sold in a year.

16. A portion of a crop of turnips, etc., set

chase after some bunch of.. natives. 1911 Mulford Bar-20 Days xxiii. 231 Now he wanted an ‘even break’, where once he would have called all his wits into play to avoid it. 1918 -Man fr. Bar-20 xiii. 128 If th’ stakes are high an’ the breaks anywhere near equal, I’ll risk my last dollar or my last breath. 1926 J. Black You can't Win xxi. 331, I could ‘take’ the spot if I got a fair break on the luck. 1928 Daily Express 11 July 12 The chances in the ‘quarter-mile’ seem to give the Americans only an even break for a first place. 1930 Publishers' Weekly 8 Feb. 705/2 These buyers and their stores get what are known as ‘the breaks’. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock 11. i. 62 A break like that’s too good. Ibid. 72 We had a lucky break. 1948 L. A. G. Strong Trevannion 196 Give the boy a break, they thought indulgently.

19. Boxing. The act of separating after the contestants have been in a clinch. 1928 Daily Express 2 Aug. 13/5 Lewis was disqualified for hitting on the break.

20. attrib. break-lathe, a lathe having a portion of its bed open or removable so as to admit work of larger diameter; break-line Typogr., the last line of a paragraph. Encycl. Brit. XV. 154/1 Break lathes.. were made by Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Whitworth as long ago as 1840. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 226 Nor do good Compositers account it good Workmanship to begin a Page with a Break-line. 1808 Stower Printer's Gram. 163 Part of a word, or a complete word in a break line, if it contain no more than three or four letters, is improper. 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. II. 90 To take a comprehensive view of the copy,.. to notice.. the number of break lines. 1967 Hart's Rules for Compositors (ed. 37) 56 Break-lines should consist of more than five letters, except in narrow measures. 1883

break, sb.2 Also brake. [Derivation not quite certain: app. f. break v., in the sense ‘to break a horse’; but it is said in Knight’s Amer. Mech. Diet, to be a general name for the fore-part or frame of a carriage, so that it may possibly be an application of brake s£>.6] 1. A large carriage-frame (having two or four wheels) with no body, used for breaking in young horses. 1831 Loudon Cycl. Agric. (ed. 2) 1002 coach-horses commences with.. driving in wheeled frame. 1865 Derby Mercury 1 breaker’s drag, or break, with two horses

The training of a break or fourMar., A horseharnessed to it.

2. A large wagonette. 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain 1. xxvi. 285 Norman’s fate conveyed him to the exalted seat beside the driver of the break. 1874 Lady Barker N. Zealand iv. 23 In their comfortable and large break with four horses. 1882 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. hi. 451 A brake and four conveying a large party. 1884 P’cess Alice Mem. 72 Louis drove me and his two brothers in a break. 1885 Manch. Exam. 23 Apr. 5/2 The large brakes which convey pleasure-seekers.

break, var. spelling of brake sb.2, 3, 5, 1, v.1 breakable ('breikab(o)l), a. and sb. pi. [f. break v. + -able.] A. adj. Capable of being broken, frangible. Manip. 2 Breakable, fragilis. 1611 Cotgr., Brisable, burstable, breakeable. 1646 Fuller Wounded Consc. (1841) 278 Christ’s bones were in themselves breakable. 1844 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. xn. too Breaking the eggs and every other thing breakable. 1570 Levins

B. sb. pi. Things which are capable of being broken. 1820 Byron Let. 12 June in R. E. Prothero Lett. & Jrnl. Byron (1901) V. 44 Mother Mocenigo will probably try a bill for breakables. 1904 H. G. Wells Food of Gods 1. iv. 117 The child was born with good intentions. ‘Padda be good, be good,’ he used to say as the breakables flew before him. 1909-Tono-Bungay 1. ii. §4 There was a plaster of Paris horse to indicate veterinary medicines among these breakables.

Hence 'breakableness. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. xv. § 13 The character on which he fixes first is frangibility—breakableness to bits.

aside for sheep to feed on. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 672 Removing them [sc. sheep] to fresh portions or breaks every eight or ten days. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-farming 48 A certain breadth or portion of the turnips, called a ‘break’, the extent of which is regulated by the number of sheep to be put on. 1933 L. Acland in Press (N.Z.) 23 Sept. 13/7 Break, a temporary division made in a paddock so that stock shall feed off the turnips, etc., in sections. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. May 461/1 Breaks of winter forage crops such as turnips or chou moellier.

17. a. Electr. and Telegraphy. An apparatus for interrupting or changing the direction of an electric current; a commutator. 1854 Tomlinson's Cycl. Useful Arts I. 580/1 The other pole .. communicates .. with the little wheel, called the break, the circumference of which is partly of metal and partly of wood or ivory, so as to interrupt and renew.. the metallic connexion. 01877 Knight Diet. Mech.

b. Electr. The action of breaking contact in an electric circuit; the position in which contact is broken (in phr. at break). See also make sb.2 9. 1875 F. Guthrie Magn. & Electr. 206 The automatic make and break. Fig. 181 shows the ‘hammer break’. 1876 Nature XIV. 62/2 The increase of excitability was manifested towards make, and scarcely at all towards break.

18. colloq. A chance, an opportunity; a piece of good luck; freq. with defining word, as an even break: an equal or fair chance, orig. U.S. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone N. v. 126 It’s alius an even break whether they’ll stan’ and freeze in their tracks, or

breakage1 (’breikid3). [f. break v. + -age.] 1. The action or fact of breaking. 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. X. 373 There has already been much breakage. 1827 Q. Rev. XXXV. 151 The breakage of the crockery was the grand coup-de-theatre. 1831 ( Carlyle Sart. Res n. ii, In their [children’s] wanton breakages and defacements, you shall discern a creative instinct.

b. Music. The change in the quality of the voice in passing from one ‘register’ to another. 1883 Curwen Standard Course 105/2 It is remarkable that the change of breakage into this register should be just an octave higher than that into the thin register.

2. The results of breaking; loss or damage caused by breaking. 1848 Arnould Mar. Insur. (1866) II. in. i. 667 A certain per centage is fixed .. as the ordinary amount of leakage and breakage for which the Underwriter is in no case liable. 1849 Fleese Comm. Class-Bk. 77 When gold dust, or the precious metals in ore, are bought, the loss of weight or off-fall in refining, called in some places breakage.

3. An interruption caused by breaking; break.

a

1871 Farrar Witn. Hist. i. 36 Here then are miracles., breakages in the unbroken continuity. 1881 Stokes in Nature No. 626. 614 If there was a breakage in the cable something like 300 miles off.

4. Naut. (see quot.) Sailor's Word-bk. 130 Breakage, the leaving of empty spaces in stowing the hold. 1867 Smyth

breakage2, var. form of brakeage. break-away, breakaway ('breikswei). PI. break-aways, breaks-away. [f. phr. to break away: see break v. 50.] 1. The action of breaking away; severance. 1897 Badminton Mag. IV. 421 A big break-away occurs in the ranks [of flying rooks]. 1909 Daily Chron. 13 July 1/4 The owners report that there is no ‘breakaway’ from the agreement. 1923 Glasgow Herald 1 Feb. 6 A challenging breakaway from rhythm. 1923 Daily Mail 31 May 13 There is a natural breakaway of the water on one side into a bog. 1950 H. Read Educ.for Peace iv. 55 A complete break-away from a pedagogic tradition which had its origins in the Revival of Learning.

2. Austral, a. A panic rush of animals, usually at the sight or smell of water; a stampede. 1891 ‘The Breakaway’, title of picture by Tom Roberts at Victorian Artists’ Exhibition (Morris Austral Eng.).

b. An animal that leaves the herd. 1893 Argus 29 Apr. 4/4 (Morris), The smartest stock horse that ever brought his rider up within whip distance of a breakaway.

3. In various sports, the act of breaking away or getting free. a. Athletics, Racing. A false start to a race. b. Boxing. The getting away from one’s opponent or the separating of the contestants after a spell of in-fighting, c. Association Football. A sudden rush of a player or players with the ball towards the opponents’ goal (esp. after a period of pressure); in Rugby Football used esp. of the action of a player moving quickly away from the scrummage, d. Cycling. (See quots. 1961); also, a cyclist who is leading in a race. 1885 Times 4 June 10/3 After several breaks away the 12 competitors were despatched to an excellent start. 1906 Daily Chron. 7 Sept. 9/4 They scored from a breakaway. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 29 Nov. 12/2 The visitors fully deserved their win, for, save for a few spasmodic breaks-away by the home team, they were pressing continually. 1928 Daily Mail 9 Aug. 14/1 A bad preliminary breakaway, which delayed the start. 1930 I. M. B. Stuart Theory Mod. Rugby Practice vi. in The wing forwards would be well advised .. to.. hold themselves in readiness for a quick break-away. 1961 F. C. Avis Sportsman's Gloss. 149/1 Breakaway, a sudden and significant opening up of a gap in advance of the main group of riders in a cycle race. 1961 Partridge Diet. Slang Suppl. 1013/2 The breakaway, those competitors who have established a substantial lead: racing cyclists’ coll.: since ca. 1925. 1961 Times 7 June 5/6 The exception to the general massing of the riders were the early breakaways of Jacobs .. and Tarr.

4. attrib. or as adj. That breaks away or has broken away; seceding. 1934 in Webster. 1949 Koestler Promise & Fulf. in. i. 310 The so-called ‘General Zionists’ and the ‘Progressive Party’, a break-away group of the former. 1951 Engineering 13 July 56/2 Breakaway unions were condemned by., the Minister of Labour. 1961 Listener 28 Dec. 1116/2 The ‘breakaway’ province of Katanga.

b. spec, in Rugby Football. Applied to a forward in the side row of the scrummage. Also ellipt. 1954 J- B. G. Thomas On Tour 114 A twenty-eight-yearold salesman and tall breakaway forward. 1955 Times 22 Aug. 3/1 The breakaway men, Fry, Relief, and Ackermann, covered a vast amount of ground and showed great speed in the open. 1969 Australian 24 May 36/7 Other NSW Country forwards who could force their way into the State side tomorrow are breakaway Dick Cocks, and prop Ross Turnbull.

break-back, sb.: see break sb.1 i b, (Cricket) 5. [f. break v. + back sb.'; cf. break-neck.] 1. That breaks the back; crushing, 'break-back, a. over heavy. 1556 J. Heywood Spider fe? F. lxxii. 16 Our breakbacke burdens. 1607 J. Davies Summa Tot. 21 (D.) All breakebacke Crosses which we vndergo. 1822 W. Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 104 All the break-back and sweat-extracting work.

2. Of a roof: having the lower portion at a different angle from the upper. Also ellipt. as sb. U.S. ? Obs. 1856 S. G. Goodrich Recoil, of Lifetime (1857) I. 78 The house.. was a low edifice.. two stories in front; the rear being called a breakback, that is, sloping down to a height of ten feet. 1859 Bartlett Diet. Amer. (ed. 2), Break-back, a term applied to a peculiar roof, common in the country, where the rear portion is extended beyond the line of the opposite side, and at a different angle. The addition thus acquired is used as a wash-room, a storehouse, or for farming implements.

break-down (breikdaun; see below), [f. the verbal phrase break down (see break v. 51). In this and similar verbal formations, the stress seems primarily to be even inbreak 'down), or with stronger force on the adv. (.break 'down): but in familiar and well-established expressions (as sense 2), there is a tendency to take the combination without analysis as a single word, and to say 'break,down, or even ‘breakdown: this is also regularly done in attributive use, (as in ‘ 'breakdown 'gang’).]

.

1 a. The act of breaking and falling down; a ruinous downfall, a collapse, lit. and fig. 1832 Marryat -V. Forster xxii, These unfortunate break downs. 1835 Browning Paracelsus hi. 70 The break-down of my general aims. 1883 Chalmers Local Govt. 152 Any break-down or hitch in the working of the sanitary laws.

BREAKER

BREAKFAST

515

b. esp. A fracture or dislocation of machinery resulting in a stoppage. Hence attrib., as in breakrdcrwn gang, train. 1838 Civil Engineer I. No. 11. 296/1 Railway Casualties —obstructions from cattle wagons and breaks down. 1852 J. Ludlow Master Engineers, &c. 105 Double pay for over¬ time caused by break-down or accident. 1863 Times 6 Apr., Break-down gangs from Peterborough and Grantham. 1866 Standard 15 Sept. 4/5 A mine where there had been a breakdown. 1893 Funk's Standard Diet., Breakdown van (Gt. Brit.), a wrecking-car. 1933 in Amer. Speech (1942) XVII. 4/2 Morton, my car’s outside Savarin’s... Get your breakdown lorry round for it. 1953 A. Smith Blind White Fish in Persia i. 22 One of its hands.. prepared the breakdown lorry.

c. Of the animal functions, or health (esp. of the mental powers); spec, nervous breakdown: (a case of) neurasthenia; a vague term for any severe or incapacitating emotional disorder. 1858 J. H. Bennet Nutrition iv. 91 A complete break¬ down of the general health. 1875 M. Pattison Casaubon 465 Walter Scott had the first warning of his own break-down in similar symptoms. [1904 J. London Sea-Wolf xxxvi. 290 There had been his terrific headaches, and we were agreed that it was some sort of brain break-down.] 1905 A. Bennett Sacred Gf Profane Love III. i. 212, I read in the papers.. that you were suffering from neurasthenia and nervous breakdown. 1907 J. London Iron Heel x. 141 Hints were made of mental breakdown on his part. 1927 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Rev. iv. 125 The phase of conflict ended with that crash known generally as a ‘nervous breakdown’. 1930 B. Russell Conquest of Happiness 75 One of the symptoms of approaching nervous break-down is the belief that one’s work is terribly important. 1959 J. Braine Vodi v. 82 He was never seen at the school again. The official explanation was a complete nervous breakdown.

d. Electr. The sudden passage of electric current through an insulating medium. Also attribas breakdown voltage, the voltage required to cause a break-down. 1915 F. W. Peek Dielectric Phenomena vi. 154 The moisture may even be removed from the space between the electrodes by the action of the field, in which case its presence would not be detected by low-voltage breakdowns. Ibid. 155 The relative breakdown voltages of gaps in oil, at 60 cycles, and for impulse voltages.. are given. 1962 Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors iv. 67 The voltage Vb at which this sudden decrease in resistance occurs is called the breakdown voltage.

e. Chemical or physical decomposition. Also attrib., as breakdown product, a product resulting from the disintegration of a substance. 1928 A. B. Callow Food & Health 24 Certain chemical compounds when eaten cause a flow of gastric juice. The chief of these substances are the break-down products of proteins (peptones, etc.). 1959 Listener 2 July 38/2 Organic materials of a fibrous nature.. encourage green water and algae during the inevitable breakdown processes. 1961 Lancet 19 Aug. 395/2 Haemoglobin breakdown was completely inhibited.

1514 Act 6 Hen. VIII, ix. §1 The Breaker or Kember to deliver again .. the same Wooll so broken and kembed. 1764 Burn Poor Laws 156 Three weavers and spoolers, two breakers, etc.

c. One who makes known (tidings, etc.). 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 594 A breaker of the bitter news from home.

2. a. One who transgresses or violates a law, oath, convention, etc. 1382 Wyclif 2 Macc. xiii. 7 It bifelle the breker of lawe for to die. 1483 Cath. Angl. 42 A Breker or tryspaser; preuaricator, transgressor. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xvi. 38 A breaker of wedlocke and a murthurer. 1596 Shaks. i Hen. IV, 1. ii. 132 He [FalstafF] was neuer yet a Breaker of Prouerbs: He will giue the diuell his due. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 350 Constables.. may apprehend all breakers of the peace. 1864 H. Spencer Illustr. Univ. Progr. 61 Some courageous breaker of conventions. b. In comb, with defining sb., as covenant-, LAW-, SABBATH-BREAKER, etc., q.V.

3. One who subdues, tames, or trains. Also breaker in, and in comb., as horse-breaker. 1552 Huloet, Breaker of horse, or other beast brutysh. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 23 The breaker of mad horses —the tamer of wild Highlandmen. 1834 Fraser's Mag. IX. 93 A breaker-in of dogs, i860 Encycl. Brit. XX. 220 Whenever the dog in advance points, it is the breaker’s duty to make all the rest that acknowledge the scent to point.

4. a. That which breaks; as a break-water (obs.), a harrow (see quot. 1799). In many comb., as coal-, ice-, rock-breaker, q.v. 1661 Hickeringill Jamaica 47 There is no landing, .by reason of the fury of the waves (not pacified by any Breakers). 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 96 Some [harrows] are made large enough to be a draught for two horses, which are distinguished by the name of Breakers.

b. spec. The name of various machines for crushing the dried stems of flax or hemp, and for performing the first operation in carding cotton, etc. 1817 Pari. Deb. 1059 The stems of flax and hemp.. are passed through two machines, the first called a breaker, the second a rubber. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts I. 972 After passing through the first or ‘breaker card’, the cotton is put through the ‘finisher’. 1879 Cassell’s Techn. Educ. IV. 274/2 The slivers produced by the breakers, as the first set of engines is called.

c. In paper-manufacture, a machine in which rags, etc., are washed and partly pulped. Also attrib., as breaker-plate. 1880 J. Dunbar Pract. Papermaker 71 It may be mentioned that the breaker-plate ought to be sharp when starting to blottings. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 456/1 The next step is that of washing and ‘breaking in’, which takes place in an engine called the ‘breaker’. 1963 R. R. A. Higham Handbk. Papermaking ii. 23 Different types of breakers are available for use with rag, wood pulp sheets, waste paper and broke.

d. In anthracite mining, an apparatus for

f. An analysis or classification (of figures, statistics, etc.). Cf. break v. 5ig.

breaking, market.

1936 Harrison & Mitchell Home Market 140 Such families were extremely few and their breakdown according to density was impossible. 1948 Observer 18 Apr. 4/5 The latest threat to clarity is the use of ‘breakdown’ to mean ‘analysis’ or ‘classification’. 1957 Times (Canada Suppl.) 12 Nov. p. viii/i Figures rose .. to 73,578 for the corresponding period this year. The breakdown of this.. figure was English 47,240, Scots 15,124, Irish 9,646, Welsh 1,568.

1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 501/2 The ‘breaker’, an anthracite invention and a monster of destruction, is an edifice of wood and iron 100 feet high,.. with rollers set with teeth to crush the larger lumps, with bolting screens to separate the sizes. 1900 Coal C2? Metal Miners' Pocket-bk. (ed. 6) 574 Breaker Boy, a boy who works in a coal breaker.

2. ‘A riotous dance, with which balls are often terminated in the country. A dance in the peculiar style of the negroes.’ Bartlett Diet. Amer. (U.S.; but frequently humorously in Eng.) a 1864 New Eng. Tales (Bartlett), Don’t clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a break-down to wind up with. 1877 Burnand 'Ride to Khiva’ 11 Clogdancers, or nigger duettists, at a Music Hall with a breakdown. 1881 Gd. Words XXII. 41/2 The men followed with a fiendish ‘breakdown’.

3. Sawmilling. (See quot. 1957.) Also (N.Z.) applied to the building in which the initial cutting of timber from logs is done. Also attrib. Cf. breaking-down. 1923 C. M. Malfroy Small Sawmills 17 The laying of the foundations of the breakdown should first be proceeded with. Ibid., The logging delivery-tram, mill log-skids, engine, breakdown bench. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 85 The cleared tracks.. carry logs to the mill, where it is handled by a break-down man. 1957 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol. 11. 33 Breakdown, the initial operation in converting from the round, by sawing a log longitudinally into cants, and, by extension, cants into large timber, preparatory to further manufacture.

sizing,

and

cleaning coal

for the

e. In cheese-making, an implement breaking the curd into small pieces.

for

1844 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. 1. 88 The first process of breaking down the curd in the cheese-tub is .. performed by a breaker or curd-cutter.

5. A heavy ocean-wave which breaks violently into foam against a rocky coast or in passing over reefs or shallows. Breakers ahead! ‘the common pass-word to warn the officer of broken water in the direction of the course’. 1684 I. Mather Remark. Provid. (1856) 43 If the Providence of God had not by the breakers given them timely warning they had been dashed to pieces. 1740 Woodroofe in Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iv. lix. 275 When there is any sea, the breakers are visible. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xiv. (1852) 305 The great wave broke in a fearful line of white breakers. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 51 Along that breaker-beaten coast. Ibid. 549 Till hard upon the cry of ‘breakers’ came The crash of ruin. 1879 Beerbohm Patagonia 3 Suddenly we heard a shout of ‘Breakers ahead!’ and every one turned pale.

|6. A kind of firework. Obs. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. in. 118/1 Rackets, Crackers, Breakers and such like, giues blowes and reports without number. 1635 J. Babington Pyrotechn. xxxvi. 43 Your reports or breakers for this work shall be made as follows. 7. A horse that breaks (break v. 38 c). orig.

U.S. breaker1 ('breik3(r)). Also 2-6 breker, (5-6 Sc. -ar). [f. break v. -I- -er1.] He who or that which breaks (in various senses of verb.). 1. a. One who breaks, crushes, or destroys; so breaker off, etc.; and with defining sb. as house¬ breaker, SHIP-BREAKER, etc., q.V. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 83 Ne mihte nawiht brekere bon icloped. CI535 Dewes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1040 The peas .. is.. breker of strife. 1563 Homilies 11. Fasting 11. (1859) 288 A breaker of his fast. 1597 T. Payne Royal Exch. 14 They become eyther breakers or banckerers. 01649 Drumm. of Hawth. Cypress Grove Wks. 118 Death.. is the reasonless breaker off of all actions. 1840 Carlyle Heroes iv. 193 A Breaker of Idols. 1847 Tennyson Princ. 11. 143 Horn¬ handed breakers of the glebe.

b. spec. One who cards wool. (cf. break

v.

2 c.)

a 1867 H. Woodruff Trotting Horse in Amer. (1868) xxiii. Although a trotter of remarkably fine speed and power, he was such a bad breaker. 1965 Weekly News (N.Z.) 8 Dec. 59/2 Breaking horses have always been a problem... There is an alarmingly high percentage of breakers. 201

breaker2 ('breika(r)). Naut. [Commonly believed to be a corruption of Sp. bareca or barrica; cf. bareca, barrico.] A small keg or cask. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxiii, A breaker or two (that is, small casks holding about seven gallons each) of water was put into each boat. 1835-Jac. Faithf. xx, The purser sent a breaker of spirits on shore. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. vi. (ed. 2) 227 They will be found very useful for carrying both provisions and water, and stow better than breakers.

t'breakeress. Obs. rare. In 4 brekeresse. prec. + -ess.] A woman who breaks.

[f.

1382 Wyclif Jer. iii. 7 The brekeresse of lawe, Juda, hir sister. -8 The lawe brekeresse.

break-even ('breik'i:v(9)n). orig. U.S. [f. to break even (see break v. 48 b).] Usu. attrib designating or pertaining to the point at which one ‘breaks even’ (see break v. 48 b); of or pertaining to a balance of expenditure and revenue, profit and loss, etc. 1938 Barron's National Financial Weekly 14 Nov. 27/3 Tire companies in the first half of the year were around the break-even point on the average. 1948 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LII. 688/2 By matching the right size of aeroplane to the stage length, ‘break-even’ fares of between fourpence and sixpence per passenger mile could be achieved. 1949 Ibid. LIII. 199/2 Sales of 400 aircraft would be required before the constructor reached ‘break-even’ point and recovered his outlay. 1952 A. E. Benn Management Diet. 66 Break-even point, that point at which the level of balance is equal, as the level of production at which there will be no profit or loss. 1958 Times 12 Dec. 12/1 (heading) Earliest possible ‘break-even’. Ibid., Steps necessary to achieve the earliest possible break-even date. 1965 Listener 1 July 9/2 Half the tenants .. can afford a break-even rent.

breakfall ('breikfoil). [f. break v. 28 b + fall ii.1] In judo, a movement whereby the impact of a fall is diminished. Hence as v. intr., to execute a breakfall. 1906 Miyake & Tani Game ofju-jitsu v. 35 The sideways break-fall.. may nearly always be used when you are pitching forward on to your head. 1954 E. Dominy Teach yourself Judo ii. 20 Spend 5 minutes on breakfalls. Ibid. iii. 36 As he begins to fall you must let go of his jacket with your right hand so that he can breakfall.

breakfast ('brekfast), sb. Also 5 brekfast, 6 breke-, breck-, 6-7 breakefast. [f. break v. 29 c + FAST.]

1. That with which a person breaks his fast in the morning; the first meal of the day. 1463 Mann. Househ. Exp. 224 Exspensys in brekfast, xj. d. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, xxii. Pream., Ye were at your brekefast. 1528 More Heresyes iv. Wks. 251/1 That men shoulde go to masse as well after sowper as before brekefast. 1594 Lady Russell in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 233 III. 40 Becawse I here your Lordship meaneth to be gon early in the morning, I am bowld to send your pale thin cheecks a comfortable little breckfast. 1762 Goldsm. Nash 46 People of fashion make public breakfasts at the assembly-houses. 1793 Covvper Lett. 25 Apr., My only time for study is now before breakfast. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell Third hi. xii, Dinners convivial and political.. Breakfasts professional and critical, i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. §27. 207 My assistants were preparing breakfast.

2. a. Occas. in wider sense: That which puts an end to a fast, a meal. 1526 Tindale Heb. xii. 16 Esau which for one breakfast solde his right. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. v. iv. 34, I would haue beene a break-fast to the Beast. 01700 Dryden (J.) The wolves will get a breakfast by my death.

b. = wedding-breakfast. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fairxv. 132 We’ll have a wedding, Briggs, and you shall make the breakfast, and be a brides’ maid. 1903 G. B. Shaw Man » brixel, bale, and jrin vpbraid, J>at isacar pe prist pe said. Ibid. 24044 bat brixel [v.r. bricsl], beting, crone o thorn. Ibid. 28196 Wit flitt, wit brixil, striue and strut, myn euencristen haue i hurt.

t'brixle, v. Obs. Also 4 bruxle. [a. ON. brigzla ‘to upbraid’.] trans. To reproach, reprove, upbraid. Hence 'brixling vbl. sb. a 1300 Cursor M. 10287 For h»s brixling, for )?is vp-braid. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 345 benne a wynde of goddez worde efte pe wi3e bruxlez.

briyn,

obs. form of brine.

briz, brizz, v. Sc. brize, brizze,

form of bruise (sense 5).

obs. forms of breeze.

brizle, brizzle, -lie,

etc.; see bristle, bristly.

bro (brou).

A written or colloq. abbrev. of brother sb. PI. bros. (joe. pronounced brns), in the title of a firm. 221666 Evelyn Diary an. 1638 (1955) II. 20, I accompanyd my Eldest Bro (who then quitted Oxford) into the Country, i860 E. Walford County Families 49 (Advt.), Bass’s East India Pale Ale.. Berry, Bros., & Co. 1905 W. M. Gallichan Cheshire 161 Notice the old timbered house now occupied by Messrs George Bros., ironmongers. 1937 Partridge Diet. Slang 94/2 Bro. Brother: Charterhouse: C. 20. 1940 ‘N. Blake’ Malice in Wonderland ix. 132, I must.. report to my bro on the sinister bloke we’ve just chased off.

bro, obs. form of

brae, broo, brow.

broach (brautf), sb.1

Forms: 4-9 broche, 6 brotche, 6-9 broch, 6, 9 brooch, 9 dial, brotch, 6broach. [ME. broche, a. F. broche (13th c. in Littre), ONF. broke, broque\ corresp. to Pr. and Sp. broca, It. brocca ‘a carver’s great fork’ (Florio):—Rom. or late L. *brocca spike, pointed instrument, akin to broccus, brocchus adj. in brocchi dentes projecting teeth. The same word as brooch, the senses having been differentiated in spelling.] I. A tapering pointed instrument or thing. fl. A pointed rod of wood or iron; a lance, spear, bodkin, pricker, skewer, awl, stout pin. Obs. in general sense exc. dial. C1305 Disp. Mary & Cross 55 in Leg. Rood 135 A Broche porw-out his brest born. 1448 MS. R. Glouc. Gloss. 628 A broche of brennyng fure was putte purghe an home, that was putt in his fondement in to K. Edward Seconds body. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. civ. 137 He prykked the tode thurgh with a broche. 1548 Thomas Rules Ital. Gram, in Promp. Parv. 52, Stocco, an armyng swoorde made like a broche. 1658 R. White tr. Digby’s Powd. Symp. (1660) 127

BROACH Make red-hot a broach or fire-shovel. 1674 Ray N.C. Wds. 8, Broach .. signifies also a Butchers-prick.

2. esp. Such a pointed instrument used for roasting meat upon; a spit. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1029 Thre balefulle birdez his brochez pey turne. f 1420 Liber Cocorum 16 Do opon a broche, rost hom bydene A lytel. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 52 Broche or spete, veru. 1598 Barckley Felic. Man v. (1603) 373 Shee.. put him upon the broach, and roasted him. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 36 Hee turned a Broach that had worne a Crowne. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. 11. 547 Entrails shall. . drip their Fatness from the Hazle Broach. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe iv, Wild-fowl.. brought in upon small wooden spits or broaches. 1872 Tennyson Lynette 475 Set To turn the broach.

b. A spit for spitting herring; a similar instrument used in Candle-making for suspending the wicks for dipping. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 52 Broche for spyrlynge or herynge, spiculum. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts I. 680 The dipping room is furnished with .. a large wheel for supporting the broaches.

|3. ? A taper: often mentioned along with torches; but in some cases (e.g. quot. 1504) explained as a spike on which to stick a candle. *377 Langl. P. PI. B. xvii. 244 Hew fyre at a flynte .. But thow have towe to take it with, tondre or broches, A1 thi laboure is loste. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxxv, Troches and broches and stondartis bi-twene. 1504 Eng. Gilds {1870) 327 A broche wr a fote. ii new torches.

4. fa. A spindle. Obs. or Sc. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 52 Broche of threde, vericulum. 1483 Cath. Angl. 44 A Broche for garn, fusillus. 1513 Douglas JEneis vii. xiv. 59 Hir womanly handis..Na spyndill vsit, nor brochis of Mynerve. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Broaches, Wooden spindles to put pirns on, to be wound off.

b. A shuttle used in weaving tapestry. 1783 Encycl. Brit. X. 8536/1 They serve to keep the warp open for the passage of broaches wound with silks, woollens, or other matters used in the piece of tapestry. 1878 Mrs. Sketchley tr. A. de Champeaux's Tapestry 2 The material for the woof is wound on a wooden shuttle, called a ‘broach’ or ‘flute’. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 212/1 The design [of tapestry and pile carpets] is formed by short stitches knotted across the warp with a wooden needle called a broach.

5. A piece of tough pliant wood, pointed at each end, used by thatchers for fixing their work. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 52 Broche for a thacstare, firmaculum. 1787 W. Marshall Norfolk II. 64 To prevent the wind from blowing it off. .he pegs it down slightly with ‘double broaches’. 1843 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IV. 11. 366 Thatcher for labour, brotches, etc., at 7s. 6d. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. Gloss., Broaches.. rods of hazel, etc., split and twisted for use by the thatcher.

6. A church spire; also, formerly, an obelisk. Now technically restricted as in quot. 1876. 1501 MS. S. Lincolnsh. Churchw. Acc., For trassyng & makyn moldes to the brooch. 1665 in Bp. Cosin's Corr. (Surtees) II. 121 The lead and timber of the two great broaches at the west end of the church. 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. 11. xiv. 99 Augustus Caesar brought two of these Broaches or Spires to Rome. 1854 H. Miller Sch. G? Schm. xiv. (1857) 348 The Masonry a-top that had supported the wooden broach. 1876 Gwilt Archit. 959 The most frequent spire is that called a broach, when it does not rise from within parapets, but is carried up on four of its sides from the top of the square tower.

7. Venery. ‘A start of the head of a young stag, growing sharp like the end of a spit’ (Bailey). 1575 Turberv. Venerie 52 They beare not their first head which we call Broches.. until they enter the second yere of their age. 1616 Bullokar, Broches, the first head or homes of a Hart or stagge. 1623 Cockeram i , Pollard, Broach is the next [start] growing aboue the Beame antler. 1677 N. Cox Gentl. Recreation (1706) 65 The first is called Antlier; the second Surantlier.. The little Buds or Broches about the Top, are called Croches. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. 11. v. 324 The stag’s horns are called his head; when simple, the first year they are called broches.

8. fa. A tusk or canine tooth (obs.). b. One of the teeth of a carding-comb, in a woollen mill. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 125 These [shepherds’ dogs] ought to be well faced .. a flat chap, with two great broches, or long, straight, sharp teeth. 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 483 To place the wool on one of his combs the steel brooches of which are triple.

j-9. A surveyor’s arrow used with the chain. Obs. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 519 The Measurer must be prouided of tenne or twelue arrowes, otherwise called little broches, or prickes .. to guide the chayne.

10. A general name for tapered boring-bits, or tools for enlarging or smoothing holes, generally of polygonal form with several cutting edges, sometimes round and smooth for burnishing, as in watchmaking; a similar tool used in dentistry; an instrument for broaching or tapping casks. In Lock-making, the pin in a lock which enters the barrel of the key. 1753 Chambers Cycl., Among us, broach is chiefly used for a steel instrument wherewith to open holes in metals. 1786 Phil. Trans. LXXVI. 28, I took a five-sided broach, which opened the hole in the brass. 1846 W. Johnston Beckmann s Hist. Invent. I. 228 A piece of timber.. like the handle of a broch. 1859 j- Tomes Dent. Surg. 415 Broaches for destroying and withdrawing the pulp should be very fine, elastic and flexible. 1884 F. Britten Watch & Clockm. 36 A round broach.. for burnishing brass holes.

11. A narrow pointed chisel used by masons. f 12. 'A musical instrument, the sounds of which are made by turning round a handle’ (Bailey 1730-6). Obs.

565 II. from the verb. 13. A perforation or boring. I5J9 Horman Vulg. 192 b, That he shulde nat make a broche or do any harme. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 259 The old Horses have longer and thinner teeth.. there are certain broaches or wrinckles in their teeth. 1684 Bucaniers Amer. iii. 32 Making an incision, or broach in the body, from thence gently distilleth a sort of Liquor.

f 14. Phrase, a broach, on broach: with a perforation or tap; esp. to set a (on) broach: to tap and set running; also fig. (Now written abroach.) Also in broach. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 52/2 Brochyn or settyn a vesselle abroche, attamino. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 266 Whan ye sette a pype on broche, do thus. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 355/2, I see .. heresyes so sore sette a broche in some vnhappy heartes. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 172/1 Wee haue in part set this matter on broch. 1606 Earl Northampton in True & Perf. Relat. Gg2a, When it [this doctrine] was first set on broach. 1826 Disraeli Vivian Grey II. xii. 169 As fine a barrel of ale in broach as you ever tasted.

III. Attnb. and Comb., as (sense 5) broachriver-, broach-splitting-, (sense 6) broach-spire, -steeple-, broach-turner, a turn-spit; broachwood, wood suitable for making broaches or spits. 1921 Diet. Occup. Terms (1927) §499 * Broach river-, rives timber with a cleaver, and shapes the pieces of timber with a hand knife to form broaches, i.e. pointed implements used in thatching. 1848 Rickman Goth. Archit. 154 The ‘broachspires of Northamptonshire. 1899 Rider Haggard in Longman's Mag. Mar. 410, I found.. Rough Jimmy., employed in splitting broaches to be used for thatching stacks. This is the process of‘broach-splitting. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 446 A head of Brasse, made after the fashion of a ‘broch steeple. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 549/1 The ‘broche turner.. may let the spitte stande. 1872 Tennyson Lynette 750 Dish-washer and broachturner, loon! 1836 Marryat Japhet xiv, We were cutting hazel ‘broach wood in the forest.

broach (brautj), sb.2 In 7 baroche. [Placename.] A Surat cotton grown in the Broach district, Gujarat State, India. 1617 R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc. 1883) I. 330 We gave our host.. a peece of backar baroche to his children to make them 2 coates. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 482/2 The principal sorts [of Surats] are Hingunghat, Oomrawuttee, Broach, Dhollera, and Dharwar. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. II. 587/1 Raw ‘Broach’ cotton.

broach, a. rare, [attrib. use of sb.] Like a broach or spit; in Arch, broach-shaped. 1721 in Bailey. 1849 Freeman Archit. 384 Instead of being broach, they began to spring out of the middle of the tower.

broach (brautj), v.1 Forms: 4-6 broche, 5-7 broch, 6 broache, (8 dial, broych), 6- broach, [f. broach sb.1: cf. F. brocher, Pr. brocar, brochar, It. broccare, f. broche, broca, brocca sb. Cf.

BROACHED Tapster, broach Number 1706. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xliii. 25 A pipe of wine was broached. b. Also with the liquor as object. 1650 Baxter Saints R. 1. v. §1 (1654) 49 For you, Christians, is this wine broached. 1713 Lond. ey of fraunce affore pe Amerel 3ude And Ro[land] wij? steme continance ys message pus gan bude.

bude,

var. of boud.

bude = behoved: see budel,

bus v.

obs. form of beadle and buddle sb.1

budge (bAd3), sb.1 Forms: 4 bugee, -eye, 5 boge, bogey, 6 bogy, bug(g)e, buggye, Sc. buge, 7 budg, 9 boodge, 6- budge. [Etymology obscure; usually identified with budge sb3, bouge sb.1, a leather bag; but the connexion of sense is not clear, and most of the early forms seem to indicate a dissyllabic etymon. If the original sense were ‘kid-skin with the hair’ (see quot. 1616), the OF. bouchet, bochet a kid, might be thought of; cf. ‘budge of court’ from F. bouche under bouge sb.2] 1. A kind of fur, consisting of lamb’s skin with the wool dressed outwards. 1382 Pol. Poems (1859) I. 265 Somme frers beren peluse aboute.. Al after that thai ere .. For somme bugee, and for somme byse. 1395 Determin. Feast in Rogers Agric. Prices II. 647 De xxxix furruris pro capuciis de Bugeye. 1465 Paston Lett. xeix. I. 134, Ij. gounes, one furryd with bogey. 1513 Douglas JEneis viii. Prol. 58 Byand byssely, and bane, buge, beuir and bice. 1532-3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, xiii, No man, vnder the saide estates .. shall weare any furre .. except foynes, genets .. and Bogy, c 1570 Thynne Pride Lowl. (1841) 32 A gowne Of fine blacke cloth, and faced faire with budge. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Agneau, Blanche dagneaux, the furre called, white Lambe, or, white Budge. 1616 Bullokar, Budge, a furre of a kinde of kid in other countries. C1640 J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 305 Furred with Coney, lambskinne, and budge. 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. I. 288 Budge and Goat Skins. 01859 De Quincey Whiggism Wks. VI. 115 note, Budge is a species of fur.

2. attrib. and Comb., as in budge-face, -fur, -gcrwn, -skin; budge-bachelor, one of a company dressed in gowns trimmed with budge, who took part in the procession on Lord Mayor’s Day (see bachelor 2). (For budgedoctor, etc., see budge a.) 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 371 My mastyr bout of hym vj. boge scynnes prise iiij.s. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1070 In the stede of a budge furre. 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie III. x. 222 Poore budge face, bowcase sleeue, but let him passe, Once furre and beard shall priuiledge an Asse. 1649 Milton Observ. Art. Peace Wks. 1738 I. 355 To part freely with their own Budge-gowns. 1680 T. Jordan London's

Glory 13 In the Rear of them.. hastens the Foins and Budge-Batchelors together with the Gentlemen-Ushers to Guild-Hall. 1706 Phillips, Budge-Bachelers, a Company of poor old Men Cloath’d in long Gowns, lin d with Lambsfurr, who attend upon the Lord Mayor of the City of London, during the Solemnity of the Publick Shew.

f budge, sb.2 Obs. rare—Also 6 huge. [a. OF. bouge ‘espece de hache d’armes, ou plutot une grande serpe’ Godef. See voulge.] A kind of bill; a warlike instrument’ (Jamieson). 1513 Douglas JEneis xi. Prol. 16 Nane vther strokis nor wapynnis had thai thar, Nother speyr, huge, pol-ax, swerd, knyfe, nor mace [ed. 1553 has budgeis].

f budge, sb:3 Obs. [Later spelling of bouge sb.1, in sense 1. Cf. budget sb.] A leather bag. 1606 Holland Sueton. 204 To the necke of another, there was tyed a lether-bagge .. with this title .. But thou hast deserved a verie lether budge [culeum] indeed.

f budge, sb:4 Obs. [? f. budge v.1] A shove, a push. 1714 Ellwood Autobiog. (1765) 60 As for the Budge I had had it given me often in the Street but understood not the meaning of it till now; and now I found it was a Jostle, enough to throw one almost upon his Nose.

t budge, sb.5 Obs. slang. See quots. Also attrib. 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 95 The Budge.. his employment is in the dark of the Evening, to go into any door that he seeth open, and .. take whatever next cometh to hand. 1676 Warning for Housekprs. (title), Budg and Snudg, File-lifter, Tongue-padder, The Private Theif. 1706 Phillips, Budge, one that slips into a House, or Shop, to steal Cloaks, etc. 1751 Fielding Amelia 1. iii, You are some sneaking budge rascal. budge, sb.*, var. of bouge sb.2, court rations.

t budge, a. Obs. Also 7 bodge, budg. [Etymology unknown: we may perhaps compare bug a., also bog a. boggish. There appears to be a reference to the attrib. use of budge sb.1, as in the first quot. Possibly budge doctor may have originally meant one who wore budge fur.]

1. Solemn in demeanour, important-looking, pompous, stiff, formal. 1634 Milton Comus 707 Those budge doctors of the Stoic fur. 1640 Brome Sparagus Gard. iv. v, I ha no more to zay t’yee, since you be so budge. 1676 Marvell Gen. Councils Wks. 1875 IV. 119 And how budge must they look when they returned back to their diocesses. 1686 Oldham Art Poetry 66 No tutor, but the Budg Philosophers he knew. 1714 Ellwood Autobiog. (1765) 60 The Warden was a budge old man; and I looked somewhat big too: having a good gelding under me, and a good riding coat on my back. 1755 Johnson, Budge, surly, stiff, formal. 1781 Cowper Convers. 299 The solemn fop, significant and budge.

Brisk, lively.

1691 Ray S. & E.C. Wds. 90 Budge, brisk, jocund. You are very Budge.-N.C. Wds. (E.D.S.) Crowse, brisk, budge, lively, jolly. 1721-1800 in Bailey. budge (bAd3), v.1 Also 6-7 bouge, (7 budg).

[a. F. bouge-r to stir; according to Diez, prob. = Pr. bolegar to disturb oneself, It. bulicare to bubble up:—late L. *bullicare to bubble, frequentative of bulllre to boil. Cf., for the sense, Pg. bulire to move, stir.] 1. intr. To stir, to move from one’s place. (Almost always with negative expressed or implied, and said of that which stands firmly or stubbornly.) to budge against, to move against, act in hostility to, is now obs. 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) 31 Bouge not a foot to ayd Prince Rodamant. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 148 He could not be induced to bouge from his place. 1637 Earl Monm. tr. Malvezzi's Rom. & Tarquin 154 [He] doth not budge against his Prince. 1663 Butler Hud. I. III. 201, I thought th’ hadst scorn’d to budge a step, For fear. 1768 Goldsm. Good-n. Man Epil., Not a soul will budge to give him place. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1849) 207 The trapper .. refused to budge an inch. ,.i877 m rs. Oliphant Makers Flor. x. 252 Showing no inclination to budge,

t b. ? To wince, flinch, shirk (after Fr. bouger). 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. iv. iii. 44 Must I bouge? Must I obserue you? 1607-Cor. 1. vi. 44 The Mouse ne’re shunn’d the Cat, as they did budge From rascals worse then they. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. iii. 15 All are bound to bee there without budging at seuen. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. Apol. 10 He told them in the Pulpit, that let them budge at it how they would, it was their Hypocrisie that hindered them from receiving the truth.

c. To alter or shift from one’s (predetermined) position or opinion. Usu. in negative contexts. colloq. 1930 N. Coward Private Lives 1. 20 You’re as obstinate as a mule ... you don’t intend to budge an inch, do you? 1955 Times 31 Aug. 8/2 Egypt, says Colonel Sadat, will not budge from her present position that stability in the Arab world must be on the basis of United Nations resolutions, i960 C. P. Snow Affair xl. 372 Skeffington would not budge from his incorruptibility. 1982 S. Brett Murder Unprompted iv. 44 Now I’ve argued with him about this, but he won’t budge.

2. trans. To stir or move (a heavy inert thing). 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas n. i. iv. (1641) 106/1 A stone so huge, That in our Age three men could hardly bouge. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxiv. (1856) 218 Although the starboard floe.. parted a six-inch hawser, it failed to budge us one inch from the icy cradle. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 903/2 Three men were trying.. and could not budge it.

Marm. i. xxvii, Staff, budget, bottle, scrip, he wore. 1879 Miss Jackson Shropsh. Wd.-bk., Budget, a satchel of bass-matting in which workmen carry their tools.

f budge, v2 Obs. [? var. of bodge v.] To put together clumsily.

Scott

1628 Earle Microcosm, xliv, All the actions of his life are like so many things budg’d in without any natural cadence or connection at all.

ib.fig. Phrase, to open one’s budget, to speak one’s mind. Obs. (Cf. 3.)

budge,

2. dial.

BUDGET

620

BUDGE

var. of bouge v. Obs. to bilge. 1622 Fletcher Span. Curate iv. v, Preach not abstinence .. 'Twill budge the bottoms of their consciences.

budge-barrel, [f.

budge sb.3 = bouge sb.1, a leather bag + barrel y&.] (See quot.)

1627 Capt. Smith Seaman’s Gram. xiv. 66 A Budgbarrell is a little Barrell made of Latten, filled with powder to carry from place to place for feare of fire; in the couer it hath a long necke to fill the Ladles withall without opening. 1696 Phillips, Budge-barrel, a little Tin-barrel to carry Powder in for fear of fire. 1828 J. Spearman Brit. Gunner s.v. Barrel, Budge-barrels. These barrels are employed in the service of batteries, and have leather covers drawing together like the mouth of a bag. 1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 93 Budge Barrels. Weight of barrel, copper-hooped, 10 lb.

f'budgelling. Obs. rare—(Dyce suggests = ‘boggling’, or a misprint for budgetting.) a 1626 Middleton No wit, no H. 1. iii. Here is strange budgelling: I tell you, sir, Those that I put in trust were near me too.

f'budgely, adv. Obs. rare.

[f. budge a. + -ly2.] Solemnly, stiffly, with assumed dignity. 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe in Harl. Misc. (1810) VI. 166 King Dionisius .. saw him sit under his canopie so budgely.

'budger. [f.

budge v.1 + -er1.] One who budges

or stirs. 1607 Shaks. Cor. 1. viii. 5 Let the first Budger dye the others Slaue.

budgeree ('bAd33n), a. boojery, budger(r)y. Good, excellent.

Austral, colloq. Also [Native word: cf. next.]

1793

J- Hunter Port Jackson viii. 213 They very frequently, at the conclusion of the dance, would apply to us .. for marks of our approbation .. which we never failed to give by often repeating the word boojery, which signifies good; or boojery caribberie, a good dance. 1832 T. L. Mitchell Jrnl 3 Jan. in Three Expeds. E. Australia (1838) I. 63 In vain did Dawkins address them thus, ‘What for you jerran budgerry whitefellow?’ 1850 Household Words I. 476/2 They., spoke in a friendly strain; Budgery Master always gibit bullock along im Black fellow. 1918 Chambers’s Jrnl. Apr. 268/1 Instead of being ‘bong’, he was ‘budgerie’ (all right). 1966 W. S. Ramson Austral. Eng. vi. 105 Except, perhaps, in the north and west of Australia, budgeree has passed out of use.

budgerigar (’bAd33ri,ga:(r)).

Also betcherrygah, betshiregah, bougirigard, budgeragar, budgereg(h)ar, budgery garr, budgregore. [Native Australian (‘Port Jackson dialect’, Morris Austral English), f. budgeri, boodgeri good + gar cockatoo.] A small Australian parrot, the grass or zebra parakeet, Melopsittacus undulatus, a popular cage-bird in Britain and elsewhere. Cf. budgie. 1847 Leichhardt Overland Exped. 297 The Betshiregah (Melopsittacus undulatus, Gould) were very numerous. 1848 H. W. Haygarth Bush Life in Australia xii. 139 A most brilliant little parrot.. about the size of a bullfinch,.. called the budgery garr. 1857 W. Howitt Tallangetta I. ii. 48 Young paroquets, the green leeks, and the lovely speckled budgregores. 1857 F. J. A. Hort in A. F. Hort Life S? Lett. (1896) I. 388 A small green creature like a miniature cockatoo, called a Budgeragar. 1889 Times 16 Feb. 4/3 Crystal Palace Cagebird Show 1889... Two Australian budgerigars. 1922 E. V. Lucas Genevra's Money xix. 132 Little foreign birds for the most part, avadavats, Java sparrows, budgerigars. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 118 Budgerigars came in thousands, wheeling in aerial manoeuvres of unbelievable intricacy.

budgerow (’bAd33r3u). Anglo-Indian. Also 8 -9 budgero. [a. Hindi or Bengali bajra.] ‘A lumbering keelless barge, formerly much used by Europeans travelling on the Ganges’ (Col. Yule). [CI570 tr. Cesare Federici in Hakl. II. 358 (Y.) Their barkes be light and armed with oares .. and they call these barkes Bazaras and Patuas [in Bengal].] 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xxxiii. 12 In their Budgeroes, which is a convenient Boat, that goes swiftly with the Force of Oars. 1781 Hodges 39 (Y.) The budgerows, which both sail and row. 1834 H. Caunter Scenes in Ind. 249 Our papers.. we happened luckily to have on board the budgerow.

budget (’bAd3it), sb. Forms: 5 bowjette, -gett, 6 bo-, booget, bow-, bou-, boud-, budgette, (bowdshett), 6-7 bou-, bow-, boudget, 7 bugget, bu(d)git, 6- budget, [ad. F. bougette, dim. of bouge leather bag; see bouge sb.1, budge sb.3 Cf. bouget.]

f 1. a. A pouch, bag, wallet, usually of leather. Obs. exc. dial. 1432-50 tr. Higden Rolls Ser. vn. 385 His bow3ettes [manticis] and caskettes. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 62 A boget wyth leteers hangyng at his sadel bow. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. nob, For a pourse or a bougette. 1611 Coryat Crudities 66 A certaine Pedler, hauing a budget of small wares. 1638 Heywood Wise Worn. iv. i, You whose wealth lyes in your braines; not in your budgets. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 250 A Budget or Pocket to hang by their sides, to put their Nails in. 1783 Johnson in Boswell (1831) V. 116 When I landed at Billingsgate I carried my budget myself to Cornhill. 1808

1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 100 Put it in your boget among lyes and fayned fables. 1642 Rogers Naaman 139 Infinite are the subtilties which are in the bugit of this traitor. i68r Nevile Plato Rediv. 261 Most of the Wise .. Men .. are very silent, and will not open their Budget. 1847 A. Bronte Agnes Grey III. xiv. 219 There’s Matilda.. and I must go and open my budget to her. 1861 Trollope Tales of all Countries 133 At length Miss Jack was allowed to open her budget, and to make her proposition.

f c. the hangman's budget. Obs. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 37 With an Habeas Corpus to remooue them from the Shepheards tarre-boxe to the hangmans budget. 1607 Dekker Wh. Babylon Wks. 1873 11. 270 A Broker and his wife that dropt out of the Hangmans budget but last day, are now eating into the Camp.

2. In various spec, uses: fa. A leather or skin bottle. Obs. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 574 Great Leather budgets filled full of fresh Water. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais II. viii, The measure of twelve oyle budgets or butts of olives. 1786 tr. Beckford’s Vathek 12 A water budget.

b. A kind of boot in a carriage, adapted for carrying luggage. ? Obs. Cf. basket 5. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 115 Boots and budgets are mostly understood as one article.. that wherein the principal difference lies, is made with a loose cover, and is properly the budget, being made convenient for trunks.

c. A leathern socket for retaining the butt of a cavalry carbine on a journey. Cf. bucket sb.1 4 b. 1816 Scott Old Mart, ix, The two dragoons.. have their carabines out of their budgets.

3. transf. The contents of a bag or wallet; a bundle, a collection or stock. Chiefly fig., esp. of news; spec, a long letter full of news. 1:597 T. Morley Introd. Musicke 157 You shall haue the hardest in all my budget. 1692 R. L’Estrange Fables (J.) It was nature, in fine, that brought off the cat, when the fox’s whole budget of inventions failed him. 1729 Swift Wks. 1841 II. 110, I read .. the whole budget of papers you sent. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 23 But O th’ important budget!.. who can say What are its tidings? 1807 C. Wilmot Let. 15 May in Russ. Jrnls. (1934) Li. 241 Months have intervened since your delightful Budget reach’d these Realms. 1822 Hazlitt Men & Mann. Ser. 11. iii. (1869) 54 His budget of general knowledge. 1852 E. Ruskin Let. 16 Jan. in M. Lutyens Effie in Venice (1965) 11. 246, I am going out to tea .. but have time to begin my weekly budget before I go. 1854 Thoreau Walden iv, Bed and bedstead making one budget. 1855 Trollope Warden xii. 185 The budget of news which was prepared for her father. 1867 De Morgan {title) A Budget of Paradoxes. 1868 C. M. Yonge Chaplet of Pearls I. xiv. 190 He gathered up the sense of the letters.. and said, ‘This is a woful budget, my poor son. ’ i960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 30, I had a budget from her last week.

b. A frequent title for a journal (i.e. a budget of news, etc.): e.g. Pall Mall Budget, Young Folk’s Weekly Budget. 4. a. A statement of the probable revenue and expenditure for the ensuing year, with financial proposals founded thereon, annually submitted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on behalf of the Ministry, for the approval of the House of Commons. Sometimes put for the condition of the national finances as disclosed in the ministerial statement; also for the financial measures proposed. Hence applied to an analogous statement made by the finance minister of any foreign country; also to a prospective estimate of receipts and expenditure, or a financial scheme, of a public body, or to the domestic accounts (of income and its manageable expenditure) of a family or individual; also, the money available for domestic spending; so on a budget, with a restricted amount of money. [The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in presenting his annual statement, was formerly said to open the budget. In a pamphlet entitled The Budget Opened, Sir R. Walpole was compared, apropos of his forthcoming Excise Bill, to a mountebank opening his wallet of quack medicines and conjuring tricks.] 1733 Budget Opened 8 And how is this to be done? Why by an Alteration only of the present Method of collecting the publick Revenues.. So then, out it comes at last. The Budget is opened; and our State Emperick hath dispensed his packets by his Zany Couriers through all Parts of the Kingdom.. I do not pretend to understand this Art of political Legerdemain. 1764 Gent. Mag. XXXIV. 207 The administration has condescended .. to explain the Budget to the meanest capacity. 1771-97 H. Walpole Mem. Geo. Ill, I. xvii. 250 The time was now come for opening the budget, when it was incumbent on him to state the finances, debts, and calls of Government. 178S Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 168/2 On the 30th of June Mr. Pitt opened the national accounts for the present year, or what is generally termed the Budget. 1800 Pitt in G. Rose Diaries (i860) I. 278 Our first business.. must be to prepare our budget. 1814 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. XII. 98 The budget has.. passed the Chamber of Deputies of the departments with trifling amendments. 1854 C. M. Yonge Heartsease I. 1. vi. 92 Your budget? Are you good at arithmetic? cx86o Wraxall tr. R. Houdin xi. 143, I resolved to effect an utter reform in my budget. 1870 Rogers Pref. to Adam Smith W. Nat. 20 England was crippled by foolish budgets. 1899 R. Whiteing No. 5 John St. iii. 18 To the Budget, then. Rent, 2s. 6d. a week; coal and candle, 6d. 1901 B. S. Rowntree Poverty p. ix, Chapter viii. deals with workmen’s budgets, and especially the diet of the working classes. 1909 C. F. G.

BUDGET Masterman Condition of England iv. 98 The Blue Book., analyses over a thousand ‘family budgets’, each giving details of how much is spent weekly on butter, tapioca, or treacle. 1932 Listener 4 May 630/1 Wheat occupies a much smaller place in the housewife’s budget than it once did. 1955 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. XI. 154/1 By 1951, 11% of the weekly budget, almost as much as the rent, was being spent on milk. 1959 Economist 4 Apr. 46/1 Those on a budget go to Florida in spring or late autumn, the ‘off seasons’ when charges there are reduced.

b. attrih. or quasi-adj. Designed or suitable for someone of limited means; cheap. 1958 Woman 29 Nov. 6/2 This is just the drink to give party guests a glow—at a budget price, i960 Housewife May 31/1 There are two restaurants catering for both luxury and budget tastes. 1969 Woman's Own 12 Apr. 27 Budget meals for the family.

15. Her. = bouget: cf. 2 a. Obs. 1766 Porny Heraldry Gloss., Budget, v. Water-Budget. 6. (See mum-budget, a phrase enjoining

silence.) 1598 Shaks. Merry W. v. ii. 7, I come to her in white, and cry Mum; she cries Budget, and by that we know one another.

7. Comb, and Attrib., as budget-bearer, -full, -maker, -man. Also budget account, an account opened with a department store, etc., offering the consumer revolving credit terms in return for regular payments; a charge account; budgetbar (see quot.); budget-gut, the caecum; budget plan, orig. U.S., a system of credit using the principles of a budget account; budget-trimmer, a man who prepares and fixes in position the leather fittings on coaches and carriages; budget-wise, (a) adv. (orig. U.S.), with reference to a budget; (b) adj., making full use of limited resources. 1969 Money Which? Sept. 120/2 Other alternatives included *budget accounts in department stores. 1979 F. E. Perry Diet. Banking 32/1 He gives the details of his usual outgoings to a bank which totals the annual cost, opens a budget account for the customer, and .. thereafter the bank will debit the customer’s ordinary current account and credit the budget account with a monthly sum representing one-twelfth of the annual cost... Also, a system of credit¬ trading operated by some big department stores by which the customer pays so much each month and in return obtains credit for a multiple of the sum. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 48 The *budget Bar., is a straight timber, on which rests the boot or budgets. 1684 tr. Agrippa’s Van. Arts lxii. 184 Barefooted *Budget-Bearers. 1614 Engl. Way to Wealth in Harl. Misc. (Mahl.) III. 238 Heaps and *budget-fulls in the counting-house. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 11. 350 The blinde gut.. is commonly called by some the sacke or ^budget gut. 1553 Act 1 Mary 3rd Sess. viii. §2 The Currier.. *Budget-maker, and all other Artificers occupying the Craft or Mystery of Leather¬ buying. 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 26 Budget-maker: Fee, —61. is. 8d. C1550 Wyll of Denyll (Collier) 6 To euery of these pety *Bouget men of laws .. a Bouget to put inne their sub penas. 1934 Bartlett & Reed Methods of Instalment Selling & Collection vi. 110 The features of the ^budget plan, as explained by the salesman, make the extra sale. 1955 Look 4 Oct. 56/2 Under a new Certified Automotive Service Budget Plan, he borrowed $254.10 to overhaul his engine and buy two new tires. 1984 Hitching & Stone Understand Accounting! x. 162 Electricity charges are covered by a monthly budget plan. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 56 *Budget trimmer. 1909 Daily Chron. 4 Mar. 4/7 Wanted .. Budget Trimmers, accustomed to head work. 1952 T. Pyles Words & Ways of Amer. Engish vii. 189 Combinations with .. -wise,.. stylewise, *budgetwise. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 196 The Metallurgical Project had by now grown until it was budget-wise the major part of the University’s activity. 1958 Woman 22 Nov. 31/1 Budget-wise dishes. Family recipes.. that are easy on the purse.

Hence budgetism. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLVI. 105 The journalism, the budgetism, the parliamentaryism, of the 19th century.

621 Encycl. 30/2 The first essentials for budgeting are to keep weekly or monthly accounts.

budgetary ('bAd3it3ri), a. [f. budget sb. + -ary 1 A: cf. mod.F. budgetaire.] Pertaining to a budget. 1879 R. H. Lang in Macm. Mag. Sept. 446/2 No accounts whatever, not even budgetary estimates.. have been given. 1881 Daily News 25 Mar. 5/4 M. Constans said such budgetary derangement was impracticable.

budgeteer (bAd;ji'ti3(r)). [f. as prec. + -eer1.] One who makes up a budget (in sense 3 or 4). 01845 T. Moore Memor. last Week ii, Such smooth Budgeteers have genteelly undone us. 1867 De Morgan Budget of Paradoxes in Athenaeum 20 July 71/1 Prof. Smyth is a paradoxer; but he is one of those whom the budgeteer would place in his first class. 1880 World 21 Apr. 7 He has shown himself the prince of budgeteers.

budgeter ('bAd3it3(r)). [f. as prec. + -er.] One who carries a wallet; ? a mountebank, charlatan (obs.); a strolling player. 1603 Harsnet Pop. Impost. 52 Our holy Budgetters having to deal with Devils .. doe .. provide so many to be packed up in One Patient, as except hell be drawn dry, they can never want work. 1815 C. Mathews Mem. II. 345 Never was such a thing known to a budgeter.

'budgetless, a. [f. as prec. + -less.] Without a budget; presenting no financial statement. 1865 Morning Star 7 Apr., Many.. Liberals suffer the present budgetless Government with the greatest patience. 1884 Harper's Mag. 857/1 The justification for a budgetless regime.

budgie ('bAdji), colloq. abbrev. of budgerigar. 1936 W. Watmough Cult of Budgerigar xv. 207 Although Budgies are so hardy.. reasonable care should.. be exercised to protect them from chills. 1959 ‘A. Gilbert’ Death takes Wife xv. 186 We’ve got a budgie., that Maureen’s teaching to talk.

t'budgy, a. Obs. rare—h [f. budge sb.1 + -y1.] Of or like budge or lamb’s fur. 1598 F. R. Thule, or Virtue’s Historic Rijb, On whose furr’d chin did hang a budgie fleece.

t'budkin. Obs. [app. a variant of bodkin, bodikin.] In God's budkin = by the body of God: an obsolete oath. 1600 Heywood 1 Edw. IV, iii. i. Wks. 1874 I- 43 Gods blue budkin! has the knaue serued me so?

'budless, a. [see -less.] Without buds. 1837 New Monthly Mag. LI. 115 Flowerless, bowerless, budless, and blossomless! 1849 C. Bronte Shirley v. 49 Stalks budless and flowerless.

'budlet. [f. bud sb.1 + -let.] A little bud; a secondary bud springing from another bud. a 1864 Darwin (in Webster) To distinguish .. the parent bud from the numerous budlets which are its offspring.

t'budling. Obs. rare-1, [f. bud^.1 + -ling.] A little bud; fig. a young child. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 213 Part of these yoong ones to be taught the grammar in a faire schoole.. out of which these budlings at need from time to time to be dulie derived and drawen.

budmash, var. of badmash, ‘bad character’, bue, obs. form of be v., bow v. buel, obs. form of bowel. buen, obs. form of been: see be v. ||Buen Retiro (bwen re'tiro). [Sp., lit. ‘good retreat’.] The name of a palace near Madrid, used attrib. or absol. to designate a soft-paste porcelain made there during the reign of Charles III.

'budget, v. [f. prec. sb.] fa. trans. To put in a ‘budget’ or wallet; to store up (obs.). b. intr. To draw up or prepare a budget (budget sb. 4); esp .for a certain supply or establishment, or for a particular financial result.

1863 W. Chaffers Marks & Monogr. 173 This monogram of Charles III is said to be found on the Buen Retiro porcelain, without the crown. 1869 Lady C. Schreiber Jrnl. (1911) I. 11 A set of Buen Retiro white (moulded) china... Figure of a man in white porcelain,.. marked Buen Retiro.

1618 J. Taylor (Water P.) Pennilesse Pilgr. Wks. 1630 I. 125/2 We eate a substantiall dinner, & like miserable Guests we did budget vp the reuersions. 1884 Daily News 9 Oct. 4/6 An army of 6,000 men and a force of 7,757 police were budgeted for in 1883. 1893 Ibid. 24 Mar. 5/6 Although the Government of India are most unwilling to budget for a deficit. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 23 Mar. 2/2 Every Chancellor of the Exchequer budgets with the fear of the Irish members before his [eyes], 1901 Ibid. 4 June 2/2 When Sir Michael Hicks-Beach Budgeted for 1901-1902. 1922 G. A. Greenwood England to-day 28 There.. is the inevitable wear and tear of the home to be budgetted for. 1957 C. Morgan Challenge to Venus iv. i. 197 The small professional class do worry... They budget. They keep personal accounts.

1807 J. Stagg Misc. Poems (1808) 144 A bure her neame was Meg, A winsome weel far’d body. 1886 W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 8 Buor, a woman. 1889 Barrere & Leland Diet. Slang I. 110/2 Bewer, (tinkers’ slang), a woman... Young bew'r, a girl. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock 1. i. 8 ‘Christ,’ the boy said, ‘won’t anybody stop that buer’s mouth?’ Ibid. vi. i. 228 That was what always happened if you took up with anything but a buer; they gave you the air.

c. trans. To arrange (for) in a budget. 1890 Sat. Rev. 16 Aug. 191/1 General revenue, as budgeted for the years 1890-91, does not maintain the improvement of the previous year. 1909 D. Lloyd George in Daily Chron. 23 Oct. 1/1 The increment duty, which I budgetted to yield £50,000 this year. 1944 Bath Wkly. Chron. & Herald 24 June 3/1 (Advt.), By budgeting my points to work in with the rest of the rations, we make out very well.

Hence 'budgeting vbl. sb., the preparation of a budget; financial planning. 1945 G. Williams Women & Work iii. 88 Budgeting and shopping on a small income. I951 Good Housek. Home

buer (bjus(r)). north, dial, and tramps' slang. Also 9 bure, buor, bewer. [Orig. unknown.] A woman, spec, one of loose character.

Buerger ('b3:g3(r)). [The surname of L. Buerger (1879-1943), an American physician and surgeon.] Buerger's disease, inflammation and thrombosis in the small and medium-sized blood-vessels of the extremities, freq. leading to gangrene; also called thrombo-angiitis obliterans. 1914 Trans. Philad. Acad. Surgery XVI. 319 (heading) Thrombo-angiitis obliterans. (Buerger’s disease)... The disease usually attacks Polish and Russian Jews between the ages of twenty and.. forty years. Ibid. 321 A man upon whom he had operated at different periods for Buerger’s disease was stricken with a cerebral embolus. 1946 J. M. Murry Let. 27 May (1961) 278 The condition was diagnosed eventually as a rare disease—sometimes called

BUFF Buerger’s disease. 1968 Brit. Jrnl. Surgery LV. 452/1 Many surgeons do not recognize a disease entity, Buerger’s disease, and prefer to ascribe the condition to atherosclerosis.

buerne, obs. form of berne, burn. buetts, obs. form of bewets. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 241/1 Bewetts, Bewitts, or Buetts, Boots.. to which the Bells are fastned, and are buttoned about the Hawks Legs.

bufall, var. of buffle, Obs., buffalo. fbufe. Obs. Cant. [f. the sound of his bark.] A dog. 1567 Harman Caveat 84 Bufe, a dogge. 1609 Dekker Lanth. Candle-L. Wks. 1884-5 HI- 199- 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. iii. §68. 1725 New Cant. Diet.

bufet, obs. f. BUFFET. fbuff, sb.1 Obs. exc. in blind man’s buff. Forms: 5-8 buffe, 6 buf, 6- buff. [perh. a. OF. bufe, buffe, a blow; cf. buffet sft.1.] A blow, stroke, buffet. Buff and counterbuff seem to have

been

technical

terms

in

fencing

or

pugilism. c 1420 Avow. Arth. iv, Quo durst abide him a buffe. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 291/4 He gaf to her in Japyng a buffe. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 17 The Sarazin, sore daunted with the buffe. 1641 Milton Prel. Episc. Wks. 1738 I. 38 Where they give the Romanists one buff, they receive two counterbuffs.

2. To this perhaps belongs the phrase to stand buff: to stand firm, not to flinch; to endure. a 1680 Butler Hudibras's Epitaph (R.) For the good old cause stood buff ’Gainst many a bitter kick and cuff. 1698 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife v. v, The marriage-knot.. may stand buff a long, long time. 1701 Collier M. Anton. (1726) 219 To stand buff against danger and death. 1732 Fielding Miser 11. i, I must even stand buff, and outface him. 1827 Scott Diary in Lockhart (1839) IX. 146 If he does [turn on me].. it is best to stand buff to him.

buff (bAf), sb.2 Also 6-7 buffe. [app. ad. F. buffle buffalo; cf. BUFFLE.] I. The animal. f 1. a. A buffalo, or other large species of wild ox. 1552 Huloet, Buffe, bugle, or wylde oxe, bubalus. 1577 B. Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 137 Bubale, called of the common people Buffes, of Plinie Bisonte. 1582 D. Ingram Narrat. in Arb. Eng. Garner V. 256 Buffes, which are beasts as big as two oxen. 1621 Ainsworth Annot. Pentat. Deut. xiv. 5 The Buffe, Buffel, or Wilde-oxe. 01674 Milton Moscovia i. Wks. (1847) 569/1 Huge and desert Woods of Fir, abounding with black Wolves, Bears, Buffs. 1706 Phillips, Buff, Buffle or Buffalo, a wild Beast. tb. Used to render Pliny’s tarandus, now Googe

usually identified with the reindeer. Obs. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) A Buffe is called in Greek Tarandus.. When he is hunted or feared, he changeth his hew into whatsoever thing he seeth. 1617 Minsheu Ductor in Ling. 56 A Buffe, so called because it has some likeness with the Buffle .. L. Tarandus.

II. Buff-skin, leather, and its uses. f2. a. (More fully buff-leather): properly, leather made of buffalo hide; but usually applied to a very stout kind of leather made of ox-hide, dressed with oil, and having a characteristic fuzzy surface, and a dull whitish-yellow colour. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1447 Couerings of saddles made of buffe leather. 1581 Jrnls. Ho. Commons 130 The Bill touching the Making of Spanish Leather and Buff within this Realm. 1613 Voy. Guiana in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 190 The hide [of the Sea-cow].. will make good buff. 1711 Steele Sped. No. 43 Jf 10 To have Flea’d the Piet, and made Buff of his Skin. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 61 Losh, or buff-leather, drest in oil, fit for the use of the army. b. Military attire (for which buff was formerly

much used); a military coat made of buff; = Also the dress of sergeants and catch-poles. Hence, to wear buff, be in buff.

buff-coat.

1590 Shaks. Com. Err. iv. ii. 45 But is in a suite of buffe which rested him. 1599 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iv. 42 If Martius in boystrous buffes be drest. 1635 Shirley Coronat. iii. 306 To sell your glorious buffes to buy fine pumps. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal vi. 419 With men of Buffe and Feather [cumque paludatis Ducibus]. 1701 Collier M. Anton. (1726) Life 116 Never suffer’d to wear Buff in Italy. 1823 Scott Peveril (1865) 9 Churchmen, Presbyterians, and all, are in buff and bandoleer for King Charles. 1826 - Woodst. (1832) 177 Strangled on the pulpit stairs by this man of buff and Belial.

3. colloq.

The bare skin, in the buff: naked.

[1602 Dekker Satirom. (D.) I go in stag, in buff.] 1654 Chapman Rev. for Hon. 1. i, For accoutrements you wear the buff. 1749 H. Fitzcotton Homer 1. 38 If you perplex me with your stuff—All that are here shan’t save your buff. 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 606 He had no change [of linen], consequently he slept in buff. 1872 C. King Sierra Nev. viii. 176 Stripping ourselves to the buff, we hung up our steaming clothes. 1956 V. Jenkins Lions Rampant i. 17 They went swimming, sunbathed, did their training stripped to the buff. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ix. 153 The wizened fellow.. observed us undressing down to the buff. 1969 Rolling Stone 28 June 4/1 The girls call themselves the Groupies and claim they recorded their song in the buff.

4. = buff-stick or buff-wheel: see 9. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 292 A wheel similar to the glazer.. covered with .. buff leather, whence its name. These buffs and glazers, etc. 1884 F. Britten Watch & Clockm. 37 Soldier’s old belts make very good buffs .. Sticks coated with emery paper are also called buffs.

BUFF III. The colour, and things so coloured, [buff a., used as sb.] 5. a. Buff colour; a dull light yellow, blue and buff were formerly the colours of the Whig party. 1788 Dibdin Musical Tour xcvi. 394 The administration is a colour in grain, and will stand when buff and blue shall have entirely flown off. 1794 Stedman Surinam (1813) II. xxiv. 220 [The water melon’s] color is.. partly a very pale buff. 1818 Byron Juan Ded. xvii, I still retain my ‘buff and blue’. 1884 Harper s Mag. Feb. 349/2 A gradation of buffs and reds. Mod. The Edinburgh Review—the venerable blueand-buff.

b. In full Buff Cochin, a variety of the Cochin fowl, in which both cock and hen are of a uniform buff colour. 1855 PoultryChron. III. 173 Our old friends, the Cochins, mustered pretty strong,.. the buffs .. were very good. 1873 L. Wright Bk. Poultry 210 We have several shades in the Buff Cochin cock. Ibid. 213 The earliest and greatest breeders of Buff Cochins. 1899 Norris-Elye Brahmas & Cochins 61 Evenness of colour is perhaps the greatest difficulty in breeding, .buff Cochins.

6. a. the Buffs: a popular name given, from the former colour of their facings (see buff a.), to the old 3rd regiment of the line in the British army (now the East Kent Regiment; royal assent was given to the restoration of buff facings to the East Kent Regiment on 19 August 1890). Similarly the old 78th regiment (now 2nd Battalion of Seaforth Highlanders) are called the Rossshire Buffs. 1806 Times io Jan. The band of the Old Buffs playing Rule Britannia, drums muffled. 1838 Hist. Record 3rd Regim. Foot 157 The Men’s Coats were lined and faced with buff, they also wore buff waistcoats, buff breeches and buff stockings, and were emphatically styled the Buffs. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 295. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 319/1 He entered the Buffs in 1817.

b. ‘An enthusiast about going to fires’ (Webster 1934); so called from the buff uniforms worn by volunteer firemen in New York City in former times. Hence gen., an enthusiast or specialist. Chiefly N. Amer. colloq. 1903 N. Y. Sun 4 Feb. iv. 2/1 The Buffs are men and boys whose love of fires, fire-fighting and firemen is a predominant characteristic. 1907 A. M. Downes Fire Fighters & Pets xiii. 159 The ‘buff is a private citizen who is a follower, friend, and devoted admirer of the firemen. 1931 Lavine Third Degree vi. 62 A dentist, known to many cops as a police buff (a person who likes to associate with members of the department and in exchange for having the run of the station house does various courtesies for the police). 1955 Sci. Amer. Aug. 88/3 No choo-choo buff can be without Sampson. 1962 Listener 1 Nov. 704/2 A neighbour of mine who is a hi-fi buff. 1963 Economist 20 July 244/2 The ‘Pugwash’ meetings between western and Russian scientists and other disarmament buffs. 1966 New Yorker 17 Sept. 130 For ballet buffs, Tuesday evening of last week was a great occasion. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 37 Sports buffs will enjoy many diversions, with bicycling and camping.. heading the list. 7. Pathol. = BUFFY COAT. 1739 Huxham Fevers (1750) 36 Blood .. drawn off in high inflammatory Fevers.. appears covered.. with a thick glutinous coat, or Buff. 1782 Daniel in Med. Commun. I. 22 note, The blood was covered with a buff. 1835-6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 420/2 Louis found the blood covered by a firm thick buff at each bleeding in.. cases of fatal peripneumony. 1880 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., Inflammatory Buff, the buffy coat of coagulated blood.

IV. attrib. and comb. 8. Obvious: as buff accoutrements, belt; buffhide, -skin; t buff-hard adj. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 177 Good store of Buffe Hides. Four-f. Beasts 157 His [the Rhinoceros’] more then buffe-hard skin. 1622 Malynes Anc. LawMerch. 81 The Commodities of East-land, and thereabouts .. Cables, Canuas, Buffe-hides. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol n. 306 His Buff Doublet, larded o’er with Fat Of slaughter’d Brutes. 1727-38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Buff, The skin of the buffalo being dressed in oil.. makes .. buff-skin. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. v. 181 A cup, furnished at bottom with a piece of buff-skin. 1813 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. XI. 334 Sets of buff accoutrements for the soldiers. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. 1. vii. 53 The military classes in those old times, whose buff-belts [and] complicated chains.. have been bepainted in modern Romance.

BUFFALO

622 buff, sb.3, var. of buffe. fbuff, sb/ Obs. colloq. [Origin uncertain: see quot. 1725, and cf. BUFFER sbA] Fellow, ‘buffer’. 1708-15 Kersey, Buff..a dull Sot, or dronish Fellow. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 8 3/2 Tell me Grave Buffs, Partly Gods, partly Men. 1725 New Cant. Diet, s.v., Buff, a Newgate Cant Word used in familiar Salutation: as, How dost do, my Buff? 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. iv. 15 Mayhap old buff has left my kinsman here his heir. 1764 Brydges Homer Travest. (1797) II. 420 You seem afraid these buffs will flinch.

buff (bAf), sb.b and int. [? Onomatopoeic. Cf. bufe. Partly perhaps imitating a dog’s bark (cf. bough v., baff); partly an instinctive exclamation of contempt.] A. as int. In phrases a. f to say neither buff nor baff, not to say buff to a wolfs shadow (obs.). b. to say (or know) neither buff nor stye (Sc.): i.e. neither one thing nor another, nothing at all. 1481 Caxton Reynard Kij b, He wyste not what to saye buff ne baff. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 11 b, A certain persone, beeyng of him bidden good speede, saied to hym again neither buff ne baff. 1581 N. Borne Disput. 128 b (Jam.) Johann Kmnox ansuerit maist resolutlie, buf, baf, man. 1589 R Harvey PI. Perc. (i860) 25 These toong-tide Curs that cannot barke, nor say buffe to a woulfes shadow. ? a 1750 Jacobite Relics I. 80 (Jam.) Who knew not what was right or wrong, And neither buff nor sty, sir. 1824 Scott Redg. ch. xii, ‘What say you to that?’.. ‘I say neither buff nor stye to it’.

B. sb. Sc. (Perh. not connected with the prec.) ‘Nonsense, foolish talk’ (Jamieson). 1721 Ramsay Addr. Town Council Edinb. 23 It blather’d buff before them a’, And aftentimes turn’d doited. 1739 A. Nicol Poems 84 (Jam.) Nae great ferly tho’ it be Plain buff .. I’m no book-lear’d. 1790 Shirref Poems 338 (Jam.) It only gi’es him pain To read sic buff. 1813 W. Beattie Poems (1871) Yule Feast 1 Read: but should you think it buff, Throw’t out o’ sight.

buff (bAf), sb.6 A name given to the blindfold player in the game of blind-man’s buff. shadow buff: a modern game in which one player has to guess the identity of the other players from seeing only their shadows.

BUFF-COAT. a 1659 Cleveland May Day xiv, The *buff-fac’d Sons of War. 1596 Shaks. i Hen. IV, I. ii. 49 Is not a *Buffe Ierkin a most sweet robe of durance? 1625 Fletcher Elder Bro. v. i, Among provant swords, and buff-jerkin men. 1727 Swift Gulliver I. i. 24, I had on me a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce. 1881 Greener Gun 250 The.. gun is then buffed over with a leather *buff stick, a 1819 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Whs. (1830) 122 (D.) Like the *buff-stop on harpsichords or spinnets—Muffling their pretty little tuneful throats. 1880 A. J. Hipkins in Grove Diet. Mus. I. 691 A ‘buff-stop of small pieces of leather, brought into contact with the strings, damping the tone.

4. Substantival uses of this adj. are convenience treated under buff sb.2 III.

for

fbuff, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.

[prob. onomatopoeic: cf. puff v., and buff sb.1, also F. bouffer in its various senses, and OF. buffer ‘souffleter’ (Godef.). Sense 1 has app. no connexion with 3, exc. as both may arise in different ways from some of the characteristics of a broad puff of wind, and its associated sound.] Flence 'buffing vbl. sb., and ppl. a. 1. intr. a. To speak with obstructed and explosive utterance, to stutter, b. To explode or burst into a laugh, or the like. 1297 R. Glouc. 414 Of speche hastyf, Boffyng, & mest wanne he were in wrappe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. 11. viii. (1495) 55 As I maye, though it be stamerynge and buffynge. 1611 Cotgr., Esclaffer, to buff, or burst, out into a laughter. Mod. Sc. He buft out into a laugh.

2. trans. force.

To cause to burst out by sudden

a 1637 B. Jonson Loves Welc. at Welbeck (R.) A shock To have buff’d out the blood From ought but a block.

3. intr. To act and sound as a soft inflated substance does when struck, or as the body does which strikes it. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. xi, He hit him on the wame a wap It buft lyk ony bledder. 1881 Leicestersh. Words (E.D.S.) s.v., When an axe or hatchet strikes without cutting, which is sometimes the case.. with unsound wood, it is said to ‘buff1.

4. intr. and trans. To strike a soft inflated body (with the characteristic effect and sound). 1600 F. Walker Sp. Mandeville 64 b, The furious buffing together of windes, when they meete. 1785 Burns Twa Herds xiii, A chiel wha’II soundly buff our beef. tbuflF, v.2 Sc. Obs.

[cf. F. bouffer.] trans. ? To puff out. Hence buft ppl. a.

1572 Lament. Lady Scott, in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 252 Buft brawlit hois, coit, dowblet, sark and scho. 1573 Sege Edinb. Castel ibid. II. 294 That socht na tailzeours for to bufe thair breiks.

1647 Fanshawe Pastor Fido (1676) 78 Behold the Buff [orig. ecco la cieca\. 1879 Hoffmann Drawing-r. Amusem. 9 Shadow Buff is a game of greater originality. The company now pass in succession before the light but behind Buff.

buff, v.3

buff, sb.7 1. (With capital initial.) buffalo sb. 1 e. colloq.

colloq. in the metal trades), b. To impart the velvety surface usual in buff leather for belts, etc.

Short for

1879 The Buffalo 16 Jan. 3/3 The great scheme of a technical university now being taken up by the City companies, was first started by Buffs. 1888 [see buffalo sb. 1 e], 1897 Buffalo World Sept. 3/2 It should .. be the aim of every loyal Buff.. to show his desire to help on the cause for which we are fighting, viz. Progress and the Brotherhood of man. 1909 Daily Chron. 31 July 4/5 A.. belief.. that the ‘Buffs’, as it is generally called, originated at the Harp Tavern, in Russell-street, Drury-lane, in 1822.

2. Short for buffalo sb. senses 1 a to d. colloq. 1583 G. Peckham True Reporte in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 175 He and his company did finde in one cottage aboue two hundred and fortie hides .. and with this agreeth Dauid Ingram, and describeth that beast at large, supposing it to be a certaine kinde of Buffe. 1665 P. E. Radisson Voyages (1885) 212 They have very handsome shoose laced very thick all over wth a peece sowen att the side of ye heele, wch was of a haire of Buff. 1884 Bismarck Tribune Aug., The ball struck the unsuspecting animal... But the old ‘buff took the fling as an insult. 1935 Hemingway Green Hills of Africa (1936) 11. iii. 98 I’d rather get another buff than rhino. Ibid. 113 Where the rhinos and the buff had come out of the reeds. 1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo ii. 24 When the buff was nearly up with him, the boy took off his hat and put it over the animal’s eyes.

1607 Topsell

9. Special comb.: buff-jerkin, a military jerkin of buff-leather; also attrib.; buff-stick, buffwheel, a stick or wheel, covered with buffleather or other soft material, used in polishing metal; f buff-stop, a stop on a harpsichord or spinet which produces a muffled tone by applying pieces of leather to the strings. See also

of the anterior wings. 1883 Miss Braddon Gold. Calf xii. 150 The walls plastered, and white-washed, or •buffwashed. 1882 Garden 5 Aug. 110/1 Seedling *buff-yellow Carnation.

buff (bAf), a. [f. buff sb.2 2.] 1. Of the nature or appearance of buff leather. a 1695 Mrq. Halifax On C'tess Dowager of-(R.) This goodly goose .. did overload Her bald buff forehead with a high commode.

b.fig. (from buff sb.2 3). Naked, unrefined.

[f.

BUFF

sb.2]

1. trans. a. To polish with a buff (frequent

1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 284/2 Sand-paper..‘buffs’ the grain of the leather, leaving it white and velvety.

2. To impart a buff colour to. 1897 Roth well Textile Fabrics 237 The pieces are to be ‘buffed’ or ‘slop-padded’ with substantive dyestuffs in solutions containing soap. buff (bAf), vfl slang, [cf. buffer sb.6] To swear

to. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Diet. s.v. Buff, To buff to a person or thing, is to swear to the identity of them. 1865 Daily Tel. 27 Feb. 6/1 What robberies are you going to ‘buff to me.. meaning ‘to charge me with, or accuse me of. 1869 Morning Star, 3 June, They are going to send some one to ‘buff (own) it. buff, v.b nonce-wd. [Two formations: a. f. buff in

blindman’s buff; b. suggested by phrase to stand buff (see buff sf).1).] In phrase to buff it: a. to play blindman’s buff (also fig.); b. to stand firm, resist. 1608 Day Hum. out of Br. iv. iii. (1881) 67 Blindmans buffe? I haue bufft it fairely, and mine owne gullery grieues me not half so much as the Dukes displeasure. 1822 T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 84 Tuck yourself up, and buff it like a man. buflfal(l, var. of buffle, Obs., buffalo.

3. Comb., as buff-backed, -colour, -coloured, -orange, -washed, -yellow, buff-tip, a species of moth (see quot.).

('bAfalsu), sb. Forms: 6 bufalo, (7 buffolo, boufaleau, -alo, 7-8 buffelo, 8 bufolo), 7buffalo. PI. buffaloes, [a. It. buffalo (Florio), bufalo, bufolo (Baretti), or Pg. bufalo:—vulgar L. *bufalus, a. Gr. jSou/SaAoy (whence in literary L. bubalus), properly denoting a kind of antelope, but applied to a wild ox. Cf. buffle, buff sb.2 The early quotations suggest that the word originally came into English from Portuguese.] 1. The name of several species of Oxen; esp. a. Bos bubalus, originally a native of India, inhabiting most of Asia, southern Europe, and northern Africa. It is tamed in India, Italy, and elsewhere, b. B. caffer, the Cape Buffalo of S. Africa, c. Applied in popular unscientific use to the American BISON.

1884 J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 264 The pretty little •buffbacked heron. 1794 Stedman Surinam (1813) II. xxiv. 220 The musk [melon].. is ribbed, *buff color, orange and green. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2106/4 A.. Red Coat, .with a •Buff-colour’d lining. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 282 From dead plants [Fucaceas] cold fresh-water extracts a buffcoloured substance. 1882 Garden 2 Sept. 202/1 A charming hardy Orchid.. It is a *buff-orange colour. 1836 Duncan Brit. Moths 187 Pygsera Bucephala.. named the *Buff-tip Moth, on account of a large patch of that colour on the apex

a. 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's China 181 They doo plough and till their ground with kine, Bufalos, and bulles. 1665 Voy. E. India 359 They have a Beast very large, having a smooth thick skin without hair, called a Buffelo, which gives good milk; the flesh of them is like Beef. 1682 W'heler Journ. Greece I. 74 Drawn. . instead of Flanders Mares by a pair of Boufaleaus. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour Italy III. 214 They, .make use of buffalo’s in ploughing the land. 1843 Macaulay Lays Anc. Rome, Lake Regillus x, The.. banks of LTfens, Where. . buffaloes lie wallowing Through the hot

1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 29 (1794) I. 410 On that plain buff principle of old English hospitality.

2. Of the colour of buff leather; brownish yellow.

a light

(Early quots. are doubtful, and may mean the material.) 1762-71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 69 note, The dress is that of a Cavalier about the time of the civil war, buff with blue ribbands. 1791 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to Hit Wks. 1812 II. 462 Buff breeches too have crown’d a proud proud day. 1804 Med. & Phys. Jrnl. XII. 512 Pileus brown buff, darker in the centre. 1835-6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 419/2 The buffed coat.. is generally .. of a light yellow or buff colour. 1876 Miss Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. I. 108 The . . old-fashioned Staffordshire tea service .. blue flowers on a buff ground.

buffalo

BUFFALO

623

summer’s day. 1850 Layard Nineveh x. 259 The cattle were .. the buffalo and common ox. b. 1699 Capt. Rogers Descr. Natal in Dampier's Voy. (1705) II. hi. 109 Buffaloes and Bullocks only are kept tame. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope I. 79 They could discover in them [the woods] neither Elephant nor Buffalo, 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. viii. 269 The buffalo is a very.. powerful animal.. larger than the domestic ox. 1857 Livingstone Trav. iii. 56 The presence of the buffalo.. is a certain indication of water .. within .. seven or eight miles. c. 1635 Relat. Maryland iii. 23 In the upper parts of the countrey there are Bufeloes, Elkes, Lions, Beares, Wolues, and Deare there are in great Store. 1705 R. Beverley Virginia 11. 39 The Elks, Buffaloes, Deer and greater Game. 1789-96 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 195 This animal [bison] has generally been called the Buffalo, but very improperly. 1836 W. Irving Astoria (1849) 195 Boundless wastes.. animated by herds of buffalo. 1877 J. Allen Amer. Bison 456 Probably among the people generally the name buffalo will never be supplanted.

d. collect. 1765 G. Croghan Jrnl. (1875) 132 The country hereabouts abounds with buffalo, bears, [etc.]. 1817 S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 30 The buffaloe.. have lately disappeared. 1895 C. King Fort Frayne xviii. 260 A deep cleft in the foothills through which the buffalo in bygone days had made their way.

e. (With capital initial.) A member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, founded in 1822 for sociable and benevolent purposes. Hence 'Buffaloism. 1869 P. Egan Finish Adv. Tom, Jerry, & Logic v. 120 At the Harp, in Great Russel Street, opposite Drury Lane Theatre, the Buffalo Society was first established, in August, 1822. 1879 The Buffalo 16 Jan. 3/3 Bro. Barrett, the Buffalo Bootmaker of Walworth. 1881 (title) The Buffalo Review and Lodge Reporter. 1888 C. Hindley True Hist. Tom & Jerry 162 Buffs—Buffaloes—and Buffaloism. — A society .. established in August, 1822, by an eccentric young man of the name of Joseph Lisle, an artist, in conjunction with Mr. W. Sinnett, a comedian, to perpetuate, according to their ideas upon the subject, of that hitherto neglected ballad of We'll chase the Buffalo\ 1897 Daily News 16 Mar. 8/3 A room in which certain ‘Buffaloes’ were holding a lodge meeting. 1897 Buffalo World Sept. 3/1 Buffaloism can boast an existence of 300 years at least. 1970 Sunday Times 18 Jan. 52/3 We used to have a branch of the Buffaloes at the pub. Ibid., Her family were very high up in the Buffaloes.

f. An amphibious tank. 1944 Hutchinson's Piet. Hist. War Oct. 139 (caption) British troops were carried across the Scheldt in assault craft... This ‘Buffalo’ assault craft is carrying back some of the prisoners taken. 1945 Times 1 Mar. 4/3 The generals.. rode in a ‘buffalo’ and inspected it minutely. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Feb. 86/2 This division was also the British Army’s nursery of the amphibious ‘Buffaloes’ of American origin.

2. ‘A sort of fresh-water fish resembling the Sucker’ (Bartlett). 1789-96 Morse A mer. Geog. 1. 636 In the rivers are plenty of buffaloe, pike and catfish. 1884 Harper's Mag. Mar. 516/2 The ‘buffalo’ and cat-fish .. are not unfrequently as large as a man.

3.

= buffalo-robe; Canada.

see 4.

colloq.

U.S.

8c

1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xv. 181 Leaving all hands under their buffaloes. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 3 Sept., Asked by the groom if he would like a couple of buffaloes (robes) .. ‘No’, replied the scientist, ‘we would much prefer horses’.

4. Short for buffalo-horn-, used by cutlers for making handles of pocket-knives; the varieties are black buffalo and grey or coloured buffalo. 5. Comb., as buffalo-hide, -hunt, -hunter, -hunting, -range, -skin; buffalo-bag (cf. buffalo-robe); buffalo-bean, a milk vetch of the western United States, Astragalus crassicarpus; buffalo-berry, the edible scarlet fruit of a shrub (Shepherdia argentea) found on the Upper Missouri; also the shrub itself; buffalo-bird, an insessorial bird (Textor erythrorhynchus) which accompanies herds of buffaloes in S. Africa; buffalo-chips pi., the dried dung of the American bison, used as fuel; buffalo-clover, a species of clover (Trifolium pennsylvanicum) found in the prairies of N. America; buffalo-fish = sense 2; buffalo fly, gnat, a small biting insect of the genus Simulium; buffalo grass, (a) a kind of grass (Buchloe dactyloides) found in the prairies; also used generally (see quot. 1950)'. (b) any of various African grasses used for pasture and fodder; (c) Austral, and N.Z., the grass Stenotaphrum americanum, introduced from the United States, and first noticed near Buffalo Creek in New South Wales (Webster 1911); buffalo-horn, (a) the horn of a buffalo; (b) an African tree, Zizyphus mucronata; (c) U.S. (see quot. 18872); buffalo-nut, the fruit of a N. American shrub (Pyrularia oleifera), also called Oil-nut; also the shrub itself; buffalo-robe, a cloak or rug made of the skin of the American bison dressed with the hair on. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xvi. 192 Two large ♦buffalobags, each made of four skins. 1906 P. A. Rydberg Flora of Colorado 202 Geoprumnon... ^Buffalo Beans, Ground Plums. 1922 Chambers's Jrnl. 219/1, I.. became acquainted with a creeping plant that grows a bean... I have since heard it called buffalo-bean. 1805 Massachusetts Spy 17 July 2/3 (Th.), Scions of a newly discovered berry, called the ♦buffaloe berry. 1856 Gard. Chron. 174 The felicity of tasting real Buffalo-berries. 1857 Livingstone Trav. xxvii.

545 ♦Buffalo-birds act the part of guardian spirits to the animals. Ibid. (1861) 357 The leader of the herd was an old cow, carrying on her withers about twenty buffalo-birds. 1840 Picayune 11 Oct. 2 We raised an extensive cloud of smoke from burning ‘♦buffalo chips’ to keep off the musquitos. 1859 Marcy Prairie Trav. 268 Buffalo-chips for fuel. 1767 in N. Carolina Col. Rec. VII. 1007 *Buffalow Clover was extremely thick here. 1774 D. Jones Jrnl. (1865) 111 Another kind of fish called ♦buffaloe fish, many of which are larger than our sheepshead. 1861 Russell in Times 10 July, These .. rivers are very fine for .. buffalo fish to live in. 1849 Charles Lyell Second Visit N. Amer. II. 89 There were swarms of ♦buffalo flies to torment his horses, and sand flies to sting him and his family. 1932 Discovery July 210/2 The buffalo fly is another extremely serious pest, in this case of the cattle industry. 1822 J. Woods Eng. Prairie 278 We had no ♦buffalo gnats. 1959 J. Clegg Freshwater Life Brit. Isles (ed. 2) xiv. 235 The Black-flies.. under such names as Buffalo Gnats.. are only too well known as pests of cattle. 1784 j Filson Discovery of Kentucke 24 Where no cane grows there is abundance of wild-rye, clover, and ♦buffalograss, .. affording excellent food for cattle. 1868 J. Chapman Trav. S. Afr. II. 457 (Pettman), The Buffalo grass has a large, broad, corrugated leaf and is greedily eaten by horses and cattle. 1876 F. M. Bailey in Papers & Proc. R. Soc. Tasmania 1875 132 The Buffalo grass, Stenotaphrum Americanum.. is a very fine and desirable species. 1883 Harper's Mag.. Nov. 943/2 The tall jointed grasses replace the short crisp buffalo-grass. 1950 Amer. Speech XXV. 164 The ground is covered with ‘buffalo grass’, which once designated a specific type but now means any tough grass that grows on the poor soil of the plains. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3919/4 A parcel of.. ♦Buffelo-Hides, &c. 1783 W. Fleming in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Col. (1916) 665 We picked up.. a petrified ♦Buffalo horn. 1887 Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 300 ‘Buffalo-Horn’ (Zizyphus mucronata, Willd.). 1887 Scribner's Mag. II. 507 The latter fixes his attention on the saw-like, serrated crowns, or summits, which are .. typical.. of true mountainous form. There are plenty of such features in the Rocky Mountains, and natives call them ‘buffalo-horns’. 1810 Z. M. Pike Exped. Sources Mississippi App. 11. 34 Restricting (by edicts) the *buffalo hunts to certain seasons. 1824 A. Ross Jrnl. 28 Mar. in Oregon Hist. Soc. Quart. XIV. 376 The *buffalo hunters came back today, buffalo in plenty; thirty killed. 1775 W. Calk Jrnl. 10 Apr. in Filson Club Pubn. II. 36 Some of the company went over the River a ♦bufelo hunting but found none. 1857 Gray Botany 382 *Buffalo-nut.. [is] a low straggling shrub, with .. small greenish flowers. 1775 Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 118 Living very scantily, even in a ♦buffalo range, under a strict rule, lest by luxury their hearts should grow evil. 1804 Clark in Lewis e water of pat welle is i-take in bugle horn [in cornu bubali]. 1519 Horman Vulg. 166 b, Preciouse cuppis be made of bugull hornys.

b. as a musical instrument, whence = bugle sb.1 2. c 1300 K. Alis. 5282 Tweye bugle homes, and a bowe also. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccix. 192 Two squyers blewe.. with ij grete bugles homes, c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §222

(1810) 231 His family bare in a field Gules, a bugle horn or. 1808 Scott Marm. 1. iii, His bugle-horn he blew. 1842 Tennyson Locksley H. 2 Sound upon the bugle horn.

bugler (’bju:gta(r)). [f. as prec. + -er1.] One who plays on a bugle; spec, a soldier who conveys orders by signals sounded on a bugle. 1840 H. Smith O. Cromwell II. 19 The Bugler., was already handling his instrument. 1863 Kinglake Crimea II. 366 A mounted officer rode up to a bugler of the 19th Regiment, and ordered him to sound the ‘retire’.

buglet ('bjuiglit). [f. as prec. + -et1.] A small bugle; e.g. one carried by bicyclists. a 1803 Douglas Trag. iii. in Child Ballads 1. 100/2 With a bugelet horn hung down by his side. 1838 D. Moir Casa's Dirge, The wild-bee with its buglet fine. 1885 Price-List, A bugle having two turns will sound short calls; those with three turns will sound military calls; but the easiest to sound of all is the above Buglet, which has four turns.

'bugle-weed. Bot. An American plant, Lycopus Virginicus, sometimes used as a remedy for hemoptysis, or spitting of blood. i860 Bartlett Diet. Amer., Bugle-weed.. is also known as the Virginian Water-hound.

bugling('bjuiglir)),ppl. a. [f. bugler. + -ing2.] That sounds a bugle. 1884 tr. K. Bauer's Mem. II. 50 A bugling postillion.

bugloss ('bjurglDs). Bot. Forms: 6-7 buglosse, (6 buglose, 8-9 buglos), 7- bugloss. [a. F. buglosse:—L. buglossa, ad. Gr. flovyXwooos, f. /JoOj ox + yXtdooa tongue, from the shape and roughness of the leaves.] A name applied to several boraginaceous plants, particularly the small, corn, or field b. (Lycopsis or Anchusa arvensis); viper's b. (Echium vulgare), and other species of Echium; also by some old herbalists to Helminthia echioides, prickly ox-tongue. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 11 Cynamome: Saffron .. Buglosse: Borage. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xix, The rootes of Borage and Buglosse soden tender.. doth ingender good blode. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iii. iv. 61 A little muske, dri’d mints, Buglosse, and barley-meale. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria 14 What we now call Bugloss, was not that of the Ancients. 1783 Crabbe Villagei. Wks. 1834 II. 77 There the blue bugloss paints the sterile soil. 1837 Campbell Dead Eagle, Fields .. blue with bugloss.

b. Comb, bugloss cowslip. 1879 Prior Brit. Plant-n., Bugloss-Cowslip, the lungwort, from its having the leaves of a bugloss and the flowers of a primula. Pulmonaria officinalis L.

t bu'glossate. Obs. rare—1, [f. prec. (or its source) + -ate.] Some kind of medicine. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. I. s.v. Honey, Antidotaries.. as the Buglossate made of Bugloss.

bugology (bA'gDbd3i). U.S. humorous, [f. bug sb.2 1 + -OLOGY.] The science of ‘bugs’ or insects; entomology. Hence bu'gologist, an entomologist. 1843 R. Carlton’ New Purchase II. 1. 171 Chemistry, botany, anatomy, conchology, bugology. 1881 Nat. Republican (U.S.) 24 Feb. 2/4 Mr Riley, the eminent bugologist. 1898 Congress. Rec. Apr., App. 455/2 Those.. acquainted with bugology know there is rather a disreputable bug that looks one way and rolls the other. 1910 Sat. Even. Post 2 July 49/2 Government bugologists .. studied his habits.

bugong ('buigorj). Also bogong, bougong. [Native name.] An Australian noctuid moth, Danais limniace or Agrotis spina, highly prized by the Aborigines as an article of food. 1834 G. Bennett Wand. N.S.W. I. 265 It is named the ‘Bugong Mountain’, from the circumstance of multitudes of small moths, called Bugong by the aborigines, congregating at certain months of the year about masses of granite on this and other parts of the range. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxxix, To collect and feed on the great grey moths (Bougongs) which are found on the rocks. 1878 R. B. Smyth Aborig. Victoria I. 207 The Bugong moths.. are greedily devoured by the natives. 1919 Nature CIII. 345/2 In Australia at certain seasons a ‘cutworm’ moth, known as the ‘bogong’ or ‘bugong’ (Agrotis infusa), swarms in myriads in many places. 1961 R. Park Hole in Hill (1962) ii. 13 The big bogong moths would be coming in.

bugull(e, obs. form of bugle sb.1 t bug-word, bug’s-word. Obs. [f. bug sb.1 + word. Cf. bugbear word.] A word meant to frighten or terrify; a word that causes dread. Usually in pi. Swaggering or threatening language. 1562 J. Hey wood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 54 All be bugs woords, that I speake to spare, a 1600 Hooker Wks. (1845) I. 277 Certaine wordes, as Nature, Reason, Will and such like which wheresoever you find named you suspect.. as bugs wordes. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 163 Outdared with the bigge-lookes and bug-words of those that could doe him no harme. 1668 Dryden Sir M. Mar-All 1. i, I.. have nothing to hope for .. but death. Death is a bug-word, a 1734 North Exam. 1. ii. IP 105 (1740) 87 A Rebellion; O no, that’s a bug Word.

bugyl, obs. f. bugle sb.2, a plant, buh, obs. form of bough, bow v.1

buhl (bu:l). Also Boulle, q.v. [f. Boulle name of a wood-carver in France in the reign of Louis XIV. (Buhl appears to be a modern Germanized spelling.)] Brass, tortoise-shell, or other material, worked into ornamental patterns for inlaying; work inlaid with buhl. Also attnb. 1823 Rutter Fonthill 14 A pier table, richly ornamented with buhl. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. hi. x. 336 A wardrobe of Buhl is on the left. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 185 A splendid buhl stand. 1870 Daily News 7 Feb., Scenes with real hangings, real buhl clocks, and other articles.

b. Comb., as buhl-saw, a saw used in cutting out buhl-work; buhl-work (see quot.). 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xi. (ed. 3) 96 Inlaid plates of brass and rosewood, called buhlwork. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts s.v., Buhl-work consists of inlaid veneers; and differs from marquetry in being confined to decorative scroll-work.

buhr, var. burr sb.b buhrstone, variant of burr-stone. buhsum, obs. f. buxom a. buick, buik(e, obs. ff. book, bouk. buif, obs. form of beef. build (bild), v. Pa. t. and pple. built, poet, and arch, builded. Forms: Inf. 3 4 bulde(n, 4 bylden, bilden, (bield, byle), (4-5 belde(n, beelde), 4-6 byld(e, bild(e, 5 buylden, 5-6 buyld(e, 6 builde, (byeld, beald, Sc. beild), 6 build. Pa. t. 4 bildide, (bult), 4-5 bild(e, 5 buylde, byld, bylled, 5-6 bylded, -yd, buylded, (6 Sc. belt), 6- built, builded. Pa. pple., 2 3ebyld, 4 i-, y-buld, y-beld, bilde, bulde, bilt, (bilid), 5 bild, bylte, beldid, bildid, 6 bylded, bylt, (bylled, -yd), buylded, -yt, buylt, (ibylt), (8 build), 6- built, builded. [ME. bulden(u), bylden, bilden: — OE. *byldan to build (recorded only in pa. pple. gebyld), f. bold a dwelling. Hence the two fundamental senses are ‘to construct a dwelling’ and ‘to take up one’s abode, dwell’. The normal modern spelling of the word would be bild (as it is actually pronounced); the origin of the spelling bui(buy- in Caxton), and its retention to modern times, are difficult of explanation. The OE. pple. gehyld might be from a compound gebyldan: but cf. the southern bytlan (Gregory's Past. Care 153, 1- 9-10), later bytlian (see Bosw.“Toller), f. *buplo~ (whence botl, bold), which points to the antiquity of the vb. (Not to be confounded with OE. byldan, gebyldan, for bieldan to make bold: see bield.)]

I. To erect a building. 1. a. trans. Orig. To construct for a dwelling; to erect (a house), make (a nest). Hence, To erect, construct (any work of masonry), and by extension, To construct by fitting together of separate parts; chiefly with reference to structures of considerable size, as a ship or boat, a carriage, an organ, a steam-engine (not, e.g. a watch or a piano). Const, of, more rarely from, out of, with (the material), on (the foundation). In early mod. Eng. used with up without change of meaning; but to build up (in literal sense) now implies a contrast with pulling down,' or with a previous state of decay, as ‘to build up again’ . to build a fire\ to arrange or pile the fuel, to build a railroad, said in U.S., is unknown in England. [ciigo The Grave in Thorpe Analecta 142 De wes bold gebyld er J?u iboren were.] c 1205 Lay. 2656 He wolde bulden twa burh. 1297 R. Glouc. 439 At Wyndelsore .. pat noble stede ys, pat he let bulde hym sulf. C1400 Maundev. 98 [He] destroyed it [Jerico] and cursed it, and alle hem that bylled it ajen. 1430 Lydg. Story of Thebes dj in Dom. Archit. III. 47 A porche bylte of square stons. 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 13 He bylded Caunterbury. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W, de W. 1531) 138 b, Jerico, Hay, and Gabaon, whiche ye pagans buylded. 1541 in Turner Sel. Rec. Oxford 164 Standyngs now made and buyldyd or hereafter to be made and buyld for the said fayre. 1562 J. Hey wood Prov. fi? Epigr. (1867) 168 Roome was not bylt on one day. 1601 Chester Love's Mart. cx. (1878) 27 At Mount Paladour he built his Tent. 1644 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 75 A castle builded on a very steep cliff. 1718 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. liii. 78 The houses are tolerably well built. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 138 When the Indian builded his house. 1861 Flor. Nightingale Nursing 18 Your house must be so built as that the outer air shall find its way .. to every corner of it.

b. build up. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1535 Priam .. byld vp a bygge towne of pe bare vrthe. 1490 Caxton Eneydos lxv. 166 Af thys cyte ben many in doubte who buylde it vppe. 1611 Bible 2 Chron. xxxii. 5 Hezekiah built up the wall that was broken. Mod. It is far easier to pull down than to build up.

c. build a fire, gun, nest, organ, railroad, ship. 1567 Triall Treas. (1850) 9 Synce Noe’s ship Was made, and builded. 1606 Shaks. Ant. & Cl. iv. xii. 4 Swallowes haue built in Cleopatra’s Sailes their nests. 1651 Proc. Parliament No. 123. 1910 A Vessell.. built at Swansey. 1789 G. White Selborne xliii. (1853) 151 A pair of honey buzzards built them a nest. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. iv, Fires are built before the tents. 1852 Seidel Organ 21 In 1576, an organ with.. a back-choir was built at Bernan. a 1856 Longf. Building Ship 94 Thus, said he, we will build this ship! i860 All V. Round No. 73. 545 The taste of the day is for guns that are built, not cast. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov.

BUILDABLE

630

BUHL

939/1 * 55° miles of railroad had been built. 1884 Ibid. June 127/2 He often built his own fire.

2. a. absol. To erect a building or buildings; ‘to play the architect’ (J.). Of birds or other animals: To construct nests, etc. (Possibly the earliest instances may belong rather to sense 8.) c 1205 Lay. 29671 A1.. bigunnen.. to bulden bi pan watere. C1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 509 Brydde3 busken to bylde. 1382 Wyclif Esdra iv. 2 Bilde wee vp with you. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Souile v. xiv. (1483) 108 Yf thou..arte a maister werker, couthest thou bilde withouten mater. 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, 1. iii. 264 Our ayerie buildeth in the Cedars top. 1664 Gerbier Counsel 104 All Owners.. whether they build or not. 1722 De Foe Plague (1884) 294 The Ground was let out to build on. 1848 L. Hunt Jar Honey iii. 33 Building as if they were to live for ever. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxv, The happy birds, that change their sky To build and brood.

b. With certain advbs., build forms virtual compounds founded on this sense, but used trans. with the notion ‘to affect in such or such ways by building’, to build up: to obstruct (a doorway, window, etc.) by building, to build in: to immure, enclose by building; also, to construct or insert (something, esp. furniture) as an integral part of a larger unit; also fig.; chiefly as pa. pple. (see BUILTppl. a. 1 b). to build round: to surround with buildings. The advb. may either follow or precede the object. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 6 Now built round by rock and boulder, a 1888 Mod. When we first came here, the situation was very open, but we are now completely built in. 1933 Telegr. & Teleph. Jrnl. XIX. 151/1 In New York telephones are ‘built-in’ and when you become a tenant.. you ’phone as often as you like. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 326 Better control of the amount of rubber that is built into tires. 1965 Listener 4 Nov. 687/1 The legacy of those years has been built in to the domestic and foreign policies of both countries.

3. transf. a. To construct by a process or with a result analogous to that of the builder. Said, e.g., of the Creator, or of natural forces, as when a crystal, an organic body, or the world, is compared to an edifice. Often said in passive of the human body, as ‘His frame was strongly built’ (cf. build sb.). Const, as in 1. built like a castle: said of a horse having a strong and sturdy frame. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. (1641) 49/2 Beasts which thou This-Day didst build. 1699 Bentley Phal. 54 Built as it were to make a good Boxer. 1835 G. Stephen Adv. Search of Horse i, He [5c. a cob] was, to use the accepted phrase, ‘built like a castle!’ 1843 J. A. Smith Product. Farming 137 Hence the reason why bodies can be nourished and built up upon food comparatively poor in nitrogen, i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. § 1. 2 An amethyst is a crystal built up from particles of silica. 1882 Illustr. Sporting 6f Dram. News 4 Feb. 502/1 Miss Bell’s colt is built like a castle, and full of massive strength from head to heels. 1883 E. A. Parkyn Syllabus Lect. Anim. & PI. Life 4 This power of building-up living from non-living matter is called Assimilation.

b. trans. (clothes).

and

intr.

Tailoring.

To

make

1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. 22 [The trousers] were cleverly ‘built’, of a light-grey mixture. 1897 Globe 11 Mar. 3/4 A tailor would.. have had his work cut out for him to build that., chubby creature a costume. 1897 G. Du Maurier Martian iv. 183 Is it still Skinner who builds for you?

c. to be built (that way, etc.): to be (so) constituted or naturally disposed, colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1882 Amer. Humorist 12 May (Farmer), Even womankind is not built as she was a few brief years ago. 1888 Missouri Republ. 25 Jan. (Farmer), ‘Why didn’t you roll down?’ ‘I wasn’t built that way.’ 1912 A. Bennett Matador of Five Towns 75 I’m not built the same way myself.

d. In card-playing: (see quot. transf. U.S.

1901).

Also

1901 Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 871/2 To build down.. is to place a card upon one of the next higher denomination. To build up., is to do just the opposite—that is, to place an eight on a seven. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy vi. 76, I built right up to him.

4. fig. a. With reference to immaterial objects: To construct, frame, raise, by gradual means (anything that is compared to an edifice, as a philosophical system, a literary work, a reputation, an empire). Often with up. In religious use, after N.T., to build up (the Church, an individual) = to edify (also absol.). to build up (any one’s health, strength, etc.): to establish it by gradual means. C1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 86 All pat is ayens conscience, beldith toward helle. 1526 Tindale Acts xx. 32, I commende you to God and to the worde of his grace which is able to bylde further [1611 to build you vp]. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 36 That., they may meryte and buylde to theyr crowne in heuen. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie 11. xiii. (1811) 109 Meetres .. builded with polysillables. e bildyngis fel bope he3e & lawe. c 1430 Syr Gener. 244 This belding we made here Is for you. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 14 It., hath in it very fayre byldinges. 1611 Bible Eccles. x. 18 By much slouthfulnesse the building decayeth. 1724 Watts Logic no A ship may be defined a large hollow building made to pass over the sea with sails. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc vii. Your holy buildings and your homes. 1854 Ruskin Led. Archit. Add. 121 The essential thing in a building., is that it be strongly built, and fit for its uses.

f3. A company (of rooks), a rookery. Obs. c 1470 Hors Shepe & G. (1822) 30 A byldyn of rooks A clatering of chowhis. 1481 Bk. St. Albans f vi b, A beldyng of Rookes. [1801 Strutt Sports & Past. 1. ii. 33. 1883 Standard 26 Sept. 5/1 Every one with any pretence to be gentle-folk spoke of . .a building of rooks.]

4.

Attrib. and Comb., as building-board, building-estate, -ground, -land, -lot, -material, -place, -site, -stone, -trade, -tree-, also buildingblock, (a) = block sb. 12 b; also^ig. and attrib.-, (b) one of the temporary supports for a ship’s keel while the ship is being built (Knight Diet. Mech. a 1877); building-lease, a lease of land on which the lessee may build; building line, a prescribed limit relative to the frontage beyond which a building must not extend; building motion, in Cotton-spinning, apparatus for winding and shaping uniformly the roving on the bobbins of a fly frame or the yarn of a cop on a mule; building paper orig. U.S., a heavy paper used by builders as a covering or lining material; building-rent (see quot.); buildingslip, a slip (see slip sb.3 1 b) on which vessels are built; building-society, a society in which the members periodically contribute to a fund out of which money may be lent to any of their number for the purpose of building (or purchasing) a house (see also quot. 1965); building-term, the duration of a building-lease. 1846 Boston Herald 14 Oct. 3/1 Jewsharps, Games, ‘Building Blocks, Harmonicas. 1857 Mich. Agric. Soc. Trans. IX. 316 A dozen Patent Building Blocks. 1915 J. Webster Dear Enemy (1917) 152 Punch was occupying a rug .. engaged with building-blocks. 1936 J. Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. iii. 39 To such a building-block comparison of speech, psychological grammar is strongly opposed. 1949 Rev. Eng. Studies XXV. 369 Four., pitch levels., are the ‘basic building blocks’ of the tunes. 1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iv. 153 Some hope to learn from gravitational research more about the micro-structure of the building blocks of nature, the subatomic particle. 1969 Times 5 Feb. 13/7 The most successful symmetry scheme is the one in which the elusive particle, the quark, is the fundamental building block from which all the heavier particles are made. 1917 U.S. Pat. 1,227,767 29 May 1/2 ‘Building board is put in place on the outside of a house.. or secured on the inside. 1959 M. S. Briggs Cone. Encycl. Archit. 61 Building board, a term covering a wide range of artificial products used internally in modern building. 1884 Sir J. C. Mathew Law Reports 14 Queen's B. Div. 758 The land is part of a ‘building estate. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law vii. 48 Abutting upon ‘buildingground belonging to the seller. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 12 May 7/1 The L.C.C. purchased squares at ‘building-land price. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law xvn. 114 Powers.. to grant ‘building-leases. 1885 Ld. Watson 26 Feb. in Law Rep. Appeal Cases X. 246, I need not deal with the case of the ‘building line being more than fifty feet from the highway. 1891 Laws of Missouri 47 All cities in Missouri .. may establish a building line to which all buildings and structures thereon shall conform. 1925 Town Planning Rev. June 185 At corners shops should be kept back to the full building line to both streets. 1971 Reader's Digest Family Guide to Law 98 [Planning consent is required] if the extension is beyond the original building line of the house. 1701 in Conn. Col. Rec. IV. 357 Pasture, *building lot, and long lott. 1881 W. O. Stoddard E. Hardery 15 The high prices of all building lots. 1835 C. F. Hoffman Winter in West I. 69 A species of yellow freestone.. which, for elegance as a ‘building material, is not surpassed by marble itself. 1904 Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Diet. 73/1 ‘Building motion. 1873 Newton Kansan 20 Feb. 3/4 ‘Building paper, the best substitute for plastering. 1955 G. Bowen Wool Awayl x. 115 Building paper should be used under the iron above the shearing board. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. vii. (1870) 138 To prefer the tall trees.. for its ‘building-place. 1776 A. Smith W.N. (1869) II. v. ii. 432 The ‘building rent is the interest or profit of the capital expended in building the house. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. v. iii. §6 (1876) 501. 1871 Geo. Eliot Middlemarch 1. iv. 52 They were driving home from an inspection of the new ‘buildingsite. 1966 D. Jenkins Educated Society ii. 50 Constructive forces.. have no more attraction than building sites. 1846 Dodd Brit. Manuf. VI. 147 Every ship-yard has got one or more ‘‘building-slips’. 1894 Building slip [see slip sb.3 1 b], 1848 H. C. Robinson Diary 31 Dec. (1967) 250 Miss Martineau.. is now full of a prospect of forming here ‘building-societies for the benefit of the poor in imitation of the Birmingham societies. 1852 Geo. Eliot Let. 21 Oct. (1954) 62 There has been an intelligent gentleman visitor today who is interested in Miss Martineau’s Building Society. 1862 Ld. St. Leonards Vendors & Purch. 377 The members of a building society, whose land was vested in trustees for them. 1965 J. L. Hanson Diet. Econ. 51/2 Building societies, institutions which accept deposits and then use their funds to lend on mortgage to people who wish to buy their own houses. 1790 Pennsylv. Packet 2 Jan. 4/4 Bourdeaux rough hewn ‘building stone. 1924 R. M. Ogden tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind v. 325 Building-stone of a peculiar shape. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4158/4 They intend to Let to Farm a ‘Building Term in several Houses. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. 210 The Oke, Elme and Ash.. indeed are ‘building trees.

'building, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That builds. Also in comb, as Babel-building. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic 1. i. (1840) 12 That foolish Babel-building age. 1832 Tennyson May Queen 61 The building rook. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 184 Building beavers.

fbuildress. Obs. (or nortce-wd.) [f. builder + -ess.] A female builder. 1566 J Sanford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 12 b, Dido, the first buildresse of Carthage. 1650 Fuller Pisgah 11. ix. §8 Sherah.. the greatest Buildress in the whole Bible. 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 657 Tragedianesses, sonneteeresses, or other ‘buildresses of the lofty rhyme’.

build-up ('bildAp). [f. build v. 4 and 5.] a. An accumulation of favourable publicity designed to popularize a person, product, etc. Also, simply, preparatory work, preparation. Cf. build v. 4 b. colloq. (orig. U.S. slang). 1927 Collier's 3 Dec. 10/4 That’s the old build-up for the Patsys. 1935 Time 24 June 26 One Night of Love had a build¬ up unrivaled in cinema history. 1935 Evening News 29 June 3/2 The swindler’s talk .. arouses the interest and acquisitive instincts of the mug... The ‘build-up’ has been made. 1936 Wodehouse Laughing Gas x. 103, I thought it might soften her a little if you gave the old boy a build-up. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §241/1 Preparation,., build-up. Ibid. §489/1 Build-up, preparatory work for a crime. 1950 R. Chandler Trouble is my Business 228 The threats were a build-up for a killing. 1953 J. Pudney Ring for Luck 16 A big build-up for the indispensable Miss Motting, ‘without whom nobody ticks in Fragos’. 1955 R. M. Lumiansky Of Sondry Folk viii. 85 The scene is to be understood as his careful preparation—the present-day term ‘build-up’ is apt here—for playing a joke on the Host. 1957 Economist 12 Oct. 120/2 Mr Howard gives more space for her early life—the perfect build-up for her subsequent adventures.

b. (Usu. gradual) accumulation, increase; spec. Mil. an accumulation of troops, weapons, etc. Also attrib. 1943 Daily Tel. 22 Apr. 1/2 The last four months’ patient build up of Allied air power. 1944 Times 15 May 4/3 The build-up in the Eighth Army bridgehead across the River Rapido continued during the night. Ibid. 25 July 4/4 The build-up period lacks the excitement of the initial assaults. 1955 Times 14 July 4/7 The build-up of case law by the tribunal. 19581. Brown Words in our Time 29 There is now evidence of some spread in the population locally, but no evidence at present of any large build-up. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 150 On the basis of one of these reports, the Security Council noted with alarm the arms build-up in South Africa. 1969 Times 2 Jan. 16/1 Professor Semple’s team detected a massive build-up of the bacteria in several kinds of food on the premises.

c. The gradual development or exposition of a theme, argument, work of art, etc.; artistic construction. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §522/10 Build-up, initial plot development. 1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait ix. 78 The build-up of the background against which five infants had been stolen. 1958 Spectator 8 Aug. 191/3 The slow build-up of All My Sons..is deliberate. 1959 H. Read Concise Hist. Mod. Painting vi. 193 The whole build-up, or orchestration, of form and colour is purposively expressive.

buile, obs. form of boil sb.1 t built, sb. Obs. [f. build v.; mode of formation uncertain; cf. gilt, f. gild; also build sb. and BUILTH.] 1. Style of construction (of a ship, etc.), build. C1615 Chapman Odyss. xi. 146 A sail Of foreign built. 1658 in Hist. Glasgow (1881) 243 Excelling the model and usual built of townhalls. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. lx, And as the built, so different is the fight. 1764 Reid Inquiry vi. §20 The sailor sees the burthen, the built, and the distance of a ship at sea. 1794 W. Roberts Looker-on III. 408 Friendship and love require .. a peculiar built of mind.

2. Action of building. 1654 G. Goddard in Burton Diary (1828) I. 88 note, A constant and continual built of ships.

built (bilt), ppl. a. [f. BUILD v. q.v.] 1. a. Constructed, erected, etc.: see build

v.

Also with advbs., as built-over, built-up. 1570 Levins Manip. 130 Bilt, aedificatus. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 40 His built Banquetting House. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. I. viii. §11 The built and tower-like shaft. 1935 E. Bowen House in Paris 11. i. 88 A smoky built-over hill. 1954 L. MacNeice Autumn Sequel 131 The Roman slabs lay snug below In that built-over darkness.

b. built-in: (a) constructed to form an integral part of a larger unit, esp. of the fittings or appurtenances of a house; (b) fig. inherent, integral, innate. 1898 Electrical Engin. July 2 The first and simplest is the ‘solid’ or ‘built-in’ system, where wires, which are insulated thoroughly and thoroughly protected from mechanical disturbances, are buried in the ground. 1902 Harper's Monthly Mag. Jan. 302/2 A built-in refrigrator. 1929 M. Skipper Meeting-Pool 6 ‘/shall be waiting then,’ murmured the Crocodile, snuggling his long face, with the built-in smile on it, into the warm sand. 1930 Engineering 7 Mar. 309/2 The employment of built-in and flange motors is also increasing. 1933 Discovery July 219/1 Bedrooms are small, adequate space for the storing of clothes, for a desk and so on, being found in built-in furniture. 1946 Koestler in New Writing Daylight 82 Archetypes are.. inherited, built-in patterns of instinct-conflicts. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 162/1 Counter Unit with.. built-in storage

space underneath. 1962 Listener 26 July 131/1 The phrase ‘built-in obsolescence’.. was very fashionable, especially among cynics, about ten years ago. Hence as sb., a built-in piece of furniture, etc. Chiefly N. Amer. 1930 San Antonio (Texas) Light 31 Jan. 14/6 (Advt.), Houses for sale . .. large screened porch, cabinets, built-ins. 1963 House & Garden Feb. 7 (Advt.), A Moffat Built-In is a Moffat plus. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 26/4 (Advt.), 3 large bedrooms, 3 washrooms, many built-ins. c. built-up: (a) (see sense ia above); (b) constructed

of

parts,

esp.

of

parts

that

are

separately prepared and afterwards joined or welded together; so built-up gun, a gun whose parts are constructed separately and united in such a way that the elastic quality of the metal is fully utilized; (c) designating a locality where buildings abound, esp. in built-up area. Also built-up butt, a raised as distinguished from a sunken shooting-butt; built-up rope (see quot. 1908). Of a shoe: heightened. 1829 Nat. Philos. I. Optics iii. 12 (Usef. Knowl. Ser.) Dr. Brewster has contrived a built-up lens. 1853 C. Bronte Villette I. x. 188 This demi-convent, secluded in the builtup core of a capital. 1865 P. Barry Shoeburyness & the Guns vi. 86 The built-up system demands the same care.. as the Krupp blocks. 1886 Harper's Mag. Oct. 786/2 The means of providing against this successive rupture of overstrained parts is found in the ‘built-up gun’. 1887 Cassell's Fam. Mag. 509/1 A Built-up File. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 26 Aug. 3/1 A built-up butt. 1908 Animal Managem. (War Office) 143 The ‘built-up’ [picketing] rope, a portion of which is carried by each man. 1935 Ann. Reg. 1934 n- 71 The recently passed Road Traffic Act.. was extended shortly afterwards to all ‘built-up’ areas throughout the country. 1937 Sunday Times 10 Jan., The perils of built-up by-passes. 1946 E. Johnston Writing xv. 255 Built-up letters are composed of compound strokes. 1950 A. L. Rowse England of Eliz. v. 162 The actual built-up area grew in extent in Elizabeth’s reign. 1969 T. Parker Twisting Lane 19, I have to wear this special builtup shoe. d. The simple built is used in the same sense as ic (b) above. i860 All Y. Round No. 73. 549 The Armstrong gun .. is a built gun. 01877 Knight Diet. Mech., Built-beam, a compound beam made up of a number of planks, or thin, deep beams, laid parallel and secured together. Ibid., Builtrib, an arched beam made of parallel plank laid edgewise and bolted together. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 14 Nov. 19/2 The built all-in-one frock of lace net. 1909 Ibid. 20 Mar. 8/3 Threebladed propellers of the ‘built’ type. 2. In comb., as well-built, strongly built, said of a house, body, etc.; often of a ship, denoting the style, material, or place of construction, as frigate-built, wooden-built, Clyde-built. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis 1. (Arb.) 17 A long buylt citty theare stood, Carthago so named. 1621 Fletcher Wildgoose Ch., They are ill-built.. And weak i’ the pasterns. 1663 Act 15 Chas. II, vii. §6 English built shipping. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4209/4 A well-built bay Stallion. Ibid. No. 4691/4 A high built Gold Watch and Case. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) H4 A ship is said to be frigate-built, galleybuilt. i860 Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 245 She is wooden built. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. e pape Celestyn .. With letter bulled fyn assoyled to Scotlond sent. 1610 Bp. Carleton Jurisd. 268 He threw away the Popes bulled Letters.

bull-dose, -doze ('buldauz), sb. and v.

tbulled, ppl. a.2 rare—'. ? = bolled ppl. a.1 i.

orig. U.S. colloq. [According to U.S. newspapers, f. BULL sb.1 + DOSE.] A. sb. ? A severe dose (of flogging).

1876 American Newspr., If a negro is invited to join it [a society called ‘The Stop’], and refuses, he is taken to the woods and whipped. This whipping is called a ‘bull-doze’, or doze fit for a bull. 1881 Sat. Rev. g July 40/2 A ‘bull-dose’ means a large efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment.

B. vb.

(The usual spelling, influenced by bulldozer 2 a, is now bulldoze.) 1. a. ? To flog severely, b. To coerce by violence, intimidate. 1880 C. B. Berry Other Side 155 They .. pull him out of bed with a revolver to his head .. That’s called ’bull-dosing’ a man. 1881 Sat. Rev. 9 July 40/2 To ‘bull-dose’ a negro in the Southern States means to flog him to death, or nearly to death. 1884 H. George Social Prob. 16 Large Employers regularly ‘bulldose’ their hands into voting as they wish. *897 E. A. Bartlett Battlefields of Thessaly iii. 53 There is a remarkable resemblance.. between the way in which English public opinion has been ‘bulldozed’ and misled in both cases. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee! viii. 104 Debenham backed Danvers up by .. pointing out to Hawley the folly of handing a loaded revolver to Boder to examine. They simply bull-dozed Hawley. 1941 G. G. Scholem Major Trends injeivish Mysticism viii. 320 The philosophers who tried to bulldoze us into accepting the God of Aristotle as the God of Religion. 1954 Encounter July 31/1 The men .. were .. trying to bulldoze the creative Czech artist.. into conformity with the precepts of Socialist Realism. 2. a. intr. To use a bulldozer (bulldozer 2 a);

also, to push ones way by means of a bulldozer. Also trans.y to move, clear, or level by means of a bulldozer. 1942 Interpretation Aerial Photographs (U.S. War Dept., Techn. Man. TM5-246) 188 The road was constructed by bulldozing the earth and painting the edges with asphalt paint. 1944 Reader's Digest Aug. 93 Men were coming out of the sea continually and starting to work—digging, hammering, bulldozing. 1946 Spectator 12 Apr. 372/1 Americans had to bulldoze their way through the rubble. 1948 Time 5 July 19/3 Trucks were lumbering, .up a goat path, newly bulldozed.

b. transf. and fig. 1948 Sat. Rev. Lit. 21 Feb. 26 She bulldozed her way through her songs. 1950 G. Barker News of World 37 The juggernauts Go bulldozing through my thoughts. 1963 Rev. Eng. Studies XIV. 319 The second edition of 1934.. has been bulldozed away and a new edifice constructed.

So 'bulldozed ppl. a., 'bulldozing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. 1876 A merican Newspr., The application of the bull-doze was for the purpose of making Tilden voters; hence we hear of the ‘bull-dozed’ parishes. 1937 Geogr. Jrnl. XC. 369 ‘Bull-dozing’, in which the vertical walls at the head of a gully are destroyed and a sloping surface constructed. 1949 Good Housekeeping June 76/2 Every panacea-pamphlet that pours from the bull-dozing pens of doctrinaire Utopians. 1953 Proc. Prehist. Soc. XIX. 232 The destruction of many of the downland earthworks by bulldozing and deep ploughing. bulldozer ('bold3uz3(r)). doser, bull-dozer,

orig. U.S. Also bull-

[f. bull-dose, -doze v.]

1637 B. Jonson Sad Sheph. Nosegaies ’bove their heads.

bullee, -eis,

I. iii, Hang the bulled

obs. and Sc. forms of bullace.

f'bullen. Obs. or ? dial. ‘Hemp-stalks peeled’. 1674 in Ray. 1681 in Worlidge. 1706 in Phillips; in Bailey, Halliwell, etc. 1876 Knight Bract. Diet. Mech., Bullen, the awn or chaff from flax or hemp.

bullen,

obs. form of bullion.

[‘bullenger, erroneous form of

balinger.

(In

the AF. passage (Rot. Pari. 2 Hen. IV, 22) referred to by Blount the printed ed. reads balyngers.) 1670 in Blount Law Diet. 1678 in Phillips, etc.]

bullen-nail. [?

corruption of bullion-nail; see quot. 1707 in bullion1 i.] 1842-76 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Bullen nails, such as have round heads with short shanks turned and lacquered. They are principally used in the hangings of rooms. 1847 in Craig; and in mod. Diets.

t 'buller, sb.1 Obs. [f. bull sb.2 + -er1.] a. One who issues or publishes a bull. b. A deceiver, cheat, [perh. a distinct word, cf. bull v.3, OF. bouleur ‘trompeur’ Godef.] a 1300 Cursor M. 29306 Fals bulleres pat pam makes and I’am furth beres, or els pat falses pe papes sele. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 242 (Matz.) Thise dysars and thise hullars, Thise cokkers and thise hollars.

buller ('bolafr)), sb.2 Sc. Also 6 bullyer. [cf. Sw. buller noise, roar, Da. bulder tumbling noise. But influence of boil is manifest.] 1. A roaring noise (of waves or flood); the boiling of an eddy or torrent. 1513 Douglas JEneis x. vi. 13 Calmyt all is But stowr or bullyer, murmour or moving.

b. the Buller(s) of Buchan, a rocky recess on the Aberdeenshire coast, near Peterhead, open at the top; the sea, constantly raging in it, gives it the appearance of a boiling pot or caldron. 1769 Pennant Tour Scotl. 145 (Jam.) The famous Bullers of Buchan lying about a mile North of Bowness. 1774 Johnson West. Isl. Wks. 1787 X. 334 We .. turned our eyes to the Buller. .of Buchan. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 508/1 The Bullers of Buchan, a nearly round basin about 30 yards wide.

2. fig. 1851 Wilson Tales of Borders XX. 23 This new cause of sorrow increased my paroxysm to a perfect buller.

buller ('bub(r)), sb.3 [f.

bull sb.1 + -er1.] (See

quots.) 1858 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIX. 151 The cow., became what is called a ‘perpetual buller’, that is, always in a state to take the bull. 1901-3 Rep. Kansas State Board Agric. 253 {Cent. Diet. Suppl.), Buller, in stock-raising, a cow of irregular reproductive habit. 1953 S. J. Baker Australia Speaks 11. iii. 76 From dairy farm folk have come.. buller, a cow on heat.

1. a. One who ‘bull-dozes’, b. A large pistol. 1876 in Congress. Rec. (1877) 9 Jan. 500/1 A band of bulldozers came into Saint Francisville. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 426 The great ‘Bulldozer’ of Europe. 1881 Sat. Rev. 9 July 40/2 A Californian bull-doser is a pistol which carries a bullet heavy enough to destroy human life with certainty. 1882 New York Tribune 3 May, The hotel where he was staying was visited .. by a mob of bull-dozers. 1899 M. Kingsley Let. 19 Mar. in S. Gwynn Life of M. K. (1933) 210 They leave that to the bulldozers, and the present system mistakes these bulldozers for representative men.

2. A heavy caterpillar tractor fitted with a broad steel blade in front, used for removing obstacles, levelling uneven surfaces, etc. 1930 Water Works & Sewerage (U.S.) June 262/3 The bulldozer is built for heavy duty. 1941 N. & Q. CLXXXI. 119/1 If they can bring in American machinery, why can’t they bring in bull-dozers? 1942 Times 9 Oct. 2/2 There are ..machines for levelling—motor-propelled scrapers — tractors, dumpers, angle-dozers and bull-dozers.

b. fig. (Also attrib.) 1945 R. J. Oakes in Coast to Coast 1944 100 The fourth man was a gunner, a bulldozer of a man. 1952 Sat. Rev. 9 Aug. 12 The bulldozer determination with which he plowed through confused happenings. 1955 Times 21 June 9/4 Such spotters can .. obtain ‘bulldozer’ rights for a patrol on a hot scent to pass through the areas of other units without being shot in error. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Feb. 102/1 The bulldozer detective tactics of Inspector Evans. t bulle, bule. obs. exc. dial. [A variant spelling of boul, q.v.] A semicircular or bowed handle, as of a pail, a door, etc. 1483 Cath. Angl. 47 A Bulle (Bwylle) of a dore, grapa. 1747 Hooson Miner’s Diet. F. 1 b, In the Bottom [of the Corfe] near the ends of it are two Holes bored, in which the bended Buie is put. 1790 W. Marshall Midi. Counties (E.D.S.) Buie, the bow-handle of a pail. 1875 Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Buie, the handle of a pot, pan, or other utensil. 1881 Leicestersh. Words (E.D.S.) Buie, semicircular handle of a bucket, pot-lid, etc.

buller ('bub(r)), sb.1

University slang.

[See

-ER.6] = BULL-DOG 2. 1906 ’ Varsity i Feb. 165/3 There’s a buller over there. Wonder if he’s waiting to spot anyone. 1919 Isis 5 Nov. 7/2 The Proctor. . on a motor-scooter, accompanied by a couple of attendant ‘bullers’ on a push-bike. 1937 Evening News 5 May 10/3 A ‘buller’ was sent round to their house to collect the fines of 13/4 each.

buller ('buta(r)), v.1 Sc. Also 6 bullir. [f. buller sb.2\ cf. Sw. bullr-a, Da. buldre to roar, make a noise.] To make a noise, to roar, to bellow. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 95 Blait lyke ane hog, and buller lyke ane bull. 1549 Compl. Scot. (1872) 39 The bullis began to bullir, quhen the scheip began to blait. 1663 Spalding Troub. Chas. I. (1829) 33 It., would duck under water, snorting and bullering. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi, xv, Screeching and bullering like a Bull of Bashan.

f'buller, v.2 Obs. Sc. Also buler. [Perh. the same word as prec., but influenced in sense by OF. bullir to boil.] 1. a. intr. To boil, to foam; to rush foaming, b. trans. To wash up in foaming waves. 1513 Douglas JEneis 1. iii. 26 The stowr wp bullerit sand as it war wind. Ibid. 1. iii. 50 Salt watter stremis Fast bullerand in at every rift. Ibid. xi. xi. 34 Amasenus, that river.. Abuf the brais bulryt as it war wod.

2. intr. To make bubbles or foam. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 259 Full mony berne lay bulrand in his blude. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 231 The king was liand bullerand in his blude. p/. a. [f. bullet si.1 + -ed.] a. Bullet-shaped, b. Furnished with bullets. 01583 Stanyhurst Concedes (Arb.) 143 A leshe of bulleted hard stoans. 1858 in Greener Gunnery Advt. 12 Manufacturer of Powder.. Saloon Pistols, Bulleted Caps, etc.

.1

bullet-head. [f. bullet sb round like a bullet, head;

in

U.S., fig.

+ head.] a. Ahead

b. A person with such a a

‘pig-headed’,

obstinate

person. Hence 'bullet-.headed, -'headedness. 1690 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, Bullet-headed, a dull silly Fellow. 1722 De. Foe Col. Jack (1840) 142 He would have whipped poor bullet-head, so they called the negro. 1793 Holcroft Lavater's Physiog. xx. 102 Savages, by being distorted, acquired the appellation of bowl- or bullet-head. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. ix. 129 He aint No more ’n a tough old bullethead. a 1849 Poe Marginalia lxxiv, The disgusting sternness, captiousness, and bullet-headedness of her husband. 1857 E. Beadle To Nebraska (1923) 19 A clever bullet-headed Kentuckyan. 1872 F. W. Robinson Tito's Troub. in Wrayford's Ward, I was a thin, gawky, bullet¬ headed youth. 1875 Buckland Log-Bk. 25 Popped his bullet head .. round from the Curtain. 1947 Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 54 Bullet-headed bandit. bulletin ('bolitin). 17th

c.

bulletta

ad. =

It.

Also 7 bolletine, -ettine. [In

bullettino,

BULLET

sb.1;

bollettino

but

the

dim.

mod.

of

word

[1645 Evelyn

2. a. A short account or report of public news or events, issued by authority; applied esp., c 1800, to a report sent from the seat of war by a commander for publication at home. 1791 Burke Appeal Whigs (R.) The pithy and sententious brevity of these bulletins of ancient rebellion. 1792 Ld. Spencer in Ld. Auckland’s Corr. (1861) II. 474 They brought me .. a bulletin, for which I am much obliged to you. 1813 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. X. 410 There is at Lisbon a newspaper of the 13th containing the French bulletin of their action. 1840 Carlyle Heroes vi, 374 ‘False as a bulletin’ became a proverb in Napoleon’s time. 1880 Daily News 29 Oct., Daily bulletins of the weather are despatched to subscribers.

b. A broadcast report of news, weather, etc. Also fig. 1925 Times 23 July 8/3 The news given out as a bulletin on a very recent Sunday from the London Station must have made many listeners pause. Ibid. 3 Aug. 5/5 The news bulletins are broadcast in the exact terms in which they are received from the news agencies. 1938 Auden & Isherwood On Frontier 7 The drums tap out sensational bulletins; Frantic the efforts of the violins. 1938 Wodehouse Summer Moonshine i. 7 The weather-bulletin announcer of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

3. An official statement as to the health of an invalid. 1765 H. Walpole Corr. (1817) II. 312 The dauphin is at the point of death. Every morning the physicians frame an account of him, and happy is he or she who can produce a copy of this lie, called a bulletin. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz 5 Verbal bulletins of the state of his health were circulated throughout the parish half-a-dozen times a day. 1870 Disraeli Lothair lix, Lothair, after having heard the first.. bulletin of the surgeon, had been obliged to leave the convent.

4. attrib., esp. in bulletin-board, (a) U.S., a notice-board; (b) a computer-based system giving users access from remote terminals to text and programs contributed by one another and stored centrally. 1831 Boston Transcript 5 July 2/4 From the City Hall Bulletin Board. 1869' Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. 333 A great public bulletin-board in Pompeii. 1897 - Following Equator iv. 75 To-day per the bulletin-board at the head of the companionway, it is September 10. 1949 Lisle (Ill.) Eagle 10 Mar. 5/1 With the new scroll placed on the bulletin board all may see who made the honor roll this time. 1979 Byte Dec. 103 Computerized bulletin board systems are multiplying like rabbits! These systems, which allow people to communicate with others via terminal modems and personal computer systems, are skyrocketing in popularity. 1984 Times 21 Sept. 12/4 He put out the challenge through the network of personal computer ‘bulletin boards’ which have sprung up in Britain.

Hence 'bulletin v. trans. bulletin.

To make known by

1838 Jerrold Men of Char., J. Pippins vii, Job again and again bulletined his convalescence. 1884 Reading (Pa.) Herald 3 Apr., Mr. L-has made arrangements to have all . .championship games bulletined.

t'bulleting, vbl. sb. Obs. rare—b [f. bullet sb.1 + -ING1.] The firing of bullets. Also attrib. 1635 Swan Spec. M. v. §2 (1643) *67 In a bloudie bulleting fight, the aire is forced and stirred.

bullet tree, var. of bully tree: see bully sb* bullet-wood. [Cf. F. bois de balle and boulet de canon.] The wood of the bully tree (bully sb.*). 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 77 Bullet-wood, from the Virgin Isles, West Indies. Ibid., Bullet-wood, another species so called, is supposed to come from Berbice; its colour is hazel brown ..; it is.. well adapted to general and to eccentric turning. 1858 [see balata i].

gave .. lessons. 1862 Sat. Rev. XIV. 219/2 If we go on in this way, we shall be ready for bull-fights and gladiators. 1883 Sunday Mag. 575/1 Ferdinand VII founded at Seville a university for .. education .. in the art of bull-fighting,

b. ? = BULL-BAITING. 1824 J. McCulloch Highlands Scotl. I. 367 If there is not a bull-fight at Wrexham or Stamford, some squire is born, and there is a bull-feast at Grantham or Chirk.

bullfinch1 ('bulfinf). Also bulfinch. [f. bull sb.1 + finch. The reason for the name is uncertain: some have suggested that it was given on account of the thickness of the bird’s neck.] One of a genus of birds (Pyrrhula), allied to the Grosbeaks, having handsome plumage and a short, hard, rounded beak; well known for its aptness to be trained as a singing bird. 1570 Levins Manip. 134/4 A Bulfinche, bird, ribicilla. 1609 N. F. Fruiterers Secrets 2 A Bulfinch will eate [cherries] stones and all. 1655 Mouffet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 188 Bulfinches feed.. upon Hemp-seed, and the Blossoms of Pear, plum, and Apple-trees. 1789 G. White Selborne xxxix. (1853) 134 Bullfinches when fed on hempseed often become wholly black. 1835 Marryat Olla Podr. xiv, The piping bullfinch .. must have a good memory. 1847 Gard. Chron. 118 The bill of the bulfinch is a most suspicious-looking instrument.

b. Comb., trainer.

as

bullfinch

plcwer,

bullfinch

1864 Atkinson Provine, names Birds, Bullfinch Plover, Prov. name for Turnstone, Strepsilas inter pres. 1857 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 59 This tuition among professional bullfinch-trainers, is systematic.

bullfinch2 ('bulfinf). [Evans Leicestersh. Gloss. (1881) suggests a corruption of bull-fence. If it was so, the origin must have been forgotten before bull-finch fence was said.] A kind of hedge (see quot.). 1832 Quart. Rev. Mar. 226 The bull-finch fence.. is a quickset hedge of perhaps fifty years’ growth with a ditch on one side or the other, and so high and strong that [one] cannot clear it. 1857 Kingsley in Life xvi. (1879) II. 56 Race at the brook, Then smash at the bullfinch. 1880 Times 2 Nov. 4/5 Double-stitched shooting coats, that will stand the ordeal of ‘bull-finches’ and brambles.

Hence 'bullfinch v. through such a hedge.

intr., to leap a horse

1837 Gambler’s Dream III. 208 A fox hunter who must bullfinch out [of] a field in Northamptonshire, looks out for a little daylight between the twigs.

bullfincher. = prec. 1862 Sat. Rev. XIV. 219/2 A man exhibits his skill over a bullfincher for his own amusement.

f 'bullfist. Obs. exc. dial. [f. bull sb.1 + fist sb.2 ‘flatus ventris’.] The fungus called puff-ball (Lycoperdon bovista). ‘Still in use in Suffolk’ Britten and Holland. 1611 Cotgr., Pissaulict, a fuss-ball.. puffiste, or bullfiste. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 124 The remarkable quality of the Lycoperdon, Puff-ball, or Bul-fist for stopping haemorrhages.

'bull-,frog. [f. bull sb.1 + frog.] The name given to certain large American frogs, esp. Rana pipiens, a species 6 or 8 inches long, which has a voice not unlike that of a bull. 1738 Mortimer Nat. Hist. Carolina in Phil. Trans. XL. 348 The Bull-Frog. This hath its English Name from its Noise, which seems not unlike the Bellowing of a Bull at a Distance. 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Lousiad 111. Wks. 1812 I. 248 The Bull-frog’s snore. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. (1849) 384 The bull-frog croaked dolefully from a neighboring pool. 1855 Longf. Hiaw. ix. 118 And the bull¬ frog, the Dahinda, Thrust his head into the moonlight.

bullgine ('buld3am). colloq. (orig. U.S.). Also bulgine, bulljine. [f. bull sb.1 + en)gine r6.] A locomotive or steam-engine.

Shaped like a bullet.

1848 F. A. Durivage Stray Subjects 38 [He made] himself agreeable to his officers by .. imitating the ‘bullgine’. 1848 in Amer. Speech (1946) XXI. 116/1 Going ober to Hobuc, in de steamboat, De bulgine busted and we all got afloat! Ibid., Clar de track, de bullgine’s coming. 1889 [see bull sb.1 7 b]. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 395 The men of the island.. let the bullgine run.. and put to sea. 1927 in J. Sampson Seven Seas Shanty Book 32 So clear the track let the Bullgine run.

1846 Poe Wks. (1864) III. 111 His forehead is.. what is termed bullety. 1857 Tait's Mag. XXIV. 174 It covered a round, bullety head.

'bull,head. Also 6 bullyhead. 1. A small freshwater fish with a large head

fbulleyn, var. of bollen sb. Obs., seed-pod.

(Aspidophorus Thumb.

bullety ('buliti), a.

[f. bullet sb.1

+

-y1.]

1578 Lyte Dodoens 1. lxxxiii. 123 Ye shall finde in the huskes wherein they stood littell long bulleyns wherein the seede is contayned.

bulleys, obs. form of bullace. ‘bull-fight.

[Of recent introduction, having superseded bull-feast (see bull sb.1 11), which is found in Ash and Bailey, while neither they nor Johnson give bull-fight.] A sport practised in Spain, in which a bull is first attacked by horsemen called toreadores, and footmen called picadores, and finally slain by a swordsman called matador. Hence bull-fighter, -ing vbl. sb. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Bull, Bull-fighting, a sport or exercise much in vogue among the Spaniards and Portugueze. 1788 Ld. Auckland Diary in Corr. II. 63 All the gentlemen .. went for the first time to the bull-fight. 1846 Byron’s Wks. 13/1 note, The professional bull-fighter

cataphractes);

the

Miller's

CI450 Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 704 Hie capito, a bulhede. Act 1 Eliz. xvii, Places where Smelts, Loches, Minnies, Bulheads, etc... have been used to be taken. 1653 Walton Angler 232 The Miller’s thumb or Bull-head is a fish of no pleasing shape. 1841 H. Miller O.R. Sandst. iii. 77 The river bull-head, when attacked by an enemy, or immediately as it feels the hook in its jaws, erects its two spines at nearly right angles with the plates of the head. 1558

b. Any of various North American fresh-water fish of the genus Amiurus or allied genera, esp. the bull-pout or horned pout (Amiurus nebulosus). 1674 J. Josselyn Two Voy. 113 Blew-fish, Bull-head, Bur-fish. 1758 J. Williams Redeemed Captive (ed. 3) 18 There seven of us supped on the Fish, called Bull-head or Pout. 1814 Mitchill Fishes N. Y. 380 Eighteen-spined Bullhead, Cottus octodecem-spinosus. 1947 Sports Afield (U.S.) Feb. 21/2 Our lake is full of bullheads.

2. A tadpole. Now only dial.

BULLHEADED

the forehead; called also bull-tour. Obs. 1672 Marvell Reh. Tramp, i. 3 To trick up the good old Bishop in a yellow Coif and a Bulls-head, that he may appear in Fashion. 1673 R. Leigh Transpr. Rehears'd 140 The Glories of her Yellow Hood and Bull-head. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. xvii. §119 Some term this curled Forehead from the French word Taure, a Bull-head. This was the fashion of Women to wear Bull-heads, or Bull-like foreheads, anno 1674. 4. ‘A stupid fellow; a blockhead.’ J. Also attrib. 1624 Essex's Ghost in Harl. Misc. III. 514 Why should this bull head bishop . . against me roar with brazen bull? 1840 W. G. Simms Border Beagles 487 We’ve time enough to scud and run to-night, and to-morrow we can turn upon that bullhead, Rawling. 5. A brick wider at one end than the other, used for arches. 1862 Catal. Internal. Exhib. Industr. Dept. Brit. Div. II. x. 27/1 Common fire-bricks, of various forms, arch bricks, bull-heads, pin bricks, soap bricks &c. hullheaded ('bu^hsdid), a. head,

broadheaded;

fig.

Having a massive

blindly

impetuous,

blockheaded. Hence .bull'headedness. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi, xviii, They.. flourish with their bull-headed obstinacy. 1846 Comic Jack Giant Kill. (ed. 3) 7 This beef-eating, bull-headed, ‘son-of-a-gun’. 1884 F. Britten Watch Clockm. 153 See that the pivots are., neither bull headed nor taper. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. I. iv. viii. 465 Rough and stiff as natural bull-headedness helped by Prussian pipeclay can make it. bullhood ('bulhod). [f. bull sb.1 + -hood.] The condition of being a bull. 1845 Ford Hand-bk. Spain 1. 290 The priest, .selected a bull and christened him;.. but.. on the morrow he relapsed into his former bullhood and brutality. 1885 Fortnight in Waggonette 92 He was destined never to reach the full maturity of bullhood. Bulli ('bulai).

Austral.

The name of Bulli, a

town south of Sydney, New South Wales, used (chiefly attrib.) to designate a type of soil used esp. for cricket pitches. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 18 Apr. 3/1 This Bulli soil is wonderful in its resistance to wet... The wet does not run through the Bulli. 1907 Daily Chron. 19 Dec. 4/7 The famous rainresisting ‘Bulli soil’ of which the pitch on the Sydney Cricket Ground is composed. 1929 Conan Doyle Maracot Deep 244 The perfect Bulli-earth wicket, so far as England could supply that commodity, reminded our visitors of their native conditions. 1963 Guardian 4 May 4/6 The flawless bulli soil and merry creek pitches which were the terror of all bowlers half a century ago. bullied ('build), ppl. a.

[f. bully v.1 + -ed1.]

Roughly treated; cowed by a bully. 1851 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. (1864) IV. 67 The story of Flambard’s mother enlivened the chansons of some bullied minstrel, a 1863 Thackeray Song of Cane viii, That cringing, bullied lout Had once a generous soul. f 'bullient, a.

Obs. rare.

[a. L. bullient-em, pr.

pple. of bullire to boil.] Boiling, bubbling. 1669 Boyle Contn. New Exp. 11. (1682) 141 Bullient Spirit of Wine .. The murmer of the bullient water was heard. bullies, obs. form of bullace. f'bullifant. Obs. rare-'. 0152s Skelton Elynour Rummyng 520 Necked lyke an olyfant, It was a bullyfant, A greedy cormorant. bullimong ('bulimAi]). Forms: 4, 9 buli-, 5-7, 9 boly-, 6 bul-, 7 bally-, 8 bollimong, (6 bullimoong, 7 -mung, 8 -mond), 6- bullimong. (7-8 Diets, have bulli-,

bolli-,

composition;

bullmony.) the

BULLION

643

1611 Cotgr., Cavesot, a Pole-head, or Bull-head; the little black vermine whereof toads and frogs do come. 1883 Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Bull-heads, Bull-Jones, tadpoles. 13. A mass of curled or frizzled hair worn over

second

[Of element

obscure is

app.

imong:—OE. gemang, -mgng, mixture.] 1. A mixture of various kinds of grain sown together (as oats, pease, and vetches) for feeding cattle. Cf. dredge, meslin, and L. farrago. 1313 etc. in Rogers Agric. Gf Prices II. 174/4 etc. x494 Will of Fyche, Essex (Somerset Ho.), Frumenti et duo quarteria de Bolymong. 1552 Huloet, Bolymonge whyche is a kynd of myxture of corne and grayne, farrago. 1577 Harrison Descr. Brit. 1. xviii, Of mixed corne, as .. tares and otes (which they call bulmong).. here is no place to speake. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 557 Grain which .. is sown for beasts .. which they call dredge or ballimong. 1639 Horn & Robotham Gate Lang. Uni. xii. §130 Bullimong [mixt provender] is sowne for cattell. 1706 in Phillips [see 2]. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Bullimony, bullimong, bollimony, etc. 1844 Baker in Jrnl. R.A.S. V. 1. 4 Peas .. are frequently sown with oats.. This crop is denominated bullimong. b. attrib. 1615 T. Adams Sacrifice of Thankf. Wks. 1861 I. 127 They are full of farraginous and bullimong mixtures. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 24 If any man mislikes a bully mong drassock more then I, let him take her for all mee. f2. = BUCKWHEAT. Obs. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ill. liii. 393 The seede is blacke and triangled .. like to the seede of Bockweyde or Bolymong. 1598 Gerard Herbal 1. lx. [f 4. 83 Buckwheat is called.. in English.. Bullimong. 1706 Phillips, Bollimong or Bollmong, Buck-wheat, a kind of Grain: Also a Medley of several sorts of Grain together, otherwise call’d Mastin, or Mong-corn.

'bulling, vbl. sb.1 See

.1

bull v Also attrib. 1398 [see bull I).']. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 57 The signes of their Bulling (as it is termed) are their cries, and disorderly forsaking their fellows. 1624 Fletcher Rule a Wife, tsfc. v. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. I. s.v. Cow, The Advantages of their bulling at that Time is, that they will calve in ten Months. 1950 J. G. Davis Diet. Dairying 84 Bulling heifer, a heifer which is the right age and size for being served. i960 Times 9 May 3/3 The calfhood vaccination scheme allowed animals to be vaccinated up to the age of bulling.

'bulling, vbl. sb.2

[f. bull v.1, or nonce-vb. f.

bull sb.1, + -iNG1.] (nonce-use) = bull¬ baiting. C *645 Howell Lett. (1713) 124 The Pope hath sent divers Bulls against this Sport of bullings.

'bulling, vbl. sb.3 Obs. [f. bull v.3 to deceive; cf. buller sb.1 b.] ? Fraudulent scheming. t

1532 More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. (1557) 736/1 Hys asseheded exclamacions, and all hys busy bulling.

t'bulling, vbl. sb.* Obs.~°. (Cf. F. bouillir and L. bullire to boil.] The action of water issuing from a spring; bubbling. 1552 Huloet, Bullyng, bollynge, or bubblyng of water out of a sprynge.

'bulling,ppl. a. Obs. rare-', [f. bullw.2] That issues (papal) bulls. t

1624 Essex’s Ghost in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 515 This bulling Pius.

f 'bullion1. Obs. Also 5 bolyon. [a. F. bouillon, f. bouillir to boil.] a. A boiling, a quantity (of salt, etc.) boiled at one time (OF. boullon de sel, med.L. bullio ‘mensura salinaria’ Du Cange); cf. mod. ‘a boil of soap’, b. A certain quantity of quicksilver; cf. ‘un bouillon de vif argent xxv livres pesant’ (Carpentier s.v. Bullionum). 1453 Weighing Charges in Heath Grocers’ Comp. (1869) 422 Argent Vyff, ye bolyon .. iiijd. 1610 Holland Camden’s Brit. 575 (D.) In Wich the King and Earle have eight salt pits, which .. yeelded on the Friday sixteene Bullions.

bullion2 (’bulian). Forms: 5 bullioun(e, (Sc. bul3eon), 6 bolion, -lyon, bulloyn, 6-7 bullyon, 7 bulloin, -oigne, (bullen, bulline), 5- bullion. [Of obscure etymology. First recorded as AF. bullion (see quot. 1336 in 1); the form appears to point to identity with F. bouillon, med.L. bullio ‘boiling’ (cf. prec.), but it does not appear that the word ever had, except in England, any of the senses defined below. If this etymology be correct, the sense of ‘boiling’ must have undergone a purely English development into those of ‘melting’, ‘melted mass of metal’; the applications quoted under the preceding sb. (which are common to OF. and Eng.) probably furnished the suggestion for this extension of meaning. In MDu. boelioen seems to have had the sense of alloyed gold or silver (cf. 3, 4); see Verwijs & Verdam, who however identify the word with billioen, a. Fr. billon. The conjecture that bullion is in some way derived from L. bulla in the sense of seal or stamp appears to fail both with regard to form and meaning. The Fr. billon base metal (see billon) is unconnected in origin, but it seems to have influenced sense 4 of the present word; on the other hand, some obs. senses of Fr. billon seem to have been imitated from those of Eng. bullion.] 1. 1. ? Melting-house or mint; but the 16th c. legal antiquaries understood it as ‘place of exchange’. (App. only in the Anglo-French Statutes, or the translations of them.) 1336 Act 9 Edw. Ill, ii. §2 Puissent sauvement porter a les eschanges ou bullion.. argent en plate, vessel d’argent, etc. 1354 Act 27 Edw. Ill, ii. §14 Puissent savement porter., plate d’argent, billetes d’or et tut autre maner d’or et toutz moneys d’or et d’argent a nostre bullione ou a nos eschanges. 1632 transl. That all Merchants .. may safely carie and bring .. all money of gold and siluer to our bullion or to our exchanges which we shall cause to be ordeyned at our said Staples. 1641 Termes de la Ley 43 Bullion .. is the place where gold is tryed. 1670 Blount Law Diet., Bullion.. signifies .. sometimes the Kings Exchange, or place, whither such Gold in the lump is brought to be tryed or exchanged. 1725 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. 11. 21 The third part of all the money of silver plate, which shall be brought to the bullion, shall be made into half-pence and farthings.

II. Precious metal in the mass.

2. 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. 1451 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1597) §34 Na man haue out of the Realme, gold, siluer, nor Bu^eon. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 115 How Bullion may be brought into this Land. [1477 Act. 17 Edw. IV, i, Toutz gentz en queleconqe Roialme puissent porter a leschaungez come bullion tout maner de bon monoie dargent, de queleconqe value qe fuisse.] 1488 Invent, in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 393 Item twa braid pecis of brynt silver bullioune. 1580 North Plutarch 865 Bringing with him all his plate, both Gold and Silver, unto the Mint-master, he gave it him to put into

bullion, and so to be converted into currant coin. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. iv. (1821) 267 All such Moneys be., esteemed for Bullion onely. 1651 Howell Venice 17 Their charge is to look to all sorts of bullions and coines, that they be not embasd and adulterated, a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. 1. 59 The Bullion of neighbour Kingdoms brought to receive a Stamp from the Mint of England. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 39/1 Mettal.. which is unwrought is called .. of some a Wedge or Bulline. 1725 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. 11. 22 All silver money should be taken only as bullion. 1863 Fawcett Pol. Econ. 111. v. (1876) 361 It is unprofitable to melt down our silver coinage, and sell it as bullion. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. iv. (1876) 6 The sum., retained by the Bank of England as bullion.

b. fig. 1635 Quarles Embl. 11. xiii. (1718) 114, I cannot serve my God and bullion too. 1832 Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 91 It was tough work for foreign lips to coin the SwissGerman bullion into a circulating medium of communication. c. Solid gold or silver (as opposed to mere

showy imitations.) Often fig. Also attrib. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. i. 32 All of purest bullion framed were. 1779 Johnson L.P. Wks. 1816 X. 160 The spangles of wit which he could afford he knew how to polish; but he wanted the bullion of his master. 1822 Scott Nigel xiv, Broidery and bullion buttons make bare pouches, a 1834 Coleridge Lit. Rem. (1836) II. 361 There is., weighty bullion Sense in this book. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xlvi, A red neckcloth .. with a large pin of bullion or other metal.

|3. Impure gold or silver; also fig. and attrib. 1616 Bullokar, Bullion, silver unrefined, not yet made into money. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. 11. (1851) 50 To extract heaps of gold and silver out of the drossie Bullion of the Peoples sinnes. 1667-P.L. 1. 704 A second multitude .. scum’d the Bullion dross. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 264 The coarse, heavy, dirty, unwieldy bullion of books, is driven out of the market of learning.

III. Applied to other metals.

4. fa. Any metal in the lump (obs.). fb. Base metal; = billon (obs.). c. base bullion: formerly = b; mod. in Mining (see quot. 1881). c 1590 Marlowe Hero & L. 1, Base bullion for the stamps sake we allow. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 11.11. ii. (1621) 261 And those [words], which Elds strict doom did disallow, And damn for bullion, go for current now. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 462 (iTris grauis) that is to say.. brasse Bullion, or in Masse. 1632 Sherwood Diet., Bullion, Billon. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Base bullion (Pacific), is pig lead containing silver and some gold, which are separated by refining.

IV. 5. Comb, (sense 2), as bullion-dealer, also bullion-coal, local name of a particular seam; f bullion-heretic (nonce-wd., see quot.). 1881 E. Hull Coal-fields Gt. Brit. (ed. 4) 204 Amongst the strata overlying the ‘Upper-foot’, or ‘*Bullion-coal’, marine fossils occur. 1861 N. Brit. Rev. Nov. 358 Will ♦bulliondealers refuse to buy gold for us abroad? 1869 Rogers in Adam Smith's W.N. I. Pref. 40 The military chests of Napoleon were supplied by.. British bullion dealers. 1662 Thorndike Just Weights vii. §2 They are *bullion-heretics .. though not stamped by conviction, and contumacy succeeding, and the declaration of the church upon that.

f'bullion3. Obs. Also 5 bolyon, -en, 6 bulion, bullyon. [app. a. F. boulon (spelt bouillon in Cotgr.), f. boule ball; assimilated in form to prec.] fl. A knob or boss of metal; a convex ornament on a book, girdle, harness, or ring. Also attrib. Obs. 1463 in Bury Wills (1850) 36, I beqwethe to Anne Smyth a ryng of gold with bolyonys. 1464 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 254 My mastyr payd to' Martyn Goldsmythe, for bolyons gyldynge, ij.s. 1517 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michaels, Bp. Stortford (1882) 35 Item pd for x bolyens and claspis, viijd. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 1165 The claspis and bullyons were worth a thousande pounde. 1538-48 Elyot Diet., Bulla, a bullion sette on the cover of a booke, or other thynge. 1562 Phaer JEneid ix. Bbijb, Bulions broad of gold, and girdling girthes miraclose fyne. 1611 Cotgr., Bossette.. a bosse or bullion set on a booke. 1706 Phillips, Bullion of Copper is Copper-plates set on the Breastleathers, or Bridles of Horses for ornament. 1707 Earl Bindon in Lond. Gaz. No. 4339/3 To Prohibit.. all Coachmakers.. that they do not use Varnish’d BullionNails.

2. Bull’s eye in glass. 1834 Specif. Hartley's Patent No. 6702. 2 When the table of glass is complete there are .. more or less waved lines for some inches round the ‘bullion’ or the centre of the table of glass, which lessens the value. 1881 Spons' Encycl. Industr. Arts 1064 Pressing this lump upon an iron point, so as to give it the form of a little cup, he fits it, when thus shaped, on to the bullion-point, to which it soon becomes firmly attached. The lump thus formed is called the ‘bull’s-eye’ or ‘bullion’ of the developed plate. 1885 Spons' Mech. Own Bk. 630 ‘Roundels’ and ‘bullions’ are small discs of glass, some made with a knob in the centre, and used in fretwork with cathedral glass. |3. = bolien, bollen sb., bulleyn. Obs. 1589 Fleming Virg. Georg. 1. 9 She [the pine] beareth balls or bullions of chesnut colour.

4. Comb.: bullion-bar, the bar on or against which the end of the sphere of glass is pressed in blowing crown glass; bullion embroidery (see quot. 1968); bullion knot = bullion stitch, bullion-point, the point or end of a bulb that is being worked on a blow-pipe; also, the thick centre of a disc of blown glass, the bull’s-eye; bullion-rod = bullion-bar-, bullion stitch (see quot. 1968). 01854 Tomlinson Cycl. Usef. Arts I. 773/2 In again blowing out the bulb, the man supports it on a horizontal

BULLION smooth iron rod, called the bullion-bar. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Diet. Needlework 55 Bullion embroidery, when used for letters and large pieces, is applied to the material, as in applique. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet iii. 82 Bullion embroidery is an ancient embroidery done with gold wires instead of threads. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Diet. Needlework 55 Bullion knot, useful in crewel and silk embroideries, and largely employed in ancient embroideries for the foliage of trees and shrubs, and the hair of figures. 1881 Bullion-point [see above], a 1884 Knight Diet. Mech. Suppl., Bullion Point (glass), the thick portion at the center of a disk of crown glass. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 143 The globe is heated and again blown, and becomes a Florence flask, the ‘bullion-point’, the apex of the old cone, being still conspicuous. 1862 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 780/1 The workman .. next ma[r]vers it, without, however, using the bullion-rod. C1890 tr. T. de Dillmont's Encycl. Needlework 231 For bullion stitch, select a needle, a little thicker towards the handle, and finer than you would use for any other crQchet stitch. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet iii. 82 Bullion-stitch, a decorative stitch formed by twisting the thread several times round the needle before inserting it.

bullion4 ('bolisn).

[prob. a. F. bouillon (see bullion1) in senses derived from that of ‘bubble’: ‘i. Plis bouffants qu’on fait a certains vetements; 2. Fil d’or ou d’argent tourne en rond’ (Littre).] fl. More fully bullion-hose: Trunk-hose, puffed out at the upper part, in several folds. Obs. Cf. bouillon 4. 1594 Gesta Gray, in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. III. 341 A bullion-hose is best to goe a woeinge in; for ’tis full of promisinge promontories. 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass ill. iii, Not, While you doe eate, and lie, about the towne, here; And coozen i’your bullions. 1622 Fletcher Beggar's Bush iv. iv, His baster’d bullions In a long stock ty’d up. 1632 Massinger & Field Fatal Dow. 11. ii, You shall see him .. at noon in the bullion, in the evening in Quirpo.

2. a. An ornamental fringe made of twists of gold or silver thread, b. A single twist of such fringe. Also attrib. [Prob. now often associated with bullion2 precious metal.] 1662 Fuller Worthies 1. 247 Bullion, like other Lace, costing nothing safe a little thread. 1702 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. 11. iii. vi. (1743) 416 None might wear silk or costly furring.. without license from the king, nor no other persons wear broidery, pearls, or bullion. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. 277 All in a blaze of scarlet and bullion and steel. 1879 Uniform Reg. in Navy List July (1882) 488/2 Epaulettes.—Bullions to be two and three-quarter inches in length and one and one-eighth inch in circumference. 1832 Athenaeum No. 221. 42 Richly trimmed with embroidery and bullion fringes.

bullioned ('bulisnd), a.

[f. bullion4 2 + -ed2.]

Ornamented with bullion. 1902 Daily Chron. i Feb. 8/3 Of clear white muslin.. heavily bullioned up the centre breadth. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 Juh 5/1 The well-known ball dress of the British Navy, with its heavily bullioned epaulettes.

t'bullioner.

Obs. dealer in bullion.

[f. bullion2

+

-er1.]

A

1662 Petty Taxes 77 To save it [money] from being melted down by goldsmiths and bullioners. 1675 R. Coinage 30 (L.) Base money .. melted down by the bullioners.

Vaughan

bullionist ('bolranist). [f. as prec. + -ist.] One who advocates a metallic currency. 1811 Southey Ess. (1832) I. 58 The vaunted discoveries of the bullionists and of the new political economists. 1828 Taylor Money Syst. Eng. 110 The bullionists were opposed by Mr. Vansittart, on the part of the ministry, a 1852 Webster Wks. (1877) I. 374, I profess to be a bullionist in the usual and acceptable sense of the word. I am for a solid specie basis for our circulation. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 106 Ricardo, the high-priest of the bullionists.

bullionless ('bolianlis), a. nonce-wd. [f. as prec. + -less.] Without bullion. 1854 Fraser's Mag. L. 351 From the bullionless bank.

bullir, bullis, obs.

BULLOCKY

644

ff. buller, bullace.

bullish C'boliJ), a.1 [f. bull sb.1 + -ish1.] 1. Of or pertaining to a bull; resembling or having the nature of a bull. 1566 Nuce Seneca's Octavia (1581) 166 b, Cuckoldes bullysh badge. 01722 Lisle Husb. (1752) 314 His bullish nature will be ploughed out in three years. 1830 Fraser's Mag. II. 610 They are bullish, they are unmanageable, vindictive and irreconcileable.

2. Stock-Exchange, etc. Tending to or aiming at a rise in the price of stocks or of merchandise. 1882 Pall Mall G. $ July 5/2 We want to.. make prices higher that Paris may see how ‘bullish’ we are. 1884 Manch. Exam. 11 June 4/4 In this market.. a great majority are ‘bullish’ about cotton.

'bullish, a.1 nonce-wd. [f. bull sb.2 4- -ish1.] Of or pertaining to papal bulls. t

1546 Bale Eng. Votaries II. 36 Thys baudy bulle maker and hys other bullish begles.

bullish, a.3 Obs. rare. [f. bull sb.* 4- -ish1.] Having the nature of a ‘bull’ or grotesque blunder; laughably erroneous. f

1641 Milton Animadv. (1851) 191 A toothlesse Satyr is as improper as a toothed sleekstone, and as bullish. 1660 S. Fisher Rusticks Alarm Wks. (1679) 149 That Bullish Title of works but imperfectly good.

bullishly ('bulijli), adv. [f. bullish a.1 + -ly2.] After the manner of a bull. c 1827 Lamb in Sel. Bernard Barton (1849) 131 Making me, ever and anon, roar bullishly.

bullishness ('bulijms). Stock Exchange, [f. bullish a.1 -P -ness.] The quality or condition of being bullish. 1895 Daily News 9 Feb. 8/4 ‘Bullishness’ is a thing almost unknown. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 3 Jan. 7/1 The Kaffir Circus has come to a pause in its rakish career of bullishness. 1922 Daily Mail 1 Nov. 10 American Futures closed steady after recent bullishness.

bullism ('buliz(3)m). [f. bull sb.4 T -ism.] The making of ‘bulls’ or absurd blunders. 1835 Marryat.7.] 1. f 1. a. A term of endearment and familiarity, orig. applied to either sex: sweetheart, darling. Later applied to men only, implying friendly admiration: good friend, fine fellow, ‘gallant’. Often prefixed as a sort of title to the name or designation of the person addressed, as in Shaks., ‘bully Bottom’, ‘bully doctor’. Obs. exc. arch. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 475 Though she be sumwhat olde It is myne owne swete bullye My muskyne and my mullye. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. iii. i. 8 What saist thou, bully Bottome? 1598-Merry W. 11. iii. 18 ’Blesse thee, bullyDoctor. 1599-Hen. V, iv. i. 48 From heartstring I loue the louely Bully. 1610- Temp. v. i. 258 Coragio BullyMonster Corasio. 1688 A. Pulton Refl. Missioneds Arts 8 A Band of Bully Scholars, marching under ground with their Black-Bills. 1754 Richardson Grandison IV. xv. 115,1 haue promised to be with the sweet Bully early in the morning of her important day.

b. attrib., as in bully-boy. 1609 T. Ravenscroft Deuterom., He that is a bully boy, Come pledge me on the ground, a 1687 Cotton JEn. Burlesqued (1692) 53 From each part runs yon bully rustick, To take advantage of the first kick. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 143 The bully-boys of the Helderberg. 1818 Scott Rob Roy viii, You are not the first bully-boy that has said stand to a true man. 1880 Webb Goethe's Faust 1. ii. 53 My over jolly bully-boy, let be.

2. dial. Brother, companion, ‘mate’. 1825 Brockett North Country Gloss. 32 Now generally used among keelmen and pitmen to designate their brothers, as bully Jack, bully Bob, etc. Probably derived from the obsolete word boulie, beloved, i860 Fordyce Hist. Coal, &c. 60 They [the keelmen] are remarkably friendly to each other, being all ‘keel bullies’, or keel brothers. 1862 Smiles Engineers III. 12 ‘Bully’.. an appellation still in familiar use amongst brother workers in the coal districts. 1863 Tyneside Songs 61 Marrows, cries a bully, aw’ve an idea.. We’ll find Sir John Franklin.

II. 3. a. A blustering ‘gallant’; a bravo, hector, or ‘swash-buckler’; now, esp. a tyrannical coward who makes himself a terror to the weak. 1688 Shadwell Bury F. iv. Wks. (1720) 193 A lady is no more to be accounted a Beauty, till she has killed her man, than the bullies think one a fine gentleman, till he has kill’d his. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Pref. (1851) 10 Those furious Hectors we value not of a rush. We have been accustomed to rout such Bullies [L. istos minaces] in the Field. 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 340 Where London’s column, pointing at the skies Like a tall bully, lifts the head, and lyes. 1780 Duncan Mariner's Chron. (1804) II. 296 The most swaggering, swearing bullies in fine weather, were the most pitiful wretches on earth, when death appeared before them. 1863 Dicey Federal St. II. 245 A low-minded, unscrupulous bully, notorious for his pro-Slavery sympathies.

b. A ruffian hired for purposes of violence or intimidation, arch. 1730 Fielding Tom Thumb 11. i, Were he., a bully, a highway-man, or prize-fighter, I’d nab him. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab. IX. 179 These are the hired bravos who defend The tyrant’s throne —the bullies of his fear. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 204 A gang of bullies was secretly sent to slit the nose of the offender.

4. spec. a. The ‘gallant’ or protector of a prostitute; one who lives by protecting prostitutes. 1706 De Foe Jure Div. 1. 8 Mars the Celestial Bully they adore, And Venus for an Everlasting Whore. I7°7 Farquhar Beaux' Strat. hi. iii. 37, Sull. What! Murther your Husband to defend your Bully. Mrs. Sull. Bully! for shame .. Bullies wear long Swords. 1711 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 249 A bully that will fight for a whore, and run away in an army. 1749 Chesterf. Lett. (1792) II. ccxii. 312 Shew yourself.. the advocate, the friend, but not the bully of Virtue. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 107 If 12 The bully and the bawd, who fatten on their misery. 1817 M. Bennet in Pari. Deb. 861 Would he be less the bully of a brothel?

5. attrib. and comb., as bully-critic, -fop, -killer, -rake, -royster, -ruffian, -swordsman; also t bully-back, a bully who supports another person; hence f bully-back v.; bully-boy, (a) (see sense 1 b); (b) a young ruffian; a ‘tough’; esp. = sense 3 b; f bully-cock sb., f bullycocked a., (a hat) worn as a bully wears it (cf. billy-cock); f bully-huff, a boaster who is also a bully; f bully-scribbler, a writer who bullies. 1726 Amherst Terrae Fil. xxxiii. 179 They have spiritual bravoes on their side, and old lecherous *bully-backs to revenge their cause. 1759 Dilworth Pope 43 Supported and *bully-backed by that blind hector impudence. 1932 B. de Voto Mark Twain's America iii. 60 Or pulled at the end of ropes which the *bully-boys lugged through swamp and mire. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xii. 197 Typical of this whole generation of bully-boy, movie-toughguy, Hemingway idolaters. 1963 New Statesman 30 Aug. 245/1 Tenants.. told one how Rachman’s bully-boys had beaten them up. 1726 Amherst Terrae Fil. xlvi. 255 A broad ♦bully-cock’d hat, or a square cap of above twice the usual size. 1882 Daily News (Leader) 3 Feb., In a ‘bowler’ hat, or in the form which our ancestors called a ‘bully-cock’. 1690 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, *Bully-fop, a Maggot-pated, huffing, silly ratling Fellow. 1680 Cotton in Singer Hist. Cards 334 They will rarely adventure on the attempt, unless they are backed with some *bully-huffs. 1690 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, Bully-huff, a poor sorry Rogue that haunts Bawdy-houses, and pretends to get Money out of Gentlemen. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxviii, ‘Here mother,.. never mind that bully-hufF. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. iii. 145 M. Boyer, .is at the head of Fifty Spadassinicides, or *Bully-killers. 1711 E. Ward Quix. I. 33 He combats like that *Bully-Rake That only fights for Fighting’s sake. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Upr. Wks. 1730 I. 74 Why, how now, *bully Royster! what’s the meaning of this outrage in the face of Justice? 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 1. xi, Pick-lock, Pioneer, *Bully-ruffin, Smell-smock. 1671 Dryden Mock Astrol. ill. i, Snatch the Money like a Bully-Ruffin. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 233 Peter.. strode up to the brawling bully-ruffian. 01715 Wycherley Posth. Wks. 5 (Jod.) The *bully scribbler.. is beat out of his bravadoes only for assuming them. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. ill. iii. 142 ♦Bullyswordsmen, ‘Spadassins’ of that party, go swaggering.

bully (’bull), sb.2 scrimmage.

BULRUSH

646

BULLY

1. Eton foot-ball. A melee, a

1865 W. L. C. Etoniana xv. 213 Knees put out in the fierce football bully. 1873 M. Collins Sqr. Silchester II. xvii. 213 A youngster who has held his own in a football bully.

2. Hockey. The procedure of putting the ball in play by two players, one from each side, who strike with their sticks, first the ground then their opponent’s stick, three times, after which the ball is in play. Also bully-off. 1883 Boy's Own Paper 13 Oct. 30/1 The game shall be commenced and renewed by a bully in the centre of the ground. 1895 Battersby Hockey 92 From the bully off until his opponents’ ‘twenty-five’ is invaded. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 516/2 A penalty bully is given for deliberately unfair play by the defending side in their own circle. 1901 Daily News 28 Feb. 7/5 The Oxford centre-forward got away directly after the bully-off. 1963 Times 18 Feb. 3/7 West’s centre forward put the ball into the net almost before South had moved from the bully.

f'bully, sb.3 Obs. Also bullie. cottage, hut.

[Cf. booly.] A

1598 Florio, Tugurio, a shepherds cottage, bully or shead. 1611 Cotgr., Tugure .. a shepheards shed, or bullie.

'bully, sb.4 Also 8 bullet. [Etymology uncertain: variously referred to Eng. bully, dial, form of bullace (cf. the 2nd quot.), and to F. boulet de canon (lit. cannon-ball) ‘fruit d’un arbre de la Guiane’ (Boiste). The form bullet occurs only late, and the F. name may be due to popular etymology.] attrib. in bully bay, bully-berry tree, bully tree, names for certain genera of the order Sapotaceae, also for a species of Mimusops (all natives of the W. Indies and of Guiana). 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) x4 Lofty trees, as the Palmeto, Royal.. Bully, Redwood. Ibid. 73 The Bully tree . . bears a fruit like a Bullis in England. 1693 Phil. Trans. XVII. 621 The Sope-Berry.. Indian Damozen, and the Bully Bay. 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 124 When old it had a great many sulci not unlike the Bully tree. 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 177 The Bully-Berry tree .. a very durable timber tree. 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xxviii. 335 The bullet-tree .. the bark is grey and smooth, the timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. 1866 Treas. Bot., Bully or Bullet Tree.. a species of Mimusops.

bully ('bull), sb.5 [? f. bull, or corruption of F. bouilli boiled meat.] Pickled or tinned beef. Also as bully beef. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom I. xxiv. 160, I could get no eatables upon the ruoad, but what they called Bully, which

looks like the flesh of Pharaoh’s lean kine stewed into rags and tatters. 1788 j. Woodforde Diary 18 Sept. (1927) III. 47 We had for Dinner some Hare Soup, a Couple of Chicken boiled and Ham—Some Beef Bulley, Stewed Pork Partridges,.. &c. 1883 Clark Russell in Longm. Mag. III. 2, I have been shipmates with a man who grew white-haired at thirty on soup and bully. 1884 J. Macdonald in igth Cent. June 1002 The colonel.. was .. quietly consuming., his luncheon of ‘bully beef and whiskey.

'bully, sb.6 A pattern of miner’s hammer, varying from ‘broad, bully' to 'narrow bully'. Raymond Mining Gloss. bully, sb.1 a. Dial, name for some kind of fish; cf. BULL-HEAD. (Also short for BULLFINCH1.) 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago ii. (D.) Turningthe stones for ‘shannies’ and ‘bullies’, and other, .fish left by the tide. b. Abbrev. of cockabully. N.Z. 1912 B. E. Baughan Brown Bread fr. Colonial Oven 2 The beloved creek where bullies wait the hook. 1943 G. E. Mannering 80 Years in N.Z. xxi. 158 In the North Island the bully run follows the whitebait.

bully ('bull), a.1

[f. bully sb.“] I. [Orig. bully sb.1 I., used attrib.; cf. brother.] 1. Of persons: Worthy, ‘jolly’, admirable.

1681 Chetham Angler's Vade-m. (1689) Pref., From such Bully fishers, this Book expects no other reception. 1852 Hood Lamia v. 231 Here, bully mates, These, lady, are my friends.

2. a. U.S. and Colonies. ‘crack’. (U.S.).

Also spec,

Capital, first-rate, in the earlier bully-boat

1844 Scribblings Sk. 181 (Th.), A two days’ race with bully-boats combines every sort of pleasing excitement. It were well to inform you that a bully-boat means a boat that beats everything on those [Mississippi] waters. 1847 W. T. Porter Quarter Race Kentucky 126 (Th.), Our ‘bully’ boat sped away like a bird. 1855 Wm. Carleton Willy Reilly v, The cook will give you a bully dinner, a i860 Cairo City Times (Bartlett) The bully ‘Crystal Palace’ passed up to St. Louis on Monday. 1865 Daily Tel. 20 July, The citizens of New York, who were aware that the celebration would be more ‘bully’ than usual. 1870 Meade New Zeal. 331, The roof fell in, there was a ‘bully’ blaze. 1875 N. Amer. Rev. CXX. 128 ‘That’s bully!’ exclaimed Tweed.

b. as an exclamation, esp. in phrase ‘Bully for you!’ = bravo! well done! 1864 Sanatory Commiss. U.S. Army 133 note, Others would say ‘good’, and others would use the very expressive phrase ‘bully’! 1864 Daily Tel. 18 Nov., The freckles have vanished, and bully for you. 1883 Punch 28 July, Lady Dufferin—bully for her, mate!

II. 3. Resembling a characteristic of a bully.

bully

or

ruffian;

1727 Swift City Shower Wks. 1755 III. 11. 40 Those bully Greeks, who, as the moderns do, Instead of paying chairmen, run them through. 1749 {title) Considerations on the Establishment of the French Strolers; the Behaviour of their Bully Champions. 1885 G. Meredith Diana Crossw. I. iv. 94 A bully imposition of sheer physical ascendancy.

bully

('bull), a2 [f. Resembling a bull-dog.

bull

sb.1

+

-y1.]

1884 Miss Braddon Phant. Fort. vii. 47 Angelina is bully about the muzzle.

bully ('bull), v.1 [f. bully sb.1] 1. trans. To act the bully towards; to treat in an overbearing manner; to intimidate, overawe. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 69 His poor neighbour is bully’d by his big appearance. 1747 Gentl. Mag., The French observing that we were not to be bullied by their 17 sail, etc. 1802 Mar. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xii. 96 He saw, that he had no chance of bullying the servant. 1874 Greville Mem. Geo. IV (1875) III. xxi. 8 For the purpose of bullying the House of Lords, who would not be bullied.

b. To overweigh, overbalance. 1883 Harper's Mag. Aug. 449/1 A light displacement being bullied by large sails.

2. To drive or force by bullying; to frighten into a certain course; with away, into, out of, to. 1723 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 27 What ails you, to bully away our customers so? 1748 Richardson Clarissa II. xxxviii. 258 They are in the right not to be bullied out of their child. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 444 They are bullied by the Plenipotentiaries to support him. 1854 Bright Sp., Russia 31 Mar. (1876) 227, I have no belief that Russia .. would have been bullied into any change of policy.

3. intr. and absol.

To bluster, use violent

threats; to swagger. a 1744 Bramston (L.), So Britain’s monarch once uncover’d sat, While Bradshaw bullied in a broad-brimm’d hat. 1783 Johnson Lett. II. ccci. 272, I bullied and bounced .. and compelled the apothecary to make his salve according to the Edinburgh Dispensatory. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 143 The officer.. mounted a small horse, galloping up and down .. bullying, swearing.

bully ('bull), v.2 Hockey,

[f. bully sb.2 2.] trans. To put (the ball) in play by a bully. Also intr., usu. with off, to start play in this manner. 1886 Rules of Game of Hockey 11 The game shall be started by one player of each side bullying the ball in the centre of the ground. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 12/2 When two players are bullying-off they stand perfectly square. 1967 J. Potter Foul Play vi. 77 The two centre forwards bullied. Ibid. ix. no Julian bent over the ball to bully-off with a stocky, close-cropped French student.

bullyable, bulliable ('buli3b(3)l), a. rare. [f. bully v.1 + -able.] Capable of being bullied. 1868 II. Kingsley Silcote of Sil. II. xii. 148 Silcote was in a bullyable mood.

bullydom ('bulidam). nonce-wd. [f. bully sb.1 or v.1 + -dom.] The state dominated by bullies. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 599 The fellow .. has been through all the phases of ‘bulleydom’.

bullyer, obs. form of buller sb. bully-head, variant of bull-head. bullying ('bulnr)), vbl. sb. [f. bully v.1 + -ing1.] The action of the verb to bully: overbearing insolence; personal intimidation; petty tyranny. Often used with reference to schoolboy life. Also attrib. 1802 G. Rose Diaries (i860) I. 484 It is ridiculous to suppose she will mind our bullying when we cannot strike. 1829 Censor 131 The bullying system .. a system tending to brutalize the kindest natures. 1838 Dickens O. Twist (1850) 187/2 Mr. Bumble., had a decided propensity for bullying . .and, consequently, was (it is needless to say) a coward.

bullying ('bulni)), ppl. a. [f. bully v.1 + -ing2.] That bullies or acts like a bully; domineering, menacing. 1746 W. Horsley Fool No. 22 (1748) I. 153 A Rock which .. bids the bullying Sea-God Defiance. 1812 Examiner 24 Aug. 541/1 The bullying intolerance of William Cobbett. 1831 Scott Diary in Lockhart (1839) X. 50 No bullying Mirabeau to assail, no eloquent Maury to defend.

bullyism ('buliiz(9)m). [f. bully sb. + -ism.] The conduct or practice of a bully. a 1849 Poe Longf. &c. Wks. 1864 III. 320 The Outises who practice this species of bullyism are as a matter of course anonymous. 1886 All Y. Round 27 Feb. 35 The spirit of ‘bullyism’.. peculiarly prevalent in the Northern States.

bully mong,

bullyon,

obs.

forms

of

BULLIMONG, BULLION.

bullyrag ('buliraeg), v. dial, or colloq. Also balrag, balla-, balli-, ballyrag ('baeliraeg). [Etymology unknown: connexion with bully sb. or v. is unlikely, as forms with bal-, bally- are widely diffused in the dialects.] a. To overawe, intimidate. Also, to scold, harass, badger. Hence bullyragging ppl. a. b. To assail with abusive language. a 1790 T. Warton Poet. Wks. (1802) II. 210 You vainly thought to ballarag us With your fine squadron off Cape Lagos. 1823 Carlyle in Froude Life I. 203, I bullyrag the sluttish harlots of the place. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., To Balrag or Bullyrag, to abuse ferociously with a foul tongue, to bully. 1869 H. Kingsley Stretton II. 3 He asked .. whether a fellow was to be bullyragged out of his very bed. 1879 Spectator 14 June 757 Irish tenantry engaged in what may be called ballyragging their Member. 1888 G. M. Hopkins Let. 30 Nov. (1938) 50, I am afraid this ballyragging will make you gloomy. 1889 Barrere & Leland Diet. Slang s.v., To ballyrag a man [at Oxford] is to mob him and play practical jokes upon him, to hustle him. To ballyrag a man’s rooms is to turn them upside down, to make ‘hay’ of them. 1935 Wodehouse Blankings Castle vi. 148, I won’t have her ballyragged. Understand that! 1958 B. Hamilton Too Much of Water v. 121, I like Samson too... Don’t be bullyragged out of it.

Hence bullyragging ppl.a. and vbl. sb. 1820 M. Wilmot Let. 5 Aug. (1935) 76 What a Ballyragging foulmouthed son of a gun art thou. 1863 H. Kingsley A. Elliot I. 225 The pair on ’em should have the bullying and ballyragging of nine thousand a year. 1880 Mrs. Parr Adam .2vand int. [Imitative. Cf. bumbo1.] f a. A child’s word for drink (cf. bum v.1). Obs. b. Sc. to say neither ba nor bum: not to say a word (cf. baff).

1863 Boston Herald 2 Aug. 2/5 They are just fit to .. read the News and Express, bum round rum-shops [etc.]. 1876 Wheatland (California) Free Press 4 Mar. 2/2 The Professor is readier.. to ‘flunk’ the student, who spent his time ‘bumming’ the night before. 1883 C. S. Keene in Layard Life & Lett. (1892) 350 I’ve been bumming around all day .. and haven’t caught a darned fish. 1890 L. C. D’Oyle Notches 168 Qualifications which eminently fitted a man to ‘bum it’ on such a community. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. 72 You ought to hev more sense than to bum araound on deck this weather. 1942 P. Abrahams Dark Testament 1. xiv. 75 Dinnie was the fellow with whom I went bumming in Vrededorp when I was a kid. 1950 Manch. Guardian Weekly 12 Jan. 7 The unshaven months he spent bumming around New York.

1552 Huloet, Bua, the terme or voyce of infantes, askynge drynke, englyshed yf ye wyll, Bumme. 1570 Levins Manip. 187 Bum, drinke, potus. 1598 Tom Tytler & W. (1661) 4 Tipple (arriving with liquor).. here is good bum, I dare boldly say. 1861 Ramsay Remin. iv. (ed. 18) 75 They neither said ba nor bum.

t bum, sb.3 Obs. rare~°. 1570 Levins Manip. 188 Bum of a pipe, oblonga fistula.

bum (bAm), sb.4 slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). [Prob. short for bummer3; cf. bum sb.1 2.] 1. A lazy and dissolute person; an habitual loafer or tramp; = bummer3. See also quot. 19331864 Gold Hill (Nevada) News 15 Apr. 5/1 The policemen say that even their old, regular and reliable ‘bums’ appear to have reformed. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 68, I don’t believe in feeding professional bums. 1926 J. Black You can't Win ix. 104 A thoroughgoing bum from the road. The term ‘bum’ is not used here in any cheap or disparaging sense. In those days it meant any kind of a traveling thief. 1931 E. LinklaterJmow in Amer. 11. iii. 75, I’ll fix the dirty bum that framed me! 1933 Observer 2 Apr., ‘Bum’, a term of affectionate obloquy which young American friends have applied to me .. means not merely a fool, but a droning fool. 1941 A. L. Rowse Poems of Decade 103 Lord, how he pontificates, Lays down the law to these poor bums. 1958 Punch 5 Feb. 218/2 The bums in the dosshouse have reached bottom.

b. bum's rush: forcible ejection. 1925 L. O’Flaherty Informer iii. 46 They might give him ‘the bum’s rush’, breaking his neck silently like a rabbit’s neck. 1931 E. Linklater Juan in Amer. 11. xv. 167, I told him I’d give him the bum’s rush if he tried to pull that stuff on me. 1959 M. Cumberland Murmurs in Rue Morgue xxxi. 176 Chotin was being given what the vulgar term the ‘bum’s rush’. He was down the steps .. through the gate and flat on his back on the pavement.

2. A debauch or spree. 1871 L. H. Bagg At Yale 153 Aside from the annual convention on Commencement night, there are two other ‘bums’ held during the year. 1885 E. Custer Boots & Saddles xx. 193, I intend to celebrate their return by going on a tremendous ‘bum’.

3. on the bum: (a) vagrant; begging (cf. bummel sb. and v.)\ (b) in a state of disorder. 1895 Century Mag. Oct. 941/2 Plans are made also for going ‘on the bum’ the moment they are free. 1896 Ade Artie iii. 28, I sized it up that the house was on the bum and she didn’t want me to see it. 1931 D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) ix. 185 Trade is strictly on the bum. 1932 J. T. Farrell Young Lonigan (1936) vi. 141 He vowed he’d blow the place, and go on the bum.

fbum, v.1 Obs. Also bom. [? Onomatopoeic, imitating the motion of the lips in drinking; cf. bum s6.-] intr. To taste (drink); to drink. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. vii. 139 He abydep wel pe bet • pat Bommej? not to ofte. 1393 Ibid. C. vii. 229 Who so bommede [A. v. 137 bummede] f>er-of ■ he bouht yt [ale] ^er-after.

fbum, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. Also bumb. [Var. of boom w.1; of echoic origin.] 1. intr. To hum loudly; to boom. ri45o Chaucer Wyf Bathes T. 116 (Camb. MS.) As a bitore bumbith [v.r. bombleth] in |>e myre. 1499 Promp. Parv. 55 Bummyn or bumbyn [v.r. bombon], bombizo. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. ix. 191 The Wasp and Hornet Bumbeth. 1722 Hamilton Wallace x. 253 (Jam.) English men bum there [Stirling] as thick as bees. 1785 Burns To W. Simpson, Let the busy, grumbling hive Bum owre their treasure. 1821 Scott Kenilw, You shall hear the bittern bumb. 1864 Tennyson North. Farmer 18, I..’eerd un a bummin’ awaay loike a buzzard-clock. Mod. Sc. The stones came bumming past my head.

2. trans. Sc. a. To throw or hurl a missile with vibrating or booming effect, as ‘to bum stones at anything’, b. To pelt with missiles, as ‘to bum one with stones’. Cf. also ‘bumb sb., the game of bandy’ (Halliwell). fbum,

v.3

Obs.

[perh.

f.

bum

sb.1

(cf.

bumbaste), though the sense ‘flog on the breech’ is not distinctly evidenced. Or it may belong to prec. word, cf. sense 2 b.]

trans. (or absol.) To strike, beat, thump. 1579 Studley Seneca’s Hippolytus (1581) 64 b, To scratch and cuffe, to boxe and bum. 1598 Greene Jos. IV {1861) 203 Sirrah, hold your hand, lest I bum you. 1608 Middleton Fam. Love IV. iii, Sirrah, you would be bummed for your roguery. 1622 Dekker & Mass. Virg. Mart. iv. ii.

1. trans. To pad or make a projection about the posteriors. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 197 Women bummed themselves with foxe tailes under their garments.

2. intr. To project, form a protuberance. 1633 Rowley Match at Midn. 1. i. in Hazl. Dodsley XIII. 8 What have you bumming out there, goodman File?

bum, vA To act as a bum-boat woman. 1833 Marryat P. Simple lxi, He’s dead and bumming. Ibid, lvii, To see his wife go a bumming.

I’m

bum, vA slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). [? backformation from bummer3. Cf. bum sb.4] 1. intr. To wander around, to loaf; to go ‘on the bum’; to act as a ‘bum’. Also with it.

2. trans. cadge.

To beg; to obtain by begging; to

1863 Unionville (Nevada) Humboldt Reg. 4 July 2/1 He offered to pay, and didn’t undertake to bum a puff out. 1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary ii. 14, I have been walking and bumming rides ever since. 1931 ‘Dean Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route p. v, Nobody knows where the hobo, .bums his feeds. 1941 L. A. G. Strong Bay 279 An odd sort of bloke.. bummed a light and a fill of tobacco off me.

b. To travel on (a train) without a ticket. 1896 Pop. Sci. Monthly L. 254 Several of the ‘lads’ had been ‘pulled’ at the Rapids for ‘bumming the freights’.

c. To beg (a person) for (something); to cadge from. 1923 H. L. Foster Beachcomber in Orient i. 2 Then he bummed me for the price of a ‘square meal’. 1931 ‘Dean Stiff’ Milk Honey Route 191 He had bummed every guy up in Portland, And they all came across with the goods.

d. to bum one's way: to make one’s way by begging; to hitch-hike. 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby (1926) vii. 154 He was probably bumming his way home. 1932 E. Wilson Devil Take Hindmost ii. 8 Some will bum their way—others will have their transportation provided.

great men. 1859 Thackeray pettifogging bum-bailiff.

bumbalo,

Virgin, i, A confounded

variant of bummalo.

t bumbard, -art, sb. and a. Obs. Also 6 bombard, [f. bum bumb, v.2 + -ard. Cf. also bowbert in a similar sense.] A. sb. A bumble-bee, a drone; also fig. a droning person, a driveller. Cf. bumble sb.1 2. c 1505 Dunbar Twa Mariit Wem. & Wedo 91 Ane bumbart, ane dron bee, ane bag full of flewme. Ibid. Quhome to sail I complene 24 Cairlis of nobillis hes the cure, And bumbardis brukis the benifyiss. a 1614 J. Melvill Mem. MS. 129 (Jam.) Like adercope webs, that takes the silly flies, but the bombards breaks through them. 1614 J. Cooke in Dodsley I. 93 Your Spaniard is a mere Bumbard to him.

B. a.

Lazy, indolent, drivelling.

c 1505 Dunbar Dance Sev. Deidly Synnis 70 Mony sweir bumbard [v.r. lumbard] belly huddroun.

bumbard,

obs. form of bombard.

bumbaree, bumbarge

variant of bummaree.

[?

(’bAmba:d3).

Perversion

of

bumboat, after barge.] 1839 Carlyle Chartism viii. 163 What ship Argo..was other than a foolish bumbarge in comparison? 1885 Pall Mall G. 20 June 3 A torpedo boat is not as tough as a bumbarge.

fbumbass.

Obs. rare—1. [? f. bomb- in ? A large projectile to be thrown from a bombard. bombard.]

1655 Mrq. Worcester Cent. Inv. No. 24 A Spring. , to shoot Bumbasses and Bullets of an hundred pound weight a Steeple height.

bumbast, -er, -ic,

etc., var. of bombast, etc.

f bumbaste, v. Obs. exc. dial. Also 6-7 bumbast, bombast(e. [app. f. bum sb.1 + baste v.3: but bum might be a meaningless intensive or reduplicative prefix; cf. next.] trans. To beat on the posteriors; hence, to flog, beat soundly, thrash. 1571 R- Edwardes Damon & P. in Dodsley IV. 60, I shall bombast you, you mocking knave. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm i. xxviii. 146 You must bumbast his buttocks with a good long sticke. 1657 Tomlinson Renous Disp. 50 We use.. to smite and bombaste them (vipers) with rods. 1682 New Newsfr. Bedlam 56,1 am resolved to bumbast him as soon as you are gone. 1731 Bailey II, To bumbaste [of bum and baste, i.e. to beat] to beat or bang. 1847-78 Halliwell, Bumbaste. To beat, or flog. East.

bum, a. slang (orig. U.S.). [Cf. bum sb.4] Of

b. ? To finish off, ‘dispose of (a can of liquor).

poor, wretched, or miserable quality; spec, bum steer, false or poor information or advice.

1640 Glapthorne Wit. in Constab. v. ii, Here let’s canvass This quart and then we’ll bumbaste off another.

1859 in Pacific N. W. Quart. (1940) XXXI. 292 Bum River Ferry. 1888 Nation (N.Y.) 31 May 439/2 One of them.. heard B. called a ‘bum actor’. 1896 Ade Artie xii. 109 He didn’t have a sou markee except what was tied up in a bum little grocery store. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone N. vii. 190 A stranger that had seen better days and had a bum lung. 1924 G. C. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 399 Bum steer, poor advice. 1931 A. Powell Afternoon Men 1. iii. 40 This is a bum party. 1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice ix. 87 If I told a bum story first. 1957 W. H. Whyte Organization Man 137 The muddy-headed way so many of us do [= talk] gives young men a bum steer.

fbum, Obs. Colloq. contraction for by my. 1571 R. Edwardes Damon & Pith, in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 73 Bum troth, but few such roisters come to my years. 1578 Whetstone Promos Cass, in Reed Dodsley IV. 7 (N.) Nay, bum-ladie, I will not.

bumaloe, bumaree: see bumm-. Obs.

[Cf. bub sb.3, bump sfi.1]

bumbasting

A

pimple. 1598 Florio, Quosi, red pimples, bumbs or pearles in ones face.

bumb, var. of bum v.2, Obs., to hum. f bumbail. Apparently shortened f. next. 1696 Growth of Deism 22 Where [at the altar, under the Test Acts] Men were capacitated to be Bumbails, keep Gaming-houses and sell Ale.

bumbailiff ('bAm'beilif). Forms: 7 bumbaylie, 7, 9 dial, -baily, 7 -bayliff(e, 7- -bailiff, [app. f. bum sb.1 + bailiff: i.e. the bailiff that is close at the debtor’s back, or that catches him in the rear. Cf. the F. equivalent pousse-cul, colloquially shortened to cut, precisely like the Eng. bum.] A contemptuous synonym of bailiff 2: ‘A bailiff of the meanest kind; one that is employed in arrests’ (J.). 1601 Shaks. Tzvel. N. iii. iv. 194 Scout mee for him at the corner of the Orchard like a bum-Baylie. 1638 G. M. Ess. & Char. Prison & Pr. 30 The very offscum of the rascall multitude, as.Decoyes, Bum-bayliffes, disgraced Pursevants . and a rabble of such stinkardly companions. 1650 J. Jones Judges Judg. 34 [Debtors] taken , from their Ploughs, which are their Livelihood.. by vagrant Bumbaylies, and imprisoned. 1768-78 Tucker Lf. Nat. II. 528 The two necessary ministers of justice, a bum-bailiff and a Jack Ketch. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. iii. ii. (1849) 148, I have a mortal antipathy to catchpolls, bumbailiffs and little

ppl.

a.,

‘thumping’,

1598 Florio, Rugione, a good drie bumbasting blow.

bumbaze

(bAm'beiz), v.

bombaze, -base, intensive

form

Chiefly Sc. Also 8 9 bumbaize. [app. a kind of of

baze

v.;

but

cf.

also

bamboozle.] To confound, perplex, bamboozle. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. I. i. She., gars me look bombaz’d and unco blate. Ibid. IV. ii, Then oft by night, bombase hare-hearted fools. 1824 Scott Redgaunt. II. iv, How the scoundrel redcoats must have been bumbazed. 1840 Barham Ingot. Leg. 117 Clear bumbaized, and amazed, and fixed all the room stick. 1882 Gd. Words 100 The mother.. poor body, looked a good deal bumbazed.

'bum-'bee. Sc. [f.

bum-: see bom-.

fbumb.

Hence violent.

.2

bum v

hum

+

bee ii.1]

=

bumble-bee. With quot. 1653 cf. bum-bailiff. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 11. xi. The Swissers, who had assembled themselves to the full number of the Bum-bees, and Myrmidons. 1718 Ramsay Contin. Christ’s Kirk iii. xix, Spawn’d out..Wi' mony an unco skirl and shout, Like bumbees frae their bykes. 1789 Davidson Seasons 5 (Jam.) Auld farnyear stories come athwart their minds, Of bumbee bykes. 1826 J. Wilson Nod. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 153 Caterpillars and bumbees and a’ the rest o’ the insect world. 1862 D. Campbell Language, &c. Highl. Clans, The inexpressive notes.. made by three unfortunate bumbees.

'bumbelo, 'bumbolo. [a. It. bombola ‘sort of glass vessel for holding wine’, etc. (Tommaseo and Bellini).] A glass flask for subliming camphor. 1854 Tomlinson Cycl. Usef. Arts (1866) I. 286 Spheroidal vessels called bomboloes. They are made of thin flint glass.. and measure about 12 inches across.

bumbeloe, variant of

bummalo.

t 'bumbis. ? Meaningless. See quot. 1622 Fletcher Beggars' Bush iii. i, Sa, sa, Aim, flam, taradumbis! East, West, North, South, now fly like Jack with a bumbis!

'bumble, sb.1 Also 6 Sc. bombill, 8 Sc. bummil, bummle. [f. bumble t).1] 1. ? A humming noise; bluster. Sc. 1597 Montgomerie

Flyting 105 for all 3our bombill.

2. a. A bumble-bee. b. ‘A provincial name for the Common Bittern’ (Atkinson Prov. Names of Birds 1864). ^1638 Whiting Albino £2? Bell. (N.) Yon tender webs.. Through which with ease the lusty bumbles break. 1789

BUMBLE Davidson

in troops.

c. An angler’s artificial fly. 1873 11 St. J. Dick Flies fef Fly Fishing ix. 138 The Bumble. This is a Derbyshire grayling fly used in that part of the country nearly all the season. Ibid. 39 It is, I suppose, meant for some water insect, but the local fishermen have spring, summer, and autum bumbles, all dressed differently. 1889 F. M. Halford Dry-Fly Fishing vi. 123 An orange bumble, floated occasionally over the feeding fish, may be successful.

f'bumble, sb.2 Obs. exc. dial,

BUMDOCKDOUSSE

649

Seasons 63 (Jam.) Up the howes the bummles fly

[onomatopoeic,

cf. BUNGLE, JUMBLE, FUMBLE.]

1. A confusion, jumble. 1648 Jenkyn Blind Guide i. 15 A bumble of musty reasons. 1660 S. Fisher Rusticks Alarm Wks. (1679) 427 With many more Bumbles of their Senses, Meanings, Opinions. 1690 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crete, Bumble, Cloaths setting in a heap, or ruck. 1847-78 Halliwell, Bumble, a confused heap. North.

2. A bumbler or blunderer; an idler. (Cf. batiebummil, batie-bum; also bumble sb.1 2 a.) 1786 Burns Sc. Bard gone W. hid. iv, Some drowsy bummle, Wha can do nought but fyke an’ fumble. 1789 Davidson Seasons 181 (Jam.) The Muse.. ca’d me bumble.

3. [The name of the beadle in Dicken’s Oliver Twist (see bumbledom)] A beadle; a member of a municipal corporation, parish council, or the like, to whom official pomposity and fussy stupidity are attributed; a consequential jackin-office; sometimes used attrib. 1856 Sat. Rev. II. 416/2 It will..be useless to impress upon the great Bumble mind, etc. 1865 Hotten Slang Diet., Bumble, a beadle, a 1889 Punch (Barrere & Leland), The apish antics of a bumble crew. 1890 Farmer Slang s.v., Bumble-Crew, a collective name for corporations, vestries, and other official bodies. 189s Morris in Mackail W.M. (1899) II- 308, I hope we shall beat our Bumbles.

4. attrib. and comb., as bumble-bath, bumblebroth, ? a mess, ‘pickle, soapsuds’; also with sense of ‘clumsy, unwieldy’: bumble-foot, a club foot; (also) a disease of the feet of domestic fowls, etc.; bumble-footed, club-footed. 1661 K. W. Conf. Charac. (i860) 56 A hog in armour, just such another bumble-arst furfact piece of mortality. 1595 Marocous Ext. (1843) 17 Such carrion as lies there in their bumble baths. 1602 Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 218 If I might ha my wil, thou shouldst not put thy spoone into that bumble-broth. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Clea?i Linn. Wks. 11. 169/1 Laundresses are testy .. When they are lathering in their bumble broth. 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 105 Bumble-foot comes from the ball of the foot. 1861 H. Kingsley Ravenshoe xli. (D.) She died mostly along of Mr. Malone’s bumble foot. . he being drunk and bumble-footed too. 1886 J. W. Hill Dis. Poultry 87 Occasionally the sole of the foot becomes the seat of a thick corn-like growth, which ultimately festers and exposes a ragged ulcerated wound. Such a condition is commonly termed ‘BumbleFoot’.

bumble, sb:3 dial. See quot. 1694 Westmacott Script. Herb. 32 Bull-Rushes.. in some Countries . . are called Bumbles. 1877 Peacock N. W. Lincoln. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Bumbles, such as are used for chairbottoms.

bumble ('bAmb(3)l), sb.4 dial. ‘A small round stone. West.' (Halliwell.) 1839 Murchison Silur. System I. xxxi. 413 Small concretions, which .. alternate with beds of solid limestone. The former.. are here known under the name of bumbles.

t'bumble, sb.h Obs. rare—A bandage for blindfolding. ‘A kind of blinkers. North.’ (Halliw.) 1623 Lisle JElfric on O. & N.T. Pref. 14 Hood-winked with his implicite faith, as with a bumble on his head. 1863 Gloss, in Morton Cycl. Agric., Bumbles, covers for horses’ eyes.

bumble, v.1 Also 4-6 bomble. [f. boom v.1, bum v.2 + frequentative suffix -LE.] 1. a. intr. To boom, as a bittern; to buzz, as a fly. Also transf. c 1386 Chaucer Wife’s T. 116 As a Bitore bombleth in the Myre [v.r. bumbith, bumlip], 1556-1693 [see bumbling vbl. si.]. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss. 78 Bumble, to hum or buzz. 1908 Ian Hay’ Right Stuff 11. iii. 198 The bees were bumbling in the heather. 1925 C. Dodd Farthing Spinster 240 Grasshoppers sang, bees bumbled. 1941 Wyndham Lewis Let. 10 Aug. (1963) 296 How can people read books with war-planes incessantly bumbling away over their heads.

b. To speak ramblingly, to drone on (in some examples influenced by bumble

v.2).

1958 Listener 2 Jan. 36/1 To doze contentedly over my set, bumbling on about the good fortune of my colleague. 1958 Punch 29 Jan. 181/2 His style of oratory is peculiar, as he bumbles along like a metaphysical farmer. 1969 Sunday Tones (Colour Suppl.) 9 Nov. 80/3 You can quite happily bumble on without too much trouble if that’s what you want.

f2. trans. To grumble at, blame, take to task. Obs. 1675 Duffett Mock Temp. iii. i, Be bumbled, and jumbl’d, and grumbl’d at. 1781 Cowper Corr. (1824) I. 201, I shall not bumble Johnson for finding fault with Friendship.

'bumble, v.2 Also 6 bomble, 8-9 Sc. bummil, -el. [See bumble sb.2] a. intr. To blunder, flounder. See bumbling vbl. sb. and cf. bumbling ppl. a. b. trans. To bungle over; to do in a bungling manner. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. (1557) 693/1 The thinge wher about he hath bombled all thys while. Ibid. 734/2 Which argument Tindall hath all thys while bumbled aboute to soyle. 1719 Ramsay Epist. Hamilton ii, ’Tis ne’er be me Shall.. say ye bummil Ye’r poetrie. 1807 Stagg Poems 145 As for a bang he bummel’d.. An’ down the warrior tumel’d. 1876 Coursing Cal. 212 Merry Girl beat Unknown in good style, the latter bumbling very much at his fences. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. 87/1 Ploughmen of thirty learning to hold a pen and ‘bummel through the Single Carritch’. 1959 E. Pound Thrones xcvii. 32 The artigianato bumbles into technology.

bumble-bee

('bAmb(3)l'bi:). [f. stem of bumble v.1 + bee1; cf. bumble sfi.1] A large bee of the genus Bombus\ a humble-bee. I53° Palsgr. 460/1, I bomme, as a bombyll bee dothe. 1678 H. More Lett. 25 May in Glanvil Sadduc. (1681) Hunting of Butter-flies and Bumble-bees. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 129 There is a species called with us the bumble bee. 1881 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 571 A most unusual number of wasps and bumble bees.

bumbledom ('bAmb(a)ld3m). [f. Bumble, name of the beadle in Dickens’s Oliver Twist + -dom.] Fussy official pomposity and stupidity, especially as displayed by the officers of petty corporations, vestries, etc.; beadledom in its glory. 1856 Sat. Rev. II. 12/1 The collective Bumbledom of Westminster. 1865 Spectator 22 Apr. 427 There spoke the true spirit of parish Bumbledom. 1880 Daily Tel. 8 Oct., The uncomplimentary epithet applied to municipal bureaucracy, ‘Bumbledom’.

'bumblekite.

dial.

Also

bummel-kite.

A

blackberry. 1691 Ray N.C. Wds., Bumblekites: Bramble-Berries. Yorkshire. 1789-96 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 188 Sowteat blackberry or Bumblekites. 1824 Craven Dial. 15 To pike .. some shoups, bummlekites, an hindberries. 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Bummell or Bumble-kite. .a bramble or blackberry.

'bumblepupper.

[f. bumble-puppy

One who plays 'bumblepuppist.

unscientific

+

whist.

-er1.]

So

1880 ‘Pembridge’ Whist, etc. 2 The Bumblepuppist only admires his own eccentricities. 1891 Daily News 30 Sept. 5/1 The careless Bumblepupper dreads the expert.

bumble-puppy ('bAmb(3)lpApi).

pickpocket has to believe that he is good,.. even if he is the most bumbling of operators.

'bumbo1. Also bumboo, bombo. [Cf. It. bombo a child’s word for drink (Tommaseo and Bellini).] ‘A liquor composed of rum, sugar, water, and nutmeg’ (Note to Rod. Random)', also other alcoholic mixtures. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand, xxxiv, A table well stored with bumbo and wine. 1756 T. Turner Diary 28 Apr. in Parish Sussex Gloss, s.v., One bowl of punch and two muggs of bumboo. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bombo, weak cold punch, a 1886 Northumb Song in N. & Q. 6 Mar. 195 The pitmen and the keelman .. drink bumbo made of gin.

bumbo2 ('bAmbau). Also bombo, bumboo, bungo. [Native name.] A fabaceous tree, Daniellia thurifera, of Sierra Leone, yielding a fragrant resin; also bumbo- or bungo-tree. Also, the gum or resin obtainable from this tree. 1874 Lindley & Moore Treas. Bot. Suppl. s.v. Daniellia. 1916 C. E. Lane-Poole Trees of Sierra Leone 32 Daniella [sic] thurifera. Bennett... The Frankincense Tree... Creole: Bungbo. 1965 G. Kunkel Trees of Liberia 88 Daniellia thurifera Benn... Names: Daniellia, Copal Tree, Bungo, Bumbo, Faro, Gum Copal.

bumboat ('bAmboot). Also 8 bomb-boat. [app. f. bum sb.1 + boat sb. (Cf. bumbay ‘a quagmire from stagnating water, dung, etc., such as is often seen in farm-yards’ Suffolk Words from Cullum Hist. Hawsted 1815; also Ray S. & E.C. Words.)] fl. A scavenger’s boat, employed to remove ‘filth’ from ships lying in the Thames, as prescribed by the Trinity House Bye Laws of 1685. (These ‘dirt-boats’ used also to bring vegetables etc. for sale on board the ships, whence sense 2.) 1671 Proclam. Chas. II, 6 Apr., Whereas several DirtBoats, and Bum-Boats .. under pretence of Fetching Dirt, and Furnishing necessary Provisions on Board such Ships as are in the River, do commit divers Thefts and Robberies. 1685 By-Laws Trinity House No. 6 Dirtboats, otherwise called Bumboats.

2. ‘A boat employed to carry provisions, vegetables, and small merchandise for sale to ships, either in port or lying at a distance from the shore.’ Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) Bumboat, a small boat used to sell vegetables, etc. to ships lying at a distance from the shore. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 407 All the bumboats were very anxious to supply the ship. 1863 Life Man-of-War in Cornh. Mag. Feb., The bumboat has come alongside .. with oranges and grapes, loaf-bread .. herrings, and similar dainties.

[Derivation unknown. Cf. bumble v.2] a. An old game resembling bagatelle, but played out of doors with marbles or ‘dumps’ of lead; nine-holes, b. Applied humorously to whist played unscientifically. Also of bridge. Also attrib.

3. attrib., woman.

1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iii. vii. 242 note. 1884 Sat. Rev. 25 Oct. 520 ‘Bumble puppy’ or domestic whist at shilling points. 1885 Longm. Mag. VI. 597 A common form of home whist—called by Pembridge, Bumblepuppy. 1936 E. Culbertson Contract Bridge Complete i. 34 Persons who claim they ‘play no conventions’ either play bumble-puppy Bridge or do play conventions that are tacitly understood. 1947 W. S. Maugham Creatures of Circumstance 104 Templeton isn’t the sort of chap to play bumble-puppy bridge with a girl like that unless he’s getting something out of it.

1841 Marryat Poacher xxxvii, It was only bumboating on a large scale.

c. A game in which a ball slung to a post is struck with a racket by each player in opposite directions, the object being to wind the string entirely round the post; also, the post so used. 1900 L. B. Walford One of Ourselves xiv, They had had a great game of‘bumble-puppy’, a 1918 J. T. B. McCudden Five Yrs. R.F.C. (1919) xii. 227 We had a wonderful game called ‘Bumble-puppy’, which one played with tennis rackets. 1940 M. Sadleir Fanny by Gaslight 1. 43 One of the boys seized a chance to occupy the bumble-puppy... It was great fun hitting the ball in its string-bag so that it wound tightly round the pole.

'bumbler, dial.

[f. bumble t’.1 and v.2 + -er1.] a. A bumble-bee. (Applied to the Tyneside artilleryman.) b. A blunderer. 1847-78 Halliwell, Bumbler. A humble bee. North. 1863 Robson Bards of Tyne 108 You’ll fight your battles o’er your pipe. . You blue tail bumbler. 1881 Mrs. L. Linton My Love III. 244 He is a bit of a bumbler when all is said and done.

'bumbling, vbl. sb.

[f. bumble

.1

v

and v.2 +

-ING1.]

a. Blundering,

b. Buzzing, humming.

1533 More Answ. Poyson. Bk. WTks. (1557) 1088/2 Tyndall dydde.. make some bumlyng aboute a colour for the matter. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & FI. lxiv. 71 Much bumbling among them all [flies]: there was. 1693 Urquhart Rabelais ill. xiii, Bumbling of Bees. 1952 Essays in Criticism II. 11 The incongruity between Emma’s high-flown sentiments and Charles’s pedestrian bumblings.

'bumbling, ppl. a. [f. bumble Awkward, blundering.

.2

v

+

-ing2.]

1886 Mrs. Lynn Linton Paston Carew ix, The rector’s only son, a big bumbling young fellow. 1954 N. Balchin Last Recoil. Uncle Charles iv. 60 There must be people about who’d like to have a really fine car and not some bumbling old cab. 1955 Amer. Dial. Soc. Pubn. XXIV. 40 Every

as

bumboat act,

man,

people,

1714 Lond. Gaz. No. 5245/3 John Daniel, an Alehousekeeper and Bomb-boat Man at Woolwich. 1820 Broderip & Bingham Rep. I. 433 The vessel., was seized.. under the Bum-boat act (2 Geo. III. c. 28). 1835 Marry at Jar. Faithf. xxxvii, We purchased some sheets of paper from the bumboat people. 1884 Littell's Living Age 700 Fruits from .. the bumboat-woman at a seaport.

Hence bumboating vbl. sb.

bumby(e, adv. dial. [var. bimeby adv.] By and by; presently. 1786 Boston Exchange Advertiser 19 Oct. (Th.), [Negro talk.] Oh! he say, land dear now, bumbye buy him five dollars nacre. 1839 c. Clark J. Noakes 15 John Noakes, bum-by, come up he ded, When Mary seem’d more settled. 1872 ‘The Village Schoolmaster’ Giles's Trip to London v. 51 But bum-by I woke up.

t bum-card. Obs. Also bun-, bumbe-, bummecard. [Of uncertain origin.] A raised or otherwise marked card used for cheating at play; also fig. 1577 Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 142 A bumbe carde finely vnder, ouer, or in the middes, &c. and what not to deceyue? 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet Cij, Hee’le cog the die of deceipt, and cutte at the bumme-carde of his conscience. 1611 Florio, Rinterzata carta, a bun-card. 1631 Brathwait Whimzies Gamester 42 The more generous professants have by this discarded him for a bum-card.

bum-clock. Sc. and north, dial. [f. bum v2 to hum 4- clock beetle.] A drone-beetle. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 33 The bum-clock humm’d wi’ lazy drone. 1875 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Bumclock, the humming beetle.

t bum-court. Obs. [Etymol. uncertain: app. f. bum sb.1 (cf. the first quot.).] Apparently, a vulgar nick-name for the Ecclesiastical Court. 1544 Suppl. to Hen. VIII, 28 The hearing of testamenterye causes .. of sclaunders, of leachery, adultery, and punyshement of bawedrye; and suche other bumme courte matters. 1580 Fulke Stapl. & Mart. Confuted 128 These quarrels sir Bachiler, are more meet for the bommecourts, in which perhaps you are a prating proctor, than for the schools of divinity. 1583-Brief Confut. 33 In this saying, if the term of bumcourts seem too light, I yield unto the censure of grave and godly men.

t bumdockdousse. Obs. [f. bum sb.1 + dock rump + douse v. beat, thump.] Urquhart’s word for pimpompet, ‘a kinde of game wherein

BUMF three hit each other on the bumme with one of their feet’ (Cotgrave). 1653 Urquhart Bumdockdousse.

bump

650

Rabelais

I.

xxii,

At

the

leek,

at

bumf (bAmf). slang. Also bumph. [Short for bum-fodder (see bum sb.1 4).] Toilet-paper; hence, paper (esp. with contemptuous implication), documents collectively. Also attrib. 1889 Barrere & Leland Diet. Slang, Bumf (schoolboys), paper... A bumf-hunt is a paper-chase. 1912 V. Woolf Let. 16 Nov. in Woolf & Strachey Lett. (1956) 46 Is this letter written upon Bumf? It looks like it. 1930 Wyndham Lewis Apes of God (1932) v. 161 Low-lid fodder or high-brow bumph! 1930 E. Raymond Jesting Army 1. vi. 90 The Brigadier pushed back the mess accounts to me and said, ‘You’ll keep ^ll that bumf till next time, won’t you, padre?’ 1938 E. Waugh Scoop 11. iv. 211, I shall get a daily pile of bumf from the Ministry of Mines. 1957 M. K. Joseph I'll soldier no More (1958) 21 Matthews is bringing the bumf... He says be sure and type it on Army Form A2.

fbum'feage, bum'feagle, bum'feg, vbs. Obs. [cf. bum ti.3] Humorous synonyms for to flog, thrash. (Nashe apparently regarded the word as a coinage of ‘Martin Marprelate’.) 1589 Hay any Work 6 Ise so bumfeg the Cooper. 1589 Nashe Almond for Parrat 7 b. You .. neuer knewe what his Bumfeging ment. 1589-Martin's Month's M. F 1 b, I wil so bumfeage him. 1598 Florio, Scardassare.. to beate, bumbaste.. or bumfeagle.

tbum'fiddle, sb. = bum si.1 1675 Cotton Burlesque in Poet. Wks. (1765) 231 So her Bum-fiddle I had clapp’d. ci8io W. Hickey Mem. (i960) xix. 311, I, of course, shall pay, and they may kiss my bum fiddle. 1825 H. Wilson Mem. I. 91, I am puzzled to guess .. how, you came to shew me, an utter stranger, your bumfiddle!

bum'fiddle v., see quots.; also bum'fiddler. c 1560 Trag. Rich. II (1870) 42 To say I will teare this paper.. or fowler words than that, as to say I will bumfidle your paper. 1611 Davies Scourge Folly in Wright Diet. Obs. £=f Prov. Eng., A busie-body hardly she abides; Yet she’s well-pleased with all bumfidlers. 1618 Fletcher Chances 1. vi, And am I now bumfidl’d with a Bastard? 1815 Southey Lett. (1856) II. 399 [An ode] too good to be fiddled; so I sent them a second, which was fit to be bum-fiddled.

bumkin, bumpkin (’bAmkin). Naut. Also 8-9 boomkin. [f. boom sb.2 + -kin; possibly the Du. boomken may formerly have been used in this special sense. The spelling bumpkin is now more usual.] ‘A short boom projecting from each bow of a ship, to extend the lower edge of the foresail to windward.’ Falconer Diet. Marine, 1769. Also applied to similar booms for extending the mainsail and the mizen. 1632 Sherwood, Bumkin (in a ship), chicambault. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) Bumkin, or Boomkin, a short boom. 1799 Naval Chron. I. 258 Carrying away her bumpkin. 1825 H. Gascoigne Nav. Fame 75 Dragg’d to the Bumpkin the Foretack is found. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xv. 41 Breaking off her larboard bumpkin. attrib. 1794 Rigging fef Seamanship I. 231 BoomkinShrouds, to support the boomkins, have their after ends hooked to eye-bolts.

t bumkin2. Obs. rare. See quot. 1697 Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 2 Another Canoa which had been sawn asunder in the middle, in order to have made Bumkins, or Vessels for carrying water.

f'bumkin3. [f. bum sb.1 + -kin.] ‘A burlesque term for the posteriors’. Nares, q.v. bumkin(g, obs. form of bumpkin. f'bumleaf, Obs. rare. [Cf. bum-card.] A leaf of paper with a slip projecting from the edge (in a book used for a conjuring trick); it served a similar purpose to that of the ‘bum-card’, being intended to enable the conjuror to open the book, as if by accident, at the right places. 1584 R Scot Discov. Witcher, xm. xxxiii. 283 Each Bumleafe or high inch of paper.. rest your thombe upon anie of those Bumleaves, or high inches.

Ilbummalo. Also bumbeloe, bumbalo, bumaloe. [Yule quotes bombil or bombila from Molesworth’s Mahratti Diet.] A small fish (Harpodon nehereus) found off the coasts of Southern Asia, used, when dried, as a relish. 1673 Fryer E. India & P. 67 (Y.) Massigoung.. notable for a fish called Bumbelow, the Sustenance of the Poorer sort. 1787 Archaeologia VIII. 262 (D.) Dried fish, which in this country [India] are called bumbeloes. 1813 J. Forbes Oriental Mem. I. 53 The Bumbalo, a small fish extremely nutritive. 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 283 Skate, sword-fish, bumaloe, cockup, crabs, lobsters. 1885 Balfour Cycl. India {ed. 3) 512 Bummalo, a small fish, salted and dried; also called Bombay Duck.

bummaree (bAms'ri:). Also 8-9 bomaree, 9 bumbaree, bommeree. [Origin unknown. Cf. bummery.] 1. A middleman in the fish trade at Billingsgate. [1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4330/7 Run away .. a Negro Boy .. called Hermitage or Bumaree.] 1786 Rep. Committee of City of Lond. on Price Provisions 31 The Bomarees will buy up half the fish the Salesmen have, and sell to the Fish¬ mongers. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 67 In Billingsgate

the ‘forestallers’ or middlemen are known as ‘bummarees’.. The bummarree is the jobber or speculator on the fishexchange. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 17 Stands are erected at different parts of the market for ‘bumbarees’.

2. Also bummeree. A licensed porter at Smithfield meat-market in London. Also attrib. Meat Marketing 29 Sept. 44/1 There are adequate bummeree or middle porters already. 1955 Times 1 Dec. 7/6 A ‘test case’ as to whether or not a retail butcher was entitled to remove meat purchased at Smithfield Market by himself or his full-time employees, or whether he had to employ porters known as ‘bummarees’. 1968 M. C. Borer England’s Markets 19 There are about a hundred and thirty ‘bummarees’ at Smithfield, and they are all self-employed. 1954

Hence bumma'reeing vbl. sb. The acting as a bummaree. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock bumbareeing is very simple.

21

The

process

f bummed, a. Obs. Also 6 bumbd. [f. bum sb.1 and v4 + -ED.] a. Of garments: Padded out, made to project, b. Having a bum (only in comb.). 1588 W. Averell Comb. Contrarieties Bij, This yeere bumbd like a Barrell, the next shottend like a Herring. 1611 Cotgr., Fesse.. Fat-bumd.

bummel ('bumal, ’bAmal), sb. and v. [a. G. bummel a stroll, bummeln to stroll; cf. bummer3.] A. sb. A leisurely stroll or journey. B. v. intr. To stroll or wander in a leisurely fashion. Hence 'bummelling vbl. sb., wandering, sauntering. Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Aug. 3/2 The verb to ‘bummeln’, apparently an equivalent of the French ‘flaner’. Ibid., We do not ‘bummeln’ so much or so thoroughly as the Germans.] 1900 J. K. Jerome {title) Three Men on the Bummel. Ibid. xiii. 284 He.. lays out his time bummelling, beer drinking, and fighting. Ibid. xiv. 327 A ‘Bummel’.. I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end. 1909 Daily Chron. 24 July 6/4 Hitherto it has been the proud prerogative of males [in Berlin] to ‘bummel’ (loaf). 1947 F. Smythe Again Switzerland x. 187 It is an easy mountain .. a ski runner’s ‘bummel’. 1952 H. W. Tilman Nepal Himalaya 11. xviii. 212, I had already been ‘bummeling’ about Nepal for five months. [1891

2

v

t 'bummer1. Obs. = bumbailiff. 1675 Crowne Country Wit in. 40 I’le go get the writ and bailiffs.. my Bummers shall have her in bed.

bummer2. Sc. [f. bum v.2 4- -er1.] That which hums or buzzes; spec, a toy (see quot. 1821). 1821 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 35 (Jam.) Bummers—a thin piece of wood swung round by a cord. 1862 Hislop Prov. Scot. 185 The loudest bummer’s no the best bee.

bummer3 ('bArnajr)). U.S. slang, [cf. Ger. bummler in same sense.] An idler, lounger, loafer. See also quots. Hence bummerish a. 1855 Oregonian (Portland) 27 Jan. 1/4 Come, clear out, you trunken loafer! Ve don’t vant no bummers here! 1856 San Francisco Call 25 Dec. (Th.), ’Pon my word I’m no bummer. I never ate a lunch in all my life without taking a square drink. 1865 Maj. Nicholls Gt. March in Pall Mall G. 23 Sept. 11/2 If it be asked what a ‘bummer’ is, the reply is easy. He is a raider on his own account—a man who temporarily deserts his place in the ranks.. and starts out upon an independent foraging expedition. 1865 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 286 The brain .. a lazy bummer, that lived at the stomach’s expense. 1872 C. King Sierra Nev. ii. 36 Indians .. lying off with that peculiar bummerish ease. 1878 Black Green Past. (ed. 2) III. 83 A system of local government controlled by 30,000 bummers, loafers, and dead-beats.

bummer4 (’bAmsfr)). (See quot.) 1905 Terms Forestry & Logging 32 Bummer, a small truck with two low wheels and a long pole, used in skidding logs. Syn.: drag cart, skidder.

f'bummery. Obs. [a. Du. bommerye (Hexham), bodmerij\ see bottomry sft.] = bottomry. 1663 Pepys Diary 25 Nov. He advised me in things I desired, about bummary, and other ways of putting out money as in parts of ships. 1668 Child Disc. Trade (1698) 144 Bills of Bottomry or Bumery. a 1734 North Lives II. 33 A bummery bond. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 263/1 Bottomry, Bottomree, or Bummaree.

'bumming, ppl. a. [f. bum v.2 + -ing2.] a. Buzzing, humming, b. f bumming sound (obs.): Something of note, or worth listening to. 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie 1. iv. 188 Hath rak’t together some four thousand pound, To make his smug gurle beare a bumming sound In a young merchants eare. 1616 Pasquil & Kath. hi. 182 A thousand pound a yeere! B’ar Ladie, that’s a bumming sound. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 131 Bumming gad-flies ceased to tease.

'bumming, vbl. sb. bum v.6

1693 Wallace Orkney 30 The Tennant will not fail to have .. strong Ale (which they call Bummocks) in readiness. 1822 Scott Pirate III. 200 (Jam.) The mickle bicker of Scapa .. was always offered to the Bishop of Orkney brimful of the best bummock.

2. A Christmas entertainment in Orkney given by tenants to their landlords. 1795 Statist. Acc. Orkney XV. 393 note (Jam.) These entertainments, called Bummacks, strengthened.. the bonds of mutual confidence .. The Christmas Bummacks are almost universally discontinued.

of

bumme, obs. f. bum sb.1

bummel, -il, Sc. ff. of bumble

t 'bummock, 'bummack. Sc. [Etymology unknown: presumably ON.] 1. A large brewing of ale for a merry meeting; the ale itself. (In Caithness.) (Jam.)

U.S. slang. The action of

1857 San Francisco Call 9 Jan. 1/2 The ‘Bumming and Gassing Company’ were out in full strength, the novelty of labor being a new experience in their existence, i860 Yale Lit. Mag. XXV. 398 (Th.), Another great sham connected with our social life is that of spreeing or ‘bumming’. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 66 The idea of begging or ‘bumming’ as it is popularly called out there, went strongly against my stomach.

bump (bAmp), sb.1 [Belongs to bump v.1 Onomatopoeic: the vb. and sb. of action being probably coeval. App. the order was bump v. to knock, and bump sb. a knock; hence as sb. a swelling protuberance caused by a blow, and as vb. to swell or rise in a protuberance; but the historical record is not very complete. Cf. bounce, thump, etc. Also as a parallel instance of an onomatopoeia combining the two senses ‘sudden blow’ and ‘swelling’ cf. bunch.] 1. 1. a. A blow somewhat heavy, but rather dull in sound; a sudden collision, more or less violent. So with a bump (fig.), abruptly, with a shock. 1611 Cotgr., Adot, a blow, bumpe, or thumpe. 1768-78 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 149 An unlucky bump upon the head [might have] rendered him stupid. 1862 Smiles Engineers III. 10 When the pump descends, there is heard a plunge, a heavy sigh, and a loud bump. 1882 Lett, in Royal Acad. Catal. (1883) 95 It went into the ditch with a bump. 1920 O. W. Holmes Let. 6 Apr. in Holmes-Laski Lett. (1953) I. 259, I must go in 5 minutes to a conference of the JJ and therefore run down with a bump. 1935 W. G. Hardy Father Abraham I. viii. 111 His mood of exaltation fell with a bump into the trough of melancholy. 195s E. Hillary High Adventure ix. 171, I came back to full consciousness with a bump.

b. (See quots.) 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m., Bump, a very sudden breaking, sometimes accompanied by a settling down, or upheaval of, the strata, during the working away of the mineral, accompanied by a loud report or bumping noise heard in the mine. 1893 Trans. Fed. Instit. Mining Eng. V. 381 A bump (or earth explosion) occurred on November 5th, 1892. i960 Times (S. Afr. Suppl.) 31 May p. xviii/i That was a ‘bump’, a subterranean movement caused mainly by the settling of strata disturbed by mining activity.

c. Cricket. The rise of a ball from the pitch to a greater height than is usual. Cf. bump v.1 2 b. 1901 R. H. Lyttelton Out-door Games i. 31 A man who plays fairly straight,.. and can meet the ball with the bat when it comes on straight with no hang or bump.

d. Aeronaut. An air-pocket. 1914 Rosher In R.N.A.S. (1916) 15 While flying at 200 feet, the machine suddenly bumped [note, met an airwave]. .. These bumps are due to the sun’s action on the air and are called ‘sun bumps’. 1918 E. M. Roberts Flying Fighter 279 When correcting bumps or small erratic air currents one has often to resort to his inclinometer.

e. slang. Usu. in pi. An uneven landing of an aeroplane. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 19 Bumps, the touching down of the aircraft during landing due to uneven ground or bad handling. 1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose v. 207 Rather than keep him at the dreary round of circuits and bumps I had been teaching him aerobatics.

f. The action of thrusting forward the abdomen or hips in a dance or the like. (Cf. GRIND sb.1 5.) slang (orig. U.S.). 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues vi. 75 She [a dancer] went through her whole routine, bumps and grinds and shakes and breaks. 1964 Punch 26 Aug. 295/2 Sing a song.. and do a bump-and-grind routine.

2. Boating. The impact of the stem of a boat against the stern or side of another boat in front of it: in boat-racing at the English Universities, the making of a ‘bump’ is the technical proof of one boat’s overtaking and beating another. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown Oxf. I. xiv. 282 A bump now and no mistake; the bow of the St. Ambrose boat jams the oar of the Oriel stroke. 1884 Sat. Rev., College Life 12 July 47/1 An unexpected bump in May.

II. Swelling.

3. A protuberance such as is caused by a blow or collision; a swelling, an irregular prominence. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. 1. iii. 53 It had upon it brow, a bumpe as big as a young Cockrels stone; a perilous knock. 1611 Cotgr., Angonailles, botches, (pockie) bumps or sores. Ibid. Bigne, a bumpe, knob, rising, or swelling after a knocke. 01700 Dryden (J.) Not though .. in bumps his forehead rise. 1825-7 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 1016, 1 sat upon a small knoll, surrounded by curves and bumps.

4. transf. One of the prominences on the cranium associated by phrenologists with special mental faculties and propensities; sometimes used for the faculties, etc., themselves. (colloq.) 1815 Edin. Rev. XXV. 251 The aforesaid bumps on the head are.. signs of peculiar energy, in some of the special faculties. 1863 Kingsley Water-bab. iv. 165 She felt his bumps, and cast his nativity. Mod. I never knew anyone so deficient in the bump of locality.

5. Phr. like a bump on a log: stupidly silent or inarticulate, colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).

BUMP

III. Comb ., as bump-ball Cricket, a ball hit hard upon the ground close to the bat, coming with a long hop to the fieldsman, and having the specious

BUMPER

651

1863 ‘Mark Twain’ Mark Twain of Enterprise (1957) 11. xvi. 103 You have been sitting there for thirty days like a bump on a log, and you never rightly understand anything. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xviii. 226 With that he drove on and left the fellow standing there in the road like a bump on a log! 1935 N. L. McClung Clearing in West xxxii. 280 You couldn’t expect her to sit there like a bump on a log, Mrs. Mooney.

appearance of a catch;

also (erron.)

bum(-ball)-, bump-car = Dodgem; bump-stick, a tool used by shoe-makers for smoothing soles (= sleek-stick)', bump-supper, a supper given to celebrate the making of a ‘bump’ by a college boat (see 2); bump-up, a sudden increase (cf. bump v 1 d). 1867 Australasian 9 Mar. 300/4 The apparent sincerity of a.. wicket-keeper, when appealing for a ‘leg before’, or a ‘bum’. 1870 Marlburian 8 June 58/2 Woollcombe.. was caught off what appeared to be a ‘bum ball’. 1877 C. Box Eng. Game Cricket 444 Bump ball, a ball caught after it has bounded from the ground. 1963 Times 18 Feb. 10/2 When an appeal was made the umpire ruled that it was a bump ball. 1937 Hull & Whitlock Far-distant Oxus xx. 276 The six wandered off to have turns on the bump cars. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. s.v. Box, It [Boxwood] makes also.. BumpSticks and Dressers for Shoemakers. 1853 ‘C. Bede' Adv. Verdant Green x. 94 A Bump-supper,—that is,.. a supper to commemorate the fact of the boat of one college having, in the annual races, bumped, or touched the boat of another college. 1940 J. Buchan Memory Hold-the-Door iii. 61 Raymond [Asquith] wrote the poem,.. On a Viscount who died on the Morrow of a Bump Supper. 1958 Economist 13 Sept. 819/1 They are excited because of the bump-up in their support and by-election votes this year.

.1

bump, sb.2 [f. bump v.2] The cry of the bittern. a 1528 Skelton Poems 227 (L.) The bitter with his bump, The crane with his trump.

bump (bAmp), sb.3 [Origin unknown.] a. A kind of matting used for covering floors, b. A material composed of cotton threads loosely twisted together (formerly also refuse flax) used for candlewicks, also woven for making coarse sheets; attrib. in bump-sheet, also bump-mill, a factory where this fabric is manufactured. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 68 Bump Mill Worker. 1921 Diet. Occup. Terms (1927) §36 5 Spinner, bump mill.. spins candle wick yam from coarse cotton waste.

bump, v.1 [see bump si.1] I. To strike heavily or firmly. 1. trans. -fa. generally. To strike heavily, knock, thump. Obs. b. To impinge heavily upon; of persons, to push (a heavy body) violently against, or on any object; to hurt (one’s head, one’s knee, etc.) by knocking against a hard object (sometimes const, against, on); to strike or knock with anything heavy and bulky; to seize (a person) by the arms and legs, and strike his posteriors against a wall, tree, etc. spec. in Services' slang-, to explode (a mine or mine¬ field); to shell. 1611 Cotgr., Baculer, to bumpe on the Posteriorums with a Bat. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 471 That antagonist, whom he bumps and pummels so furiously. 1815 Scott Guy M. iv, We bumped ashore a hundred kegs. 1842 Tennyson Epic 12, I bump’d the ice into three several stars, a 1888 Mod. I bumped my head on the low ceiling. Several boys were ‘bumped’ against this wall at the beating of the bounds. 1915 ‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship ix. 160 We haven’t bumped a mine-field. Ibid. 168 The chance of ‘bumping a mine’. 1919 Athenaeum 1 Aug. 695/2 An artilleryman speaks of having ‘bumped’ a certain town or spot, meaning shelled.

c. to bump off-, to remove by violence; to kill. Also ellipt., to bump, slang (orig. U.S.). 1910 W. M. Raine B. O'Connor 117 I’ve got several good reasons why I don’t aim to get bumped off just yet. 1914 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 21 He copped a cuter and got bumped making a get-away. 1927 Cleveland Press 29 Jan., Senator Thomas J. Heflin.. informed his colleagues that a thug had threatened to ‘bump him off. 1927 C. F. Coe Me—Gangster iii. 52 Who bumped that poor chump that was drivin’ the car? 1930 Punch 16 Apr. 442 Jimmy is duly bumped off. 1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief vii. 266 They had two shots at bumping me off yesterday. 1943 P. Cheyney You can always Duck xii. 186 You didn’t want him.. to know you had bumped Clemensky. 1958 Hayward & Harari tr. Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago 1. vii. 212 A few were bumped off by way of example.

d. to bump up-, to increase or raise (prices, etc.) suddenly, colloq. 1940 N. Mitford Pigeon Pie xii. 192 Olga bumps up his allowance every time he horsewhips anybody for making a pass at her. 1958 Spectator 10 Jan. 42/2 It is wise at night to look out for places which bump up the prices without warning.

2. a. intr. To strike solidly, to come with a bump or violent jolt against-, to move with a bump or a succession of bumps. Naut. see quot. 1844. a 1843 Southey Lodore 94 Thumping and flumping and bumping and jumping. 1844 Mrs. Houston Yacht Voy. Texas II. 150 The extremely heavy swell on the bar, which .. materially increases the chance of a vessel's ‘bumping’; a term the Americans use for touching on the sand banks. 1857 Holland Bay Path xxv. 301 His heart bumped So heavily against the walls of his chest, i860 Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 305 She bumped several times, .losing her false keel.

1885 M. D. Chalmers Law Times LXXX. 191/1 Due to the cask bumping against the cellar wall.

b. Cricket. Of a ball: to rise abruptly to an unusual height. Baily's Mag. June 257 At one time the ball would hit a batsman on the ribs, another time bump up and fly yards over his head. r87i Ibid. June 172 There was an ugly place where the ball bumped near the north wicket. 1882 Pardon Australians in England 173 Bates was caught, a bumping ball from Spofforth going off the shoulder of his bat. 1888 W. G. Grace in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket 310 Emmett was in his glory, his bowling bumping and kicking up as I have never seen it since. 1891-Cricket 130 The first ball.. bumped and hit him on the head. 1929 Times 24 May 6/1 A pitch which, apart from the fact that two or three balls bumped in the afternoon, was beautifully easy. 1863

c. Chem. ‘To give off vapour intermittently and with almost explosive violence’ (Cent. Diet. 1889). Cf. bumping vbl. sb. 2. Encycl. Brit. XVI. 32/2 Mercury ‘bumps’ badly on boiling. Ibid. 195/2 Methyl-alcohol has quite a characteristic tendency to ‘bump’ badly on distillation. 1950 P. J. Durrant Org. Chem. iii. 64 As the pressure of a boiling liquid is lowered, the tendency to ‘bump’ is greatly increased. 1883

d. Aeronaut. To move irregularly owing to an inequality of air pressure. 1914

[see bump sb.' i d],

e. to bump into: to meet (a person) by chance, to run into (a person), colloq. ‘P. Perkins’ Fam. Lett. 22 Went down those old stairs lickety-wallup, and bumped into that old party who was evidently running for the.. station.] 1953 W. P. McGivern Big Heat ii. 24 We just bumped into each other on Market Street. 1958 E. Dundy Dud Avocado 1. v. 82 What a mad coincidence bumping into John. [1886

3. trans. Boat-racing. To overtake and impinge on (the boat in front). Also absol. = ‘make a bump’: see bump sb.1 2. (In the boatraces at the English Universities, a boat which bumps another changes place with it in the order of boats on the river.) 1826 Lit. Lounger 222 in Oxf. Mag. [Extra No.] 18 May 1887, 2/2 Christ Church bumps her. Ibid. 3/1, I never thought of her bumping the Exeter. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke xiii. 105 Having, as he informed me, ‘bumped the first Trinity’. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown Oxf. I. xiv. 276 Colleges, whose boats have no chance of bumping or being bumped.

4. a. To dismiss from a position; to take the position of another, spec, by exercising the right to displace a less senior member of an organization (e.g. after being displaced from one’s own job). U.S. [1915 Dialect Notes IV. 224 Bump, v.t., to reject; esp., in college slang, to reject a fraternity’s ‘bid’. ] 1918 Ibid. V. 23 To bump, vb. t., to dismiss from service. General. 1941 Boston Daily Globe 3 Jan. 20 Joe Begin is working on the section for the C.P.R. here, having bumped Romeo Lavallee. Romeo then bumped Henri Carrier, who was working at Camp 12, and Henri, having no one to bump, is out of work pro temps. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 163/1 When a crew is deprived of its assignment, as when a train is removed from the timetable, its members select the jobs they wish among those held by others with less seniority —this is called bumping. 1972 Fortune Jan. 148/1 Agreement has also been reached with the unions to cut down on the costly practice of unqualified workers ‘bumping’ experienced employees in different job classifications who have lower seniority. 1980 Washington Star 20 Jan. gi Has Iowa bumped New Hampshire as the first state to say which way the wind is blowing in the presidential election?

b. To deprive (a passenger) of a reserved place on an airline flight, esp. after deliberate overbooking. Also transf. Freq. in pass. orig. U.S. Funk & Wagnails New College Stand. Diet. 157/1 Bump .., to deprive (a passenger) of airplane transportation in favor of a later but more important traveler. 1969 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 Mar. 6/2 No bumpingarbitrary cancellation by senior authority of someone’s reservation —is allowed ‘except in emergencies or exceptional circumstances’. 1978 Observer 30 July 3/1 They were blandly told that their flight was full. In other words, they had been ‘bumped’. 1984 Daily Tel. 4 May 18/1 Fifty passengers were turned away (or ‘bumped’) at Barbados this week by British Airways. 1986 Flight 27 Dec. 15/4 Engle was bumped off the crew [of Apollo 17] by geologist Jack Schmitt. 1947

II. To bulge out. f5. intr. To rise in protuberances, to bulge out, to be convex. Obs. 1566 [see BUMPING ppl. a.]. 1579 Studley Seneca's Hippolytus (1 581) 71 His .. necke With .. knobby curnels hie out bumping big do swell. 1597 Gerard Herbal (1633) 1299 (L.) Long fruite.with kernels bumping out. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1021 Of the round line that part which is .. without doth bumpe and bunch.

f 6. trans. To make protuberant, cause to swell up. 1662 J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII (1867) 120 Another triangular, unequilateral, bumped-up, large loadstone. 1719 D’Urfey Pills I. 187 He bumpt up our Bellies.

7. trans. Printing, to bump out: To spread out the matter of a book, article, or the like (by wide spacing, arrangement of page, etc.), so as to make it fill the desired number of pages. 1885 Bookseller 6 July 49/1 The text had been so ingeniously bumped out by the publishers that it filled twice the number of pages it should have done.

III. 8. Watchmaking: see quot.

1884 F. Britten Watch Clockm. 246 ‘Bumping’ wheels, i.e. altering the plane of the teeth with relation to the hole.

IV. 9. The verb stem used adverbially = With a bump, with sudden collision; bump, bump, with repeated shocks of contact on the part of a heavy moving body. 1806 Bloomfield Wild Flowers Poems (1845) 217 Bump in his hat the shillings tumbled. 1863 Kingsley Water-bab. i. 47 As he came bump, stump, jump, down the steep. Mod. The carriage went bump, bump, over the sleepers.

bump, v.2 [Of echoic origin: cf. boom v.] word used to express the cry of the bittern.

A

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 173 A Bittor maketh that mugient noyse, or as we terme it Bumping, a 1700 Dryden Wife of Bath 194 As a bittour bumps within a reed.

f bumped, ppl. a. Obs. [f. bump sb.1 and v.1 + -ed.] Covered with bumps; swelled out in bumps. 1611 Cotgr., Bosse.. knobbie, bulked, or bumped out. 1662 [see bump v.] 6] Bumped up. 1776 tr. Da Costa's Conchol. 177 (Jod.) The two ends or extremes, on the upper part are very bumped and prominent.

bumper ('bAmp9(r)), sb.1 [perh. from bump sb.1 or v.1: with notion of a ‘bumping’, i.e. large, ‘thumping’ glass.]

1. a. A cup or glass of wine, etc., filled to the brim, esp. when drunk as a toast. 1676 D’Urfey Mad. Fickle v. i. (1677) 52 Full Bumpers crown our Blisses. 1774 Goldsm. Retal. 127 He cherish’d his friend, and he relish’d a bumper. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. I. xiii. 151 A dinner of marled beef., and a bumper of champagne all round.

b. Comb., as bumper-dram, -toast. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi, iv, Drinking their meridian (a bumper-dram of brandy). 1839 Lockhart Ballantynehumbug Few will doubt that he did .. pledge, with hearty zeal, many a bumper-toast.

2. slang. Anything unusually large or abundant. (Cf. whopper, whacker, thumper, etc.) Esp. freq. in attrib. use = exceptionally abundant or good (see also quot. 1864). Cf. sense 3. 1759 Gentl. Mag. XXIX. 271/2 In some of the midland counties, anything large is called a bumper, as a large apple or pear. 1859 Lang Wand. India 9 Tellwell and Long.. have just lost a bumper—twenty-seven gold mohurs. 1864 G. Berkeley My Life & Recoil. I. 182 The country was immensely deep and the brook a bumper. 1864 Hotten Slang Diet. 89 A match at quoits, bowls, &c., may end in a ‘bumper game’, if the play and score be all on one side. 1885 Times (Weekly ed.) 2 Oct. 5/3 The floods will have the effect of giving a ‘bumper’ rubbee crop. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 18 Nov. 8/1 The past fortnight’s bumper traffic. 1908 Daily Chron. 8 Jan. 4/4 So far as the foreign trade of this country is concerned, 1907 was a bumper year. 1955 Times 22 June 9/6 Instead of an expected crop of 600,000 bags there was a bumper crop of 1,400,000 bags.

3. Theatr. slang. theatre.

A crowded

‘house’ at a

1789 J. B. Watson Let. 25 Aug. in L. Sumbel Mem. (1811) III. 144 Her benefit, at Gloster, which, if a bumper, in every and the truest sense will be no more than I most cordially wish it. 1795 Tate Wilkinson Wand. Patentee IV. 36 A bumper of a house. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick, xxiv, This charming actress will be greeted with a bumper. 1886 Pall Mall G. 2 Aug. 3/2, I have heard a crowded house on a benefit night called ‘a bumper’.

4. In Whist and other games: see quots. 1876 A. Campbell-Walker Correct Card (1880) Gloss. 11 Bumper. Winning two games—i.e. eight points—before your adversaries have scored. 1880 Besant & Rice Seamy Side xxxii. 282 After seeing a double bumper fooled away, his partner rose in silent dignity, and left the house.

5. a. [f. sense i of the verb.] The buffer of a railway carriage (U.S.). 1839 Jrnl. Franklin Institute XXIV. 156 The bumpers or elastic cushions are to be attached.. to the front and rear draw-bar. 1864 Sanatory Commission U.S. Army 110 note, The Bumper is surrounded by a stiff spring, which prevents the communication of the jar.

b. (See quot.) 1868 Fairley Gloss. Coal-Mining 11. 5 A massive piece of iron, so heavy that when the cage is at the bottom of the cut, it will draw it empty to the top, and when the cage at the top is laden, it will act as a balance as the cage descends: this piece of iron is called the bumper.

c. A log, bar, etc., serving as a fender or shockabsorber; spec, a metal bar attached to either end of a motor vehicle to lessen the shock in a collision. Also attrib. and Comb., as bumper-tobumper adv. and a., (of cars) travelling very close together. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. 144 Bumpers, logs of wood placed over a ship’s side to keep off ice. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-Mining 38 Bumpers,.. projecting blocks of wood attached to pump spears for preventing damage in case of a break down. 1889 Cent. Diet., Bumper-timber, in some locomotives, a timber to which the cow-catcher or pilot is fastened, designed to receive the shock or blow of a collision. 1901 Law Times 11 May 29/2 An elevator car., passed downward until it struck the bumpers at the bottom of the shaft. 1926 Morris Owner Feb. 1600/2 The front face of the bumper bar is attractively finished in bright nickel plate. 1928 Punch 25 Apr. p. xxxiii (Advt.), ‘The Bumper with the Leaf Spring Buffer.’ This unique and ingenious feature evenly distributes and reduces the shock of an impact. 1938 ‘Ellery Queen’ Four of Hearts (1939) v. 75 Los Feliz Boulevard was jammed with cars crawling bumper to bumper. 1959 Manch. Guardian 18 May 1/1 A bumper-tobumper traffic jam on roads. 1959 Motor 21 Oct. 346/2

BUMPER Lights.. repositioned behind the front bumper. 1967 G. Legman Fake Revolt 16 The bumpersticker approach to hallucinatory drugs and sex technique. 6. a. One who or a thing that bumps; spec.

Bookbinding = smasher1 3. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 43 Rocker or Bumper. 1887 C. C. Rhys Minora Carmina 267 Up at Oxford by eights on the Isis, The gloom of bumpees and of bumpers the glow. 1921 Diet. Occup. Terms (1927) §279 Bumper (tin boxes, etc.), packs into bundles, scrap tinplate left from stamping or cutting, by shovelling it into iron box, ramming or bumping it into compact shape with long-handled iron ram. Ibid. §409 Bumper, a planker who operates a bumping machine; places felt forms in a sort of trough, sets machine in motion, so that forms are bumped about against arms of machine. 1951 S. Jennett Making Books xi. 171 The machine appropriately called the smasher or the bumper. . is in effect an automatic clamp. b. Cricked. A bumping ball (see bump v.1 2 b). 1855 Bell's Life in London 19 Aug. 8/3 From the fact of the ground not being a good wearing one, the ‘bumpers’ of Lillywhite could not be mastered. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 24 May 3/2 With the likelihood of., an occasional ‘bumper’ even such great batsmen .. might have failed. 1955 Times 30 Aug. 3/2 Heine bowled a number of rude, honest bumpers.

c. bumper car = Dodgem. [1949 M. Laski Little Boy Lost in. xiv. 195 ‘We’ll go in the bumpy-cars,’ he said, and climbed into a bright blue car.] 1959 P. Brown As far as Singapore vi. 124 They are big amusement parks... They have bumper cars, i960 New Left Rev. Jan. Feb. 52/1 Going to a fair to ride on the bumper cars.

bumper, sb.2 [f. bog-bumper

bump v2 and sb2]

In comb.

bittern. 1866 Inverness Cour. 4 Jan., The bog-bumper. 1887 Jessopp Arcady 56 ‘Were there any bitterns here?’ ‘Why, you must mean Bog Bumpers.’ =

'bumper, sb.3 colloq.

[-er6.] A bumping-race. 1906 D. Coke Bending of Twig x. 157 The Bumpers, to give them their familiar name, are split in such a way that a day of rest is allowed in the middle of the four days’ racing. 1910 H. W. Chaundry Rec. Rowing Club S. Philip & S. James', Oxf. 13 Each of its two crews secured four bumps in the City ‘Bumpers’.

'bumper, sb.1 Austral, and N.Z. slang. [App. telescoped form of butt sb.3 and STUMP sb.1 3 + -er1 3.] A cigarette end. 1916 Anzac Book 47/2 While we was standin’ to arms ’e lights up a bumper. 1945 Salt 2 July 43/2 Tom is busily engaged searching in the dust for enough bumpers to roll a smoke. 1958 R. Stow To Islands ii. 42 Galumbu, resigning it, requested ‘Bumper, bodj,’ and Heriot, after stubbing it placed the butt in the open mouth. 1967 Southerly XXVII. 212 He patted the bare mattress.. where a bumper had burned a hole sometime in the past.

tyrannical masters. 1862 Whyte Melville Ins. Bar vi. (ed. 12) 298 Sundry bumpings and thumpings on the stairs.

2. (See quot.) 1883 W. M. Williams in Knowledge 18 Aug. 99/1 What the practical chemist calls ‘bumping’, or the sudden formation of a big bubble of steam. 3. Comb., as bumping-race (see bump v.1 3).

bumping-post, bumping-table (see quots.). 1871 Proctor Light Science 298 A closely contested bumping-race, a 1877 Knight Diet. Mech., Bumping-post (Railway Engineering), a timber or set of timbers at the termination of a railroad track, to limit the motion of the train in that direction. 1889 P. Milford Diet. Mining Terms (ed. 2) 13 A bumping-table is an appliance used in a stampmill for treating tailings. It consists of an inclined table, which is given a bumping or jerking motion which serves to force upwards by each successive bump the mineral or heavier portion of the slimes, while the lighter portion is washed off the lower end of the table. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 371/2 Bumping Tables. — Rittinger’s table is a rectangular gently-sloping plane surface which by a bumping motion throws the heavy particles to one side while the current of water washes down the quartz to another.

1822 Blackw. Mag. XI. 159 A hand-gallop, in which I trust you will think that Peggy [i.e. Pegasus] has bumpered very seldom.

t'bumperize, v. nonce-wd.

[f. bumper sb.1 +

-ize.] To drink bumpers. a 1794 Gibbon Mem. in Misc. Wks. (1814) I. 141 We kept bumperizing till after roll-calling.

bumpety, bumpity

('bAmpiti), adv. A childish v.1 9; bumpety-bump, with repeated bumps. Also attrib. and as v. intr. form

of

bump

1874 Hardy Farfr. Madding CrowdWn, Souls alive, what news! It makes my heart go quite bumpity-bump! 1894 B. Pain Kindn. Celestial 190 You could almost fancy that you heard the man going bumpety-bump down the stairs. 1902 W. de la Mare Songs of Childh. 10 A bumpity ride in a wagon of hay. 1958 Spectator 14 Feb. 194/3 His plane bumpety-bumps to a standstill. 1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds vi. 99 My heart went bumpity because it seemed she looked right at me.

bumph,

var. bumf.

'bumpiness,

bumpy state or condition. 1817 Blackw. Mag. I. 38 A modification in the shape or bumpiness of its [the heart’s] apex. 1886 Bicycling News 17 Sept. 748/2 Its bumpiness excelled any other woodpavement bumpiness in London.

'bumping, vbl. sb. [f. bump u.1 + -ing1.] 1. The action of the verb to bump. a. intr. Sudden (usually repeated) collision or knocking, b. trans. Striking heavily, thrashing, c. Banging the posteriors of a person against a post or wall. 1842 Fraser's Mag. Dec., A very tedious passage .. Four days of.. bumping about, a 1848 Marryat R. Reefer ix, The bumping of obnoxious ushers, and the ‘barring out’ of

and

1803 Mad. D’Arblay Diary & Lett. VI. 324 No my dearest Padre, bumptious! no I deny the charge in toto. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 36 The bumptious serjeant struts before his men .. And look as big as if King George himsen. 1847-78 Halliwell, Bumptious, proud, arrogant. Var. dial. 1857 C. Maxwell Lett, in Life x. (1882) 295 Buckle’s History of Civilisation—a bumptious book, strong positivism, emancipation from exploded notions, and that style of thing. Hence 'bumptiously adv., 'bumptiousness. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. i. 17 That longlegged isosceles triangle that bumptiously bestrides the asses’ bridge. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown 1. v, Tom, notwithstanding his bumptiousness, felt friends with him at once. 1881 Macm. Mag. XLV. 169 The bumptiousness of minor British officialism.

bumpy ('bAmpi), a. [f. bump sb.1 or vb.1 + -y1.] a. Full of bumps or protuberances; of a road, etc., jolty, uneven; causing bumps or jolts.

the pitch; of bowling: using or characterized by ‘bumpers’ (see bumper sb.1 6 b).

'bumpingly, adv. [f. bumping pr. pple. of bump v. 1 + -ly.] In a bumping or jolting manner. 1854 Chamb. Jrnl. I. 242 The carriage goes bumpingly.

bumpkin ('bAmpkin). Forms: 6 bunkin, 7-8 bumkin, (7 bumking), 7- bumpkin. [The curious gloss in the first quot. suggests that bunkin (presumably the same word) was a humorous appellation for a Dutchman, and meant a man with short stumpy figure. The word may be a. Du. boomken ‘little tree’ (Hexham); cf. bumkin sb.1 It may however be ad. MDu. bommekijn ‘little barrel’, or f. bum sb.1 + -kin.] 1. An awkward country fellow, a clown. 1570 Levins Manip. 133 A Bunkin, felow, Batavus, strigo. 1658 Ld. Windsor in Hatton Corresp. (1878) 15 That I may not looke more lyke a bumking than the rest. 1713 Steele in Englishman No. 40. 258 A Northamptonshire Bumpkin would disdain to gather in such a Crop. 1774 Chesterf. Lett. I. No. 44. 141 A country bumpkin is ashamed when he comes into good company. 1820 Irving Sketch Bk. II. 357 The more bashful country bumpkins hung sheepishly back. 1862 Comm. PI. Philosopher 369.

2. ? Some kind of dance. Hence bumpkinet, a little bumpkin, bumpkinish, bumpkinly adjs., like a bumpkin, clownish, rustic, bumpkinship (humorous), the personality of a bumpkin.

bump v.1 or S&.1] intr. Frequentative and dim. of bump: to make or receive slight bumps; to cause jolts.

(colloq.

1566 Nuce Seneca’s Octavia (1581) 172 b, All the bumping bignes it doth beare. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iv. vi, Thou shah have a bumping pennyworth.

drinking-vessel) to the brim. b. trans. To toast in a bumper, c. intr. (and with object it) to drink bumpers or toasts. Hence bumpering vbl. sb. (attrib. in quot.).

'bumper, v.2 [? connected with

self-assertive.

undignified.)

bumping, ppl. a. [f. bump b.1 + -ing2.] Huge, great; ‘thumping’.

1823 Lockhart Reg. Dalton 1. xii. (1842) 74, I danced a bumpkin with the boy.

1696 W. Mountague Delights Holland 40 They [the Dutch] Bumper it but seldom. 1789 Burns Whistle viii, I’ll .. bumper his horn with him twenty times o’er. 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Hair Powd. Wks. 1812 III. 301 Ye bumper it in England’s cause. 1808 Cumbrian Ballads No. 75. 175 Come, bumper the Cummerlan lasses. 1859 M. Scott Tom Cringle xviii. 510 We all sang and bumpered away.

conceited;

1865 E. Burritt Walk Land's E. 239 A wall of brown, brambly, humpy, bumpy heatherland. 1884 C. Gurdon in Lillywhite Crick. Comp. 49 On a bumpy wicket a dangerous bowler. b. Cricket. Of a ball: that rises abruptly from

bumper ii.1] a. trans. To fill (a

'bumper, v.1 [f.

BUN

652

1774 J. Langhorne Country Just. 122 Shall Bumpkin come, and bumpkinets be born! 1881 Times 12 Jan. 4/1 Peggy • • was a little, vulgar, country bumpkinet. 1778 Miss Burney Evelina (1794) I. 73, I had been brought up in the country, which .. had given me a very bumpkinish air. 1861 Court Life Naples 140 Our heroine.. had the bumpkinish taste to love every person and thing connected with her home. 1697 Vanbrugh Relapse iv. v, A pax of these bumkinly people! 1823 Scott Peveril (1831) II. 265 A bumpkinly, clod-compelling sort of look. 1872 Miss Braddon R. Ainsleigh I. xiii. 223 A man of the world .. to be ousted and cheated by your bumpkinship.

bumpkin, another form of bumkin1 (in a ship). bum'pologist. humorous, [f. bump sb.1 4 + -OLOGIST.] One who is learned in bumpology. So bumpo'logically adv. 1824 Blackw. Mag. XVI. 237 He you recollect is one, not of the Bumpologists, but of the Fistologists. 1837 Southern Lit. Messenger III. 107, I once had my head examined — bumpologically —in a regular way. 1848 J. Richardson Trav. Sahara I. vi. 166 This afternoon examined phrenologically, Aumpologically, the heads of many children. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 3 Jan. 8/2 It is not only porters who patronise the bumpologist.

bum'pology. Humorous, [f. bump sb.1 4, after words in -ology.] The (alleged) science of bumps; ‘phrenology’. So bum'posopher [after philosopher], one who is learned in bumps. 1834 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) III. 414 The argument is a specimen of the same defective bumpology. 1841 Englishman s Mag. 1 Feb. 20 The general principles of bumpology. 1886 Pall Mall G. 23 Aug. 4/2 Phrenology, viewed as bumpology, has ceased to occupy the minds of the scientific. 1836 Blackw. Mag. XL. 33 The most redoubtable bumposopher that ever discoursed.

fbumpsy, a. Obs. exc. dial. Also bumsie. [? f. bump sb.1 or lift.1] Tipsy, intoxicated. 1611 Tarleton Jests (1844) 8, I being a carousing, drunk so long to the watermen that one of them was bumpsie. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Epigr. Wks. 11. 264/2 Strait staggers by a Porter or a Carman, As bumsie as a fox’d flapdragon German.

bumptious ('bAmpJss), a. [A humorous formation, suggested perh. by bump sb.1 or v.1, and words in -tious, like fractious. (Not in Craig 1847, nor in any earlier Diet.)] Offensively self-

1867 Australasian 9 Mar. 300/3 The batsmen seemed afraid to look at him, especially after the first bumpy over. 1871 ‘Thomsonby’ Cricketers in Council 28 Balls too high to strike the wicket, and too ‘bumpy’ to be hit down. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 8 May 2/1 He delivers a very fast bumpy ball. c. Aeronaut. Full of bumps (see bump sb.1 id);

uneven because of bumps. 1911 H. R. P. Reynolds in A. E. Berriman Aviation (1913) 166, I scarcely moved my control lever until I got to Bletchley, where it [the air] began to get rather ‘bumpy’ . 1918 Punch 3 Apr. 222/3 Weather looks dud—you’re going to have it bumpy in the morning, if you’re on a pup. 1959 Times 13 June 9/6 It was a nightmare journey for pilot and navigator alike. Conditions were very bumpy. 1963 V. Gielgud Goggle-Box Affair xxii. 249 He was.. suffering from the after-effects of a bumpy flight. bumsie, var. of bumpsy, Obs., tipsy. fbun (bAn), sb.1 Obs. exc. dial. Forms: i bune, 4 bon(e, 5-6 bunne, 6- bun; see also boon sb.2 [OE. bune, origin unknown.] 1. A hollow stem, esp. of an umbelliferous plant; a kex. fliooo Gloss, in Wr.-Wiilcker 198 Canna, harundo, calamus, bune. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 277 Kyx or bunne or dryweed. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §70 The .. lowe places, and all the holowe bunnes and pypes that grow therin. 1875 Whitby Gloss., Buns, or Bunnons, the hollow' stems of the hog-weed or cow-parsnep.

2. The stalk or stalky part of flax or hemp. 1388 [see boon j6.]. c 1400 Arderne Chirurgica in MS. Sloane 56 f. 3 a, Chanyuot, bunes. 1601 Holland Pliny xix. i, The spinning of this fine Flax .. what shall be done with all the hard refuse, the long buns? 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb. s.v. Drying, The dry Bun or kexe of the Hempe or Flax. 1877 Peacock N.W. Lincoln. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Bun.. The stalk of flax or hemp. 3. Comb., as f bun-wand. Obs. Sc. = 1. 1588 A. Hume Trium. of the Lord, Thair speirs lyk bunwands brak. a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting 276 Some buckled on a bunwand, and some on a been.

bun (bAn), sb.2 Forms: 4-7 bunne, 5 bonn(e, 8-9 bunn, 5- bun. [Etymology doubtful. The mod. provincial Fr. bugne is said by Burguy and by Boiste (1840), to be used at Lyons for a sort of fritter; the word is not recorded in OF. with this sense, but bugne, beugne (= mod. bigne) occurs with the sense of ‘swelling produced by a blow’; the dim. bugnete is found in OF. with the sense of ‘fritter’, and bugnets given by Cotgr. (1611) as a synonym of bignets (now beignets), explained by him as ‘little round loaves, or lumpes made of fine meale, oyle or butter, and reasons; bunnes. Lenten loaves’. (Cf. Sp. buhuelo bun, fritter.) It is conjectured that OF. bugne, originally ‘swelling’ may have had the unrecorded sense of ‘puffed loaf’ (= bugnet), and may have been adopted into English as bun. But the existence of this sense in OF. is at present hypothetical, and it is questionable whether such a derivation would account for the form of the Eng. word.] 1. a. A sort of cake: the use differs greatly in different localities, but the word generally denotes in England a sweet cake (usually round) not too large to be held in the hand while being eaten. In Scotland it usually means a very rich description of cake, the substance of which is almost entirely composed of fruit and spice; the richest kind of currant bread. In some places, as in the north of Ireland, it means a round loaf of ordinary bread. In the earliest examples the meaning is doubtful, the context merely indicating some kind of loaf or cake. (See cross¬ bun.) Slang phrases: to take the bun, to take the cake (see cake sb. 7); a bun in the oven, a child conceived; to do one’s bun (N.Z. slang), to lose one’s temper.

BUN 1371 Assisa Pants in Riley Munim. Gildhall III. 423 Cam uno pane albo, vocato ‘bunne’, de obolo. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 55 Bunne, brede, placenta, c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 133, viij loves or bonnes. 1506 Churchw. Acc. St. Mary hill, Lond.( 1797) 104 Two dozen de white Bunnys for pore pepyll. 1572 J. Jones Bathes Buckstone 9 b, Simnels, Cracknels, and Buns. 1630 J Taylor (Water P.) Jacke-a-L. Wks. 1. 118/1 The light puft vp foure-corner’d Bun. 01640 J. Day Peregr. Schol. (1881) 44 Give em such a buttered bun to breakfast. 1714 Gray Sheph. Week v. 96 Sweeter.. Than .. Bunns and Sugar to the Damsel’s Tooth. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) 11, Collyra, a little loaf of bread, a bun, a cracknell. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 403 One-a-penny, two-a-penny, hot-cross-buns! Ibid. 405 Hot-cross-buns are .. consecrated loaves, bestowed in the church as alms, and to those who.. could not receive the host,.. made from the dough from whence the host itself is taken. 1845 Hood Numb. One viii, As brown as any bun. 1867 Jean Ingelow Gladys 135 The round plump buns they gave me. 1887 in Amer. Speech (1950) XXV. 31/1 But ‘the pale and yellow babe of her white sister’ takes the bun. 1896 Dialect Notes I. 414 ‘That takes the bun’, that’s very good. .. Also yanks the bun. 1901 Kipling Kim xii. 315 You take the bally bun, by Jove! It was splendid. 1934 L. van der Post In a Province I. xiii. 140, I’ve seen many dressed-up niggers, but that one takes the bun. 1944 Korero II. no. xix. 24 The most important of Army slang expressions, however, has been ‘doing the scone’ with its variant ‘doing the bun’, used for losing one’s temper. 1949 ‘The Sarge’ Excuse my Feet xii. 128 ‘O.K.! O.K.! don’t do your bun,’ he answered. 1951 N. Monsarrat Cruel Sea 11. vi. 105, ‘I bet you left a bun in the oven, both of you,’ said Bennett thickly... Lockhart explained .. the reference to pregnancy. 1958 A. Sillitoe Sat. Night & Sun. Morning v. 69 Brenda on the tub, up the stick, with a bun in the oven, i960 B. Crump Good Keen Man 76 Jock did his bun properly, ‘So my money’s not good enough, eh mate?’ he snarled at the driver.

b. transf. Hair coiled at the back of the head in a shape suggesting a bun. Also attrib. 1894 Daily News 26 May 6/4 The fashionable ladies to be seen in the Park with their bun-chignons. 1894 Cassells Fam. Mag. Dec. 73/1 The days of the ‘bun’ coiffures are over. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 782/1 His chief glory was, however, his head, the hair of which was dressed in a large ‘bun’. 1929 Church Times 19 Apr. 400/3 Victorian fashion, with hats perched on the head, permitted a free view of chignon, ‘bun’, or curls.

c. In full bun hat. A bowler hat. N.Z. slang. 1941 Baker N.Z. Slang vi. 52 A bowler hat has become a bun in colloquial speech. 1950 Landfall IV. 21 He was thin .. and was wearing an old bun hat.

2. Comb., as bun-and-miIk attrib., f bunbread, -house, -pan, -seller, -shop; bun-face, a face resembling a bun; hence bun-faced a. (also fig.); bun-fight, a jocular expression for a teaparty (cf. tea-fight); bun foot, of furniture (see quot. 1952); bun-loaf (Lane, and Yorks.), rich currant-bread; bun-penny [sense 1 b], a penny showing the head of Queen Victoria with her hair worn in a bun; bun-struggle, -worry = bun-fight. 1906 B’ness von Hutten What became of Pam 1. v, The bun-and-milk establishments. 1494 Will of Hagis (Somerset Ho.) In pane vocato Bun-brede. 1913 R. Brooke Let. 1 Dec. (1968) 540 Fijians swinging along half naked with bunfaces. 1927 W. Deeping Kitty xx. 254 A local decorator, a little bun-faced man with bright eyes. 1966 Listener 2 June 806/3 The novelist-farceur is a serious man; and the bun¬ faced academic is a frivolous one. 1928 R. Campbell Wayzgoose 7 It [the wayzgoose] combines the functions of a bun-fight, an Eisteddfod and an Olympic contest. 1904 P. Macquoid Hist. Eng. Furniture iv. 115 The solid back is a modern addition, as are the bun feet on which the buffet stands. 1952 J. Gloag Diet. Furniture 154 Bun foot, a foot in the form of a bun-like, flattened sphere, used on chairs, tables, [etc.].. during the latter part of the 17th century. 01845 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 329/1 Let us seize a little grammar boy.. throw over him a delicate puff-paste, and bake him in a bun-pan. 1958 S. Hyland Who goes Hang! xxxix. 187 The Victorian ‘bun-penny’ was first minted in the year i860. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 1. xxv, The Bunsellers or Cake-bakers were in nothing inclinable to their request. 1889 Dramatic Notes 1888 145 An innocent flirtation in a bun-shop. 1903 Daily Chron. 25 May 3/3 Bun-shop waitress. 1889 Barrere & Leland Diet. Slang, Bun-struggle or worry (army), a tea meeting; an entertainment [for] soldiers in a garrison. 1899 R. Whiteing No. 5 John St. vi. 53 She wants yer to show up at a sort o’ bun-struggle in ’er room .. kind of a tea-fight. 1911 W. De Morgan Likely Story 224 Madeline.. had been going to a Bun-worry.

bun, sb.3 Sc. and north, dial. Also 6 {Sc. bwn), bunn. [Derivation unknown: the Gael, bun, ‘stump, root’, has been compared.] The tail of a hare; in Sc. also transf. of human beings. (Cf. tail.) See also bunt sb.1

BUNCH

653 squirrel Had a quarrel; And the former called the latter ‘Little Prig’; Bun replied, 'You are doubtless very big’.

bun, sb.b slang. [Origin unknown.] A drunken condition, esp. in to get, have, tie a bun cm: to become drunk. 1901 ‘H. McHugh' John Henry i. 16 You've got another bun on! How dare you trail into my flat with your tide high enough to float a battleship? 1914 W. L. George Making of Englishman 11. v. 306 You’ve had four now, and I’m not stayin’ here for you to get a bun on. 1954 J. van Druten I am a Camera 1. ii, We’ll celebrate tonight, if you do. And if you don’t, well, then we’ll tie a bun on anyway, just to forget it all.

bun, obs. dial. f. buen, ben, pi. pres, ind., and inf. of be v. 1415 E.E. Wills (1882) 20 Halfe to the pores nedy folk that bun yn Marcle paryssh. Ibid. 24 The londe rentes that 3e bun feoffed In.

bun, obs. f. buna,

boon sb.1; obs. f. bound ppl. a.'f.

Buna

[a. G. Buna, f. A synthetic rubber first developed in Germany, made by the polymerization of butadiene. bu(tadiene +

('bjuina).

na(trium.]

1936 Chem. Abstr. XXX. 7384 The new German synthetic (Buna) rubber. 1938 Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Yr. 1938 282/2 Buna, or synthetic rubber,.. was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris Exhibition for 1937. 1940 Graves Sc Hodge Bong Week-end xxiii. 394 German Buna car-tyres were said to last half as long again. 1943 H. M. Langton in R. S. Morrell Synthetic Resins (ed. 2) i. 40 Buna 85 is a pure butadiene polymer, Buna S a mixed polymer of butadiene and styrene.

Bunbury ('bAnbari). The name of an imaginary person used as a fictitious excuse for visiting a place or avoiding obligations (see quot. 1899). Hence used allusively in various formations (see quots.). 1899 Wilde Importance of being Earnest i. 14, I have Bunburyed all over Shropshire on two separate occasions. Ibid. 16, I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Ibid. 17 Now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. 1959 Listener 12 Feb. 300/3 He may even be able to kill the faint hope in many hearts that the former has merely gone Bunburying. i960 Times 27 Apr. 10/1 The perils of Bunburying—to use the classical term for the creation of a spurious alibi—increase in proportion to the complexity of the story told. 1965 P. Moyes Johnny under Ground ix. 117 I’ve evolved this rather attractive alter ego — Mr. Reginald Derbyshire-Bentinck. Quite Bunburyish, in his own little way. 1969 Listener 5 June 794/3 For he who lives more lives than one More deaths than one must die... At least the words are an apt motto for a Bunburyist.

bunce (bAns). slang. [Of unknown origin: it has been plausibly conjectured to be a corruption of bonus. On the other hand, the modern variant bunts is treated as a plural of bunt (q.v.), but the latter may be an erroneous form.] Money; gains; extra profit or gain, bonus; something to the good. 1719 D’Urfey Pills 278 If Cards came no better.. Oh! oh! I shall lose all my Buns. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Diet., Bunce, money. 1851 [see bunt $6.7]. 1865 Morning Star 27 Jan. [Witness said] That there were 100 bags of rice .. removed after the fire.. and that they were ‘bunce’. [Explained as ‘overs for the firm’.] 1879 Jamieson, Bunce. An exclamation used by boys at the High School of Edinburgh. When one finds anything, he who cries Bunce! has a claim to the half of it. Stick up for your bunce, ‘stand to it, claim your dividend’. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss. (E.D.S.) Bunce, a consideration in the way of commission given to persons who bring together buyer and seller at a flax market. Perhaps a corruption of bonus. 1962 Guardian 19 Nov. 7/5 You make your ‘bunce’ (big profit) in the summer. 1968 C. Drummond Death & Leaping Ladies viii. 194 They take the place for a fee and pocket any bunce.

bunch (bAnJ), sb.1 Forms: 5

bonche, 5-6 bunche,

bounche, 6-7 bounch, (7 bunsh), 6- bunch.

[Of uncertain origin; prob. onomatopoeic; cf. the synonymous bulch, also hunch, lunch (dial.). As to the relation between bunch sb.', v,2, and bunch sb.2, v.x, cf. bump. See also bouche sb.2; possibly the bouch(e of the Cursor M. should be read bonch(e, and identified with the present word.]

1. a. A protuberance, esp. on the body of an animal; a hump on the back (of a human being, a camel, etc.); a goitre; a swelling, tumour.

bun (bAn), sb.* [Etymology unknown: connexion with the prec. is not very likely. Cf. bunny.] A name given sportively a. to the squirrel, b. to the rabbit {dial.), c. Also used as a term of endearment.

CI325 Body & Soul in Map's Poems (1841) 344 Summe were ragged and tayled Mid brode bunches on heore bak. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvm. xix. (1495) 778 A camell of Arabia hathe two bonches in the backe. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. 1. x. 9 The gibbosyte or bounch of the liver. 1598 Gerard Herbal 1. xl. 60 The leauen made of Wheate . . openeth all swellings, bunches, tumors and felons. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 86/1 Bunch, or bunched eminencies. are knots in sprouts or shoots above others in the .. Lance. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iv. 100 The rider sits behind the Bunch or Hump. 1816 Keith Phys. Bot. II. 378 Bunches.. on the branches of the Birch-tree.. known .. by the name of witches’ knots. 1826 F. Cooper Mohicans (1829) I. i. 18. 1874 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 428 Their bite is poisonous to a certain extent, as bunches can be felt around their bites.

1587 Churchyard Worth. Wales (1876) 57 Her Squirrell lept away, she sought to stay The little pretie Bun. c 1614 Drayton Moon Calf Wks. (1748) 178 She was wont to call him., her pretty bun. 1847-78 Halliw., Bun, a rabbit. Var. dial. 1857 Emerson Poems 155 The mountain and the

1706 Phillips, Bunches, Knobs, Warts and Wens, are Diseases in Horses. 1715 in Kersey. 1721-90 in Bailey. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Bunches, in horses called also knobs, warts, and wens, are diseases arising from foul meat,

e cerge J>* stode bryngnyng pr auter by. 8. CI300 St. Brandan 335 This tapres brende longe ynouy c 1420 Sir Amadace (1842) 29 Candils ther were brennyng toe. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 40 A lampe that brenned contynually.

b. Of other objects: To appear as if on fire, glow with light or colour. *423 Jas. I. King's Q. xlviii, A ruby .. Semyt birnyng vpon hir quhyte throte. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 555 On the tayle an hed ther wase, That byrnyd bryght as anny glase. 1530 Palsgr. 460/2 His eyes burned in his heed, as lyght as a candell. 1606 Shaks. Ant. & Cl. 11. ii. 197 The Barge she sat in, like a burnisht Throne, Burnt on the water. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 538 With feats of Arms From either end of Heaven the welkin burns, a 1718 Rowe (J.) Oh! prince, oh! wherefore burn your eyes? 1832 Tennyson Pal. Art 48 The light aerial gallery, golden-rail’d, Burnt like a fringe of fire. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xix. 265 The earth-banks of the railway-line burned crimson under the darkening sky.

fc. Of the sea: To be phosphorescent. burning vbl. sb. 3.

Cf.

BURN in Phil. Trans. II. 497 At East and South winds it [the sea] burned most. 1667

d. Of the engine of a spacecraft: to consume fuel and provide thrust. (Cf. sense 2 c.) 1964 K. W. Gatland Spacecraft G? Boosters I. 278/2 The Thor first stage burned for approximately 160 sec, propelling the vehicle to an altitude of 41 miles. 1969 Daily Tel. 8 Mar. 1/2 The ascent stage’s engine will burn and place the two returning astronauts.. back into orbit round the moon.

e. Of a motor car, etc.: to travel at speed, slang. Amer. Thes. Slang §58/5 Depart, esp. hurriedly,. .burn, chase along, [etc.]. 1972 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 11 June 2/5 In burns a police car. .. Out jumps a senior sergeant. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark

5. a. To suffer destruction, injury, change of structure or properties from contact with fire; to be reduced to ashes, a cinder, etc., by fire; to be scorched, charred, etc. Often said of food spoiled by too great or prolonged exposure to heat in roasting or baking, to bum to (the inside of a vessel): to adhere to by burning; also with to (absol. as adv.). to bum away: to be gradually dissipated or consumed by burning (also quasi-re/?, to bum itself away). Sometimes with adjs. denoting the result, as to burn black, brown, hard, etc. a. a 1225 Ancr. R. 242 Hwo ber euer fur wiSinnen hire pet heo ne bernde? 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. 1. ii. 44 The Capon burnes, the Pig fals from the spit. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 10 You must take special Care that your Iron burn not in the Fire. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 69. 3/2 The Pudding burnt unto the Pot. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. II. s.v. Syrupy Boil it [sugar] to a Caramel, and take great care it does not burn to. 1830 M. Donovan Dorn. Ecoti. II. 267 The meat would inevitably burn, and become hard and tasteless. B., 8. a 1300 Cursor M. 22704 J^is midel erth .. A1 to noght sal brin awai. c 1440 Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 439 Boyle horn togedur with esy fire, that hit brenne not. 01520 Myrr. Our Ladye 296 A busshe al on fyre. & yet it brente not.

fb. transf. Of crops, etc.: To be withered by the sun’s heat; to suffer decay in such a manner as to present the appearance of being scorched. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §23 If drye wether come, it [the grass] wyll drye and bume vpon the grounde, and waste away. 1750 Ellis Mod. Husbandm. II. 11. v. 42 The Crop [of turnips] would set, or what we call burn or spoil, if it was not houghed in due Time.

6. To suffer death by fire. Now somewhat arch., the usual modern expression being to be burnt. 1600 Fairfax Tasso 11. liii. 30 With him content Was she to liue, that would with her haue brent, c 1604 J. C. in Shaks. C. Praise 63 They should all bume for their vilde heresie. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 170 Here .. women often kill themselves, or bum with their deceased husbands; but men also burn in honour of their deceased masters. 1878 Tennyson Q. Mary 1. i. 7, I can’t argue upon it; but I and my old woman ’ud bum upon it.

7. to bum into (of fire, a caustic, etc.): to eat its way into (a thing or substance). Usually fig. of an event, a conviction, etc.; to make an indelible impression upon (a person’s mind). Elia Ser. 11. Pref. (1865) 238 The impressions of infancy had burnt into him. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown Oxf. I. xvi. 318 The scenes of the last few hours .. burnt into his soul. 1878 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. 1. 213 Deeply and bitterly the spectacle of this injustice burnt into his soul. 1823 Lamb

II. Transitive senses. * to consume by fire. 8. a. Of fire: To destroy, consume (any combustible object). Of persons: To cause to be destroyed or consumed by fire; to set on fire, commit to the flames. Also absol. a. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 61 He wile smite, .mid orde . and pilten and bernen. c 1205 Lay. 14000 purh pi lond heo aerneS & haenieS & berneS. 1375 Barbour Bruce xv. 438 Of his men3he sum send he For till burne townys twa or thre. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 28/2 The towne Bombassa, that they also byrned and robbed. 1535 Coverdale Rev. viii. 7 The thyrd parte of trees was burnt, and all grene grasse was brent. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. 1. iii. §4 Nabonasser did bum and destroy all the antient records of the Chaldaeans. 1717 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlvi. 38 This letter..you may burn it when you have read enough, a 1843 Southey Roprecht iii, They were for burning the body outright. /3. 01300 Cursor M. 12219 Fur i wat him mai noght brin. 1375 Barbour Bruce xm. 737 [He] brynt houss and tuk the pray, c 1400 Melayne 27 [He] Brynnede tham in a fire. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 3476 Quhen all wes brynt, —flesche, blud and bonis. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 94 Gif ane alledges that ane other hes brunt his house. y. 01000 Sal. Sat. (Gr.) 412 BriceS and baerneS bold setimbru. CI200 Ormin 1529 patt illke chaff patt helle fir shall baernenn. 1297 R. Glouc. 511 Hii barnde hous & other god, & defoulede louerd & hine. 8. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137. §3 pa raeueden hi & brendon alle pe tunes, c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 916 pe brath of his breth pat brennez alle J?inkez. c 1400 Destr. Troy 11931 The knightes .. brentyn and betyn doun all the big houses. 1507 Bk. Gd. Mann. (W. de W.) L. ij, The Fenix is brente in the myddes of theym. 1528 More Heresyes 11. Wks. 179/1 The bookes also bee gone and loste, whan there was no law made yet to brenne them. 1657 Howell Londinop. 120 Beat them to their houses, and brent them therein. [1796 F. Leighton MS. Let. toj. Boucher Feb., I heard yesterday from a Shropshire Farmer the old verb bren and its participle brent for burn burnt.]

b. With advbs. or complementary phrases, to bum up: to consume entirely by burning;^#., to

BURN

67s irritate, to upset, to enrage (U.S. slang.); also (U.S. colloq.) to travel through or along at speed. Also fig. to bum away : to consume or dissipate gradually by burning, to bum out: to consume the contents and interior of (a building). So also to bum to, into (formerly also in) ashes, porwder, etc.; and to bum (a building) down, to the ground. a. c 1305 in E.E.P. (1862) 4 pe fire sal berne vp sinful man pat ha}? misdo. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 33/1 Thonder & lytenynge shall.. bourne theym all in po[w]der. 1611 Bible Job i. 16 The fire of God.. hath burnt vp the sheepe. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law xv. 101 Although the house should be burned down, yet the tenant must continue to pay the rent. 01887 Mod. Newspaper. The first and second floors of the front building were burned out, roofs off. 1909 Chicago Daily Tribune 21 Aug. 7/1 Barney [Oldfield] started to burn up the track and opened a big gap, leading the first lap. 1923 H. C. Witwer Fighting Blood i. 23, I certainly burnt Ajariah Stubbs up that day... I fell asleep .. and I give a guy pepsin bismuth and a stiff argument, when all he says he asked for was a plain chocolate soda. 1931 D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) ii. 34 Naturally this crack bums Handsome Jack up quite some. 1934 J. O’Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) vii. 211 Ed is plenty burned up, and, my God, I don’t blame him. 1935 S. Lewis It can't happen Here xiii. 124 What burns me up is the fact that.. 7 per cent of all the families in the country earned $500 a year or less. 1937 C. Odets Golden Boy iii. ii. 214 We’ll drive through the night... That’s what speed’s for, an easy way to live! Lorna darling, we’ll bum up the night. 1943 P. Cheyney You can always Duck ii. 39, I told him the story, an’ was he burned up! ($. 01300 Cursor M. 13237 And al to pouder pai it brint. 1548 Compl. Scot. 21 Vas it [Carthage] nocht brynt in puldir ande asse. 8. c 1200 Ormin 1468, & brenn itt all till asskess peer. 1382 Wyclif Lev. vi. 10 The asken, the which the fier vowrynge brent out. -Ecclus. xlix. 8 Thei brenden vp the chosen cite of hoelynesse. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI, iii. (Arb.) 98 God .. brente theym all vp wyth brymstone. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ix. 10 The fire which them to ashes brent. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. II. 176 It were a good job it were brenned down.

c. Used in the imperative as an imprecation. 1711 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 287 The box at Chester; oh, burn that box, and hang that Sterne. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxxix, ‘Why, burn my body!’ said the man.

d. To spend or use freely; esp. to have (money, etc.) to bum, to have in abundance or to spare, orig. U.S. 1896 Ade Artie 106 Two years ago he was on his uppers and now he’s got money to burn. 1897 Congress. Rec. Mar. 400/1 Mr. Simpson:—You have plenty of time. Mr. Payne:—No; I have not got time to bum. 1904 Louisville Courier Jrnl. 2 July 5 She has.. already had literary experience to burn. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Options (1916) 76 The gentleman of the family had owned plantations and had slaves to burn. 1910 W, M. Raine B. O'Connor 39 We’ll keep an eye on the gambling hells and see who is burning up money. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone N. ix. 240 The gall of my swearing against these big men that had money to burn. 1915 ‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thous. xvi. 220 You will get baccy and cigarettes to burn out there. 1917 H. A. Vachell Fishpingle x, Why not? I have money to burn. 1928 Sunday Express 6 May 6 People in the States have ‘money to burn’.

9. Specific uses of sense 8. a. To make a burnt-offering of (incense, a victim) to a deity. Also absol. (with incense as implied object). 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xliii. 21 Thou shalt take the bullock.. and burne him in a seuerall place. 1667 Milton P.L. 1. 474 One [altar] of Syrian mode, whereon to bum His odious offerings. 1718 Pope Iliad 1. 607 The priest.. bums the offering with his holy hands. 1839 Thirlwall Greece II. 232 He burnt a great pile of precious incense on the altar. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 877/2 These altruistic servants of ‘society’.. burn the lamp of sacrifice before this modem shrine. /3. 0 1300 Cursor M. 1098 He to brin his tend bigan. 8. c 1200 Ormin 1745 patt recless..te bisscopp peer Beforenn allterr brennde. 1382 Wyclif Lev. vi. 12 He shal brenne the talw3 of the pesible thingis. 1526 Tindale Luke i. 9 His lott was to bren odoures. 01556 Cranmer Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 85 He.. made him carry the same wood wherewith he should be brent.

fb. With metonymy of the object; to bum a country: i.e. to set fire to all objects on the surface of the ground. Obs. to bum the earth or wind: to go at full speed. U.S. C1205 Lay. 6139 Mine kene men.. al lond bearnefi. C1350 Will. Palerne 2646 pei hadde lu)?erli here lond brend and destrued. 1470 Harding Chron. (1543) 165 Into Fiffes he went, and brent it clene. 1470-85 Malory Arthur 1. xiii, They lete brenne and destroye alle the contrey afore them. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. xi. vii. (1633) 94 He spoyled Arthur Mac Murrough, brent his country. [1881 G. W. Romspert Western Echo 164 The first day the mustangs will burn the prairie.] 1891 ‘O. Thanet’ Otto the Knight 219 An’ we all ayfter ’im... Didn’t he burn the wind, though! 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy iii. 37, I was half a mile in the lead burning the earth like a canned dog. 1910 W. M. Raine B. O'Connor 20 So bum the wind, and go through the car on the jump. Ibid. 57 When he finds out how the horse he’s after is burning the wind, his suspicions grow stronger.

c. fig. to bum one's boats: to cut oneself off from all chance of retreat, to bum the Thames: to perform some startling prodigy, ‘set the Thames on fire’, to bum the mill (in allusion to letting the millstones become red-hot by friction from want of grist), to bum one's bridges: see bridge sb.1 1 e. 1719 D’Urfey Pills (1719) II. 24 His Measure too so scanty, she fear’d ’twould burn her Mill. 1787 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Sir J. Banks Emp. of Mor. 6 Whose modest

wisdom.. never aims To find the longitude, or burn the Thames. 1886 Manch. Guard. 23 Feb. 5 The sooner Mr. Goschen burns the boats in which he quitted the shores of Opposition, etc.

10. To put to death by fire, esp. as a judicial punishment. Now often to bum alive, to death. 01300 Cursor M. 21235 Barnabas.. bath for-draun and brint [v.r. brend] wit feir. 1547 Homilies 1. Faith 11. (1859) 41 Some have been .. beheaded, some brent without mercy. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 5103 Sum hangit.. Sum brynt; sum soddin in to leiddis. 1591 Shaks. i Hen. VI, v. iv. 33 O burne her, burne her, hanging is too good. 1635 Pagitt Christianogr. iii. (1636) 112 He was brent for an hereticke. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2080/4 Elizabeth Gaunt likewise Convicted of High Treason was burnt at Tyburn. 1753 Scots Mag. Apr. 200/2 Anne Williams was burnt at a stake at Gloucester, Apr. 13, for poisoning her husband. 1855 Browning Heretic's Trag., Men & Worn. 11. 199 They bring him now to be burned alive.

11. a. To consume for artificial warming or lighting; to keep (a candle, a lamp) alight. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 488 f 3 Let a family burn but a candle a-night less. 1866 Wilson Chem. 128 Fuel of any kind should never be burned in rooms, unless in fireplaces provided with chimneys. Mod. I do not burn gas in my bedroom.

H Phys. Sometimes used for: To consume by oxidation with evolution of heat (cf. 2%). Mod. A large portion of our food does not go to form tissue, but is simply burnt as fuel for the production of heat.

b. In fig. phrases: to bum daylight: to burn candles in the daytime, also to waste or consume the daylight. So f to bum seasonable weather: to fail to turn it to advantage, consume, waste (obs.). to bum the (or one's) candle at both ends’, see CANDLE. 1592 Shaks. Rom. Jul. 1. iv. 43 (Qo. 1) Merc. We burne daylight here. Rom. Nay thats not so. Merc. I meane sir in delay, We burne our lights by night, like Lampes by day. 1618 Raleigh Son to Father in Rem. (1661) 120 It is a strange piece of Art.. to lie idely at the road, burning so seasonable weather. C1620Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 92 Why burne wee day light? wee have time and place. 0 1643 W. Cartwright Ordinary 1. ii. (D.) Her nose the candle.. Put out your nose, good lady, you burn daylight. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 100 They bum the day in game, and sport the faster. 1738 Swift Polite Conv. iii. (D) No candles yet.. don’t let us burn daylight. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe xliii, Burn not daylight about it; we have short time to spare.

tc. fig. to bum it blue: ? to act outrageously. Obs. slang. (See blue.) 1731 Swift Strephon Ch. Wks. 1755 IV. 1. 153 Miss Moll the jade will burn it blue.

12. fig. a. passion, etc.

To inflame with desire, love,

01300 Cursor M. 4315 First to brin [v.r. bren] pin hert wit-in. 1513 Douglas JEneis 1. x. 11 Of cruell Juno the dreid brynt hir inwart. 01528 Skelton Bk. Fooles 1. 202 Thou brennest the desyres. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, in. 333 With two fair Eyes his Mistress burns his Breast.

b. To anger, infuriate, or incense. U.S. slang. 1935 G. & S. Lorimer Heart Specialist v. 144 ‘The way I feel now I wish I could .. retire for the rest of my life.’ ‘Well, wouldn’t that bum you!’ Davy howled. 1940 J. O’Hara Pal Joey 37, I was plenty burned. 1967 L. J. Braun Cat who ate Danish Modern iii. 32 That burns me... A man like Tait can squander millions on teapots, and I have trouble paying my milk bill. 1977 Amer. Speech 1975 L. 56 She burned her date by going home with Bill. 1986 New Yorker 26 May 98/2 George Schultz.. continues to resent Syria’s backing off from a peace agreement with Israel... ‘George still feels burned by that’, one of his friends says.

** to affect by burning. 13. a. Of fire, or any heating agency: To produce the characteristic effects of combustion upon; to calcine, char, scorch, discolour, or mark by burning; to spoil food in cooking from such a cause; to alter in chemical composition (by oxidation, volatilization of a constituent, etc.), or in appearance, physical structure or properties, by intense heat. (Not used when the effect is merely that of melting or softening.) Of persons: To expose (something) to the action of fire so as to produce these results; esp. to treat with fire for a specific purpose, e.g. to burn wood (for charcoal), clay (for bricks or pottery), the soil (as an agricultural process). Also with adjs. denoting the result, as to bum hard, red, black, clean. 1519 Interl. Elem. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 31 Great riches might come thereby, Both pitch and tar, and soap ashes .. By brenning thereof only. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. viii. § 1 (1681) 146 If your land be cold .. the best way is .. to burn it. 1719 D’Urfey Pills V. 142 ’Till Pudding and Dumpling are burnt to Pot. 1726 Lond. Gaz. No. 6438/2 Supposed to be employed in burning Ground in Nottinghamshire. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 25 When bones are burned in the open fire, the animal matter.. disappears. Ibid. 186 It is difficult to burn the earth.

b. Hence, To produce (charcoal, bricks, lime, etc.) by burning. 1205 Lay. 15466 Lim heo gunnen baernen. 1635 J. Babington Pyrotechn. 7 Take good dry coale, well burnt, and beat it to dust. 1663 Gerbier Counsel D ij a, To burn more Lime in twenty four hours time. 1716 Lond. Gaz. No. 5446/9 All [bricks?] that are samel, or under burnt, to be excluded. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. ix. 146 These [earthen vessels] I burnt in the fire. 1727-Eng. Tradesm. iii. (1841) I. 20 The bricks would not be so good .. when they were burnt.

c. to bum (metals) together: to join them by melting their adjacent edges, or heating the adjacent edges and running some molten metal of the same kind into the intermediate space, to bum on: to add (a part) to an injured or incomplete casting by running in a stream of molten metal. 1888 Lockwood's Diet. Terms Mech. Engin. 53 A sand mould of the portion to be burned on is made and placed in proper juxtaposition to the old casting in the bed of the foundry floor.

d. transf. To produce on (anything) an effect resembling that of burning; e.g. (of the sun) to wither, dry up (vegetation), to parch, dry up (the ground); to freckle, embrown, or discolour (the skin), cf. sunburnt. Sometimes said of cold, and' of certain manures and crops, to express their effect on vegetation or on the soil, fpoet. Of cattle: to bum (the ground) bare: to crop it close. a 1300 Cursor M. 6025 Haile and fir was menged samen . „ pe gresse it brint. c 1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 88 Phebus cam to bren [v.r. birn] hem with his hete. c 1425 Three Kings Cologne 44 Hit wexej? liche eerys of corn J?at were brent with pe wedir. C1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 29/2 Lest that the soon shuld burne hym. 1591 Spenser Bellay's Ruines of R. xvii, Scortching sunne had brent His wings. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 527 Vines also are burned therewithal [swine’s dung]. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. 11. 271 Goats .. graze the Field, and burn it bare.

e. fig. to bum the planks: to remain long sitting. , i843 Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 208 Sit obstinately burning the planks.

f. to bum off: to clear (land) for cultivation by burning the vegetation; to burn dry or rank vegetation (tussock, etc.). Also absol. (Cf. burn sb.3 1 b and burning vbl. sb. 8 a and e.) N. Amer., Austral., and N.Z. 1843 C. A. Dillon Let. 16 Jan. (1954) 17 The fern was all burnt off by the surveyors. 1852 S. Moodie Roughing It 90 Moodie and Jacob had chopped eight acres during the winter, but these had to be burnt off and logged-up before we could put in a crop of wheat, i860 G. Duppa in S. S. Crawford Sheep & Sheepmen of Canterbury (1949) v. 46 Burn off portions of the run for winter feed to destroy tuft grass. 1932 K. S. Prichard in Murdoch & DrakeBrockman Austral. Short Stories (1951) 189 He cleared and grubbed, burnt off, and cultivated his land. 1959 A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. 39/1 The Maoris had long been aware that much of the bush country was more fertile [than the open country], for they burned off patches for cultivation. 1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 87 The men started burning off opposite and the heavy clouds of smoke hid the tree for a while.

g. To vulcanize (india-rubber) by mixing it with sulphur or metallic sulphides and heating it. 1900 Sadtler Handbk. Indust. Chem. (ed. 3) 106 In vulcanizing by the first process, that of ‘burning’, as it is termed, the crude caoutchouc is mixed with varying amounts of sulphur.

h. To utilize the nuclear energy of (uranium, etc.). 1946 Rep. Internat. Control Atomic Energy (Dept, of State, U.S.) in. i. 35 Such power reactors would ‘burn’ the active materials and require replenishing from time to time. 1949 Britannica Bk. Year 1948 686/2 Burn, to utilize the atomic energy of (nuclear fuel). 1957 Encycl. Brit. II. 649/2 Some losses could be tolerated and still leave a neutron to initiate another fission of uranium, thus producing a chain reaction which would continue to burn uranium. Ibid. 651/2 It is also possible to burn plutonium in the presence of U-238 and make more plutonium. 1962 Newnes Concise Encycl. Nuclear Energy 278/1 To achieve power balance, it is necessary also that at least about 1 per cent of the fuel is ‘burned’ before being lost from the system.

14. a. To wound or to cause pain to (a person, animal, or part of the body) by the contact of fire or of something intensely heated: said both of the fire or heated body itself, and of the person who applies it. Often reft, (of persons, with approach to the passive sense); also in expressions such as to burn one's fingers, one’s foot = to suffer injury in those members by burning. Also absol. a 1300 Cursor M. 7224 Man aght to dred pe brand )?at brint [v.r. brende] him forwit in his hand. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xliii. 2 Whan thou shalt go in fyr, thou shalt not be brent. a 1420 Occleve De Reg. Princ. 2382 He that is brent, men seithe, dredethe the fire, a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 43 Yr brennyth hym, and woundeth hym so sore. 1596 Drayton Leg. 11. 280 Warm’d with the Fire, that unawares might burne Mee. 1713 Berkeley Hylas & P. 1. Wks. 1871 I. 270 When a coal burns your finger. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 28 The power of heat to burn.

b. In fig. phrase, to bum one’s (own) fingers: to sustain damage through meddling with something; rarely to bum (another’s) fingers. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 356 The busiebody burns his own fingers. 1713 Guardian No. 108, I do not care for burning my fingers in a quarrel. 1865 Holland Plain T. iv. 126 Strove to overreach each other, and burn the fingers of unsuspicious outsiders. 1877 Punch 26 May 130 Without burning its fingers with Clerical Fellowships, etc.

c. To cauterize, as a surgical operation; to brand with the mark of a criminal, to bum out: to destroy (the eyes, etc.) by burning. 1483 Cath. Angl. 32 To Birne with yrne; cauteriare, inc outer iare. i486 Bk. St. Albans C. vj b, Brynne the narellis

BURNABLE

676

BURN-

[of a hawk] thourogh owte. 1570-87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 203 Him that is brunt in the hand. 1595 Shaks. John iv. i. 59 These eyes.. with hot Irons must I burne them out. 1655 Baxter Quaker's Catech. 3, I dare no more accuse them .. for persecution who shall burn a Thief in the hand. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5329/4 He .. was burnt in the Hand last Assizes at Worcester. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 128 Transported felons, .burnt in the hand.

d. transf. Said of a caustic, acrid, or irritating substance (as vitriol, a blister, etc.); sometimes of intense cold, the effect produced by which resembles that caused by burning: To wound or cause local pain to, in a manner resembling the effect of contact with fire. Also absol. 1509 Fisher Wks. 1. (E.E.T.) 31 Teres.. shall scalde and brenne our bodyes. 1562 Turner Baths 6 b, If any entring into the bath .. thynke.. that he is burned. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 212 The snow burneth the Dogs nose. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 595 The parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th’ effect of Fire. 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3240/4 His face burnt or scalded by some Humor. 1865 J. H. Newman Gerontius Ice which blisters may be said to burn.

fe. To infect with sores; esp. with venereal disease. Cf. 3 b. Obs. 1529 S. Fish Supplic. Begg. (Arb.) 7 These be they.. that be brent wyth one woman, and bere it to another, c 1556 Bale in Chambers Cycl. s.v. Burning, He [leacherous Weston] not long ago brent a beggar of St. Botolphs parish. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. iv. iii. 58 Light wenches will burne, come not neere her.

f. To swindle. (See Sc. Nat. Diet.) In quot. 1655 the sense may be ‘to suffer’. 1655 R. Baillie Let. (1842) III. 290 Our people were so ill-burnt, that they had no stomach for any farder medling. [01700 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, Burnt the Town, when the Soldiers leave the Place without paying their Quarters.] 1808 Jamieson, Burn, to deceive, to cheat in a bargain. 1844 Philad. Spirit of Times 19 Aug. (Th.), Two negro burners were arrested in the act of trying to burn two Pottsville boatmen with a plated chain worth about fifteen cents. 1926 J. Black You can't Win ix. 106 If you’d burnt Shorty for his end of that coin, you’d have been here just the same. 1969 Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 16 Mar. 39/2, I figured I’d burn the guy for a thousand.

15. To drive (a person or animal) out of a place by heat, or by the burning of his dwelling. Phrase, to bum out of house and home. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4702/3 [He] was formerly burnt out of the Fountain Tavern in the Strand. 1780 Pitt in Earl Stanhope’s Life (1861)1.43 Thanks to the sun .. I was burnt out of my bed this morning before seven o’clock. 1851 C. Cist Cincinnati 250 Henry Albro, who was burnt out some months since, on Front street, has recently put up new veneer and saw mills, a 1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) i. 7 They had been burnt out, they had been cleaned out, they had been drowned out.

16. To make (a mark) on or in, (a hole) in or through, anything, by burning. Also^ig. to make (a recollection, a conviction) indelible in a person’s mind, to burn in: to render indelible (the painting upon pottery, etc.) by exposure to fire, to bum a hole in one's pocket. a 1840 Moore in Sheridaniana 61 They [some verses] bear, burnt into every line, the marks of personal feeling. 1857 Trollope Three Clerks II. ix. 198 How was she to give him the purse? It was burning a hole in her pocket till she could do so. i860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 172 A power which .. burnt-in the image of each in his remembrance. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola 1. xvii. (1880) I. 244 Her brother’s words.. had burnt themselves into her memory. C1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 389/1 They are ‘burnt in’ on the surface of the ware. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 538/1 Cash burning holes in our pockets.

17. to bum the water: to spear salmon by torchlight. Also, to bum a bowl, a curling stone, etc.: to displace it accidentally. 1805 Skene in Lockhart Scott (1839) II. 265 This amusement of burning the water.. was not without some hazard. 1884 Pall Mall G. 19 Aug. 5/1 Water-bailiffs are sent up the rivers at certain times to prevent ‘burning the water’.

18. to bum out: to fuse by means of an electric current. Cf. burn-out b, s.v. burn- 3. 1924 Discovery June 83/2 The Germans were using some objectionable form of frightfulness that burnt out the magnetos of French planes flying across German zones. 19. slang. To smoke (tobacco). Cf. burn sb.3

1 e. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 20 Burning, smoking in the training ships. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights ill. 82 The more [tobacco] we got the more we used to burn. m-Phrase-key.—To burn alive, 10; b away, 5, 8 b; b black, 5, 13; b blue, 2 c; b boats, 9 c; b a bowl, 17; b the breast, 12; b bricks, 13 b; b brown, 5; b a candle, 4, 11; b candle at both ends, 11 b; b charcoal, 13 b; 6 clay, 13; b a country, 9 b; b a curling-stone, 17; b daylight, 11 b; b down, 2 c, 8 b; ears b, 3; b one’s fingers, 14, 14 b; b forth, 2 c; b ground, 13; b hard, 5, 13; horse b, 3 b; b in, 16; b incense, 9; b into, 7, 16; b into ashes, 8 b; b it blue, 11 c; b lamp, 4, 11; b lime, 13 b; b low, 2 c; b the mill, 9 c; b offering, 9; b out, 2 c, 8 b, 14 c, 15; b the planks, 13 e; b one’s pocket, 3 c; b red, 2 c, 13; sea b, 4c, b seasonable weather, 11 b; b soil, 13; b the Thames, 9c; b to, 5; b to ashes, 8 b; b to death, 10; b to the ground, 8 b; b together, 13 c; b up, 2c, 8b; b the water, 17; b wood, 13.

burn-. The verb or verb-stem in composition forming sbs. or adjs. 1. With verb H- object, as bum-grain adj.; f burn-cow, transl. Gr. povnprjoTLs (an insect, also a herb, injurious to cattle), cf. burst-cow, buprestis; burn-grange (Sc.), one who sets fire to barns; burn-the-wind, burnewin, a Sc. designation for a blacksmith.

1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 1000 The Latines retain the Greek name of Buprestis.. But I. do adventure to call it by a new name in English, ♦Burncow, or Burstcow. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Diet. (Morell) 11, Also a sort of herb which kills cattle; the burncow. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 11. i. Furies 165 (D.) Turning our seed-wheat-kernel To ♦burn-grain thistle, a 1500 Colkelbie Sow i. v. 92 (Jam.) Ane ypocreit in haly kirk, A *burn-grenge in the dirk. 1785 Burns Scotch Drink x, Then *Burnewin comes on like death. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. ii. 57 Thou hast had a quarrel with some Edinburgh Burn-the-wind.

2. With the verb used attrib. = burning; as f bumrcoal, f-ivood\ also burn-fire (dial.), perversion of bonfire; burn-iron, Sc. burnairn, a branding-iron; burn-stick (see quot.); burn-weed = thorn-apple, Datura stramonium. 1597 Sc. Acts, Jas. VI, §253 (title) Great *burne Coale, suld not be transported furth of this realm. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 152 Burne coalis. 1708 W. King Cookery 37 Not to make his *burnfire at the upper end of Ludgate street. C1750 J. Nelson Jrnl. (1836) 96 Monday being a rejoicing day, they had burn-fires in the market place. 1485 Inv. in Ripon Ch. Acts 373 Ij *birne iron et j markyng iron 4d. 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 202 I’ll make a *Burn-mark with a T. 1847-78 Halliwell Diet., * Burn-stick, a crooked stick, on which a large piece of coal is daily carried from the pit by each working collier over his shoulder for his own private use. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica, The Thorn-apple or ♦Burnweed. All the parts of this plant are remarkably narcotic. 1701 Brand Zetland 92 (Jam.) The inhabitants make use of the wrack [of ships] for *burn-wood. 3. With the verb + adv., as burn-off (cf. burn

v.113 f); burn-out, (a) a complete destruction by fire; also = burn sb.3 1 c; (b) Electr., the fusing of a wire or other electric conductor by excess of electric current; also attrib., as burn-out fuse, alloy, one that melts at a comparatively low temperature and serves as a safeguard against damage by excess of current; (c) (the moment of) final consumption of fuel by a space rocket, etc.; also attrib.', (d) orig. U.S., physical or emotional exhaustion, esp. caused by stress at work; depression, disillusionment; cf. to burn oneself out s.v. burn v.1 2 c; burn-up, (a) the consumption of fuel in a nuclear reactor; (b) slang, a ride on a motor-cycle, etc., at an extremely high speed (cf. scorch v.1 3). 1861 W. Morgan Jrnl. 27 Feb. (1963) iii. 28 Not an over excellent *burn off—there having been of late a good deal of wet. 1869 J. May May's Guide to Farming in N.Z. 18 In due time we fired it [the bush], and had the satisfaction of having a clean burn-off. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Dec. 28/2 A good burn-off gets rid of a lot of rubbish in the form of insects and other pests, but it also destroys the organic matter (i.e., humus) without which no soil can be cropped successfully. 1903 Daily Chron. 29 June 7/5 It has been a *bum-out of three floors and roof destroyed. 1907 Installation News Mar. 4/1 Incipient fires and burnouts, due to the earthing of high voltage systems on building fronts, etc. 1940 W. Stegner in Atlantic Monthly June 774/1 Even without shoes he would have run across burnouts, over stretches so undermined with gopher holes that sometimes he broke through to the ankle. 1941 -in Harper's Mag. Jan. 160/1 The topless Ford lurched, one wheel at a time, through the deep burnout. 1952 Jrnl. Brit. Interplan. Soc. XI. 10 Ideal performance of multi-stage vehicles is secured if., the burnout weights of each stage form a geometric progression. 1953 Time 14 Sept. 89/2 The three tons of fuel lasted less than three minutes. At ‘burnout’, Carl was at 75,000 ft. 1957 Spaceflight I. 64/2 Four wings provide the lift necessary for controlled flight and four small fins at the rear are used for steering after burn-out. 1975 H. J. Freudenberger in Psychotherapy XII. 73/1 Some years ago, a few of us who had been working intensively in the free clinic movement began to talk of a concept which we referred to as ‘burn-out’. 1978 Hospital & Community Psychiatry XXIX. 233 (1heading) Characteristics of staff burnout in mental health settings. 1986 Sun 3 Nov. 19/4 It has happened so often, it is now known in medical circles as ‘AIDS burnout’. 1954 R. Stephenson Introd. Nucl. Engineering vii. 276 As a reactor continues to operate, the fissionable material is gradually used up and the reactivity may decrease accordingly. This is known as fuel depletion, or *burnup. 1959 New Scientist 29 Jan. 239/1 A major aim is to obtain a large ‘bum up’—in other words to use up as large a proportion of the fuel as possible between refuelling operations. 1961 Guardian 18 Mar. 2/3 If I was going for a real burn-up, you wouldn’t have caught me. 1963 A. Prior Z Cars Again iii. 26 Ton-up boys were doing early morning burn-ups at the Turntable Roundabout.

fburn, v.2

Obs. 5 boom-, born-, bourn-en. Chiefly in pa. pple. burned: see burned ppl. a.2 [a. OF. burnir, var. of brunir to burnish, originally to brown, f. brun brown.] = burnish

;.1

t

C1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 327 (Harl. MS. 1239) A1 feynith he in lust that he sojournith, And al his speech and chere he bournith [Harl. MS. 3943 vnournith], 1393 Gower Conf. II. 231 An harneis.. which burned was as silver bright. CI430 Lydg. Bochas IV. ii. (1554) 112 a, A chaire.. of gold boomed bryght. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 44 Bormyn or pulchyn \v.r. bornyn, boornyn], polio.

burn(e, variant of

berne, Obs., a man.

burnable ('b3:n3b(3)l), a. [f.

burn h.1 + -able.] Capable of being burnt or consumed by fire.

1611 Cotgr., Adustible, burnable. 1678 R. Russell Geber ill. II. 2. ii. 174 Ignible (or burnable by Fire). 1721-90 Bailey, Adustible, burnable. 1861 All Y. Round23 Feb. 465 Not to rear houses of frail burnable plank.

b. quasi-r6.: A combustible, (rare.)

BURN-BAKE 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1430 Burnables are deemed lawful prize.

|burn-bake, -beak, obs. var. of next. Hence 'burn-baking vbl. sb., burn-beaked ppl. a. 1803 A. Hunter Georgical Ess. I. 35 What happens after the operation of Burn-baking. 01722 Lisle Hush. (1752) 163 He is very much against feeding burn-beaked wheat.

'burn-beat, v. Also -bait, -bate. [f. burn v. + beat sb.3 or v.2: the latter part is inflected; pr. pple. burnbeating pa. pple. burnbeat.] trans. To pare off and burn the rough turf or sod of moorland or fallow ground in order to improve it. Hence 'burn-baited ppl. a.; 'burnbeating vbl. sb. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 37 The best way. .to improve and reduce these Lands into Tillage, is to BurnBeat, or Denshire them. 1676 - Cider (1691) 74 The ground being turfie .. may be burn-beat in June or July. 1681 - Kal. Rust. Nov., Wheat may yet be sown.. especially on burn-baited Land. 1727 Abp. Boulter Lett. I. 221 The tenant shall not be able to burnbeat any ground in virtue of this act. 1808 J. Walker Hist. Hebrides High! Scott. I. 176 The practice of.. Burnbaiting, or sod burning.

burnderthe, var. brandreth, Obs., gridiron. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wulcker 660 Hec tripes, burnderthe.

fburne. Obs. [Early ME. burne (u):—OE. byrne ‘cuirass, corslet’: the later form of this would have been *byrn, *birn, whence the metathetized forms bryn, brene, q.v. Cf. the parallel dissyllabic brynie, brunie, brinie, from ON., and its metathetized form byrnie.] = BRINIE. a ere pai pat ere brennandere in luf. 1508 Fisher Wks. 1. (E.E.T.) 182 Shynynge in fayth .. brennynge in charyte. a 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus Prol. 68 Bauld and birnand in rancour and malice. 1819 Byron Juan in. lxxxvi, The isles of Greece! Where burning Sappho lov’d and sung. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xiv. 117,1 had prepared a most burning and eloquent address.

f9. a. Lighting up; illumination. Obs.

10. Comb., as (sense 5) burning-lens, -mirror, -speculum-, burning-ghat: see ghaut, ghat 4; f burning-point, the focus of a lens (obs.)-, burning-fluid, -oil, -wood; (sense 8) burninghouse, -iron. Also burning-glass. 1849 Weale Diet. Terms, * Burning-house, the furnace in which tin ores are calcined. 1865 Morning Star 3 May, There was a large burning-house, that evolved arsenical vapour. 1483 Cath. Angl. 32 A *Birnynge yrne.. cauterium. 1503 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 167 De proficuo ferri Sancti Wilfridi vocati Seintwilfride burningeyron. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 286 Euery townshyppe.. ought to haue a dyuers

3. In a highly heated state; exceedingly hot. f burning line: the equator (obs.). burning zone: the torrid zone (poet.). 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour C iij b, The devil.. dyde put brennyng nedles through her browes. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 10 Vnder the Equinoctial or burninge lyne. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min., Engendring cholerick humours, and burning bloud. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg.

in. 390 In the Desart Land Of Libya travels, o’er the burning Sand. 1713 Addison Cato 1. iii. 31 Lord of half the burning Zone. 1807 Crabbe Library 318 We trace In dens and burning plains, her savage race.

b. burning scent: strong, very ‘warm’ scent; burning chase: hot, uninterrupted, pursued without a check. 01700 Dryden (J.), He shot by me Like a young hound upon a burning scent. 1755 Young Centaur Wks. 1762 IV. 182 Ye staunch pursuers of Pleasure Opening full cry on its burning Scent. 1854 R. Massie in Bk. Praise iv. No. 358 (1862) 384 The hart. .Heated in the burning chace. 1859 Art Taming Horses xii. 200 Burning scent, when hounds go so fast, from the goodness of the scent, they have no breath to spare, and run almost mute.

4. That burns luminously; giving light, shining; transf. glowing as if incandescent. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John v. 35 He waes byrnende leoht-faet and lyhtende. 1297 R- Glouc. 534 The bissops amansede alle.. Mid berninde taperes. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. ix. (1495) 759 The serpent Ophites is paynted wyth brennyng speckles, c 1430 Lydg. Bochas vi. 1. (1554) x43 Brenning eyen sparkling of their light. 1564 Becon Gen. Pref. in Wks. (1843) 18 They are.. like unto a brenning candle. 1596 Spenser F.Q. 1. v. 6 Burning blades about their heades [they] doe blesse. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. 11. i. 22 The burning threads of woven cloud unravel.

II. Connected with the trans. senses of the verb. 5. * Affecting with heat; scorching, withering. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xii. 23 Other seuen [eeris], thinne and smytun with a brennynge blaste. C1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 38 The burning ray, That from the sun comes. 1718 Pope Iliad 1. 90 Phoebus [shall] dart his burning shafts no more. 1805 Wordsw. Waggoner 1. 1 ’Tis spent—this burning day of June!

b. Causing a sensation like that of contact with fire, f burning -water = ardent spirit (obs.). 1460-70 Bk. Quintessence 2 Oure quinta essencia.. hath .iij. names.. brennynge watir, pe soule in pe spirit of wyn, and watir of lijf. 1528 Paynell Salerne Regim. F ivb, Wyne citrine is not so burnynge as redde claret. 1559 Morwyng Evonym. 8 Brenning water .. doth .. make hoat and dry mens bodies. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 1. lxxxvii. 129 The small burning Nettell. 1878 Britten & Holland Plant-n., Burning Nettle, Urtica urens, L.

c. That resembles heat in its effects. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 675 Burning Isicles are lodg’d within. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. 1. 33 The bright chains Eat with their burning cold into my bones.

6. quasi-tfJa., as in burning hot. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (i860) 6 Now at erst the imesse be brennyng hote in the fire. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 52 Ther tua symmyrs ar vondir birnand heyt. Mod. It was a burning hot day in July.

7. In parasynthetic combinations. 1597 Drayton Mortimer. burning-beilyed Bull.

145

His

Cradell

Phalaris

burning bush. a. ‘The bush that burned and was not consumed’ mentioned in Exod. iii., and assumed as an ensign by the Presbyterian churches of Scotland, in memory of the persecution of the 17th c. b. A name applied to various shrubs or plants, as the Artillery plant, Pilea Serpylliflora, the Dictamnus Fraxinella, and (U.S.) the Euonymus atropurpureus and E. Americanus. 1866 Treas. Bot., Burning Bush, sometimes applied in gardens to the Artillery plant. 1878 Britten & Holl. Plantn., Burning Bush, Dictamnus Fraxinella, L. (in gardens). It is said that the plant gives off so large a quantity of essential oil that the air around it becomes inflammable, and will ignite if a light be brought near. 1883 Harper's Mag. Apr. 726/1 The euonymus, or burning-bush, clothed in the autumn with its brilliant scarlet berries.

burning-glass ('b3:mr) glais, -ae-). A lens, by which the rays of the sun may be concentrated on an object, so as to burn it if combustible. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 35 Archimedes, .with his Burning Glasses.. fired their other Shippes a far off. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 1. iii. 74 The appetite of her eye did seeme to scorch me vp like a buming-glasse. 1643 Caryl Sacr. Covt. 33 The fiery beames of Gods wrath are contracted into this burning-Glasse. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. i. 180, I had about me my flint, steel, match, and burning-glass. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 426 Not unlike the virtuoso’s scheme, who would needs try to make a burning-glass of ice. 1878 Masque Poets 213 Beauty is a burning-glass that brings The soft, diffusive sunshine to a focus.

b. A concave mirror, by the use of which the same effect may be produced. 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. 1. iii. 11 The Spirits effect on the soul to come by reflection .. as Light and Heat from the Sun by a Speculum or Burning-Glass. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The second .. are concave; very improperly called burning-glasses, being usually made of metal. 1760 tr. Keysler's Travels I. 428 A concave burning-glass reflects.. the solar rays into one focus.

burningly ('b3:mr)li), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] 1. In a burning manner, with burning effect. c 1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 707 Loue hath his firy dart so brennyngly Ystiked thurgh my.. herte. 1853 F. W. Newman Odes of Horace 76 Nor clung more burningly the fatal boon on huge Alcides’ shoulders. 1855 Browning Ch. Roland, Burningly it came on me all at once. 1876 G. Meredith Beauch. Career II. xv. 276 She sat over the portrait blushing burningly.

2. fig.

With ardour; hotly; ardently; eagerly.

1340 Ayenb. 31 Oure Lhord.. he ssolde lovye bernindeliche. 1382 Wyclif i Kings xi. 1 Kyng Salomon to brennyngly lovede many hethen wymmen. 1506 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W.) 11. xi. 116 In getynge to moche

BURNISH

679

brennyngely, in retaynynge to straytely. 1866 Alger Solit. Nat. & Man in. 134 Hopelessly separated from the world by their vows .. yet burningly attached to it by the passions.

burnish ('b3:nif), sb. rare. [f. burnish v.1] Burnishing; a burnishing; spec, anything laid over a surface to give a bright and glossy look. c 1647 Crashaw Poems 135 Blushes, that bin The burnish of no sin. 1728 Ramsay Ep. Friends Ireland, Giving ilka verse a burnish. 1781 Smeathman in Phil. Trans. LXXI. 179 The lacquer or burnish with which the brasswork was covered was totally spoiled. 1871 Daily News 6 Sept., The burnish .. was.. no subtraction from efficiency.

burnish ('b3:mj), v.1 Forms: 4-5 burnissh, -essh, -yssch, bornyssh, 4-6 burnyssh, -isch, bomysch, 5 bornysh, burnesh, -esch, -eyssh, 5-6 burnysh, 6 burnech, bournysh, -yssh, byrnysh, 6- burnish. Pa. pple.: also 4 bur-, bornyst(e, 5 burnysyd, byrnyst, 6 bur-, birneist. [f. OF. burniss- stem of burnir, var. of brunir\ cf. Pr. bornir; see burn u.2] 1. trans. To make (metal) shining by friction; to furbish; to polish (a surface) by rubbing with a hard and smooth tool. cs325 E.E. Allit. P. 554 Jre beryl bomyst byhouez be clene. 1375 Barbour Bruce vm. 225 Thair basnetis burnyst var all brycht. 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 102 Off clothes of gold burneysshed bright. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 36 The standert new payntyd .. the crosse new burnechyd. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 192 They .. burnish the hilts of their swords with the teeth of such great Animals as swim in the sea. 1837 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxxiii. 291 Their shields were burnished for the occasion. 187s Ure Diet. Arts I. 424 Gold-leaf is laid upon the edges, and is then burnished with a polishing tool, tipped with agate.

b.fig. (Of things non-material.) 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 61 b, Hye walles & noble, all bournysshed and polysshed with charite. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 155 Figuratiue speaches [are] the instrument wherewith we burnish our language. 1606 Dekker Sev. Sins 11. (Arb.) 21 If a Lye.. be not smooth enough, there is no instrument to burnish it, but an oath. 172® Young Love Fame vn. (1757) 166 Pursuit of fame.. into coxcombs burnishes our fools.

•f c. in extended nonce-use. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. viii. 29 So forth he came all in a cote of plate Bumisht with bloudie rust.

2. transf.

To make bright and glossy; to overspread with lustre. £1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1085 Jtenne watz her blype barne burnyst so clene. 1658 T. Mayerne Archimag. Anglo-Gall. xix. 17 You may burnish your pye or pasty and .. put it to the Oven. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 249 Fruit burnisht with Golden Rind, Hung amiable. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xii. 94 As he proceeds in burnishing the lights. 1833 Ht. Martineau Cinn. & Pearls iv. 74 A mild sunshine burnished the scene.

b. absol. for refi.

To make oneself shine.

1701 D’Urfey Pills II. (1719) 104 A .. flashy Fop .. Who if he is not burnishing thinks he all’s Time does lose.

3. Of a stag: To rub the dead ‘velvet’ or skin from his horns [cf. Fr. brunir in same sense]; applied loosely to the annual renewal of the horns, perhaps by confusion with burnish v.2 1616 Bullokar, Burnish, is also a terme among hunters when Harts spread their homes after they be fraied. 1677 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (1706) 64 All Stags as they are burnish’d, beat their Heads dry against some Tree or other. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 289 The Deer burnisheth his head. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Burnishing, Deer are said to burnish their heads, when rubbing off a white downy skin from their horns against a tree, they thrust them .. into a reddish earth, to give them a new colour and lustre. 1792 Osbaldistone Brit. Sportsm. 83/1.

4. intr. To become bright or glossy; to shine, gleam. Also^ig. 1624 Fletcher Rule a Wife i, How you itch, Michael! how you burnish! 1713 Swift Salamander Wks. 1755 III. 11. 77 I’ve seen a snake .. Burnish, and make a gaudy show. 1763 C. Smart Song David 61 The crocus burnishes alive Upon the snow-clad earth. 01834 Lamb Wks. 491 With Churchill’s compliment still burnishing upon her., lips.

5. trans. To fix into (a setting) by pressing down the metal rim with a burnisher. 1793 Sir G. Shuckburgh in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 109 Upon the cell, into which the glass is burnished, and also upon the tube of the telescope, into which the cell is screwed.

f 'burnish, v.2 Obs. except dial. Also 4 and 9 dial, barnish. [Etymology unknown; connexion with senses 3 or 4 of prec. seems hardly possible, and is also opppsed by the early s.w. and still dial, form barnish. East Anglian dial, uses furnish in same sense.] 1. intr. Of the human frame: To grow plump, or stout, to spread out; to increase in breadth. 1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. vi. i, This age is calde adolescencia, for it is full age to gete children, and able to barnisch [1535 burnyshe]. c 1430 Syr Generides 780 The childe.. began to burnesh and sprede. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 345 A man Groweth in height.. vntill hee be one and twentie yeares of age: then beginnes he to spread and burnish in squarenesse. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat (1867) 101 We must not all run up in height, like a hop-pole, but also burnish and spread in breadth. 1684 Dryden Davenant's Circe Prol. 398 A slender Poet must have time to grow, And spread and burnish as his Brothers do. 1847-78 Halliwell, Barnish, to increase in strength or vigour; to fatten; look ruddy and sleek. 1875 Parish Sussex Dial, s.v., ‘You burnish nicely’, meaning, ‘You look well’.

b. transf.

burnt

1624 Wotton Archit. in Reliq. Wotton. (1685) 68 Whether the Fabrick be of a beautiful Stature; whether for the breadth it appear well burnished. 1662 Fuller Worthies 11. 190 [London] will be found to Burnish round about, to every point of the compasse.

'burnishable, a.

rare[f. burnish v.1 -able.] Capable of being burnished.

+

1611 Cotgr., Pollissable, polishable, burnishable.

burnished ('b3:nift), ppl. a. [f. burnish n.1] 1. Made bright and shining as by friction, polished. c>325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 77 As bomyst syluer pe lef onslydez. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. v, Bryght bornyshed gold. c 1470 Henry Wallace 11. 130 Hys byrnyst brand he byrstyt at ye last. 1606 Shahs. Ant. & Cl. 11. ii. 196 The Barge .. like a burnisht Throne Burnt on the water, a 1775 Pope Odyss. iv. 66. 1789 Wordsw. Even. Walk, The whole wide lake.. like a burnished mirror glows. b.fig. 1853 (3 June) Bright Sp. India (1876) 11 The glossed and burnished statement.

2. transf. Having the appearance of polished metal; bright, shining, glossy. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 220 Bornyste quyte watz hyr uesture. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. 11. i. 2 The shadowed liuerie of the burnisht sunne. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 501 Serpent .. With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold. 1827 Keble Chr. Y., Burial of Dead iii, Let some graceful arch be there.. With burnish’d ivy for its screen.

b. Of deer: (see the vb.) 164.9 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, 232 Chase Whole Burnish’t Herds. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 422 A Steer .. whose Head .. with burnish’d Homs begins to spread.

burnisher ('b3:nif3(r)). [f. burnish v.1 + -er1.] 1. One who burnishes. CI450 Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 604 Pollictor, a bornyshour. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Enlumineur de livres, a burnisher of books. 1664 Pepys Diary (1879) III. 65 By and by the flaggon finished at the burnisher’s. 1708 Brit. Apollo 13 Feb. 8 Mrs. Wills Burnisher of Plate, at the Iron Anchor. 1884 Birmingham Daily Post 23 Feb. 3/4 Chandelier Trade. — Wanted, Burnisher used to best work.

2. A tool for smoothing surfaces or for burnishing or polishing articles. It differs in material and shape according to the purpose and trade. 1598 Florio Frugatore.. a burnisher [1611 a rubbing cloth, a rubber, a burnishing toole, a burnisher]. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. (1769) 21 Burnisher, (another tool used by Chalcographers). 1751 Chambers Cycl., Burnishers for gold or silver are commonly made of a dog’s or wolfs tooth, set in the end of an iron or wooden handle. Of late, agates and pebbles have been introduced. 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades, Engraver (1842) 214 The burnisher is.. formed of hard steel, rounded and polished.

bur'noused, ppl. a.

1846 Blackw. Mag. LX. 337 Burnoused warriors. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 20 Apr., The burnoused Kabyle and the kilted Highlander. 1868 Daily Tel. 22 May, The lovely., ladies of Genoa.. turned out.. shawled and burnoused.

Burnsian ('b3:nzi3n), a. and sb. [f. the name of Robert Burns (1759-96), Scottish poet + -ian.] A. adj. Of or relating to Burns, his works, or his style. B. sb. An admirer of Burns or his works. So Burnsi'ana [-ana], things connected with Burns; 'Burnsite = Burnsian sb. [1866 J. Mackie {title) Bibliotheca Burnsiana. Life and works of Burns: title pages and imprints of the various editions in the private library of James M’Kie, Kilmarnock.] 1874 J. Gibson {title) The Burns calendar: a manual of Burnsiana; relating events in the poet’s history, names associated with his life and writings, a concise bibliography, and a record of Burns relics. 1904 Daily Chron. 22 Aug. 3/1 The accumulating literature of Burnsian topography. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 Apr. 12/1 Collectors of Burnsiana. 1909 Daily Chron. 14 Aug. 3/1 All Burnsites—common or peculiar. Ibid., Devotees of the Burnsian cult. 1920 Glasgow Herald 28 July 6 A representative gathering of Scottish Burnsians.

Burnside, burnside ('b3:nsaid). U.S. [f. the proper name: see below.] ‘A style of beard such as that affected by General Burnside (1824-81), consisting of a mustache, whiskers, and a clean¬ shaven chin’ {Cent. Diet. Suppl. 1909). Freq.pi. Also attrib. Cf. side-burn (side sb.1 27). 1875 Cincinnati Enquirer 6 July 2/1 His whisker was of the Burnside type, consisting of mustache and ‘muttonchop’, the chin being perfectly clean. 1881 I. M. Rittenhouse jfrnl. in Maud (1939) i. 36 The older one has lovely burnsides. 1907 Outing (U.S.) L. 279 Such various patterns of ornamental whiskers as the ‘Piccadilly Weeper’ (No. 2), the ‘Burnside’, etc. 1930 Publishers' Weekly 8 Feb. 679 In the days of copper-toed boots and burnsides .. our grandfathers were buying this book.

burnt, burned (b3:rnt, b3:nd), ppl. a.

[burnish v.1]

1. The action of brightening or polishing (chiefly metallic surfaces); also attrib. 1552 Huloet, Bournyshyng or poolyshyng. 1598 Florio, Frugatoio, a burnishing toole. 1644 Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 98/2 As it were the burnishing of many studious & contemplative years. 1764 Harmer Observ. iv. vii. 320 The burnishing of gold. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 299/2 The next process is burnishing—Steel tools are used.

b. fig. c. concr. Metallic polish, lustre. 1780 Burke Election Sp. Bristol Wks. III. 372 That our disgrace might want no sort of brightening and burnishing. 1851 Ruskin Stones Venice I. App. xvii. 393 You cannot perfectly see the form of a humming-bird, on account of its burnishing.

2. transf.

Of deer. Cf. burnish v.1 3.

1611 Cotgr., Frayouer, a Deeres burnishing of his head. 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. V. 518/2 The animals., rubbing them [i.e. the horns] against any hard substances.. this action is termed ‘burnishing’.

burnishment ('b3:nifm3nt). rare. [f. burnish w.1] Metallic polish, lustrous adornment. 1862 Christina Rossetti My Dream in Goblin Market, etc. 63 But special burnishment adorned his mail.

II burnous, burnouse (b3:'nu:s, -'nu:z). Also 7 bernou, -noo, -nooe, 9 ber-, bornouse, boornoos, bournous, burnoos(e. [a. F. burnous, a. Arab. burnus. On account of the final -s, the word has often been treated in Eng. as a plural.] 1. A mantle or cloak with a hood, an upper garment extensively worn by Arabs and Moors. 1695 Motteux St. Olon's Morocco 81 The black Caps and Bernous they are oblig’d to wear. Ibid. 91 A Bernooe, or kind of Stuff or Cloath Cloak, edg’d with a Fringe, whence there hangs a kind of a Cowle behind with a Tuft at the end on’t. Ibid. 92 The Alcaydes.. have a Bernoo of Scarlet, or black Cloth, without a Cowle. Ibid. 93 The King’s Blacks are seldom seen to wear Bernoos. 1811 Ann. Reg. 568/1 A cloak, or Bernouse as it is called. 1832 Lander Exped. Niger II. xiv. 277 Dressed in a full bornouse, or Arab cloak. 1841 Marryat Poacher (Rtldg.) 279 Their white bournous.. waving in the wind. 1863 Kinglake Crimea I. 289 The burnous.. is his [the Arab’s] garment by day and by night. 1875 J- Bennet Winter Medit. 1. ix. 263 The inhabitants of Algiers .. wear .. thick woollen bournous with hoods.

2. A kind of cloak or mantle worn by women, resembling the Arabian garment. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 111 The Burnouse cloaks, and the Llama shawls. 1863-Capt. Dang. III. viii. 254 The folds of her White Burnouse. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. I. xi. 219, I want to put on my burnous.

For

forms see the vb. [f. burn v.1] 1. Set on fire, consumed with fire. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xiii. 9 Brent faces [Vulg. facies combustse]. 1535 Coverdale Jet. li. 25 A brente hill. 01547 Surrey JEneid 11. 1015 Reft from the brent Temples of Troy. 1591 Spenser Ruines of Time 19 Th’ auncient Genius of that Citie brent. 1611 Bible Jer. li. 25, I wil.. make thee a burnt mountaine. Mod. Many objects of value were discovered amid the ruins of the burnt houses.

b. fig. Fired with passion; inflamed, excited. a 1564 Becon Humble Supplic. in Prayers, Gfc. (1844) 247 Brent with a fervent and unfeigned zeal. 1859 Tennyson Enid 560 All his face Glow’d .. So burnt he was with passion. 2. burnt out. a. extinct after entire consumption of the

burnishing ('baimfii]), vbl. sb.

[f. prec. -I- -ed2.] Wearing

a burnous.

fuel;

sometimes fig.;

b.

driven out by a conflagration; cf. burn v. 15. i837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. ii. 302 Burnt-out Seigneurs, rally round your Queen! 1837 De Quincey Lake Poets &c. Wks. II. 108 It was a burnt-out volcano. 1887 Manch. Guardian 31 May 5 The bumed-out company of the Opera Comique. 1908 Hardy Dynasts III. vii. ix. 347 This is my burnt-out hour. 1917 T. S. Eliot Prufrock 24 The burntout ends of smoky days. 1919 F. Hurst Humoresque 256 She looked up at him with a tired, a burned-out, an ashamed smile. 1926 E. Bowen Ann Lee's 93 Mrs Pym was a fair, burnt-out young woman of twenty-five. 1969 Listener 3 Apr. 472/1 Joss Ackland as Danton, the not entirely burntout volcano.

c. Of a leper: cured (see quot. 1959), esp. in burnt-out case. Also^ig. (freq. with influence of sense 2 a). 1959 G. Greene Congo Jrnl. io Feb. (1961) 42 Leprosy cures where disease has been arrested and cured only after the loss of fingers or toes are known as burnt-out cases. 1961 -{title) A burnt-out case. 1961 New Statesman 24 Feb. 318/1 Yet had this priest not burned at the stake in 1634, he could be discovered in the Congo as a nobler but still walking ‘burnt-out case’. 1961 Encounter XVI. 70 The burnt-out leper is not too obtrusive. 1961 Times Lit. Suppl. 2 June 340/2 His constitution ‘seemed to have broken down, and no career in life lay open’ to him. A burnt-out case. 1968 R. Harris Nice Girl's Story ii. 18 He was probably a burntout case—perhaps his wife had perished in the gas chambers. His interest in life, except to get through it somehow, might be dead.

3. a. Affected or damaged by fire or excessive heat, scorched. f burnt line: the equator, f burnt zone: the torrid zone. In f burnt planet, \ burnt way, = combust (Astrol.). >393 Gower Conf. II. 375 They destruied king and all And leften but the brente wall. 1552 Huloet, Burned rostemeate on the spyt. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 59 The marchaunt.. passeth to Inde, By the burnte line or Equinoctiall. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World 1. 142 Being under the burnt Zone, it was held uninhabitable. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 442 The ground was everywhere so burned and dry. 1862 Mary E. Rogers Dom. Life Palestine 17 Cattle were browsing on the scanty burnt-up pasture.

b. Of persons: That has suffered injury or pain from fire, or agencies resembling fire; esp. in proverb, the burnt child dreads the fire. c 1400 Rom. Rose 1820 Brent child of fier hath mych drede. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 45 Burnt childe fyre dredth. 1674 Duke of Lauderd. in Lauderd. Papers (1885) III. xxxii. 53 A burn’d Child dreads the fire.

■fc.Med. Adust, burnt choler: ‘choler adust’. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 1. xv. 24 Hoate, cholerique, burnte, arid pernicious humors. 1585 Lloyd Treas. Health Y iv, Against a quartaine of burnt coler in haruest, take ye rote of fennel, parcely, of bochers brome, sperage, cinkfoyle.

BURNTISH

BURR

680

4. That has been treated with fire for a specific purpose: a. Said of earth that has been burnbeated; of clay, bricks, tiles, etc. Also burntiron (see quot. 1881). 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 97 he walles were i-made of brend tile and of glewe in stede of morter. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 687 Harts doe run ouerthwart the burned ground where the dogges can haue no sent. 1834 Brit. Husb. xvii. I. 367 Part of the field was dressed with burned clay. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Burnt iron, in the Bessemer and open-hearth processes, iron which has been exposed to oxidation until all its carbon is gone.

b. Of gold and silver: Molten, refined by fire. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 988 bor3 watz al of brende golde bry3t. C1386 Chaucer Knts. T. 1304 His sadel was of brend gold newe ybete. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxx, A bordur aboute alle of brent gold. 1488 Inv. Jewels ofjas. Ill in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) II. 393 Item twa braid pecis of brynt silver bullioune.

..are great attractions in a burnt-cork artist. 1893 P. H. Emerson {title) Signor Lippo, burnt-cork artiste. 1884 Liverpool Daily Post 2 Jan. 4/7 Their *burnt-corked faces. 1885 Jerome On the Stage 3 We .. burnt-corked our hands and faces. 1898 Daily News 6 May 2/6 For money-making it is necessary to wear masks or to burnt-cork the face. a 1722 Lisle Husb. 150 (E.D.S.) *Burnt-ear, Ustilago in corn. 1835 Penny Cycl. III. 465/2 Diseases to which barley is subject., the smut, the burnt ear, blight. 1848 H. W. Haygarth Bush Life Australia vii. 73 A patch of ‘*bumt feed’ (as the young herbage is called which springs up.. where the old grass has been set on fire). 1705 *n Eond. Gaz. No. 4163/4 A .. Mare .. *burnt-marked on the near Hip with H. 1852 J. Bonwick Notes Gold Digger 9 Some neighbouring bearded digger turns round and condescendingly remarks, that it is only the ‘*burnt stufF. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. v. 94 Burnt stuff, a stratum of iron-hard rock or compacted clay and rock encountered during digging. 8. burnt (colour), a deep shade of yellowish 1896 Daily News 2 July 8/7 Hats of ‘burnt’ straw, this being the technical name of a deep shade of yellowish brown. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 20 Apr. 3/3 Burnt-coloured straw. 1923 Weekly Dispatch 25 Feb. 14 Colours: Navy,.. Nut, Mastic and Burnt.

1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 459 Cathereticks, burnt pumice-stone, burnt alum, burnt vitriol, burnt antimony or crocus metallorum.. Causticks, live lime, burnt-brasse, sublimat mercury. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Lead, Burnt Lead, plumbum ustum, is .. lead melted in a pot with sulphur, and reduced by fire into a brown powder. 1790 Richardson Chem. Brine. Metallic Arts 124 When it [copper] is exposed to a red heat.. it separates in scales, which are called burnt copper. 1800 Med.Jrnl. IV. 412 To medical practitioners in general, burnt sponge is known to be the basis of the Coventry remedy. 1844 Thackeray May Gambols in Wks. (1899) XIII. 441, I have so often wandered before with burnt-sienna plough-boys. 1846 Dickens Piet, from Italy 41 Two burnt-sienna natives. 1946 R. Lehmann Gipsy's Baby 78 The expanses of burnt sienna mud.

1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 360/3 Colors for Artists... Burnt Roman Ochre—Burnt Sienna—Burnt Terre Verte. 1923 Daily Mail 19 Feb. 5 Coloured Shantung... In a full range of new colourings, including.. Rose, Burnt Orange, Almond, [etc.]. Ibid. 19 Mar. 1 Burnt Gold.

by

burning

or

branding;

1652 Advt. in Proc. Parliament No. 163 A Browne bay Mare .. a burned 0 upon each hip.

e. burnt taste, flavour, etc.: a taste, etc., resembling that of something that has been burnt; burnt cream = creme brulee. 1723 J- Nott Cook’s & Confectioner's Diet. C. 209 Burnt Cream. Take Yolks of four or five Eggs, beat them well in a Stew-pan. Set the Cream on the Furnace [etc.]. 1969 Observer 12 Jan. 32/8 Burnt Cream (layers of custard and clotted cream covered with sugar and browned).

5. Of wine, etc.: ‘Made hot’ (J.); see quot. 1876; the precise early sense is doubtful. (Now only dial.) burnt brandy: that from which part of the spirit has been removed by burning. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. 120 Commyng to .. a tavern, called for burnt-wine, sacke, malmesie, hipocras and what not. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 11. i. 222 lie giue you a pottle of burn’d sacke. 1661 Pepys Diary 15 Jan., A cupp of burnt wine at the taverne. 1709 Steele Toiler No. 36 jf 5 I’ll lay Ten to Three, I drink Three Pints of burnt Claret at your Funeral. 1876 F. Robinson Whitby Gloss. Pref. 9 ‘Burnt wine from a silver flagon’ was handed .. being a heated preparation of port wine with spices and sugar. 1880 Barman's Man. 55 Burnt brandy.. one glass of Cognac and half a table-spoonful of white sugar, burnt in a saucer.

6. Affected as with burning. a. Of grain: Affected by smut, ergot, etc.; cf. 7. 1597 Gerard Herbal 1. Ivii. 77 Burnt Rie hath no one good property. 1806 R. Andrews in Young Agric. Essex I. 295, Ears of smut, or what we call burnt wheat.

b. Affected by venereal disease. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 289 A burnt whore.

c. (See quot.) 1909 Daily Chron. 23 Feb. 7/2 The buyer should beware of.. burnt furs. Such furs have been over-dyed, and the hair will soon become rusty and fall out.

7.

Comb., as burnt almond, an almond enclosed in burnt sugar; hence, a fashion shade of brown; f burnt-cat [F. chat brule\, a sort of pear; burnt cork, cork that has been burnt so that it can be used for blackening the face, hands, etc.; freq. attrib., as burnt-cork artist, a Negro minstrel (see Negro 3); burnt-cork v. trans., to blacken with burnt cork; burntcorked a., blackened with burnt cork; burntear, a disease in corn, in which, owing to the growth of a minute fungus Uredo segetum, the ear appears covered with blackened powder; burnt feed Austral, (see quot.); f burnt-marked a., branded; burnt stuff Austral, (see quot.

1945)1850 Family Friend III. 327/1 Put a *burnt almond.. in the centre. 1892 Encycl. Bract. Cookery 14/2 Pound the Burnt Almonds .. in a mortar. 1895 Cassell's Fam. Mag. June 554/1 [A bonnet] of burnt-almond straw. 1913 ‘Ascott R. Hope’ Half & Half Trag. 121 Treating me to twopence worth of ‘burned almonds’. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 80 The Pot calls the Pan *burnt-arse. 1676 Worlidge Cyder (1691) 216 *Burnt-cat, Lady-pear, Ice-pear.. are all very good winter-pears. c 1800 C. Mathews in Mrs. Mathews Mem. C. M. (1838) I. xv. 305 Camel’s hair pencils, hare’s feet, whiting, *burnt corks. 1840 Burnt Cork [see cork sb.’ 1]. 1869 Porcupine 3 July 123/1 The Theatre Royal has within the last week or two been usurped by a company of the ‘burnt cork’ professors. 1873 ‘ Ascott R. Hope’ Night before Holidays (1874) 98 We had one very fine false beard,.. and there was plenty of burned cork to be had. 1880 E. James Amat. Negro Minstrel's Guide 1 o A pair of legs such as Nelse Seymour had

1932 Amer. Speech VII. 330 Burp, sound made when belching. 1946 P. Kesten Radio Alphabet 18 Burp, an interloping noise on transmitting or receiving stations. 1951 J. Masters Nightrunners of Bengal v. 64 He forced a small musical burp and giggled. 1957 Observer 3 Nov. 19/7 Hollywood gives vent to one of its periodic burps of sentiment over an entertainer whose sorrows drove him to the bottle. 1962 V. Nabokov Pale Fire 22 A comfortable burp told me he had a flask of brandy concealed about his warmly coated person.

2. burp gun (see quot. 1946). Army slang. 1945 Finito! Po Valley Campaign 41 The whirr of burp guns. 1946 Amer. Speech XXI. 246 Practically any type of German automatic or semi-automatic small arm was apt to be described as a burp gun, presumably from the resemblance of shots or short bursts of fire to hiccoughs; but I have been told by a combat infantryman that the name is properly applicable only to the Schmeisser machine pistol.

brown; so burnt-coloured adj.

c. Calcined or treated by fire for use as a drug, pigment, etc., as burnt alum, carmine, ochre, sienna, sponge, umber, etc. (see alum sb., carmine, etc.); f burnt-brass, obs. name for copper sulphate; f burnt copper, copper oxide; f burnt lead, lead sulphide.

d. Impressed branded.

burp (b3:p), sb. slang (orig. U.S.). [f. the vb.] 1. A belch. Also transf. and fig.

b. Of a colour or shade of colour: having the appearance of darkening by scorching.

t 'burntish, a. Obs. [f. burnt + -ish.] Having symptoms of burning, somewhat burnt. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 227 Thirst ariseth in Fevers by reason of burntish putrefactions. 1674 R. Godfrey Inf & Ab. Physic 70 Burntish and stinking belchings .. plainly attest it.

f'burntness. Obs. rare~l. In 6 brer.tness. burnt + -ness.] Burnt quality.

[f.

1559 Morwyng Evonym. 23 Destill it., with a soft fire; least the waters stink or savour of brentnes.

burnt 'offering, burnt-'offering. offered to a deity by burning. (As chiefly familiar in Scriptural use, suggests in the first place the animal the Jews.) So also burnt-sacrifice.

A sacrifice the word is it naturally sacrifices of

1382 Wyclif Mark xii. 33 More than alle brend offringis [tf.r. sacrifices] and sacrificis. 1535 Coverdale^o^ i. 5 Job .. offred for every one a brentofferinge. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Sacrifice, When the victim was slain, they flayed him, if it was not a burnt-offering (for then they burnt skin and all). 1852 Grote Greece n. lxxi. IX. 236 Have you ever sacrificed to him with entire burnt-offerings as we used to do together at Athens? 1382 Wyclif Ex. xx. 24 3e shulen offre vpon it joure brent sacrifices. 1588 A. King Canisius' Catech. 21, I offer my self to the this mornyng in ane brounte sacrifice. x6n Bible 2 Kings xvi. 15 Burne. .the Kings burnt sacrifice.

burnwood ('b3:nwud). A species of sumac, Rhus metopium, found in the West Indies and southern Florida. 1874 Lindley & Moore Treas, Bot. Suppl., Burnwood of the West Indian negroes. Rhus Metopium. 1926 Fawcett & Rendle Flora of Jamaica V. 9 R[hus] Metopium... Jamaica Sumach. Burn Wood.

buroo (bs'ru:, bru:). slang (chiefly Sc.). Also brew, broo, b’roo. [Repr. regional (esp. Sc.) pronunc. of bureau (sense 2).] The Labour ‘Bureau* or employment exchange; hence, unemployment benefit, esp. in phr. on the buroo. 1934 D. Allan Hunger March 1. vi. 76 ‘What are you, signor?’ ‘What indeed? A “moocher”? A supporter of the “buroo”?’ 1937 Partridge Diet. Slang 111/2 Buroo or brew, an employment-exchange. Public Works’ coll.: from ca. 1924. 1937 in Sc. Nat. Diet, s.v., Weel, weel, this is the b’roo day, nuvver mind the fushin’. Come on for oor b’roo. 1969 M. Pugh Last Place Left iv. 22 ‘You’ll be on the broo as well.’ She meant that I would soon be unemployed. Nell was.. inclined to use dated Scottish slang. 1969 N. Nicholson in English XVIII. 19 The Market Square is busy as the men file by To sign on at the ‘Brew’. 1978 J. Galway Autobiogr. vii. 78 The ‘buroo’ (a Belfast corruption of ‘Unemployment Bureau’) was all right, because by working and paying for your stamps, you had earned that. 1983 Listener 9 June 18/3,1 can remember as a child 60 years ago hearing the unemployed.. saying they were ‘on the buroo’. This was in Plumstead, London SE 18.

burough, -row, obs. ff. borough. burp (bsip), v. slang (orig. U.S.). [Imitative.] 1. intr. To belch. Hence 'burping vbl. sb. and ppl. a., belching or making a, similar sound. 1932 Amer. Speech VII. 330 Burp, to belch. 1934 Etude Aug. 456/3 Saxophonists also go in for this slapping effect; when done by the larger members of the family, it bears a ludicrous resemblance to the ‘burping’ of a frog. 1939 I. Baird Waste Heritage xii. 150 Charlie settled back on the burping springs. 1953 W. R. Burnett Vanity Row xvii. 131 He belched, ‘It’s an old Arab custom... You no like food —no burp—host insulted.’ 1958 Spectator 6 June 726/3 At the hot springs the mud bubbles and burps.

2. trans. To cause to belch or bring up wind. 1940 in Amer. Speech (1941) XVI. 145/2 Chronic air swallowers should be ‘burped’ three or four times.. during each feeding. 1950 Lancet 4 Feb. 218/1 In the U.S.A. babies are ‘burped’ during and at the end of feeds. 1968 ‘G. Bagby’ Another Day ii. 28 ‘What would you do with a baby?’ I asked. ‘Feed it, diaper it, and burp it,’ she said.

burqa, var. burka1 and 2. burr, bur (b3:(r)), sb.1 Also 7 burgh, 6-7 burre. [Derivation obscure: nor is it at all clear whether the senses under II and III ought not to be treated as separate words. But the co-existence of the form burrow sb.b (q.v.) with burr sense 5, and its explanation as ‘a circle about the moon’, seem to identify this with the burwhe, burrowe of the Promptorium, the phonetic variants being analogous to fur, furrow, while the form burgh, besides burre, as well as the sense of II, appears equally to point back to the same ME. forms. For the source of the ME. see brough.] I. 1. General sense: A circle. CI440 Promp. Parv. 56 Burwhe, sercle [1499 burrowe], orbiculus.

II. A (? protecting) ring, etc. f2. A broad iron ring on a tilting spear just behind the place for the hand. Obs. C1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 327 Squyers and varieties were.. knockynge on hedes and burres on myghtye speres. 1603 Florio Montaigne 11. xxxvii. (1632) 427 Burre, or yron of a launce, etc. 1611 Dekker & Middleton Roar. Girl 11. i, I’ll try one spear.. though it prove too short by the burgh. 1610 Guillim Heraldry iv. xiv. (1660) 338 The Burre. .is a broad ring of Iron behind the.. place made for the hand, which Burre is brought unto the Rest when the Tilter chargeth his Speare or Staffe.

3. A washer placed on the small end of a rivet before the end is swaged down; also (Gunnery) see quot. 1802. 1627 Feltham Resolves n. xxix. Wks. (1677) 218 A brawl .. which with all the burrs of silence should have still stood firmly riveted. 1802 C. James Mil. Diet., Bur [in Gunnery], a round iron ring, which serves to rivet the end of the bolt, so as to form a round head. 1851 Ord. & Regul. Roy. Engineers §11. 51 Leather Pipes, joined by Copper Rivets and Burs, i860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 5 Bolt and burr.

4. (See burr-pump.) III. 5. A circle of light round the moon (or a star); a brough. The original sense seems to have been merely ‘circle, halo*; but in modern use there is usually the notion of a nebulous or nimbous disc of light enfolding the luminary; as if modified by association with bur sb. 1631 Brathwait Whimzies, Xantipp. 104 A burre about the moone is.. a presage of a tempest. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. lii. 463 The stars seem.. surrounded with a sort of burs. 1802 Herschel in Phil. Trans. XCII. 499 Of Stars with Burs, or Stellar Nebulas. 1851 Nichol Archit. Heav. 128 The halo itself gradually sinking into a bur, or an atmosphere around a star.

burr, bur (b3:(r)), sb.2 [Origin unknown.] The sweet-bread of a calf, sheep, etc. 1573 of Limning io To take grease out of parchement or paper: Take shepes burres and burne them to pouder, etc. 1730-6 Bailey s.v., The Bur of a Beef, etc., the sweet bread. 1752 Hist. Pompey the Litt. 125 Sitting down to a breast of veal.. raving at the landlord, because the bur was gone. 1834 Esther Copley Housekpr's. Guide v. 107 A sweet¬ bread (or burr).. boiled.

burr, bur, sb.3 [Etymol. uncertain. Though the sense approaches that of bore sb.1, connexion with that appears to be phonetically impossible. Mr. E. B. Poulton suggests that the general notion is that of ‘a roughness or scar, which looks artificial or as if resulting from accident—the look presented by an ear (beyond any other organ of special sense) in birds, and other animals which have not the external pinna possessed by mammals’. This would connect it with the following word, or even with bur 56.] The external meatus of the ear, the opening leading to the tympanum. (This is clear in quot. 1688, since hawks have nothing but an opening; so practically the cropt-eared dog in quot. 1677; quot. 1573 refers to the secretion of wax in the meatus of the ear, and (as was formerly supposed) in the parotid glands or ‘kernels of the ears’ (though it might be read as identifying the ‘burres’ with the ‘kirnels’). Dr. Johnson’s explanation ‘the lobe or lap of the ear’ was an unfortunate guess, servilely followed by later dictionaries.) I573 Cooper Thesaurus, Parotis .. an impostume behinde the eares comming of a matter distilling from the heade into the burres or kirnels of the eares. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1203/4 A Little White Shock Bitch .. cropt ears .. red above

BURR the burrs of her ears. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 237/1 Names of the parts of a Falcon—Of the Head .. The Burrs, or Ear burs, are the Ears. 1730-6 Bailey, Burr, the round Knob of Horn next a Deer’s Head; also the Burr of the Ear. [Hence in Johnson.] 1857 P- Cartwright Autob. (1858) viii. 46, I struck a sudden blow in the burr of the ear and dropped him to the earth. 1928 P. Green In Valley 121, I whammed him in the burr of the ear and piled him. 1954 C. L. B. Hubbard Compl. Dog Breeders' Man. xxxvi. 318 Burr, the irregular formation inside the ear.

burr, bur

(b3:(r)), sb.4

[app. the same word as

bur sb.; at least having some notion of roughness derived

from

it:

but

usually

spelt

burr,

and

therefore here treated apart.] 1. A rough ridge or edge left on metal or other substance after cutting, punching, etc.; e.g. the roughness produced on a copper-plate by the graver; the rough neck left on a bullet in casting; the ridge produced on paper, etc., by puncture. 1611 Florio, Bocchina.. that stalke or necke of a bullet which in the casting remaines in the necke of the mould, called of our Gunners the bur of the bullet. 1784 E. Darwin in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 5 A bur made by forcing a bodkin through several parallel sheets of paper. 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 214 The scraper.. for rubbing off the burr or barb raised by the graver on the copper plate. 1846 Print. Appar. Amateurs 13 [In type-founding] when the waste piece of metal called the ‘break’ is broken off, the burr that is left is planed away. 1876 Athenxum 25 Nov. 693/3 Burr. . is caused by the tearing up of the copper by the needle or burin. A ragged edge is left which holds the ink and gives a rich velvety effect. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 117/2 A burr left at the hinder end of the thread [of a screw] which ‘ragged’ the wood. 2. Technical senses of obscure origin. [? With notion

of ‘something

removing roughness’.]

rough’,

or

of ‘tool

for

a. short for burr-chisel,

burr-drill (also, a similar instrument used for surgical operations on the bones), burr-saw. see 3. Hence burr-hole, a hole made by such an instrument, b. (See quot.). 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 150 Burr, a triangular hollow chissel, used to clear the corners of mortises. 1833 JHolland Manuj. Metals II. 145 In the making of screws .. workmen .. use what they call a burr, or burring tool.. The burr is a square piece of steel.. having in the centre a hole screwed as accurately as possible with a square thread or worm. 1859 j Taft Pract. Treat. Operative Dentistry iv. 99 The burs and drills may be made of pieces of wire.. and fitted to a socket handle. 1881 C. A. Harris Princ. & Pract. Dentistry (ed. 10) ill. ii. 305 Dr. Forbes has adapted to enamel burrs, chisels and gouges an ingenious handle. 1899 C. Truax Mech. Surgery xviii. 392 Surgical burrs. .may be either olive shaped or in cylindrical form, the former being generally preferred. 1939 Parfitt & Herbert Oper. Dental Surg. (ed. 4) ix. 125 The introduction of diamond burs in recent years has almost revolutionized cavity cutting. 1948 E. H. Botterell in Brit. Surg. Practice II. 379 Bilateral burr holes are made in the mid-temporal region. 3. Comb, burr-chisel, a three-edged chisel used to clear the corners of mortises;

burr-

cutter, burr-nipper, nippers for cutting away the burr from

a

leaden

bullet;

burr-drill,

a

dentist’s drill with a serrated or file-cut knob or head; burr-gauge, a plate perforated with holes of graduated sizes, for determining the sizes of burr-drills; burr-saw, a small circular saw used in turning. [1850 C. A. Harris Dental Surg. (ed. 4) in. iii. 290 The flat and burr-headed drills are very useful for enlarging the opening into the cavity.] 1859 J. Taft Pract. Treat. Operative Dentistry iv. 96 Bur Drills.. should be manufactured of the best steel, and wrought with the greatest care.

burr, bur

(b3:(r)),

sb.b

Also buhr.

[Origin

uncertain: possibly identical with bur sb., being so called from its roughness.] 1. a. Siliceous rock capable of being employed for millstones, b. A whetstone. 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. I. 288 Burrs for Mill-Stones. 1816 W. Smith Strata Ident. 12 Burs, or scythe stones. 1834 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. XXV. 233 Millstones equal to the best French buhrs. 1879 Shropsh. Word-bk., Bur.. a whetstone for scythes. 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate 168 The French burrs .. come over in fragments. 2. A siliceous boss or rock occurring among calcareous, or other softer, formations; a harder part in any freestone. 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. 1. iv. 49 Upright bands of hard sandstone, termed ‘Burrs’, which cut through the strata. 1865 I. Turner Slate Quarries 16 Circular saws .. are .. unable to cut through ‘burrs’.. and other hard places. 3. spec. A term applied by quarrymen in Dorsetshire to a soft sandy limestone, with hard silicified bosses,

above the

Lower Purbeck series. limestone

burratine

681

chiefly

‘Dirt bed’

in

the

Also to a harder sandy

made

up

of

comminuted

shells, in the Upper Purbeck beds. 1829 T. Webster Observ. Purb. & Portland Beds, Trans. Geol. Soc. Ser. ii. II, Below this is another mass of calcareous stone, considerably softer.. it is divided into two by a slaty bed, the upper being called aish, and the lower the soft burr. 1882 Cornh. Mag. 728 Above this we get the soft burr, a lake sediment. 1883 T. Bond Corfe Castle 51 The stone.. locally known by the name of Bur, is perhaps the most durable building stone in England. 4. A partly fused mass of brick; a clinker. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 344 Burrs or Clinkers are such as are so much over-burnt as to vitrify, and run two

or three together. 1864 Daily Tel. 2 June, The advisability of sinking brick burrs in different parts of the river. 1876 Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §1824 Burrs and clinkers are such bricks as have been violently burnt, or masses of several bricks run together in the clamp or kiln.

5. attrib.: (U.S.).

see burr-stone,

burr millstone

1771 Washington Writings (1931) III. 63 A pair of French burr millstones. 1829 S. Cumings Western Pilot 23 This. . is famous for its quarries of stone; from which are manufactured burr mill stones. 1851 C. Cist Cincinnati 182 James Bradford & Co... manufacture yearly seventy-five pairs burr millstones. 1883 Specif. N.E. Railw. (Alnwick Cornh. Branch) 58 Price of Dry or Burr Walling.

burr (b3:(r), bArr), sb.6 Also burrh. [app. imitative of the sound; though probably associated in idea with the roughness of a bur; cf. bur sb., esp. sense 4, bur in the throat.] 1. A rough sounding of the letter r; spec, the rough uvular trill (= French r grasseye) characteristic of the county of Northumberland, and found elsewhere as an individual peculiarity. (Writers ignorant of phonology often confuse the Northumberland burr with the entirely different Scotch r, which is a lingual trill: see quots. 1835, 1873.) 1760 Foote Minor (1781) Introd. 9 An Aunt just come from the North, with the true NewCastle bur in her throat. 1805 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 57 From [the Tweed], southward as far as Yorkshire, universally all persons annex a guttural sound to the letter r; a practice which in some places receives the appellation of the Berwick burrh. 1835 W. Irving Crayon Misc. (1849) 240 He spoke with a Scottish accent, and with somewhat of the Northumbrian ‘burr’. 1873 J. A. H. Murray Dial. S. Scotl. 86 The northern limits of the burr are very sharply defined, there being no transitional sound between it and the Scotch r. Along the line of the Cheviots, the Scotch r has driven the burr a few miles back, perhaps because many of the farmers and shepherds are of Scotch origin. 1876 Green Short Hist. i. §3 (1882) 25 The rough Northumbrian burr.

b. Hence, loosely, A rough or dialectal pronunciation, a peculiarity of utterance. 1849 C. Bronte Shirley iv. 39 ‘A Yorkshire burr.. was .. much better than a cockney’s lisp.’ Ibid. III. ii. 41 Your accent.. has no rugged burr. 1867 A. J. Ellis E.E. Pronunc. 1. i. 19 Each district has its burr or brogue. 1874 Farrar Christ II. lix. 348 Betrayed by his Galilaean burr.

2. [= birr sb. 3.] Whirr, vibratory or rushing noise. 1818 Keats Endym. 11. 138 Holding his forehead, to keep off the burr Of smothering fancies. 1825 Coleridge Lett. xl. in Lett. Convers., &c. II. 177 Put the whole working hive of my thoughts in a whirl and a bur. 1856 Miss Muloch J. Halifax i. 2 The open house-doors.. through which came the drowsy burr of many a stocking-loom, i860 All Y. Round No. 57. 159 The burr of working wheels and cranks.

burr, bur (b3i(r)), sb.7 [a. F. bourre ‘padding’, also ‘refuse of raw silk’. Cf. burl sb.1] 1. A sort of pad for a saddle. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 111. 345/1 The French Pad Saddle.. the Burs of it come wholly round the seat. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. II. 6 a/2 Pad Saddle, of which there are Two sorts, some being made with Burrs before the Seat, others with Bolsters under the Thighs.

2. The refuse of raw silk. 1798 W. Hutton Autobiog. 117 To take out the burs and uneven parts [of a thread of silk]. 1812 Smyth Pract. Customs 185 Waste silk is what surrounds the cocoon .. This burr is proper to stuff quilts.

|| burr, bur, sb.8 [Hind, bar:—Skr. vata.] The Banyan-tree (Ficus indica); also attrib. 1813 J. Forbes Orient. Mem. III. 14 A sacred Burr, or pipal tree. 1849 Southey Comm.-PI. Bk. Ser. 11. 407 A remarkable banian or burr tree. 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 141 The bur, the largest of trees.

fburr, v.1 Obs. rare—4. [f. burr sft.1] intr. To spread out like a burr round the moon. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. iii. vi. 71 The Rayes of things, burring out from all Bodies that act at a distance.

burr (b3:(r)), v.2 [f. burr sb.1 3.] fashion into a burr or rivet-head.

trans.

To

1880 Times 27 Dec. 9/4 A tool having a screw and triple clip, which grasps the gas check and burrs it over a projection at the base of the shell.

burr, v.3 [f. burr sb.*] 1. intr. To pronounce a strong uvular r (instead of a trilled r), as is done in Northumberland. Also, loosely, to speak with a rough articulation; to speak inarticulately or indistinctly, to utter the syllable burr or something like it. 1798 Wordsw. Idiot Boy xxii, Burr, burr—now Johnny’s lips they burr, As loud as any mill, or near it. 1816 Monthly Mag. XLI. 527 There let them burr and oy. 1866 Carlyle Remin. (1881) II. 126 He.. burred with his r.

2. trans. To pronounce (r) with a ‘burr’ (or, loosely, with a trill). 1868 H. Kingsley Mathilde II. 268 There were plenty of r’s in it, and he burred them. Mod. You cannot speak French like a Parisian, until you have learnt to burr your r’s.

3. intr. To make a whirring noise. 1838 Audubon Ornith. Biogr. IV. 555 We.. saw the males [sc. humming birds] in numbers, darting, burring, and squeaking. 1886 [see burring ppl. a.]. 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1968) xviii. 311 She hated moths. Let it stay

there burring and fluttering. 1959 G. Usher Death in Bag xvi. 167 The telephone clacked and burred at length.

burr (b3:(r)), v.4 [f. burr sb.4] a. intr. To use a burr. b. trans. To excavate (a tooth) with a burr. Hence 'burring vbl. sb. used attrib., as burringengine, a dentist’s machine for driving a burrdrill, etc.; burring tool (see burr sb.4 2 b). 1875 Dental Cosmos XVII. 510 With the burring-engine I ground off enough of the cusp.

fburracan. Obs. [a. F. bouracan ‘gros camelot’ (Littre).] A coarse kind of cloth. 1588 Lane. Wills (1861) III. 135 The same hanginges of redd and yelowe burracan.

burracho, var. borachio, Obs., leather bottle. burrage, obs. form of borage. burral, burrel ('bArsl). Sc. See quot. 1796 Statist. Acc. Scotl. XVII. 404 That partial kind [of cultivation] called balk and burral. 1811 Agr. Surv. Aberd. 235 (Jam.) The inferior land, besides the outfields.. was called.. burrel ley, where there was only a narrow ridge ploughed, and a large stripe or baulk of barren land between every ridge.

burramundi, -munda, see barramundi. burranet. Obs. exc. dial. [app. repr. an OE. *beorh-ened (= Du. berg-eend bergander), f. beorh burrow sb 3 + ened duck; cf. burrowduck.] The Sheldrake. 1602 Carew Cornwall 35 a, Widgeon, Burranets, Shags, Duck and Mallard. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. Dorset 39 Geese, Galls, Burranets, Woodcocks. 1882 Jago Cornish Gloss. 125 Burranet, the Shell-drake.

burras, obs. form of borax. burra sahib ('bArs'scmb).

India. Also with capital initials. [Hind, bard great, fahib master (see sahib).] A title of respect used by Indians in referring to the head of a family, the chief officer in a station, the head of a department, etc. Also transf. So burra beebee or mem(-sahib), a similar title for a lady. 1807 G. Elliott Let. 20 Sept, in Lord Minto in India (1880) ii. 29 The Burro Bebee, or lady of the highest rank. ci8io W. Hickey Memoirs {1918) II. x. 136 The GovernorGeneral, Mr. Wheler, General Stibbert, Mr. Barwell, and in fact all the Burra Sahibs (great men) of Calcutta. 1848 J. H. Stocqueler Oriental Interpreter 44 Burra-beebee, or burramem, a great lady; the appellation bestowed upon the female head of a house, or the wife of the principal personage at a station or presidency of India. 1863 Trevelyan Dawk Bungalow 1, Chota Sahib one rupee give. Burra Sahib two rupee. 1885 Lady Dufferin Viceregal Life India (1889) I. 57 The great lords and Ladies (Burra Sahib and Burra Mem Sahib). 1922 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 283/2, I made my way to the burra Police Sahib. 1922 Outward Bound Nov. 137/2 Part of the headdress or person of a burra-mem. 1928 Chamber's Jrnl. Feb. 180/2 The Hindu .. announced it to be the habitation of a very burra (high in station) sahib. 1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days xxv. 371 The position for which Nature had designed her from the first, that of a burra memsahib. 1936 R. W. Chapman Names, Designations & Appellations 240 The societies of industry, commerce .. are commonly divisible into three grades... Members of A say 'Smith' to each other (.. but a Burra Sahib may be 'Sir'). 1963 M. Malim Pagoda Tree xxii. 145 The gathering throng of eminently decorous knights, ladies, burra sahibs and burra mems gathering on the lamplit lawn below.

burras-pipe. ? Obs.

[f. burras, obs. form of borax (see quot. 1688).] See quots. 1676 J. Cooke Marrow of Surg. (ed. 4) 2 Those [Instruments] needful to be carried about are.. Incisionknife, Burras-Pipe and Stitching-Quill both in one. 1678 Phillips, Burras-pipe, a certain Instrument derived originally from the Goldsmiths, and now also used in Chyrurgery, to keep corroding Powders in, as Vitriol, burnt Allum, Praecipitate, etc. [1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 259/2 Terms of Art used by the Gold-smiths. Charging, is to lay on the place to be soldered both Soder and Burras. Ibid. iii. 308/2 Founders Tools. The Borax Box; of some termed a Borace Box; but more vulgarly a Burras Box, is a Brass or Copper Box with a Pipe in the side, in which bruised Borax is put, to scratch it by little and little out of the Knobbed Pipe, on the place intended to be Soddered.] 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Burras-pipe, an instrument used by goldsmiths, consisting of a copper box, with a spout, having teeth like a saw; sometimes also used by surgeons for the application of certain solid medicines by inspersion. 1721-1800 in Bailey as in Phillips; hence in Johnson and mod. Diets.

burrass.

[a. F. bourras (same sense).] Coarse hempen cloth. Cf. barras1, and barras sb.2 in Eng. Dial. Diet. 1770 C. Carroll Let. 24 Oct. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1918) XIII. 66 Pray write for 6 strong matrasses .. strongly Quilted & Covered with Burras or a Coarse strong Canvass. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 241 The dregs are.. filtered through brown burrass bags.

fburratine. Obs. rare~[ad. ‘quel fantoccio di cenci o di legno, quali il burattinajo rappresenta farse’ (Tommaseo and Bellini).] sillie gull in a Comedie’ (Florio).

It. burattino con molti de’ commedie e A puppet; ‘a

1617 B. Jonson Vis. of Delight 19 A she monster delivered of sixe Burratines, that dance with sixe Pantalones.

BURRAWANG

BURROW

682

burrawang

('bArawEerj). Austral. Also buddawong, burrawong, burrowan, burwan. [f. the name of Mt. Budawang, New South Wales.] An Australian palm-like tree, Macrozamia spiralis; the nut produced by this tree.

Syne with his Burrio [she] band ane new mariage. 1634-46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 322 Should ye be burrioes to your brethren? [1830 Scott Demonol. 324 The Devil.. had made her associates .. to be their own burrioes.] fig. a 1600 Montgomerie Sonti. lix, Lovers.. Thoght they persaivd that Burrio Death to bost within [hir] eyis.

1826 J. Atkinson Agric. & Grazing N.S.W. 19 The burwan is a plant with leaves very much like the cocoa nut. 1851 J. Hknderson Excurs. N.S. Wales II. 238 The Burrowan, which grows in a sandy soil. 1877 E. A. Heron Balance Pain 108 A Buddawong seed-nut fell to earth. 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Plants Australia 41 ‘Burrawang Nut’, so called because they used to be, and are to some extent now, very common about Burrawang, N.S.W. 1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Oct. 21/1 The burrawang is another slow grower. 1956 Landfall X. 122 Straight-trunked burrawong trees.

fburriour, burior. Sc. Obs. Also 7 burrier. [An adaptation of prec., after agent nouns in -our, -or.] = prec.

burreau,

var. of burrio, Sc.

burred (b3:d), a.

Obs., hangman.

[f. bur sb. + -ed2.] Rough and

prickly like a burr. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 8 Sept. 2/3 He falls furiously on the ball .. until it is hopelessly burred and gashed. 1924 Glasgow Herald 4 Apr. 8 The burred fruits are accounted for by their clinging to the feathers of birds. II

'burred,

another form of barrad. 1823 New Monthly Mag. VII. 232 His long hair was., surmounted by a burred or conical woollen cap.

fbu'rree. Obs.

[a. F. beurre (lit. ‘buttered’) ‘espece de poire fondante’ (Littre).] See quot.

1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 52 [Page headed La Burree] The Burree .. call’d the Butter Pear, because of its smooth, delicious, melting soft pulp.

Hburrel. [ad. Hindi bharal (Col. Yule).] The blue wild sheep of the Himalaya. i860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 54 The burrell, or wild sheep, of the Himalaya Peaks.. The burrell is considered as the first of Himalayan game animals.

burrel,

app. misprint for burree. 1706 in Phillips (with explanation nearly as in Burree above). 1721-1800 in Bailey; hence in Johnson, etc.

burrel-fly.

[Derivation unknown: bourreler to torment.] The gadfly.

cf.

F.

1658 [see whame sb.]. 1678 Phillips (App.), Burrel-fly, the same as Gad-fly. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. (L.) The whame, or burrel-fly, is vexatious to horses in summer. 1721 Bailey, Burrel-fly, an Insect very troublesome to working Cattle. Hence in Johnson and mod. Diets. 1829 [see whame s6.]. 1951 Colyer & Hammond Flies Brit. Isles vi. 102 Various names have been bestowed upon Tabanidae, including burrel-flies, gad flies, .horse flies [etc.].

t burrell. Obs. rare. (Cf. burr sb.1 sense 2.) 1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. in Arb. Garner III. 118 They brake and bare away the nether end of the staff [of a standard] to the burrell.

burrell, var. of

borrel, burel. Obs.

burrell, burrhal, burrhel,

quot. 1706 Phillips, Burrel-shot = Case-shot. 1730-6 Bailey, Burrel Shot (with Gunners) small Bullets, Nails, Stones, Pieces of old Iron, etc. put into Cases, to be discharged out of the Ordnance or murdering Pieces; Case shot. Hence in Johnson and mod. Diets.

t burret. Obs. rare. [a. F. bouret, buret, used to render L. murex, also conchylium, in Du Pinet’s transl. of Pliny 1566, whence Holland may have obtained the word.] Used to render L. murex, a kind of shell-fish yielding a dye. 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xxxvi. 258 The Murex or Burret. 1745 tr. Columella's Husb. VIII. xvi. 373 Conchyls, burrets, oysters, and others of the purple kind [Lat. conchyliis, muricibus, et ostreis]. Ibid. 374 footnote. The murex, which some call a burret. variant of burr-stone.

burridge, burrie, burring

II burrito (ba'riitau). Chiefly U.S. [Amer. Sp., dim. of burro burro, ass.] A Mexican dish consisting of a maize-flour tortilla rolled round a savoury filling (of beef, chicken, refried beans, etc.). 1934 E. Fergusson Mexican Cookbk. 33 Burritos (Little Burros). Mix tortillas, .but mold them thicker than usual. Make a depression in the middle of each and fill with chicharrones. 1962 Mulvey & Alvarez Good Food from Mexico (rev. ed.) iii. 81 Burritos in the northern part of Mexico and in the southwestern part of the United States are quite different. Now a popular dish in many restaurants and taco stands in California and Texas are northern burritos, which are made by folding a flour tortilla around a mound of re-fried beans, seasoned to taste with chili. 1971 Sunset Jan. 85/1 A burrito party is an excellent way to entertain a few guests. 1978 J. Wambaugh Black Marble iv. 35, I got a victim who’ll I.D. anybody I show him. Owns the burrito stand over on Western. 1984 Miami Herald 30 Mar. 14A/3 She ate three tacos and a burrito at lunch.

|| burro ('buro). [Sp.] A donkey. U. S. (common in Western states).

Now esp.

1800 Southey in Life (1850) II. 119 The easy pace and sure step of the John burros. 1800-Lett. (1856) I. 129 By the aid of a burro and the good baiting-places in the way. [Frequent in Southey.] 1845 T. J. Green Jrnl. Texian Exped. xii. 166 The sick were permitted to ride upon ‘burros’ (jack-asses). 1882 Rep. Prec. Met. (U.S. Bureau of Mint) 569 With these attached a burro or horse runs the machine. 1884 Harper's Mag. Oct. 750/2 Even pottery and singing-birds, are .. brought burro-back, packed in .. crates. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost xviii. 197 One of the burros is laden with wooden casks.

burrock CbArak). [Apparently in its origin a mere dictionary word, though perh. it may have found its way into actual use; ad. mod. or med.L. burrochium, ad. OF. bourroiche, explained by Littre and Godef. as an apparatus made of wickerwork for catching fish.] 1701 Cowell's Interpreter (ed. Kennet), Burrochium, a Burrock or small Wear, where Wheels [i.e. weels] are lay’d in a River, for the taking of Fish. 1706 in Phillips; hence in Bailey, Johnson, and mod. Diets.

burrough, ordinary f. borough in i6-i8th c.

varr. bharal.

burrel-shot. See

burrh-stone,

£•1550 Clariodus (Jam.) Sum burriouris ye sail gar come yow to. a 1600 Burell Pilgr. in Watson Coll. Poems (1706) 11. 40 (Jam.) Thir catiff miscreants I mene, As buriors has euer bene. 1676 W. Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. xii. (1848) 456 To be his executioners and burners against ministers.

obs. ff. borage, burry.

('b3:rii)), vbl. sb.1

[f. bur ti.1 + -ing1.] The removing of burs and other foreign bodies from wool or cotton in the process of manufacture. Hence burring-machine, -saw, -wheel, burring rollers pi., an apparatus for removing the burrs from wool in preparing it for carding. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 340/1 To clean the wool of these troublesome seeds, the burring machine was brought into requisition. 1884 W. S. B. McLaren Spinning v. 83 The burrs.. lie along the fibres of wool... To clear them off, burring rollers are fixed on the top of two of the lickers-in. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 658 The swift as it travels round is met by a series of three burring rollers rotating in an opposite direction.

burring

('b3:rnj), ppl. a. [f. burr v3 + -ing2.] a. That burrs in speech; b. whirring.

1883 Mag. Art Sept. 470/2 What a funny burring patois. 1886 E. Hodder Life Earl Shaftesbury I. iii. 139 Amidst the burring din of machinery.

t burrio, burio. Sc. Obs. Also 7 burreo; see also bourreau. [a. F. bourreau, earlier boreau, borel.]

A hangman, an executioner. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) 1. 201 He was burio to himself mair schamefully than we micht devise. 1567 Declar. Lordis Quarr. in Dalyell Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 274

f burrough-gate. Obs. [ad. OE. burh-geat gate of a castle.] a 1000 Thorpe Laws I. 190 Gif ceorl haefde fif hida ajenes landes, cirican and cycenan, bellhus, & burhjeat-setl 8c sunder note on cynjes healle. 1680 Jani Anglorum Fac. Nova 32 What in Ancient time made a Churl.. become a Theyn or Noble .. was five hides of his own Land, a Church and a Kitchin, a Bell-house and a Burrough-gate.

burrow (’bArou), s2>.1 Forms: 4 borw3, 4-6 borow, 6 boroughe, 6-7 borough, burrowe, bury, 7 burrough(e, 7- burrow, (9 ? dial, bury, burry). See also berry sb.3 [Of somewhat obscure origin. The forms are identical with those of borough, of which the word is commonly regarded as a variant; but the sense is not known to have belonged to OE. burh, ON. borg, or to the parallel form in any Teut. lang. Possibly it may be a special use of borough i, stronghold; or else a derivative (unrecorded in OE. and ON.) of *burg- ablaut-stem of OTeut. *bergan to shelter, protect; cf. bury v., buriels. The forms bury, BERRY sb.3 may perhaps be connected with bergh sb. protection, shelter.] 1. A hole or excavation made in the ground for a dwelling-place by rabbits, foxes and the like. C1360 Will. Palerne 9 By-side \>e borw3 J>ere barn was inne. 1382 Wyclif Matt. viii. 20 Foxis han dichis, or borowis, and briddis of the eir han nestis. 1538 Leland I tin. V. 59 There is nothing now but a Fox borow. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, xi, Rabettes, in or vpon any bury. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 504 The wood Torteise .. maketh her borough in the woods. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 173 Leaving places on the sides for the Coneys to draw and make their Stops or Buries. 1759 Johnson Rasselas 35 The conies which the rain had driven from their burrows. 1832 Ht. Martineau Ella of Gar. iii. 37 To hunt the puffins out of their burrows in the rock. 1849 Murchison Siluna iii. 40 The burrows.. made by Crustaceans. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S C. 38 In heavy rain.. they [rabbits] generally remain within their buries.

fb. A burrowing; any small tubular excavation, or underground passage. Obs.

1650 Weldon Crt. Jas. I (1651) 44 This fellow knew his Burrough well enough. 1790 Boswell Johnson (1816) III. 409 The chief advantage of London is, that a man is always so near his burrow. 1835 Sir J. Ross N.-W. Pass. xxix. 408 A fresh breeze made our burrow colder than was agreeable. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 130 Within a few miles of Dublin, the traveller.. saw . . the miserable burrows out of which squalid .. barbarians stared wildly.

3. Comb., as f burrow-headed a., ? given to searching things out, inquisitive, curious (obs.). 1650 B. Discolliminium 17 Over-brain’d Burrow-headed Men, restlesse in studying new things.

'burrow, sb.2 dial, or techn. Forms: 5 boroughe, burgh, 7 borough, 7- burrow. See also barrow sb.1 [The form taken in some parts of Engl., esp. Cornwall, by the OE. beorg, ME. berj, berw, borj, borw, burgh hill, of which the more general representative is barrow sb.1, and a by-form BERRY sb.2, q.v.] A heap or mound; in earlier use a hillock; now, esp. a heap of refuse made in mining or beat¬ burning. See beat-borough under beat sb.3 885-1393 [see barrow si.1]. 1480 Robt. Devyll 20 Farre from boroughe or hyll. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 314/1 This holy man sawe upon the burgh on the ground the deuyls makyng joye. 1602 Carew Cornwall 19 b, Before ploughing time, they scatter abroad those Beat-boroughs.. upon the ground. Ibid. (1723) 148a, One Gidly.. digged downe a little hillocke, or Borough. 1663 Charleton Chor. Gigant. 39 Those Tumuli, or (as we call them) Burrows. 1696 C. Merret in Phil. Trans. XIX. 351 Hills.. called Burrows., supposed to be Sepulchral Monuments. 1784 Twamley Dairying 125 Prepare a burrow of soil.. from old Turf. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts I. 550 Burrow, a miner’s term for a heap of rubbish. 1880 East Cornw. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Burrow, a mound or heap; a sepulchral tumulus. Beat-burrow, a heap of burnt turves.

'burrow, sb.3 dial. [:—OE. beorg, beorh fem. (only in compounds), gebeorh neut. ME. bergh, shelter, f. beorgan to shelter, bergh.] Shelter. 1577 Harrison England i. n. xxiv. 358 Enclosed burrowes where their legions accustomed .. to winter. Ibid. 360 The boroughs or buries were certeine plots of ground, whereon the Roman souldiers did use to lie, when they kept in the open field. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xvm. vi. 114 Flat levell and plaine fields not able to affoord us .. any borough to shelter us [latibula praebere sufficiens]. 1867 Leisure Hour 352 Where there has been convenient shelter or burrow, as it is called in Oxfordshire, from the wind.

t'burrow, sb* Obs. Another form of borough, burgh. Used also in plural for the Burgesses, or representatives of the Burghs or ‘Commonalty’ in the Scottish parliament. Cf. burgess. 1634-46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 135 Many commissioners being assembled, they were parted in three, barrons, burrowes, ministers. 1642 Declar. Lords & Comm, to Gen. Ass. Ch. Scot., Lond. 10 The Nobility, Gentry, Burrowes, Ministers and Commons. 1650 Row (son) Hist. Kirk (1842) 486 The gentrie by themselves, the burrows by themselves.

t'burrow, sb.3 Obs. Another form of burr sb.1, brough; a circle of light about the moon. 1499 Promp. Parv., Burrowe [1440 Burwhe, sercle], orbiculus. 1656 Dugard Gate Lang. Uni. vi. (1659) §64 A circle (Burrow) about the moon foresheweth wet.. weather.

burrow ('bArou), t;.1 [f. burrow si.1] 1. intr. Of animals: To make a burrow or small excavation, esp. as a hiding- or dwelling-place. 1771 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXII. 10 They., burrow under ground. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 218 Their dens which they [alligators] form by burrowing far under ground. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 307 The larvae burrow in the wood. 1831 Southey Lit. Bk. in Green 1st G. Wks. X. 380 Worms.. Burrowing safely in thy side.

b. fig. To lodge as in a burrow, hide oneself. 1614 T. Adams Dwells Banq. 47 These Monsters are in the Wildernesse! No they borough in Sion. 1640 Bastwick Lord Bps. vi. F ij, These Lordly Prelates .. will not suffer any¬ one .. to burrow within their Diocese, a 1848 Marry at R. Reefer vii, We were forced to burrow in mean lodgings. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 95 Some dim cave where he [an anchorite] had burrowed With bats and owls.

c. fig. To bore, penetrate, or make one’s way under the surface; also to burrow one’s way. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Observ. 169, I have known many diseases which burrow. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xxiv. 340 To burrow for heresy among the obscurities of thought. 1836-9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II. 637/1 The ulcer.. as it burrows deeply .. may perforate the muscular wall. 1851 Gladstone Glean. VI. xliii. 29 Each local body has to find, I should say rather to burrow its own way. 1859 Hawthorne Fr. It. Jrnls. II. 260 We were burrowing through its bewildering passages.

2. a. refl. with passive pple.: To hide away in, or as in, a burrow. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. li. 233 These lie burrowed, safe from skath. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. 1. 221 An infant. Left by neglect, and burrowed in that bed. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. v. 282 A blustering Effervescence, of brawlers and spouters, which, at the flash of chivalrous broadswords .. will burrow itself in dens.

b. trans. With into. To sink or ‘bury’ (one’s head, etc.) in. Cf. bury v. 4 a.

1615 Crooke Body of Man 607 The burroughes [of the internal ear] in their inward superficies are inuested with a very soft and fine membrane. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 82 Fiery Mines or Burroughs.

I9I5 J- Buchan 39 Steps iii. 61 He swung his heels up on the seat, and burrowed a frowsy head into the cushions. 1982 T. Keneally Schindler's Ark ii. 53 The other Jews in the office bowed their heads and burrowed their eyes into worksheets.

2. transf. and fig. A secluded or small hole-like dwelling-place, or place of retreat; a ‘hole’.

3. trans. excavate.

To construct

by

burrowing,

to

BURROW Q■ Rev. XLIV. 357 Most of their habitations were wretched cabins .. burrowed in the sides of the mountains.

f'burrow, v,2 Obs. rare"', [f. burrow sb.3, or var. of bergh v.] trans. To protect, to shelter. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees 1. 116 Hills, houses or such like, to burrow or shelter it from the North .. winds.

burrow-duck. [f. burrow sb.1 (or ? possibly sb.2, in sense ‘sand-hill’; cf. burranet) + duck. The bird makes its nest in rabbit-burrows or in sand-hills on the sea-shore.] The Sheldrake or Bergander, Anas tadorna. 1678 Ray Willughby’s Ornith. 363 They are called by some, Burrow-Ducks, because they build in Coneyburroughs. 1709 Derham in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 466 The Sheldrake, or Burrough-Duck. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 371/1 Sheldrake.. called in different parts of Britain Bargander, St. George’s Duck, Burrow Duck, and Burrough Duck, etc.

burrower ('bAr3U3(r». [f. burrow v.' + -er1.] An animal or person that burrows, (lit. and fig.) 1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856) 241 The boring shell¬ fish have been distinguished from the mere burrowers. 1862 Lond. Rev. 16 Aug. 142 The shrewdest burrower after facts. 1874 Lubbock Orig. & Met. Ins. ii. 29 The larvae of Sirex being wood-burrowers. 1883 G. Allen in Knowledge 22 June 367/2 [Shrews and moles] are.. most of them burrowers.

burrowing ('bAraoit)), vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ING1.] The action of burrow t;.1 Also attrib. 1771 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXII. 4 Its property of burrowing. 1836-9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II. 161/2 With reference to its burrowing habits.

'burrowing, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That burrows, burrowing owl, an American species of owl (Noctua cunicularia) dwelling in burrows made by itself, or by other animals. 1757 Dyer Fleece I. 36 Where the burrowing rabbit turns the dust. 1808 Home in Phil. Trans. XCVI11. 307 The mole, or other burrowing animals. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 121/2 The well-known burrowing little owl. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 40 Crambe maritima .. Rootstock . . burrowing.

t'burrow-mail. Sc. Obs. [f. burrow4 + mail tribute.] ‘The annual duty payable to the sovereign by a burgh for the enjoyment of certain rights’ (Jamieson). 1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1597) §8 All the greate and smal customes, and burrow-mailles of the Realme, abide and remaine with the King till his living. C1550 Sir J. Balfour Practicks (1754) 46 He sail faithfullie pay to the King his burrow-maill. 1617 Sc. Acts Jas. VI. (1816) 579 (Jam.) His Majesties burgh off Abirdene.. doted with ampill priuiledges and immunityes for the yeirlie payment of the soume of tua hundereth threttene pundis sex schillingis aucht pennyes of borrow maill.

burrows-town ('bArsstaun). Only Sc. exc. in Ormin. Forms: 3 (Orm.) burr3hess tun, 4 burwis toun, 5-8 borrows-town, 6 burous-toun, borous-, borroustoun, burrowistown, 9 burrows-town (cf. proper name Borrowston-ness or Bo'ness). = borough-town. Also attrib. c 1200 Ormin 6538 J^att illke burr3hess tun fatt Crist wass borenn inne. C1325 Metr. Horn. 107 Burwis tounes war tharinne. c 1450 Henryson Twa Mice, The elder dwelt in borrows town. 1548 Compl. Scot. 87 3our feildis, villagis and buroustounis. a 1649 Sc. Acts Charles I (1814) VI. 142 (Jam.) Borrowstoun kirks being alwayes excepted. 1724 Ramsay Tea-T. Misc. (1733) I. 92 The brawest beau in borrows-town. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxvi, ‘Ou ay, hinny— thae’s your landward and burrows-town notions’.

'burr-pump, 'bur-pump. Naut. [f. bur, or burr si.1 + pump.] A form of bilge-pump with the piston so constructed as not to require a valve: see quot. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 8 A Bur Pump. The Dutch men vse a Burre pumpe.. wherein is onely a long staffe with a Burre at the end, like a Gunners spunge, to pumpe vp the Billage water that.. cannot come to the well. 1688 R. Holme Armoury hi. 297/2 The Bur-Pump, or Bildge-Pump.. The maner of these are to have a staffe 6, 7 or 8 foot long with a Bur of wood, where unto the Leather is nailed, this serveth in stead of a Box. And so two men standing over the Pump do thrust down this staffe, to the middle whereof is fastned a rope 6, 8, or 10 to hale by, and so they pull it up and down. 1678-1706 in Phillips. 1721-90 in Bailey. 1755 Johnson, Burr Pump. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Burr-pump, a name for the bilge-pump. 1874 Knight Diet. Mech. I. 412 Burr-pump,. .in which a cup-shaped cone of leather is nailed by a disk (burr) on the end of a pump-rod, the cone collapsing as it is depressed, and expanding by the weight of the column of water as it is raised.

burr-stone ('b3:st3un). Also buhr-, burrh-, bur-, [f. burr sb.b + stone.] A siliceous rock of coarse cellular texture, found chiefly in France and N. America, and used for millstones; a piece of this rock. 1690 Lond. Gaz. No. 2538/4 Her Loading, consisting of about 750 Burr Stones. 1708 Ibid. 4501/4 A Pink .. with her Cargo, consisting in Burstone, Lime, and Glasses for Windows. 1821 Edin. Philos. Jrnl. IV. 246 Particular account of the recently discovered Buhrstone. 1840 Humble Diet. Geol. & Min. (1843) 35 The substance of burrh-stone, or mill-stone, when unmixed is pure silex. 1850 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 9 This burr-stone.. constitutes one of the members of the Eocene group.

683

BURSE

burru ('buru). Jamaica. Also buro. [Perh. ad. Twi buru filthiness, sluttishness or Yoruba buru wicked.] A kind of vigorous, popular, and sometimes indecent, dance; the music, esp. drumming, used to accompany this. 1929 C. McKay Banjo ii. ix. 105 They played the ‘beguin,’ which was just a Martinique variant of the ‘jellyroll’ or the Jamaican ‘burru’ or the Senegalese ‘bombe.’ 1940, etc. in Cassidy & Le Page Diet. Jamaican Eng. (1980). 1983 Davis & Simon Reggae Internat. ii. 26 (caption) Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, legatees of the ancient burru drumming tradition.

burry ('b3:ri), a.1 [f. bur sb. + -y1.] 1. a. Full of burs (see bur sb.). b. Of the nature of a bur; rough, prickly. 1468 Medulla Gram, in Cath. Angl. 48 Lappetum, a burry place. 1597 Gerard Herbal 1. xxx. §2. 41 They bring foorth their burrie bullets.. in August. 1676 T. Glover in Phil. Trans. II. 629 Another [nut].. like a Chesnut, with a Burry husk. 1737 Miller Gard. Diet. (1768) I. 4 Seeds armed with three burry prickles. 1865 Times 13 Feb., Wool., gray, 2\d. to 5d., burry and refuse, \d. to 6d.

f2. Shaggy, rough.

Obs.

C1450 Henryson in Bannatyne Poems 109 (Jam.) That he [the sheep].. heir quhat burry Dog wald say him till.

burry ('b3:n), a.2 [f. burr sb.6 + Characterized by a burr or uvular trill.

-y1.]

1866 Chamb. Jrnl. 793 Their language was.. so extra burry as to be nearly unintelligible.

1862 Sat. Rev. XIV. 255/2 Careful in all bursarial and presidential matters. 1882 Oxford under Purit. in Q. Rev. Oct. 492 The Fellow being engaged in tutorial or bursarial work. 1886 Athenaeum 17 July 80/1 A central bursarial power.

bursarship ('bsissjip). [f. bursar + -ship.] a. The office of a bursar, b. = bursary 3. , driver, load, queue (queue sb. 3), ride, route, station, terminal, ticket, time-table, top-, bus¬ riding adj.; bus-bar, -conductor Electr., a system of conductors in a generating station on which all the power of all the generators is collected for distribution or, in a receiving station, on which the power from the generating station is received for distribution; also attrib. (cf. omnibus a. 2c); bus-boy orig. U.S. = omnibus sb. 4; busman, the driver of a bus; so busman’s holiday, leisure time spent in occupations of the same nature as those in which one engages for a living; bus-rod = bus-bar-, bus-shelter, a roadside structure affording protection from the weather to passengers intending to travel by bus; bus-stop, a place at which a bus makes a regular halt. 1893 Sloane Stand. Elect. Diet., Bus Rod... Synonyms — Omnibus Rod, Wire or Bar—Bus Bar, or Wire. 1897 Daily News 9 Dec. 10/3 The currents of electricity generated at these dynamos are led to one common conductor called ‘the bus-bar’. 1911 Engineer 10 Mar. 238/3 The busbar voltage suddenly dropped. 1948 Electronic Engin. XX. 38 Two cores of magnetic material linked the busbar so that the current caused them to be magnetically saturated. 1913 Industrial Worker (Spokane, Washington) 12 June 4/2 They are cooks, bus boys, dishwashers. 1947 Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 36 A bus-boy brushing a table. 1965 R. Howard tr. 5. de Beauvoir's Force of Circumstance x. 477 After a difficult adolescence, he had been a sailor, then a busboy in a London restaurant, and I don’t know what else. 1899 R- Whiteing No. 5 John St. xi. 107 My Samaritan gave me the letter to the ’bus company. 1905 Times 9 Mar. 13/4 The London and District Motor Bus Company. 1846 Chambers's Jml. V. 28/2 The only cry heard would be that of the ’bus-conductor for Paddington and Holloway. 1886 Punch 27 Nov. 254/1 Bus Conductor (shouting from the Foot-board), Wes’minister! 1902 Webster Suppl. s.v. Bus, Bus . . conductor, etc. {Elec.). 1919 Manch. Guardian 22 Oct. 8/6 Women ’bus conductors. 1935 Discovery Feb. 58/2 London bus-conductors on the new ‘Q’ type motor-buses are having a busy time. 1916 Sphere 30 Dec. 237 His [sc. a soldier’s] sister in the garb of a ’bus conductress, an employment which she has taken up in her brother’s absence. 1939 Daily Mail 13 Sept. 3/3 The first women bus conductresses appeared in Manchester yesterday. 1958 New Statesman 7 June 713/2 The admittedly underpaid bus crews. 1870 D. J. Kirwan Palace & Hovel (1963) xi. 98 The cabbies are to the buss drivers a sort of gypsies. 1905 G. B. Shaw in Shaw on Shakespeare (1962) 149 Beatrice., saying things that a flower-girl would spare a busdriver as if they were gems of delicate intuition. 1888 G. & W. Grossmith Diary of Nobody (1892) iii. 42 All our ’bus-load . .seemed to be going in. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren xvi. 359 Bus-loads of youngsters come in from the surrounding villages. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 348 As the busmen call them. 1887 Pall Mall G. 25 July 6/1 Tale of the ’bus men’s woes, .the private ’buses. 1893 Eng. Illustr. Mag. 488/2, I shall indeed take a holiday soon, . .but it will be a ‘Busman’s Holiday’. 1921 Times (weekly ed.) 19 Aug., The proverbial ‘busman’s holiday’ is nothing to that of the man who retires from business. 1927 Observer 21 Aug. 13/2 The U.S.A. Secretary for War.. said .. ‘No, I did not go to see the military manoeuvres. Busmen’s holidays do not give me any delight.’ 1938 R. Finlayson Brown Mans Burden 31 He was lucky to get safely back to the village at all! A friendly bus-man put him off at the right place. 1950 ‘R. Crompton’ William—the Bold ii. 58 You’d think it was a treat to stand in a bus queue. 1908 Kipling Lett. Travel (1920) 199 A ’bus-ride down the Strand. 1952 M. Laski Village xii. 175 It would save the bus-ride. 1898 Daily News 14 Apr. 7/2 The ’bus riding public. 1898 A. Bennett Man fr. North vii. 44 Cab-fares, bus-routes, and local railways. 1936 Discovery Sept. 299/2 Birds of the Green Belt contains a useful transport guide of train and bus routes. 1945 City of Oxf. Council Rep. 16 Feb. 240 It is recommended that.. the principle of the provision by Council of roadside bus shelters be accepted, i960 C.

Wilson Ritual in Dark 11. ii. 212 An old man, crouched in a bus shelter. 1952 M. Laski Village vii. 120 The big mockmarble cinema opposite the bus-station. 1916 E. Pound Lustra 25 You loiter at the corners and bus-stops. 1930 City of Oxf. Council Rep. 20 Feb. 241 That notices ‘Bus Stop’ be marked on the road at the usual stopping places at Carfax. 1947 M. Lowry Under Volcano ix. 254 Had not Geoffrey met her at the Bus Terminal? 1949 Granta Christmas No. 43 Punctopapyrists (bus ticket collectors to you). 1928 R. Knox Footsteps at Lock xiv. 138 He asked for a railway guide and a ’bus time-table. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 31 May 10/2 ‘The Delights of London’, introducing various amusing ‘imitations’—in a tea-shop, on a ’bus-top, and so forth. 1927 Glasgow Herald 18 Aug. 9 The most interesting ’bus-top ride which London can offer.

bus (biz), sb.3 Colloq. abbrev. of business

20. 1864 Hotten Slang Diet. (ed. 3) 90 Bus, business (of which it is a contraction) or action, on the stage. 1933 Auden Dance of Death 10 A. Shall I show you? B. Please. [Bus.) 1949 Wodehouse Mating Season ix. 90 ‘Throughout the script the word “bus” in brackets occurs... Can you explain it?’ ‘It’s short for "business". That’s where you hit Mike with your umbrella. To show the audience that there has been a joke.’

bus, v. (3rd sing.) north, dial. Also buse, bos, bose, boes, (boost). Pa. t. bud(e, bute, bood, boot, boud, bode. Pres. Subj. bove. [Contracted f. behoves, behoved, chiefly used impersonally. Transition forms in pa. t. were byhod, behode: see behove. The pa. t. bud, bid, is still used in Sc. of moral or logical necessity: it is no longer impersonal.] fl. impersonally. (It) behoves, is obligatory upon, is necessary for. Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 9870 Of a womman bos him be born. Ibid. 10639 pan bus |?is may be clene and bright. Ibid. Resurrection 68. p. 986 pat day.. bode man again be boght. 1352 Minot Poems (1887) ix. 28 At the Nevil-cros, nedes bud tham knele. C1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 107 (Ellesm.) Him boes [v.r. bihoues, byhouej?, falles, he muste] serue hym seine that has na swayn. c 1400 Ywaine C5f Gaw. 3022 With both at ones bihoves him fight, So bus the do. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5115, I bid j>erfore barly, pat he bove herchyn. C1440 York Myst. vm. 148 Nowe bus me wende. C1500 Poem on Death in Halliwell Nugse P. 40 To rekkenynge buse us ryse.

2. mod.Sc. Pa. tense also as pres., with subject: Must, ought. .3] 1. The metal lining of the axle-hole of a wheel; hence, the metal (or wooden) case in which the journal of a shaft revolves. (Cf. box sb.2 16.) b. A cylindrical metal lining of an orifice; a perforated plug, cylinder, or disk; esp. a drilled plug inserted in the touch-hole of a gun, or in a bearing of a watch when worn (cf. bouche). 1566 in Collect. Invent. (1815) 169 Item, fyve buscheis of found for cannonis and batterd quheillis. 1578 Ibid. 250 Garnist with yron werk and bousches of fonte. 1625 Invent. in Shropshire Word-bk. (E.D.S.) One paire of bushes .. one paire of bushes soles. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. viii. 332 The Busshes are Irons within the hole of the Nave to keep it from wearing. 1770 J. Ferguson Lect. (1805) I. 82 The upper part of the spindle turns in a wooden bush fixt into the nether millstone. 1797 A. Cumming Commun. Board of Agric. II. 365 The nave is commonly lined with metal, which lining is called the box or bush. 1865 Ld. Elcho in Times 9 Mar., What are ordinarily known as front aperture sights, i.e. solid discs or bushes pierced in the centre. 1884 F. Britten Watch & Clockm. 95 The hole is tapped at one end to receive a bush.

2. Comb, bush-metal, an alloy of copper and tin used for journals. bush (buf), v.1 For forms see sb. [f. bush sb.1] f 1. trans. To set in a bush or thicket as a place of concealment, to place in ambush; intr. (for reft.) to hide in a bush, lie in ambush. (Cf. bush sb.1 4.) Obs. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 187 Saladyn priuely was bussed beside pe flom. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1168 Lurkyt vnder lefesals loget with vines, Busket vndur bankes on bourders with-oute. c 1440 York Myst. xm. 8, I may nowder buske ne belde But owther in frith or felde. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. 11. (1520) 11 Coryn sholde go out and busshe hym in a wode. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 263 The Pechtis than wes buschit neir hand by. 1623 Daniel Hymen's Tri. 11. i, Being closely bush’d a pretty Distance off.

2. To protect (trees, etc.) with bushes or cut brushwood set round about; to support with bushes. 1647 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp. Canterb., Paid for bushes to bush the ashes in the meadowe \)d. 1676 Worlidge Cider (1691) 34 Care must be taken to bush them, so that cattel may not rub against them. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece III. 416 Let the Sets be bushed about for some time, to prevent their being injured. 1884 [see bushed 2b].

3. To poachers intervals interrupt

protect (land or game) from netby placing bushes or branches at in the preserved ground, so as to the sweep of a net. Also absol.

BUSH 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. 288 Assist us still better to bush the partridges. Ibid. iv. viii. (1872) 254 Game-preserving Aristocracies, let them ‘bush ’ never so effectually, cannot escape the Subtle Fowler, i860 Chamb. Jrnl. XIV. 274 As for netting by night, bush your fields closely. 1883 J. Purves in Contemp. Rev. Sept. 355 They know the fields to avoid for net-work, those that have been bushed—i.e. irregularly dotted with posts driven upright into the ground.

4. To bush-harrow (ground, etc.); to cover in (seed) with a bush-harrow. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 313 Sow the clover seed, which bush in, by the horses walking in the furrows. 1848 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IX. 1. 10 By attention to the spreading and bushing the field the whole surface becomes.. changed.

5. See quot.; cf. bush-draining in bush sb.1 11. 1838 New Monthly Mag. LI 11. 32 They might hae thocht of bushing the tent-pegs.. This is done, on the approach of heavy rain, by digging a hole near each tent-peg, and filling it with brushwood, to act as a sort of drain and prevent the water from saturating the ground, and making the pegs draw.

6. To tether a horse by burying the knotted end of the head-rope in the ground. 1871 Daily News 11 Sept., The system of ‘bushing’, by which the officers’ horses of the 9th Lancers are now fastened.

Rabelais 111. ix. II. 279 If., all the holes in the world be not shut up, stopped, closed, and bushed. Urquhart

bush(e, obs. form of buss. busha ('bujs). The manager or overseer of an estate in Jamaica. 1832 M. Scott in Blackw. Mag. XXXI. 902 The Overseer, or Busha, to give him his Jamaica name, looked at me. 1834 — Cruise Midge xii, Gangs of negroes .. waiting to receive busha’s orders for the morrow. 1866 Morning Star 17 Mar., The magistrates and bushas, or overseers.

fbushaile. Obs. Also in 5 busshaile, buscayl(l)e, -kayle, boschayle. [a. OF. boschaille (Godef.) a wood = It. boscaglia:—low Lat. boscalia (Du Cange), pi. of boscale, f. late L. boscum a wood.] A copse or thicket; often as a place of concealment, an ambush. ? a 1400 Morte Arthur 895 On blonkez by 3one buscayle. Ibid. 1634 They buskede theme.. In the buskayle of his waye. a 1400 Octouian 1607 Besyde Acrys, yn a boschayle They token rest, c 1430 Syr Genet. 9189 Thei.. come out of here busshaile Streight forto bede hem bataile.

b. collect.

Brushwood, underwood.

bush.

c 1400 Maundev. xxvii. 271 A gret yle fulle of Trees and Buscaylle. Ibid. Buscaylle & Thornes & Breres & grene Grasse.

1562 Turner Herbal 11. 133 a, It [wilde Thyme] busheth largely, and groweth somthyng asyde. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 426 So thick the Roses bushing round About her glowd. 1809 Parkins Culpepper s Eng. Physic. Enl. 257 Greyish or whitish leaves .. many bushing together at a joint.

bush-buck ('buJbAk). [ad. Du. bosch-bok; see bosch1.] A small species of African antelope, also called the Bush-goat.

7. a. intr. To be bushy, to grow thick like a

b. transf. of hair. Also with out. 1509 Barclay Ship of Fooles (1570) 159 Their heare out bushing as a foxes tayle. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 844 My heyr bussheth So plesauntlie. 1575 Turberv. Bk. Falconrie 369 The dogge becommes more beautifull by cutting the toppe of his sterne: for then will it bushe out verie gallantly.

fc. of the ‘tail’ of a comet. Obs. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1314/1 There appeared a biasing star in the south, bushing toward the east.

f8. to bush about or out. ? to beat or hunt about for (as for game). Cf. busk v2 2. 1686 (3 June) MS. Let. from Job Charnock & Council of Hugli to Council at Balasore, Wee take notice that you can Procure us about 20mds [maunds] of Wax, pray bushe out for some more. 01734 North Life Ld. Guilford (1742) 201 They are forced to bush about for ways and means to pay their rent and charges.

f9. To camp in the bush. Austral, and N.Z. Obs.

BUSHEL

692

Usu. with it.

1827 W. J. Dumaresq Let. in G. Mackaness Fourteen Journeys (1950-1) 99 Not being provided for bushing it, in these early frosts, we made up our minds to return. 1846 N.Z. Jrnl. VI. 166/1, I passed the night under a pine-tree .. and awoke, after my first experience of ‘bushing it’, exceedingly refreshed. 1853 Mrs. C. Clacy Visit to Gold Diggings Australia 245 If this fails, you must just bush it for the night. 1862 J. Goldie Jrnl. 5 May in H. Beattie Pioneers explore Otago (1947) 98, I resolved to scramble along the side of the lake.. even although we had to ‘bush it’ for a night or two. 1868 People's Mag. II. 365/2, I have ‘bushed’ it many a rough night in Australia.

fbush, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. Forms: 4 busche, 4-5 bussh(e, 5 boyssh(e, 6 bush. [Deriv. uncertain: cf. OF. buschier ‘frapper, heurter’, MDu. buusschen (= MHG. biuschen) to knock, beat; also push.] intr. To butt with the head; to push. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. II. 191 He may busche a3enst men and horshedes and breke strong dores wij? his heed. 1398 -Barth. De P.R. xviii. iii. (1495) 749 The ramme is excyted and busshyth full strongely. 1515 Scot. Field 439 Then full boldlie on the brode hills, we bushed with our standarts. 1590 Greene Mourn. Garm. 33 If he bush not at beautie. 1864 E. Capern Devon Provinc., To Bush, to butt or strike with the head.

Hence 'bushing vbl. sb. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lix. (1495) 273 A postume comyth.. of brekynge and brusinge and boysshynge and hurtelynge. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeless 1. 99 J?ey made 30U to leue pat regne 3e ne my3te, Withoute busshinge adoune of all 30ure best ffrendis.

bush (buj), v.3 [f. bush sb.2; originally said of wheels; with the extension of the word to the vent of muskets, etc., it appears to have been erroneously associated with F. bouche mouth, boucher to stop up (see next), or bouchon cork, plug; whence the frequent later bouche v.] 1. trans. To furnish with a bush; to line (an orifice) with metal. 1566 Invent. 168 (Jam.) Item, ane pair of new cannone quheillis buschit with brass. 1675 Cotton Burlesque upon B. 233 (D.) [He] Bushes the Naves, clouts th’ Axle-trees. 1781 Thompson in Phil. Trans. LXXI. 264 The vent of a musket is very soon enlarged by firing, and.. it is found necessary to stop it up with a solid screw, through the center of which a new vent is made of the proper dimensions. This operation is called bushing, or rather bouching the piece. 1882 Field 16 Sept. 410 A 12-gauge gun that I had bushed on my system.

2. transf. 1881 C. A. Edwards Organs 69 The front pin is bushed by two or three thicknesses of baize.. to avoid rattling.

fbush, v.4 Obs. [a. F. boucher to shut an aperture; of doubtful derivation: see Littre.] To stop a hole, opening, or passage. 01659 Osborn Observ. Turks (1673) 315 Eyeing Christians with a high disdain, for., bushing the way to Heaven with Purgatory and other Bugbears, a 1693

1852 Blackw. Mag. LXXI. 294 A shot at an ostrich or bushbuck. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi 343 In the mornings and evenings the pretty little bush-buck (Tragelaphus sylvatica) ventures .. out of the mangroves, to feed.

bushed (bujt), ppl. a.1 [f. bush sb.1, v.1 + -ed.] f 1. Of plants or shrubs: Formed into a bush. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 95 Bassel, fine and busht, sowe in May. 1597 Gerard Herbal xxxiv. §1. 239 Leaues.. bushed or braunched at the top.

2. a. Covered with bushes or ‘bush’. 1868 Dilke Greater Brit. II. in. vi. 62 The coastlands.. are exhausted, densely bushed, and uninhabited. 1883 Miss Broughton Belinda III. 111. vii. 22 The homely loveliness of bushed bank.

b. Protected with bushes. (Cf. bush v1 2.) 1884 Illust. Lond. News 29 Nov. 539 It matters but little what the fence may be—a bushed or unbushed one.

3. transf. a. Having a bushy head of hair. 1494 Fabyan vii. ccxxiv. 251 For that tyme clerkes vsed busshed and brayded hedys. 1552 Huloet, Boye with a bushed heade, comatulus. 1623 Favine Theat. Hon. xi. xiii. 235 A great head, thickly bushed and tufted with haire. 1849 Lytton K. Arthur vi. cxxxi, Hideous visage bush’d with tawny hair.

b. Of the hair: Spreading like a bush, bushy; also bushed out, up. 1535 Coverdale Song of Sol. v. 11 The lockes of his hayre are buszshed, browne as the euenynge. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 95 The hair of the women was bushed out also. 1842 Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 24 Frizzling hair., bushed out round their heads.

4. slang. At ‘Beggar’s Bush’. ? Obs. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Diet., Bush'd, poor; without money.

5. a. Lost in the bush (sb.1 9). Cf. bogged. 1856 Tait's Mag. XXIII. 740, I narrowly escaped being ‘bushed’. 1881 A. C. Grant Bush Life Queensl. II. xxxi. 154 John feared that he might get bushed.

b. transf. and fig. Lost as in the bush. Austral. and N.Z. colloq. 1885 Mrs. Praed Australian Life 29, I get quite bushed in these streets. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 3/2 He tangled himself up and got ‘bushed’, and frantically implored.. everybody.. to help him with his contract. 1900 H. Lawson Over Sliprails 1 The deeper you read .. about things that end in ism .. the more likely you are to get bushed. 1916 Anzac Book 144/1 To be ‘bushed’ in the heart of London became a common experience with him. 1944 J. H. Fullarton Troop Target v. 45 We’re bushed behind the enemy lines about a hundred miles from nowhere. 1953 ‘N. Shute’ In Wet ii. 39 It is a very easy country to get bushed in; the sense of direction can be easily lost.

c. Tired, exhausted. N. Amer. 1870 Nation July 57/1 To be ‘bushed’ was to be tired. 1910 W. A. Fraser Red Meekins 266, I was that danged near bushed, toward the last that I was feared I might go right on sleepin’. 1958 ‘Castle’ & Hailey Flight into Danger x. 132 You thought you’d reached the end then—completely bushed, with not another ounce left in you. 1966 Oxford Mail 4 June 1/1 Astronaut Eugene Cernan’s.. spacewalk was postponed.. because he and the Gemini-9 command pilot.. were ‘pretty well bushed’ from their exertions in space.

d. Suffering from the effects of isolation (see quots.). Canada. 1952 J. Marshall in R. Weaver Canadian Short Stories (i960) 289 ‘You had three years here alone,’ she began. ‘I have never been bushed,’ Toddy interrupted. 1959 Maclean's Mag. 14 Feb. 40/2 It was geographically isolated, and its inhabitants were cut off in separate buildings by the cold and by storms, and often .. psychologically isolated— that is, bushed.

bushed (bujt), ppl. a.2 [f. bush v.3 + -ed1.] Fitted with a bush or lining; lined.

bysshell, 5-6 bowsshell(e, 6 buszshel, buszhell, bushylle, bousshell, beyschell, 5-7 bushell, 4bushel. [ME. boyschel, buyschel, a. OF. boissiel, -el, buissiel (mod.F. boisseau, dial, boisteau), according to Diez dim. of boiste (Pr. bostea and boissa) box. This explanation is supported by the med.L. form bustellus, beside bussellus, bissellus. Du Cange took the word as a dim. of OF. boise = med.L. buza, buta butt.] 1. A measure of capacity used for corn, fruit, etc., containing four pecks or eight gallons. The imperial bushel, legally established in Great Britain in 1826, contains 2218.192 cubic inches, or 80 pounds of distilled water weighed in air at 62° Fah. The Winchester bushel, much used from the time of Henry VIII, was somewhat smaller, containing 2150.42 cubic inches or 77.627413 pounds of distilled water; it is still generally used in United States and Canada. The bushel had a great variety of other values, now abolished by law, though often, in local use, varying not only from place to place, but in the same place according to the kind or quality of the commodity in question. Frequently it was no longer a measure, but a weight of so many (30, 40, 45, 50, 56, 60, 70, 75, 80, 90, 93, 220) pounds of flour, wheat, oats, potatoes, etc. A full account of these local values is given in Old Country & Farming Words (Eng. Dial. Soc.) 169. CI300 Battle Abb. Custumals (1887) 67 Habebit iiij bussellos de bericorn. c 1330 Poem on Times Edw. II, 393 in Pol. Songs (1839) 341 A busshel of whete was at foure shillinges or more. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xviii. 6 Mynge to gidre thre half buysshelis of clene floure. 1497 Act 12 Hen. VII, v, That the measure of a Bushell containe viii. gallons of Wheat. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §12 An acre of grounde.. may be metelye well sowen with two London busshelles of pease. 1596 Shaks. Merch. V. 1. i. 116 His reasons are two graines of wheate hid in two bushels of chaffe. 1710 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 55, I have my coals by half a bushel at a time. I’ll assure you. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 146 This wheat weighed sixty-six pounds ten ounces per bushel, of nine gallons. 1872 E. Robertson Hist. Ess. 1. i. 1 An English Imperial bushel contains 60 lbs. of average wheat or 80 lbs. liquid measure.

fb. ? A liquid measure. Obs. 1483 Cath. Angl. 49 A Buschelle; batulus liquidorum est, bacus.

fc. Sometimes used without of. Obs. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. 1. iv. 15 Who so bou3t[e] a busshel com. CI386-Reves T. 392 Hir cake Of half a busshel flour.

d. loosely. A large quantity or number. C1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 976 And would a bushel of venim al excusen For that a grane of love is on it shove. 1680 Answ. Stillingfleet's Serm. 33 Who have Benefices and Honours by Heaps, and by the Bushel. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 579 He.. has got a Bushel of Money by his Practice. 1718 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. liii. II. 78 An old beau.. with a bushel of curled hair on his head. 1873 Miss Broughton Nancy III. 187 Bushels of girls..there always are bushels of girls somehow; here they come.

2. A vessel used as a bushel measure. 1382 Wyclif Luke xi. 33 No man li3tneth a lanteme, and puttith in hidlis, other vndir a boyschel [1388 buyschel], but on a candel sticke. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. 1. viii. 20 Thre mues or busshellis all full of rynges of gold, a 1565 Heywood Four P's in Dodsley (1780) I. 87 Rolynge his eyes as rounde as two bushels. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 154 Their feet.. are as broad as a bushel. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 1. i. 22 The Sense represents the Sun no bigger than a Bushel. 1724 Watts Logic 152 The apples will fill a bushel.

b. fig. (with ref. to Matt. v. 15). ‘To hide one’s light under a bushel.’ 1557 Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 244 Trouth vnder bushell is faine to crepe. 1627 Sanderson Serm. I. 267 The light of Gods word, hid from them under two bushels for sureness: under the bushel of a tyrannous clergy.. and under the bushel of an unknown tongue. 1644 Z. Boyd Gard. Zion in Zion's Flowers (1855) App. 7/2 From under the Bushell of ignorance. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. App. 540 The light of those saintly ladies should in no case be hidden under a bushel.

c. Phrase, to measure other people's com by one’s own bushel: to apply one’s own standard to others, to judge others by oneself. 1636 Henshaw Horae subc. 279 Men usually measure others by their own bushels: they that are ill themselves, are commonly apt to think ill of others. 1801 Huntington Bank of Faith 35 We must not measure every body’s corn by our own bushel.

3. attrib. and comb.: a. of a bushel, as bushelbag, -basket, -measure, f -poke; b. resembling or as wide as a bushel-measure, as bushelbreeches, -wig; also bushel-iron, ? (old) iron sold by the bushel. 1529 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 567/3, 1 ‘bushel basket. 1850 yrn/. R. Agric. Soc. XI. 1. 202 The food., carried in bushel-baskets. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. vii, Bell-girdles, *bushel-breeches, cornuted shoes, or other the like phenomena. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metals I. 144 *Bushel-iron, or the fragments of old hoops, and all pieces of similar size. 1851 Ord. & Regul. Royal Engineers i. 66 All Bushel or Scrap Iron, and Waste in conversion. 1530 Palsgr. 200/2 *Bousshell measure, boisseav. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §141 Bagges, wallettes, or *busshell-pokes. 1794 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Rowl. for Oliver Wks. II. 344 What gives them consequence, I trow. Is nothing but a *bushel wig.

1907 Installation News May ii/i Bushed outlets. 1909 Ibid. III. 121 These., boxes are provided with bushed holes.

bushel, sb.2 [cf. bush sb.2] The bush or box of a

bushel ('bujbl), sb.1 Forms: 4 bus(s)chel, buisshel, buysshel, boussel, boyschel, 4-5 buyschel, 4-6 busshel(le, 5 bu-, byschelle, buscel,

/8;

wheel. ? Obs. 1433 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 550/4 New bushel, Iron to do., 1/-. 1730-36 Bailey, Bushels [of a Cart wheel] certain Irons within the Hole of the Nave, to preserve it from Wearing. [So Johnson.] 1864 Webster, Bushel, the circle of iron in the nave of a wheel.

BUSHEL

693

bushel ('bofal), v.1 rare. [f. bushel si.1] To hide under a bushel, jig. (see bushel sb.1 2 b.) 1650 T. Vaughan Atiima Mag. Abscond. 56, I have not Busheld my Light, nor buried my Talent in the Ground 1653 Jenkyn On Jude (1845) 82 Not bushel the candle of Scripture discovery. 1882 H. Merivale Faucit of B. II. 1. xxiv. 105 The agricole, .thinks that he is wasting his days and bushelling his light out of London.

bushel ('bujal), v.2 U.S. [perh. f. G. bosseln to do odd jobs, to do poor work.] trans. and intr. To repair (garments). So 'bushelman, -woman, a man or woman employed in repair tailoring. 1864 Webster 177/3 Bushelman. 1877 Bartlett Diet. Amer. 777 To bushel,.. to repair garments. 1889 Cent. Diet., Bushelwoman, a woman who assists a tailor in repairing garments. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Options (1916) 92 You would say he had been brought up a bushelman in Essex Street.

'bushelage fbujalic^). [f. as bushel

+ -age; prob. after OFr. botsselage, boesselage a species of ‘droit’.] Duty payable by the bushel on measurable commodities. 1818

v.'

in Todd; and in mod. Diets.

busheler, busheller ('buj'ala(r)).

U.S. local. [Cf. Ger. bossier (Sanders) f. bosseln to do odd jobs of repairing.] One who repairs garments for tailors: also called bushelman. 1847 in Worcester; and in later Diets.

'bushelful.

[see -ful.] As much as fills a bushel; fig. a large quantity. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iv. ix. 474 Worth .. a buyschel ful of gold. 1600-12 J. M. in Shaks. C. Praise 98 Lovers will tell a bushell-full of Lyes! 1818 Scott Rob Roy v, Nature has given him a mouthful of common sense, and the priest has added a bushelful of learning. 1861 Temple-bar Mag. I. 188 A bushelful of gold pieces would scarcely have sufficed.

Military-knight-ways—the ways which fighting nobles should observe in their daily life as well as in their vocation. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 709 It is essential to know something of the ethical code of the samurai, the bushi-do (‘way of the warrior’) as it was called. 1923 19th Cent. Jan. 133 The old samurai spirit of bushido will prove equal to stemming the tide of radicalism. 1961 R. Seth Anat. Spying iv. 70 They [sc. the Japanese] brought espionage within the scope of bushido, their extremely strict and elevated code of morals and conduct.

bushie, var. bushy sb. bushily ('bufili), adv. In a bushy manner. 1857 G. Lawrence Guy Liv. x, She wore her hair bushily on each side of her small face.

bushiness ('bujmis). Bushy state or quality. J730-6 in Bailey; hence in Johnson. 1790 Bewick Hist, uadrupeds (1807) 277 The bushiness of its hair. 1851 lenny Handbk. FI. Gard. 210 Bushiness and compactness of growth. 1875 Masson Wordsw. &fc. 175 The bushiness of his [Scott’s] eyebrows.

bushing ('bujir)), vbl. sb.1 [f. bush v.1] 1. Training on bushes (obs.), setting with bushes. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 33 Trailyng, repairyng, bosshyng vyne clene. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. 11. iii. (1872) 46 We hear not.. by what methods he preserved his game, whether by ‘bushing’ or how. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1. 1. i. §5. 7 Bushing the stubbles interferes with the drag-net.

2. Growing bushy; forming a bush. 1597 Gerard Herbal 739 The goodly shadowe which they make with their thicke bushing and clyming. 1610 Folkingham Art of Survey 1. iii. 6 The braunching and bearing of Plants, Bushing of Shrubs.

bushing ('bujir)), vbl. sb.2 [f. bush sb.2 and v.z + -ING1.]

fbushet. Obs. [f. bush sb.1 + -et1.] A small

1. The operation of fitting a hole with a bush.

shrub or bush; a small thicket. Cf. busket. *573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 90 So haue you good feeding, in

Also concr. = bush sb.2 1. spec, in Electr., an insulating device.

bushets and lease. 1662 Ray Three Itin. 11. 139 We rode through a bushet, or common called Rodwell Hake.

1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 154 Bushing is letting through the middle of a sheave a cylindrical piece of metal, with a hole through its centre, to admit the pin.. on which the sheave turns. 1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 81 The brass bushing of the strap. 1864 Webster, Bushing, a thimble; sometimes called a bush. 1896 R. Robb Electric Wiring v. 151 Where the cord enters the socket there is gradual wear of the insulation by abrasion unless the hole is bushed with an ‘insulating bushing’. 1934 Times 28 Feb. 8/6 The failure was caused by a flash-over on a transformer bushing at Croydon sub-station. 1943 Electronic Engin. XV. 410 Components like bushings. . where metal parts have to be affixed to the porcelain insulator. 1957 New Scientist 23 May 24/1 The glass thus formed flows into the forehearth and then into platinum bushings, which are heated electrically to keep the glass fluid.

bush-fighter

(,buj,fait3(r)). An irregular combatant or skirmisher, accustomed to fight in the bush; one who fires from among the bushes. 1760 Wesley Jrnl. 22 Nov. (1827) III. 27 If it should happen, that any one of these silly bush-fighters steps out into the plain. 1825 Blackw. Mag. XVII. 343 Cornwallis and Burgoyne had been over-reached by the despicable bush-fighters opposed to them. 1857 Mayne Reid in Chamb. Jrnl. VII. 363 Not so much with the eye of a soldier, as with that of a hunter and bush-fighter.

bush-fighting ('bujjfaitirj), vbl. sb. warfare in the bush. Also fig.

Guerilla-

1760 in Wesley Jrnl. 22 Nov. (1827) III. 26 You may keep up . . a little bush-fighting in controversy; you may skirmish awhile. 1795 Burke Regie. Peace iv, Pray let us leave this bush-fighting. 1830 Fraser's Mag. I. 189 Accustomed to bush-fighting in his own country. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1849) 76 The very Indian allies, though accustomed to bush-fighting, regarded it as.. full of frightful danger.

2. Watchmaking. See bouchon. bushing (’bujir)), ppl. a. [f. bush v.1 + -ing2.] Growing or spreading like a bush. 1608 Tourneur Rev. Traj. v. iii, That bushing-staring star. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 89/2 Fine leaves, bushing and spreading over the ground. 1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 164 The bushing alders form’d a shady scene.

'bush-hammer. U.S. [prob. ad. Ger. boszhammer, in same sense, f. boszen to beat.] A mason’s large breaking hammer, often having square ends cut into pyramidal points; also a hammer for dressing millstones, usually having detachable steel-bits in the dressing face.

bushless ('bujlis), a. Devoid of bushes.

1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 558/1 They took the bushhammer out.. that the ladies might see the varieties with five, six, eight, and ten edges, which gave the granite the slightly lined or ridged appearance.

1822 New Monthly Mag. V. 4 Birds as they flutter from bushlet to tree.

Hence bush-hammer, v. with the bush-hammer.

To strike or dress

1562 Turner Herbal 11. 64a, Nardus celtica..is a litle bushlyng. Ibid. 96 a, A bushlyng, a spanne long.

Diet. Mech. Supp. s.v., Rough-pointing, tooth-axing, bush-hammering. Ibid. Sandstone is seldom bush-hammered, as the stunning makes it scale.

Bushman, bushman. ('bujman). [f. bush sb.1 9 4- MAN, app. orig. after Du. boschjesman applied by the Dutch colonists in S. Africa to the natives living in the ‘bush’; and since extended in application.] 1. a. A member of an aboriginal people of Southern Africa; = San2 a. The Du. forms Bosjesman, Boschjesman, also occur as ethnic names.

1884 Knight

bush-harrow ('buj.haerau), sb. An agricultural implement for harrowing grass land or ‘bushing in’ seed, consisting of a heavy frame with bars in which bushes are interwoven underneath. 1770-4 A. Hunter Georgical Ess. (1803) I. 372 We constantly employ a heavy bush-harrow to spread the dung. 1877 Blackmore Erema I. ix. 101 As a bush-harrow jumps on the clods of the field.

'bush-,harrow, v. [from prec.] trans. To use the bush-harrow upon (ground). Also absol. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 486 After the cattle are removed, the land is bush-harrowed and rolled. 1839 Ht. Martineau Deerbrook II. xi. 211 A man beside his horse, bushharrowing in a distant green field. 1862 H. Kingsley Ravenshoe xxxii. 188 The meadows were all bush-harrowed, rolled, and laid up for hay.

Hence 'bush-harrowing vbl. sb. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 481 The subsequent operation of cross bush-harrowing. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxi. 540 The ordinary means by which our forefathers covered their seed was by bush-harrowing.

bushido ('bu:Ji:dau). [Jap.: see quot. 1900.] In feudal Japan, the ethical code of the Samurai or military knighthood. 1898 Trans. Asiatic Soc. Japan Dec. 149 The knowledge of Bushido, or ‘Way of Samurai’, is absolutely necessary for any one desirous of knowing something about the Japanese people. 1900 I. Nitobe Bushido 3 Bu-shi-do means literally

1830 Tennyson Ode to Mem. 96 The high field on the bushless Pike. 1872 W. F. Butler Gt. Lone Land xvi. (1875) 247 A rough and bushless plateau.

bushlet ('bujlit). rare. [f. bush sb.1 + -let.] A diminutive or tiny bush.

'bushling. rare, [see -ling.] A little bush.

1785 Sparrman Voy. Cape G. Hope I. v. 197 There is another species of Hottentots, who have got the name of Boshees-men, from dwelling in woody or mountainous places. 1824 Burchell Trav. I. 64 For our mutual safety and defence.. against the Bushmen. 1842 Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 513 Considering the Bushmen, or Bosjesmen, of South Africa as the most degraded and miserable of all nations. 1845 Foreign Quart. Rev. XXXIV. 421 Stunted representatives of humanity.. under the name of Bushmen.

b. Bushman grass, in S. Africa any of various grasses, esp. species of Aristida and Stipa. [1789 W. Paterson Narr. Journeys Country of Hottentots 63 Here I found many new species of Gramina, particularly that which the Dutch call Boshman’s Grass, from the use made of it by that people, who eat the seed of it.] 1857 A. Wyley Rep. Min. Struct. Namaqualand App. 44 There the various kinds of Bushman grass prevail, almost to the exclusion of every other plant. 1886 G. A. Farini Through Kalahari Desert 448 Bushman grass, the best that grows on the Kalahari. 1915 R. Marloth Flora S. Afr. IV. 19 Stipa (bushman grass).

2. A dweller or traveller in the Australian ‘bush’; a bush-farmer; a station-hand; a

BUSH-RANGER teamster who carries stores to the stations. Also, one who fells timber. 1846 N.Z. Jrnl. VI. 274/1 E Kehu, our guide, is thus a perfect bushman, and is of very great service on an expedition. 1848 T. Brunner Jrnl. Exped. Middle Isl. 360, I have now acquired the two greatest requisites for bushmen in New Zealand, viz., the capability of walking barefoot, and the proper method of cooking and eating fern root. 1849 S. C. Brees Guide & Descr. N.Z. 29 This tree [5c. Titoki] is tall .. and the wood .. is prized by the bushmen for axe-handles. 1852 Blackw. Mag. LXXII. 522 Where the wild bushman eats his loathly fare. 1856 Tait's Mag. XXIII. 742 An experienced bushman and well mounted. 1867 Lady Barker Station Life N.Z. (1870) xxi. 180 The ‘bushmen’ —as the men who had bought 20 acre sections and settled in the bush are called—had scattered English grass-seed. 1880 Chamb. Jrnl. 4 Dec. 774 Crowds of Bushmen, as those who live in the interior are called by their brethren of the coast. 1916 G. Thornton Wowser xii. 189 These bushmen.. lead a very different life from that of the woodcutters and sawyers (although they too are called bushmen) employed at a saw¬ mill. 1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute (1963) 32 Just find out if he wants a couple of experienced bushmen.

3. The language of the aboriginal bushmen of South Africa; = San2 b. 1869 Bleek in R. Noble Cape & its People 277 Many nouns in Bushman vary in their terminations according to their position or use. Ibid. 278 The Bushman nouns do not appear to possess any representative parts. 1874 J. M. Orpen in Folklore (1919) XXX. 146 Then he sent another bird, the tinktinki.. —qinqininyq in Bushman, i960 Times (S. Afr. Suppl.) 31 May p. xv/4 Afrikaans also borrowed from .. the Hottentot and Bushman tongues.

Bushmanoid ('bufmanoid), a. [f. Bushman i -t- -oid.] Of a Bushman type. 1940 Jrnl. R. Anthrop. Inst. 15 The Bushmanoid races are not negroid stock. 1959 J. D. Clark Prehist. S. Afr. iv. 99 Or else both represent parallel specializations from an ancestral proto-Bushmanoid stock.

'bushmanship. [f. prec., sense 2.] The practice of working, etc., in the bush; bush¬ farming. 1880 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 169 Bush-Life. Queensl. His intimate knowledge of bushmanship. 1922 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Dec. 869/3 He made his way back to South Africa and .. found himself serving in the Intelligence Department, for which the knowledge of bushmanship and native customs obtained in lion-hunting specially recommended him. 1931 T. A. Harper Windy Island 11. v. 146 A friendship based on bushmanship. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 56 The first rule of bushmanship is ‘Don’t cross a fence or go through a gate when you’re bushed’.

bushment ('bufmant).

Forms: 4 bussche-, busse-, buysche-, buche-, buchy-, 4-6 busch(e)-, busshe-, (5 bussh-), 5-6 bushe-, 6 bus-, 5bushment. [In senses 1-3, an aphetic form of abushment, ambushment, q.v. In some early quotations it is difficult to know whether abushment or a bushment was intended. In sense 4, cf. bush sb.1 + -MENT.] 1. = ambushment i. arch. 1375 Barbour Bruce vm. 442 A buschement slely maid he thair. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 349 And of his men a great partie He made in busshement abide, c 1440 Generydes 11. 5977 In a buschement he layde his men eche on. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 133 Your peple that shal be hydde in the busshement. 1553 Brende Q. Curtius iii. Dij, For feare the enemyes should lye there in busshement. 1592 Wyrley Armorie 86 Two Gascoin Lords warie bushment make. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. 1. 54 The barbarous folk Once and again from bushments on us broke. |2. = AMBUSHMENT 2. Obs. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13014 A busshement of bold men breke hym vpon. c 1465 Eng. Chron. (1856) 48 In the way as he sholde go, lay a greet busshement of Frensshemenne to take him. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. xix, The buschment haill about him brak, An bickert him with bows.

f3. A surprise party; = ambushment 3. Obs. 1513 More Rich. Ill (1557) 64/2 A bushement of the dukes seruantes .. began sodainely at mannes backes to crye owte as lowde as their throtes would gyve: King Rycharde. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. I. 144 Galdus assemblit ane army .. and dividit the same in divers buschementis. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 187 Iudas also when he came wyth bushementes to take his maister Christe.

4. ‘A thicket, a cluster of bushes’ (J.); a mass of bushes. ? Obs. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. II. 169/2 The sides are full of great and mightie trees vpon the sides of the hils, and full of bushments and vnderwoods. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World 1. viii. §2. iii These our grounds would.. be covered, either with Woods, or with other offensive Thickets and Bushments. 1619 W. Sclater Expos. 1 Thess. (1630) 62 These thickets of bushment. 1762 Dunn in Phil. Trans. LII. 466 The most distant trees and bushments.

fb. A bushy formation (of plumage). Obs. I555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 224 These byrdes.. haue a much greater bushement of fethers.

bushop(e, -hopp(e, obs. ff. bishop. bush-ranger (’buj.reinc^r)). [f. bush1 9 + ranger.] An escaped convict who took refuge in the Australian ‘bush’; a criminal living in the bush, and subsisting by robbery with violence. 1817 Sydney Gazette 25 Jan., Robberies by the banditti of bush-rangers on Van Dieman’s Land. 1826 Gentl. Mag. July XCVI. 11. 69/2 Van Diemen’s Land papers and private letters are full of details of atrocities by the bush-rangers (escaped convicts). 1852 West Tasmania II. 130 The bushrangers at first were absentees [convicts] who were soon allured or driven to theft and violence; so early as 1808 by systematic robbery they had excited feelings of alarm. 1869

BUSH-RANGING Discov. Gt. West xxvii. (1875) 389 His little garrison of bush-rangers greeted them with a salute of musketry. Parkman

bush-ranging ('boJ.reindjir)), vbl. sb.

Also -'rangering, [see prec.] The practice of the bush-ranger; the attacking and robbing of travellers or settlers in the bush. Also attrib. 1832 Ht. Martineau Homes Abr. v. 72 As long as any convicts were disposed to bush-ranging.. he could not for his part feel very secure. 1863 Guardian 23 Dec., Bushranging has obtained such a head in New South Wales, that the Government have offered a reward of £2500 for the capture of a gang of five. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 9 Aug., Bushranging broils between Federal dragoons and halfnaked guerillas. 1853 Fraser's Mag. XLVIII. 662 What has bushrangering and the police come to?

bush-rope ('bufrsup). [f. bush sb.1 9.] A name given to certain climbing shrubs in tropical forests, esp. to species of Cissus or Wild Vine. 1814 Q. Rev. XI. 70 They are in many places so closely interwoven with rattan and bush-rope that they seem to be spun together. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. 1. i. 91 A vine called the Bush-rope by the wood cutters, on account of its use in hauling out the heaviest timber. 1826 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 74 The bush-rope joins tree and tree, so as to render the forest impervious.

bushveld ('bujfelt, -velt). Also bush veldt, [ad. Afrikaans bosveld: see bush sb.1 and veld.] a. Veld composed largely of bush. b. (Usu. with capital initial.) The wooded region of north¬ western, northern, and eastern Transvaal, the low-lying portion of which is called the Lowveld or Low Country. 1879 Chambers’s Jrtil. i Mar. 134/2 For big game, the low country and Bushveld is that part of the Transvaal which the hunter must seek. 1887 Atdlanta Nov. 80/1 The roar of a lion.. in the solemn bush veldt. 1887 A. A. Anderson Twenty-five Yrs. in Waggon (1888) 153 The Notuane River, in what is termed the Bush Veldt. 1901 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 333 An efficient guide, whose knowledge of the dense bushveld proved of great value. 1903 Kipling Five Nations 205 The Low Bush-veldt that sends men stragglin' unaware. 1903 ‘Indicus' Labour S. Africa 19 Their farm is of about 5,000 acres in extent, on the lower or Bush Veldt. 1907 P. Fitzpatrick Jock of Bushveld 14 Between the goldfields and the nearest port lay the Bushveld. 1940 V. Pohl Bushveld Adv. i. 41 My family had moved to the Bushveld of the Northern Transvaal. 1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari (1961) vii. 126 Soon the main stream carried us away from the bush-veld banks.

bushwa, -wah (‘b of war). N. Amer. slang. Also booshwa(h), bushwha. [app. a euphemism for bullshit.] Rubbish, nonsense. Also attrib. 1920 in Wentworth Amer. Dial. Diet. 1921 J. Dos Passos Three Soldiers (1922) iv. 215 Can’t do anything without getting a general order about it. Looks to me like it’s all bushwa. 1924 Chicago Tribune 1 Oct. 25/8 The Bull, the Glad Hand, the Old Oil, and 11 Bushwa. 1932 Amer. Speech VII. 329 Booshwah, nonsense. 1932 J. Dos Passos 1919 162 They said this war-talk was a lot of bushwa propaganda. 1934 J. O'Hara Appt. Samarra (1935) vi. 164‘Oh, bushwah on you,’ said Irma. 1936 Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) vi. 301 The college boys and girls launched bushwah.. and a number of other thinly disguised shockers. 1949 B. F. Russell in E. Crispin Best SF (1962) 205 ‘Certain of them may have secret knowledge...’ ‘Bushwa!5 defined Queth, unhesitatingly. 1959 ‘J. R. Macdonald’ Galton Case (i960) x. 83 If you’re a detective, what was all that bushwa about Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard?

'bushwhack, v. U.S. [f. bush + whack v. to beat; prob. after bushwhacker.] To act as a bushwhacker; to beat the bush; to attack or kill in the manner of a bushwhacker (sense 2). 1837 Fraser's Mag. XVI. 613 The Colonel had begun to make a speech, or, as he phrases it, ‘to bushwhack in the most approved style’. 1866 J. E. Skinner After Storm I. 234 While peaceable citizens were robbed with impunity and government officers were bushwhacked. 1877 G. Fleming Mirage III. viii. 212 A good many men were missing, shot or bushwhacked, we did not know which.

bushwhacker (’buj,hwsek3(r)). U.S. [f. bush sb.1 + whacker, one who ‘whacks’ or beats. (Cf. also Du. bosch-wachter, forest-keeper.)] lit. One who whacks or beats bushes; hence, 1. One accustomed to beat about or make his way through bushes; a backwoodsman, a bush¬ ranger. 1809 W. Irving Ktiickerb. vi. v. (1849) 342 They were gallant bush-whackers and hunters of racoons by moonlight.

2. Applied in the American Civil War to irregular combatants who took to the woods, and were variously regarded as patriot guerillas, or as bush-rangers and banditti; a bush-fighter. 1862 Macm. Mag. J une 141 Of banditti, or bush-whackers ..we say nothing. 1866 J. E. Skinner After Storm I. 240 Neither bushwhackers or slaves were seen in the streets.

3. A scythe or other implement used to cut away brushwood. 1858 J. Dow Serm. I. (Bartlett) The victim soon destined to fall before the keen-edged bush-whacker of Time. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. iv. 81 He is a graduate of the plough, and the stub-hoe, and the bushwhacker.

4. One who clears the land of bush, esp. an axeman engaged in cutting timber. N.Z. 1898 J. Bell In Shadow of Bush iv. 18 Davie isn’t qualified as a bush whacker yet. 1907 W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 257 The most skilful bush-whacker in the district. 1948 R.

BUSINESS

694 Finlayson Tidal Creek 11. v. 149 How nice after Uncle Ted’s bushwhacker style to see a table with a crisp white cloth.

Hence bushwhackerism. 1883 American VI. 356 The ‘border ruffianism’ and the ‘bushwhackerism’ which disgraced Missouri.

bushwhacking ('buf,hw£ekir)), vbl. sb. U.S. 1. Making one’s way through bushes; esp. the pulling of a boat by means of the bushes along the margin of a stream. 1826 T. Flint Recoil. Miss. Valley 86 A process, which, in the technics of the boatmen [of the Mississippi] is called bush-whacking. 1828 - Hist. & Geog. Miss. Valley (Bartlett) The propelling power of the keel-boat is by oars, sails, setting-poles, the cordelle, and.. bush-whacking, or pulling up by the bushes.

2. The making of the woods a basis of operations for fighting or deeds of violence; bush-fighting. 1864 Daily Tel. 23 Aug. An unimportant bushwhacking foray. 1880 Scribner's Monthly XXL Dec. 301 Forbes underwent four months of bushwhacking with the Carlists.

3. Felling or clearing bush (with an axe). N.Z. 1906 E. W. Elkington Adrift in N.Z. xvi. 262 Bush¬ felling, or, as it is termed, bush-whacking was a favourite pastime of mine. 1907 W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 287 You new chums cuttin’ good terbacker as if you was bushwackin’. 1930 W. Smyth Wooden Rails iii. 39 Don’t you like saw-mills and bush whacking and all that?

'bush,whacking, ppl. a. That bushwhacks. 1883 American VI. Unionist, Fortner.

92 The scouting, bushwhacking

bushy ('bufi), a. [f. bush sb.1 + -y.] 1. Abounding in bushes; overgrown with shrubs or underwood. 1382 Wyclif Isa. vii. 19 In alle busshi places. 1552 Huloet, Busshy places, Vespices. 1575 Turberv. Bk. Venerie Pref. Seruants such as beat the bushie woods To make their masters sport. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. 1. (1851) 32 They seek the dark, the bushie, the tangled Forrest. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 305 The country being, something more bushy, and here and there a few trees. 1885 Manch. Examiner 15 May 5/2 The enemy still occupied the bushy ravine running down to the river.

2. Growing like a bush; shrub-like. 1567 Maplet Gr. Forest 44 Fumitorie.. is a bushie or shrublike Herbe, like to Coreander. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Dec. 2 All in the shadowe of a bushye brere. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 696 Each odorous bushie shrub. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. iii. 54 A thick bushy tree like a fir. 1814 Wordsw. White Doe ofRyl. 1. 96 The spread Of the elder’s bushy head. 1861 Pratt Flower. PL IV. iii.

3. a. Of hair: Growing thick like a bush. 1611 Bible Song of Sol. v. 11 His locks are bushy, a 1613 J. Dennys in Arb. Garner I. 150 Some lusty horse.. Whose bushy tail upon the ground doth track. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 305 A bushy head of haire. 1843 Carlyle Past. & Pr. 11. x. (1872) 78 A man with eminent nose, bushy brows and clear-flashing eyes. 1873 Black Pr. Thule i. 1 The gusts of wind that blew about his bushy grey beard.

fb. Of persons: With long thick hair; also quasi-sb. Obs. 1615 P. Small Man's May in Farr’s S.P. (1848) 331 Time still describ’d in poets thus we finde, Bushy before, but very bald behinde. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. n. 56 He does that which is ridiculous.. who is.. a Bushie among those who are Poled.

c. Ent. Of antennas: covered with long, erect hairs (Cent. Diet. 1889). 4. Puffed out like a bush. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Germany II. 298 They wear inted hats, and monstrous bushy ruffs. 1832 Fraser's ag. VI. 386 All.. had taken more stuff than necessary for their clothes.. It is as if the women could not be bushy enough, the men not puffy enough, to please themselves.

f 5. Dwelling among the bushes, rare. 1563 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 83 The Nightingal.. gettes the peerlesse prayse, The bushie birdes among.

6. Comb., as bushy-browed, -tailed, -whiskered, -wigged, adjs. bushy stunt, a virus disease of tomato plants (see quot. 1956). 1912 W. Owen Let. 2 July (1967) 148 A bushy-browed and horny-fisted blacksmith's assistant. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai x. 176 The crinkly lines round his bushy browed eyes were thoughtful. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Diet., A man who is poor is said to be ‘at Bushy park’, or ‘in the park’. [Cf. bushed.]. 1936 G. C. Ainsworth in Jrnl. Min. Agric. XLIII. 266 It is proposed to call this disease of tomato, ‘Bushy Stunt’. 1939 Ann. Reg. 1938 376 The virus of bushy stunt of tomato was obtained in a fully crystalline state. 1956 Diet. Gardening (R.H.S.) IV. 2124/1 Another virus disease [of tomato plants] is Bushy Stunt, in which there is enormous production of secondary shoots with a resulting bushy appearance in the plant. 1868 Amer. Naturalist II. 535 It seems widely separated .. in habits from its nearest relative Nycteris occidentalis, or bushy-tailed Bat. 1947 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. xxv. 207 The bushy-tailed meercat (Bdeogale crassicaude). 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1871) II. 1. ix. 40 Impassioned bushywhiskered youth threatening suicide. 1832-in Fraser's Mag. V. 402 Old sedentary bushy-wigged Cave.

7. Concerned with the (Australian) bush. 1900 H. Lawson On Track 37 The foreman was a bushman; his sympathies were bushy. 1904 Daily Chron. 19 Apr. 3/5 Her stories are of the bush bushy.

bushy ('boji), sb. Austral, and N.Z. Also bushie. [f. bush sb.1 + -Y6.] A dweller in the bush; a bushman as distinguished from a townsman. 1896 H. Lawson While Billy Boils 144 Bushies don’t generally carry their swags out of pubs in their sleep. 1899 Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Jan. 14/1 The usual summer query — Why won’t the bushy wear straw hats? 1924 H. T. Gibson

That Gibbie Galoot xvii. 66 The unlucky 'bushie' whose mannerisms or objectionable traits attract overmuch attention from his mates. 1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Dec. 20/1 The sweet test of a bushie! He looks round for a rail to lean his elbows on. while the townie negligently leans up against a post. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 21 The bushie spoke for the first time.

bushylle, obs. form of bushel. busied ('bizid), ppl. a. For forms see busy v. [f. busy v. + -ED.] Attentively occupied, engaged, actively employed. (The attrib. use is rare; for the use as predicate see busy v. i c.) 1611 Florio, Affacendato, busied, full of affaires. 1659 Land-Mark betwixt Prince People 2 Our.. too much busied forefathers. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa II. vii. 55 That the busied Monk was tempted but with one Devil.

busily ('bizih), adv. Forms: 3 busiliche, (sup. bisilukest), 3-5 bisiliche, 4 bysely, bysily, bisili, bisyly, besaly, besiliche, (comp, bisiloker), 4-5 bysyly, bisily, besily, 4-6 besyly, 4-7 besely, 5 besele, besselyche, bysiliche, bysylyche, (comp. besilier), 6 bisilye, buisyly(e, busely(e, busilie, 4, 6- busily, [f. busy a. + -ly2.] f 1. With fixed attention; carefully, heedfully; attentively, intently; with attention to details; particularly, minutely, ‘curiously’. Obs. c 1205 Lay. 4473 His cnihtes.. laien bi pan brimme and bisilichen [c 1275 busiliche] hit wisten. ? a 1300 Cato Major IV. 35 Let not o Bok bisiliche Beo lernynge euer-more. CI325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1446 Wyth besten blod busily anoynted. 1382 Wyclif Matt. ii. 7, 8 Than Herode, bisily lernyde of hem the tyme of the sterre.. And he.. saide, Go 3ee, and axe jee bisily of the chyld. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Lawes T. 997 He loked besily Upon the child. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. Cij/2 He demanded more besilier after hym. a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 225 How besely she was to kepe her tongue. 1577 tr. Bullinger’s Decades (1592) 344 It is in the 3. of Kings, very busily set downe.

fb. Anxiously, solicitously.

Obs.

CI400 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 234 Here we hue bisiliche wit strong sorwe & care.

f2. Earnestly, importunately.

fervently,

eagerly,

11340 Cursor M. 17710 (Trin.) Bisili to god preyonde. c 1375 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. B. 14 We blesse pe bisyly. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 26 Pray for me besele. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Bbij, My wife.. busily praied me to kepe it. 1621 Bolton Stat. Irel. (11 Eliz.) 316 Dermot Mac Morche.. went.. to the said king Henry, and him besely besought of succour.

3. So as to be fully occupied: diligently, industriously, assiduously, energetically. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1067 About worldisshe thynges pai here travaile Ful bysily. 1447-8 J. Shillingford Lett. (1871) 3 Have full bisily labored to make an answere to the articulys. 1508 Fisher Wks. 1. (E.E.T.) 58 He shoulde haue resysted.. more besyly. 1596 Shaks. i Hen. IV, v. v. 38 Northumberland, and the Prelate Scroope.. are busily in Armes. 1736 Butler Anal. vii. 142 This little scene of human life, in which we are so busily engaged. 1798 Southey To Spider, Busily our needful food to win, We work. 1866 Kingsley Herew. x, The old Lapp nurse sat.. sewing busily.

b. Actively, briskly. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 1 Byrdes besely syngynge. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. 11. vii. (1872) 65 St. Edmundsbury.. is a busily fermenting place. i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. §11. 72 The stars.. twinkled busily.

business (’biznis). Forms: i North, bisijnis, 3 bisenes, 3-4 bisines, 4 bisy-, bysi-, bissynes, bissinesse, 4-5 besines(se, besenes, bisy-, bysynesse, 4-6 besynes(se, bysy-, busynes, 4-7 busynesse, 5 besiness, bessynes, byse-, bisinesse, 6 besyness, busenes(s, buysines, 6-7 busines, -nesse, (7 bius'ness, busynese), 7- business. [OE. (North.) bisignis, f. busy a., or stem of busy v.\ see -ness. Shortened to a dissyllable, since it ceased to be a noun of state. The plural businesses (formerly also business) is used only in a few senses, chiefly 14, 15.] I. State or quality of being busy. (Cf. the adj.) (These senses are all obs., but some of them occur as nonce-words with special spelling busyness, and trisyllabic pronunciation.)

fl. a. The state of being busily engaged in anything, b. Industry, diligence. Obs. c 1350 Cursor M. 28748 (Cott. Galba MS.) Fasting and gude bisines Gers a man fle lustes of fless. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 60 Cristis bysynesse in prechynge. C1440 Promp. Parv. 37 Bysynesse, assiduitas, diligencia. 1549 Compl. Scot. 2 Distitute of.. al verteus bysynes of body ande saul. 1611 Bible Rom. xii. 11 Not slouthfull in busines [1881 Rev. Vers, in diligence not slothful]. 1696 Stillingfl. 12 Serm. viii. 349 Apprehensive.. not so much from the business of our enemies. 01713 in Guardian No. 35 §12 Behold the raptures which a writer knows.. Behold his business while he works the mine.

f2. Activity, briskness. Obs. 1423 Jas. I. King's Q. civ, The lytill squerell, full of besynesse. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 681 The businesse of his [a dog’s] taile. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 11 The bulkiness of the world, the business of motion.

f3. Mischievous officiousness. Obs.

or

impertinent

activity,

1466 Paston Lett. No. 543 II. 263 Al by her awne bessynes of her tunge. 1528 More Dial. Heresyes iii. Wks. 212/1 Faccious wayes full of busynes. 1580 Sidney Arcadia 315 O

BUSINESS noble sisters.. now you be gone what is left in that sex, but babling and businesse?

+ 4. Eagerness, earnestness, importunity. Obs. ? 0 1300 Cato Major 11. xvii, Envye wi)? gret bisinesse Beohenk pe forte fleo. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xn. Introd., Males sechep females with besinesse. £1400 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. App. iii. 122 J?orou3 besynesse of preyers. 1543 Prymer ibid. 86 Make me accordyng to my busynes Partaker of thy .. glory endles.

f5. Anxiety, solicitude, care; distress, uneasiness. (The earliest cited sense.) Obs. C950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt., Table Contents xx, Ne bisignisse mettes & woedes haebende [Lat. nec solicitudinem escse et vestis habendam]. 01300 Cursor M. 14105 ‘Martha, Martha’..‘In mikel bisenes ert J?ou’. 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xii. 19 Thei shulen eete her breed in bisynes [solicitudine]. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 3 Put away thoughte and gret pensifnes.. and besinesse. 1526 Tindale Gal. v. 17 From hence forth, let no man put me to busynes [so in Coverdale, Cranmer, Geneva]. 1577 St. Augustine's Man. (ed. Longman) 90 Leave of thine own businesses.. and withdrawe thy selfe from thy troublesome thoughtes.

f6. Care, attention, observance. Obs. 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xli. 15 Haue thou bisynesse [curam habe] of a good name. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxvi. (i495)-i48 The herte hyghte cor., of cur a besynesse, for therin is all besynesse and cause of witte and of knowinge. I5°3_4 Act 19 Hen. VII, xxxii. §5 Takyng uppon theym the charge and besynes for the assessyng of the seid somme. 1540 Hyrde Vives Instr. Chr. Worn. (1592) CCij, All these busines, & keeping of the corce.

f7. a. Trouble, difficulty; ado. Cf. busy a. 3. Obs. cl374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 102 Ful mychell besynesse had he or pat he myght his lady wynne. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. III. 449 [ He] aleyde pis sorwe unnepe wip grete besynesse. 1528 Tindale Obedience Chr. Man Wks. I. 310 What business had he to pacify his children. 01599 RBodenham in Arb. Garner I. 34, I had no small business to cause my mariners to venture. 1693 Locke Educ. § 157 His learning to read should be made as little Trouble or Business to him as might be.

fb. Ado, disturbance, commotion. Obs. 1494 Fabyan vii. 684 For whose goodes was besynesse by-twen the Kynges amner and the sheryffe. 1514 Ld. Mountjoy in Stryp e Eccl. Mem. I. 1. 9 He feared that if they had not their pardons in likewise, they would either make business or they would avoid. 1526 Tindale Matt, xxvii. 24 When Pilate sawe.. that moare busenes [1611 a tumult] was made. 1560 Daus Sleidane's Comm. 343 a, One of the Sergeaunts.. made a busines with him as though he would haue caried him to pryson. 1570-87 Holinshed Sc. Chron. (1806) no Argadus sent foorth.. with a power to appease that businesse.

|8. Diligent labour, exertion, pains. Phrases. to do (one’s) business, give business: to take pains, do one’s endeavour (L. dare operam). 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1068 Wald pai do half swilk bysines About goddes of heven. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 373 He wol pat pai 3eue bissynes to pe londe. c 1400 Maundev. xxiii. 251 Thei.. alle weys don here besynes, to destroyen hire enemyes. 1422 E.E. Wills (1882) 51 They will do her besynesse to fulfyll goddes will. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas, xiv. xiv, In vayne they spende their besynes.

f II. 9. A company of flies, also of ferrets. Obs. c 1470 Hors, Shepe, & G. (1822) 31 A besynes of flyes. i486 Bk. St. Albans fvia, A Besynes of ferettis.

III. That about which one is busy.

110. The object of anxiety or serious effort; a serious purpose or aim. Obs. £-1392 Chaucer Compl. Venus 20 Me to serue is al his besynesse. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle in. iii. (1483) 51 Alle youre study and besinesse hath ben to defame tho that were better than ye. ?ci530 Prov. Howsolde-kepyng in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 29 Peyse wisely the besynes & the purpose of them wich ammynyster thy goodes.

11. a. A task appointed or undertaken; a person’s official duty, part or province; function, occupation. Phr. to make it one's business’, to undertake as a self-appointed task (to do something). c 1385 Chaucer L.G. W. 1719 Bad hire seruauntis don hire besynesse. 01533 Ld. Berners Huon Iviii. 199 It behoueth vs shortely to determyne oure besynes.. I shall shew you what is best for vs ii to do. 1611 Bible Gen. xxxix. 11 Ioseph went in to the house, to doe his busines. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. I. x. 25 Though going abroad sometimes about her businesse, She never makes it her businesse to go abroad. 0 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 95 Love’s Business is to love, and to enjoy. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 18 [f 1 Because a Thing is every Body’s Business, it is no Body’s Business. 1723 G. P[arry] tr. Cicero's De Orat. 11. 134 When, as you said, I had first made it my Business not to examine but to aggravate. 1735 Berkeley Defence Free-Thinking in Maths. 54 And since the publication thereof, I have myself freely conversed with Mathematicians of all ranks, and some of the ablest Professors, as well as made it my business to be informed of the Opinions of others. 1802 Mar. Edgeworth Mor. T. (1816) I. xvii. 141 It is our business to keep the room aired and swept. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 183 The great business of the sea is .. eating away the margin of the coast. 1946 ‘P. Wentworth’ Clock strikes Twelve ix. 43 ‘I don’t know how she knew.’ ‘She’s the sort of woman who makes it her business to know.’

b. That on which one is engaged, or with which one is concerned, at the time; often spec. the errand on which one comes. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 193 If you knew my businesse, You would intreat me rather goe then stay. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. 11. 72 What is your business here so late to Night? 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 644 What Buis’ness brought thee to my dark abode? 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 15 His Business will have no Difficulty in it. Mod. I asked him his business. What business brings you here?

BUSINESS

695

12. a. A person’s official or professional duties as a whole; stated occupation, profession, or trade. 1477 Earl Rivers Dictes (Caxton) 106 He that wele & dyligently vnderstondith to his bysenesse. 1549 Latimer Serm. on the Ploughers (Arb.) 29 Lette euerie man do his owne busines, and folow his callyng. 1694 R. L’Estrange Fables ccclxv. (ed. 6) 385 They make Fooling their Business and their Livelihood. 1732 Law Serious C. ii. (ed. 2) 19 His every day business, will be a course of wise and reasonable actions. 1745 Chesterf. Lett. I. c. 278 To apply yourself seriously to your business. 1882 Beecher in Homiletic Monthly (N. Y.) Apr. 381 One whose business it is to preach.

fb. Official or public engagements generally, active life. Obs. See also man of business: 22 a. 1750 Chesterf. Lett. III. ccxxiv. 15 Your German .. will be of great use to you when you come into business. 1779 Johnson Pope Wks. IV. 6 Sir William Trumbal, who had been.. secretary of state, when he retired from business, fixed his residence in the neighbourhood of Binfield.

c. Phr. business as usual’, things proceeding normally in spite of disturbing circumstances. 1884 Punch 12 Apr. 178/2 The true way she could show respect to Her Majesty was by letting her shopmen carry on ‘business as usual’ for the benefit of Her Majesty’s subjects. 1914 Wilson & Hammerton Great War I. 84 ‘Business as usual’ was the motto of London. 1944 J. S. Huxley On Living in Rev. iii. 38 The subordination of the profit motive and all ideas of ‘business as usual’ to the non-economic motive of success in war. 1969 Times 25 Nov. 21/7 We can never expect it to be a case of, after the squeeze, business as usual.

13. a. In general sense: action which occupies time, demands attention and labour; esp. serious occupation, work, as opposed to pleasure or recreation. C1400 Apol. Loll. 3 Hatyng to be enpli3ed v/ip seculer bisines. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 826/1 Occupied in honorable businesse. 1600 C. Percy in Shaks. C. Praise 38 Pestred with contrie businesse. 1653 Walton Angler Ep. Ded. 3 To give rest to your mind, and devest your self of your more serious business. 1796 Southey Occas. Pieces v, The business of the day is done. 1857 Heavysege Saul (1869) 141 Business still should alternate with pleasure.

fb. Work done by beasts. Obs. rare. 1737 H. Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) II. v. 104 A Horse which eats only a moderate Quantity of Food, will do as much Business.. [as] one that eats continually.

c. Phrases, to mean business: to be in earnest (colloq.). on business: with an errand or purpose relating to business. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown 1. ix, I tells ’ee I means business, and you’d better keep on your own side. Mod. No admittance except on business.

d. a person's business: work to be done or matters to be attended to in his service or on his behalf, to do (a person's) business: to ‘do for’, ruin, or kill him. Also fig. 1535 Coverdale 2 Macc. xv. 5 To perfourme the kynges busynesse. 1611 Bible Luke ii. 49 Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? 1667 Pepys Diary 16 Nov., Lord Vaughan, that is so great against the Chancellor .. was heard to swear he would do my Lord Clarendon’s business. 1694 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 349 They would now doe the queens businesse, if she were not immortall. 1773 Goldsmith Stoops to Conq. v, Oh, Tony, I’m killed!.. That last jolt, that laid us against the quickset hedge, has done my business. 1816 Jane Austen Emma I. viii. 122 Her visit to Abbey Mill.. seems to have done his business. He is desperately in love. 1883 J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 7 It was the bricks and mortar that did his business, poor chap. 1891 J. M. Dixon Diet. Idiom. Eng. Phr. 47 His last imprudent exposure of himself to the night air did the business for him.

14. a. (With plural.) A pursuit or occupation demanding time and attention; a serious employment as distinguished from a pastime. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 77 Now al most is no worldly bysines pat ministres of pe auter are not inplied in. 1458 MS. of Christ's Hosp. Abingdon in Dom. Archit. III. 41 Another blissed besines is brigges to make. 1535 Coverdale 2 Tim. ii. 4 No man that warreth tangleth him selfe with worldly busynesses. 1727 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. v. (1841) I. 33 Trade ought to be followed as one of the great businesses of life. 1853 A. J. Morris Relig. & Business, Title-page, Wherever religion is a business, there will business be a religion. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 54

b. spec. A particular occupation; a trade or profession. 1827 Carlyle Transl. (1874) 217, I wished to be a fisherman, and tried that business for a time. 1852 McCulloch Taxation 1. ii. (ed. 2) 74 Taxes on the profits of particular businesses. 1856 Froude/Z/sL Eng. (1858) I. i. 51 Not allowing any man to work at a business for which he was unfit. 1878 Jevons Primer Pol. Econ. 58 A good butcher makes high wages, because his business is a greasy one, besides being thought to be cruel. Mod. Which of these businesses is to be preferred?

15. a. A particular matter demanding attention; a piece of work, a job. (The plur. is now unusual.) 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1582) 424 b, The continuall buysines they haue do vex them. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. iii. i. 395 We may effect this businesse, yet ere day. 1595-John iv. iii. 158 A thousand businesses are briefe in hand. 1611 Bible Pref. 11 In a businesse of moment a man feareth not the blame of conuenient slacknesse. 1647 W. Browne Polex. 1. 66 During all these great businesse. 1718 Pope Iliad xix. 152 What I act, survey, And learn from thence the business of the day. 1851 Carlyle Sterling 11. vi. (1872) 139 On these businesses .. he was often running up to London. 1881 Daily Tel. 27 Dec., Attention was paid to the business of the evening.

b. Elliptically for; A difficult matter (colloq.).

1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. 11. xii. (1872) 90 If he had known what a business it was to govern the Abbey. c. to do one's business: ‘to ease oneselF. 1645 Sacr. Decretal 3 Have a.. care .. that.. no birds build, chatter, or do their businesse, or sing there. d. letters of business: a royal letter authorizing Convocation to transact business. [1839 Cardwell Doc. Ann. Ch. Eng. II. 359 No business can be undertaken in convocation, unless it has been specially proposed to them by royal license. 1842 Lathbury Hist. Convocation 350 Parliament was summoned in February, 1713: and the convocation met on the 16th... On the 17th, the convocation was authorized, by a royal letter, to proceed to business.] 1873 Phillimore Eccles. Law 1934 In 1713, convocation had royal letters of business, and considered various subjects,—penance, excommunication, forms for the visitation of prisoners. 1906 Convocations Cant. & York in Pari. Papers LXXXIV. 805 You may see your way to advise His Majesty the King to direct that Letters of Business be issued. 16. a. A matter that concerns or relates to a particular person or thing; const, 0/, or genitive case. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xxi. 43 It is longe now sith I made any mencion of the busynesses of farre countreis. 1526 Tindale Phil. 12, That my busynes [ra *car’ efjue] is happened unto the gretter furtherynge off the gospell. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 32 Virtue is the business of the legislator. b. Concern, the fact of being concerned with. 1759 Johnson Rasselas xxix. (1787) 85 My business is with man. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1871) II. 1. i. 4 Madame, your business is with the children. c. colloq. A matter with which one has the right to meddle.

Also, justifying motive or right of

action or interference, ‘anything to do’ (with). Almost

always

with

negative

expressed

or

implied. Const, usually with, or infinitive. C1690 R. L’Estrange (J.), What business has a tortoise among the clouds? 1761 Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph II.308 She has no business to go into her own lonely house again; it would be enough to kill her. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §13. 105 Such kind of architecture has no business with rich ornament. 01859 Kingsley Misc. II. 311 That is no business of ours. 1878 H. Smart Play or Pay ix. (ed. 3) 177 A Captain of Dragoons has no business with a wife; but then we’re always doing what we’ve no business to do. d. to mind one's croon business: to attend to one’s own affairs, to refrain from meddling with what does not concern one. Now colloq. 1625 Bacon, Envy, Ess. (Arb.) 512 Neither can he, that mindeth but his own Businesse, finde much matter for Envy. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 16 If 7, I.. have nothing to do but to mind my own Business. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones (1836) I. 1. ii. 27, I must desire all those critics to mind their own business. 1882 Besant All Sorts 40 ‘Mind your own business,’ growled his uncle. e. to go about one's business: to go and attend to one’s own affairs, to go away; in imperative used as a formula of impatient dismissal. So to send

about

one's

business:

to

dismiss

unceremoniously, to ‘send packing’. 1687 Magd. Coll. 6? Jas. II (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 210 He was a pert.. man .. and .. might go about his business. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3801/6 They advised him to go about his business. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull 70 Shall I leave all this matter to thy management.. and go about my business? 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvi. v. (1840) 236/2 Go about your business, I hate the sight of you. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 423 The basha .. sends them about their business. 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 62 He would.. be told to go about his business. f. like nobody's business, beyond the normal range (of a person’s capacity); in no ordinary way; ‘like anything’. Hence also nobody's business, an extraordinary affair, colloq. 1931 E. Linklater^woh in America 242 ‘How I love you is just nobody’s business,’ she said. 1938 Wodehouse Code of Woosters vii. 163 The fount of memory spouting like nobody’s business. 1941 ‘N. Blake’ Abominable Snowman xii. 132 Plays the piano like nobody’s business. 1957 H. Croome Forgotten Place vii. 92 My head this morning is nobody’s business. f 17. A subject or topic of consideration or discussion;

the

subject of a book,

etc.

Obs.

(common in 17th c.) 1622 Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 128 This Sunday .. the Epistle and Gospel treat about the same businesse, the birth of Christ. 1640-4 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 42 When a Business was begun and in debate. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 133. 2073 Resolved .. That.. the House doe only take into consideration publique businesses, and no private businesses. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 379/1 The Pythagoreans.. were studiously addicted to the business of Numbers. 1699 Bentley Phal. 480 The very Matter and Business of the Letters sufficiently discovers them to be an Imposture. 18. a. vaguely, An affair, concern, matter. (Now

usually

indicating

some

degree

of

contempt or impatience, esp. when preceded by a sb. in attrib. relation.) Frequent in colloquial phrases like ‘a bad business’, ‘a queer business’. 1605 Shaks. Macb. 11. i. 24 We would spend [an houre] in some words vpon that Businesse. 1658-9 KnighTley in Burton Diary (1828) IV. 75 Their officer expostulated the business with me. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics xxvii. 433 It is a poor business for a man to be secure that has nothing to lose. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4012/1 A Business has lately happened which may.. engage us in new Disputes. 1805 Med.Jrnl. XIV. 354 The vaccinator should .. see his patient at least four times during the progress of the business. 1813 Southey Nelson II. 177 This boat business.. might be part of a great plan of invasion. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola 1. iii.

BUSINESSLESS (1880) I. 40. 1868 H. Kingsley Silcote of S. III. v. 73, I am getting so sick of the whole business.

fb. Affectedly used for an ‘affair of honour’, a duel. Obs. £21637 B. Jonson Masque of Merc. Wks. V. 431 (N.) For that’s the word of tincture, the business. Let me alone with the business. I will carry the business. I do understand the business. I do find an affront in the business.

c. colloq. Used with intentional indefiniteness of material objects. (Cf. affair, concern.) 1654 Evelyn Diary (Chandos) 228 Sir Thos. Fowler’s aviarie.. is a poor businesse. 1697 tr. C'tess D' Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 231 Some Pastry business, which burns the Mouth, it is so excessively peppered. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Worn. & Bks. I. 1. 10 A business of screws and iron wheels.

19. a. Dealings, intercourse {with), arch. 1611 Bible Judges xviii. 7 They, .had no businesse with any man. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. iv. vi. (1872) 245 What a shallow delusion is this.. That any man .. can keep himself apart from men, have ‘no business’ with them, except a cash-account ‘business’.

fb. Euphemism for ‘sexual intercourse’. Obs. 1630 Taylor (N.), Lais of Corinth, ask’d Demosthenes One hundred crownes for one nights businesse. 1654 Wits Recreations (N.), He does no business of thy wives, not he, He does thy business (Coracine) for thee.

20.

Theat. Action as distinguished from dialogue. (Formerly used more widely.) Also in phr. business of the stage. 1671 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal hi. ii. (Arb.) 83, ‘I see here is a great deal of Plot, Mr. Bayes.’ Bayes. ‘Yes, now it begins to break; but we shall have a world of more business anon.’ 1763 Garrick Let. 10 Aug. (1831) I. 163 If you mean by the warmth of temper you have accused me of to Mr. Johnson, a certain anxiety for the business of the stage, your accusation was well founded. 1779 Sheridan Critic 11. ii, The carpenters say, that unless there is some business put in here.. they shan’t have time to clear away the fort. 1833 Lamb Elia (i860) 264 He carried the same rigid exclusiveness of attention to the stage business. 1849 Theatrical Programme 4 June 13/1 Mr. Hurlstone is not sufficiently alive to the business of the stage to make a figure among professionals, i860 Cornh. Mag. II. 749 They give the literary composition the almost contemptuous title of ‘words’, while they dignify the movements of the actors with the name of ‘business’. 18931. Zangwill Children of Ghetto (ed. 3) xiii. 123 An actor who knows all the ‘business’ elaborated by his predecessors. 1923 Wodehouse Adv. Sally vi. 78 ‘Bit o’ business,’ she announced, at length. ‘What do you mean, a bit of business?’ ‘Character stuff,’ explained Miss Winch... ‘Thought it out myself. Maids chew gum, you know.’ 1949 [see bus sb.3].

21. a. spec, (from 13 and 19): Trade, commercial transactions or engagements. 1727 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. iv. (1841) I. 30 The merchants’ exchange, where they manage, negotiate, and frequently indeed beget business with one another. Ibid. If they do not get money, they gain knowledge in business. 1823 Lamb Elia (i860) 3 To open a book of business, or bill of lading. 1862 Burton Bk-hunter I. 84 [People] who wanted to do a stroke of business with some old volume. 1884 Times (weekly ed.) 12 Sept. 7/3 They are evidently doing a very brisk business. fig. 1847 De Quincey Secret Soc. Wks. VI. 256 It has done business as a swindle through thirty generations. Ibid. 258 The goddess and her establishment of hoaxers at Eleusis did a vast ‘stroke of business’ for more than six centuries.

b. place of business: usually in spec, sense, a shop, office, warehouse, commercial establishment; so also house of business, hours of business, business hours: the hours in the day during which commercial or other business is transacted. c. The audience or attendance at a theatre; a ‘house’. Also, the total of box-office receipts. 1755 Mrs. C. Charke Life 130 Business continuing very shocking. 1811 C. Mathews Let. 5 Dec. in Mrs. Mathews Mem. C.M. (1838) II. viii. 173 They may promise a salary, and I am sure they would pay it; but can they promise business? 1837 in W. R. Alger Life E. Forrest (1877) I. 324 Will conclude with her benefit on Friday evening when she will probably have between $900 and $1,000... This is considered a very handsome business. 1895 N. Y. Dramatic News 12 Oct. 5/2 Hanlon brothers’ Superba has played to ‘banner’ business.

d. Bridge. Calling for the purpose of gaining a penalty. Freq. attrib. 1925 A. E. M. Foster Auction Bridge 46 The two players with the better cards are going to get the contract, or they are going to force the others into a bid when a real ‘business’ double for penalties can be made... A double of four or more is always a ‘business’ double. Ibid. 51 The Business Redouble is seldom sound business. 1927 Observer 6 Mar. 25 This Business Pass is one of the most formidable weapons. It converts the Informatory Double into a Business Double. 1959 Listener 23 July 154/3 It is standard practice to regard a double as primarily for business.

22. man of business, f a. One engaged in public affairs (obs.). b. One engaged in mercantile transactions, c. A man of business¬ like habits, one skilled in business, d. The professional agent who transacts a person’s legal business, an attorney. 1670 Burnet Let. to Brisbane, I am.. resolved never to have anything to do more with men of business, particularly with any in opposition to the Court. 1712 Steele Sped. No. 466 f 3, I am a Man of Business, and obliged to be much abroad. 1727 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. iv. (1841) I. 30 Men of business are companions for men of business. 1752 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 113 note, Pericles, a man of business, & a man of sense. 1787 ‘Gambado’ (H. Bunbury) Acad. Horsem. (1809) 30 By a man of business is not meant a Lord of the Treasury, or a Commissioner of Accounts, but what is called on the road, a rider, a bag-man, or bagster. 1857 Buckle Civilis. I. xi. 629 If we were all men of business our

BUSK

696 mental pleasures would be abridged. 1861 Ramsay Remin. vi. (ed. 18) 232 In Scotland it is usual to term the law-agent or man of business of any party his ‘doer’.

23. A commercial enterprise regarded as a ‘going concern’; a commercial establishment with all its ‘trade’, liabilities, etc. a 1888 Mod. {Heading of Advt. column) Businesses, etc., to be disposed of.

24. attrib. and in Comb., as business agent, centre, college, committee, efficiency, girl, habits, hours, house, letter, life, proposition, school, suit, transaction, woman, etc.; also, business card, a card of a tradesman, manufacturer, commercial traveller, etc., with his address and various particulars as to the nature of his business, used for advertising purposes; business doctor (see quot. 1909); business edge, cf. business end; business end (used humorously, see quot.); colloq., the operative part; business-looking a., having an appearance suggestive of business; business lunch(eon), a luncheon at which commercial transactions are discussed; business man = man of business; see 22 b, c; business manager, a manager of the business or commercial side of an enterprise; hence business-manage vb. trans.; business part, the sphere of business (also concr. — business end). 1849 C. Lanman Alleghany Mts. xi. 85 The ‘guide, counsellor, and friend’ of the Indians, as well as their ♦business agent. 1901 Merwin & Webster Calumet lIC i. 15 All that remained was to wait until the business agent made the next move. 1840 Boston (Mass.) Almanac 119 ‘Business cards printed in the most expeditious manner. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. I. 317 (Hoppe) Bland strangers with business-cards meeting the servants in the streets. 1959 T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman in. 102 Here’s my business card With the full address. 1851 c. Cist Cincinnati 278 ♦Business centre. 1888 J. Kirkland McVeys 4 In the ‘business centre’ one might see an occasional tall, narrow, straight-sided brick structure. 1865 Indianapolis Daily Jrnl. 14 Sept. 2/4 Students in Bryant’s ♦Business College. 1903 A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden xvi. 124 He had just graduated from a business college, and claimed to know how to do business ‘in a business like manner’. 1838 W. L. Garrison in Garrison & Jackson Life (1885) II. 227 A ‘business committee was then appointed. 1901 Daily Express 6 Aug. 6/2 A very novel profession has been lately started in the City. It may be called that of the ♦business doctor. 1909 Modern Business Jan. 606/1 In America.. there exists a body of men who are known as ‘Business Doctors’, men who are called in to give advice upon the proper conduct of business. 1935 Antiquity IX. 211 The *business edge of the chiselended arrow. 1926 A. Huxley Jesting Pilate iv. 316 Reduced to an Indian diet, Americans would be a good deal less interested than they actually are in *business efficiency, uplift and the Charleston. 1953 D. Parry Going Up iv. 154, I was supposed to be a business-efficiency expert, one of those menaces who crawl round doing time-and-motion studies. 1878 Holbrook Hyg. Brain 56 The ‘business end of a carpet-tack. 1936 ‘R. Crompton’ Sweet William ix. 227 The business end of a geometrical compass was jabbed into Douglas’s arm. 1955 Sci. Amer. Sept. 197/1 The business end of the coronagraph is the quartz polarizing monochromator. 1962 Sunday Express 25 Feb. 16/2 The business end of a rifle barrel. 1888 C. M. Yonge Beechcroft at Rockstone I. ix. 167, I.. mixed her up with the ordinary class of ‘business girls. 1958 Betjeman Coll. Poems 215 {title) Business girls. 1839 Dickens Nickleby xl. 390 You will be surprised .. to witness this, in ’business hours. 1881 Daily Tel. 31 Jan., What are they to do after business hours? 1766 J. Rose Let. 8 Apr. in A. & H. Tayler Lord Fife (1925) ii. 31, I will have ‘business letters also to write. 1914 W. Owen Let. 6 Mar. (1967) 237, I make money for this by doing a few translations.. of business letters. 1941 T. S. Eliot Dry Salvages iii. 12 The passengers are settled To fruit, periodicals and business letters. 1868 W. Collins Moonstone II. v. 148 Female Boards.. drew the breath of their ‘business-life through the nostrils of Mr. Godfrey. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 137/2 People.. could maintain an intimate link with ordinary social and business life. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick, ii, A business-looking table, and several ‘business-looking people. 1926 S. Lewis Mantrap xxv. 289, I don’t really know a soul.. except for meeting them at ‘business lunches. 1954 L. MacNeice Autumn Sequel xii. 76 The foregone Conclusion of a business lunch. 1963 P. Moyes Murder a la Mode v. 83 He knew enough of the protocol of business luncheons .. not to be surprised.. that Goring studiously avoided all reference to the matter in hand until the coffee arrived. 1826 H. C. Robinson Diary 9 June (1967) 91 Watts is a ‘business man and is editor and publisher on his own account. 1832 Congress. Globe 30 Jan. 1511 Having been in the practice of the law., and somewhat conversant with business men. 1843 Dickens Chr. Carol iv. 124 One little group of business men. i860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. i. 16 People of cultivation, of pure character, shrewd business-men, men of science [etc.]. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 109 The mass of business men. 1901 R. Loraine in W. Loraine R.L. (1938) 1. iv. 79 Mr. Frohman would finance the enterprise and ‘business manage it entirely. 1852 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. XVII. 306/2 Clerks, book-keepers, foremen, ‘business-managers. 1906 B. Stoker Pers. Remin. H. Irving II. lxxiii. §3. 319, I was Sir Henry Irving’s business manager. 1838 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. Apr.-Aug. XXIX. 490 He [sc. Bentham] committed the mistake of supposing that the *business part of human affairs was the whole of them. 1910 T. E. Lawrence Let. 29 Aug. (1938) 86 The business part of the log with which you are going to block your staircase. 1901 S. E. White Claim Jumpers v. 70, I have a plain ‘business proposition to make. You and I are going to be great friends. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Options (1916) 11 He had been used to having his business propositions heard of. 1916 Nat. Educ. Assoc. U.S. Addresses & Proc. 1915 325 {heading) The service of ‘business schools at the close of the Great War. 1966 ‘N. Blake’ Morning after Death i. 19

‘What do you actually do in the Business School?’ ‘There are courses in economics, management, salesmanship, commercial history, theory of exchange, the ethical aspect of business—all that kind of thing.’ 1840 Carlyle Heroes 1. 36 Snorro .. almost in a brief ‘business style, writes down, etc. 1870 Harper's Bazaar 5 Nov. 707 ‘Business suits. 1882 Advt. in W. Burnot's Mother Goose (Elephant & Castle Theatre) 30 Business Suits—21s. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost iv. 30 A prosaic, gray business suit. 1871 Markby Elem. Law (1874) §472 Nearly all ‘business transactions have reference.. to the ownership of property. 1862 Burton Bk-hunter 1. 38 Persons who might take a purely ‘business view of such transactions. 1850 Clough Dipsychus 11. i. 49 Men’s ‘business-wits the only sane things. 1844 Southern Lit. Messenger X. 486 Reputation of being a ‘‘business woman’. 1958 Betjeman Coll. Poems 215 A thousand business women Having baths in Camden Town.

'businessless, a. nonce-wd. Without business. 1881 Argosy XXXI. 375 His ‘Hegira’ businessless chambers to which he objected.

from

the

'business-like, a. Of persons and things: Suitable for business, befitting business; apt for business, practical, methodical, systematic. Hence 'business.like-ness. 1791 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 349 They are steady, sensible, and have business-like heads. 1804 G. Rose Diaries (i860) II. 157 His Lordship.. had hardly ever anything businesslike to say. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. ii. 18 Ihveterate and business-like gamblers. 1886 Pall Mall Budg. 8 July 28/2 The essence of businesslikeness.

busk (bAsk), sb.' Also 6-7 buske. [a. F. busc, of uncertain origin. Scheler regards it as a doublet of F. bois wood:—late L. boscum (see bush sb.1); cf. the related F. buche, OF. busche fem., splinter of wood. In Fr. as in Eng. the word was formerly sometimes used for the whole corset, and Littre considers it cognate with It. busto (see bust); but this is unsatisfactory with regard to both sense and form.] A strip of wood, whalebone, steel, or other rigid material passed down the front of a corset, and used to stiffen and support it. Formerly and still dial, applied also to the whole corset. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. vn. xxxvi. 175 Her face was Maskt . her bodie pent with buske. 1611 Cotgr., Buc, a buske, plated bodie, or other quilted thing, wome to make, or keepe, the bodie straight. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ill. 94/2 A Busk..is a strong peece of Wood, or Whalebone thrust down the middle of the Stomacker 1755 Mrs. C. Clarke Autobiog. (1827) 64 The want of which latter instrument of death [a dagger] I once saw supplied with a lady’s busk; who had just presence of mind sufficient to draw it from her stays. 1786 Misc. Ess. in Ann. Reg. 125/2 Whale bone and busks, which martyr European girls, they know not. 1824 Craven Dial. 15, I lost my hollin busk, finely flower’d. 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 40 Bundles of wooden busks, and little bits of whalebone.

Hence f busk-point. ‘The lace, with its tag, which secured the end of the busk’ (Nares). Obs. 1599 Marston Sc. Villanie n. viii. 213, I saw him court his Mistresse looking-glasse, Worship a busk-point. 1612 Chapman Widdowes T. Plays 1873 III. 43 Certaine morall disguises of coinesse .. ye borrow of art to couer your buske points, a 1667 Wither Passion of Love, He .. doth crave her To grant him but a busk-point for a favour.

fbusk, sb.2 Obs. Some kind of linen fabric. 1458 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 478/2 Busk for table linen 24* ells @ /4. 1480 Acc. Edw. IV in Privy P. Exp. Eliz. of York 124 For wasshing of divers old peces of busk and of a paillet vjd.

fbusk, sb.3 Obs. Sc. [f. busk Attire, dress, decoration.

v.1;

cf. buskry.]

1723 M’Ward Contendings 356 (Jam.) Cloathed and adorned with the busk and bravery of beautiful and big words.

busk, v.1 Obs. exc. Sc. and north, dial. Also 4-5 bosk, 4-7 buske, (4 busky). See also buss v.2 [Generally thought to be a. ON. bua-sk, refl. of bua to prepare (see boun ppl. a.), the refl. pron. having been agglutinated to the stem, as in bask. (The tram., intr. and refl. constructions are all found in the earliest northern specimens of ME., so that no evidence is available for their development: the order here followed is purely provisional. But for the presumed derivation, it would be more in accordance with the history of other verbs, to start with the trans., including the refl., and take the intr. as the usual elliptical construction of the latter.)]

1. intr. 1. To prepare oneself, get ready. £21300 Cursor M. 11585 (Cott.) Rise vp, iosep, and busk [Gott. busk pe] and ga. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 509 Bryddez busken to bylde. 1375 Barbour Bruce viii. 409 The king buskit and maid him 3ar. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2568, I bid hat ye buske, and no bode make. CI440 York Myst. xxx. 87 Nowe wiffe, J>an ye bythely be buskand.

b. spec. To attire or deck oneself; to dress. *795 Macneill Will & J. Poems (1844) 72 Jean .. loo’d to busk aye In her hame-spun thrifty work. 1875 in Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) 62 Come busk up, an’ let’s be off. c. transf.

To essay, attempt.

c 1340 Alex, fijf Dind. 135 Whan her buskede a burn a bow for to touche.

2. To set out, go (chiefly with notion of speed); to hie, hurry, haste. a 1300 Cursor M. 4309 Quen bou seis him busk to be, bou do be stallworthli to flei. c 1350 Leg. Cathol., Pope Greg. 12 Thai bosked to the biriing. a 1375 Joseph Arim. 202 \>e kyng .. to his bed buskes. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 404 Ane of the vachis.. buskit thiddirward but baid. c 1440 Gaw. Gol. i.

BUSK

BUSKINED

697

24 (Jam.) He maid his offering; Syne buskit hame the samyne way. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneid iv. (Arb.) 102 Flee my sun, and busk on. 1876 Robinson Mid. Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) ’Now, come busk’ be off!

3. to busk up: to get up, rise. C1340 Gaw. 1st Gr. Knt. 1128 bay busken vp bilyue, blonkkez to sadel. C1360 Know Thyself in E.E.P. (1862) 133 be morwe he buskep vp to rise.

II. tram.

4. To prepare, make, or get ready; to set in order, fit out. Still in Sc. (Sometimes with up.) a 1300 Cursor M. 11710 Apon morn pai were busked to pair wai. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 437 per he busked hym a bour. c 1450 Erie of Tolous 232 [We] were buskyd yare, On owre jurney for to fare. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 822 Buske her and make her boun. 1663 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1792) I. 108 (Jam.) The covenanters .. busked the yard dykes very commodiously. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth v, It were hard to deny thee time to busk thy body-clothes. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLV. 179 Heaven help us. .if the good lady’s specs are not ‘busked’ and ready in the case!

5. To dress, attire, accoutre, adorn, dress up\ = ‘to dress’ in its widest sense. Still in Sc. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 142 pou burne for no brydale art busked in wedez! a 1440 Sire Degrev. 1427 Hyt was buskyd above With besauntus ful bry3th. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 390 King Bredus buskit in armour brycht. 1663 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 7 The lady Frendraught.. busked in a white plaid .. came weeping and mourning to the Bog. 1787 Burns Burlesq. Lament ii, But now they’ll busk her like a fright. 1800-24 Campbell Cora Linn iii, Hedges, busk’d in bravery, Look’d rich that sunny morn.

b. spec. To dress a fishing-hook. 1814 Scott Wav. I. ix. 123 He has done nothing.. unless trimming the laird’s fishing-wand or busking his flies. 1819 Blackw. Mag. V. 124 His daughter., we have sometimes seen ‘busking hooks’. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xii, I.. use not to gulp the angler’s hook because it is busked up with a feather called honour.

c-fig1656 Trapp Comm. Rev. xvii. 3 His head only before was busked with the blasphemy.. now his whole body. 1827 Pollok Course of Time vi, The frothy orator, who busked his tales In quackish pomp of noisy words. 6. To dispatch, hurry, hasten. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle 1. xxii. (1859) 25 Deth spareth no persone.. but buskyth you vnto pyttes brynke. 1877 Peacock N.W. Line. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Busk, to hasten, to hurry forward. ‘Noo busk thee sen off, an’ doant stan gawmin’ there for a week.’ ‘I liv’d sarvant wi’ her for a bit, but she buskt me aboot while I couldn’t bide it.’

III. refl. 7. To prepare or equip (oneself), get ready; now esp. Sc. to dress, clothe, or deck (oneself). a 1300 Cursor M. 10556 Anna busked hir and yede. c 1325 Pol. Songs 239 Hue bosketh huem with botouns, Ase hit were a brude. c 1440 Bone Flor. 276 My lord will buske hym to ryde. 1515 Scott. Field 83 in Chetham Misc. (1856) II, He bid buske and bowne him, to go on his message. 1600 Fairfax Tasso vii. xxxvii. 124 The noble Baron .. buskt him boldly to the dreadfull fight. 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland 125 Grettir busked himself for a cold ride. 8. To betake oneself; to hie one. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2477 pei busked hem homward. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. ix. 133 Buske 30W to pat bote and bideth 3e per-inne. 1558 Phaer JEneid iv. Kj marg. note, Mercury busketh him forward. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. ix. (1633) 27 Gathelus and his wife.. were faine to buske them, with all their traine into Europe. 1877 [see 6].

busk, v.2 Naut. [app. a. obs. F. busquer ‘to shift, filch; prowle, catch by hook or crook; busquer fortune to go seek his fortune’ (Cotgr.), ad. It. buscare ‘to filch, to prowl, to shift for ’ (Florio), or Sp. buscar, OSp. boscar to seek; perh. orig. ‘to hunt’, or ‘to beat a wood’, f. bosco wood.] 1. a. intr. Of a ship: To beat or cruise about; to beat to windward, tack: with adv. about, to and again. Also to busk it out: to weather a storm by tacking about.

caners, ‘busking vocalists’, musicians and acrobats. 1897 Daily News 21 Sept. 8/3 A highly-accomplished lady.. begs for a dress in which to go busking. Busking is the jargon for wandering minstrels—folk who play the perambulating pianos we see in the streets or on the sands—folk who sing from morning till midnight. 1905 Evening News 12 Aug. 5/3 We are all ‘busking’ this year. It would surprise the public if they knew who constituted many of the troupes of pierrots and mysterious minstrels that are performing at the various holiday resorts. 1934 P. Allingham Cheapjack 318 Busk, to perform in the street.

b. trans. and intr. To improvise (jazz or similar music). Musicians' slang. 1934 S. R. Nelson All about Jazz ii. 51 The drummer can still busk his part, and except for roughly glancing at the score, that is what the best drummers do today. 1966 Crescendo Feb. 35/1 Many drummers are with small groups or busking outfits and therefore never see a drum part.

busk, v 2 [Origin unknown; if not identical with prec.] intr. Of fowls: To move or shift about restlessly or uneasily. 1567 Turberv. Passions in Chalmers Epitaphs, &c., Birds will alway buske and bate and scape the fowlers trap. 1575 -Bk. Falconrie 4 This sorte of hawkes do never use to plume or tyre uppon the foul whom they have seazed untill such time as they percieve it to leave busking and bating. 1835 Marryat Olla Podr. v, A hole .. as large as if a covey of partridges had been busking in it.

fbusk, v.4 ? Obs. rare~K [? f. busk, var. of bush: cf. bush u.1 But possibly, an application of busk v.2] intr. 1653 W. Lauson in Arb. Eng. Garner I. 104 This fly., among wood or close by a bush, moved in the crust of the water is deadly in an evening.. This is called ‘Busking for Trout’.

busk(e, obs. form of bush. buskayle, var. of bushaile, Obs. t'buskboard. Obs. [? f. busk sb.1 (or ? v.1) + board.] A part of the apparatus for hanging the clapper of a bell. See baldric 4. 1857 W. C. Lukis Ch. Bells 24 The great object in suspending a clapper. The ancient mode with bawdrick and buskboard, was clumsy and expensive.

busked (bAskt), ppl. a.1 In mod.Sc. buskit. [f. busk v.' + -ed.] Dressed, attired; decked. 1787 Burns Burlesq. Lament i. Nae joy her bonie buskit nest Can yield ava.

busked,pp/. a.2 [f. busk sb.1 + -ed2.] Provided with or wearing a busk. 1876 Miss Broughton Joan iv, Mrs. Moberly’s is not that tight, compact, well-busked fat.

buskehl. busken, obs. ff. buskle, buskin. busker1 ('bAska(r)). [f. busk v.1 + -er1.] One that prepares, attires, dresses, etc. 1568 Sir F. Knollys in Cornh. Mag. (1867) 48 She praysed Mystres Marye Ceaton for being the fynest busker, that is to say, the fynest dresser of a womans heade or heare, that is to be seen in any countrye. 1819 Blackw. Mag. V. 233 His enumeration of the famous fly-buskers of Auld Reekie?

busker2 (’bAsk3(r)). [f. busk v.2 + -er1.] One who ‘busks’; an itinerant entertainer or musician. 1857 National Mag. II. 167/1 (heading) The Busker.. His avocation is strictly peripatetic; and hence he takes his title from the short boot, or ‘buskin’, which has been a common article of stage-apparel.. ever since the earliest days of the drama. 1859 Hotten Diet. Slang, Busker, a man who sings or performs in a public house. Scotch. 1908 Daily Chron. 1 Sept. 7/4 ‘Buskers’.. can be counted as belonging to the most genuine of the professional vagrant fraternity. 1951 L. MacNeice tr. Goethe's Faust 1. 33 Leave me not here a hopeless busker!

1665 Lond. Gaz. No. 9/2 A Ship from Longsound, who hath been busking too and again this Fortnight. 1678 Wycherley PI.-Dealer 111. i. 33 Go, busk about, and run thyself into the next great Man’s Lobby. 1713 C. Johnson Successf. Pirate 1. 1 (D.) The ship was found busking on the seas without a mast or rudder. 01734 North Lives II. 316 Sometimes a-try and sometimes a-hull we busked it out.

t'busket. Obs. rare. [f. busk, var. of bush sb.1 + -et1, or ad. Fr. bosquet: cf. also bushet, bosket.] 1. (See quot.)

b. ‘To cruise as a pirate’. [Perh. the original sense: cf. It. buscare, F. busquer (above).]

1803 W. Rose Amadis 127 Wend thy way Thro’ yonder buskets.

1867 Smyth cruising.

buskey, -ie, obs. forms of bushy, busky a.

Sailor’s

Word-bk.,

Busking,

piratical

c. trans. to busk the seas: ? = to scour the seas. 1747 J. Lind Lett. Navy i. (1757) 29 Three deck’d ships are too large and unweildy to busk the seas, as they call it.

2. fig. To go about seeking for, to seek after. a 1734 North Exam. 1. iii. IP 123. 203 The Parties would be less industrious to busk about for any other [defence]. - Lives II. 122 My Lord Rochester.. was inclined .. to busk for some other way to raise the supply. Ibid. III. 54 Running up and down and through the city.. perpetually busking after one thing or other.

3. a. slang. See quots. (But perhaps this is a distinct word.) Hence 'busking vbl. sb. and ppl. a. Now usu., to play music or entertain in the streets, etc. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 215 Obtain a livelihood by ‘busking’, as it is technically termed, or, in other words, by offering their goods for sale only at the bars and in the taprooms and parlours of taverns. Ibid. (ed. 2) III. 216 Busking is going into public houses and playing and singing and dancing. Ibid. 222 Busking, that is going into public houses and cutting likenesses of the company, i860 Cornh. Mag. II. 334 Thieves’ words and phrases, .selling obscene songs—busking. 1874 Sunday Mag. Xmas No. 1 Chair-

1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 10 To gather May buskets [Gloss. Buskets, a diminutive, little bushes of hauthorne].

2. = BOSKET.

it is not impossible that the Eng. word was corrupted from Fr. or Du. The ultimate etymology is unknown. Diez regarded the Romanic words as a. Du. brozeken, and this as a dim. of broze, supposed by him to be ultimately ad. late L. byrsa leather. But the wide diffusion of the word in Romanic and its late appearance in Du. are inconsistent with this hypothesis, which Dutch etymologists decisively reject (see brodekin); and the Romanic forms do not admit of derivation from byrsa. The appearance of the Sp. and Pg. words suggests an oriental origin, but the Arabic etymology proposed by Dozy is far-fetched and untenable. The OF. broissequin, brusquin, the name of a woollen fabric, is prob. unconnected; Godef. says that the material was so called from its colour: cf. brusk.]

1. A covering for the foot and leg reaching to the calf, or to the knee; a half-boot. *593 Privy P. Exp. Eliz. York (1830) 86 Twoo pay re of buskins for the Quenes grace at..iiijs. the payre. 1530 Palsgr. 202/1 Buskyng, brodequin. Ibid. 907 The buskyns, les brousequins. c 1550 Wyll of Deuyll (Collier) 9, I geue to euery Ruffian .. a payre of chayned buskens. 1579 Lane. Wills (i860) II. 178 My Spanishe buskins furred. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 16 Sometimes Diana he her takes to be; But misseth bow and shaftes, and buskins to her knee. 1671 F. Phillips Reg. Necess. 28 They.. put on Furre Buskins of white Leather. 1683 Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. 51 White Buskins lac’d with ribbanding they wore. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. lxiii. 583 He assumed the royal privilege of red shoes or buskins, i860 Miss Yonge Stokesley Seer. i. (1880) 186 A .. shrewd-looking labourer in., high buskins and old wide-awake.

2. spec. The high thick-soled boot (cothurnus) worn by the actors in ancient Athenian tragedy; frequently contrasted with the ‘sock’ (soccus), or low shoe worn by comedians. 1570 Levins Manip. 133 A Buskin, cothurnus. 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. 1. i. 19 Trumpet, and reeds, and socks, and buskins fine. 1663 Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxxiv. (1668) 262 The Play is ended, and the high-heel’d Buskins are pull’d off. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. vi. 119 The Buskin .. hightened the Stature. 1871 Morley Crit. Misc. (1886) I. 127 Doff the buskin or the sock, wash away the paint from their cheeks, and gravely sit down to meat.

b. Hence fig. and transf. The style or spirit of this class of drama; the tragic vein; tragedy, to put on the buskins: to assume a tragic style; to write tragedy. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Oct. 113 How I could reare the Muse on stately stage, And teache her tread aloft in bus-kin fine. [G/o$s., the buskin in poetrie is vsed for tragical matter.] 1679 Dryden Tr. & Cr. Pref. Bij, I doubt to smell a little too strongly of the Buskin. 1711 H. Cromwell Let. to Pope 7 Dec. 1736 V. 114 Mr. Wilks., has express’d a furious ambition to swell in your buskins. 1817 Byron Beppo xxxi, He was a critic upon operas, too, And knew all niceties of the sock and buskin, i860 A. Windsor Ethica iii. 171 Our English dramatists combine the office of comedy and tragedy writers in one and the same person.. Aristophanes, Plautus, and Terence never put on the buskin.

c. attrib. = Tragic. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. 1. ii. (Arb.) 12 Marlowe was happy in his buskine muse. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 47 If 5 Gentlemen who write in the Buskin Style. 1747 W. Horsley Fool (1748) 11. 187 The Stile..has something of the Buskin Vaunt.

3. Attrib. and Comb., as buskin-maker\ buskin-wise adv., after the manner of a buskin. 1591 Percivall Sp. Diet., Borzoguineria a buskin makers shop, Cothurnaria sutrina. 1637 Brian Pisse-Proph. (1679) 47 This messenger.. is a very plain fellow in his Holy-day Jacket, and his busking Hose. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. II. s.v. Knee, Wrap the Knees in Oil Cloth, Buskinwise.

'buskin, v. nonce-tud. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To cover as with a buskin. 1795 Monthly Rev. XVIII. 542 Her population.. had zoned every hill with vines.. and buskined its foot with the various species of com.

fbuski'nade. nonce-wd. [f. buskin sb. -F -ade, on analogy of bastinade (-ado), blockade, etc.] A blow with a buskin. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 11. xv, How wouldest thou defend thyself? With great buskinades or brodkin blows, answered he.

buskined buskill, var. of buskle, v. Obs. buskin ('bAskin). Also 6 buskyn(g, busken, 6-7 buskine, busgin. [A word existing in many European langs.: known in Eng. since 16th c. Cf. Fr. brousequin (16th c.), early mod.Du. brozeken (now brooskeri), Sp. borcegui, formerly also boszegui, Pg. borzeguim (Dozy cites as earlier forms morsequill, mosequin), It. borzacchino; the synonymous Fr. brodequin, brodekin, q.v., is doubtless related, but the phonetic relations are obscure. The special source of the Eng. is uncertain: the early mention of ‘Spanish buskin’ might suggest that it was adopted from Spain, a view in some degree supported by the fact that OSp. boszegui (Minsheu) is the only continental form without the r. (The Sp. word appears to have originally had a final n: cf. borceguinero buskin maker.) But

(’bAskind), ppl. a.

[f. buskin sb. +

-ED2.]

1. Shod or covered with buskins. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. 11. i. 71 The bouncing Amazon Your buskin’d Mistresse. 1704 Pope Windsor For. 168 Her buskin’d Virgins. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. iv. 104 A brown peasant boy of ten, with buskined legs.

2. spec. Wearing the buskins of tragedy; fig. and transf., concerned with or belonging to tragedy. 1626 Massinger Rom. Actor 1. i, The Greeks, to whom we owe the first invention Both of the buskined scene & humble sock. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 349 See the buskin’d chief Unshod .. Reduc’d to his own Stature. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 135 They would be ranted on the stage by some buskined hero or tragedy queen.

b. Tragic; dignified, elevated, lofty. 1595 Markham Sir R. Grinuile lxxi, Rich buskin’d Seneca. 1632 Brome Court Begg. iii. i. Wks. 1873 I- 220 Petra[r]k’s buskin’d stile. 01771 Gray Poems (1775) 35 In buskin’d measures move Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain. 1838-9 Hallam Hist. Lit. III. ill. vi. §98 The interest serious, but not always of buskined dignity. 1841 De Quincey Homer & H. Wks. VI. 393 To speak in a sort of stilted, or at least buskined language.

BUSKING t'busking, vbl. sb.1 Sc. Obs.

[f. busk v.1 +

-ING1.]

1. Fitting out, attiring; concr. attire. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 92 Blij?e was his bosking. 1619 Z. Boyd Last Battell 961 (Jam.) Too curious busking is the mother of lusting lookes. 1632 Rutherford Lett, xxiii. (1862) I. 90 The wooer’s busking and bravery.. are in vain. 1638 Relat. Accidents in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 289 Some [had].. their outward buskings not one thread singed. fig. i37 Rutherford Letters 70 Godliness is more than the outside and this world’s passments and their buskings.

tb. spec.

BUST

698

The dressing of the head; head¬

dress. 1571 Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 54 Either a slouinglie busking, or an ouerstaring frounced hed. 1621 Sc. Act.Jas. VI, xxv. §3 That none weare upon their Heads, or Buskings, any Feathers.

|2. Setting out, departure. Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 3245 Bun was he made til his buskyng, Wit tresur grette and riche ring.

'busking, vbl. sb.2

[f. busk v.2] ‘Piratical cruising; also, used generally, for beating to windward along a coast, or cruising off and on’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.). Also fig. (see quot.). 1841 Fraser's Mag. XXIII. 310 This practice.. for which they had a technical term of reproach, viz. ‘going a-busking'. [The practice was to pawn property not his own, shift his quarters and disappear.]

busking, vbl. sb. and ppl. a.: see busk v.2 3. f 'buskle, v. Obs. Also 6 buskel, buskill, 7 buskell. [app. a frequentative of busk v.1; the senses correspond closely to senses of busk, and both verbs are in the early examples often accompanied by the ppl. adj. boun. See bustle v.] 1. trans. To ‘busk’, prepare, equip, attire. (Chiefly refl.) 01555 Bradford Wks. 445 Buskel thyself, and make thee bowne to turn to the Lord. 1585 Pilkington Exp. Nehem. Wks. (1848) 352 They buskle and bowne themselves to this work. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 117 Buskled in armes.. them readie make The ten knights.

2. intr. To prepare oneself; hence, to set out, start on a journey, address oneself to a task; to set to work (esp. hastily or promptly). at meke of hert er here, and bowsom. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 49 Oure Ladi Marye .. was .. buxumer to his bidding pan ony hond-mayde. CI440 Generydes 2505, Thanne came ther in.. The buscommest folk, c 1450 Lonelich Grail lii. 1006, I schal.. maken hem buxom to 30wre hond. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) iv. i. 160/1 We ben .. to them buxom and meke. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. (1539) 15, I shall be buxome and obedient to justyces. IS81 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 287 b, The Consuls should .. sweare faythfully to become bonnaire and buxome to the Pope. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 626 So wilde a beast.. buxome to his bands, is ioy to see. C1684 MS. Let. Corporation of Kirkby to Judge Jeffreys, Your Lordship was pleased to give us.. your oath to become a buxome and beneficial member of this corporation. [1843 Borrow Bible in Spain xliii, To be buxom and obedient to the customs and laws of the republic. 1867 Thirlwall Lett. Friend (1881) 88 In the hope that you will be buxom and good, I conclude now my New Year’s Lecture.] tb. Submissive, humble, meek. Obs. 01300 Cursor M. 8356 pat lauedi til hir lauerd lute Wit buxum reuerence and dute. Ibid. 29009 Oure praier aw euer for to be bowsum. 1340 Ayenb. 59 Hi.. ziggep .. )?et hi bye)? zuo kueade and zuo zenful.. vor pet me ham here)? and hyealde uor wel bo3sam. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 57 Buxum, or lowly or make, humilis, pius, mansuetus. c 1440 York Myst. xxiv. 141 His sisteres praye with bowsom beede. 01455 Holland Houlate xxxiv. 12 Bowsum obeysance. fc. Gracious, indulgent, favourable; obliging, amiable, courteous, affable, kindly. Obs. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. vi. 56 Bouwe)? for)? bi a brok beoboxum-of-speche. 1393 Ibid. C. iv. 421 God hvm-self hote)? To be boxome at my bidding, c 1460 Tozvneley Myst. Annunc. 79 (Angel to Joseph) Meek and buxom looke thou be, And with her dwelle. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 18 To mak the reders more bowsum and attent. Ibid. 108 Ilk story be thi self is separat. To mak thaim bowsome to thine audience. fd. with inf.: Easily moved, prone, ready. Obs. 01300 Cursor M. 25208 J?an suld we be.. bowsom his bidinges to fullfill. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 50 The creatours pat er dom.. er bughsom To lof hym. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. vi. 197 Many a beggere for benes buxome was to swynke. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 22 pe flesh is euer lewid, and buxom to do Evil. |2. Physically: Flexible, pliant. Yielding to pressure, unresisting (poet.). Obs. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. xi. 37 Then gan he., scourge the buxome aire so sore That to his force to yielden it was faine. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 278/2 The Pockes.. are verye buxume. 1615 Crooke Body of Man mi Their substance is.. flexible or buxome that they should not breake but giue way to violence. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 842 Wing silently the buxom Air. a 1700 Dryden Palamon & Arc. 11. 519 Her turtles fann’d the buxom air above. II. Blithe, jolly, well-favoured. 3. Blithe, gladsome, bright, lively, gay. arch. (The explanation in Bailey and Johnson, ‘amorous, wanton’, is apparently only contextual.) 1590 Greene Never too late Aiv, Grey and buxome were his eyne. 1598 Florio, Vago.. blithe .. buckesome, full of glee. 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, in. vi. 28 A Souldier firme and sound of heart, and of buxome valour. 1620 Shelton Quix. IV. xxx. 229 He went on his Journey.. most glad and bucksome. 1658 Lennard tr. Charron s Wisd. Pref., Philosophy, such as this Book teacheth, is altogether pleasant, free, bucksome, and if I may so say, wanton too. 1675 Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 267 A fine Miss., as free, Buxom, and amorous as He. 1678 Marvell Def. J. Howe Wks. 1875 IV. 196, I could not but remark here of The Discourse.. how jovial It is and bucksom. 1827 Heber Europe 312 Freedom’s buxom blast. 1848 Lytton Harold 1. i, That buxom month. 4. Full of health, vigour, and good temper; well-favoured,

plump

and

comely,

‘jolly’,

comfortable-looking (in person). (Chiefly of women.) 1589 Greene Menaph. (Arb.) 43 A bonny prety one, As bright, buxsome and as sheene As was shee. 1608 Middleton Fam. Love in. vii, Those ribs shall not enfold thy buxom limbs. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Matineux, An earlie man is buxome. 1681 Hickeringill Vind. Naked Truth 11. 22 Those lazy and bucksome Abby-Lubbers. 1683 tr. Erasmus' Moriae Enc. 16 My followers are smooth, plump, and bucksom. 1742 Gray Ode Eton Coll., Theirs buxom health of rosy hue. 1779 Johnson Gray Wks. 1787 IV. 303 His

BUXOM epithet buxom health is not elegant; he seems not to understand the word. 1823 Scott Peveril xxi, She was a buxom dame about thirty. 1828 - F.M. Perth iii, A buxom priest. 1843 Carlyle Past. & Pr. iii. viii. (1872) 153 Fresh buxom countenances. 1873 s- Sea Bubbles i. 4 A slight gathering in of her dress .. to exhibit her buxom figure to full perfection.

5. Comb., as buxom-looking. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1858) 77 He., followed a buxom-looking handmaiden into the breakfast parlour.

t 'buxom, v. Obs. rare~K [f. prec. adj.] With to: To yield to, obey. c 1305 Edmund Conf. 467 in E.E.P. (1862) 83 f>e bischop .. him bet atte laste bat he scholde not bileue godes wille to do To buxom to holi churche. [Query, read To be buxom.]

f buxomly (’bAksamli), adv. Obs. [f. prec. adj. (which see for Forms) + -ly2.] Obediently, humbly, meekly; courteously, willingly. 01240 Lofsong in Cott. Horn. 215 Ich buhsumliche biseche pe louerd..8et pu beo mi red nu. 01300 Cursor M. 21351 We agh to buxumli it ber. c 1320 Seuyn Sages 3459 He bowed him ful bowsumly. 1340 Ayenb. 70 He ssel herye god and him bojsamliche ponky, pet him bep yloked. 1393 Langl. P. PL C. xviii. 283 Eueriche busshope, by pe lawe sholde buxumliche wende .. porgh hus prouynce. c 1400 Maundev. viii. 82 He commanded .. to all his subgettes .. buxomly to resceyve me. 1513 Douglas JEneis viii. vi. 124 Amang small geyr now entris bowsumly. 1540 Hyrde Vives' Instr. Chr. Worn. (1592) X. iv, That they do their duty diligently, meekly, and buxomly. 1678 A. Littleton Lai. Did. s.v., Buxomly, clementer, obedienter.

buxomness ('bAksamnis). [f. buxom a. (which see for Forms); see -ness.] fl. Obedience, submissiveness; lowliness, humility. Obs. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 73 Bi-spreng me lauerd mid buhsumnesse. C1230 Hali Meid. 41 f>u schalt.. teamen .. Simplete of semblaunt and buhsumnesse and stilSe. 1297 RGlouc. 318 He bygan ys herte in bocsumnesse amende. a 1300 Cursor M. 25135 We sail.. knaw with bowsumnes }?at no gude dede of oure self es. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7848 f?are es lowtyng and reverence, And boghsomnes and obedience [in heaven]. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. 1. 111 He brak Boxumnes horw bost of him-seluen. a 1420 Occleve De Reg. Pritic. 3575 God toke upone hym humble buxomnesse. 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Buxomnesse, plyablenesse, or humble stooping, in signe of obedience. 1678 A. Littleton Lat. Diet, s.v., Buxomness or meekness, obsequium. 1721 in Bailey.

f2. Graciousness, kindly courtesy, complaisance. Obs.

BUY

721

disposition;

14.. Gold. Litany in Maskell Mon. Rit. II. 245 By thy infinite buxomnes: haue mercy on vs. 1483 Cath. Angl. 50 A Buxumnes, clemencia. 1502 Arnolds Chron. 162 Moost blessed fader Primate.. whom Almighty God by hys ineffable buxumnes.. hath creat and erecte. 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed VI. 22 You should never marke him or his bedfellow (such was their buxomnesse).. once make a sowre face at anie ghest.

3. Blitheness, gaiety, arch. 1598 Florio, Gaiezza . . blithnes, iolitie, buckesomnes. 1620 Shelton Quix. IV. xix. 159 The Beauty, Spirit and Bucksomeness of the wench mislik’d him not. 1814 Cary Dante (1871) 317 In him are summed, Whate’er of buxomness and free delight May be in spirit.

4. modern. Comely plumpness. 1875 Besant & R. Harp , 2 bihS, 3 bu(e)3, 4 (Ayenb.) bayp, buyejt, 5 bieth. Imper. 1 byje, 3 bu(e), 4 bye, by, pi. 1 bycjaS. Pa. t. 1-3 bohte, (2-3 bouchte), 3-4 bouhte, 3-5 bo3te, bou3te, (3 bochte), 4 bo3t, (bohut), 4-5 bou3t, boght, boughte, (5 bout), 5- bought, Sc. bocht, (6 bowth). Pa. pple. 1 (se)boht, 2 iboht, 3 boht, 3-4 bohut, (i-, y-)bou3t, 3-4, 7 boght, 3-5 bo3t, 4 yboht, bowght, (bout), 4-5 boghte, bo3te, (y-)bou3te, (5 ybou3ht), 5-6 boughte, (6 bouht, bowte, beyght), 5- bought, Sc. bocht. [OE. bycg{e)an, bohte, geboht, corresp. to OS. buggjan, *bohta, giboht, Goth, bugjan, bauhta, bauhts; of unknown origin, not found outside Teut., and not to be connected, so far as can be seen, with the stem bug- bow. The inflexion was imper. byge, byegad; ind. pres, byege, bygest, bygep, pi. bycgad\ subj. pres, byege, bycgen\ whence ME. s.w. buye, buggep-, bugge, buyest, buyep, buggep-, bugge, -en; levelled before 1500 to buy- all through, whence the modern spelling. The forms in begge, beywere Kentish; bigge, bie, by, midland and north.; in the latter the levelling to bie, by, took place as early as 1300. Cf. the comp, aby, abye. In the pa. t. of this vb., the terminations were added without connecting vowel: WGer. boh-ta has the regular OTeut. 0 for u before an 0- vowel, as in worhta, from wurkjan, OE. wyrean to work.]

I. 1. a. trans. To get possession of by giving an equivalent, usually in money; to obtain by

paying a price; to purchase. (Correlative to sell.) Const, of, from, fat (the seller), for, with (the price). ciooo Ags. Gosp. Matt, xxvii. 7 fia jebohten hij aenne aecyr, mid pam feo. Ibid. John iv. 8 His leorning-cnihtas ferdon pa to ptere ceastre woldon him mete biejan. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137 pe Judeus of Noruuic bohten an Christen cild. 01240 Ureisun in Cott. Horn. 185 Nis he fol chapmon pe bup deore a wac ping. 1297 R. Glouc. 390 Bu a peyre [hose] of a marc. 01300 Cursor M. 4764 pai moght noght find to bi pam bred. 1340 Ayenb. 36 To begge .. corn.. lesse be pe haluedele, panne hit his worp. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. lviii. Sel. Wks. I. 177 Men shulden not bie pis office. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. ix. 304 Ich haue no peny . .polettes for to bigge. 01400 Maundev. ii. 12 A kyng of Fraunce boughte theise Relikes .. of the Jewes. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 9 Wan I by meit for money, I selle pe money pat pe toper man bieth. 01420 Pallad 1. 1065 To bey thi been [i.e. bees] beholde hem riche and fulle. c 1430 Freemasonry 358 Pay wele every mon algate, That thou hast ybowjht any vytayles ate. c 1440 Agnes Paston in Lett. xxv. I. 39 Gif ye wolde byin her a goune. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 493 It was not leeful that men ete fleisch which was offrid to idols neither bigge thilk fleisch. 1476 Plumpton Corr. 37 Under a hundred shillings I can by non. 1502-3 in Comm.-Place Bk. lyth Cent. (1886) 173 Item bowte of Roger Cawthaw .. v cumbe berly. 1545 Brinklow Lament. (1874) 99 No man will bye their ware any more. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1000 Be the price neuer so great it is well bought that a man must needes haue. *597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, 1. ii. 56, I bought him in Paules, and hee’l buy mee a horse in Smithfield. 1714 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. xc. 146 To., buy some little Cornish borough. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 346 With you a man can neither earn nor buy his dinner, without a speculation. 1855 Tennyson Brook 222 We bought the farm we tenanted before.

b. absol. (Often coupled with sell.) c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxv. io f>a hij ferdun and woldon byejean, J?a com se bryd-guma c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 213 f>at is ure alre wune, pe biggeS and silleS. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4399 Nan sal bye with pam ne selle. C1386 Chaucer Schipm. T. 304 This marchaund .. bieth, and creaunceth. 1483 Cath. Angl. 30/1 To by and selle, auccionari. c 1538 Starkey England 11. i. 175 He that Byth dere, may sel dere. J755 Smollett Quix. (1803) I. 233 He that buys and denies, his own purse belies. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xiv. 360 Pestering her swain to buy for her.

c. intr. to buy into (earlier also in, prep.): to buy a commission in (a regiment); to purchase stock in (the public funds), shares in (a trading company). 1681 Treat. East-India Trade 11, I.. had rather buy in this Stock. . at 300/. for 100/. then come into any New Stock at even Money. 1849 Blackw. Mag. LXVI. 671 The man who buys into a public stock.

d. trans. Of things: To be an equivalent price for; to be the means of purchasing. 1599 Shaks. Much Ado 1. i. 183 Can the world buie such a jewell? 1622 Malynes Anc. Law.-Merch. 87 A London mingled colour cloth, would haue bought at Lisborne two chests of Sugar. 1691 Locke Wks. (1727) II. 67 If one Ounce of Silver will buy, i.e. is of equal Value to one Bushel of Wheat. Mod. Health is a treasure that gold cannot buy. It was his wife’s money that bought the farm.

2. fig. To obtain, gain, procure, in exchange for something else, or by making some sacrifice. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 137 Denne biS p?es monnes wile ibeht mid pere elmisse. 01225 Ancr. R. 190 Worldliche men buggeS deorre helle, pen 3e doS heuene. c 1250 Moral Ode 65 in Cott. Horn. 163 Ech mon mid pet he hauet mei buggen houene riche. 01307 Prov. Hendyng xxix, Dere is bopt pe hony pat is licked of pe porne, quop Hendyng. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy 1. vi, No honor may be wonne, But that I muste with my deth it beye. 1513 Douglas /Eneis x. viii. 157 Desyrand he mycht by for mekill thing That he had nevyr tuichit Pallas 3ing. 1571 Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 155 B[u]ying witte at the dearest hand, that is, by long experience of the hurt and shame that cummeth of mischeif. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 102 Short intermission bought with double smart. 1813 Scott Rokeby 1. x, Forced the embarrassed host to buy By query close, direct reply. 1866 Kinglsey Herew. xviii. (1877) 222 A war which could buy them neither spoil nor land.

f3. a. To pay the penalty of, suffer the consequences of, ‘pay for’; to expiate, atone for; = aby v. 2 (of which it was probably an aphetic form: cf. BYE v.). Often with dear, sometimes with bitter, sore-, and in phrase, to buy the bargain. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3683 Dat gruching hauen he derre bo3t. a 1300 Cursor M. 1115 And [god] will pat he bii pe vttrage. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 61 Griffyn.. was proued traitoure fals, & pat bouht he fulle dere. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xvi. 304 Now he buyep hit ful bitere. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 66 His dedis shall be bought full sore, c 1400 Maundev. vii. 76 In tokene that the Synnes of Adam scholde ben boughte in that same place. 1530 Palsgr. 455/1, I bye the bargayne, or I fele the hurte or displeasure of a thyng. 01553 Udall Royster D. (Arb.) 72 Let them the bargaine bie. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lvii. 87 Then is that bitter beyght. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 154 Whether they Did buie their marriage deare. 1599 Greene George a Gr. (1861) 263, I will make thee by this treason dear. C1615 Chapman Odyss. iv. 664 ’Twill not long be.. Before thou buy this curious skill with tears.

fb. In pass. Of an offence: To be expiated or ‘visited’ upon (the offender). Obs. rare. 01300 Cursor M. 13849 And qua pis couenand haldes noght pat it be dere apon him boght.

f4. To set free by paying a price; to redeem, ransom; esp. fig. in Theol. to redeem (from sin, hell, etc.). Obs. exc. in theological use, and in that now rather a conscious metaphor from i; redeem being the ordinary word for this sense.

CI175 Lamb. Horn. 19 pet pet ear us bohte deore. a 1300 Hymn to God in Trin. Coll. Horn. 258 He vs bouchte wifi his blod of pe feondes swiche. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cxxix. [exxx.] 8 And he sal bie [v.r. bien] Irael of alle his wicednesses. Ibid. xxv[i]. 11 Bye me, and of me have merci. a 1300 Cursor M. 152 He com his folk to bij. Ibid. 6173 Mans barn wit pris he boght. Ibid. 9598 For to bij his prisun vte. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvn. 336 Mary, That bare the byrth that all can by. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xi. 202 Redemptor was his name, And we his bretheren, pourgh hym ybou3t. c 1400 Maundev. Prol. 2 To bye and to delyvere us from Peynes of Helle. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xiii. (1483) 63 He that hath mysdone hath no thynge wherwith to beyen hym seluen. 1534 More On the Passion Wks. 1325/1 By hys payne to.. bye our soules from payne. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. 95 Quhilk hais bocht us with his precious blude. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. 1. xxxii, Who bought’st man, whom man (though God) did sell. 1709 Watts Hymn, [We] give immortal praise', God the Son.. who bought us with his blood. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. vi. (1852) 172 So far from mercy having been properly purchased for us, mercy herself buys us.

5. To gain over, engage (a person) by money or otherwise (to or to do something); usually in bad sense, to hire. arch. (Cf. buy off, 7 a; buy over, 9.) 1652 Free State comp. Monarchy 1, [I] did .. lay out.. the poore Talent God intrusted me with, to buy them to the waies of Peace. 1655-60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 88/1 One that for a Drachm might be bought into any thing. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 573 Nor is [he] with Pray’rs, or Bribes, or Flatt’ry bought. 1713 Addison Cato 11. ii. 57 Millions of worlds Should never buy me to be like that Csesar. 1878 Morley Diderot II. 121 She did her best.. to buy the author.

II. Phrases and combinations. * Combined with adverbs. 6. buy in. a. trans. To collect a stock of (commodities) by purchase; often in expressed or implied opposition to sell out. Often absol. 1622 E. Misselden Free Trade 71 Some .. few .. doe ioine .. to engrosse and buy in a Commodity, and sell it out againe at their owne price. 1628 Sanderson Two Serm. at St. Pauls 1. 36 To buy in provision for his house. 1861 Times 16 Oct., Many farmers buy in ewes in autumn.

b. To buy back for the owner, esp. at an auction when no sufficient price has been offered. 1642 Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. 161 Impropriations may be bought in. 1770 Wilkes Corr. (1805) IV. 31 Mrs. Macauley bought-in herself the house in Berners-street. a 1845 Hood Sniff. Birthday xvi, Let Robins advertise .. My ‘Man’s Estate’, I’m sure enough I shall not buy it in.

c. (absol. from 1 c.) To buy a commission in a regiment; to purchase stock or shares. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. viii. 124 Young Premium, the son of the celebrated loan-monger, has bought in. 1840 Fraser's Mag. XL. 606 The.. capitalist reappeared on the Bourse; buying in cautiously for the rise.

7. buy off. a. trans. To induce (a person) by payment, to relinquish a claim, a course of action, etc.; to get rid of (a claim, a person’s opposition or interference) by paying money to the claimant or opponent. Often fig. 1629 Earle Microcosm, lxvii. (Arb.) 91 One whom no rate can buy off from the least piece of his freedom. 1851 Ht. M artineau Hist. Eng. 1. iv. (1878) 89 Buying off the Prince’s claim for the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall. 1865 Trench Gust. Adolphus ii. 65 To buy off the presence of troops by enormous gifts to their captains. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 408 Gruffydd was perhaps bought off in this way.

b. To release payment.

from

military

service

by

Mod. He has enlisted, but his friends will buy him off. 8. buy out.

fa. trans. To ransom, redeem. Obs. 1297 R. Glouc. 496 Hor maistres horn out bou3te. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 306 This yong man wrote to his fadir, praying him to bey him out [of prison], 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. 1. ii. 5 Not being able to buy out his life. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 291 By whom wee are.. bought out from the bondage of sin.

b. To purchase a person’s estate, or share in any concern, and so to turn (him) out of it. [1297 R. Glouc. 379 So J?at hii j?at bode meste bro3t out monyon. .. me bo3te [v.r. broute] ys out wy)? W03]. 1644 J. Goodwin Danger Fight, agst. God 26 By buying out some Inhabitant, or by purchasing ground. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. 1. (1858) 77 A Yeoman of Kent, With his yearly rent, Will buy them out all three! 1885 Spectator 25 July 967/1 In so far as the landlords are bought out.

c. To get rid of or remove (any kind of liability) by a money payment. 1595 Shaks. John iii. i. 164 Dreading the curse that money may buy out. 1596 Shaks. j Hen. IV, iv. ii. 24 They haue bought out their seruices. 1828 Ld. Grenville Sink. Fund 42 A landed proprietor .. buys out.. a rent-charge with which it [his estate] is burthened. 1885 Law Reports 14 Queen's B. Div. 875 Money paid in order to buy out the execution.

9. buy over. trans. To gain over by a payment or bribe. 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIV. 630 Attempting to buy over their chiefs? i860 Freer Henry IV, I. 1. i. 9 [He] had bought the soldiers over to a man. 1877 Miss Braddon Weavers W. 328 He.. bought over the lodging-house keeper to his interest.

10. buy up [cf. heap up, scrape up]. To purchase with the aim of amassing in one’s own hands or taking up out of the market (a stock, or the whole of any commodity).

BUY

BUZZ

722

1533-4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, iv, They bie vp all maner of fishe thither brought. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 250 b, Augustus .. meruaillyng at the same thyng in a pye, bought hir vp also. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 107 Them .. that would buy them vp by the whole sale, and make them away againe by retaile. 1622 E. Misselden Free Trade 56 Another who bought vp all the Iron in Sicilia. 1624 Gee Foot out of Snare 48 The most of these Books.. were bought-vp by Papists. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 269 Buying up of goods in case there should be war. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 214 Oleander had bought up all the Corn. 1867 R. Patterson in Fortn. Rev. July 77 An .. appeal to the State to buy up all the railways in the kingdom. 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. xiii. 630 John, .was buying up help on every side.

best ‘buys’ from these departments are the deceptively simple models that., bear an unmistakable chic. 1964 Which? Feb. 43/2 Because each of these prams had some drawbacks, we do not choose a Best Buy.

** Phrases. 11. fa. to buy and sell, to barter, traffic with (in bad sense). Obs. or arch.

f'buyal. Obs. rare—1, [f. buy v. + -al2; cf. trial, etc.] Act of buying, purchase.

1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, I. i. 192 The Cardinall Does buy and sell his Honour as he pleases.

b. to be bought and sold: often fig., chiefly in sense To be betrayed for a bribe, arch. a 1300 Cursor M. 142 How J?at ioseph was boght and said. 1426 Audelay Poems 4 Sche schal be bo3t and sold. 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, v. iii. 305 Dickon thy maister is bought and sold. 1791 Burns Such a Parcel of Rogues, &c. iii, We’re bought and sold for English gold. 1864 Tennyson Ringlet 33 She that gave you’s bought and sold.

12. to buy a pig (in Scotl. a cat) in a poke: (Fr. acheter chat en poche) to purchase something which one has not examined; hence, to enter into an engagement in ignorance of the responsibilities incurred. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. Epigr. (1867) 80 Ye loue not to bye the pyg in the poke. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 16. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Sac, To buy a Pig in a poake (say we); to bargaine vnaduisedly or hand ouer head. 1821 Southey Lett. (1856) III. 252. 1882 The Garden 7 Oct. 313/2 Timidly buying .. a pig-in-a-poke cheap collection.

13. to buy over a person's head', to buy for a higher price, to outbid. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 11. 195 The Bishops are always buying it over one anothers Heads.

14. to buy a brush: = brush v.1 3. (slang.) 1699 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, Let's buy a Brush, let us scour off. 1725 in New Cant. Diet.

15. to buy money: see quot. 1922. Racing slang. 1906 Fox-Davies Dangerville Inheritance vii. 99 The public had left off buying money, and the wagering had become slack. 1922 N. Q. 12th Ser. XI. 206/2 Buying money, laying heavy odds on a favourite. 1928 Daily Express 12 July 12/2 Backers .. had to buy money over On Avon and Rainbow Bridge.

16. In slang use. a. To suffer some mishap or reverse; spec, to be wounded; to get killed, to die; (of an airman) to be shot down. Freq. with it. 1825 W. N. Glascock Naval Sketch-Bk. (1826) I. 30 Never mind, in closing with Crappo, if we didn’t buy it with his raking broadsides. 1920 W. Noble With Bristol Fighter Squadron v. 70 The wings and fuselage, with fifty-three bullet holes, caused us to realize on our return how near we had been to ‘buying it’. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 41 To buy, to have something not desired, such as a job, thrust on one unexpectedly, e.g ., ‘Just as he was going out, he ran into the Corporal and bought a fatigue.’.. Another meaning: to be scored off or victimized. Of a man getting an answer to a question which made him ridiculous: ‘He bought it that time.’ 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 39 He bought it, he was shot down. 1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 16 He's bought it, he is dead —that is, he has paid with his life. 1944 J. E. Morpurgo in Penguin New Writing XXII. 11 I’m afraid we want you elsewhere... Jim Barton bought it, and you’ll have to take on his troop. 1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 261 He’d lived in London before the war, but the whole street where he’d hung out had bought it in the blitz.

b. To believe; to accept, to approve. Chiefly U.S. 1926 E. Wallace More Educ. Evans vi. 139 ‘It’s rather early in the day for fairy-tales,’ he said, ‘but I’ll buy this one.’ 1944 Amer. Speech XIX. 72/1 If the work is perfect, the inspector buys it... In the drilling departments, one might hear a worker say, ‘I am waiting for the company to buy this hole.’ 1949 Time 2 May 8/1 After talking it over with the President.. Secretary Johnson bought the Air Force point of view. 1951 I. Shaw Troubled Air xiii. 213 People feel that the best way to prove how loyal they are is to be as nasty.. as they know how, and I’m not buying any of that. 1952 M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) ix. 182 It doesn’t seem to me likely that they cooked it up between them... More likely she half guessed and he told her. I’m willing to buy that for what it’s worth.

c. Til buy it (in reply to a question or riddle): I give it up (as an invitation to reveal the answer), I don’t know, I’ll accept your answer. 1930 E. Wallace White Face xvi. 248 ‘You thinking, too?’ growled Mason. ‘All right, I’ll buy it.’ 1932 D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xi. 128, I’ll buy it, Inspector. What did he do with it? 1957 P. Frankau Bridge 136 ‘Confession coming,’ he said. ‘I’ll buy it. Something that happened last night?’

buy (bai), sb. orig. U.S. [f. buy v.] A purchase; best buy, the most worth-while purchase or bargain. Also fig. Phr. on the buy: actively buying. 1879 F. A. Buck Yankee Trader (1930) 274, I believe the Mammoth Mine here to be the best buy in the lot. 1890 Van Dyke Millionaires of Day 134 Biggest buy in town. 1903 Longman's Mag. Mar. 444 What do you think of my new buy? 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone N. vii. 191,1 believe it’s a good buy! 1929 Star 21 Aug. 18/2 His clients are ‘on the buy’. 1952 J. Pinckney My Son & Foe ii. 14 Knowing the intrinsic quality of the goods, what the best buys are that life puts out on the counter. 1957 Times 21 Oct. 13/1 Among the

buy, bu3e, var. of bey v. Obs., to bend. buyable ('barab(3)l), a. That can be bought. 1483 Cath. Angl. 31 Byabylle, empticius. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. ii. n The spiritual fire which is in that man ..is not buyable or saleable. 1848 Tait's Mag. XV. 351 Flagrantly venal—buyable, saleable, for any purpose.

1612 Shelton Quix. iii. xiii, Not the Buyal of the Horses, but that of his Delights .. had moved Don Ferdinando.

buyer (’bai3(r)). Forms: 3 beger, beggere, 3-5 biere, 3-6 bier, 4 by3er, -ar, begger, byggere, 4-5 bigger, bugger(e, byar, 5 byare, 5-7 byer, 6 buier, 6- buyer, [f. buy v. + -er1.] 1. a. One who buys, a purchaser. £1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 213 J?e sullere loueS his ping dere .. De beger bet litel par fore, a 1300 Cursor M. 14730 Bath best and bier vte he beft. 01400 E.E. Gilds 359 To don trewleche pe assys to pe sellere and to pe byggere. 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 13 The byars and sellars that ben at london. 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 35/1 He came here as a bier, not as a beggar. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1876) III. ix. 223 A market place swarming with buyers and sellers. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 99 The towns of Lombardy were active buyers of Eastern commodities.

b. spec. One employed by a mercantile house to conduct the purchase of goods. 1884 Manch. Exam. 18 Sept. 5/3 He was a buyer under this firm. 1885 Ibid. 20 May 4/7 The prisoner represented himself as buyer to Messrs. Huntley and Palmer.

|2. = redeemer. Obs. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xviii. [xix.] 15 Laverd.. mi bier un-to blisse. £1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 12 Jesus Crist, bier of mankynde.

3. buyers' market: one in which goods are plentiful and low prices favour buyers. 1926 Textile World 11 Dec. 91 (heading) Buyers’ market. 1930 Economist 13 Dec. 1105/1 The problem.. is the marketing of about 300 million bushels of Canadian grain at adequate prices in what is obviously a buyers’ market. 1959 Times Rev. Industry Feb. 18/3 The Board now has to face heavy losses in fighting back on a buyers’ market.

buying ('banr)), vbl. sb. [f. buy v. 4* -ing1.] 1. a. The action of the verb buy; purchase. a 1225 Ancr. R. 362 Me ne mei.. nout two pongede scheon habben, wiSuten buggunge. £1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 25 J>ei han desceyued hem in byynge of here catel. 1509-10 Act 1 Hen. VIII, xx. § 1 That they coste at the firste byeng or achate. 1528 in Turner Sel. Rec. Oxford 60 Buyings and sellings by retaile. 1713 Guardian No. 76 IP 12 We never have so good a revenue by buying as by lending. 1816 Jane Austen Emma 11. iii. 150 Going on with their buyings.

b. attrib. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 36 Byynge place, or place of byynge, emptorium. 1.72.7 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. (1841) I. viii. 58 His buying-part requires .. a good judgment. 1883 Pall Mall G. 30 Nov. 5/2 Buying orders were received.

f2. Theol. Redemption.

Obs.

01300 E.E. Psalter cxxix[xxx]. 7 At Laverd it es merci, Fulli bying at him. c 1325 Metr. Horn. (1862) 22 Yourbi-ing .. Ful ner cumen tilward you es. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. xxvii. Sel. Wks. I. 69 Youre bigginge is ny3e. £1410 N. Love Bonaventure's Life Christ lxii. (Gibbs MS. f. 119) He suffrede for our redempeioun and byynge.

3. The purchasing of shares on the stock exchange, buying-in day, the day on which, owing to non-delivery within the appointed time of shares bought, the buyer may purchase the shares on the market; buying-in rule, the rule with regard to buying-in day. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 24 Mar. 7/1 ‘Buying-in Day.’.. He immediately delivers the shares, usually on the day after the buying-in takes place. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 865 The ‘corner’ in Northern Pacific common shares produced .. the suspension for two or three weeks of the ‘buying in’ rule.

buyl, obs. form of boil sb. buyld(e, obs. form of build. buy-out, buyout ('baiaut). [f. vbl. phr. to buy out: see buy v. 8.] The purchase of a controlling share in a company, management buy-out: see MANAGEMENT 7. 1976 Mergers 6? Acquisitions Spring 9/2 Federal funds are another possible source of financing for employee buy-outs when conventional credit sources are unavailable. 1979 Time 7 May 60 At the end of 1978, Time Inc. completed a buyout of A.T.C. for a total price of $175.6 million. 1981 Observer 21 June 20/3 A buy-out by a management-led consortium of staff. 1982 Economist 17 Apr. 51/3 Buy-outs by employees of bust and heavily trade-unionised businesses. 1986 Daily Tel. 7 Oct. 9 (Advt.), Our commitment can perhaps best be measured by the £ 1 billion that represents the value of the buyouts in which we’ve invested.

buyrne, variant of berne, Obs., hero, man. buysch, buyschel, obs. ff. bush, bushel. fbuysine. Obs. Also4bosyne, 5 buys(s)yne, 5-6 bussyne, 6 bussynne, busyn. [a. OF. bosine,

buisine trumpet, clarion, ad. L. buccina.] trumpet.

A

1340 Ayenb. 137 l>e ilke orible bosyne him went to |?e yeare: ‘com to Tine dome’. 1475 Caxton Jason 29 Jason did do sowne .. cornes sarasins, buysines and other instruments. 1490-Eneydos xlviii. 141 Thenne beganne the bussynes and the trompettes for to blowe. c 153° Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 232 Than began homes and bussynnes to blowe. c 1532 - Huoti 472 The noyse of homes and busyns.

buyste, var. of buist, Obs., a box. buysy, obs. form of busy. buz, var. of buzz in various senses. buze (bju:z). rare~°. [a. F. buse of same meaning.] A wooden or leaden pipe to convey air into mines. 1823 in Crabb Techn. Diet. 1881 in Worcester.

Ibuzkashi (bujka'ji:). Also bushkashee, Buz(-)kashi. [Pers., f. buz goat + kasi drawing, f. kashldan to draw, extract.] An Afghan sport played by teams on horseback competing for the carcass of a goat (see quots.). 1956 D. N. Wilber Afghanistan xxiii. 441 Boz Kashi or Goat Wrestling.. is described as very dangerous. A goat is beheaded and the body thrown into a ditch, from which it is to be taken to the goal by any one of several hundreds of swift-riding horsemen competing for the honor. 1959 E. Hunter Past Present 111 Although bushkashee is referred to as Afghanistan’s national game, actually it is regional, for it is not played in the south and south-west. 1962 Listener 15 Feb. 312/2 Buz-Kashi is a vigorous sport of the nomad horsemen of central Asia, bearing something of the relation to polo that real tennis does to lawn tennis. 1973 JBronowski Ascent of Man (1976) ii. 82 There is played to this day in Afghanistan a game called Buz Kashi which comes from the kind of competitive riding that was carried on by the Mongols. 1984 Times 16 June 10/1 Buzkashi is a basic kind of game: between two posts set two miles apart, a dead goat is buried in the centre of a circle 10 yards across. The object is to rescue the goat, carry it round first one post and then the second, and finally to fling the carcass back into the circle.

buzz (bAz), sb.1 Also 7 buzze, 8 Sc. bizz, 7- buz. [f. buzz v.1] 1. a. A sibilant hum, such as is made by bees, flies, and other winged insects. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 348 A Reply to the buzze of such a Drones nest. 1787 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Sir T. Banks & Emp. Morocco 20 Prodigious was the buz about his ears. 1808 Allen & Pepys in Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 262 That buzz in the ears which is noticed in breathing nitrous oxide. 1878 Gilder Poet Master 17 The honey bees Swarm by with buzz and boom.

b. Phonetics. A voiced hiss (see hiss sb. 1 b). 1877 Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 79 The voiced buzzes admit of more variety than the voiced stops. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 383 A hiss (s), followed without a positional glide by the buzz (z). 1888 Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds 24 Some consonants.. are pronounced with .. a complete absence of buzz. 1908-Sounds of English 43 The English r is vowellike in sound, being quite free from buzz.

c. A round game in which each player in turn utters a number in numerical order, with the exception that ‘buz(z)’ must be substituted for 7 and multiples of 7. 1864 Hotten Slang Diet. 91 Buz, a well-known flash game. 1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women iii, They .. were in the midst of a quiet game of ‘buzz’.

d. spec. The buzzing sound made by telephone. Hence slang, a telephone call.

a

*9*3 G. B. Shaw Let. 14 July (1952) 132, I rang a second time, but the answer was buzz, buzz. 1930 Punch 26 Feb. 236 One of the cops .. directed another to beat it to his desk and give headquarters a buzz. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart 1. ii. 38 The Quaynes had a room-to-room telephone, which, instead of ringing, let out a piercing buzz. 1959 G. Usher Death in Bag xii. 128 Shall I give him a buzz?

2. transf. a. The confused or mingled sound made by a number of people talking or busily occupied; busy talk, ‘hum’; hence, a condition of busy activity, stir, ferment. 1627 Feltham Resolves 1. xv. Wks. (1677) 23 The frothy buzze of the world. 1629 Ford Lover's Mel. iv. ii. (1839) 17 The buzz of drugs, and minerals and simples. 1647 Cowley Mtstr. i. (1669) 22 The Crowd, and Buz, and Murmurings Of this great Hive, the City. 1678 Rymer Trag. Last Age Consid. 13 All the buz in Athens was now about vertue. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 403 If 3, I found the whole.. Room in a Buz of Politicks. 1760 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) III. 604 The buz and bustle of unpacking. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. viii, The clamour and the buz Ceased. 1824 Carlyle W. Meister (1874) I. 11. xi. 111 A buzz of joyful approbation. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 549 A buzz of conversation. 1875 Blackmore Maid of Sk. lvii. 388 My brain was in a buzz.

b. A feeling of excitement or euphoria, esp. one induced by a stimulant; a thrill, a ‘kick’. slang (orig. U.S.). 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §277/2 Thrill; 'kick'. (As in ‘get a kick out of.).. buzz. 1952 Amer. Speech XXVII. 24 Buzz, the effect of a drug; the feeling under the influence of drug. 1962 J. Baldwin Another Country 1. i. 26 He felt.. on top of everything, and he had a mild buzz on. 1967 M. M. Glatt et al. Drug Scene iii. 39 Unable to get a buzz from the drugs George began to get a kick from the acts necessary for injecting the drugs. 1976 Neui Musical Express 17 Apr. 19/6 It must be a real buzz for the musicians who’re playing with Wings to be playing with an ex-Beatle. 1978 J. Krantz Scruples vi. 166 She walked up

BUZZ Rodeo or down Camden, feeling a sexual buzz as she searched the windows for new merchandise. 1983 Times 7 Mar. 3/1 Some players get a ‘buzz’ from the game [of Space Invaders] and that might explain why they become addicted.

3-fig- a. A groundless fancy, whim, ‘fad’: (cf. bee1 5.) Obs. b. A busy rumour. 1605 Shaks. Lear 1. iv. 348 On euerie dreame, Each buz, each fancie. 1612 Chapman Widowes T. Wks. 1873 III. 24 ’Twas but a buzz devised by him. 1639 Fuller Holy War 11. xli. (1840) 106 This suspicion .. though at first but a buzz, soon got a sting in the king’s head. 1646 Buck Rich. Ill, hi. 103 Buzes and quaint devises, to amaze the people. 1656 Finett For. Ambass. 13 Some new buz gotten into his Braine. 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides 23 A sort of buz got about. 1892 Luuard Diary 8 June (1959) III. viii. 290 Junta., asked him if he had heard of this. He said Yes, but not from any responsible chief, merely a buzz through the country. 1919 ‘Etienne’ Strange Tales fr. Fleet 135 There’s a buzz floating round that we are slipping off at 8 p.m. 1962 B. Knox Little Drops of Blood iii. 62 There’s a strong buzz on the go that his team are building some new engine.

4. Short for buzz-saw; see 5. 1823 Mechanic's Mag. No. 7. 108 The Shakers sometimes made use of what he called a buzz to cut iron. He made a circular plate of soft sheet-iron, and put it in his lathe, which gave it a very rapid rotary motion.

5. Comb., as buzz-bomb colloq. = flying bomb; buzz-box slang = buzz-wagon\ buzz-fly, a fly that buzzes, ? a bluebottle; buzz-planer, a small wood-planing machine (Knight Diet. Mech. Suppl. a 1884); buzz-saw, a circular saw; buzz-wagon slang, a motorcar; buzzword (orig. and chiefly U.S.), a keyword; a catchword or expression currently fashionable; a term used more to impress than to inform, esp. a technical or jargon term; also buzz-phrase. 1944 in News Rev. io May (1945) 7/1 The Germans sent over 11 pilotless planes or ‘Buzz-bombs’. 1946 Amer. Speech XXI. 246 The V-i was in the U.S. and British official parlance a flying bomb... The troops, however, generally called it a buzz bomb, probably because it normally came in at rather low altitude, reminiscent of an airplane buzzing the ground. 1920 ‘Sapper’ Bull-dog Drummond x. 264 How long will it take me to get the old buzz-box to Laidley Towers? 1934 Passing Show 12 May 10/1 Ring up Mason’s yard .. and ask ’em to send round the old buzz-box. 1848 E. Leatham Charmione (1858) I. 250 A great greedy buzzfly. 1868 Pall Mall G. 1843/2 The only food for buzz-flies. 1977 Canadian 12 Nov. 19/2 For a lot of us, Affirmative Action was very much an IWY buzz-phrase like Total Fulfillment, Consciousness raising or even that tired old tease Whv-Not! 1858 Varieties (San Francisco) 17 July 3/1 ‘Any taste for music?’ ‘Strong. Buzz and buck saws in the day time, and wolf howling and cat fighting nights.’ 1886 Sat. Rev. 31 July 142 The characteristic and picturesque Americanism for a circular saw—‘a buzz saw’. 1897 ■ Mark Twain’ Following Equator xxxiv. 313 Whizzing green Ballarat flies.. with.. stunning buzz-saw noise. 1914 Dial. Notes IV. 104 Buzzwagon, automobile. 1918 Wodehouse Piccadilly Jim xxi. 197 Dere’s a buzz-waggon outside, waitin’. 1923 ‘Ian Hay’ Lucky Number ix. 253 Let’s go to the stable and start up your little friend’s buzz-wagon. 1946 Amer. Speech XXI. 263/1 Students at the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University use a specialized vocabulary known as ‘buzz words’ to describe the key to any particular course or situation. 1968 Scottish Daily Mail 7 Aug. 6 The possibilities of a send-up were spotted by the First National City Bank of America which gives its customers what it calls the Instant Buzzword Generator. ‘Technology’, it says, ‘has created a new type of jargon that is nearly as incomprehensible as it is sophisticated.’ With the card ‘you can generate an almost endless variety of intelligent-sounding technical terms’. 1980 Time 28 Jan. 90/1 The air is thick with devalued buzz words, including ‘buzz words’.

buzz, sb.2 [perh. onomatopoeic, with the general sense of ‘loose down’, ‘flocky substance ’: cf. fuzz, and buzzy a2. In sense i the dialectical buzz may really be for burs: cf. the s.w. vuzzes, vuzzen, pi. of vuzz — furze, in OE. and ME. fyrs.] 1. The rough setose or pilose seed-vessel of a plant, a bur. ‘In Suffolk the seeds of certain plants which are easily detached and stick to clothes are universally called buzzes; “bur” not being in popular use’. F. Hall. (So in the east and south of England generally.) In quot. 1612 it has been explained as the globular seeding head of the dandelion and similar plants. 1612 Field Worn, is Weathercock n. i. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 37 All your virtues Are like the buzzes growing in the fields. 1877 Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.) Buzzes, the burrs of the teazel.

2. a. A downy land-beetle (Rhizotrogus solstitialis Latr.) used as bait; the artificial ‘fly’ made in imitation of it. 1760 Compleat Angler, App. 121 Marlow Buzz. 1799 G. Smith Laborat. II. 311 Buzz-brown. Dubbing, of the light brown hair of a cur. 1851 H. Newland Erne 205 Black and red buzzes. 1867 F. Francis Angling (1876) 267 The best land-beetles are the. . Marlow buzz, or fern-webb.

b. quasi-ac/w.

With or like a ‘buzz’. Also quasi-ad/, of an artificial fly (see quot. 1877). 1867 F. Francis Angling vi. (1880) 207 All buzz dressed flies. Ibid. 216 To dress the fly hackle fashion, or buzz, as it is termed. 1877 Hallock Sportsman's Gazetteer 599 A fly is said to be buz when the hackle is wrapped on thick and it looks ‘bushy’ as we Americans would term it. 1889 F. M. Halford Dry-Fly Fishing ix. 205 Arguments in favour of dressing spinners hackle or buzz fashion.

buzzard

723

buzz (bAz), sb.3 Only attrib. [? Short f. busby; or related to prec.; cf. bush, fuzz, and ‘Sergeant Buzfuz’ in Pickwick.] 1. Epithet of a large bushy wig. Also in comb. buzz-wig, a person wearing such a wig; ‘a bigwig’. 1798 [see 2]. 1816 Scott Antiq. xvii, The reverend gentleman was equipped in a buzz wig. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. II. (1863) 357 note, The full swelling burly buzz wig. 1854 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun Wks. III. 69 Whom the old Spanish buzwigs doated on. 1859 W. Irving in Life IV. 283 Old Dr. Rodgers with his buzz wig.

2. transf. (See quot.) 1798 Anti Jacobin 22 Jan. (1852) 47 Parr’s buzz prose. Footnote, This is an elegant metonymy.. Buzz is an epithet usually applied to a large wig. It is here used for swelling, burly, bombastic writing.

buzz (bAz), v.1 Forms: 6-7 busse, buzze, 6- buz, 7

buzz, Sc. bizz. [From the sound.]

1. intr. To make the humming sibilant sound characteristic of bees and other insects; to fly out, in, etc. with such a sound. 1398 [see buzzing vbl. sb.1] . 1530 Palsgr. 473/1 Harke how this fleshe flye busseth. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lvii. 241 As if ten milions of flies had ben buzzing. 1604 T. Wright Passions vi. 334 Winds do buzze about it. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, m. ii. 55 Waspes that buz about his Nose. 1709 Swift Tritical Ess. Wks. 1755 II. 1. 142 Flies.. buz .. about the candle, till they burn their wings. 1790 Burns Tam O'Shanter, As bees bizz out wi’ angry fyke. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Book II. 280 A fly cannot buzz.. without startling his repose. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xviii, The water was buzzing under our bows. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 202 If a humble-bee buzzes in at the window.

2. si. fig. To flutter or hover (about, along, over (afround). like a buzzing insect; to move about busily. 1650 T. Goodwin Wks. (1862) IV. 200 Terrors of conscience would buz about a man. 1696 View Crt. St. Germain in Select.fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 556 The priest was always buzzing about him. 1710-11 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 81 Boys and wenches buzzing about the cake-shops like flies. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 439 |f2 Those voluntary Informers that are buzzing about the Ears of a great Man. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. xvii. 122 While this man .. buzzes about you. 1923 Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves ii. 20 Anyhow, things seemed to be buzzing along quite satisfactorily. 1924- Leave it to Psmith i. 36 Greatest mistake go buzzing about to different dentists. 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Tragedy (1926) 11. i. 165 Too many youths and men were already buzzing around. 1959 T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman 1. 10 To have the waiters All buzzing round you.

b. slang. To go (quickly), to buzz off: to go off or away quickly. Also to buzz in: to come in (quickly), to enter. 1914 E. Pugh Cockney at Home 144 ‘Here you!’ to the Cub, ‘you’d better buzz off—quick!’ 1925 A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves iv. v. 313 So I buzzed after you till I saw old Ernest wiv ve car. 1931 L. Robinson Far-Off Hills 1, Are you buzzing too? You’re very short and sweet. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart 11. iii. 232, I asked Daphne who you were the moment you buzzed in. Ibid. iv. 241 We may buzz back here for tea. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident ii. 19 We were just about to buzz, when the yard door opened.

3. a. To speak indistinctly, mutter, murmur busily. (Usually somewhat contemptuous.) arch. I555 Far die Facions 1. vi. 93 They .. sieme rather to busse or churre betwene the tiethe then to speak. 1586 Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 22 Bussing like a preacher. 1588 Shaks. Tit. A. iv. iv. 7 How euer these disturbers of our peace Buz in the peoples eares. C1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. The Vote, My Muse.. Did softly buz: ‘Then let me somthing bring,’ etc. 1886 Tinsley's Mag. Sept. 227 [He] sat by my side and buzzed in my ear.

b. To make the indistinct murmuring sound or ‘hum’ produced by a large number of people talking; to talk busily. (Also said of the place in which such talking is going on.) 1832 L. Hunt Sir R. Esher (1850) 98 The court buzzed like gnats in the sunshine. 1855 Browning Old Piet, in Flor., vii, The Michaels and Rafaels, you hum and buzz Round the works of. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 385 The Agora buzzed with inquiring chatter.

c. Said of the sound or words so uttered.

Eliot Romola I. xvi. (1880) I. 234 Stories.. beginning to be buzzed about.

6. a. To utter with buzzing; to express by buzzing. 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 548 All.. buz the same insipid strain. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. 9 The professional gentlemen hummed and buzzed a sincere applause. 1855 Longf. Hiaw. xvii. 8 He buzzed and muttered words of anger. 1863 Mrs. Oliphant Salem Ch. 107 The deacons buzzed approbation.

b. Phonetics. To pronounce as or with a buzz. Cf. buzz sb.1 1 b. 1877 Sweet Handbk. Phonetics 37 (j) in N[orth] G[erman] is often distinctly buzzed. Ibid., Buzzed (j) is the ordinary G. g in ‘liegen’, ‘regen’.

f7. With person as obj.: To whisper to, suggest to, tell privately; to incite by suggestions. Obs. 1637 Bastwick Litany 11. 27 They all buzze Nobles and Princes in the eare, that, etc. 1665 Surv. Aff. Netherl. 162 The nicities of Priviledges and Liberty.. shall buzze the people .. to Mutinies. 1692 Wagstaffe Vind. Carol, xii. 83 They.. buzze the people, that it was done with the Kings Privity.

8. a. To assail, din, or molest by buzzing. In extended use: to fly (an aircraft) fast and close to. Also buzzing vbl. sb. Also transf. 1679 Dryden Tr. & Cr. 1. i, Having his Ears buzz’d with his noisy Fame. 1683 Barnard Heylin 30 That swarm like Gnats and Flyes to buz the Head. 1884 A. A. Putnam io Yrs. Police Judge xiii. 155 He has.. been badgered, buzzed, and besieged. 1941 Amer. Speech XVI. 164/1 Buzzing a town. .in Air Corps, to fly over it. 1942 Time 14 Dec. 82/2 They said he could buzz the camouflage off the top of a hangar without touching it. 1948 in Berg Diet. New Words (1953) 49/2 Two fighters buzzed a Bristol Wayfarer. 1958 Daily Mail 18 July 1/4 The reported ‘buzzing’ of British air transports by Israeli fighters as they crossed the coast. 1959 Times 23 May 6/4 The commander said that the Chaplet.. circled and ‘buzzed’ the Odinn before hitting her in the stern. 1969 Daily Tel. 17 Dec. 10/6 It can be a frightening experience to be shadowed, or ‘buzzed’ by a heavy lorry in fog.

b. To move with buzzing; to cause to buzz. 1820 Keats Lamia 11. 13 Love. .Hover’d and buzz’d his wings. 1865 G. Meredith Farina 74 The stranger buzzed his moustache in a pause of cool pity.

9. To telephone or signal (a call or message) by the ‘buzzer’, to buzz off: to ring off on the telephone. Also intr. of a message: to come in by the ‘buzzer’. Hence (slang) to telephone (a person) (cf. BUZZ sb.1 i d). 1914 Pears' Christmas Ann. 20/2 Are you the Bainbridger Then buzz off!.. You there—have you had a call from the Bainbridge? 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 173 The telephonists..‘buzzed’ even more monotonous strings of longs and shorts on the buzzer. Ibid., The messages that had just ‘buzzed’ in over their wires. Ibid. 183 It’s bad enough .. to get all these messages through by voice. I haven’t a dog’s chance of doing it if I have to buzz each one. 1929 ‘E. Queen’ Roman Hat Myst. viii. 117, I wouldn’t have buzzed you so early in the morning except that Ritter just phoned. 1956 R. Heinlein Double Star (1958) vi. 101 He’s gone to his room. I’m buzzing him.

10. To cut (wood) with a buzz-saw. U.S. 1925 British Weekly 5 Mar. contraption for ‘buzzin” wood.

554/5

His

home-built

11. To throw swiftly or forcibly, colloq. 1890 Kipling Many Invent. (1893) 35 Dennis buzzed his carbine after him, and it caught him on the back of his head. 01917 E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator (1918) 113 If we cannae throw a live We can aye buzz a dud. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident i. 10 The Prune buzzed a halfbrick at Ted.

buzz (bAz), v.2 Also buzza, buz. trans. To finish to the last drop in the bottle. 1785 Grose Did. Vulgar Tong. s.v. Buzza, To Buzza one, is to challenge him to pour out all the wine in the bottle into his glass, undertaking to drink it, should it prove more than the glass would hold. 1817 Peacock Melincourt II. 28 Buz the bottle.. The Baronet has a most mathematical eye.. buzzed to a drop. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxiv, Get some more port.. whilst I buzz this bottle. 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIH. 366 Buzza that jug., and touch the bell for another.

buzz, v.3 vbl. sb.2.

Thieves' cant.

Cf. buzzer2, buzzing

1848 Lytton Harold ill. iii, A murmur buzzed through the hall. 1879 Dixon Windsor II. viii. 85 A whisper buzzed about the Castle that an ugly deed was likely to be done.

1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Did., Buz, to buz a person is to pick his pocket.

4. trans. To tell in a low murmur or whisper, to communicate privately and busily. (Occas. with noun-sentence as obj., introduced by that.) arch.

fbuzz, int. Obs. Also buz, buzze. a. Said in the Variorum Shakspere (1803) to have been a common exclamation (of impatience or contempt) when any one was telling a well-known story; Schmidt and others say ‘a sound to command silence’, b. Attributed to conjurors = ‘hey, presto’, etc.

1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 36 Having buzzed his venemous suggestions into their eares. 1609 Sir G. Paule Abp. Whitgift 9 Buzzing these conceipts into the heads of diuers young preachers. 1625 Fletcher Noble Gent. 1. i, To undermine me And buz love into me. 1748 Richardson Clarissa I. xxxvi. 242 My brother continually buz2ing in my father’s ears that my cousin would soon arrive. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 278 Buzzing their envenomed slanders into the ears of these country people.

5. To spread as a rumour, with whispering or busy talk. 1616 Purchas Pilgr., Descr. India (1864) 30 Buzzing the neerenesse and Greatnesse of the Kings power. 1639 Fuller Holy War iv. xx. (1840) 216 A bruit constantly buzzed. 1723 Steele Consc. Lovers 1. i, I soon heard it buzz’d about, she was the daughter of a famous Sea-Officer. 1752 Fielding Amelia 11. iii, Our amour had already been buzzed all over the town. 1859 J. Lang Wand. India 403 It was very soon ‘buzzed about’ who was the artist. 1863 Geo.

1602 Shaks. Ham. 11. ii. 412 Pol. The Actors are come hither my Lord. Ham. Buzze, buzze. 1608 Middleton Mad World v. i. 93 She was married yesterday. Sir B. Buz! 1610 B. Jonson Alch. 1. ii, Cry hum, Thrise; and then buz, as often, a 1654 Selden Table-T., Witches (Arb.) 117 If one should profess that by turning his Hat thrice, and crying Buz; he could take away a man’s life. 1830 Scott Demonol. 226 Wave his hat and cry Buzz!

buzza, var. of buzz v.2 buzzar, obs. form of bazaar. buzzard, sb.1 (‘bAzad). Forms: 3 busard, 4-6 bosarde, 5 bosard, buserde, (busherde), busserd,

BUZZARD

B.V.D

724

5-7 bussard, 6 busarde, bussarde, (bousarde, basert), buzarde, buzzarde, 6-7 buzard, 7 busard, 7- buzzard, (Sc. 6 bissart, 8 bizzard, 9 buzzart, dial, buzzert). [a. OF. busart = Pr. buzart; cf. the synonymous Pr. buzac, It. bozzago, -agro, abuzzago, F. base (16th c. in Littre). The mutual relation of these words is unknown; they are commonly assumed to be derived from L. butedn-em of same meaning, but the process of formation is not evident.] 1. a. Name for the genus Buteo of birds of the falcon family, esp. B. vulgaris. Applied also, with defining words, to other birds belonging to the Falconidse: as bald buzzard, the Osprey, Pandion haliaetus; honey buzzard, Pernis apivorus; moor buzzard, Circus seruginosus.

1864 Tennyson North. Farm. 18 An’ [I] ’eerd un a bummin’ awaay loike a buzzard-clock ower my yead. 1877 E. Peacock N.-W. Lincoln. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Buzzard-clock, a kind of beetle; a cockchafer.

The buzzard was an inferior kind of hawk, useless for falconry; hence app. sense 2. Cf. Fr. buse buzzard, also ‘sot, ignorant, stupide’, Boiste; ‘imbecille’ Littre. (The chronology appears to make it impossible to connect this sense with the next word.) C1300 K. Alts. 3049 Nultou never.. No faucon mak of busard, No hardy knyght mak of coward. C1400 Rom. Rose 4033 Man may for no dauntyng Make a sperhauke of a bosarde. i486 Bk. St. Albans B ij, An hauke that is broght vp vnder a Bussard or a Puttocke. 1533 Act 25 Hen. VIII, xi. §6 Crowes, choughes, rauons, and bosardes. 1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, 1. i. 133 That the Eagles should be mew’d, Whiles Kites and Buzards play at liberty. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 715 The short winged hawkes are, etc... some intrude the Bauld Buzzard. 01734 North Exam. ill. viii. IP70. 638 An Historian and a Libeller are as different as Hawk and Buzzard. 1789 G. White Selborne 11. xli. (1853) 267 Kites and buzzards sail round in circles. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 66 The moor buzzard still frequents the waste which surrounds Lindholme.

1659 Lady Alimony v. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley XIV. 357 All that puisne pen-feathered aerie of buzzardism and stanielry.

b. between hawk and buzzard: (see quot. 1662). 1636 Abp. Williams Holy Table (1637) 226 [To] awake him thus between Hawk and Buzzard. 1662 jfanua Ling. § 146 (N.) Between hawk and buzzard, means between a good thing and a bad of the same kind: the hawk being the true sporting bird, the buzzard a heavy lazy fowl of the same species. 1775 N. Cresswell Jrnl. (1924) 147 We are between Hawk and Buzzard. 1832 [see hawk sb.1 1 c]. 1895 E. C. Brewer Diet. Phr. & Fable 193 Between hawk and buzzard. Not quite a lady or gentleman, nor quite a servant. Applied to tutors in private houses [etc.]. 1904 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Ky.) 12 July 4 The intelligence of the Commonwealth found itself literally between hawk and buzzard. It hovered in the balance.

2. fig. A worthless, stupid, or ignorant person. Often with the adj. blind; also used euphem. = BASTARD sb. I C. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. x. 266, I rede eche a blynde bosarde do bote to hym-selue. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 98 Thou blundyrst As a blynde buserde. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 36 Wo worth such counsellers, bishops, nay rather bussardes. 1571 Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 111 Those blind bussardes, who.. would neyther learne themselues, nor could teach others. 1652 Gataker Antinom. 31 A company of., blind blundering bussards. 01774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) II. 11. v. 49 It is common to a proverb, to call one who cannot be taught, or continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 101 That unlucky passage of Shakspeare which .. has .. puzzled .. many a somniferous buzzard. 1822 Scott Nigel ii. 1889 Barrere & Leland Diet. Slang, Buzzard (American), an oppressive, arrogant person, jealous of rivalry, and vindictive. 1918 Mulford Manfr. Bar-20 viii. 77 ‘Pop’, he said, sharply, ‘who is this buzzard?’ Ibid. xi. 108 You two buzzards are about as cheerful an’ pleasant as a rattler in August. 1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer 1. v. 57 Not that he was doing anything spectacular with the old buzzard at the moment, i960 J. Wain Nuncle 163, I could never have accused the old buzzard of caring excessively for me as a person.

3. attrib. or as adj. a. Of a buzzard; resembling a buzzard’s ... 1878 Tennyson Q. Mary 1. iv. 29 His buzzard beak and deep-incavern’d eyes Half fright me.

b. Senseless, stupid, ‘blind’. 1592 Constable Poems v. (1859) 34 Lowe on the ground with buzzard Cupids wings. 1649 Milton Eikon. i. Wks. (1847) 280/1 A buzzard idol. 1844 Carlyle Misc. (1857) IV. 314 Ignorance and buzzard stupidity.

4. Comb., as buzzard-blind, -like, adjs. 1581 J. Bell Haddon' s Answ. Osor. 179 Compare with this blynd Philosophy of Cicero, the Divinitie of Osorius in all respectes as bussardlyke. 1590 C. S. Right Relig. 9 Is anie man so buzzardlike, or so blockishly blind? 1619 Fletcher M. Thomas III. i, Do not anger me, For by this hand I’le beat the buzard blind then.

'buzzard, sb.2 dial. [f. buzz v.1 + -ard.] 1. A name applied to various insects that fly by night, e.g. large moths and cockchafers. (Undoubted instances of its use in earlier times are wanting. Cf. buzzer1.) [Cf. Shaks. Tam. Shr. 11. 209, where there is perh. a play on this sense. Also, the following among other passages: 1654 Gayton Fest. Notes 188 (N.) O owle! hast thou only kept company with bats, buzzards, and beetles in this long retirement in the desert.] 1825 Hood Ode to Graham, They are wise that choose the near, A few small buzzards in the ear, To organs ages hence. 1875 Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) 64 He’s olez after buzzerts and things.

2. = BUZZER1 3. 1878 Grosart in H. More's Poems Index 211/1 The steam-whistle for calling the mill-operatives to work is named ‘buzzard’ in Lancashire (Blackburn).

Comb, buzzard-clock, a cockchafer.

f buzzard, v. Obs. [cf. buzzard sb.1 2.] ? To make a ‘buzzard’ of, puzzle completely, nonplus. 1624 Mountagu Immed. Addresse 185 Baronius is plainely buzzarded in the point, and wisely concealing that which hee could not reconcile, passeth it ouer as in a dreame.

buzzardet.

[f. buzzard1 resembling the buzzard, longer legs.

+ -et1.] A hawk, but having rather

1784 Pennant Arctic Zool. II. No. 109.

'buzzardism.

nonce-word. Conduct resembling that of the buzzard; cowardice.

t 'buzzardly, a. and adv. Obs. Also 6 bussardly, buzardly, 7 -lie. [f. buzzard1 + -ly.] Like a buzzard; stupid(ly), senseless(ly). 1561 Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 132b, Which thing., the bussardly Anabaptistes will not vnderstand. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 24b, So captious and bussardly a Sophister? Ibid. 405 b, So superstitious and bussardly blinde. 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 96 My clumsie Annotation, and buzardlie Vindication.

buzzart, Sc. and dial, form of buzzard1. [f. buzz v.1 + -ed1.] Uttered with a buzz; rumoured about.

buzzed (bAzd), ppl. a.

1820 Keats St. Agnes x, Let no buzz’d whisper tell. 1877 Handbk. Phonetics cix. 38 Buzzed (r) is .. allied to the sibilants. Sweet

buzzer1 ('bAza(r)). [f. buzz d.1 + -er1.] 1. An insect that buzzes. Also fig. 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas 11. in. i. (1623) 311 Swarms of busie Buzzers. 1611 Cotgr., Bourdonneur, a hummer, a buzzer. 1834 Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 1006 To keep the buzzers from settling round his eyes. 1847 Fraser's Mag. XXXVI. 524 Greek and Latin literature have been blown upon by the buzzers of metre.

+ 2. A private obtruder of tales. Obs. 1602 Shaks. Ham. iv. v. 90 Her Brother.. wants not Buzzers to infect his eare With pestilent Speeches of his Fathers death.

3. A steam apparatus for making a loud buzzing noise as a signal; cf. hummer, hooter. 1870 Echo 17 Jan., Two..steam alarm whistles or ‘buzzers’ were fixed on Saturday. 1872 Jeans West. Worthies 95 No sounds of the ponderous hammer or screeching ‘buzzer’ are to be heard. 1885 Daily News 2 Oct. 2/1.

4. a. An electric mechanism for producing an intermittent current and a buzzing sound or series of sounds; used chiefly as a call or signal. Also attrib. a 1884 Knight Diet. Mech. Suppl., Buzzer, a telegraphic call in which a vibrating hammer strikes a sounding piece and gives out a buzzing sound, which, in certain cases, is preferable to a bell. 1901 ‘Linesman’ Words Eyewitness (1902) 203 The little station, with its brave air of business, its stationmaster, and its electric ‘buzzer’. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 183 He could hear the morse signals on the buzzer plain enough, a 1917 E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator (1918) 99 If.. his bloody barrage-fire’s Broken all your buzzer wires Don’t get flurried. 1920 Conquest June 404/1 There is a local buzzer-circuit in the call box. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 20 The Buzzer, another name for the telephone, and particularly the modern ‘buzz’ boxes or house-phone systems. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 17/5 Oakland’s Ted Hampson and Minnesota’s Mike McMahon.. scuffled after the final buzzer [in ice hockey]. fig- x93° H. Nicolson Swinburne i. 11 Although, so to speak, this obstructon exists only on one line of communication, yet it acts as a buzzer which disturbs the rest.

b. Hence (Services’ slang), a signaller. 1915 ‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thousand vii. 55 One of the Battalion signallers—or ‘buzzers’, as the vernacular has it, in imitation of the buzzing of the Morse instrument. 1917 ‘Taffrail’ Off Shore 1 His friends .. refer to him as ‘Buzzer’ .. because the instruments of which he is the custodian.. emit buzzing and humming sounds.

c. A door-bell, colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1934 R. Stout Fer-de-lance xvii. 295 Fritz, the buzzer, attend the front door, please. 1959 ‘J. Welcome’ Stop at Nothing viii. 132 The door buzzer sounded in the hall... She.. pressed the button that freed the lock.

5. Electr. The trembler of an induction coil. 1882 W. H. Preece in J. J. Fahie Hist. Wireless Telegr. (1899) 138 Buzzers, little instruments that make and break the current very rapidly with a buzzing sound. 1888 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 Jan. 25 It is called a ‘buzzer’. .. It is a rapid current-breaker.

'buzzer2. Thieves’ cant. [f. buzz v.3 + -er1.] A pickpocket. (See quot.) 1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 46 ‘Buzzers’ who pick gentlemen’s pockets, and ‘wires’ who pick ladies’ pockets.

buzzert, var. of buzzard2. buzzgloak.

Thieves’ cant. buzz t>.3] A pickpocket.

Also buzgloak.

[f.

1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Diet., Buz-cove or Buz-gloak, a pickpocket; a person who is clever at this practice, is said to be a good buz. 1830 Lytton P. Clifford 56 He is nothing

better than a buzz gloak. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 175 These copper captains and cozening buzgloaks.

buzzing ('bAziij), vbl. sb.1 [f. buzz v.1 + -ing1.] The action of the verb buzz. 1. A sibilant humming. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvm. xii. (1495) 768 Tyll one bee wake them all with twyes bussyng or thryes. c 1540 Pilgrym's Tale 66 in Thynne's Animadv. (1865) 79, I herde a bussinge .. I thought yt had beyn the dran be. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying Ins. 1. v. 12 Two or three loud buzzings. 1865 Blackmore Maid of Sk. xxvi. 155 He had .. a kind of a buzzing in one ear. 1869 Ruskin Q. of Air §35 The buzzing of the fly [is] produced .. by a constant current of air through the trachea.

2. Confused or mingled utterance; busy murmuring, muttering; murmur, busy talk, rumour. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. (1557) 408/2 The., obseruaunces of the churche, which he calleth .. howling, buzsing, and crying oute. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, II. i. 148 A buzzing of a Separation Betweene the King and Katherine. 1827 Carlyle Libussa, Transl. (1874) 94 The hum of the multitude, the whispering and buzzing. 1882 H. Merivale Faucit of B. II. 11. i. 151 The buzzings of the Agnostics.

'buzzing, vbl. sb.2 Thieves’ cant. [f. buzz v.3 + -ing1.] Pocket-picking. 1819 J. H. Vaux Mem. I. xii. 140, I had not been accustomed to buzzing. 1884 Pall Mall G. 29 Dec. 4/2 Descending somewhat in the scale of crime, we come to simple ‘buzzing’, or the picking of pockets.

'buzzing, ppl. a. [f. buzz v.1 + -ing2.] 1. Making, or characterized by, a sibilant humming. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. ii. 13 What is this buzzynge blumberinge trow we: thunder? 1600 Maydes Metam. 1. in O. PI. (1882) I. 113 Bees .. Whose buzing musick .. shall her sences greet. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, ill. 239 A fierce loud buzzing Breez. 1727 Thomson Summer 231 In a corner of the buzzing shade. 1827-8 Lamb in Poems (Chandos) 559. 1843 Macaulay Lays, Virginia 25 Where’er ye shed the honey, the buzzing flies will crowd.

b. Said of sounds. 1635 Swan Spec. M. v. §2 (1643) 117 A kind of buzzing noise. 1844 Dufton Deafness 85 Pains over the forehead .. succeeded by a buzzing noise.

2. Whispering, muttering; busily talking, full of busy talk. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 840/1 A companie of bussing monks. 1618 Barnevelt's Apol. B iv, Buzzing whisperer, tell mee, etc. 1735 Somerville Chase 11. 306 The buzzing Multitudes. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. cxlii, Where buzzing nations choked the ways.

Hence 'buzzingly adv. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect, x, The pupils.. buzzingly passed a ragged book from hand to hand.

f'buzzle, v. Obs. [? onomatopoeic; cf. bustle, puzzle.] 1. trans. ? To distend, fill out. [cf. bustle sb.2] ? a 1600 Masque Twelve Months (N.) lie take my perche upon Some citty head-attire.. (Buzzell’d with bone-lace).

2. intr. ? To contend; to be emulous, envious. Hence 'buzzling ppl. a. a 1639 W. Whateley Prototypes 1. xix. (1640) 226 Have you not these kind of vying buzling thoughts in you? 1638 N. W[hiting] Albino Bell. 65 Distracted were her thoughts in silence tyde Till love and honour buzzled, then she cryde.

3. = puzzle. ? Hence 'buzzle-.headed (but cf. bussle-headed). 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. xxiii. 305 They may well buzzle the brains of a person reasonably well versed in their terms. 01644 Quarles Virg. Widow 32 Ye.. addle-pated, buzzle-headed, splatter-footed Moon-calf.

'buzzman. Thieves' cant. [f. buzz v.z + man.] A pickpocket. 1832 Fraser's Mag. VI. 460.

buzznack. dial, and ? nautical. ? = busk v.2 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss, s.v.. In and out, buzznacking about. 1868 Russell Adv. Dr. Brady I. 172 Some of our cruisers from Halifax might be knocking about .. bussnacking for something or other.

buzzy ('bAzi), a.1 [f. buzz sb.1 + -y1.] Full of buzzing; buzzing. 1871 G. Macdonald Poems for Childr. in Wks. Fancy & Imag. III. 227 The buzzy bees. 1877 Blackie Wise Men 101 A buzzy army of mosquitos.

buzzy CbAzi), a.2 [cf. buzz sb.2, 3.] ? Rough and hairy; fuzzy. 1836 New Month. Mag. XLVI. 80 The longjudicial cloak and buzzy wig. 1858 Kingsley Chalk-Str. Stud. Misc. (1859) I. 213 The ’buzzy’ look of the fly.

B.V.D. (bi:vi:'di:). Chiefly U.S. Also beeveedee, BVD. [Acronym f. the initial letters of the name of its manufacturers, Bradley, Foorhees & Day; the widely-held belief that B.V.D. stood for ‘babies’ ventilated diapers’ is mistaken.] A proprietary name for a type of lightweight, long underwear for men, popular in the first half of the twentieth century. Usu. in pi. Also fig. 1893 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 6 June 1528/1 Suspenders, belts, shirts, and drawers. Lyman H. Day. New York... B.V.D... Used since September i, 1876. 1906 Ibid. 2 Jan. 308/2 Undershirts and underdrawers. Erlanger Bros., New York... B.V.D. 1908 Sat. Even. Post

BWANA July 1/1 All B.V.D. Garments are made of thoroughly tested woven materials selected for their cooling and wearing qualities. 1923 Trade Marks Jrnl. 13 June 1230 B.V.D... Shirts, Drawers for Wear, Sleeping Garments and Union Suits for Men and Women. The B.V.D. Company Incorporated.. 519, West Pratt Street, Baltimore.. Maryland, United States.. Manufacturers. 1935 J. T. Farrell Judgment Day xiv. 305 Studs entered the parlor, wearing old trousers over his B.V.D.’s. 1947 Sooner Mag. Nov. 14/1 The frosh started a ‘back to nature’ movement but compromised on ‘beeveedees’. 1953 R. Mais Hills were Joyful Together 1. x. 82 Surjue sat in his BVD’s, shuffled the worn pack of playing cards. 1959 Tamarack Rev. xii. 22 The most brilliant lawyer and financier in Montreal getting trimmed down to his BVD’s by a couple of snot-nosed kids! *977 H. Fast Immigrants in. 189 His BVDs were the most ridiculous garment ever invented. 4

bwana ('bwams). Also Bwana. [Swahili.] A term of respectful address or reverence (formerly used) in East Africa, equivalent to ‘(the) master’, ‘Mr.’, or ‘Sir’. 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. I. iii. 59 Bwana, you see these scars. Ibid. II. xvii. 478 It is Bwana Stanley’s expedition that has returned. 1887 E. C. Dawson James Hannington 212 The cries of ‘Run, bwana, run!’ were accentuated by a double roar. 1921 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 119/1 He had not been able to tell his Bwana about the bustard. x9f»3 Punch 24 July 113/1 An African moving.. on to his ex-bwana’s farm.

bwy, obs. Sc. form of bough. b’w’y. b’w’ye: see good-bye. fby, sb.1 Obs. Forms: 1- by, 4 bi, bii, bij, bie, 9 bye. [north. OE. by, prob. a. ON. bce-r, by-r (Sw. and Da. by) habitation, village, town, f. biia to dwell; cf. big v. Retained in place-names, as Whitby, Grimsby, Derby.) a. A place of habitation; a village or town. Also, an instance of a place-name in -by. c 95° Lindisf. Gosp. Mark v. 3 Se Se hus vel lytelo by hsefde in byrgennum. a 1300 Cursor M. 19511 To preche he come intil a bi pat men cleped samari. £1314 Guy Warzv. (1840) 267 Balder bern was non in bi. [1803 R. Anderson Cumbrld. Ballads xxxiii. 71 There’s Oughterby and Souterby, And bys beath far and weyde.] 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 20 Feb. 5/1 Dr. Taylor.. had already taught us to recognize the general tokens of Scandinavian settlement in the.. bys where they [sc. the pirates] made their solitary.. homesteads. 1908 W. G. Collingwood Scandinavian Brit. 113 ‘Thorpes’ indicating villages as opposed to ‘byes’ or isolated farmsteads .. are found.

b. Comb., as by-mill ‘town-mill’, by-well. 1456 in Ripon Ch. Acts Add 383 Juxta Byemyllne. Note. The village well at North Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, is still called the Bye well.

by, sb.2 Forms: (6 buy), 6- by, bye. [Ellipt. use of the adj. (or adv.), when by is contrasted with main, some such word as object, road, course, part, etc., or stake, throw, being understood; the earliest quots. suggest that the subst. use had its origin in dicing phraseology. Rarely used except with prep, preceding. Often also written bye sb.,

qv] f 1. A secondary or subsidiary object, course, or undertaking; a side issue; something of minor importance: chiefly contrasted with main; whence phr. to bar by and main: to prevent entirely, stop altogether. Obs. 1567 Turberv. Ovids Epist. 13 b, Refuseth me and all the wealth, and barres me by and maine. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 430 Alwayes haue an eye to the mayne, what so ever thou art chaunced at the buy. 1598 Barkcley Felic. Man (1631) Pref., Dice players, that gaine more by the bye than by the maine. 1603 St. Trials (R.) You are fools, you are on the bye, Raleigh and I are on the main; we mean to take away the king and his cubs. 1610 Folkingham Art of Survey 11. v. 55 Extend from some fewe Maine Angles Base lines for Boundaries.. and from conuenient distances in the same, distantiate euery By. 1639 Sir R. Baker in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxliii. 3 These are but the bye; the main of his aim is at the soul. 01734 North Lives II. 188 Neither was the main let fall, nor time lost, upon the by. 1791-1824 D’Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 433/1 This critic was right in the main, but not by the by; in the general, not in the particular.

2. Phrases with a preposition: f athe by (see quot.). of the by. of secondary or subsidiary importance. Obs. 1611 Florio, Massare, to play or cast at the by, at hazard or gresco. a 1619 Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. (1626) Pref. 3 These things being but of the By. 01639 W. Whateley Prototypes II. xxxiv. (1640) 159 Religion is made of the by, it serveth some other Mistresse.

b. by the by (earlier by a by, on or upon the by): by a side way, on a side issue; as a matter of secondary or subsidiary importance, incidentally, casually, in passing. Obs. or arch. Also in predicative or complemental use (quasi-ad/.): Off the main track, away from the point at issue, of secondary importance, incidental. 1615 W. Hull Mirr. Maiestie 98 Not intentionally, but accidentally (as we say) vpon the bye. c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 85 Who ever he be that in adultery, Begets a child, he stealeth by a by. 1627 Hakewill Apol. Pref. 10 It led them some other way, thwarting and upon the by, not directly. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. v. 377 They had something.. in the favour of Friers, though brought in only by the by. a 1661 Holyday Juvenal (1673) 149 If he be ask’d, though but by chance, and on the by. 1678 Butler

BY

725 Hud. in. 1. 605 All he does upon the By, She is not bound to Justifie. 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 66 Let it be done sparingly, and by the bye. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xlvi. 259 [Chemists] hunt, perhaps, after chimeras.. and find something really valuable by the bye. 1621 Bp. Mountagu Diatribe 9 You are much upon the by, to bring in your Philologicall observations. 1649 Cromwell Lett. 13 Aug., As for the pleasures of this life, and outward business, let that be upon the bye. 1661 J. Stephens Procurations 67 Little else than a to napcpyov a work by the by. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. II. 222 They would not make Religion a thing by the by. 1831 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1853) 416 Tuition .. lightly viewed and undertaken, as a matter of convenience, a business by the by. 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. II. iv. 240 All these matters were by the by.

c. by the by is used parenthetically, with the omission of some phrase, such as ‘it may be remarked’. So by the way: see way. 1708 Swift Bickerstaff Detect. Wks. 175s II. 1. 164 My wife’s voice, (which by the by, is pretty distinguishable). 1762 T. Jefferson Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 183 As brother Job says, (who, by-the-bye .. began to whine a little under his afflictions,) ‘Are not my days few?’ 1847 Barham Ingol. Leg. (1877) 269 A line that’s not mine but Tom Moore’s, by-theby. 1866 Kingsley Herew. i, By-the-by, Martin—any message from my lady mother?

3. ? A by-current, side current. 1877 Blackmore Erema III. liv. 229 By running the byes of the wind, and craftily hugging the corners.

See also bye sb.

by (bai), prep., adv. [OE. bi (big) accented; bi, be unaccented, = OFris., OS., MDu., bi, be, (Du. bi], be-), OHG. bi, bi, bi- (MHG. bi, be-, Ger. bei, be-), Goth, bi, bi- ‘about, by’:—OTeut. *bi, prob. cognate with L. am-bi- prefix, Gr. apufrl, prep, and prefix ‘about’. (For the disappearance of am- in Teut., cf. OTeut. bo-, with L. am-bo-, Gr. a/2-1j>o- both.) Originally an adverbial particle of place; when prefixed to a verb it generally coalesced with the latter, and was treated as a prefix; when construed with substantives (in the dative or accusative, according as the relation was that of being near, or moving near to), it became, like other adverbs, a preposition. Cf. the series: ‘j>aet folc bi stod (bi-stod)’, ‘j?aet folc him bi stod (him bi-stod)’, ‘pset folc stod him bi,’ ‘the folk stood by him’, and the mod.English, ‘to stand by, stand by him, be a bystander’. The single form bi of OTeut. was subsequently, under the influence of the stress, differentiated into the strong or accented bi, bi (by, bij, bei), and the weak or stressless bi, later be. The strong form was used for the adverb, the accented prefix of nouns, and a stressed preposition; the weak form for the stressless prefix of verbs, and a stressless preposition. The influence of levelling, however, tended at length to make bi (by, etc.) the separate form in all cases, and to leave be- as the weak prefix; thus, while in OE. the prep, was both be and bi, in ME. it was usually written bi, by, and modern Eng. makes the preposition, like the adverb, by, in all positions and senses, and has be- only as a stressless prefix. The same is true of mod.Ger. bei, be-, and Du. bij, be-. But in pronunciation there was a weak and a strong form in ME. (cf. forms like be-sides, be-times, bum troth, bum Lady, byrlady), as is still usual in the dialects. In modern Sc. be is the ordinary form of the preposition unaccented, or in a weakened sense, as in ‘sit be the fire’, ‘written be a clerk’, ‘ane be ane’, by the form of the adverb and strong preposition, as in ‘stand by’, ‘to pass by a place be the railway’. This use of be as preposition has been uniform in the northern dialect since the earliest preserved ME. specimens.] A.prep. Forms: 1-2 be, 1-5 bi, 1 bi (big), 3- by, (4 bie, 5 bye, north. 3- be). (Formerly often placed after the governed word, which may still be done in verse). General scheme of signification. I. Of position in space: (1) Position or action near, including notions of comparison by juxtaposition; (2) Direction and vague localization. II. Of motion in space: (1) Motion alongside, along, or over a course; (2) Motion up to; (3) Motion alongside and beyond, including notions of distance to reach, and of excess, short-coming, or inferiority. III. Of time. IV. Of mental or ideal proximity. V. Of medium, means, instrumentality, agency. VI. Of circumstance, condition, manner, cause. VII. In phrases. I. Of position in space. * Of position or action near or adjacent to. 1. a. At the side or edge of; in the vicinity of; near, close to, beside. 898 O.E. Chron. an. 894 §2 On Defna scire be J?aere norj? sae. 971 Blickl. Horn. 15 f>a saet pser sum blind pearfa be Son weje. c 1000 Whale (poem) 18 Ceolas stondaS bi staSe faeste.

1160 Hatton G. Matt. xiii. 40 Hyo.. saeten be pam strande. C1200 Ormin 3340 pat engel..stod hemm bi. £1330 Assump. Virg. 368 To kepe pee & by pee by [?be thee by, or by thee be]. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 667 The Kyng lukyt hym by. c 1400 Destr. Troy 11569 To be .. laid by hir legis, pat the lond aght. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 658 Com sit me bye. 1513 Douglas JEneis ix. ix. 138 Hys scheild syne by hym lais. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 1. 4 Hard by this Island .. is Ruigna. 1764 Reid Inquiry ii. § 10. 174 The clock may strike by us without being heard. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra 11. 125 A sword by his side, i860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xx, Down by the Docks they ‘board seamen’ at the eating houses. 1881 Saintsbury Dryden 179 In Poets’ Corner, where he has been buried by Chaucer and Cowley.

b. In names of places, introducing the name of a place better known, or of a natural feature, which serves as a distinction, as in Bromley-byBow, Stoke-by-Nayland, St. Stephen s-bySaltash, Stanton-by-Bridge, St. Leonard's-bySea. Also in postal addresses of subordinate offices, where by introduces the name of the chief office, as Coniston by Ambleside, and the like. c. after such verbs as abide, stick, stand, q.v. 1508 Fisher Wks. 1. 221 His commaundement must nedes be. .abyden by. 1736 Cibber School-Boy 11. i, You’ll stand by me upon Occasion. 1742 H. Walpole Corr. (1857) I. 193 They have given Mrs. Pulteney an admirable name and one that will stick by her. 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris vi. 4 We Fudges stand by one another. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1873) V. 271 Let us stick by our excerpting. 1885 Sir W. Brett in Law Rep. 1 j Queen s B. Div. 189 He was willing to abide by the event of such a trial.

fd. by the sight of, by view of: under the supervision of. Obs. 01500 tr. Magna Charta in Arnolde Chron. (i8t 1) 217 Be the sight of holy chirch, his goodis shalbe destribute. 1601 F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II, §15. 13 Serve the house-hold bi view of the same dark.

2. a. In forms of swearing or adjuration. Here bi is the original prep, in Teutonic (Goth., OHG., OS.), and must have had a local sense, ‘in presence of’, or perhaps ‘in touch of some sacred object: in ON. where bi was entirely lost, at appears, and must have been local. But in OE. literature the prep, was ordinarily purh, perhaps after L. per-, though be occurs in one place in the Rushw. Gloss, and may represent native usage. It is thus not certain how far the ME. use of by was native, or how far it was a translation of F. par, of instrumentality. To modern apprehension there is apparently no notion of place, but one approaching that of instrumentality or medium. See swear. Cf. before 6. c975 Rushw. Gl. Matt, xxiii. 22 Sepe swer.tr be heofune swerat be sedle godes, and in Stem sepe sitep on him. c 1205 Lay. 3447 Heo swor.. bi al heuenliche main, a 1300 Cursor M. 7934 Bi godd o-liue he suor his ath. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 52 Tho he sware be hevyn kyng, Ther wase told hym a wondyr thyng. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. I. ii. 5 Swome-by Stix and wreakfull Mars at periuries repine. 1611 Bible Matt. v. 36 Neither shalt thou sweare by thy head. 1751 Jortin Serm. (1771) V. iii. 56 They took up a custom of swearing not by the Lord, but by other things. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) 1. 354 And I swear to you Athenians, by the dog I swear! 1884 St. James's Gaz. 20 June 6/1 The farmers.. swear ‘by’r Leddie’ and ‘by Jings’.

b. So in ellipt. phrases, by God, by our Lady, by my life, etc., without mention of the verb swear. 1297 R. Glouc. 25 J>ou ne schalt (bi hym pat made me) of scapie so ly3te. a 1300 Cursor M. 13593 ‘A prophet,’ said he, ‘be mi lai.’ a 1330 Otuel 476 Bisengeme [ = By Saint James] ihc habbe i-foujt Otuwel. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. iv. 285 By Cryst, at my knowynge, Mede ys worthy, me pynkep, pe maistrye to haue. c 1440 Generydes 2445, I take hir for my owen, sir, be the rode. 1519 Interl. Elem. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 33 Of all meats in the world that be, By this light, I love best drink. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 1. xlii, By’s death, I would plume them. 1672 Davenant Siege (1673) 69 By this Light, you eat nimbly. 1841-4 Emerson Ess., Poet Wks. (Bohn) I. 170 By God, it is in me, and must go forth of me. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 33 By the dog of Egypt, I said, there I agree with you.

3. a. In the presence of (obs.); at the house of (obs.); beside, with, in possession of, about (a person). 01300 Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright) 134 Whan a man is an urthe ded, and his soule bi God. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xii. ii, Accordynge as by hym is audyence. 1535 Coverdale Acts ix. 43 He taried .. at Joppa by one Simon which was a tanner. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 347/2 We haue an aduocate by the father, Christ Iesus. 1661 Boyle Seep. Chem. 1. (1680) 73 What I have yet lying by me of that anomalous Salt. 1712 Henley Sped. No. 396 f 1, I have kept it [a letter] by me some Months. 1800 Coleridge Wallenst. 1. viii. 17 This plot he has long had in writing by him From the emperor.

fb. In the writings of, in (a specified passage). £1460 Towneley Myst. 145 (Matz.) We rede thus by I say. 1579 Tomson Calvin s Serm. Tim. 15/2 S. Paules mind is by this place, that no man take vppon him to teach otherwise then he taught.

fc. With, having about one. Obs. a 1225 Ancren R. 420 3if 3e muwen beon wimpel-leas, beofi bi warme keppen.

4. a. by oneself (himself, themselves, etc.): in one’s own company, to the exclusion of any one else; hence, apart from others, without companion; alone, singly, in isolation.

BY £1200 Ormin 821 Sone summ he cuj?e ben Himm ane bi himm selfenn. 1297 R. Glouc. 104 \>o heo were al bi hem selue.. He slow pe kyng. 01300 Cursor M. 12834 He fand his cosin Ion, In wildemes bi him allan. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 35 By thy selfe, seorsum. 1559 Bp. Cox in Strype Ann. Ref. I. vi. 99 Weigh this matter by your self. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. hi. i. 13 Britaine’s a world By it selfe. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 26 IP 1, I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey. 1712 Steele ibid. No. 302 |p 11 My husband and I were sitting all alone by our selves. 1813 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. (1846) 301 We may as well leave them by themselves. 1884 G. Denman Law Reports, 29 Chanc. Div. 467 Look at each statement by itself without regard to the other statements.

b. This blends with other senses (esp. 33) in by oneself: by one’s own power, without assistance, independently; of one’s own motion or authority, spontaneously. a 1000 Ags. Gosp. John vii. 17 HwaeSer pe ic be me sylfum spece. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xx. 140 The paume.. haj? power by hym-self, Ot?er-wise pan pe wrythen fust, c 1400 Maundev. 194 3if thei abyden to dyen be hem self, as nature wolde. c 1450 Merlin i. 14 Tyll she be stronge to goo by her-self. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4794/2 The Battalions., charg’d by their own selves. 1744 Berkeley Siris §233 Going like a clock or a machine by itself.

5. By the side of; hence, in addition to, beside. by and beside: over and above. Sc. or north. Cf. FORBYE. 1330 R- Brunne Chron. 149 We pre haf.. pe schippes of Kyng Richard to keep & 30W pam bie. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. xxvii. 331 By his awyn war Baneris five Dysplayt. I535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 230 Nocht be the clething on oure bak. 1600 J. Melvill Diary (1842) 146 By and besyde the inward hand of my God, I haid twa utward speciall comforts. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 95 We will have a lift, if we don’t get the horse by the bargain. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxi, ‘Few folks ken o’ this place.. there’s just twa living by mysell.’

f6. a. In comparison with, in proportion to (i.e. placed beside, for the sake of comparison or correlation); after verbs of distinguishing = from. Obs. exc. Sc. 1340 Ayenb. 249 Amang pe bestes man hej? pane leste mouj? be pe bodie. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xvm. 104 NoJ?er pei knowej? ne connej? o cours by a-noper. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 224 The four sones of Aymon were good to knowe by thother. C1515 Elegy on Henry VIITs Fool in Halliw. Nugae P. 45 Many folys by the thynke themselfe none. 1578 in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 126, I gaif thee ressoun, quhereby thou might Haue knawin the day by the dark night. 1729 Let. in Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 448 Twenty-six years ago .. we were in a pleasant situation .. by what we are at present. 1768 Goldsm. Good-n. Man 1, Compare that part of life which is to come by that which we have passed. Mod. Sc. So dark that one could not tell a house by a hay-stack.

b. to set or let (obs.) little, nought, etc. by: to put little, nothing, etc. in comparison with; to value, esteem little, etc.; also absol. to set by (obs.): to esteem highly. See set and let. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. xi. 29 Luytel is he loued or leten bi. 1393 Ibid. C. vi. 3 Closed as a lollere, And lytel y-lete by. c 1382 Wyclif Isa. liii. 3 Wherfore ne wee setteden by hym. c 1400 Maundev. xxvii. 272 Thei sette not.. by Caw-teles. 1407 Songs Costume (1849) 57 Ye be so lewyd your selfe there setteth no man you bye. c 1430 How Wise man tau$t Son 126 in Babees Bk. (1868) 52 Bi oJ?ir richesse sette no greet price, c 1440 York Myst. xxxi. 105 Sette I noght be hym. 1549 Psalm xv. 4 (Prayer Bk.) He that setteth not by himself, but is lowly in his own eyes. 1637 Bastwick Litany in. 13 That booke was highly set by and commended. 1729 Butler Serm. 540 In all lowliness of mind we set lightly by ourselves. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 102. He also set by the hares, and they must go free.

7. More than, beyond, in preference to. t by and beside-, outside of, without, by common, by ordinary (used adjectively): unusual, extraordinary. All Sc. 1567 Test. H. Stewart in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 257 Lancit with luif, sho luid me by all wycht. 1603 Philotus cx, Our Parents hes opprest, And by all dew thair Dochters drest. c alre wiseste pe wuneS bi westen. c 1340 Cursor M. 12131 (Trin.) Who herde euer suche ferly Of any mon bi norp or soup. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. II. 117 Hit is sykerer by southe per pe sonne regneth J»an in pe north. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lx. 101 One sort by east, an other by west, did rise. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. (1692) 43 Lay the Ship by the Lee to trie the Dep-sea Line. 1628 Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 46 In smooth water, and by a wind, was her best way. 1664 Bushnell Shipwright 7 The most Ships saile by the Sterne. 1849 Blackw. Mag. LXVI. 196 She’s too much by the head. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., By the wind is when a ship sails as nearly to the direction of the wind as possible.

b. spec, used in the names of the sixteen smallest points of the compass, viz. North by East, North-east by North, North-east by East, East by North, etc., indicating one point towards the east, west, north, or south of N., NE., E., SE., S. SW., W., NW. respectively. The point midway between N. and E. is NE.; that midway between N. and NE. is NNE.: the intermediate point between N. and NNE. is N. by E., that between NE. and NNE. is NE. by N. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece vi. 481, I observed Corinth to lie South-East by South off us. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. ii. 26, I.. steered directly south and by east. 1837 Fraser's Mag. XVI. 48 We steered S.E. by E. 1849 Ibid. XL. 666 Cape Trafalgar bore east by south.

fc. In compound preps, of direction, as byhither on this side of, by west to the west of, etc.; which are also used substantively. Obs. More commonly be-east, be-north, behither, etc., q.v. c893 K. Alfred Oros. 1. i. §6 Be nor^am )?aem porte. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xlvii, He.. was comun fro bi-southe. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 961/2 The whole armie was landed two miles by west the towne of Lith. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, &c. (1787) 177 They dwelt by west the law, which dwelt beyond the river of the Barrow. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. ii. §8. 354 Like as they called Cisalpines, or bi-hither the Alpes, those who dwelt between them and the Mountaines. 1716 Let. in Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 119 The places in Fife, by-east Dunfermline.

110. On (vaguely and indefinitely), in the region or domain of. Obs. exc. in phr. by land, etc. Cf. 11 c. C1205 Lay. 10511 \>a vt-la3es beoS swa stronge bi watere & bi londe. C1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 830 Who so winner pe turnament al Bi aij>er half, pe priis haue schal. c 1325 Coer de L. 1849 By the water-half ye them assail, And we will by land saunsfayl. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ill. lxv. 407 The whiche leaves are playne by one side. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 241/2 They commonly commanded both by sea and land. 1866 Kingsley Herew. i, I never saw one yet, by flood or field.

II. Of motion. * Of motion alongside, along, or over a course. 11. a. Alongside of, along, down over, up over. (In by a way , path, road, this touches the sense of means.) r 888 K. Alfred Boeth. xl. §5 3if ic pe lsede be pam weje. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 79 per com a prost bi pe weie. a 1250 Owl & Night. 506 pe heisugge J>at flihj> bi grunde a mong pe stubbe. C1300 K. Alis. 1767 Horn heo wendith by doune and dale, a 1300 Cursor M. 14285 pe teres bi pair chekes f?on ran. i486 Bk. St. Albans Djb, And comyth low bi the grounde. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) C. iij, To goo by the stretes as vacabundes. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 1. 47 It fell to the Hollanders share to come by our Lee. 1712 Parnell Sped. No. 460 Jf6 The way by which we ascended. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague 1. i. 187 Moving by the river side, Came on a ghost. 1885 Act 48 & 49 Vic. liv. § 14 The churches.. are within four miles of one another by the nearest road.

U b. By is sometimes elliptically omitted. 1768 Wesley Jrnl. 23 Sept., Nor could I get to my lodgings the foot way. Mod. We came back the same way. You went a roundabout way to get there.

c. blended with some sense of means of transit; cf. 30 b. c 1205 Lay. 31195 Comen .. bi sae & bi londe feole cunne leoden. 1382 Wyclif Acts xx. 13 Makinge journey bi lond. c 1450 Merlin iii. 41 The shippes cornynge by the see. 1630 M. Godwyn Bp. Herefords Ann. Eng. 82 Hee went by water to Greenwich. 1712 Budgell Spect. No. 425 If 1 You descend at first by twelve Stone Steps. 1851 Kingsley Yeast 216 Why not send a parcel by rail?

12. a. In passing along: said of incidents happening on a journey, etc.; chiefly in phr. by the way. r 1000 /Elfric Gen. xlv. 24 Ne forlaete ge nan ping be weje. f 1340 Cursor M. 18378 (Trin.) Amen alleluya songen pei And honoured him euer bi pe wey. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 5 b, But the sayd rychesse holpe them well by the waye. 1530 Tindale Exp. (1849) 330 If a woman should find a man-child by the streets. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. iv. iii. 253, I was cozen’d by the way, and lost all my money. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. World xcix, They always grow young by the way. Mod. And by the way I dropped it.

b. Hence fig. by the way, by the by: (a) in passing, incidentally, as a chance idea in speech or writing; (b) ellipt., omitting words like ‘it may be remarked’. See by sb.2, way. (a) 1548 Latimer Serm. Ploughers (Arb.) 21 Here haue I an occasion by the way somwhat to say vnto you. 1642

Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. 377 They had something.. in the favour of Friers, though brought in only by the by. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 202 And by the way you may take notice, that, etc. 1830 Blackw. Mag. XXVIII. 247 All this is by the way. 1832 J. C. Hare Philol. Museum I. 254 This question .. merely came in by the by. (6) 1574 tr. Marlorat's Apocalyps 41 By the waye, thys place teacheth vs, that, etc. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iv. xv. 396 Here by the way, the Providence of God.. is remarkable. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 32 [p 3 One of the Seniors (whom by the by Mr. President had taken all this Pains to bring over) sat still. 1818 Byron Juan 1. lvi, Her blood was not all Spanish, by the by. 1882 Knowledge No. 39. 144 Artificial irrigation, which, by-the-way, is now being extensively developed in Australia, etc.

f 13. Through the extent of, throughout. Obs. a 1225 St. Marker, g pe fuheles pe fleon bi 6e lufte. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 41 Hou freris schullen go bi pe world. 1502 tr. Magna Charta in Amolde Chron. (1811) 220 To .. dwell & goo bi England. 1647 W. Browne Polex. Pija, By the whole extent of her Territories.

14. Through, or so as to pass (in one’s course); also expanded into by way of. c 1340 Cursor M. 11529 (Fairf.) An angill come & hem forbad To wend by hym [Herod] eny way. 1382 Wyclif John x. 1 He that cometh not in by the dore. c 1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 108 They returned by Jerusalem, c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) I. 37 The thre kynges.. promysed kyng herowde .. To come a-geyn by him. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 8 The passage . . by the strayghtes of Magellanus. 1625 K. Long Barclay’s Argenis iv. ix. 270 Faithful Sicambes was conveyed in by a backe chamber. 1633 Featley in P. Fletcher Purple Isl. Introd., The Way to God is by ourselves. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1848) 357 The place was inaccessible, except by such windings, &c., as they themselves only who made them could find. 1885 Sir J. Hannen in Law Rep. 15 Queen’s B. Div. 140 Leaving the building by a side door. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 481 He went by the way of Illyricum. 1865 Cornh. Mag. XI. 595 It invaded France by way of Avignon.

** Of motion into a position beside, or within reach. 15. Near to, close up, into the presence of: chiefly in to come by, for the phraseological and fig. uses of which see come v. c 1175 Lamb. Horn. 83 He [Christ] com bi pis forwundede mon. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 296 Alle pat he mot com bie, he robbed. CI350 Will. Palerne 220 By-pan he com by pat barn. 1535 Coverdale Tobit iv. 20 Seke some meanes, how thou mayest come by him. 1607 Shaks. Cor. 11. iii. 46 We are not to stay altogether, but to come by him where he stands. Mod. Come close by me, and tell me what is the matter.

*** Of motion alongside and beyond. 16. a. On alongside of, into the vicinity of and on beyond, past. Originally the nearness in passing was emphasized; in later use ‘by’ is more frequently distinguished from ‘through’ or other word, and expresses passing without stopping or contact, and thus avoidance, aloofness-, but often the notion is merely that of getting beyond, or to the other side of, and pass by, go by merely = pass. c 1380 Sir. Ferumb. 1108 By hilles & roches swype horrible on hur cors pay wente. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 227 To hem that passen all day by me. 1509 Hawes Examp. Virtue vi. 78 That came vs by and very nere, Ascendynge vp into her hyghe sete. 1632 Rutherford Lett, xxiii. (1862) I. 91 Your jealous Husband will not be content that ye look by Him to another. 1660 Pepys Diary 2 Nov., I.. got as far as Ludgate by all the bonfires. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. v. § 1 We saw a fox run by the foot of our mount. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 92 They gang as saucy by poor folk, As I wad by a stinking brock. 1820 Keats Lamia 315 She saw him as once she pass’d him by.

b. The notion of avoidance, disregard, omission, neglect, is especially present in fig. uses of GO by, pass by and the like: see the verbs. Cf. 8. c 1385 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 1026 But I lete all his storie passen by. 1535 Stewart Cron Scot. II 639 Foull appetyte.. causis thame oft till go by the rycht. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 31 Cursit ar thai quhilk gangis by the commandis of God. 1667 Pepys Diary (1877) V. 470 The king hath.. passed by the thing and pardoned it already. 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. 11. 346, I am content to go by the loss. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 76 Instances may be accumulated.. which legislation passes by in silence.

c. So in to put or set (anyone) by (an aim, purpose, duty, etc.): to cause him to miss or omit it; to deprive, disappoint, or cheat of, do out of. arch, and dial. 1580 North Plutarch 798 The King.. did put Tiribazus by his Wife. 1596 Spenser Astroph. Elegy 174 Perhaps this may a suter be, To set Mars by his deitie. 1643 Prynne Power Pari. 1. (ed. 2) 53 Maude the Empresse.. was put by the Crowne by the Prelates and Barons. 1647 W. Browne Polexander 11. 329 We met with a storme, which put us by our course. 1726 Amherst Terrse Fil. xliii. 236 He can put him by his degree for a whole year. 1768 Johnson Lett. I. xiv. 17, I have been oddly put by my purpose. Mod. dial. The child has been put by his sleep.

d. dial, transferred to the idea of time. 1863 Atkinson Danby Provinc., By the time, beyond or past the time. They’re a lang way by their tahm.

17. Defining the space passed over, or to be passed over, in order to reach a point: At, to, or within the distance of. c 1230 Hali Meid. 23 Loke.. bi hu moni degrez ha falleS duneward. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xx. 58 Wolde nat neyhle him by nyne londes lengthe. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon 227 There is nother castell nor towne by xx myles nyghe aboute it. 1551 R. Robinson tr. More’s Utop. (Arb.)

BY 77 By all that space.. the water ebbeth and floweth. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece iv. 291 No Ship.. can come near them by four or five Miles. 1880 McCarthy Own Times III. xlv. 386 The Conservative miss by a foot was as good .. as a miss by a mile.

18. Expressing, as the result of comparison, the amount of excess or increase, inferiority or diminution, in length, duration, weight, or quantity: a. definitely. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 169 \>e pridde biwist.. was bi twifold more pane pe forme. 1375 Barbour Bruce 11. 230 Thar fayis war may then thai Be xv. c. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lx. 38, I thought him to young to haue winges, by a yeare. 1585 Jas. I. Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 61 Gif ze place thame in the beginning of a lyne, they are shorter be a fute, nor they are, gif ze place thame hinmest in the lyne. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair 1. i, He is taller than either of you by the head. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Account, Balance of an Account is the sum by which the debt exceeds the credit, or vice versa. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. iii, He is too moral by half. 1815 Scribbleomania 261 Selwyn. .missed it only by seven votes out of 7000. 1884 Manch. Exam. 21 May 4/7 The M.C.C. winning by an innings and four runs,

b. in phrases by far, by much, by so much, etc. c 1230 Hali Meid. 23 Bi hu muchel pe an passeS pe o6re. c I375 Wyclif Antecrist (Todd) 117 By hou myche pei shul be more merueilous to men, be so myche pe hooli men .. shulen be dispised. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xxm. 314 More of fisik by fer. 1423 Jas. I. Kingis Q. cxxxi, The werk that first is foundit sure .. langere sail endure Be monyfald. 1450 Myrc 1629 A-bregge hys penaunce hen by myche. 1595 Barnfield Poems (Arb.) 43 By how much the lesse I am able to expresse it, by so much the more it is infinite. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 35 By so much as Brass is a weaker Mettal than Iron. 1808 Scott Marmion v. xii, ’Twere better by far To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar.

III. Of time. 119. a. In the course of, at, in, on (the time or date of an action or event). Obs. exc. as in b. a 1000 Laws of Eadgar I. 4 (Matz.) Sy selc heorSpening agyfen be Petres mzessedaej. C1200 Trin. Coll. Horn. 47 Swich heu wes bi pan dagen. c 1300 Beket 2494 This was bi a Tywesdai. £1380 Wyclif De Eccles. Sel. Wks. III. 350 Crist techih • • hat men shulden snybbe her briheren bi hre tymes. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. 11. 102 Dauid by hus daies dobbede kny3tes. 1488 Caxton Chast. Goddes Chyldr. 42 Men haue dwellid stably in wyldernesse by hemselfe by olde tyme. 1543 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Fvij, His sonnes in lawe, that he hadde chose by his lifetyme. 01687 H. More in R. Ward Life (1710) 352, I wish you would resolve to see Cambridge once by the year at least. 1797 Philanthrope No. 23. 177 Where he used to wander many a morning by sun-rise, and many an evening by moonlight.

b. esp. by day (L. interdiu), by night (L. noctu). Here the statement of time approaches very nearly to the indication of the physical conditions, as in ‘by day-light’: see 34. OE. used in this sense the adverbial genitive dae$es and nihtes, or on with the dative on daej(e) and on niht(e)\ the early ME. examples show a mixture of these and the modern form with by. c 1200 Ormin 11332 Heold Crist hiss fasste .. Bi da3hess & bi nahhtess. 01250 Owl Night. 241 Bi daie I?u art stareblind. £1380 Sir Ferumb. 4265 pe Ameral be-segej? hymen her-yn.. Be ni3tes & be daye. c 1440 Partonope 1632 He come to Pountyff by the day. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, in. 405 Alone, by Night, his watery way he took. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 232 The breaches made by day were repaired by night with indefatigable activity.

f 20. During, for (a space of time). Obs. exc. in arch, by the space of. (Now expressed by for.) C1460 Towneley Myst. 274 (Matz.) He ded shuld be, And ly in erthe by dayes thre. 1503-4 Act IQ Hen. VII, xxxvi. Preamb., [He] lay both at Surgery and fesyk .. by the space of ij yeres and more. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. 1 viii, Thus stode I musynge myselfe all alone By right long tyme. 1611 Bible Acts xx. 31. By the space of three yeeres, I ceased not to warne euery one. 1623-4 Act 21 Jas. I, xx. § 1 The Offender.. shall.. be set in the Stocks by three whole Hours. 1841 G. S. Faber Provinc. Lett. (1844) I- 221 WTholly given to., idolatry by the space of above eight hundred years.

21. a. Marking the completion of the time required or assigned for the performance of an action: On or before, not later than; fwithin (a space of time). Cf. betimes. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2683 But hire fader com bi pe fourten^tes hende. £1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 346 He bryngif* in newe [servants] pat done werse bi litil tyme. c 1500 Lancelot 30 Be the morow set I was a-fyre. 1616 W. Forde Serm. 25 Learne by time how to die. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 1. 24 We parted and came by noon to Lesina. 1712 Steele Sped. No. 503 [f 2 By this time the best of the Congregation was at the Church-door. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II.32 Ready at the door of the hotel by nine in the morning. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. v. 349 By midwinter they came back to their ships.

b. Hence, with omission of sb.: by this, by that, also by now, by then, etc. a 1300 Cursor M. 3007 Bi his come sarra to pe tide O birth sco moght not ouerbide. Ibid. 2827 (Trin.) Bi J?enne bigan pe li3t of day. ? a 1400 Mode Arth. (1847) 19 By that was Launcelot hole and fere. £1500 Lancelot 774 Be this the word wes to king arthur gone. £1565 R. Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 62 There are other ambassadors.. directed by-now from the pope. 1671 Milton Samson 262 Had Judah that day joined .. They had by this possessed the towers of Gath. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc 1. cxxxii, By this Dunois Had arm’d. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss, s.v., They must have sailed by now.

c. In the conjunctive phrase by the time (that); also formerly, by then (that), by that. a 1300 Floriz & BI. 151 Bihat hit was middai hi3 Floriz was pe brigge m3, a 1300 Cursor M. 2839 Bi he time hat he

727 sune ras, Strang cri in ha tounes was. ? a 1400 Mode Arth. (1847) 99 By than that endyd was the fight, The fals were feld. C1435 Torr. Portugal 19 Be tyme he was xviij yer old, Of deddes of armys he wase bold. 1470-85 Malory Arthur 1. x, By than they were redy on horsbak there were vii C knyghtes. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xlvi. 64 By yf it was day in the mornyng, they were before Courtray. 1575-85 Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 300 They cannot tell what is said: it is forgotten by that it is spoken. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. 11. 82 By that these Pilgrims had been at this place a week, Mercy had a Visitor. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 356 By that time he had overtaken the poor flying Emperor, he was almost equal to him. 1854 Thoreau Walden iv. (1886) 111 By the time the villagers had broken their fast. 1868 Morris Jason iii. 503 Now was it eve by then that Orpheus came Into the hall.

fd. whence by as quasi-cozy, in same sense: By the time that, when, after. Obs. exc. Sc. 1297 R. Glouc. 369 Be hii aryse .. Wolues dede hii nymeh vorj?. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 961 That lady was glad By sche that chartur had rad. £1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. 31 (Jam.) By thir words were said, his men were so enraged. c 1644 MS. Hist. Somerville Family, Be this execution was done, the prince returned from the persuite. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 103 By you’ve drunk a dozen bumpers, Bacchus will begin to prove.. Drinking better is than love. Mod.Sc. It was done be (or by) we came home.

IV. Of mental or ideal proximity, (fig. from I.

1) * Of accordance to a model, rule, or standard.

22. In imitation of, after; with verbs of calling or naming. Cf. 29. £893 K. Alfred Oros. iii. ix. § 14 Oper [byrij] waes hatenu be his horse Bucefal, oj?er Nicea. ou owest to haue be ri3t. 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 16, I will that they be revardyd .. by the discrecion of my executours. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 11 To be songe solemply be note. 1663 Butler Hud. 1. 1. 86 And tell what Rules he did it by. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 409 If 7 In examining j*Eneas his Voyage by the Map. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 665 The right by which freeholders chose knights of the shire. 1859 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 14 By the left. —Quick march. By the right.—Quick march. 1866 Kingsley Herew. v. 109 They had timed their journey by the tides. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 46 We judge a stranger by our home-bred ways. 1470-85 Malory Arthur (1816) I. 52 The barons., assayed all by row, but none might speed. 1551-6 R. Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 93 The women of euery family by course haue the office .. of cookerie. 1552 Huloet By herte, memoriter. £1579 G. Harvey in Athenaeum 789/1 His ceconomicks.. every on hath by rote. 1709 Add. & Steele Tatler No. 93 If 4, I am therefore obliged to learn by book, a 1834 Coleridge Table T. (1874) 91 1° Germany, the hymns are known by heart by every peasant.

b. ellipt. with persons: According to the words or instructions of (obs.); now only in take example, pattern, or warning by, i.e. by the case of. c 1300 K. Alis. 3089 No doth nought by Dalmadas. c 1550 Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 133 Euer liue in charity Be Christ Iesu. 1643 Parables on Times 12, I will take warning by the Eagle. 1866 Kingsley Herew. iv. (1877) 96 Take example by Alcinous. 1882 Athenaeum 18 Mar. 339 He has taken pattern by Goethe.

c. in by your leave, by consent, etc. C1250 Gen. & Ex. 2865 God., of israel, 8e bode sente . . Sat bi Si leve, hise folc vt-fare. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's Prol. 62 By youre leue I shal him quite anoon. 1470 Harding Chron. xxvii. iii, His heire to been by their bothes assent. 1558 Q. Eliz. in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. i, Elizabeth, by the grace of God, queen of England, Fraunce and Ireland. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. vi. §2 Given by authority. 1754 Richardson Grandison (1811) IV. iii. 22 By the doctor’s allowance, I enclose it to you. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 153 The old civil polity was, therefore, by the general consent of both the great parties, re-established,

fd. by so, by so that: if only, provided that. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. v. 98 So alle myne claymes ben quyt by so pe kynge asente. Ibid. xvn. 209 By so pat no man were a-greued. Ibid. xxm. 221 Ich counte conscience no more by so ich cacche seluer.

e. = ‘Judging by or from’, ‘judged by’. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, iv. i. 21 By the ground they hide, I iudge their number.. thirtie thousand. 1768 Eliz. Carter Lett. (1809) III. 164 By what I have heard of his character, I fear it affords no very comfortable prospects for our poor Princess. 1879 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. iii. vii. 294 He [Macaulay] ought, by all his intellectual sympathies, to be a utilitarian.

24.

According to: a. estimation or measurement of any kind. Whence the phrases by the great (obs.) = by wholesale, by piecemeal(s, by retail, etc. c 1000 /Elfric Lev. xxvi. 26 And se etaj? hlaf be jewihte. £1205 Lay. 27607 Fif hundred bi tale fusden to-somne. £1400 Destr. Troy 1291 Seuyn thousand be sowme all of sure knightes. 1609 Bible (Douay) Lament, iii. 16 And he hath broken my teeth by number. 1611 Bible Josh. iii. 4 A space.. about two thousand cubites by measure. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 11. 203 They sell it by weight. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 212 For ev’ry Bloom .. An Autumn

BY Apple was by tale restor’d. 1886 Law Times LXXX. 166/2 A miner .. paid by piecework. 1598 W. Philips Linschoten's Trav. Ind. (1864) 189 By means of their Brokers they buy by the great, and sell them againe by the piece. 1691 Reply Vind. Disc. Unreasonableness of New Separ. 14, I have Englished your Latin by Piecemeal. 1748 Anson Voy. in viii. (ed. 4) 485 The Carpenters went on board to agree for all the work by the great. 1842 Blackiv. Mag. LII. 279 The.. people are ‘perishing by wholesale’.

b. a definite standard or unit of measurement. 1494 Act 1. 1 Hen. VII, xxiii, No such Merchant.. should put any Herring to Sale by Barrel, Demy-Barrel, or Firkin. 1600 O.E. Repl. Libel 1. viii. 210 The rest ate bread by the ounce, and drunke water by the quart. 1728 Young Love Fame 11. 64 ’Tis hard That Science should be purchased by the yard. 1885 Manch. Exam. 2 May 6/2 Roses.. may be gathered by the basketful.

c. distributively, For each, for every, a; see a adj.2 4. (Cf. per cent., per annum, per pound; F. par jour, etc.) a 1300 Cursor M. 8833 To wijt hu pat it [ be tre] gru be yere. 1495 Hen. VII. in Ellis Orig. Lett. 1. 11 I. 21 For.. an archer or bille on horsback viijd. by the day. 1570 Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 38 A stipend of 200 crounes by yeare. 1647 Husbandman's Plea agst. Tithes 35 Arable land at 6s. 8d. by the Acre. 1781 Phil. Trans. LXXI. 305 The common price .. is just two shillings by the pound. 1797 Philanthrope No. 4. 22 He., had now several thousands by year. 1815 Scribbleomania 30 A public accustomed to quartos of original poetry by the month.

25. Succession of numerical groups or quantities, later of individuals, of the same class is indicated by by: a. followed by the sb. of quantity repeated with and between, as by two and two, by little and little, arch. £1205 Lay. 16128 Heo dro3en ut of pan wuden bi sixti & bi sixti. £ 1300 K. Alis. 548 By threo, by foure, with his taile, To the ground he smot. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle in. viii. (1483) 55 They.. bounden them to geders by ten and by twelue. 1483 Cath. Angl. 31/2 By lytylle and lytylle, sensim, paulatim. 1556 J. Heywood Spider F. lxix. 2 Streight these twelue a rose By foure, four, and foure. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, iii. ii. 198, I play the Torturer by small and small To lengthen out the worst. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece iv. 321 Which, by little and little, enlargeth it self. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 225 If 2 A Set of Wags.. appear generally by Two and Two. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xli, By one and one the bolts full easy slide.

b. followed by the sb. of quantity in pi., as by hundreds, by inches, by files, by degrees; also by times, by turns (obs.), = ‘time after time, turn after turn’. 01300 Cursor M. 4710 Togider pei flocked in pat lond Bi hundrides & bi fousond. 1535 Coverdale Habak. i. 8 Their horsmen come by greate heapes from farre. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lviii. 519 The roote is .. full of joyntes by spaces. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. 1. vi. § 1 They grow by degrees. 1607 Shaks. Cor. 11. iii. 47 We are .. to come .. by ones, by twoes, & by threes. 1635 Quarles Embl. 1. (1818) 42 One., rends hair by handfuls. 1645 City Alarum 11 We do worse then stand still, in doing things by halves. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies 11. iii. 191 To win our Ground by Inches. 1704 Pope Spring 41 Then sing by turns, by turns the Muses sing. 1728 -Dunciad iii. 89 The North by myriads pours her mighty sons. 1817 J. Gilchrist Intell. Patrimony 71 Raving, perchance, by times, concerning religion and morality. 1843 Barham Ingol. Leg., Nurse's Story, Hand in hand The murderers stand. By one, by two, by three. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 146 By twenties, by hundreds, by thousands, the force gathered.

c. preceded and followed by the sb. or word of quantity, as man by man, little by little. c 1392 Chaucer Compl. Venus 81 To folowe word by word the Curiosite of Graunson. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xm. 11 And praye for pe, pol by pol, yf pow be pecunyous. £1449 Pecock Repr. 11. iiij. 144 Ouer long to be rehercid word bi word here. £ 1500 Cocke Lorelles B. (1843) 8, I wyll.. reken them one by one. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. iii. 15 They go downe two by two. 1709 Tatler No. 42 If 14 Draw out Company by Company, and Troop by Troop. 1812 Keats Lamia 663 A deadly silence step by step increased. 1830 Tennyson Poems 66 The thick snow falls on her flake by flake.

d. To this may perhaps be referred the arithmetical phrases, to multiply, divide by (although by is now associated with the agent or factor); also the ellipt. by = ‘multiplied by’ in measurements of surface or content. £ 1391 Chaucer Astrol. 11. §41 a, Multiplie pat be 12. Ibid. §42 b, 3if J?ou deuide 144 be 3. 1581 Styward Mart. Discip. 1. 23 Then deuide the product by 1000. 1614 T. Bedwell Nat. Geom. Numbers iv. 65, I square the quotient 2, that is, I multiply it by it selfe. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Multiplication, It is easy to conceive a quantity of any kind multiplied by a number. 1859 Barn. Smith Arith. Algebra (ed. 6) 194 The former of these quantities is to be divided by the latter. 1731 Swift Corr. II. 690 Adjoining the kitchen may be made one room of 18 feet by 18. 1771 Goldsm. Haunch of Ven. 68 A chair-lumber’d closet, just twelve feet by nine. 1865 Cornh. Mag. XI. 60 An open water sixteen miles long by three broad.

** Of relation to an object about which physical or mental activity is engaged. 26. About, concerning, with respect to, in regard to, as concerns: a. after verbs of action, as do, act, deal. Phr. do as you would be done by: see DO v. 37. £ 1175 Lamb. Horn. 51 penne do we bi ure sunne al swa me deaS bi pe deade. a 1225 Ancr. R. 122 pauh me dude so bi pe, me dude pe eorSe riht. £1380 Sir Ferumb. 5855 DoJ? now syre by thys man As it is py wille. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 171 Such faitors.. Will doe as did the Foxe by the Kidde. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. 11. i. 1. i, As the Spanish Marques is said to have done by one of his slaves. 1769

BY Roman Hist. (1786) I. 332 He murdered Hiempsal .. and attempted the same by Adherbal. 1812 Jane Austen Mansf. Pk. v. He will consider it a right thing by Mrs. Grant, as well as by Fanny. 1869 Mrs. Norton Old Sir Douglas xxx. 178 That Kenneth should do his duty by his mother. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 32 Neither side acting unfairly by the other. Goldsm.

b. after neuter impersonal verbs, as be, fall, fare: With. Obs. or dial. 01250 Owl & Night. 1373 A1 swa hit is bi mine songe. C1280 Commandm. 31 in E.E.P. (1862) 16 Hit fallip bi children pat bep quede, as farip bi been in hiue. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. jqxi. 236 So shal hit fare by pis folke. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxi. 717 Bycause they rode forth lyke foies, so it came by them.

t c. after verbs of thinking, saying, etc.: About, of. Obs. a 1000 Elene 562 Witgan sungon .. be godes bearne. a 1121 O.E. Chron.v (Laud MS.) an. 1036 Sume men sadon be Harolde p&t he wsere Cnute sunu cynges. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 7 pis he wite3ede bi drihtene J?urh pene halie gast. 01250 Owl Night. 46 Hu thincthe nu bi mine songe? c 1320 Cast. Loue 495 Be vs foure )?is I telle, c 1460 Towneley Myst. 188 How thynk the, sir Pilate, Bi this brodelle. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xliv. 9 What dishonestie know you by flies, sur? More then flies know by spiders. 1601 Shaks. All's Well v. in. 237 By him and by this woman heere, what know you? 1645 T. Hill Olive Branch (1648) 12 God knows more good and evil by us, then we know by our selves. 1752 Fielding Amelia vm. ii, I always love to speak by people as I find.

fd. with pejorative force: Against. Obs. exc. dial. c 1300 Beket 871 Bi the Bischop of Londone thulke word he sede. C1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. 23 Arthur wolde fayne fynde some cause by her. 1611 Bible j Cor. iv. 4, I know nothing by myself [Revised against]. 1678 Yng. Mans Call. 351 He never knew any thing by her to be worthy of the least suspicion. 1879 Miss Jackson Shropsh. Wd.-bk. (E.D.S.), ’E’s a tidy mon, leastways I know nuthin’ by ’im.

*** Of relation to a circumstance. 27. With respect to, in the matter of, as concerns (name, trade, age; also birth, blood, nature, etc., in which there is prob. some notion of instrumentality also). C1380 Sir Ferumb. 1131 A kny3t of fraunce, Be name ne know y no3t wat he was. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Justine 96 By age but a boy. 1622-62 Heylin Cosmogr. hi. (1673) 58/1 The People .. were by composition of a middle stature. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 47 IP 7 A Neighbour of mine, who is a Haberdasher by Trade. 1712 Ibid. No. 69 If 2 A Merchant. . who just knows me by sight. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 529 Allowed to associate.. with him as with a brother by blood. 1864 Cornh. Mag. X. 175 Frenchmen by blood as well as by birth and estate.

V. Of medium, means, instrumentality, agency. (A fig. development of the notion of way in II. 11.) 28. a. Indicating the part which serves as the medium of application or direct point and means whereby an action is applied to the whole. a 1000 Beowulf 3298 pa waes be feaxe on flet boren Grendles heafod. c 1000 TElfric Gen. xxxix. 12 Heo teh hine be his claj?um. a 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137 Me henged up bi the fet. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. iv. 10 Cortesliche pe clerk f>enne..Toke mede by pe myddel. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 272 b, An hande sent downe toke me by the heer of my heed. 1547 Boorde Introd. Know! 131 Pediculus other whyle do byte me by the backe. 1667 Pepys Diary 13 July, I did give her a pull by the nose, and some ill words. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 12 JP 2 Her little boy offers to pull me by the coat. 1798 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life Writ. (1832) III. 109 The new peace hangs by a very slender thread. 1830 Tennyson Ode to Mem. 30 Thou leddest by the hand thine infant Hope.

b. by the roots; by the ground: (? orig. = from the foundation), completely. C1420 Pallad. on Husb. 1. 1132 Floure of lyme in oil, yf thou confounde And helde it in, upheleth it by grounde. 1713 Berkeley Hylas & P. ii, If I were to.. tear up a tree by the roots. 1833 Ht. Martineau Briery Creek ii. 26 They could pull up a tall tree by the roots.

c. to set by the ears: to set quarrelling, to be, fall, go by the ears (Sc. lugs): to quarrel. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lvi. 18, I thought they wold all haue gone by thears theare. 1600 O. E. Repl. Libel 1. i. 32 We must needes fall by the eares together. 1650 A. B. Mutat. Polemo 8 Set the Cavaleer and Presbyter together by the ears. 1702 De Foe Ref. Mariners 1. 306 To set the Town together by the Ears. 1822 Scott Nigel x, The King, and the Prince, and the Duke have been by the lugs about ye.

29. a. After verbs of knowing, perceiving, calling, etc.; introducing that which serves as a sign or means of identification. Also with omission of the verb. Phr. by the name of: see NAME sb. 13. ciooo Ags. Gosp. Matt. vii. 20 Be hyra waestmum 5c hij oncnawaS. c 1200 Ormin 479 patt ta bi name nemmnedd wass Abyut»h- 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xvm. 98 Shephurdes by the seuen sterres Wisten.. whenne hit shoude reynen. a 1400 Cov. Myst. 297 (Matz.) Be thi face wel we may the ken. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 202, I here by the hounds, the hare is a foote. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. iii. 1 The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne. 1611 Bible Luke i. 61 There is none of thy kinred that is called by this name. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece v. 341 The Athenians.. would never more have any Governour by the Name or Title of King. 1796 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) III. 98 That anarchy which goes by the name of the German Empire. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 692 Cnut was baptized by the name of Lambert. 1869 J. T. Coleridge Mem. Keble i\*j Dialogues, in which a

BY

728 mason by that name [sc. Richard Nelson] bears a principal part.

b. In to understand by, mean by: see these verbs. 1382 Wyclif Prol. Bible xiv. 54 Bi Salamon here is vndirstonden God himself. 1692 Bp. Ely Answ. Touchstone 49 He.. by the way understands that narrow way which he taught.

30. a. Introducing the means or instrumentality: = by means of. (OE. more usually employed fram, thurh, of). (The material instrument or tool is usually introduced by with: ‘to cut with a knife’.) a 1000 Scopes Widsid 100 Ic be songe secjan sceolde. C1205 Lay. 28337 Ich wuste bi mine sweuene whaet sor3en me weoren 3eneSe. C1300 K. Alis. 2941 That Y have by lettre yow saide. C1340 Cursor M. 15986 (Trin.) He shal neuer rise a3eyn truly bi no my3t. C1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 302 pes feyned religious.. amortisen many grete lordischipis bi fals title, c 1450 Merlin x. 156 Thei remounted Gifflet be fyn force a-monge his enmyes. 1548 Latimer Serm. Ploughers (Arb.) 34 Christe .. draweth soules unto hym by his bloudy sacrifice. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par., Mark i. 14 The firste teachyng by mouthe of Christes religion. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (1884) 13 Nether to be allurid by prommissis nor persuadid bi wurds. 1628 Earle Microcosm, iii. (Arb.) 4 Hee instructs men to dye by his example. 1769 Goldsm. Roman Hist. (1786) II. 475 He .. at last died either by poison or madness. 1855 Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 167 The bird’s foot star., you may see crawling by its thousand sucking feet. 1866 - Herew. Prel. 6 Trying to expiate by justice and mercy the dark deeds of his bloodstained youth.

b. In by coach, by ship, by rail, the idea of motion blends with that of means; cf. 11 c. c 1440 Partonope 383 Be shipp come merchandyse to the town. 1535 Coverdale Deut. ii. 28 Onely let me go thorow by fote. 1866 Cornh. Mag. XIII. 348 To go by coach in that direction is a sort of tempting of fortune.

c. by no ways (obs.), by no means: in no possible way, in no respect, in no degree, by all means: in every way possible. (These have gradually come to be used as strong expressions respectively of negation and affirmation.) c 1340 Cursor M. 12908 (Fairf.) pat is na ferly be na wayes. c 1430 Freemasonry 626 3ef thou wolt not thyselve pray, Latte non other mon by no way. C1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon 235 By no wyse we maye not scape. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. ii. §7 To argue and by all means to reason for it. 1713 Guardian No. 140 (1756) II. 224, I can by no means consent to spoil the skin of my pretty country-women. 1768 Gray in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 85, I would wish by all means to oblige and serve Temple. 1813 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. (1846) 29 Jane was by no means better.

d. in numerous phrases, see 38. 31. With live: introducing both the food and the means of obtaining it. Also fig. 971 Blickl. Horn. 57 pa gastlican lare.. pe ure saul big leofal?. a 1000 Guthlac 244 Bi hwon scealt pu lifgan, peah t?u lond age? c 1205 Lay. 467 Leouere heom his to libben bi pan wode-roten. c 1300 K. Alis. 4971 Hy.. libben by the wylde goot. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. vii. 292 3ut were me leuere.. lyue by well-carses. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. 11. 89 The most of them .. attempt.. vnlawfull meanes to Hue by. 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. 11. vii. 14 As I do Hue by foode, I met a foole. 1611 Bible Matt. iv. 4 Man shall not Hue by bread alone. 1815 Scribbleomania 217 Each pestle’s displayer who living by drugs, proves humanity’s slayer. 1880 Church Spenser iii. 52 No one in those days could live by poetry.

32. a. Introducing the intermediate or subordinate agent viewed as the medium or channel of action; = L. per, OE. purh. c 1300 K. Alis. 4304 Darie hit wot by a spye. c 1325 Coer de L. 1522 Sche greetes the wel by me. 1382 Wyclif John i. 3 Alle pingis ben maad bi [Gr. 8ta, L. per] him. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. iv. 417 God sente to saul by samuel pe prophete. c 1450 Merlin i. 23 Thow hast herde be my moder the trauayle that they hadden. 1622 T. Stoughton Chr. Sacrif. xvii. 239 Hath he more benefit by his horse then by his Minister? 1711 Steele Sped. No. 118 If 2 The Lady is addressed to, presented and flattered, only by Proxy, in her Woman. 1785 Henry Hist. Gt. Brit. V. v. xxxviii. 382 The King could not.. administer justice to his subjects in person, but only by his judges. 1833 Fraser's Mag. VIII. 312 Send check by bearer. 1866 Rogers Agric. Prices I. xxi. 527 The lord was present either in person or by a deputy.

b. in extended phrase by the hands of. 1411 E. E. Wills (1882) 17 Whiche somme ys owynge to me, to be payd .. by pe handes of my lady lovell. a 1500 tr. Magna Charta in Arnolde Chron. 217 By the handis of his kynnes folk.. his goodis shalbe destribute. 1534 Old City Acc. Bk. in Archaeol.Jrnl. XLIII, Resuyd of mr grayn by the hands of mr hoxton v wrytyngs. 1866 Cornh. Mag. XIII. 692 The Doctor will kill him, by my hands.

c. In phrases to have children by, pregnant by, and the like.

to be

a 1000 Caedmon's Gen. 2326 (Gr.) pu scealt sunu agan, beam be bryde J>inre. c 1000 ^lfric Gen. xxxviii. 25 Be pam men ic eom mid childe. c 1205 Lay. i 9249 Ygaerne wes mid childe bi Uther. 1297 R. Glouc. 23 Brut.. sones hadde pre By hys wyf. 1393 Langl. P. PI. C. xi. 144 And hap fyue faire sones by hus furste wyf. 1576 Gascoigne Steel Gl. (Arb.) 50 He begat me by Simplycitie. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows ill. ii. 183 Amalek was the sonne of Esaus sonne by a concubine. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 22 If 1 Wit and learning were the children of Apollo, by different mothers. 1788 J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 351 The testator.. had had several children by a native woman. 1805 East Reports V. 234 A bastard child .. which a young woman had had by the defendant. C1812 Jane Austen Sense Sens. (1846) 1 By a former marriage, Dashwood had one son.

33. a. Introducing the principal agent. This, which has now become a main use of by, is hardly found before 15th c.; OE. used of, fram, ME. commonly of,

which is still poetical, esp. with non-material verbs, as ‘he was beloved of all’. Cf. Fr. use of de and par. c 1400 Maundev. iii. 15 That Cytee was destroyed by hem of Grece. 1461 J. Paston Lett. 384 II. 3 Assigned be the commissioners. 1570-87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. II. 52 Slaine miserablie in prison be.. the duke Albanie. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. 1. iii. §2 A law natural to be observed by creatures. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 1. 26 The Walls of it were built by Diocletian. 1785 Reid Let. Wks. I. 66/1 A malefactor is not hanged by the law, but according to the law, by the executioner. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 31 It was among the articles which John was compelled by the Barons to sign. Mod. By whom was the book written?

b. So with personal qualities and attributes, natural agencies, etc., treated as principal agents. For usage as to by after particular verbs, see these. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer Pref., There was never anything by the wit of man so well devised.. which hath not been corrupted. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 333 If 5 This is followed by the tearing up of mountains and promontories. 1757 Johnson Rambl. No. 165 If 2 Truth finds an easy entrance into the Mind when she is introduced by desire, and attended by pleasure. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague 1. i. 255 Swallow’d up in a moment by the heedless earth. 1844 Punch 13 Jan. 27 Pipes and alcoholic liquors are superseded by matrimony. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 263 Such a demand .. was not authorised by the existing treaties. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 99 Demonstrable By time, that tries things.

c. * Used for: written, painted, executed by (an author, painter, sculptor, etc.). 1570 {title) The Scholemaster.. % By Roger Ascham. 1595 (title) Colin Clovts Come home againe. By Ed. Spencer. 1673 (title) Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions. By Mr. John Milton: Both English and Latin, &c. Composed at several times. 1779 Mirror No. 24 Can the representations of moon-light, even by Homer, Milton, and Shakespeare, be more exquisitely finished? 1832 Disraeli Cont. Fleming 11. xiv, I must get ‘Manstein’ directly, if it be by young Moskoffsky. 1901 Lincoln City Cathedral 154 The latter [window], by a Nuremburg executant, is poor and feeble. 1966 Observer 23 Oct. 22/2 (Advt.), Lady Windermere’s Fan. Directed by Anthony Quayle. Scenery & costumes by Cecil Beaton.

d. Of a public house, etc.: kept or managed by (as licensee). 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxix, This is the Valiant Soldier, by James Groves. 1885 Henley & Stevenson Macaire 1. iii, Auberge des Adrets, by John Paul Dumont. 1919 Masefield Reynard the Fox 2 The meet was at ‘The Cock and Pye By Charles and Martha Enderby’.

e. Followed by a personal pronoun or personal name in expressions indicating agreement: with, as far as I (etc.) am concerned, colloq. (orig. U.S.). 1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 456 Five skins is jake by me. 1940 ‘N. Shute’ Old Captivity i. 37 If it pleases you to think like that, it’s O. K. by me. 1956-Beyond Black Stump vi. 167 I’d like to go on .. if that’s all right by you. i960 New York Times Bk. Rev. 30 Apr. 8 He is regarded as a youngishtype people’s critic, .and this is fine by Mr. Fiedler.

VI. Of circumstance, condition, manner, cause, reason. (Chiefly developments or weakenings of earlier senses.) 34. a. The physical circumstances of an action often become conditions more or less contributory or essential to its performance, and hence pass into the notion of aid or means, cf. ‘to walk by moonlight’, ‘read by moonlight’, ‘read by candle-light’. (by day light closely approaches by day: see 19b.) a 1000 Riddles xxviii. 17 (Gr.) Ic..on eorSan swa esnas binde dole sefter dyntum be daejes leohte. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1138 §2 Me lihtede candles to aeten bi. a 1300 Cursor M. 14195 God es to go bi light o dai. ? a 1400 Chester PI. (1843) 1. 4 Those wise Kinges three..by the starre that did shine, Sought the sighte of the Saviour. 1701 J. Cunningham in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1201 The Weather so favouring us, that we were never but by our Topsails. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 409 If 6 Seeing an Object by the Light of a Taper. 1872 Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. xii. 85 No gas to read by.

b. From, after, according to (a model). a 1650 E. Norgate Miniatura (1919) 84 When the Italians have not the Life to draw by, they make use off Models. Ibid. 86 By these and such others they draw. 1654 H. Vaughan tr. Nuremberg's Discourses 88 Pictures that have not so much as an ayre of those faces they were drawn by.

35. a. The sense of ‘means’ often passes into that of ‘attendant circumstances’, and so approaches or reaches that of manner. C1340 Cursor M. 18323 (Laud MS.), Alle that pou seidist by prophecy Thou hast fulle-fillid. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour I ij, Thenne wente shee and told it to hym by.. fayre and attemperate language, c 1489-Sonnes of Aymon 32 Reynawde .. thwerled his swerde by grete fyers-nesse. 1509 Hawes Examp. Virt. ix. 161 Where byrdys sange by grete melody. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxvi. 214 By this manere was the stronge castell of Eureux won agayne. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. (Arb.) 257 Wordes.. written by wrong ortographie. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 241 A great part of its increase goes away by a kind of Glass. 1765 Act 5 Geo. Ill, xxvi. Preamb., To hold to the said John.. by liege homage. 1840 Dana Bef. Mast. xi. 25 The halyards were at this moment let go by the run. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 350 The cause when heard went by default.

b. esp. in phrase to begin by, end by, etc., with gerund. (See further under these verbs.) 1684 Scanderbeg Rediv. vi. 150 The next Considerable Exploit of his Majesty.. was, by taking of Zytchin. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1842) I. 151 Ministers who employ spies .. are sure to .. end by the most violent injustice and tyranny. 1839 Thirlwall Greece II. 76 He began by

BY banishing 700 families. 1887 Gladstone in Ho. Comm. 12 Sept., The right hon. gentleman the Secretary for Ireland sat down by saying that, etc. Mod. He finished by putting them all in the fire.

c. In by way of: as an instance of, as something tending or amounting to, somewhat under the form of. For full illustration see way sb.1 32 d. c 1400 Maundev. 199 The king 3eveth leve to pore men .. to gadre hem precyous stones and perles, be weye of adrnesse. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxx. 235 By way of pleasantry he [Jefferies] used to call them [the soldiers] his lambs.

36. a. The sense of ‘means’ sometimes approaches or passes into that of ‘cause’ or ‘reason’: Because of, on account of, in consequence of, through; in virtue of, on the ground of. f by so, by that: therefore. *398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. ix. (1495) 93 Though flewme of hymself be thicke and vnsauery by strengthe of heete. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour H iij, Soone after by this synne he fylle. -Cato G iv, And by so thou oughtest to be contente. 1540 H yrde Vive s' Instr. Chr. Worn. (1592) F v, He would haue women of his country to be regarded by their virtue. 1557 N. T. (Geneva) Matt. xxvi. 31 A1 ye shalbe offended by me this nyght. 1593 Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, iv. iv. 12 Warwickes Brother, and by that our Foe. 1627 Feltham Resolves 1. xxix. Wks. (1677) 49 A Hill almost unascendable, by the roughness of a craggy way. 1667 Pepys Diary 27 Aug., By the growth of his beard and gray hairs, I did not know him. 1771 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. III. 240 The press.. swarmed with productions, dangerous by their sedition and calumny, more than by their eloquence or style. 1839 Thirlwall Greece IV. 263 In his house Protagoras was said to have read one of his works by which he incurred a charge of atheism.

b. in the conjunctive phrases be pam pe, by that, by reason that, by reason: inasmuch as, because, since. Now only in full form by reason that. c 1175 Cott. Horn. 235 Be pam pe he fader is and laford he him self cwed be pe witie, Si ego, etc. a 1536 Tindale Exp. Matt. Wks. II. 128 By that they prophesied, .and by that they cast out devils.. it is plain that they be false prophets. 1558 Kennedy Compend. Tract, in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844) 101 Be ressoun the Kirk.. can nevir be gatherit togidder. 1601 F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw II, §10 He shal have no more, bi reson that he shal have cariage. 1606 Earl Northampton in True & Per/. Relation (1606) Rr4b, By that hee cals him virum mortis, I may lawfully conclude, etc. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece 11. 203 Wine is scarce, by reason that it is prohibited. 1711 Steele Sped No. 2 |f 1 He keeps himself a Batchelor by reason he was crossed in Love.

37. In Book-keeping, placed before Credit entries; the person or account being made creditor by the amount entered. 1695 E. Hatton Merck. Mag. 140 By all the Cash you receive, and deliver nothing for the same; as By Money received with an Apprentice; By Rebate for paying a Summ before due. Ibid. 169 By stock, £150. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Book, Ledger Book. By Cash for his remittance on James £1900. 1838 R. Langford Introd. Trade 79, 1837 July 10 By remittance per W. Jackson £1000.

VII. I n phrases. 38. By enters into a great number of phrases, which originated in one or other of the preceding uses, but are now used without analysis, and sometimes with such modification of meaning as to obliterate or obscure the force of the preposition. Such are a. adverbial, f by cas, by chance, by force, by guess, by hook or by crook, by might, and others for which an adverb might easily be substituted, as by consequence, f by cover (= covertly), t by matter in deed (? = as an actual fact), by metaphor, f by name (= especially), f by occasion, f by particular, by stealth. [Here Fr. has usually par.] See the various substantives. 1297 R. Glouc. 490 He vel of is palefrey, & brec is fot bi cas. CI340 Cursor M. 10700 (Laud MS.) Vow that is made by right, Ow no man to breke by might. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 31 Provided that.. no man take vitaile beforce. 1544 Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) Rvij, Hitherto have I declined by occasion. 1565 in Sir J. Picton Vpool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 113 That no .. person .. succour by cover or operte, any apprentice. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. II. 22 Either by hooke or crooke, by night or day. 01586 Answ. Cartwright 17 He alleadgeth another proofe by peraduenture. a 1610 Babington Wks. (1622) 257 This Manna followed the Israelites whatsoeuer the earth was: and by name in the wilderness. 1620 J. Wilkinson Courts Leet 117 These persons by particular are said to be by the statute rogues. 1660 Fuller Mixt Contemp. (1841) 171 Ponderous, and by consequence probable to settle .. on the earth. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 745 Some prying Churl had., thence, By Stealth, convey’d th’ unfeather’d Innocence. 1711 Steele Sped. No. 145 f 6 He snatches Kisses by Surprise. 1721 St. German's Doctor & Stud. 338 It is alledged in the indictment by matter in deed that he had such weapon. 1751 Jortin Serm. (1771) V. v. 90 They might not imagine that the world was.. made by chance. 1836 Landor Pericles & Asp. Wks. 1846 II. 394/1, I am not speaking by metaphor and Asiatically. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 649 note, I have therefore been forced to arrange them [the events] by guess.

b. prepositional, f by cause of, by chesun of, by colour of, by dint of, by the hands of, by means of, by reason of, by virtue of, by way of, etc. See under the various substantives. CI380 Wyclif Lasf AgeCh. (1840) 25 Bi resoun of whiche pe pridde tribulacioun schal entre into Cristis Chirche. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxxii, Ther to-gedur fa3te we Be chesun of this lady fre. 1535 Coverdale Tobit xi. 18 By reason of all the good that God had shewed vnto him. c 1555 Songs 1st

BY-

729 Ball., Ph. 1st Mary (i860) 3 He hathe us up lyfift By the means of hys sonne callyd Emanuell. 1593 Shaks. Rich. Ill, 1. iii. 78 Our Brother is imprison’d by your meanes.

1597

- 2 Hen. IV, IV. i. 128 All.. That.. by dint of Sword, Haue since miscarryed vnder Bullingbrooke. 1621 Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (1870) 127 The Parlement is adjourned by virtue thereof [the Comission]. 1664 Butler Hud. 11. ii. 736 Vict’ry gotten without Blows, By dint of sharp hard words. 1710 in Select.fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 561 Edward Whitacre .. hath, by colour of his employment received the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 523 [f6 By virtue of that spectatorial authority with which 1 stand invested. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iii. 32 Jugurtha..by Dint of Money, corrupted many of the Senators. 1737 L. Clarke Hist. Bible vm. (1740) 496 By means thereof he took the City. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. 99 It was chiefly by means of the Papacy that this came to pass. 1876 Blackmore Cripps I. ii. 23 Quite out of sight.. by reason of the bend of the hollow. 1881 R. Buchanan God & Man I. 111 The widow — by dint of strict parsimony, had saved a trifle.

39. Phrases occurring under preceding senses: by and beside 5, 7; by common, by or dinar 7; by day, etc. 19 b; by no means, ways 30 c; by one's self 4, 8 b; by so, by that 23 d, 36; by that, by reason that 36 b; by the by, by the way 12 b; by wholesale, degrees, etc. 24, 25. B. adv. Forms: [1 bi, big], 4 bi, (4-6 bie, 5-8, 9 (dial.) bye, 4- by. In OE. the instances of the adv. may all be treated (from the modern point of view) either as prefixes to a verb, or as prepositions following their object. 1. a. Of position: Near, close at hand, in another’s presence or immediate neighbourhood; occas. after verbal sbs., as in dweller by, stander by, Naut. phr. stand by! = be ready. See by- in comb. 2 a. [C993 Battle of Maldon 182 Begen 3a beornas pe him big

modern phrase lie to; also transf.; {b) to dodge under small sail under the land (Adm. Smyth). 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, iii. i. 11 The Billowes of the Sea, Hung their heads, and then lay by. 1674 Petty Disc. bef. Royal Soc. 102 To stop Leaks afore, the Ship must stop its motion, lye by, or bear up. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4054/1 We lay by all day . . repairing our Defects. 1753 Hanway Trav. I. 11. xvi. 72 We were obliged to lay-by in the night.

3. Of motion: Past a certain point, beyond. Also transferred to time; cf. by- in comb. 2 b. [c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xv. 21 Geneddon bi geongende [Rushw. bigongende]. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. (1847) 233 Ffloridas with a swerde, as he by glenttys, Alle the flesche of the flanke he flappes in sondyre. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xviii. 186 Thai persawyd by gangand A man. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. xvi. 1 Dauid was gone a lytle by from the toppe of the mount. 1606 B. Jonson Barriers Wks. 1870 III. 34 They marched by in pairs. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxi, A stage coach happening to pass by. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby 1. iii. 14 The days are gone by for senates to have their beards plucked in the forum.

f4. In addition, besides, also. Obs. (Cf. Sc. for-by.) by {and) attour, see atour. 1436 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 185 Thys coloure.. muste be seyde alofte, And by declared of the grete fulle ofte. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 223 Tene score knythis.. And iii hondred archerus by. 1600 in Farr’s S.P. (1845) II. 435 Onlesse my seruice be employed by. 1653 Holcroft Procopius, He might spend less wood, and wages upon bakers, and by gain the weight. 1763 C. Johnston Reverie I. 143 For a guinea by. 1804 Illust. Lond. News 21 Aug. (1886) 194 The Gallant and Spirited Race run .. for 500 guineas, and 1000 guineas bye, between Mrs. Thornton and Mr. Flint.

5. a. Over in duration, finished, at an end. Of time: past, gone by. Also by with. Sc. and north. 1784 Burns Ep. Rankine x, As soon’s the clocking-time is buy, And the wee pouts begun to cry. 1846 Alex. Laing Wayside Flowers 20 Whan the buryin’ was bye, an’ relations a’ gane. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xii, The days of curses are by with.

b. Of a person: done for, ruined, dead: esp. in to be by with it. Sc. and north. Notandums vi. 34 When the dykes are you’re bye, ye ken,—ouay! fairly bye! 1893 Catriona xxx, You’re by with it, James More. You can never show your face again. 1900 Kipling in Daily Express 26 June 4/6 I’ll not call it farmin’—up yonder, but ye’re by with that even. 1890 Service

stodon.] r 1340 Cursor M. 14282 (Trin.) Men say hir pat bi stood Rennonde. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vm. xl. 93 Oj?ir Lordis, pat war by. 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 35 If any bedrede man or woman ly by. 1526 Tindale John xi. 42 Because of the people that stonde by I sayde it. 1602 Return fr. Parnass. ill. iii. (Arb.) 43 He thinkes hee hath guild the

broken

standers by sufficiently. 1623 Massinger Dk. of Milan ii. i, My brother being not by now to protect her. 1732 Berkeley

by, bye, a. Forms: 5-9 bye, 6- by; also 6 bi, 7 bie.

Alciphr. 1. §15 Methinks you sit by very tamely. 1834 Marry at P. Simple III. 101 Stand by to haul over the boom-sheet when she pays off. 1861 Flor. Nightingale Nursing 39 Patients are often accused of being able to ‘do much more when nobody is by’. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Wordbk., Stand by! the order to be prepared.

b. preceded by fast, hard, transferred to the idea of time.

near.

Also

c 1400 Maundev. viii. 93 Faste by, is 3it the Tree of Eldre, that Judas henge him self upon. 1580 Buret Alv. B 631 Here is a little towne or village harde bie to flie vnto. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc 1. cliv, Domremi’s cottages Gleam’d in the sun hard by. 1866 Kingsley Herew. i. (1877) 20 He founded Boston near by. 01385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2604 The aray is wrought, the tyme is faste by. 1535 Coverdale Isa. Ii. 5 It is hard by, that my health and my rightuousness shal go forth.

c. following a sb. in sense lying, living, situate close or hard by. Not now used alone. Also in jig. expressions. c 1470 Henry Wallace 1. 50 Bruce [clamyt as] fyrst male of the secund gre by. 1475 Caxton Jason 41b, Thauncient knight that was loggid in that other bedde by might not slepe. Ibid. 52 Alle the nobles., of the countrees by and adjacent. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. v. ii. 94, I stole into a neighbour thicket by. 1627 J. Carter Expos. 54 Dead in trespasses and sinnes, or next doore by.

d. Naut. by and large: see as main entry, full and by: sailing close-hauled to the wind. (Adm. Smyth.) 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. (1692) 42 Fill the Sails, keep full, full and by. 1628 Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 83 Your chace goeth best before the wind, and.. you can outbeare her, by. 1881 W. C. Russell Ocean Free-L. I. vi. 265 They held on after us nevertheless, sailing full and bye.

2. a. Aside, out of the way; out of use or consideration, to put, set or lay by: to put aside from use, set aside, discard; (more recently) to put aside from present use, so as to reserve for the future, to put by: also (obs.) to turn from one’s purpose; cf. A. 16 c. C1425 Wyntoun Cron. vm. iv. 253 For Custwme approwyd oft by drawys Of Canon and Cyvyle bath the Lawys. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 222 This 30ung Arthure .. Tha crownit king and put the richt air bye. Ibid. 339 All kynd of armour in that place cast by. 01586 Answ. Cartwright 6 He must.. lave by his proofe as vntrue. 1595 Shaks. John iv. iii. 95 Stand by, or I shall gaul you Faulconbridge. 1614 W. B. Philos. Banquet (ed. 2) 3 Age might be kept backe, and sicknesse kept bye. 1634 Bayne On Coloss. 344 What a Pride is it, for some ignorant Schollar to put by the direction of his Tutor. 1655 L’Estrange Chas. /, 125 Some thing or other ever came travers .. and put him by. 1721 De Foe Mem. Cavalier {1840) 311 They had set by the lords for not agreeing to it. 1731 Swift Corr. II. 701 These things can lie by till you come to carp at them. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, Vile things that nature designed should be thrown by into her lumber room. 1807 Windham Speeches Pari. (1812) III. 19 Laying something by for a rainy day. 1867 Froude Short Stud. (ed. 2) 161 Neither party is entitled to say.. ‘Stand by, I am holier than thou’.

b. Naut. to lie {lay) by: (a) to come almost to a stand, either by backing sail or by leaving only enough sail to keep the vessel’s head straight; =

Stevenson

[Attrib. use of prec. by- in adv., as in out patient, etc. Not separated by any clear line from by combinations: see by- III. (In modern use the spelling bye seems to be preferred when the word is treated as an adj.)] Generally. The opposite of main. 1. Situated to one side, as a door, or out of the way, as a place; running in a side direction, or out of the way, as a path. Also fig. See by- in comb. 3 a, b, and by-path, by-way, etc. £1330, etc. [see by-way, by-door]. 1485 Caxton St. Wenefr. 2 By a bye dore of the chamber she wente oute. 1582 Mon. Matrones 39 Seeking manie crooked and biwaies. 1583 Stanyhurst JEneis iii. (Arb.) 73 Soom bye place of resting graunt vs. 1655 Gouge Comm. Heb. x. 20 There are so many bie broad pathes. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4259/4 The Man that is supposed to have robb’d..a bye Hackney Coach.. upon the Forest of Sherwood. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. xli. 307 Nothing can be more bye and unfrequented. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 335 Hospitals erected.. in bye places. 1830 Southey in For. Rev. Cont. Misc. V. 278 The mule preferred the high road to the bye one. 1880 W. Cornw. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Bye, lonely. Our house is rather bye. Bentley

2. fig. a. Away from the main purpose, occurring ‘by the way’, incidental, casual; b. of secondary importance; c. privy, clandestine, secret, underhand; cf. by- in comb. 3 c, d, 4, 5: often coupled with another epithet, as by and sinister, familiar and by, etc. See by-matter, by¬ word, etc. C1050, etc. [see by-word, by-matter]. 1562 Cooper Answ. Priv. Masse (1850) 168 You have brought out of them all but a few bye sentences. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum., The Stage, Entertain this troop With some familiar and by-conference. 1632 D. Lupton London Carbon. 105 He .. hopes to haue .. some by preferment. 1633 Fosbrooke Warre or Confl. 9 Done either in hypocrisie or for some by and sinister respect, a 1652 Brome Crt. Beggar 11. i, Have we spent all this while in by and idle talke? 1674 [Z. Cawdrey] Catholicon 16 Those whom they have gained in their concealed and by-trade as Undertakers. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xxvi. (1819) 455 The bye effect may be unfavourable. 1842 Mi all Nonconf. II. 393 Some trivial bye consideration being unsound will vitiate our whole conclusion. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §3. 96 Far too serious a work to be undertaken in a bye way. 1857 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. ii. 5 A bye debate .. arose on a motion by Lord Claud Hamilton.

by, obs. f. be, bee, buy; also of been pa. pple. of be v.

by- in composition. A. A ME. variant spelling of the prefix bi-, be-, under which see most of the words, as, under be-, bycause, bydene, bydryve, byfall, byfore, byget, bygynne, bygile, etc.; under bi-, byreusy, byweve, etc. Those words only are given under by- for which no forms with be- or bi- have been met with.

BYB. by- (sometimes bye-): the preposition, adverb, or adjective BY in combination, either in words already formed in OE. with the accented form of the prefix, bt-, big-, or in words of later formation, especially those in which by has an attributive sense, and cannot be separated by any clear line from by adj., since the use of the hyphen is very uncertain. All the principal words so formed are treated as main words in their alphabetical places; the less important and more obvious combinations here follow, under the various uses and senses of the prefix. I. 1. Compounds in which by- is a prep., as by¬ rote a. See also by-hither, by-south (by prep. 9 c), by-ordinary, by-common, etc. (by prep. 7), and byhand. 1669 Penn No Cross xx. §23 That a little By-rote Babble shall serve your Turn at the Great Day?

II. Compounds in which by- has an advb. force. 2. a. with nouns of agent or action, with senses ‘beside, past’; as by-inhabitant, -seer, -sitter, -stroller; fby-lier, a neutral; f by-coming, passing; fby-settel, a lodger; so by-dweller, BY-STANDER, etc. 1600 Gowrie's Conspir. in Select, fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 195 Which [doore].. he had lokked in his ♦bycomming. 1658 W. Burton I tin. Anton. 135 Ruins of Walls, which the *byinhabitants call, The old Work of Wrockcester. . Obs. [f. L. cadaver + -ate.] To render lifeless; to reduce to dead matter. 1657 G. Starkey Helmont's Vind., [Excrementa].. which .. are by the heat of the body cadaverated, and cast forth.

cadaveric (kaeda’vsnk, ka'daevank), a. [a. F. cadaverique, or f. L. cadaver (see above) + -ic (Gr. suffix: the L. forms are cadaverinus, cadaver dsus).] 1. Of or pertaining to dead bodies; characteristic of a corpse. (More technical than cadaverous.) 1835-6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 804/2 Chemical actions of a cadaveric description. 1865 Reader 2 Sept. 269/2 The earliest indications of cadaveric rigidity. 1880 B. Dyer in Daily News 7 Oct. 6/7 Certain substances formed in decomposing animal tissues.. [called] ‘cadaveric alkaloids’ .. owing to their formation subsequent to death. 1882 Times 8 Dec. 10 Evidence, previously given, with reference to the cadaveric Avidities.

2. Caused by contact with a dead body. 1871 Holmes Syst. Surgery (ed. 2) V. Index, Cadaveric boils. 1883 Ibid. (ed. 3) II. 940 Cadaveric warts have a somewhat special appearance.

fca'daverie. Obs. rare-'. = cadaver. 1600 Tourneur Transf. Met. (1878) II. 187 Prol. 8 What ashie ghost, what dead Cadaverie .. howles in my eares?

t cadaveriety. Obs. rare—', [f. L. cadaver (see prec.), ? after variety, ebriety, etc.] Deadness. 1651 Biggs New Disp. §171 The cadaveriety, and dull lethargy of medicines, is contracted by the Opium.

ca’daverine. Chem. [f. as prec. + -ine.] One of the cadaveric alkaloids or Ptomaines. 1887 Lauder Brunton cadaverine, putrescine, and physiological action.

Pharmacol. 98 Neurine, saprine have no marked

ca'daverizable, a. [f. next + -able.] Capable of being converted into lifeless matter. 1651 Biggs New cadaverizable thing.

Disp.

§287

Any

putrefactible

or

cadaverize (ks'dtevaraiz), v.

[f. cadaver + -ize: perh. in earlier use; see prec.] trans. To make into a corpse; to make cadaverous. 1841 Fraser’s Mag. XXIII. 421 To effect a..suspension of the circulation, and cadaverise his countenance.

cadaverous (ka'daevsras), a. [ad. F. cadavereux, -euse, ad. L. cadaveros-us corpse-like, f. cadaver: see above.] Of or belonging to a corpse; such as characterizes a corpse, corpse-like. 1627 Feltham Resolves ii. xxxiv, A cadauerous man, composed of Diseases and Complaints. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. 1. (1656) §38 By continual! sight of Anatomies, Skeletons, or Cadaverous reliques. 1651 Biggs New Disp. §26 Cadaverous dissection of bodies. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. xi. 205 Some cadaverous smell those Ravens discover in the Air. 1776 Withering Bot. Arrangem. (1796) IV. 374 Cadaverous smell of the Phallus impudicus. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. 11. ii. §11 (1864) 172 The cadaverous odour is of the repulsive kind. 1848 Dickens Dombey 36 The strange, unusual.. smell, and the cadaverous light.

b. esp. Of corpse-like or deadly pallor. 1662 Fuller Worthies in. 67 His eye was excellent at the instant discovery of a cadaverous face .. this made him at the first sight of sick Prince Henry, to get himself out of sight. a 1713 Ellwood Life 246 He found John Milton sitting in an Elbow Chair.. pale, but not cadaverous. 1820 W. Irving Sk. Bk. II. 145 He has a cadaverous countenance, full of cavities and projections. 1835 Willis Pencillings I. vi. 38.

ca'daverously, adv.

[f. prec. + -ly2.] cadaverous manner; like a dead body.

In a

1847 in Craig.

ca'daverousness.

[f. as prec. + -ness.] Cadaverous quality; the condition of a dead body.

1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 75 This depraved, circulated matter, hath reached so far.. as to acquire a virulency or cadaverousness. 1839 Poe Fall Ho. Usher Wks. 1846 I. 295 A cadaverousness of complexion.

cadaw, obs. form of caddow.

perhaps f. cad-ere to fall. So F. cadavre.] A dead body, esp. of man; a corpse. (Now chiefly in technical lang.)

cad-bait, -bit, -bote: see cad4.

Barth. De P.R. vi. ii. (1495) 187 Careyne hath that name of cadauare of cadere . to falle.] c 1500 Noble Life 1. xxxv, Zelio is a beste..it abydeth gladly in places

fcaddee. Obs. [The same word as cadee, Sc.

[1398 Trevisa

caddas, caddes, obs. ff. caddis. caddie. See also cad2.]

1803 Ann. Reg. (Chron.) 430/1 The York stage waggon was overturned from off the Bridge into the river at Casterton near Stamford.. owing to the proper driver trusting to the guidance of a caddee, whilst he loitered behind.

doublet. 1738 Med. Ess, 6? Observ. (ed. 2) IV. 334 Soft halfworn Linen, which the French call Charpie, the English, Lint, and we Caddiss. 1769 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 578 With soft lint, commonly called caddis.

caddee, var. of cadi.

Patten

'caddess. nonce-wd. [f. cad2 5.] A female cad. 1870 Illustr. Lond. News 29 Oct. 443, I do not insult the people by including in the name the cads and caddesses. 1884 Reade Perilous Seer. I. vii. 133 Caddess! What is that? .. I mean a cad of the feminine gender.

cadesse.

f2. Worsted yarn, crewel. Obs. 1530 Palsgr. 202/1 Caddas or crule, sayette. 1548 W. Exped. Scotl. in Arb. Garner III. 92 Hemmed round about.. with pasmain lace of green caddis. 1721 C. King Brit. Merch. I. 286 Tapestry with Caddas.

caddel, obs. f. cawdle.

t caddesse,

CADE

758

CADDEE

? Obs.

=

caddow,

a

jackdaw. 1565-73 Cooper Thesaur., Monedula, a chough, a daw, a cadesse. is67vMaplet Gr. Forest 79 The Caddesse was first called Monedula. 1583 Stanyhurst JEtieis iv. (Arb.) 101 This that prat’ pye cadesse labored too trumpet in eeche place. 1611 Chapman Iliad xvi. 541 As a falcon frays A flock of stares or caddesses. 1655 Moufet & Benn. Health's Improv. (1746) 187 The Cadesse or Jack-daw. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 248/1 The Jack Daw, or Daw, is called a Caddesse or Choff.

caddet, obs. form of cadet. caddi, variant of cadi. caddice, variant of caddis. caddie, cadie ('kaedi). Also 7 caudie, 8 cawdie, cady, caddee, 8-9 caddy, [ad. F. cadet: see cadet and cadee.]

fl. = cadee, cadet 2, q.v. Also attrib. Sc. 1634-46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 462 Ane young gentleman latelie come from France, pransing. .with his short skarlet cloake and his long caudie rapier. 1724 Ramsay Tea-T. Misc. (1733) I. 53 Commissions are dear Yet I’ll buy him one this year; For he shall serve no longer a cadie. a 1776 Ballad in Herd Coll. II. 170 (Jam.) There was Wattie the muirland laddie.. With sword by his side like a cadie.

2. a. A lad or man who waits about on the lookout for chance employment as a messenger, errand-boy, errand-porter, chair-man, oddjob-man, etc.; spec, a member of a corps of commissionaires in Edinburgh in the 18th c. (See also quot. 1883.) Sc. c 1730 Burt Lett. fr. N. of Scotl. ii. (1754) I. 26 The Cawdys, a very useful Black-Guard, who attend.. publick Places to go of Errands; and though they are Wretches, that in Rags lye upon the Stairs, and in the Streets at Night, yet are they often considerably trusted .. This Corps has a kind of Captain.. presiding over them, whom they call the Constable of the Cawdys. a 1774 Fergusson Compl. Plainstanes, A cadie wi his lantern. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midi. xxi, A tattered cadie, or errand-porter, whom David Deans had jostled. C1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 65 A caddy came with a large parcel to Mrs. Logan’s house, a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. V. 209 Every Scotchman, from the peer to the cadie. 1883 Wesleyan Mag. 546 The Caddies—sturdy women with creels on their backs who acted as porters— struggled for the customer.

b. A golf-player’s attendant who carries his clubs (generally a boy or lad). Also attrib., as caddie-car, -cart. 1857 Chambers' Inform. People II. 696/2. 1864 Bookseller 31 Oct. 662 Twenty golfers, with their attendant caddies scattered over the link. 1883 Standard 16 Nov. 5/2 The ‘caddy’ who carries the clubs probably possesses theoretical knowledge. 1961 F. C. Avis Sportsman's Gloss. 202/2 Caddie-Car, a light two-wheeled rack for holding golfclubs, drawn by the golfer himself. 1962 Punch 21 Nov. 747/1 A moment’s weakness, and you’ll be hiring a caddy and a caddy-cart.

3. Young fellow, lad. (ludicrous or familiar.) Sc. 1786 Burns Earnest Cry xx, Gie him’t het, my hearty cocks, E'en cow the caddie [C. J. Fox]. 1788-1813 E. Picken Misc. Poems I. 186 (Jam.) A’ ye canty cheerie caddies.

fcaddi'net. Obs. [A dim. form; to be referred apparently to It. cadino ‘basin, milk-pan, broad dish’, var. of catino:—L. catinus, -um bowl, dish.] A basin or vessel of some kind. 1662 J. Ogilby King’s Coronation (1685) 15 The Officers of the Pantry.. brought up the Salt of State and Caddinet.

caddis1, caddice ('kadis). Forms: 5-9 cadas, 5 cadace, 6 cadys, -yas, -es, caddes, -iz, -esse, 6-7 caddys, 6-8 caddas, 6-9 caddis, caddice, 7 cadice, (8 cadduce), 8-9 cadis. [Here two words are apparently mixed up: 1 (sense 1), properly cadas, cadace, OF. cadaz, cadas, cf. Cotgr. cadarce ‘the tow or coarsest part of silke, whereof sleaue is made’; cf. Irish cadas = cadan cotton; 2 F. cadis (15th c. in Littre) ‘sorte de serge de laine, de bas pris’. Of both, the ulterior history is unknown.] f 1. Cotton wool, floss silk, or the like, used in padding: Scotch writers of the 18th c. applied the name to ‘lint’ used in surgery. Obs. [Hue de Tabarie MS. Heber No. 8336 in Promp. Parv. 57 Pur cadaz e cotoun de saunk fu le encusture.] a 1400 Cov. Myst. 241 Cadace wolle or flokkys..To stuffe withal thi dobbelet. 1440 Promp. Parv. 57/2 Cadas, bombicinium. 1458 Will of Gist (Somerset Ho.), Vnum Jakke stuffed cum Cadace. 1463 in Rot. Pari, in Promp. Parv. 57 No .. bolstors, nor stuffe of woole, coton or cadas, nor other stuffer in his

fb. Hence attrib. as a material. Obs. 1550-1600 Customs Duties, Addit. MS. Brit. Mus. No. 25097 Cruell or Caddas rybande. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 37 Seemly begyrt in a red caddiz gyrdl. 1596 Shaks. j Hen. IV, 11. iv. 79 Wilt thou rob this Leatherne Ierkin.. Puke stocking, Caddice garter. 1675 Bk. of Rates 293 Caddas or cruel ribbon.

fc. Short for caddis ribbon: A worsted tape or binding, used for garters, etc. Obs. 1580 Lyly Euphues (1868) 220 The country dame girdeth herselfe as straight in the waste with a course caddis, as the Madame of the court with a silke riband. 1584 B. R. Herodotus 79 Stitching to the inside of their vesture a tape or caddesse to gird their apparell. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. iv. iv. 208 Hee hath Ribbons .. Points.. Inckles, Caddysses. a 1664 Quarles Sheph. Orac. vm, Surely I was., constrained to sell Cadice and inkle. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2698/4 A .. blue Saddle-Cloth bound with Green and White Caddis. 1739 Desaguliers in Phil. Trans. XLI. 190 Cadis, or a kind of Worsted Tape. 1751 S. Whatley Eng. Gaz. Sturbridge (Camb.), All sorts of tapes, cadduces, and the like wares from Manchester. [1822-76 Nares, Caddis, a kind of ferret or worsted lace.]

f 3. A kind of stuff; perh. of worsted (or ? silk). 1536 Inv. Kilburn Nunnery Middlesex in Monast. Anglicanum III. 424/1 One Carpet of Cadys for the table xij d. 1552 Berksh. Ch. Goods 28 Ane other vestyment of grene caddes, a vestyment of Redd caddis. 1552 Inv. Ch. Surrey 54 Item a cope of blew cades. 1552-3 Inv. Ch. Goods Staffs, in Ann. Diocese Lichfield IV. 48 One vestement of cadyas, iiij albes. [1876 Rock Text. Fabr. iv. 31.]

b. A coarse cheap serge. [Mod.F. cadis.) (The first quot. is of doubtful meaning.) Cf. CADDOW2. 1579 Lyly Euphues 79 In steede of silkes I will weare sackcloth: for Owches and Bracelettes, Leere and Caddys. 1714 Fr. Bk. of Rates 38 Cadis-Stuff per too Weight. 1755 Johnson Caddis., this word is used in Erse for the variegated cloaths of the Highlanders. 1862 Wraxall Hugo’s Miserables (1877) I. iv. 20 Who had acquired £80000 by manufacturing coarse clothes, serges, and caddis. 1887 J. H. Nodal in Let., ‘Caddies is still used in Bolton for a special make of sheets and quilts.’ [Cf. caddow2 c i860.]

caddis2, caddice (’kaedis). Also 7 cadice, cados, 7-8 cadis. [Of uncertain origin: see the equivalent CAD4; parallel forms are dial, cadew, caddy (pi. caddies), perh. a false singular, from caddi-s (used as sing, and pi. by Walton); possibly a genuine dim. of cad: the relations of the forms have not been made out.] 1. The larva of the May-fly and other species of Phryganea, which lives in water, and forms for itself a curious cylindrical case of hollow stems, small stones, etc.; it is used as a bait by anglers. 1651 T. Barker Art of Angling (1653) 9 Gentles, Paste or Cadice which we call Cod-bait. 1653 Walton Angler 91 The May flie .. is bred of the Cod-worm or Caddis. Ibid. 235, 1 have held you too long about these caddis. 1855 Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 207 Those caddises, which crawl on the bottom of the stiller waters, enclosed, all save the head and legs, in a tube of sand or pebbles. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1. v. iii. §12 Caddies, caterpillars and gentles.

2. Comb, caddis-bait, caddis-worm = prec.; caddis-fly, a Phryganea, as the May-fly. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gentl. xxi. (1634) 253 Other wormes as the Bobbe, Cadis-worme, Canker, or such like. 1658 Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 943 The great variety of those little Cados worms whereof they come. 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 116 The Cadis-Fly .. is a large four-winged fly, of a buff-colour. 1833 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 1. 20 Caddis bait, which is the larva of different species of phryganea. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §682 Caddice-flies .. are very numerous in Britain; no fewer than 190 species having been described. 1863 Kingsley Water-bab. iii. 90 The caddis-baits in that pool. 1875 Brande & Cox Diet. Science, &c. I. 341 Different species of the Caddice-worm protect themselves by means of different materials.

caddised ('kaedist), ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ed2.] Furnished or baited with a caddis. 1851 Fraser's Mag. XLIV. 63 Mute anglers drop their caddis’d hooks.

caddish ('kaedif), a. colloq. [f. cad2 5 + -ish1.] Of the nature of a cad; offensively ill-bred; the opposite of gentlemanly. 1868 Imperial Rev. 22 Feb. 180 We shall be understood when we say, that it is a still more caddish offence. 1881 Blackw. Mag. CXXIX. 186 A cad never seems more caddish than when he comes nearest to the most primeval simplicity of costume.

Hence 'caddishly adv., 'caddishness sb. 1868 Lond. Rev. 15 Aug. 200/1 The cad takes his caddishness with him. 188. Miss Braddon Just as I am xlv. 307, Innate caddishness which must come out somewhere.

caddie, sb. dial. 1. Disorder, disarray, confusion, disturbance. 1825 Britton Beauties Wiltsh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Caddie, a term signifying confusion or embarrassment. To be in a caddie, means to be overwhelmed with business. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown Oxf. xxx. (D.) ‘Ther wur no sich a caddie about sick folk when I wur a bwoy’. 1863 Mrs.

Marsh Heathside Farm I. 70 Mrs. Stone, a short, plump, Wiltshire matron.. apologised for being found in such a caddie.

2. Trouble, bother. 1865 Reader 12 Aug. 182/2 The English won’t take the trouble—won’t, as they say with us in Somerset, be at the caddie to look after such things.

caddie, v. dial. [f. prec.] To trouble, disturb, worry. 1781 Hutton Tour Caves Gloss., Caddie, to attend officiously. 1825 Britton Beauties Wiltsh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., Don't caddie me, don’t teaze me. A codling fellow means an impertinent or troublesome companion. 1862 T. Hughes in Macm. Mag. V. 250 A caddied the mice in many a vield.

'caddow1. Obs. exc. dial. Also 5 cadaw, 5-7 cadowe, 6 cadow, caddawe, caddowe, 9 dial, cawdaw. [perh. f. ca, ka jackdaw (Sc. kae) + daw. (The Ir. cudhog, Gael, cathag, Manx caaig jackdaw can hardly be connected.)] A jackdaw. 1440 Promp. Parv. 57/2 Cadaw, or keo, or chowghe [v.r. ko; cadowe or koo], monedula. 1530 Palsgr. 202/1 Caddawe a byrde, chucas. 1552 Huloet, Caddowe, or choughe, byrde; some call them Jacke dawe. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 101 Kill crowe, pie, and cadow. 1579 Marr. Wit. & Wisd. (1849) 26 She can cackle like a cadowe. 1621 Ainsworth Annot. Pentat. Lev. xi. 15 Crows, caddows, pies, and the like. 1792 Osbaldistone Brit. Sportsm. 85/1 Caddow, a bird, otherwise called a chough or jackdaw. 1842 Few Words to Churchw. (Camb. Camden Soc.) 1. 14, Rubbish, brought together by the jackdaws or caddows. 1864 Atkinson Prov. Names of Birds, Caddow, caw-daw.

'caddow2. Obs. or dial. Also 6 caddo, 6-7 caddowe, 7 cadow(e, caddoe. [Cf. caddis1 3 b; also Gaelic cudadh, cudath tartan (not Irish— O’Reilly); but it is doubtful whether this is from Eng. or the converse. The Manx cadee, and the Ir. cadas cotton, can hardly be related.] A rough woollen covering: see quot. 1880. 1579 Richmond Wills {1853), ij fledg blankets vs. ij caddow blankets ij s. iiij d. 1588 Middlesex County Records I. 177 [Walter Hassellwrick stole].. vnum straggulum voc’ an Irish Caddo [worth twenty shillings]. 1588 Lane. Wills (1861) III. 135 A blankett and an Irish caddow checked. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. Biij, I stretcht my lims along the bed .. Thrice ore the caddow I mine armes outspred. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 11. Ireland 63 They.. make of their course wool Caddowes also or Coverlets. 1611 Cotgr., Couverture velue, an Irish Rug, Mantle, or Cadowe. 1681 Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xxxiv. §15 (1689) 190 Outlandish Cadows and Blanckets. c i860 Staton Rays fro' Loomenary (Bolton) 40 Peggy wove caddows on a loom as they had ith back place. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadda, Caddaw, a quilt or coverlet, a cloak or cover; a small cloth which lies on a horse’s back.

cadduce: see caddis1. caddy ('kaedi), sb.1 [app. a corruption of catty sb., Malay kati, a weight equal to ij lb. avoirdupois.] 1. a. A small box for holding tea. Usually teacaddy. 1792 Madras Courier 2 Dec. (Y.) A Quantity of Tea in Quarter Chests and Caddies, imported last season. 1793 Cowper To Lady Hesketh 19 Jan. (R.) When you went you took with you the key of the caddy. 1833 Ht. Martineau Brooke F. xii. 133 The best tea-tray and caddy. 1868 F. Paget Lucretia 198 This house.. instead of looking like a tea-caddy.. might rather be said to resemble a litter of caddies.

b. attrib. and Comb., as caddy-spoon, a shorthandled spoon of a special shape used for measuring tea out of the caddy. 1927 Daily Express 31 Aug. 4 Old silver caddy-spoons that have survived from Georgian days.

2. a. orig. U.S. A can with a lid, for water, tobacco, biscuits, etc. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 201/1 Near where his .. saw and water caddy are lying. 1886 in Alberta Hist. Rev. (1971) Summer 16/1 A 28-pound caddy of tobacco, i960 G. W. Target Teachers (1963) 18 The tin biscuit caddy on the mantelpiece.

b. gen. A storage container for objects (usu. small) in everyday use. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 12 June 17/2 The 4-drawer caddy comes in your choice of red, yellow or orange. Sliding white drawers hold stamps, tacks, paper-clips, [etc.]. 1977 Observer 13 Feb. 13/7 (Advt.), Shoe Caddy holds 6 pairs of shoes in individual.. compartments. 1982 New Scientist 21 Oct. 162/1 The discs are housed in caddies much like those used for the floppy discs in personal and mini computers.

'caddy, sb.2 [? f. cad1.] A ghost, bugbear. 1781 Hutton Tour Caves, Caddy, a ghost, or bugbear.

caddy ('kaedi), v. [f. caddy, var. caddie sb.) intr. To act as caddy for a golfer. Also transf. 1908 Daily Chron. 26 Aug. 4/7 You’ve caddied for me before. 1923 Wodehouse Inimit. Jeeves vii. 71 After lunch I should go off and caddy for Honoria on a shopping tour down Regent Street. 1928 Daily Tel. 29 May 9/4 The Prince had a local caddie named William Everett.. who caddied for him once before.

caddy, var. of caddie. cade (keid), sb.1 [a. F. cade cask, barrel, ad. L. cad-us a large vessel usually of earthenware, a wine-jar, also a measure for liquids.]

CADE

CADENCY

759

1. A cask or barrel.

cade, v.2 [f.

1387 in Rogers Agric. & Prices II. 428/4. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 331 Kades thre Of wyne. 1706 J. Philips Cyder 11. 363 The Farmers Toil is done; his Cades mature, Now call for Vent. 1812 W. Tennant Anster Fair 11. vii, His lintseed stowed in bag or cade.

cade sfc.2] ‘To breed up in softness’ (Johnson; with no quot. or reference).

3. The rising and (esp.) falling of elemental sounds, as of a storm, the sea, etc.

1879 Miss Jackson bring up tenderly.

12. spec. A barrel of herrings, holding six great hundreds of six score each; afterwards 500. Obs.

caval)cade sb. and used in various Combs., as

1667 Milton P.L. ii. 287 Blustring winds, which all night long Had rous’d the Sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men orewatcht. 1839 Mrs. Hemans Release Tasso, The low Cadence of the silvery sea. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 377 A murmur had reached my ear for some time in the cadences of the storm.

1337 in Rogers Agric. & Prices II. 555/3. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 57 Cade of herynge (or spirlinge) or opyr lvke, cada, lacista, etc. 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 207 Paid to Edwardes wyffe for j. cade of red herynge.. vs. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 263, Xx. cadis rede hering is a last, v. C. in a cade, vi. score iiij. heringis for the C. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 36 Stealing a Cade of Herrings. 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe (1871) 106 The rebel Jack Cade was the first, that devised to put Red-Herrings in cades, and from him they have their name. 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb., Cade ..of Red-herrings 500, Sprats 1000; yet I find anciently 600 made the Cade of Herrings, Six score to the Hundred, which is called Magnum Centum. 1707 Fleetwood Chron. Prec. (1745) 82 A cade of red Herrings (720 the Cade). 1751 Chambers Cycl., Cade,., used in the book of rates for.. 500 herrings, and of sprats 1000. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxiv. 610 Herrings .. reckoned by the cade and the barrel.

3. Comb., as cade-bow (see quot.). 1754 T. Gardner Hist. Dunwich 20 The Cade, containing Herrings, being a Frame called a Cade-Bow, made with Withs, having a Top and Bottom, with two Hinges folding, wherein Straw is laid inclosing the Fish. 600

cade (keid), sb.2 (a.) Also

5 kod, 5-7 cad. [Origin

and part of speech unknown. In cade lamb, ‘cade’ may be an adj. with some such sense as ‘cast’ or ‘domestic, tame’, or a sb. used attrib. as in pet-lamb: in the former case ‘cade’ as a sb. would be short for ‘cade-lamb’; in the latter, ‘cade-lamb’ might be an expansion. (As Cotgrave gives an alleged F. ‘cadel a castling, a starveling, one that hath need much of cockering and pampering’, a sense not unlike Eng ‘pet’, it has been suggested that cade-lamb was perh. for an earlier *cadellamb. But this is historically impossible. M. Paul Meyer says Cotgrave’s word is not Fr., but app. the 16th c. Languedocien cadel ‘little dog’, and his explanation erroneous. The corresp. OF. word was chael, cheel, which has no likeness to the ME. kod, cad, even if the sense suited. Wedgwood compares Da. kaad wanton, petulant, sportive:—ON. kdt-r merry, cheerful: but cade is not at all Sc., and apparently not properly northern, since Ray 1691 explains the ‘North-Country words’ pet, pet-lamb as ‘a cadelamb.’)] 1. as adj. or in comb. Of the young of animals, esp. lambs and colts: Cast or left by the mother and brought up by hand, as a domestic pet. c 1475 Piet. Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 749 Hie ricus, a kodlomb. 1551 Will of Jane Lovet (Somerset Ho.) Three Cade lambes that go abowte the house. 1678 Littleton Diet, in Cath. Angl. 50 A cade lamb, agnus domesticus, domi eductus. 1681 Worlidge Diet. Rust. (E.D.S.) A cosset lamb or colt, or cade lamb or colt, that is a lamb or colt fallen and brought up by hand. 1698 F. B. Modest Censure 14 As mild and gentle as cade Lambs. 1792 in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 366 We do not wean our cade-lambs till June. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede x. 95 It’s ill bringing up a cade lamb. 1880 J. F. Davies in Academy 24 Dec. 456.

2. as sb. a. A pet lamb. CI450 Nominale in Wr.-Wiilcker 698 Hec agna, a new lame; hec cenaria, a cad; hec berbex, a weder. 1483 Cath. Angl. 50 A Cade, dome(s)tica vel domesticus, vt ouis vel auis domestica. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter iii. 18 He gave his poor godson a lamb for a cade. 1669 Cokaine Ovid 60 Pritty Spinella, you.. Are tame enough, as Gentle as a Cad. 1830 Howitt Seasons, March 58 Others [lambs].. are reared, generally by the assistance of a tea pot, with cow’s milk and are called cades or pets.

b. The foal of a horse brought up by hand. 1617 Markham Caval. 11. 109 Such horses as we call Cades, which are those that neuer suck their dams, but vpon their first foaling are put vp into a house.

c. A spoiled or petted child, (var. dial.) 1877 Peacock N.W. Line. Gloss. Cade, a child which is babyish in its manner. 1879 Miss Jackson Shropsh. Wordbk. s.v., ‘E’s a reg’lar cade’ said of a spoiled child.

3. Of fruit: Fallen, cast. rare. 1876 Miss Broughton Joan III. 184 Austine is collecting the little cade cherries.

fcade, sb.3 Variant

of ked, a sheep-louse. 1570 Levins Manip. 8 A cade, sheepe louse, pediculus ouis.

cade (keid), sb.4 [a. F. cade, in same sense.] A species of Juniper, Juniperus oxycedrus, called also Prickly Cedar, yielding oil of cade, or cade oil, used in veterinary surgery. 1575 Turberv. Bk. Venerie lxvi. 187 If you rubbe a Terryer with Brymstone, or with the oyle of Cade, and then put the Terryer into an earth where Foxes be or Badgerdes, they will leaue that earth. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 251 The part most fluid is sold under the name of Cade-oil.

f cade, sb.5 Obs. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 933 Telle schulen wiues twelue 3if ani child may be made With-outen knoweing of mannes cade.

cade, v.1 ? Obs. [f. CADES&.1] trans. To put into a cade or keg. 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe (1871) 106 The rebel Jack Cade .. hauyng first found out the tricke to cade herring, they woulde so much honour him in his death as not onely to call it swinging but cading of herring also.

-cade, suffix.

Shropsh. Word-bk. Cade, to pet; to

Taken by a false division of

motorcade, etc., in the sense ‘a procession, a show’. Chiefly U.S.

aquacade,

1936 Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) v. ii. 180 In the case of motorcade, autocade, camelcade and aerocade,.. a new suffix, -cade, seems to have come in.

Ilcadeau (kado). [Fr.] A present or gift. 1808 Wynne Diaries 10 Dec. (1940) III. 321 He has brought. . a very handsomejo/nt Cadeau to us of a Silver Tea Urn. 1826 M. Kelly Reminisc. (ed. 2) II. 320 Sheridan.. selected certainly not the worst for the cadeau. a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg. 1882 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 13 A cadeau from his Highness. 1885 Where Chineses Drive 141 Some little present as a New Year’s Cadeau.

t cadee. Obs. [Phonetic spelling of F. cadet.] The earlier form of cadet, caddie: A (gentleman) cadet in the army. a 1689 Mrs. Behn Widow Ranter iv. ii, He listed us cadees for the next command that fell in his army. 1691 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 234 The French convoy arrived at Limerick.. two French lieutenant generalls, 106 subaltern officers, 150 cadees, 320 English and Scotch gentlemen. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3856/3, 1 Captain, 1 CaptainLieutenant, 1 Cadee, and 20 Soldiers killed. 1789 W. Laick Answ. to Presbyt. Eloq. 33 (Jam.) A Cadee of Dunbarton’s Regiment. Ibid. And from a Cadee become a curat.

cadee,

obs. form of cadi.

cadelle (ka'del). [Fr., ad. Pr. cadello.] The larva or adult of a beetle (Trogosita mauritanica) that is destructive to grain. 1861 Chambers's Encycl. II. 484/1 Cadelle (Trogosita Mauritanica..), an insect sometimes found in granaries in Britain.

cadence ('keicbns), sb.

[a. F. cadence, ad. It. cadenza ‘falling, cadence in music’, on L. type cadentia sb., f. cadent- pr. pple. of cad-ere to fall. The literal sense is ‘action or mode of falling, fall’, and in this sense it was used by 17th c. writers; but at an early period the word was in Italian appropriated to the musical or rhythmical fall of the voice, and in this sense occurs as early as Chaucer. Cadence is in form a doublet of chance, the direct phonetic descendant of cadentia.] I. In verse and music. 1. ‘The flow of verses or periods’ (J.); rhythm, rhythmical construction, measure. ^1384 Chaucer H. Fame 627 To make bookes, songes, and dities In rime or else in cadence, c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xii. 315 Had he cald Lucyus Procurature.. Dat had mare grevyd J>e Cadens, Dan had relevyd pe sentens. 1513 Douglas JEneis Prol. 46 Throu my corruptit cadens imperfyte. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. iv. ii. 126 The elegancy, facility, & golden cadence of poesie. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 292 An eare that could measure a just cadence, and scan without articulating. 1763 J. Brown Poetry Mus. iv. 37 Measured Cadence, or Time, is an essential Part of Melody. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 530 The periods flow with a sort of liquid cadence. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets iv. 102 The Iambic is nearest in cadence to the language of common life.

b. The measure or beat of music, dancing, or any rhythmical movement; e.g. of marching. 1605 Z. Jones De Loyer's Specters 20 Now daunses.. have neede of nothing, .but only of Number, measure and true cadence. 1755 Gray Progr. Poesy 1. iii, To brisk notes in cadence beating Glance their many-twinkling feet. 1777 Sir W. Jones Arcadia Poems 109 Not a dancer could in cadence move. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. in. v. 195 Dancing round them to the cadence of the music. 1816 Scott Old Mort. vi, The occasional boom of the kettle-drum, to mark the cadence. 1862 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 6 Cadence, in slow time 75 steps.. are taken in a minute.

2. ‘The fall of the voice’ (J.)1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie 11. vii. (1811) 66 This cadence is the fal of a verse in euery last word with a certaine tunable sound which being matched with another of like sound, do make a [concord]. 1616 Bullokar, Cadence, the falling of the voice. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 150 A low voice, with a .. sweet cadence at the end of it. 1824 L. Murray Eng. Gram. I. 366 The closing pause must not be confounded with that fall of the voice, or cadence, with which many readers uniformly finish a sentence.

b. ‘Sometimes, the general modulation of the voice’ (J.). 1709 Steele Tatler No. 9 f 1 The Smallcoal-Man was heard with Cadence deep. 1710 Ibid. No. 168 |f 5 With all the.. Cadence of Voice, and Force of Argument imaginable. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy 276 Amen, said my Mother.. with such a sighing cadence of personal pity. 1844 A. Welby Poems (1867) 87 The low cadence of her whispered prayer. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ill. i. §22 (1864) 361 A third quality of vocal sounds is cadence or accent. 1862 Trollope Orley F. xxxviii, ‘No’ said Peregrine, with a melancholy cadence in his voice. 1863 Miss BraddonJ. Marchmont 270.

c. Local or national modulation, ‘accent’. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. i. 182, I returned an answer in that language, hoping.. that the cadence might be more agreeable to his ears. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815)241 The Scotchman who had not yet acquired the cadence of the English, would naturally use his own in speaking their language.

4. Music. The conclusion or ‘close’ of a musical movement or phrase. Also sometimes = CADENZA. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 73 A Cadence wee call that, when coming to a close, two notes are bound togither, and the following note descendeth. 1795 Mason Ch. Mus. 1. 14 A perfect cadence then marks its termination. ci86o Goss Harmony xiii. 42 A Cadence or Close, signifies the last two chords of any passage; the principal cadences are those which conclude on the key-note. When the last chord is the triad on the key-note, preceded by the triad or chord of the 7th on the dominant, it is called the Perfect Cadence. 1867 Macfarren Harmony 1. 27 As performers insert a flourish at a close or cadence, we conventionally use the word cadence, to denote the flourish introduced at a close.

5. Horsemanship. ‘An equal measure or proportion which a horse observes in all his motions when he is thoroughly managed’ (Farrier's Diet, in Bailey). Cf. quot. 1833 under CADENCED.

6. transf. Harmonious combination of colours. 1868 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 364 The cadence of colours is just and noble: witness the red-leaved book.. on the white cloth, the clear green jug on the table, the dim green bronze of the pitcher.

II. In the Latin sense of falling. f7. Falling, sinking down; mode of falling. Obs. 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Cadence, falling, properly the ledging of come by a tempest, a 1660 Hammond Wks. IV. 687 (R.) The cadence, or manner how Paul falls into those words, is worthy to be both observed and imitated. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 92 Now was the Sun in Western cadence low.

f 8. The falling out of an occurrence; chance. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 8 This opportunitie is a meeting and concurring of divers cadences, which at one instant do make a matter very easie.

III. Comb. cadence braking, repeated rhythmic application of the brake pedal in order to slow a skidding vehicle (see quot. 1965). 1965 M. J. McDermott in Autocar 5 Nov. 990/1 The technique of ‘*cadence braking’.. is to excite the vehicle into a vertical oscillatory motion by a series of suitably timed bursts of braking, until a considerable amplitude of the motion has developed. Hard braking as the vehicle descends then ‘kills’ the oscillation. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 22 Oct. 22/3 The urgent task [in a skid] is therefore to get them unlocked .. and then to slow the car—if necessary by other means,.. usually by cadence braking, which means gently but firmly applying and then releasing the brakes in sequence. 1982 Advanced Motoring (Inst. Advanced Motorists) (rev. ed.) vi. 26 Rally drivers .. use what they call ‘cadence’ braking, in which the hard pushes on the brake pedal are timed to coincide with the spring frequency on the front suspension.

'cadence, v. rare. [f. prec.] 1. trans. To put into cadence, to compose metrically. a 1749 Philips To Ld. Carteret (R.) These parting numbers, cadenc’d by my grief. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets i. 18 Empedocles .. cadenced his great work on Nature in the same sonorous verse.

2. intr. To flow in rhythm; to move in a cadence. So 'cadencing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. 1907 P. L. Falzon Love's Re-Awakening 96 The cadencing majestic beat.. Of poesy’s most tender tone. 1918 Quiller-Couch Studies in Lit. 198 The verse cadences to the feeling. 1939 N. S. Colby Remembering vii. 159 You could see her soft hands cadencing among the teacups. 1961 Listener 28 Dec. 1138/2 It [5c. a song] .. moves.. a little unexpectedly into E minor, and is on the point of cadencing in this key when the music skips nimbly back to the tonic key.

cadenced ('keidsnst), ppl. a. [f. cadence v. and sb. + -ed.] Expressed or performed in cadence; characterized by cadence; rhythmical, measured. 01790 Adam Smith Imit. Arts, A certain measured, cadenced step, commonly called a dancing step. 1833 Reg. Instr. Cavalry 1. 82 The horse has a firm, even, and cadenced pace. (Cadenced means that the time passed in making each step shall be exactly equal.) 1850 Mrs. Browning Lady Geraldine's C. xlv, Her voice, so cadenced in the talking. 1851-Casa Guidi Wind. 3 Where the whole world might drop for Italy Those cadenced tears. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. 11. (1873) 287 You hear the cadenced surges of an unseen ocean. 1958 p. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz xv. 177 A harmonious and simple succession of thirds or single notes added in the form of a very flexible, cadenced conversation.

cadency ('keictansi). [ad. L. * cadentia: see -ency. In earlier use not distinguished from cadence; the sense of quality more proper to -ency comes out only in sense 3.] f 1. A falling out, happening, hap; = cadence 8. 1647 Sprigg Angl. Rediv. 1. xi. (1854) 10 How delightfully remarkable is it (as most apt cadency of Providence).

2. = cadence 1; cadent quality. 1627 Feltham Resolves 1. lxx. Wks. (1677) 106 Poetry .. is but a Play, which makes Words dance, in the evenness of a Cadency. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 48 The old Italian tunes and rithmes both in conceipt and cadency,

have much affinity with the Welsh. 1719 Swift To Yng. Clergyman Wks. 1755 II. 11. 6 Rounded into periods and cadencies.

3. Descent of a younger branch from the main line of a family; the state of a cadet. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Cadency, in heraldry, the state, or quality of a cadet. 1858 R. Chambers Dom. Ann. Scotl. I. 211 Not., a male descendant.. in existence, of cadency later than the fifteenth century. 1866-Ess. Fam. & Hum. Ser. 1. 18 He is recognised by a title of cadency from his wife, as Mrs. Thompson’s husband. 1885 S. Salter in N. & Q. vi. XII. 514/2 It might be thought that the label was for cadency of birth; but it was not so.

b. mark of cadency (Her.): a variation in the same coat of arms intended to show the descent of a younger branch from the main stock. 1702 A. Nisbet (title) An Essay on additional Figures and Marks of Cadency. 1830 T. Robson Hist. Heraldry Lj/2 These marks of cadency .. have crept into the general blazon of many coats of arms. 1882 W. A. Wells in N. & Q. 25 Mar. 231 James .. would in vitapatris have borne as his mark of cadency the original crescent charged with a label.

cadesse, var.

caddesse, Obs., jackdaw.

cadet (ka'det). [a. F. cadet, in 15th c. capdet, a. Pr. capdet:—Romanic type *capitetto, dim. of L. caput, capit- head; hence, little chief, inferior head of a family. Cf. also cadee, caddie, cad.] 1. a. A younger son or brother. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 463 From a younger brother or cadet of this house. 1671 Crowne Juliana Ep. Ded. A iv, Leave that as a thread-bare portion to the Cadets. 1689 Swift Ode to Temple Wks. 1755 IV. 1. 245 Poor we, cadets of heaven, Take up at best with lumber, a 1726 Vanbrugh False Fr. 1. i, I am a cadet, and by consequence not rich. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. viii. 210 Spiritual preferments being turned into means of maintenance for cadets or bastards of the royal house.

b. A younger branch of a family; a member of

Pr. cadena: — L. catena ‘chain’; in allusion to the chain-like character of the warp in weaving.] A sort of inferior Turkey carpet imported from the Levant. in Craig; and later Diets.

cadent (’keidant), a. [ad. L. cadent-em, pr. pple. of cad-ere to fall.] 1. Falling (literally). Obs. or arch. 1605 Shahs. Lear 1. iv. 307 With cadent Teares fret Channels in her cheekes. 1659 J. Arrowsmith Chain Princ. 200 We ourselves have seen him Antichrist cadent. 1855 Bailey Mystic 9 The moaning winds and cadent waters.

2. Astrol. Of a planet: Going down; in a sign opposite to that of its exaltation. ‘Cadent Houses are the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth House of a Scheme or figure of the Heavens, being those that are next from the Angles’ (Phillips 1696). 1586 Lupton Thous. Notable Th. (1675) 201 If the part of Fortune be cadent from the Ascendent. 1671 Blagrave Astrol. Phys. 164 Fixt Signs, and cadent Houses alwayes signifie the greatest distances.

3. Falling (rhythmically); having cadence. 1613 Sir E. Hoby Counter-snarle 13 II current and worse cadent lines. 1857 Emerson Poems 134 Far within those cadent pauses. 1859 F. K. Harford Martyrs of Lyons 24 Unfailing lips those cadent strains prolong.

4. Geol. Applied by Prof. H. Rogers to the tenth of his 15 divisions of the palaeozoic strata of the Alleghanies, corresponding to the lower middle Devonian of British geologists. f'cadent, sb. Obs. [f. prec.] One of the‘graces’ in old English music. 1879 F. Taylor in Grove Diet. Mus. I. 43 ‘Shaked graces’ are the Shaked Beat, Backfall, Elevation, and Cadent.

cadential (ka'denjal),

a.

[f.

L.

*cadentia

cadence + -al1.] Of or belonging to a cadence.

Also, of or pertaining to a cadenza. 1880 [see thirteenth sb. 2]. 1882 Athenaeum 8 Apr. 454/1 The examples.. have in no one instance the slightest cadential character. 1954 L. R. Palmer Latin Lang. viii. 214 A return to concord in the cadential part of the line. 1955 E. Dent in H. van Thai Fanfare for E. Newman 103 Apart from a few cadential flourishes, the part of Leonor is entirely devoid of coloratura. 1958 Times 28 Mar. 3/7 Such a common feature of eighteenth-century recitative as a cadential appoggiatura. 1969 Language XLV. 253 Padainitial and pada-final (cadential) occurrences account for 43 of 71 instances of kdra-.

cadenza (ka'dsnza). Music. [It.; see

cadence.]

A flourish of indefinite form given to a solo voice or instrument at the close of a movement, or between two divisions of a movement. (Sometimes called cadence: the use of the Italian word is designed to differentiate the two.) [1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Cadenza Sfuggita, in Italian music.] 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 100/1 Formerly

the the Cadenza was, by Italian as well as English singers, considered indispensable.. The French never admitted it. 1879 Parry in Grove Diet. Mus. I. 294 The cadenza usually starts from a pause on a chord of 6-4 on the dominant, preparatory to the final close of the movement, and its object is to show off the skill of the performer.. It was formerly customary to leave the cadenzas for improvisation.

t'cader, cadar. Obs. exc. dial. [Identical in form and meaning with, and prob. a. Welsh coder ‘chair’, in Mid. Welsh also ‘cradle’; used also as in sense 2, and applied to a ‘framework’ of various kinds. (If sense 3 is not the same word, we may perh. compare F. cadre frame.)] f 1. A cradle. Obs. a 1225 Ancr. R. 82 Heo makeS of hire tunge cradel [MS. Cleop. cader] to pes deofles beam, and rockefi it. Ibid. 378 Hwon 3e beob ibunden wifiinnen uour large wowes, and he in a neruh kader [MS. Titus D cradel].

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 348 Joseph was the youngest of twelve, and David the eleventh sonne, and but the caddet of Jesse. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 19 The cadet of a family.

2. a. A gentleman who entered the army without a commission, to learn the military profession and find a career for himself (as was regularly done by the younger sons of the French nobility before the Revolution), b. A junior in the East India Company’s service. See also CADDEE, CADDIE. 1651 Howell Venice 7 This may be one reason why she connives at so many Courtisans for the use of the Cadettgentlemen. [1652 Evelyn St. France Misc. Writ. (1805) 84 The cadets and younger brothers minding for the most part no greater preferments than what they cut out with their sword.] 1690 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, Cadet, or Cadee, a Gentleman that Bears Arms in hopes of a Commission. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2719/2 The Elector of Saxony.. adds a Company of Cadets. 1704 Hymn to Victory lxx. 7 She serves Cadet and Voluntier. 1768 Simes Mil. Medley, A cadet serves without pay. 1772 Foote Nabob 1. 9 Go out Cadets and Writers in the Company’s Service. 1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master 1. 10 His kit’s pack’d up, and off he’s set, To try his fortune—a cadet.

3. a. A student in a military or naval college. 1775 Swinburne Trav. Spain xliv. (L.) The royal apartments are now occupied by a college of young gentlemen cadets, educated at the king’s expence. 1788 Ld. Auckland Diary in Corr. (1861) II. 91 An establishment of one hundred young cadets for the army, a 1845 Hood ToJ. Hume iv, Watch Sandhurst too, its debts and its Cadets. i860 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 122 Sydney has just passed his examination as a naval cadet.

b. A boy in an ordinary school who receives military training with or without a view to entering the army. Also attrib., as cadet corps, a company of schoolboys who receive such training. 1873 Programme of Review at Charterhouse School 6 Aug., The young gentlemen (or Charterhouse Cadets) will be drawn up in Line at Open Order on the Cricket Ground. 1901 Public School Mag. Mar. 215 The Cadet Corps araded in front of the school and stood ‘at rest’ while the and played ‘The Land o’ the Leal’. 1957 Times 3 Dec. 12/3 Cadet corps in Birmingham schools came under fire from many members of the city education committee to-day.

4. N.Z. A young man learning sheep-farming on a sheep-station. Hence ca'det(t)ing vbl. sb. 1842 R. G. Jameson N.Z., S. Aust. & N.S.W. xxiv. 337 We [are] in want of a college for colonial cadets. 1862 E. R. Chudleigh Diary 21 Mar. (1950) i. 29 There were four Cadets learning sheepfarming. 1898 H. B. Vogel Maori Maid xix. 147 A cadet is a young man, generally from England, who is paying a run-holder so much a year for the honour and privilege of working for him. Ibid. xix. 148 Otherwise cadetting .. is a swindle. 1930 L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs ii. 23 Reginald Wade managed for the Chamberlains, and at one time had no fewer than ten cadets on the station.

Cadet2 (ka'det). Also Kadet. [Russ. Kadet, f. the names (Ka de) of the initials of Konstitutsionnyi demokrat Constitutional Democrat, with ending assimilated to that of cadet1.] In Russian politics, a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party. This party was formed in 1905 by a fusion of the group favouring autonomy for Poland and a federal constitution for the Russian empire with the (so-called) Independence Party formed by political exiles at Paris in 1903. 1906 Daily Chron. 22 May 7/5 The ‘Cadets’ (Constitutional Democrats).. have decided .. to wait until the agrarian question comes on for discussion. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 19 Aug. 2/1 The more brilliant Zemstvo Liberals, who did so much to found the Cadet (or Liberal) Party. 1918 [see Bolshevik sb.]. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Jan. 14/3 The Kadets must properly be described as radicals. Ibid. 17 Jan. 31/4 The Cadets advanced the claim.. to a sovereign and democratically elected legislature.

ca'detcy.

[see -cy.]

= cadetship 2.

1831 Disraeli Yng. Duke hi. iii. (L.) The ambitious prospects with which he had consoled himself for his cadetship.

Miss Courtney West Cornwall Gloss. (E.D.S.).

Ilcadette (ka'det). [Fr.; fern, younger daughter or sister.

of cadet.]

A

1679 tr. Marie Mancini's Apol. 4 The order.. seem’d to exclude my Sister as a Cadette.

cadew ('kaedju:). The same as caddis2.

1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 353 Their barley they mow with the Sithe and Cadar in the South parts of the County.

1880

1842 R. G. Jameson N.Z., S. Aust. & N.S.W. xxiv. 337 Colonial cadetships. 1853 J. Rochfort Adv. Surveyor in N.Z. ii. 20 They had just finished their ‘cadetship’, that is, they had been learning sheep-farming under a settler.

1668 Wilkins Real Char. 11. v. §2. 125 Cadew, Strawworm. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. xiii. 234 The several sorts of Phryganea or Cadews. 1774 White in Phil. Trans. LXV. 268 They were taking.. cadew-flies, may-flies, and dragon-flies. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 239 The larvae of the Great Cadew Flies, form a case with small bits of wood disposed longitudinally.

ca'detship. [f. cadet1 + -ship.] 1. The status of a younger son.

a

3. N.Z. The position or status of a young man learning sheep-farming on a sheep-station.

1690 Locke Govt. 1. ix. §25 A Cadet, or Sister’s Son, must have the Preference. 1726 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 238, I suppose his family was a cadet of your Lordship’s family.

2. A light frame of wood put over a scythe to lay the corn more even in the swathe. 3. ‘A small frame of wood, on which fisherman keeps his line’ (dial.) Halliwell.

1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 55 For the artillery and engineers, it is a condition of the presentation of a cadetship that the candidate should have gone through a regular course of instruction at Addiscombe. 1854 Blackw. Mag. LXXVI. 667 The age of entering on their cadetship. 1884 Harper's Mag. May 866/1 Candidates for cadetship in the Royal Navy.

a younger branch.

c. The youngest son. cadene (ks'diin). [a. F. cadene chain of iron, ad.

1847

CADGE

760

CADENE

2. The position or status of a military or naval cadet; the commission given to a cadet.

cadge (kaed3), sb.1 [App. a variant of cage perh. confused with cadge v. to carry about; but it does not appear what is the source of the earliest quotation, which the later merely follow.] 1. Falconry. (See quots.) 1615 Latham Falconry (1633) Wds. of Art expl.. Cadge, is taken for that on which Faulconers carrie many Hawks together when they bring them to sell. 1721 Bailey, Cadge, a round Frame of Wood, on which Hawks are carried to be sold. 1865 Cornh. Mag. May 623 We shall not trouble ourselves to take out the cadge to-day, for our party is quite strong enough to carry the hawks on the fist.

2. A pannier.

cadge, sb.2 vulgar, [f. cadge v.] The action of cadging or begging. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Diet., The Cadge is the game or profession of begging. 1832-53 Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. 11. 68 He could ‘lay on the cadge’ better than ony walleteer that e’er coost a pock o'er his shouther.

cadge (kaed3), v. Forms:

4 cagge(n, ? cache(n, (pa. pple. caget), (6 Palsgr. kadge), 6- cadge. [Derivation and original meaning uncertain: in some early passages it varies with cache, cacche catch, of which in branch I it may be a variant: cf. the pairs botch, bodge-, grutch, grudge-, smutch, smudge. Branch II may also be connected with catch or ONF. cacher in other senses; but it may be a distinct word: the whole subject is only one of more or less probable conjecture. Connexion of ME. caggen with cage sb. is phonetically impossible.] I. Early senses. f 1. trans. ? To fasten, tie: cf. cadgel v. (The early passages are obscure, and for one or other the senses drive, toss, shake, draw, have been proposed.) Obs.

c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 511 For a pene on a day & forth l>ay [labourers in the vineyard] gotz.. Keruen & caggen & man [= maken] hit clos. Ibid. B. 1254 J»ay wer cagged and kajt on capeles al bare, a 1400 Alexander 1521 And J>en he caggis [v.r. cachez] vp on cordis as curteyns it were, c 1400 Destr. Troy 3703 Hit sundrit £ere sailes & J?ere sad ropis; Cut of here cables were caget to gedur. 1627 Drayton Agincourt 180 Whilst they are cadg’d contending whether can Conquer, the Asse some cry, some cry the man. 1875 Lone. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to tie or bind a thing.

f2. To ‘bind’ the edge of a garment. cadging vbl. sb. I. Obs.

Cf.

1530 Palsgr. 473/1, I cadge a garment, I set lystes in the lynyng to kepe the plyghtes in order. Ibid. 596/1, I kadge the plyghtes of a garment. Je dresse des plies dune lisiere. This kote is yll kadged: ce say on a ses plies mal dresses dune lisiere.

f3. (See quots.) ? To tie or knot. Still dial. 1703 Thoresby Let. to Ray (E.D.S.) To cadge, a term in making bone-lace.

II. To carry about, beg, etc. |4. trans. To carry about, as a pedlar does his pack, or a cadger his stock-in-trade. Obs. exc. dial. 1607 Walkington Opt. Glass 154 Another Atlas that will cadge a whole world of iniuries without fainting. 1691 Ray N.C. Wds. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to carry. 1718 Ramsay Contn. Christ's Kirk 111. xii, They gart him cadge this pack. 1788 Marshall E. Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to carry. 1858 M. Porteous Souter Johnny 11 Weary naigs, that on the road Frae Carrick shore cadged monie a load. 1875 F. K. Robinson Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to carry; or rather, as a public carrier collects the orders he has to take home for his customers.

f5. To load or stuff the belly, dial. 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Gloss, s.v. Cade, Hence.. cadge-belly, or kedge-belly, is a full fat belly. CI746 Collier (T. Bobbin) View Lane. Dial. Wks. (1862) 68 While IT busy cadging mey Wem. 1854 Bampton Lane. Gloss., Cadge, to stuff the belly. 6. intr. To go about as a cadger or pedlar, or on

pretence of being one; to go about begging, dial. and slang. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Diet., Cadge, to beg. 1846 Lytton Lucretia 11. xii, ‘I be’s good for nothin’ now, but to cadge about the streets, and steal, and filch’. 1855 Whitby Gloss., To Cadge about, to go and seek from place to place, as a

CADGE

761

dinner-hunter. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlynxv. (D.) ‘I’ve got my living by casting fortins, and begging, and cadging and such like’. 1875 Lane. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadge, to beg; to skulk about a neighbourhood. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxix. 32 Cadging for invitations to the Mansion House.

b. trans. To get by begging. 1848 E. Farmer Scrap Book (ed. 6) 115 Let each ‘cadge’ a trifle. 1878 Black Green Past. xi. 86 Where they can cadge a bit of food.

cadge, a. and adv. Sc. = cadgy. 1807-10 Tannahill Poems (1846) 12 My heart did never wallop cadger.

t'cadgel. Sc. Obs. ‘A wanton fellow’ (Jam.). 1603 Philotus xevi, To tak a 30ung man for his wyfe, 3on cadgell wald be glaid.

f cadgel, v. Obs. exc. dial. Also cagel. fl. trans. To entangle. Hence'cadgelled. 1648 Hexham Dutch Diet. (1660) In het garen vallen, to be catch, cadgeld, or entangled in a net.. Verwerret garen. Cadgeld Yarne.

2. To harrow, dial. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 342 They cagel it with harrows to break the turf. 1847-78 Halliwell, Cagel, to harrow ground. North.

cadger ('kaed33(r)). Also 5-6 Sc. cadgear. [f. CADGE V. + -ER1.]

1. A carrier: esp. a species of itinerant dealer who travels with a horse and cart (or formerly with a pack-horse), collecting butter, eggs, poultry, etc., from remote country farms, for disposal in the town, and at the same time supplying the rural districts with small wares from the shops. c 145° Henryson Mor. Fab. 66 A Cadgear, with capill and with creils. c 1513 Douglas JEneis viii. Prol. 42 The cadgear callis furth his capill wyth crakis waill cant. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 103 The cadgers, .call in the morninge, and if wee have anythinge for them, they goe on to Garton, and call for it againe as they come backe. 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Gloss, s.v. Cade, Cadger, a butcher, miller, or carrier of any other load. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf iii, A buck hanging on each side o’ his horse, like a cadger carrying calves. 1826 —— Diary in Lockhart (1839) VIII. 268 An instance of the King’s errand lying in the cadger’s gate. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Cadger, a carrier to a country mill, or collector of the corn to grind. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 99 Single horse traffickers, called cadgers, plied between country towns and villages, supplying the inhabitants with salt, fish, earthenware, and articles of clothing, carried in sacks or creels hung across the horse’s back. b. 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 1654 A rosinante, borrowed .. from some whiskey smuggler or cadger. 1843 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. xi. 66 Many.. involved in smuggling .. under the name of cadgers, carried on .. their contraband commerce.

2. An itinerant dealer, a hawker, a street-seller. 1840 Hood Kilmansegg cclvi, He fear’d.. To be cut by Lord and by cadger. 1878 Black Green Past. x. 84 A cadger’s basket stood on the table.

b. One who goes about begging or getting his living by questionable means. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 339 A street-seller nowa¬ days is looked upon as a ‘cadger’, and treated as one. 1861 Sat. Rev. 27 Nov. 537 Home Missions., to the interesting cadgers and thieves of her rookeries. 1877 Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadger, a loose character who goes from door to door soliciting assistance.

3. Falconry. A man who carries hawks. (Cf. F. cagier ‘celui qui porte les faucons a vendre’ Littre; also cadge sb.1) App. only modern in Eng. 1834 Mar. Edgeworth Helen xvii. (Rtldg.) 163 The German cadgers and trainers who had been engaged.

4. Comb., as cadger-like adj. 1836-7 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 289/2 A love of all that is roving and cadgerlike in nature.

cadgily ('ksed3ili), adv. Sc. [f. cadgy + -ly2.] Cheerfully, merrily; wantonly. a 1724 Gaberlunzie Man i, He .. cadgily ranted and sang. 01774 Fergusson Poems (1789) II. 28 Whare cadgily they kiss the cap. 1814 Saxon & Gael. I. 108 'Hoot gude-man’ she wad say, sae cadgily ‘set a stout heart to a stay brae’.

'cadginess. Wantonness, cheerfulness.

Sc. [f. as prec. + -ness.] lasciviousness: sportiveness,

cadging (’kaed3ir)), vbl. sb. [f. cadge v.] 11. The binding or edging of a garment. Obs. 1674 Depos. York Castle (1861) 209 After I toucht the cadgings of her skirts, she stept not many steps after.

2. The practice of a cadger in various senses. (See cadger 2.) Also attrib. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 387 Defunct saturnalia of patrician ‘cadging’. 1859 Autobiog. Beggar-boy 99 To join two genteel young men in the regular cadging trade. 1879 Dixon Windsor II. xxv. 254 No pride of place prevented him from cadging.

'cadgy, a. Sc. and north, dial. Also cadgie, caidgie. [Of uncertain origin. Cf. Suffolk kedge in same sense; also Da. kaad wanton, lascivious.] 1. Wanton, lustful: amorous. a 1724 [cf. cadgily]. 1733 Cock-laird in Chambers Songs Scotl. (1829) A cock-laird, fou cadgie, Wi’ Jennie did meet. 1823 Lockhart Reg. Dalton vii. v. (1842) 435 He may weel be cadgy in the chaise wi’ her.

2. Cheerful, merry; glad.

cadre

I72S Ramsay Gentle Sheph. iv. ii. 1 Wow! but I’m cadgie, and my heart lowps light. 1811 WlLLAN W. Riding Yorksh. Gloss, in Archseol. XVII. (E.D.S.) Cadgy, cheerful, merry.

|| cadi ('ka:di, 'keidi). Also 6-8 cady, 7 kadi, caddi, -ee, 7-8 cadee, 9 kady, (7 cadis, cade, 8 cadjee). [a. Arab, qatjli judge, f. qarfafy to judge. (Whence, with al-, Sp. alcalde.)] A civil judge among the Turks, Arabs, Persians, etc.; usually the judge of a town or village. 1590 Webbe Trav. (1868) 33 In Turkie..the graunde Cady, that is their chiefest Iudg. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. I. VI. viii. 498 The house of the Cadi. 1653 Greaves Seraglio 155 In the presence of the Cadee (who is the Justice). 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece vi. 419 The Veivode and Caddi.. came to make their Inspection. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2328/1 The Kadis or Judges. 1703 Maundrell Journ. (1721) 95 The Cadi at last gave sentence. 1852 Willis Cruise in Medit. xxxix. 236 The black-banded turban of a cadi.

Hence 'cadiship, the office of a cadi. 1881 Harper's Mag. LXIII. 353 The judge or cadi—I am not positive as to the cadiship.

cadie, variant of caddie.

silicate and carbonate, and the oxyd from the chimneys of furnaces (cadmia fornacum).

cadmic (’kaedmik), a. [f. cadm-ium + -ic.] 1. Chem. Of cadmium: as in cadmic oxide, etc. 1873 Williamson Chem. beautiful yellow compound.

173 Cadmic sulphide is a

2. Of cadmia, cadmean. 1873 A. W. Ward tr. Curtins’ Greece I. 1. iii. 91 The earth used for the refinement of copper was called Cadmic earth.

cadmiferous cadmi-um -Icadmium.

(kasd'mifarss), a. Chem. [f. -ferous bearing.] Yielding

1822 E. D. Clarke Cadmium 5 The Cumberland Cave.. contains both silicate and carbonate of zinc, and both are cadmiferous.

cadmium ('kaedmiam). Chem. [f. cadmia calamine, the common ore of zinc, with which this metal is generally associated. The ending is that of other names of metals, as sodium, etc.] a. A bluish-white metal, in its physical qualities resembling tin, found in small quantities chiefly in zinc ores. Symbol Cd.

Ilcadilesker (ka:di'lesk3(r)). Also cadilisker, -escher, -esher, cadelesher, kadilesker. [f. prec. + Turk, leskar, ad. Pers. lashkar army: his jurisdiction originally extended to soldiers.] A chief judge in the Turkish empire.

1822 Imison Sc. Art II. 122 Cadmium., was discovered by M. Stromeyer in 1817, in ores of Zinc. 1863 Watts Diet. Chem. (1879) I. 702 The only pure native compound of cadmium is the sulphide, called Greenockite. 1869 Latest News 10 Oct. 15 Cadmium is obtained for commercial purposes, from zinc ores and furnace deposits.

1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2196/1 Hussain Effendi Cadilisker of Romelia is made Great Mufti. 1688 Ibid. No. 2328/1 The Kadileskers, or chief Judges. 1703 Ibid. No. 3911/1 The Grand Signior had declared the Mufti’s Son Cadilescher, or Judge Advocate. 1721-90 Bailey, Cadelesher, Cadilesher, a chief Magistrate in Turkey, of which there are but two. [In mod. Diets.]

b. attrib. = cadmic, as in cadmium oxide, sulphide, etc., cadmium compounds; cadmium (mercury) cell, a type of voltaic cell used as a standard of electromotive force; cadmium green, orange, red, pigments obtained from cadmium compounds; cadmium yellow, an intense yellow pigment, consisting of cadmium sulphide, artificially prepared.

cadis: see caddis. 'cadish, a.

dial.

[f. cade s6.2]

Tame, gentle.

1788 Marshall Yorksh. (ed. 2) II. 210 [Pigs]., remarkably cadish and quiet. 1879 Miss Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. (E.D.S.) Cadish, spoiled by over-indulgence.

!! cadjan ('kaidjan). Anglo-Indian. Also 7-8 cajan. [ad. Malay and Javan, kdjdng palmleaves, ‘introduced by foreigners into Southern India’ (Yule).] 1. ‘Coco-palm leaves matted, the common substitute for thatch in Southern India’ (Col. Yule). 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 17 (Y.) Flags .. (by them called Cajans, being Co-coe-tree branches).. supplying .. Coverings to their Cottages. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xxiv. 294 His Palace .. was .. covered with Cadjans or Cocoa-nut Tree Leaves woven together, i860 Tennent Ceylon II. 126 (Y.) Houses are.. roofed with its plaited fronds, which, under the name of cadjans, are likewise employed for constructing partitions and fences.

2. ‘A strip of fan-palm leaf, i.e. either of the talipot, or of the palmyra, prepared for writing on; and so a document written on such a strip’ (Col. Yule). Also attrib., as in cadjan leaf, letter. 1707 in J. T. Wheeler Madras in Olden T. II. 78 (Y.) The officer at the Bridge Gate bringing in .. a Cajan letter that he found hung upon a post. 1716 Ibid. II. 231 (Y.) The President.. has intercepted a villainous letter or Cajan. 1840 A. Campbell Code Madras Regul. 323 Vellum parchment or any other material instead of paper or cadjan leaf. 1853 J. W. Dykes Salem 355.

cadjee, cadie, obs. ff. of cadi, caudle. 'cadlock. Another form of charlock, a plant, including Wild Rape and Field Mustard. 1655 Moufet & Benn. Health's Improv. (1746) 172 Tame Pidgeons.. fed never at home but in Cadlock-time and the dead of Winter. 1790 Marshall Midi. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cadlock, Rough, sinapis arvensis, wild mustard. Cadlock, Smooth, brasica napus, wild rape.

Cadmean (kaed'miisn), a. Also Cadmian, -maean. [ad. L. Cadmeus, a. Gr. Kt]8p.eios, f. Ka.8fx.os Cadmus.] Pertaining to Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes in Boeotia, and introducer of the alphabet into Greece. Cadmean victory (Gr. Kabfieia vU-q), ‘a victory involving one’s own ruin’ (Liddell and Scott); usually associated with Thebes or the Thebans. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 12 A Cadmian victorie, that is to say, which turneth to the detriment and losse of the winner. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 146 Made them like the Cadmean Offspring, to do immediate Execution upon themselves. 1762 Gentl. Mag. 430 Our conquests would prove Cadmean victories. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv, The cup Which Agave lifted up In the weird Cadmsean forest. 1868 Tennyson Lucr. 50 Dragon warriors from Cadmean teeth.

f'cadmia. Chem. Obs. [a. L. cadmia, a. Gr. Kabila or KaSfila yrj ‘Cadmean earth’.] ‘The ancient name of calamine’ (Ure Diet. Arts I. 569); also applied to a sublimate consisting of oxide of zinc (tutty), and to an ore of cobalt. 1657 Phys. Diet., Cadmia officinarum, tutty. 1674 A. A. Barba Art of Mettals 1. xxxiv. 146 Cadmia is also that which sticks to the walls of the Furnaces, principally wherein Copper is melted. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Cadmia, sometimes signifies a fossil substance, as the Lapis calaminaris. 1837 Dana Min. (1868) 409 The cadmia of Pliny and of other ancient authors included both the native

1893 Electrician 13 Oct. 645/2 Notes on the E.M.F. and Temperature Coefficient of the Cadmium Mercury Cell. 1908 Phil. Trans. A. CCVII. 393 When the solution is saturated at all temperatures, i.e. when solid cadmium sulphate is always present in the cell, the name ‘Cadmium Cell’ has been frequently assigned to it in order to distinguish it from the original form. 1969 W. Garner Us or Them War xxviii. 215 Jagger switched on the small cadmium cell torch, the light beam thrusting through the dark like a sword blade. 1873 Fownes Chem. 395 Cadmium oxide is infusible. 1934 H. Hiler Technique of Painting ii. 113 Cadmium greens.. are mixtures of cadmium yellows and viridian or vert emeraude. 1936 A. Huxley Olive Tree 297 His grey trees have shadows of cadmium green. 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 253/1 Water colors.. Pale cadmium yellow—cadmium orange—French blue. 1934 H. Hiler Technique of Painting ii. 112 Cadmium orange, of the same chemical nature and composition as the yellow cadmiums,.. and the most permanent of all the cadmium colours. 1886 H. C. Standage Artists’ Man. Pigments v. 47 Cadmium red.. is a simple original pigment containing no base but cadmium. 1962 Listener 18 Jan. 126/2, I love cadmium red orange. 1879 Rood Chromatics xi. 180 Bright yellow pigments, such as.. chrome-yellow, cadmiumyellow.

f'eadmy. Obs. rare—1, [a. F. cadmie cadmia.] = CADMIA. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters 1. 11 Lapis calaminaris, or cadmia; in our language.. calamy, or cadmy.

ca'dogan (ka'dAgsn). [Said to be from the name of the 1st Earl Cadogan (died 1726). See Littre, and N. & Q. 7th Ser. IV. 467, 492.] A mode of knotting the hair behind the head. C1780 B’ness D’Oberkirch Mem. (1852) II. ix, The duchess of Bourbon had introduced at the court of Montbeliard .. [the fashion] of cadogans, hitherto worn only by gentlemen.

cados, obs. form of caddis. fca'douk. Sc. Obs. Also 7 caddouk, 9 caduac. [app. a. F. caduc, either with the notion of ‘perishable’ or of ‘falling’ to one.] ‘A casualty, a windfall’ (Jamieson). 1637 R. Monro Exped. 11. 123 His Majestie was liberall and bountifull.. in bestowing on them cadouks and casualties. Ibid. 171 All other goods or caddouks in generall. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose ii, The caduacs and casualties were all cut off.

cadow, obs. form of caddow. I! cadre (kadr). [F. cadre frame (e.g. of a picture), also used in sense Tensemble des officiers et sous-officiers d’une compagnie’ (Littre), ad. It. quadro:—L. quadrum four-sided thing, square.] 1. A frame, framework; scheme. 1830 Scott Introd. Lay Last Minstr., This species of cadre, or frame, afterwards afforded the poem its name. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. sec. 5 §2. 174 It would seem.. that no branch of human knowledge should be excluded.. The corrective to the seeming infinity of this cadre is supplied by the old classification of faculties.

2. Mil. a. The permanent establishment forming the framework or skeleton of a regiment, which is filled up by enlistment when required. Also of an R.A.F. squadron. Also attrib. 1851 Gallenga Mariotti’s Italy 243 The number of officers.. becomes inadequate to the sudden filling up of

their cadres, upon a transition from the peace to the war¬ footing. 1869 E. Cardwell in Daily News 11 June, A larger number of battalions, with full cadres, ready to be expanded .. in a moment of emergency. 1884 Sat. Rev. 279 The principle of large permanent cadres in lieu of large standing armies. 1908 Daily Chron. 26 Nov. 6/4 The German Army .. is a ‘cadre’ army, which can only be set on a war footing by drawing on the reserves. 1929 Air Ann. Brit. Empire 54 The Service.. is made up of three parts—the Regular Air Force, the Cadre Squadrons and the Auxiliary Air Force. 1931 Flight 1 May 374/2 The explanation is that the lower set of numbers indicates a Cadre squadron in which there is a proportion of Special Reserve personnel.

II caduceus (ka'djuisiias). PI. caducei (-si:ai). [L. caduceus (also caduceum), ad. Dor. Gr. KapvKciov, KapvKiov (Att. KiqpvKeiov), a herald’s wand, f. 1cqpviherald.] The wand carried by an ancient Greek or Roman herald, spec. The fabled wand carried by Hermes or Mercury as the messenger of the gods; usually represented with two serpents twined round it. (This is the earliest and proper sense in English.)

b. The complement of officers of a regiment; the list or scheme of such officers.

1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1292 He tooke Caduceus his snakie wand, With which the damned ghosts he gouerneth. 1606 Shaks. Tr. & Cr. 11. iii. 14 Mercury, loose all the Serpentine craft of thy Caduceus. 1668 Lond. Gaz. No. 243/2 The Heralds in their Coats of Armes, and Caducei in their hands. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Caduceus, is also a name given to a kind of staff covered with velvet, and decorated with flower de luces, which the French heralds of arms bear in their hands on solemn occasions. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets xii. 410 Hermes.. caduceus in hand. fig. i860 R. Vaughan Mystics II. ix. iii. 137 The long process of vigil.. which, with the caduceus of asceticism .. lulls to slumber the Argus-eyed monster of the flesh.

(After the Indian Mutiny, the cadres of Native Regiments which had been disbanded were kept in the Indian Army List for regulating promotions. In the parliamentary discussions about the amalgamation of the Indian with the British Army, the word was in constant use in this sense.) 1864 Daily Tel. 22 Aug., All staff corps lieutenantcolonels are to be removed from their cadre on promotion. 1870 Pall Mall G. 12 Oct. 7 The regimental cadres, that is, the officers of each regiment.

3. a. In Communist countries, a group of workers, etc., acting to promote the interests of the Communist Party; also, a member of such a group; = cell sb.1 12 b. 1930 Economist i Nov. (Russian Suppl.) 10/2 The number, quality and devotion of these cadres, as the industrial army is called in Russia, will.. decide the fate of the Industrial Revolution. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 July 536/4 The six ‘cadres’.. chosen as typical — Communist, Young Communist, shock worker, cultural worker, collectivized peasant and Red Army man—represent the sum total of the Soviet Government’s supporters. 1937 E. Snow Red Star over China ii. 61 Military training was secretly given to 2,000 cadres. 1950 D. Hyde I Believed ix. 92 In communist jargon to be a cadre meant to be someone trained and ready to do anything, anywhere, for communism. 1963 Ann. Reg. 1962 215 The specialized technical cadres needed for a further economic development [in Poland]. 1967 G. Steiner Lang. Silence 341 Around the hard core of French Stalinism, a harsh and disciplined cadre .. there has always flourished a large and animated world of intellectual Marxism.

b. In the People’s Republic of China, an office¬ holder in a Party, governmental, or military organization; also more widely, one who holds a position, esp. in a local organization, school, etc. Also attrib., esp. as cadre school. 1966 D. Wilson Quarter of Mankind i. 8 The cadres determined the class status of each villager. 1970 Jenner & Yang tr. Mod. Chinese Stories 181 What gave the local cadres some misgivings was that this cadre wanted to stay with an ordinary family, and said that he wanted to see the backward as well as the advanced aspects of the village. 1974 Ann. Rev. 1973 316 The role of cadre schools as places of re¬ education, where officials could participate in physical labour and political study, remained important. 1977 Hongkong Standard 12 Apr. 16/5 Wen, described as a plump, grey-haired cadre, is still being cross-examined, and has been branded a counter-revolutionary at mass criticism rallies. 1983 R. Rendell Speaker of Mandarin i. 16 His father .. was a party cadre, his mother a doctor, his sister and own wife doctors.

caduac,

perversion of cadouk.

caduc, variant of

caduke a.

fca'ducal, a. Obs.

Obs.

[f. L. caducus caducous

+

-al1.] Perishable, corruptible; = caduke 2. 1533 Coverdale Lord's Supper Wks. 1844 I. 435 The caducal and corruptible meats wherewith the belly is fed. 1642 H. More Song Soul 11. i. iii. xxiv, Nought, .but vain sensibles we see caducall.

caducary (ks'djuikari), a. Old Law. [ad. L. caducarius relating to bona caduca lapsed possessions. See caducous and -ary.] Subject to, relating to, or by way of escheat or lapse. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 265 The lord by escheat.. is more frequently considered as being ultimus haeres, and therefore taking by descent in a kind of caducary succession. 1818 Cruise Digest III. 452 Whether the escheat were considered as a reversion, as it once was, or as a caducary succession ah intestate, as it then substantially was.

t'caduce. Obs. =

caduceus. 1604 Daniel Fun. Poem on Earl of Devon, Who equal bear the caduce and the shield. 1651 Evelyn Diary 7 Sept. (D.) Heralds in blew velvet semee with fleur de lys, caduces in their hand. 1681 Cotton Wond. Peake (ed. 4) 59 Ev’ry Wand a Caduce did appear. 1721-1800 in Bailey.

fca'duce, a. Obs. [ad. F. caduc or L. caducus.] CADUKE, CADUCOUS. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburgh (1848) 118 This lyfe caduce and transytory. 1651 Biggs New Disp. 2 That caduce, specious and seductive chameleon, Reason. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 279 Inclined to fall.. imbecil and caduce. =

ca'ducean, a.

C^CUM

762

CADUAC

[f. caduce-us + pertaining to a caduceus.

-an.]

Of or

caduciary (ks'djuiJXijari), a. Old Law. [A nonetymological variant of caducary, app. assimilated to fiduciary.] Subject to, relating to, or by way of escheat or lapse. 1757 Sir J. Dalrymple Feudal Prop. (1758) 67 To prevent his inheritance from being caduciary. 1880 Muirhead Gaius II. §150 note, The L. Iulia et Papia Poppsea, whose caduciary provisions, etc.

Hence ca'duciarily adv. 1880 Muirhead Gaius 504 Failure to take under a testament.. The inheritance went to the heir-at-law caduciarily.

caducibranchiate (ks.djuisi'braerjkieit), a. Zool. [f. L. caducus falling + branchiae gills, whence in mod.L. Caducibranchia, Latreille’s name for the Batrachians.] Of Amphibians: Losing their gills before reaching maturity (like the frog). Also as sb. [1835 Kirby Hab. fif Inst. Anim. II. xxii. 412 Caducibranchia, or the proper Batrachians.] 1835-6 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. I. 99/2 The early condition of the lungs in the caducibranchiate genera.. is that of a mere rudimentary sac. 1839-47 Ibid. III. 448/2 The urodelous kinds of Caducibranchiates. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 67.

f cadu'ciferous, a. Obs.—°. [f. L. caducifer (f. caduc-eus (see above) + -fer bearing) + -OUS.] Bearing a caduceus. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Caduciferous, that carries a white Rod in sign of peace. 1721-1800 Bailey Caduciferous, bearing the Caduce. [Not in Johnson.]

caducity (ka'djuisiti). [ad. F. caducite, as if:—L. *caducitatem, f. caducus: see next.] 1. Tendency to fall; quality of being perishable or fleeting; transitoriness, frailty. 1793 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 49 (1794) II. 231 One of those evenings of autumn when the chilling damps of the air, and the caducity of nature, deepen the gloom of a melancholy mind. 1841 L. Hunt Seer 11. (1864) 60 The stages of human existence, the caducity of which the writer applies to the world at large. 1879 M. Pattison Milton 199 The ordinary caducity of language, in virtue of which every effusion of the human spirit is lodged in a body of death.

2. esp. The infirmity of old age, senility. 1769 Chesterf. Lett. 426 IV. 272 This melancholick proof of my caducity. 1776-88 Gibbon Decl. . dial. [Cf. cavil tj.] intr. To cavil, argue; to prevaricate. Hence 'caffler, caffling. Cf. caffling ppl. a. 1851 T. Sternberg Dial. Northants. 16 Caffle... to quarrel. Probably a corruption of cavil. 1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Manley 45/1 Noo none o’ your cafflin’, tell us all about it straight out. 1883 A. Easther Gloss. Almondbury 21 Caffler,. .a shuffler, excuse-maker, &c. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Love Poems 50 To think I should ha’e to haffle an’ caffle Wi’ a woman an’ pay ’er a price. 1932 S. O'Faolain Midsummer Night Madness 66 Are you going to be stopped by a city caffler?

f'caffling, ppl. a. ? var. of cavilling. 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xlv. 97 (N.) If I now put in some caffling clause I shall be called unconstant.

fcaffoy, cafoy. Obs. 1. Some kind of fabric, imported in the 18th c. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 686 Products of Abbeville, as Plush, CafFoy, Ticking, etc. 2. caffoy paper: a kind of (?) flock paper used

for covering walls in the middle of the 18th c. 1750 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. II. 562 The [wall] paper is pearl coloured caffoy paper; the pattern like damask. 175s -III. 385 My dining room .. is hung with mohair cafoy paper.

Caffrarian (kae'frearian), a. Also Kaffrarian. [See -an.] Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Caffraria (see caffre 2). a 1828 J. Bernard Retrosp. Amer. (1887) 80 A certain German duchess had visited Paris, whose Caffrarian distinction fully equalled the magnificence of her other displays. 1874 Geo. Eliot Legend ofjubal 193 No lions then shall lap Caffrarian pools. 1882 C. F. G. Cumming Fire Fountains 1. 258 From Crimean winters to Kaffrarian summers.

caffre (’kaifafr), -ae-). Forms: 6 cafar, 6-7 caffare, 7 cafre, coffery, 8 coffrie, -ree, -re, 9 caffree, 8-9 cafer, caffer, caffre: see also kaffir. [ad. Arab, kafir infidel, impious wretch, one who does not recognize the blessings of God, f. kafara to cover up, conceal, deny.] || 1. A word meaning ‘infidel’, applied by the Arabs to all non-Mohammedans, and hence to particular tribes or nations. More accurately kafir. 1680 Taverner's Relat. of Tunquin 86 The Cafer seeing his Child white, would have immediately fallen upon his Wife and strangled her. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & Pers. 91 (Y.) Why he suffers .. this Coffery (Unbeliever) to vaunt it thus. 1799 Sir T. Munro Lett, in Life I. 221 (Y.) He [Tippoo]. was to drive the English Caffers out of India. 1804 Duncan Mariner's Chron. I. 297 He .. put me in imminent danger of my life, by telling the natives that I was a Caffer, and not a Mussulman. 1812 A. Plumtre Lichtenstein’s S. Africa I. 241 Being Mahommedans, they gave the general name of Cafer (Liar, Infidel) to all the inhabitants of the coasts of Southern Africa. 1817 Keatinge Trav. I. 250 A Moor will .. point his musquet at, the women abuse, and the children pursue the caffre (infidel), the generic term for Christian here.

2. spec. In ordinary Eng. use: A member of a South African race of blacks belonging to the great Bantu family, and living in the north-east

CAGE

765 of the Republic of South Africa, in an area formerly known as Caffraria or Caffre-land. Also the name of their language, and used attributively. Cust (Modern Languages of Africa II. 298) makes Kafir the general name of his Eastern subdivision of the Southern division of the Bantu family, and includes under it Xhosa, Zulu, and Gwamba; in popular use the term has been generally restricted to the Xhosa, or to these and the Zulu. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 1. 242 The Captaine of this castle [Mozambique] hath certaine voyages to this Cafraria.. to trade with the Cafars. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope I. 81 The Caffres..are so far from bearing any affinity or resemblance with the Hottentots, that they are a quite different sort of people. 1833 Athenaeum 2 Nov. 729 A mission among the Ammakosa, or Kaffers, as they have been erroneously denominated. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. xiv. 413 The Caffers are a tall, athletic, and handsome race.

3. A native of Kafiristan in Asia; see kaffir. 4. attrib. and in comb, as Caffre-boy, -slave-,

barrel. But of the origin and history of the wordgroup or groups, nothing certain is known. Now corrupted to keg: cf. the Cockney keb, ketch for cab, catch.)

1. A small cask, a keg. ? Obs. 1452 Inv. in Test. Ebor. III. 136, j saltkag lignei xd. 1596 Wills & Inv. N.C. (i860) II. 263 Iij cagges of strudg-shon • ij cagges of eaylles. 1611 Cotgr., Encacquer, to put into a little barrell, or cag. Encacque. . incagged; put into a cag. 1690 Mrs. Behn Wid. Ranter 111. i, To drink a cagg of Syder. 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb., Cagg or Keg\ this in respect of Sturgeon is 4 to 5 gallon. 1785 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Lousiad 11. Wks. I. 246 A brandy cag. 1797 Prisc. Wakefield Mental Improv. (1801) I. 50 Vast quantities are salted or pickled, and put up in cags. \2. A small fishing-vessel. (Du. kaag.) Obs. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 113/3 Several Caggs from Holland, were .. suffered .. to pass. 1667 Ibid. 179/2 Privateers .. have .. taken 8 Kags or small ships near Wangerold.

Caffre-bread, a South African cycadaceous tree with edible pith; Caffre-corn, one of the names of Indian millet, Sorghum vulgare, cultivated as a cereal in tropical Africa.

fcag, sb.2 Obs. exc. dial. A stiff point. 1604 Edmonds Observ. Caesar's Comm. 113 Great firme boughs.. spreading themselues at the top into sharpe cags. [1847-78 Halliw. Cag, a stump. West.]

1781 India Gaz. No. 19 (Y.) To be sold by Private Sale two Coffree Boys. 1786 tr. Sparrman s Voy. Cape G. Hope II. 10 The colonists call it Caffer-corn. 1800 Symes Embassy Ava 10 (Y.) The Caffre slaves, who had been introduced for the purpose of cultivating the lands. 1803 R. Percival in Naval Chron. X. 27 Which was the case with a Caffree boy. 1866 Treas. Bot. 450 Encephalartos.. the interior of the trunk, and the centre of the ripe female cones, contains a spongy farinaceous pith, made use of by the Caffers as food, and hence the trees are called.. Cafferbread.

cag (kaeg), sb.3 Naut. slang. Also kagg. [Cf. cag

cafila ('kaifib). Also 6 caffylen, 7 caffalo, caphille, 8 caffilla, -la, 9 kafila. [Arab, qafilah caravan, marching company.] A company of travellers, a caravan, in Arabia, Persia, or India.

v. 2.] An argument. 1916 M. T. Hainsselin In Northern Mists xviii. 69 We had a right-down regular genuine old-fashioned Ward¬ room Cag about it. 1918 ‘Bartimeus’ Navy Eternal 330 This.. is developing into a ‘Branch-kagg’. 1932 C. Morgan Fountain 150 He was one with . . a passion for argument on remote unprofessional subjects. He would sit down to what he called a ‘cag’ as eagerly and patiently as a dog before a rabbit bone. So as vb.t to argue, to nag. 1919 ‘Etienne’ Strange Tales fr. Fleet 23, I’ve never met such a crowd for ‘kagging’. 1932 ‘N. Shute’ Lonely Road xi. 233 I’m not going to worry you, or cag about this any more. cag, v.

dial.

[cf. caggy 2.]

trans.

To offend,

1594 tr. Linschoten's Voy. in Arb. Garner III. 188 From thence, twice every year, there travelleth two caffylen. 1630 Lord Banians 81 (Y.) Some of the Raiahs.. making Outroades prey on the Caffaloes passing by the Way. 1671 Charente Let. Customs Tafiletta 14 They sent yearly.. Caphilles or Caravans to Tombotum. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 52 From the bells of a Cafila passing over the rocks. 1811 H. Martyn in Mem. in. (1825) 339 At ten o’clock on the 30th our cafila began to move. 1867 Q. Rev. Jan. 102 (Y.) A carriage.. followed by a large convoy of armed and mounted travellers, a kind of Kafila.

insult. (Quot. 1504 is doubtful.) 1504 in Plumpton Corr. 186 The other tenaunts cannot pays ther housses, but they shalbe cagid. 1801 Southey Lett. (1856)1. 149 Pray, pray do not cag Horne T00k for the sake of the debates. 1886 Long Isle of Wight Dial. 9, Cag, to insult, offend. ‘I’ve ben and cagged en now, I louz’ — I have offended him now, I think. [Cagged, Kegged = offended, affronted, in various dialects.]

cafoufle, cafuffle, varr. curfuffle sb.

diseases;

fca'gastric, ca'gastrical, a. Obs. Used, after Paracelsus, to describe some supposed class of explained

by

some

as

=

under

a

malignant star, ‘ill-starred’ [as if cacastrical, f.

II caftan (kaftain, 'kaeftaen). Also 7-8 caffetan, cafetan, coftan, 9- kaftan. [Turkish qaftan, also used in Pers. In early use apparently taken immediately from the Fr. cafetan.] 1. A garment worn in Turkey and other eastern countries, consisting of a kind of long under-tunic or vest tied at the waist with the girdle.

Gr. kolkos evil + aoT-qp star.] 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 322 He.. calls the Body of man Cagastrical or badly Planet-struck. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., The pleurisy, plague, fever, &c., are ranked by that author in the number of cagastric diseases.

1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1657) 273 Yet he will have his Caftan or under-coat sometimes of cloth of gold. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. hi. (1669) 56 Upon the Kaftan they wear a close Coat.. called Feres. 1671 Charente Let. Customs Mauritania 41 The Jews wear a Shirt, Drawers, a black Close-coat, or Caffetan. 1695 Motteux St. Olon's Morocco 90 They all wear a Cafetan or Cloth-Vest without Sleeves. 1700 Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 533 A rich Coftan or Vest. 1716-8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxii. 111 My Caftan .. is a robe exactly fitted to my shape, and reaching to my feet, with very long strait falling sleeves. 1782 P. H. Bruce Mem. 11. 60 They [Turkish ladies] wear a Cafetan of gold brocade. 1813 Moore Twop. Post Bag vi. 10 Through London streets with turban fair, And caftan floating to the air. 1835 Willis Pencillings II. xliii. 43 Wily Jews with their high caps and caftans. 1866 Reader 27 Oct. 887 The .. caphtan was during the first years of Peter’s reign discontinued among the higher and middle classes of Russian society. 1889 Hall Caine Scapegoat i, His Kaftan was of white cloth, with an embroidered leathern girdle.

hollow.

2. A wide-sleeved, loose-fitting shirt or dress worn in Western countries, resembling the original garment worn in the East. 1965 Vogue July 43 Kaftan, 39 gns. 1966 Daily Tel. 17 Oct. 10/6 Caftans, the season’s fashion talking point, won murmurs of delight in lightweight silk, hand-painted, in versions both short and long from artist Noel Dyrenforth. 1967 Daily Mail 10 Aug. 4/7 I’d like to see men in this country wearing kaftans —those long cotton robes—to relax at home. 1968 Guardian 6 June 5/5 [He] wore an astrakhan cap and a blue caftan shirt. 1969 Daily Nation (Nairobi) 31 Oct. 19/2 It comprises a Kaftan, slit on either side to the knees to reveal pencil slim hipster pants. 1972 J. Wilson Hide & Seek ii. 37 Her wedding dress.. had been an all enveloping Kaftan because she’d been hugely pregnant.

caftaned (’kaftsend), ppl. a. Clad in a caftan. 1863 Sala Ischvostchik 96 A bearded, caftaned man. 1879 R. S. Edwards Russians at H. I. 202 Caftaned merchants. 1898 Blackui. Mag. Oct. 537/2 Wild Kaftaned drivers.

fcag (kaeg), sb.1 ? Obs. Forms: 6 cagge, 7-8 cagg, 5, 7 kag, 7- cag. [Identical with ON. kaggi, Sw. kagge ‘keg, cask’. From the fact that ships, or boats, and casks, or tubs, often go by the same name, some propose to identify these words with Du. kaag fishing-boat (see sense 2), early mod.Du. kaghe, LG. kag, with which Franck compares Rhenish kac (? from kag), found already in the 14th c. Cf. also F. cague fishing-boat (from Du.), and caque a herring-

cage (keid3), sb. Also 5 kage, 6 kaig, cadge, [a. F. cage (= It. gaggia):—late L. *cavja: — L. cavea hollow, cavity,

dungeon,

cell,

cage,

f. cav-us

The phonetic development was as in

rage, sage:—L. rabies, *sapius.] I. Generally and non-technically.

1. A box or place of confinement for birds and other

animals

(or,

in

barbarous

times,

for

human beings), made wholly or partly of wire, or with bars of metal or wood, so as to admit air and

light,

while

preventing

the

creature’s

escape. 01225 Ancr. R. 102 Ase untowe brid ine cage, c 1386 Chaucer Squieres T. 611 Briddes .. that men in cages fede. 01528 Skelton P. Sparoive 324 Was neuer byrde in cage More gentle of corage. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxxii. 204 They do kepe in a kaig in the churche a white cocke and a hen. 1581 J. Bell Haddons Answ. Osor. 500 Lyke a common skold in a Cage. 1649 Lovelace To Althea 156 Stone walls do not a prison make Nor iron bars a cage. 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 74 As nimble as a Squirrel in a BellCage. 1727 Swift Gulliver 11. viii. 162 Kept in cages like tame Canary birds. 1727 Tindal tr. Rapin's Hist. Eng. (1757) III. 319 The Countess of Buquhan.. was put into a wooden cage, and placed as a ridiculous sight to the people on the walls of Berwick castle. 1875 Buckland Log-Bk. 198 So we make water cages for our fish. 2. fa. ‘A prison for petty malefactors’ (J.); a lock-up. Obs. C1500 Lancelot 2767 As cowart thus schamfully to ly Excludit in to cage frome chewalry. 1593 Shaks. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 56 His Father had neuer a house but the Cage, c 1600 Distr. Emperor v. iii. in O. PI. (1884) III. 248 May constables to cadges styll comend theym. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 129 A small Timber Structure resembling the Cage of a County Burrough. 1836-7 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 248/1 It has.. a market-place—a cage—an assemblyroom. a 1850 Thackeray Fatal Boots x, I found myself in a cage in Cursitor Street. b. A (barbed-wire) camp enclosure for prisoners of war. colloq. 1919 Downing Digger Dial. 15 Cage, a prisoner of war compound. 1939 War Illustr. 7 Oct. 102 Polish prisoners are seen in a ‘cage’ to which they have been marched immediately after capture. 1956 A. Crawley Escape from Germany xxvii. 280 Having seen that capture was inevitable .. he had .. packed three large suitcases.. to take .. to whatever ‘cage’ he was sent. 3. fig. That which confines or imprisons. c 1300 K. Alis. 5011 Than she gooth to dethes cage, c 1450 Capgrave 5. Katherine 351 Thus was thy lyf, lady, kepte in cage. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, ccxxxi, Soules enfranchis’d, from the torne-vp Cage Of flesh. 1730 Beveridge Priv. Th. 1. 77 The Cage of Flesh, Wherein the

CAGE

CAHIER

766 Romola 1. i. 16, I don’t stay caged in my shop all

Soul is penned. 1854 Brewster More Worlds 72 An immortal soul.. imprisoned in a cage of cartilage and of skin.

Geo. Eliot

4. a. Anything resembling a cage in structure or purpose, fb. A scaffold, elevated stage or seat.

b. To fit as a cage in the shaft of a mine. i860 All Y. Round No. 55. 103 Baskets that would rarely be dangerous if they were caged and supplied with proper guide-rods.

a 1400 Cov. Myst. (1841) 162, lam kynge knowyn in kage. Ibid. 166 Heyl, be thou kynge in kage full hye. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 57/2 Cage, catasta. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 15 Upon the packsaddels [of an elephant], they haue on euery side a little house, or towre, or cage (if you list so to call it) made of wood. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. 11. iii. 7, I must vpfill this Osier Cage of ours, With balefull weedes, and precious Iuiced flowers. 1884 Western Daily Press 28 Nov. 7/4 By the term crinolette, we by no means allude to the preposterously ugly and attached ‘cage’ which was formerly tied round the waist. 1887 Pall Mall Budg. 31 Mar. 2 The ludicrous and offensive object known as the ‘cage’ in the Ladies’ Gallery of the House of Commons. C. = CAGE-WORK 2. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. ill. v. (Arb.) 158 Defended by the cages or pauisses of the shyppes and their targettes.

II. In various technical uses. 5. Mining, a. ‘A frame with one or more platforms for cars, used in hoisting in a vertical shaft’.

day.

t'cageat. Sc. Obs. rare. [Perh. dim. of cage; Jamieson says ‘App. corr. from F. cassette’. Cf. also F. cachette little place of concealment.] ‘A small casket or box’ (Jamieson). 1488 Inv. Roy. Wardrobe & Jewell-ho. (1815) 5 (Jam.) In a cageat, beand within the said blak kist, a braid chenye.. Item in the said cageat, a litill coffre of siluer oure gilt. (keid3d), ppl. a. [f. cage v. + -ed1.] 1. Confined in, or as in, a cage. Also with in.

caged

1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. Induct, ii. 38 Twentie caged Nightingales do sing. 1650 Pref. verses Gregory's Posthuma (T.) The cag’d votary did wider dwell Than thou. 1720 Gay Poems (1745) II. 170 The cag’d linnet. 1899 K. Grahame Dream Days 15 ‘What’s that got to do with it?’ retorted his sister, resuming her caged-lion promenade. 1937 W. de la Mare This Year, Next Year, A bookworm .. Timid, half-blind, caged-in, afraid.

f2. Closed like a cage, nonce-use.

1851 J. Hedley Coal-mines 124 Tubs full or empty in the cage. 1855 Leisure Hour 474 We must step into this ‘cage’, which, you perceive, is a kind of vertical railway carriage. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 249 The rabbit has., no cage with which to haul up the sand he has moved. 1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 733 The Cage, an iron structure open at two sides, fitted into two wooden guides fixed to the sides of the shaft. b. The barrel of a whim on which the rope is

1609 Shaks. cloister flie.

wound; a drum.

eager ('keid3e(r)). [f. cage v. or sb. + 1. One who encloses in a cage. rare.

1854 Whitney Metal. Wealth U.S. 73 The cage, or drum on which the rope is wound. 1856 W. Bainbridge Law Mines 654 Cage, .also, the barrel for a whim-pipe.

6. A confining framework of various kinds. a. Carpentry (see quot.). 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Cage, in carpentry, signifies an outer work of timber, enclosing another within it. In this sense we say, the cage of a windmill. The cage of a stair-case denotes the wooden sides or walls which enclose it. I876 Gwilt Archit. Gloss. b. The framework in which a peal of bells is

hung. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon § 107 (1810) 108 A cage of four small broken bells. 1872 Ellacombe Bells of Ch. ix. 309 At East Bergholt, Suffolk, there is a ring of five heavy bells.. in a cage in the churchyard.

c. A framework confining a ball-valve within a certain range of motion. d. A wire guard over the mouth of a pipe, etc., to allow the passage of liquids and prevent that of solids. e. A cup with a glass bottom and cover, to hold a drop of water containing organisms for microscopic examination. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 181/1 s.v. Microscope, Capillary cages for containing animalcule in water.

7. A vessel formed of iron hoops or bars, to contain burning combustibles (see quot. 1867). 1837 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 171 Those who fish for them [anchovies] go out in boats with a cage of burning charcoal fastened to each boat. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Wordbk., Cage, an iron cage formed of hoops on the top of a pole, and filled with combustibles to blaze for two hours. It is lighted one hour before high-water, and marks an intricate channel navigable for the period it burns. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pock. Bk. v. (ed. 2) 136 The entrances of channels .. shall be marked by special buoys with or without staff and globe, or triangle, cage, etc.

8. Falconry. A frame to carry hawks upon. See

.1

cadge sb 1828 Sebright Observ. Hawking 64 The hawks are tied upon the cage as upon a perch. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1. iv. i. §3. 291 The oblong cage is four feet six inches by two feet.

9. (See quot.) 1883 Wood in Sunday Mag. Oct. 628/2 The nest of the squirrel is known in some parts of England by the name of ‘cage’. III. 10. attrib. and in comb., as cage-bar, -bird,

-fuly -maker, -mate, -seller; cageless adj.; cage aerial (see quot. 1926); also cage-work. 1926 S. O. Pearson Diet. Wireless Techn. Terms, *Cage Aerial, an aerial in which a number of component wires are held in position round small star-shaped spreaders or round small hoops in such a manner as to form a ‘cage’. This is done to reduce the high-frequency resistance of the aerial. 1883 Lloyd Ebb Flow II. 81 Beating their wings in vain against the mocking *cage-bars of necessity. 1626 Bacon Sylva §834 Pigeons and Horses thrive best, if their Houses, and Stables be kept Sweet: And so of *Cage-Birds. 1881 Athenaeum 5 Mar. 329/3 A *cageful of common finches. a 1849 Mangan Poems (1859) 185 The *Cageless Wild-bird. 1693 Lond. Gaz. No. 2837/4 A Germain New Fashion *Cage-maker. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 26 Sept. 10/1 Till he becomes acquainted through the bars with the animals that are in future to be his *cage-mates. 1925 ‘J. Doyle’ Marmosite's Misc. 10 Little David Garnett, a cage-mate of mine. C1500 Cocke Lorelles B. (1843) 10 Pouche makers, belowfarmes, and *cage sellers.

cage (keid3), v. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To confine in, or as in, a cage; to imprison. 1577 Harrison England 11. xiv. (1877) 265 To be caged vp as in a coope. 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. 1. v. 46 The women are caged vp like linnets. 1805 Southey Madoc in W. vi, They lie.. Conquer’d and caged and fetter’d. 1813 Byron Br. Abydos 11. xx, When cities cage us in a social home. 1863

Sept., Barrels full of kag-mag sweltering in the sun. 1875 Tweddell Cleveland Dial. 37 An awd cagmag of a silk gown. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cagmag, sb. and adj., refuse; any worthless material. Used, also, of persons, contemptuously. 1877 Peacock N.W. Line. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cagmags, (1) old geese, (2) unwholesome meat. 1877 Holderness Gloss. (E.D.S.) Cag-mag, refuse, chiefly used in reference to meat, (2) a loose character. 1942 P. H. Johnson Family Pattern 80 Maudie is the best beloved woman in London, with the grandest manner. She makes Royalty look like cag-mag.

2. attrib. or adj. refuse.

Unwholesome, decaying,

1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 295 The fumes of the vilest tobacco .. of ancient fish, of cagmag meat. 1864Streets of World in Temple Bar Jan. 185 No kagmag wares are sold.

cagmag, v. dial. [f. thesb.] a.intr. To quarrel, b. trans.

To nag.

1882 Mrs. Chamberlain Gloss W. Worcs. Words 6 It’s only them two aowd craters upstairs a cagmaggin' like thay allays be. 1932 H. J. Massingham Wold without End 296 Cotswold possesses a number of these dramatic words... The farm labourer.. will ‘grizb’,.. his wife ‘cagmags’, not henpecks, him.

f'cagment. Obs. [? f.

+ -ling.] A

cag v.] ? Insult, affront. 1504 in Plumpton Corr. 187 It is sayd, that they have cagments for them that hath bought the wood, that they dare not'deale therwith.

1859 Tennyson Vivien 900 As the cageling newly flown returns. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xx. (D.) As a child.. chasing a flown cageling.

cagnotte (kajiot). [F.] Money reserved from the stakes for the bank at certain gambling games (see quots.). Also attrib.

Lover's Compl. 249 She would the caged

cageling ('keid3lir|). [f.

cage sb.

bird kept in a cage.

1889 Browning Asolando 5 catcher and eager.

-er1.]

Boy-Cupid’s exemplary

2. An operative who attends to a cage (in various trades). 1908 Daily Chron. 24 Apr. 7/5 The eager was .. engaged in another part of the mine. 1921 Diet. Occup. Terms (1927) §§043, 056, 339. 399-

'cage-work. [f. cage sb. + work s&.] 1. Open work like the bars of a cage; also^ig. 1625 Gill Sacr. Philos. 11. 173 If this foundation of the mixture of the two natures in Christ bee taken away, all the Cage-worke of the Theodosians, that the Mediatour is mortall, and of the Armenians, that hee could not suffer, must needes bee rotten and unable to stand. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 135 Malmeudy.. consists of about a thousand houses, mostly of cage-work.

f2. Naut.

(see quots.)

Obs.

a 1618 Raleigh Roy. Navy 15 But men of better sort.. would be glad to find more steadinesse and lesse tottering Cadge worke. 1708 Kersey, Cage-work, the uppermost carved Works of a Ship’s Hull. 1721-1800 in Bailey. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho xx. (D.) The English fashion was to heighten the ship .. also by stockades (‘close-fights and cagework’) on the poop and fore-castle, thus giving to the men a shelter. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Cage-wrock, an old term for a ship’s upper works.

cagey ('keidji), a. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Alsocagy. [Etym. unknown.] Not forthcoming, reticent, wary, non-committal. Hence 'cagily adv. Also 'cageyness, 'caginess, the state or quality of being cagey. 1909 Sat. Even. Post 1 May 5/3 See? He’s cagey about going to ’em, but when a good medium gets him in front of her he swallows it all, lock, stock and barrel. 1922 Short Stories Feb. 158/2 The Battler was cagey and covered up for the greater part of the round. 1926 New Yorker 11 Sept. 36 The opinions of even the producing gentlemen’s chauffeurs are being cagily sought. 1927 ‘J. Barbican’ Confessions of Rum-Runner xxiii. 259 We hoped they would come out and pick us off, but they were too cagey for that. 1948 Time 25 Oct. 23/1 The Yankee management had timed things cagily. 1950 A. Lunn Revolt against Reason x. 112 The caginess of a Darwinist when cross-examined on his claim. 1953 G. Heyer Detection Unlimited iii. 31 Aunt Miriam’s always a bit cagy about it. What happened? 1955 Archit. Rev. CXVII. 278/3 This is not the first London retailer to eschew the conventions of ‘cageyness’—of answering questions in the form that they are put but never volunteering information. 1966 Listener 10 Nov. 681/2 My son is a cagey mathematician where rent, food, and expenses are concerned.

cagg(e,

.1

var. of cag sb

Obs.

cagmag.] a 1848 Marryat R. Reefer xv, Mouldy bread, caggy mutton.

‘Ill-natured, stomachful’ Gloss. 1855). [cf. cag v.]

Cagian,

Ilcagot (kago). [Fr.; orig. proper name, perh. containing -goth (cf. bigot) of uncertain origin: see Littre.] Name of an outcast race or caste in southern France; sometimes, like ‘pariah’ etc., applied to other outcasts. 1844 L. Costello Bearn & Pyrenees II. 262 At one period the Cagots were objects of hatred, from the belief that they were afflicted with the leprosy. 1871 Tylor Prim. Cult. I. 104 Many a white man.. ascribes power of sorcery to despised outcast ‘races maudites', Gypsies and Cagots. 1883 T. Watts New Hero in Eng. Illust. Mag. English cagots, pariahs, wretches convicted of the original sin of poverty.

IlCagoulard (kagular). [F., lit. ‘wearer of a monk’s cowl’, f. cagoule a sleeveless hooded garment + -ard.] A member of a secret rightwing organization in France in the 1930s. 1937 Times 17 Sept. 11/7 A secret para-military organization of the extreme Right known as the Cagoulards (hooded ones). 1958 Listener 21 Aug. 277/2 When Raoul Dautry took over the Ministry of Armaments in September 1939, he was staggered to discover the chief Cagoulard in an important post. 1966 M. R. D. Foot SOE in France vi. 137 We have his own word for it that he was not a cagoulard— that is, did not belong to the rough French equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan.

cagoule (ks'guil).

[a. Fr., lit. ‘cowl’; cf. A lightweight, waterproof (or windproof) hooded garment resembling an anorak, worn orig. by mountaineers and now generally. Cagoulard.]

1952 Morin & Smith tr. Herzog's Annapurna xiv. 201 We had both put on our cagoules, for it was very cold. 1962 Times 25 July 8/7 Fur-edged cagoule hoods. 1967 [see international orange s.v. international a. 2]. 1974 H. MacInnes Climb to Lost World iv. 56 ‘Are we here?’ asked Joe, pulling his cagoule hood drawcord tight. 1983 Times 7 Apr. 24/3 The Haggs Safari, for children aged 8 and over (take wellies and cagoules if wet).

II cagui ('ka:gi). [Native name.] A name of two Brazilian monkeys of the genus Hapale. [1693 Ray Synop. Anim. Quadr. 154.] 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The lesser cagui is a small and tender animal. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. vii. i. 508 The Saki, or Cagui.. often termed the Fox Tailed Monkey.

cagy, var.

caggy ('kaegi), a. dial, or vulgar. 1. Decaying, unfit for food. [f. 2. dial.

1928 Daily Express 29 Aug. 1/5 The club has adopted the equivalent of the Cagnotte system. A member winning a sum such as twenty-five pounds at a session is assessed approximately ten shillings. If he wins fifty pounds or over he pays the club one pound. 1959 Times 24 Feb. 11/7 The bank’s cut, or cagnotte, may be some hundreds of pounds. 19611. Fleming Thunderballxv. 156 One table of chemin de fer, whose cagnotte yields a modest five per cent.

(Whitby

var. Cajan.

cagmag (’ksegmaeg), sb. and a. dial, or vulgar. [app. a word of dialectal origin, widely used in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and adjacent counties: of uncertain derivation.] 1. a. A tough old goose, b. Unwholesome, decayed, or loathsome meat; offal; hence anything worthless or rubbishy. 1771 Pennant Tour Scotl. (1790) 11 The superannuated geese and ganders (called here cagmags) which by a long course of plucking prove uncommonly tough and dry. 1811 Lex. Balatronicum, Cag Magg, bits and scraps of provisions. Bad meat. 1847-78 Halliwell s.v., There is a small inferior breed of sheep called cagmags. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 27

cagey a.

cahch, -ar, -ynge, -polle,

etc.: see catch-.

Ilcahier (kaje). [F., in OF. quaier: see quire.] 1. ‘A book of loose sheets tacked together; whence, reports of proceedings contained in such a book’. More usually, an exercise-book, pamphlet, or fascicle. ei eten Calues flesshe and cakebrede. 1479 Office Mayor Bristol in E.E. Gilds 418 To take cakebrede & wyne. 1544 in Latimer's Wks. (1844) II. 484 Then cake-bread and loaf-bread are all one with you. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health ccvii. I refuse Cake bread. Saffron bread.. Cracknelles, Symnelles, and all maner of crustes. 1562 j. Heywood Prov. Epigr. (1867) 166 Beyng shod with cakebred that spurner marth all. a 1613 Overbury A Wife (1638) 204 In friendly breaking Cakebread with the Fish-wives at funerals. 1882 O’Donovan Merv. II. xlv. 262 Some brown cake-bread of the coarsest description had been broken.

b. attrib.

Like cake, brittle.

1579 J - Stubbes Gaping Gulf E vij, The Spanish genet wil soone champ thys cakebread snaffle a sunder.

caked (keikt), ppl. a.

[f. cake v. + -ed1.] Formed into a cake, concreted; cake-shaped.

a 1691 Boyle Wks. V. 72 (R.) A very shallow and wide¬ mouthed vessel, called in the shops a clear caked glass. a 1821 Keats Fancy 246 The caked snow.. From the plough-boy’s heavy shoon. 1866 Livingstone Jrnl. xii. (>873) I- 325 When we had dug down to the caked sand.

'cake-house, [f. cake sb. + house s6.] f 1. A house where cakes are sold. Obs. or dial. 1666 Pepys Diary (1879) III. 421 Thence took them to the cakehouse, and there called in the coach for cakes and drank. 1782 V. Knox Ess. (1819) III. clxx. 243 The cake-house at Hoxton. 1815 Scott Guy M. xvi, On the other side of the lake.. is a.. cake-house.

2. A building where cakes of anything, e.g. indigo, are stored. 1878 J. Inglis Sport £? W. Ncpaul iv. 34 The cake-house boys run to and fro between the cutting-table and the cakehouse with batches of cakes [of indigo].

cakelet ('keiklit). [f. cake sb. + -let.] A small cake. 1839 Ure Diet. Arts 458 These cakelets must be dried upon laths. 1908 M. & J. H. Findlater Crossriggs xix. 134

CAKE-WALK Bits of cake and stale cakelets. 1928 Daily Express 13 June 3/6 These elusive cakelets [sc. cookies] are evolved by mixing [etc.].

cake-walk ('keikwoik), sb. orig. U.S. [f. cake sb. + walk sfe.j La. ‘A walking competition among negroes, in which the couple who put on most style “take the cake” ’ (Thornton), b. A dance modelled on this. It originated among the Negroes of the southern United States. I^79 Harper's Mag. Oct. 799I1 Reader, didst ever attend a cake walk given by the colored folks? 1888 Farmer Americanisms s.v. Cake, In certain sections of the country, cake-walks are in vogue among the colored people. It is a walking contest, not in the matter of speed, but in style and elegance. 1897 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 341/2‘Cake-walks’ and frolics and preachings filled the cabins with sound and merriment. 1902 Harben Abner Daniel 53, I was doing the cake-walk with that fat Howard girl from Rome. 1947 Penguin Music Mag. May 25 Ragtime was most certainly responsible for Debussy’s ‘Golliwog’s Cake Walk’. attnb. 1898 F. H. Smith C. West 314 A certain—to him — cake-walk cut to the coat and white duck trousers. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 3/1 Although there is a painful amount of cake-walk music. 1903 Daily C-hron. 21 Apr. 7/3 The closing number in the bill will be a grand cake-walk promenade.

c. transf. and fig. ‘something easy’.

In quots. 1916, 1966 =

1863 H. Edgar in Montana Hist. Soc. Contrib. (1900) III. 133 Around and around that bush we went... We had a good laugh over our cake walk. 1894 ‘M. Twain’ in Critic 7 July 8/1 This Shelley biography.. is a literary cake-walk. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee xi. 153 Whether they would give him victory in a fight that would not be a cake-walk, he did not know. 1966 J. M. Brett Cargo of Spent Evil x. 87 This should be a cakewalk for you.

2. A form of entertainment consisting of a promenade moved by machinery on which people walk to the accompaniment of music. 1909 Oxford Times 11 Sept. 9/5 In dealing with the fair itself there were really no new features .. except that of the Brooklyn cake-walk, an ingenious rocking platform which gave those who patronised it the sensation of a cake-walk dance... The novelty was in operation at the White City last year. 1914 Ibid. 12 Sept. 10/3 The absence of the popular joy-wheel, the cake-walk [etc.]. 1968 D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. p. ix, The boneshaking old Cake-walk changes its name to suit the fashion of the day, becoming at one time the Jolly Jersey Bounce and more recently the Rock an’ Roll.

Hence 'cake-walk v. intr., to walk or dance in the manner of a cake-walk (sense 1); also transf. and fig. So 'cake-walker; 'cake-walking vbl. sb. and ppl. a. 1898 Williams & Walker Let. 16 Jan. in J. W. Johnson Black Manhattan (1930) x. 105 We, the undersigned worldrenowned cake-walkers .. hereby challenge you to compete with us in a cake-walking match. 1898 Daily Tel. 14 Mar., Cake-walking is, in fact, a graceful motion, conducted upon the toes and ball of the foot. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 3 Dec. 7/7 The cake walkers at Covent Garden. 1904 Daily Chron. 22 Mar. 4/7 The genuinely tip-top men Were those who never cake-walked. 1904 ‘Sari’ Reginald90 A mouse used to cake¬ walk about my room. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 17 Aug. 8/1 French singers, cake-walking coons, and fifth-rate English dancers. 1927 Melody Maker Sept. 931/2 The syndicate .. cake-walks to prosperity. 1958 Blesh & Janis They all played Ragtime 3 Soon the French were cakewalking in the streets of Paris to le temps du chiffon. Ibid. v. 99 Cakewalking developed into a real art. 1967 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (ed. 2) xv. 309 Pale-blue and pink underwear cakewalking on a clothesline.

caking ('keikii]), vbl. sb. [f. cake v. + -ing1.] The forming of a cake; chiefly gerundial. 1816 Cleveland Min. 403 It burns without caking.

'caking, ppl. a. That cakes. 1810 Henry Elem. Chem. (1840) II. 319 Caking coal.. because its fragments melt at a certain temperature, and unite into one mass. C1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 117/1.

caky ('keiki), a. [f. cake sb. + -y1.] 1. In the form, or of the nature, of a cake. 01556 Cranmer Wks. (1846) II. 66 An horse, refusing to eat wafers so long as their caky god was among them. 1604 Hieron Wks. I. 568 A priest.. ore his head the wafer shakes .. Meane while the vulgar in a maze Vpon the caky idoll gaze. 1813 j. Thomson Led. Inflam. 483 Hard caky substances, i860 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner (1887) 90 Charlottes, caky externally, pulpy within. 1869 London Soc. Christm. No. 49/1 Warm smells of a cakey description.

2. dial.

CALADE

771

Weak of intellect, silly.

1879 Shropsh. Word-bk.

cal (kael). Also callen, kal, (?) gal. The name given by Cornish miners to the native tungstate of iron and manganese. 1875 Ure Did. Ads III. 1039 The most common ore of this metal [Tungsten] is wolfram, known also to the Cornish miner as ‘cal’ or ‘callen’. Ibid. There remains a quantity of this mineral substance (gal). 1880 Miss Courtney W. Cornwall Gloss., Cal.

cal, obs. form of call and caul. licalaba ('kaebba). [A South American name.] A tropical evergreen tree (Calophyllum Calaba) growing in Brazil and the West Indies, from the seeds of which a lamp-oil is obtained; it also yields calaba-balsam, or -resin. 1753 in Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v. 1866 Treas. Bot. 201/1 This tree is called Calaba in the West Indies.

calabar,

var. of calaber; obs. f. calibre.

Calabar-bean (kaeb'ba: 'bi:n). [From Calabar, on the Gulf of Guinea, in Africa.] The seed of Physostigma venenosum, a climbing leguminous plant, called also the Ordeal-bean, administered by the natives to persons suspected of witchcraft. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. 654.

Hence calabarine, ‘an alkaloid found in the Calabar bean’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). 1875 H. Wood Therap. (1879) 310.

calabash ('ksebbaej).

Forms: 6 calabaza, 7 callebass, 7-8 calabass(e, cali-, callabash, (?) 7-9 calabosh, 8 calobash, callebasse, 8 calabash, [a. F. ca/ebasse, calabace, Cotgr.) ad. Sp. calabafa, calabaza gourd, pumpkin = Cat. carabassa, mod.Pr. carabasso, calebasso, carbasso, Sicil. caravazza. The ultimate source was perh. the Persian kharbuz, or kharbuza, also kharpuza, and kharbuza, ‘melon’, generally ‘marshmelon’, occasionally ‘water-melon’, whence Arabic khirbiz ‘melon’, and kirbiz ‘pumpkin, gourd’; also Turk, qarpuz, Albanian and mod.Gr. Kaprrov^i, uapflov^i; also through Tartar kharpuz, karpus, in Slavonic langs., Serb. karpuza, Pol. fharbuz, \garbuz, fkarbuz, arbuz, Little Russ, harbuz, Russ, arbuz (Miklosich). The Pers. word is explained as f. khar large, coarse, and buza, puza, odoriferous fruit. The Sicilian form may be from Arabic; but actual evidence is wanting.] 1. A name given to various gourds or pumpkins, the shell of which is used for holding liquids, etc. [1596 Raleigh Disc. Guiana (1887) 32 He also called for his calabaza or gourds of the gold beads. (Though explained as a ‘gourd’, this was probably the tree calabash, sense 2.)] 1658 Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 44 Their fruit resembling a gourd or callebass. 01813 A. Wilson Foresters, Clustering grapes were seen, With ponderous calabashes hung between. 1866 Livingstone Jrnl. vii. (1873) I. 181 The manured space is planted with pumpkins and calabashes.

2. The fruit of the calabash tree (see 7) of America, the shell of which is used for household utensils, water-bottles, kettles, musical instruments, etc.; it is round or oval, and so hard externally as even to be used in boiling liquids over a fire. Also short for calabash-tree. 1596 [see 1]. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes 14 High and loftie trees, as the.. Fistula, Calibash, Cherry. 1699 L. Wafer Voy. (1729) 321 The Calabash grows up and down among the boughs, as our apples do. 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 116 The fruit called calabashes are of two sorts. 1828 W. Irving Columbus I. 159 The calabashes of the Indians.. were produced on stately trees of the size of elms.

3. The hollow shell of either of the preceding, used as a vessel. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes 15 With either of them a naturall Pitcher, a Calibash upon their arme. 1681 R. Knox Hist. Ceylon 162 Two Calabasses to fetch Water. 1699 Dampier Voy. II. 11. 115 Their Furniture is but mean, viz. Earthern Pots to boil their Maiz in, and abundance of Callabashes. 1746 Lond. Mag. 323 Water presented.. in a copious Calabash. 1836 Macgillivray Humboldt's Trav. vi. 84 Baling out the water with a calabash. 1866 Engel Nat. Mus. viii. 285 A stringed instrument of the guitar kind, the body of which was a calabash.

b. This vessel full of anything. 1679 A Paradox (Harl Misc. 1753) I. 258 They will not give you a Calabash of Milk for it. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 234 One small calabash of rice. 1875 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. vi. 280 Calabashes of wine.

4. A similar vessel or utensil of other material. 1772-84 Cook Voy. (1790) IV. 1377 Calibashes made of reeds, so closely wrought as to be water-tight. 1851 H. Melville Whale xix. 104 Nothing about the silver calabash he spat into.

5. sweet calabash, the edible fruit of Passiflora maliformis. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 304/1 P. maliformis bears what is called the sweet calabash. 1866 Treas. Bot. 851.

6. ‘A humorous name for the head’ Bartlett Diet. Amer. [Cf. Pg. cabafa = calabafa with cabefa head.] 7. attrib. and Comb., as calabashful; calabash fruit = sense 2; calabash gourd, the bottlegourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) — sense 1; calabashnutmeg, Monodora Myristica; calabash-tree, a tree (Crescentia Cujete) native to tropical America and the West Indies, bearing the large oval or globular fruit called calabash (sense 2); also a name of the baobab tree. 1707 Sloane Jamaica I. p. xvi, Horses feed on ‘Calabash fruit in dry times. 1824 Burchell Trav. II. 587 The ‘calabash gourd is much cultivated for the sake of its shell. 1866 Treas. Bot. II. 752/1 Called..‘Calabash Nutmegs from the entire fruit resembling a small calabash. 1737 Miller Gard. Did. (ed. 3) The ‘Calabash-Tree.. grows to a considerable Height in the warmer Parts of America, where it produces a very large Fruit. 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xx. 115 The gourd or callebasse tree procures them cups. 1816 Keith Phys. Bot. I. 50.

fcalabass. Obs. A small kind of gun. 1578 Bourne Invent. 87 Certaine smal Ordinance.. as Markets.. and some Calabasses that doo shoote small stones. calabaza

(kasb'baiza,

-'baiss).

Chiefly

West

Indies, [a. Sp.: see calabash.] A pumpkin, spec. = calabash 2; its fruit or shell. 1596 [see calabash i]. 1970 Tropical Agric. XLVII. 303 Demands by new Spanish ethnic communities for indigenous foods .. have emphasized the need for quality in Puerto-Rican grown produce such as .. calabaza. 1975 E. L. Ortiz Caribbean Cooking 300 Calabaza. Known as West Indian or green pumpkin .. not to be confused with pie pumpkin... The yellow flesh has a delicate flavour and is used mainly in soups and as a vegetable. 1983 Washington Post 21 Dec. E15/1 In Haiti... They also prepare a soup called giraumon or giromon made from calabaza, a type of pumpkin. Giraumon is fed to early morning visitors in a salute to the New Year. calaber,

calabar

('kasbb3(r)).

Forms:

4-6

calabre, 5 calabere, 6 calubur, calober, callabre, calabrye, caliber,

calliber, 9

calabar,

calloper, 6-

6-7

callaber,

calaber,

[app.

a.

7 F.

Calabre, Calabria, a province of Italy; but why so called is unknown.] 1. A kind of fur, apparently obtained from some

foreign

species

of

the

squirrel;

now,

commercially, applied especially to the fur of the

grey

or

Siberian

Squirrel:

also

attrib.

calaber pencil: an artist’s colour-brush made of the hairs of this fur. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. vii. 257 His cloke of Calabre with knoppes of Gold. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour Eij, Gownes of moche fyn cloth and furred of calabre, letuce, and ermyn. I532_3 Ad 24 Hen. VIII, xiii, Any maner of furres, other then black cony, budge, grey cony, shankes, calaber, gray, fiche. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 59 The ij. day of June [1549]. . alle the gray ammesse with the calober in Powlles ware put downe. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 291 The people of Moscouia.. haue ryche furres as Sabels, Marteines, Foynes, Calaber. 1583 Plat Diuerse Exper. (1594) 14 With a fine calaber pensill first dipped in ye coppres water. 1588 Gifts to Queen in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz., Furred thorough with mynnyover and calloper. a 1603 Fleetwood ibid. I. 355 We sitting in all our calabrye clokes of murrey, did geve the newe shereffs . . theire othes. 1720 Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) II. v. viii. 255/1 Those Aldermen that have not been Mayors are to have their Cloaks furred with Calabre. 1832-52 McCulloch Diet. Comm., Calabar Skin, the Siberian squirrel skin. 1875 Ure Did. Arts II. 516 Furs, Skins, and Pelts imported .. 1870 .. Squirrel or Calabar 150, 668. f2. The animal itself. Obs. 1607 Cowell Interpr. s.v. Furre, Calaber is a little beast, in bigness about the quantitie of a squirell, of colour gray. 01626 Middleton Love Antiq. Wks. V. 289 Beasts bearing fur.. Lamb .. wolverin, caliber. 1721 in Bailey. calaber, obs. f. calibre. calaboose (kaeb'buiz). U.S. [Negro French (of Louisiana) dungeon.]

calabouse, The

ad.

name,

in

Sp.

New

calabozo

Orleans

and

adjacent parts of the U.S., for a common prison. 1837-40 Haliburton 5. Slick, Hum. Nature (Bartlett) A large calaboose chock full of prisoners. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv. 148 Send them to the calaboose, or some of the other places, to be flogged. 1883 Century Mag. Mar. 649/2 The terrors of the calaboza, with its chains and whips and branding irons, were condensed into the French tri¬ syllabic Calaboose. Calabrese

(kaeb'breisei,

-i:z).

[It.,

=

Calabrian.] A variety of sprouting broccoli. 1930 L. H. & F. Z. Bailey Hortus 130 The Asparagus or Sprouting broccoli, Calabrese, is a different plant. 1939 Times 11 Jan. 15/4 Calabrese.. is one of the most quickly grown and delicately flavoured of all greens. 1957 E. Hyams Speaking Garden 58 Calabrese, perhaps the most delicious of all cabbages. Calabrian (ka'leibrian), a. and sb.

[f. Calabria

(see below) + -an.] A. adj. Of or pertaining to Calabria, a region of Italy (anciently the south¬ eastern, now the south-western, projection of the

Italian

peninsula).

B.

sb.

A

native

or

inhabitant of Calabria (see also quot. 1905). 1594 Kyd Cornelia v. 239 As in the faire Calabrian fields. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 599 The Calabrian, Milesian, and Arentinean sheepe. 1615 Sandys Travels iv. 250 There are not that professe Christ, a more vnciuill people then the vulgar Calabrians. Ibid., A certaine Calabrian hearing that I was an Englishman, came to me. 1783 H. More Let. (1925) 88 The miseries which have visited the devoted Calabrians. 01821 Keats Otho (1848) v. v, What wine? The strong Iberian juice, or mellow Greek? Or pale Calabrian? 1833 [see en regie, s.v. en prep.]. 1905 A. Hopwood Old Eng. Sheep Dog i. 1 The mighty Calabrian, or sheep dog of the Pyrenees,.. stands over thirty inches high. 1924 tr. Pastor's Hist. Popes XIII. viii. 223 A Calabrian, 33 years of age, was sent.. to the Jesuits. 1963 Times 22 Feb. 6/4 These people are Calabrian peasants. Calaburne, variant of Caliburn. || 'Calabur tree. Name given in the West Indies to

Muntingia

Calabur a

(N.O.

Tiliaceae),

the

Silk-wood tree. Ilcalade (ka'lad, ks'leid). sense,

ad.

It.

calata

[a. F. calade in same

descent,

f.

calare:—L.

chalare, ad. Gr. xaAa-v to let down, let fall.] The

CALADIUM slope of a manege ground, down which a horse is ridden at speed, to teach him to ply his haunches. 1731 in Bailey vol. II. 1792 Osbaldistone Brit. Sportsm. 87/1. [In mod. Diets.]

|| caladium (ks'leidiam). Bot. Also 9 calladium. [mod.L. adaptation, by Rumph, 1750, in Herb. Amboinense V. 318, of the Malay name kelady (Forbes Watson) of Caladium (now Colocasia) esculentum. The genus in its present botanical acceptation was established by Ventenat in 1800, when, by a carelessness too frequent in botanical nomenclature, the actual species to which the name kelady belonged, was excluded from the Caladiums and made a Colocasia.] A genus of plants belonging to the Arum family, grown in this country as hot-house plants, but cultivated in their native regions for their underground corms, which contain much starch. 1845 Penny Cycl. Suppl. I. 264/1 Caladium arborescens.. yields a great quantity of starch. 1858 Hogg Veg. Kingd. 797.1881 Mrs. Praed Policy & Passion I. 270 The verandah was adorned with stands of choice ferns and calladiums. 1882 Garden 4 Mar. 145/3 Caladiums.. will now be starting rapidly into growth. 1885 Lady Brassey in Trades 70 Caladiums and ferns growing in the wildest profusion.

t caladrie. Obs. rare. Wyclif’s adaptation of the Charadrius of the Vulgate, Xapahpios of the Septuagint. The latter was, ‘according to Sundevall, the stone-curlew or thick-kneed bustard, Charadrius (Edicnemus’ (Liddell and Scott). Caladrius occurs also in later writers (quoting from Aristotle) as some reputed white bird. 1388 Wyclif Deut. xiv. 18 Ete 3e not vncleene briddis.. a cormeraunt, and a caladrie [1382 jay; 1611 the Storke and the Heron]. 1567 Maplet Gr. Forest 76 The Caladrius, sayth Aristotle, is of milkie colour, without any black spot. 1601 Chester Love's Mart, clviii. (1878) 117 The snow-like colour’d bird, Caladrius.

Ilcala'lu. Also calaloo, -loe, caleloe, callalloo, -aloo, -alou, cullaloo. A West Indian name for various plants cultivated as culinary vegetables; also, a soup or stew made with them. 1756 P- Browne Jamaica 174 The branched Caleloe [Solanum nodiflorum].. The negroes make use of it every day almost in the year. Ibid. 232 Spanish Calaloe [Phytolacca octandra]. Ibid. 340 The prickly Calaloo [Amarantus spinosus].. used as a green, when the more valuable sorts are scarce. 1810 F. Cuming Tour Western Country 297 Mr. Green made me observe .. the cullaloo or Indian Kail [near Natchez, Mississippi]. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Calalu. 1892 J. C. Harris On Plantation 122 There was Callalou—a mixture of collards, poke salad, and turnip greens boiled for dinner and fried over for supper. 1929 W. J. Locke Ancestor Jorico viii. 107 We were given.. callaloo, which is an apotheosis of the American Okra soup. 1953 G. Lamming In Castle of my Skin xiv. 273 A vegetable muddle called callalloo cooked with crab. 1969 Daily Tel. 11 Jan. 14/1 Calalu (sometimes spelt ‘callaloo’), a green vegetable like spinach, makes wonderful soup—to bring tears to ex¬ patriate Jamaican eyes just mention calalu.

calamanco (kieb'rruerjkso). Forms: 6 calamance, 6-9 cali-, 7 calla-, 7-9 callimanco, (9 calamanca), 7- calamanco. [Found also in Du. kalamink, kalmink, Ger. kalmank, kalmang, F. calmande, Genev. calamartdre: of unknown origin. The form has naturally suggested connexion with med.L. camelaucus, a kind of cap, and a cloth of camel’s hair; but evidence of connexion is wanting. See Du Cange.]

1. A woollen stuff of Flanders, glossy on the surface, and woven with a satin twill and chequered in the warp, so that the checks are seen on one side only; much used in the 18th c. 1592 Lyly Midas [see 2]. 1598 Florio, Tesserino.. a kinde of fine stuffe like.. calimanco. 1693 Lond. Gaz. No. 2832/3 His Wastcoat of a Striped Calamanco. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) VII. xvii. 32 A tawny yellow jerkin, turned up with red calamanco! 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs iv, The body.. trimmed with calimanco. 1605 Lond. Prodigal 1. i. 223 What breeches wore I o’ Saturday? Let me see: o’ Tuesday my calamanco.. o’ Thursday, my velure; o’ Friday my calamanco again. 1639 Ford Lady's Tr. 11. i, Diamond-button’d callamanco hose. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 96 |f 5 A Red Coat, flung open to show a gay Calamanco Wastcoat. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. (1852) 41 A pair of black calamanco breeches. 1840 Wheeler Westmoreland Dial. Gloss, A calliminky petticoat.

Garments of this material.

1859 Thackeray Virgin, xxxii. The girls went off straightway to get their best calamancoes, paduasoys.. capes, etc. a 1888 U.S. Newspr. The seat of his striped calimancoes.

2. fig.

calamander

(ksb'maend3(r)). Also calaminder, (? calaminda). [Of uncertain origin: see quot. 1859. Clough Singhalese Diet, gives kalumadlriya as the Singhalese name; which Forbes Watson cites also as calumidiriya, kalumederiye, etc., but these may be adaptations of the Dutch.] A beautiful and extremely hard cabinet wood of Ceylon and India, the product of Diospyros qusesita (N.O. Ebenaceas), specifically akin to ebony. 1804 R. Percival Ceylon in Ann. Rev. II. 47/2 The banyan, the cotton-tree, the tickwood, and the beautiful calamander.. are indigenous here. 1828 Heber Journ. Upper India (1844) II. 161 (Y.) The Calamander tree.. is become scarce from the improvident use formerly made of it. 1833 Ht. Martineau Cinnamon & P. v. 79 The finelyveined calaminda. 1859 Tennent Ceylon I. 1. iii. 118, I apprehend that the name Calamander, which was used by the Dutch, is but a corruption of Coromandel.

calamary ('kaebmsri). Also 6-7 calamarie, 9 calamer, calamury. [f. L. calamari-us pertaining to a calamus or pen; in Sp. calamar, F. calmar. From the pen-like internal shell (and perhaps also having reference to the ‘ink’ or black fluid, which these animals squirt out).] The general name for Cephalopods or Cuttle¬ fish of the family Teuthidse, more especially of the genus Loligo, cuttle-fishes having a long narrow body flanked by two triangular fins, and with the internal shell ‘a horny flexible pen’: e.g. the Common Calamary, Squid, or Pen-fish. 1567 Maplet Gr. Forest 75 Calamarie.. is like the Cuttle, but that she is a little longer. 1635 Swan Spec. M. (1670) 342 The Calamary is sometimes called the Sea-clerke, having as it were a knife and a pen. Some call him the Ink-horn-fish. 1758 Phil. Trans. L. 778 The body of the.. Calamary is a sort of cartilaginous case .. of a roundish oblong shape. 1848 Carpenter Anim. Phys. 101 The body.. furnished with a fin-like expansion behind, as in the calamary. 1854 Woodward Mollusca iii. 11 The calamary can even strike the surface of the sea with its tail.

| calambac ('kaebmbsek). Also 7 callamback, ealembue, 7-8 calamba, 8 -bo, 8-9 -beg, 9 -bao. [Kalambak is given by Crawfurd and ForbesWatson as Malay and Javanese: Col. Yule thinks ‘it perh. came with the article from Champa’ in Anam. The other forms are corruptions or adaptations in Portuguese and other European langs.: French has calambac, -bart, -bouc, -bou, hour.] An eastern name of Aloes-wood or Eaglewood, produced by Aquilaria Agallocha, Roxb. (See AGALLOCH.) (So all recent authorities on Indian Botany. Aloexylum, regarded as the source by earlier authors, is now given up.) [1552 Barros' Decades d'Asia I. ix. i (transl. Yule) Campa, in the mountains of which grows the genuine aloes-wood, which the Moors of those parts call Calambuc.] 1594 Merry Knack in Hazl. Dodsley VI. 571 Then will I have.. Calambac and Cassia. 1667 H. Oldenburg in Phil. Trans. II. 417 Where the best Calamba-wood, or Palo d’Aquila, grows. 1690 Songs Costume (1849) 189 Calembuc combs in pulvil case. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Aloes, The calambo .. is brought in small bits of a very fragrant scent. 1871 E. Balfour Cycl. India, Calambac, Calambao, Calambeg, also called Aloes wood is the Agallochurn of the ancients and the Agilla or Eaglewood of the moderns. It is produced in Siam and Silhet by Aquilaria Agallocha. 1885 G. Watt Diet. Econ. Prod. India s.v., In the interior of old trees we found irregular masses of harder and darker coloured wood, which constitutes the famous Eagle-wood .. called .. also Calambac, Agallochurn, Aloe or Aloes Wood.

Ilcalam'bour. In 7 callembour. One of the Fr. forms of prec. [See Littre.] Said in modern English Dictionaries to be ‘A species of Agallochurn or aloes-wood, less fragrant than calambac, used by cabinet-makers’: but this appears to be merely an error copied from dictionary to dictionary. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2011/8 A little Callembour Box. 1847 Craig, Calambac, Aloes-wood. Calambour, the name given to a species of aloes-wood. [In Webster, Ogilvie, Cassell.]

calamel,

b. attrib.

c. ellipt.

772

Applied to: a. language; b. a person.

1592 Lyly Midas iv. iii, Doest thou not understand their [huntsmen’s] language? Min. Not I! Pet. Tis the best calamance in the world, as easily deciphered as the characters in a nutmeg. 1607 Dekker & Webster Sir T. Wyat 45 A Spaniard is a Camocho, a Calimanco.

3. Applied to wood and plaster buildings. 1792 Misc. Ess. in Ann. Reg. 150/2 The mansion.. was of plaister striped with timber, not unaptly called callimanco work. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall (1855) 267 Calimanco houses as they are called by antiquaries.

obs. form of calomel.

calament, calamer,

obs. form of calamint.

variant of calamary.

calamiferous (kaelo’miforas), a. Bot. [f. calam¬ us + -ferous.] fa. Producing culms, culmiferous (obs.). b. Bearing reeds, reedy. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl., Calamiferous, a denomination given by some to those otherwise called culmiferous plants. 1847 in Craig; and later Diets.

'calamiform, a. [f. as prec. + -form; cf. F. calamiforme.] Of the shape of a calamus, reed, or feather. 1881 in Syd. Soc. Lex.

|| calami'naris, a. and sb. [L.: in full lapis calaminaris ‘calamine stone’, f. med.L. calamina: see calamine.] Earlier name of CALAMINE. 1577 Harrison England in. xii. (1878) 79 Those other which we call calaminares and speculares. 1585 Lloyd

CALAMINT Treas. Health S vij, Take.. of the stones called Lazulus and Calaminaris. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 93 Calaminaris, is a Stone, yellow, tender, not lucid, nor transparent. 1750 Beawes Lex. Mercat. (1752) 5^2 Somersetshire Produce.. Copper, Lapis Calaminaris, Crystal.

t ca'laminary, -ar, a. Obs. Adapted forms of preceding. 1662 Fuller Worthies iii. 17 The Calaminary-stone being of it self not worth above six pence in the pound. 1799 G. Smith Laborat. II. 446 Prepare and calcine. . some small bits of calaminary stone. i860 Mayne Exp. Lex., Calaminaris.. of or belonging to calamine.. calaminar.

calaminary, mistaken form of calamary. 1620 Venner Via Recta iv. 76 The Calaminary, the Cuttle-fish .. are euen of one and the same nature.

calaminda, -der, obs. ff. calamander. calamine (’kaetamain). [a. F. calamine, ad. med.L. calamina, app. (like the Ger. galmei, formerly kalmei:—calmia) corrupted by the alchemists from L. cadmia, Gr. Ka.8p.ela, naSpla, ‘calamine’. Agricola supposed the name to be from calamus reed, in allifsion to the slender stalactitic forms common in the cadmia fornacum (oxide of zinc from furnace chimneys).]

An ore of zinc: originally applied, like med.L. lapis calaminaris, and the cadmia of Pliny, to both the carbonate ZnC03, and the hydrous silicate Zn2SiO„, H20 but chiefly, in France and England, to the former, which is an abundant and important English ore of zinc. The silicate, found in Carinthia, Hungary, Belgium, New Jersey, etc., is distinguished as siliceous or electric calamine. The chemical difference between the two ores was established by Smithson in 1802; in 1807 Brongniart unfortunately chose calamine as the mineralogical name of the silicate, leaving the other ore as zinc carbonatee, which Beudant in 1832 named smithsonite. This nomenclature is followed by Dana. But common English and French use (see Littre) continued to apply the name calamine to the carbonate; and in conformity with this Brooke and Miller in 1852 reversed Beudant’s use of calamine and smithsonite. With British mineralogists, chemists, miners, and manufacturers, calamine therefore means the carbonate. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 520 Some thinke it better to wipe ..the dust from the Calamine with wings. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. 11. 18 Having here [in England] both the best Copper and Calamine of any part of Europe. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 470 Zinc in the state of calamine. 1799 G. Smith Laborat. I. 243 Calamine is dug in mines about Mendip, etc. in the West of England. 1802 Smithson in Phil. Trans. XCIII. 16 This calamine hence consists of— Carbonic acid, 0.352; Calx of zinc, 0.648. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 373 Calamine, which is a combination of zinc with oxygene and carbonic acid. 1839 Ure Diet. Arts s.v. Zinc, The principal ores of zinc are the sulphuret called blende, the silicate called calamine, and the sparry calamine, or the carbonate. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 231 Zinc Carbonate, an insoluble substance, occurring native as calamine. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts III. 1187 Calamine is a mineral occurring usually in concretionary forms and compact masses, yellowish-white when pure .. it is a normal carbonate of zinc.. Calamine is worked in a rich mine of galena at Holywell.. The second locality of calamine is in the magnesian limestone formation. 1877 Watts Diet. Chem. V. 1067 Zinc occurs as carbonate, forming the ore called calamine; as silicate or siliceous calamine; as sulphide or blende. b. attrib., as in calamine stone = lapis

calaminaris (see calaminaris). 1601 Holland Pliny II. 486 Brasse .. Made .. of the Chalamine stone, named otherwise Cadmia. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xliv. 501 Oil, calaminestone, glasses.. had been appropriated to monopolists. 1802 Smithson in Phil. Trans. XCIII. 17 The smallness of these calamine crystals.

calamint ('kastamint). Forms: 4-7 calament, 5-6 calamynt(e, 6 -menthe, 7 calaminth, 8 calemint, 6- calamint. [ME. calament, a. F. calament (14th c. in Littre), med.L. calamentum, ad. L. calaminthe, a. Gr. KaXaplvdr), Ka.Xa.pivdos, applied to the same or some similar plant. The Gr. is explained from naXos beautiful + plvd-q, plvdos mint: but this is perh. only popular etymology. The Eng. word was subsequently assimilated to the L. form, and to mint.) A genus of aromatic herbs, Calamintha (N.O. Labiatse), including the Common Calamint (C. officinalis), formerly in repute for its medicinal virtues, Lesser Calamint (C. Nepeta), Wood Calamint (C. sylvatica), and several other species. (11265 Gloss, in Wr.-Wiilcker 557 Calamentum, (AngloFr.) calemente.] 1322 Wardrobe Acc. 16 Edw. II, 23 Calament 4d per lb. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxxiv. (1495) 623 Calament is an herbe like Mynte. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 58 Calamynt, herbe, calamenta, balsamita. 1551 Turner Herbal 1. (1568) 81 Calamynt..is good for them that ar byten of serpentes. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 112 Calament drunke three dayes, helpeth the Jaundies. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 49 But th’ aged nourse .. Had gathered rew.. and calamint. 1625 B. Jonson Pan's Anniv. 25 Blue hare-bells, pagles, pansies, calaminth. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 108/1 Calamint is purplish, and of a blush colour. 1835 Hooker Brit. Flora 248.

CALAMIST f'calamist. Obs.~° [f. L. calam-us reed -1ST.] 1. ‘One who plays upon a reed, a piper.’

+

1656 in Blount Glossogr. 1678 in Phillips.

2. ‘One hauing his haire turning vpwards.’ (Cf. next.) 1623

COCKERAM.

f cala'mistrate, v. Obs. rare. [f. L. calamistratus crisped, curled, f. calamistrum curling-iron; cf. F. calamistrer.] trans. To curl, crisp, frizzle (the hair). Hence .calami'stration. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. in. ii. 11. ii. 469 Which belike makes.. great women to calamistrate and curl it up. Ibid. III. ii. II. iii, When those.. calamistrations, ointments, etc. shall be added, they will make the veriest dowdy otherwise, a goddess.

calamistrum (kaeb'mistram). PI. -a. [L., curling-iron.] A comb-like structure on the metatarsi of the fourth pair of legs of certain spiders, used to card and curl the silk as it issues from the spinnerets. 1866 E. F. Staveley Brit. Spiders 14 These [spines] are called calamistra, and are used in the construction of the web. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 292 The function of the calamistrum has been proved .. to be the carding, or teasing and curling, of a peculiar kind of silk, secreted and emitted from the fourth pair of spinners. 1958 W. S. Bristowe World of Spiders viii. 79 Three families of British spiders have a cribellum and a calamistrum.

calamite ('kEebmait). [ad. mod.L. generic name calamites, f. L. calamus reed; see -ite.] 1. Palseont. A fossil plant, of a genus or order abundant in the Coal Measures, of which the stems are found in jointed fragments, ribbed and furrowed. They are generally considered to have been allied to the existing Equisetacese or Mare’s-tails, but their stem was furnished with wood and bark. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 293/2 Calamites have been found with a diameter of fourteen inches. 1842 H. Miller O R. Sandst. vii. (ed. 2) 175 Some plant resembling a calamite of the Coal Measures. 1873 Dawson Earth & Man v. 104 Calamites, gigantic and overgrown mares’-tails.

2. Min. A variety of tremolite (white hornblende) occurring in crystals sometimes reed-like. 1882 Watts Diet. Chem. III. 169 Calamite is an asparagus-green variety of tremolite, found.. in Sweden.

f 3. ‘A name given by some to the osteocolla . . others have called some of the fossile coralloides by this name.’ Obs. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp.

calamitean (kaeb'maitiian), a. [f.

CALASH

773

calamite i +

-an.] Belonging or relating to calamites. 1895 Naturalist Aug. 237 The histology of calamitean leaves. 1904 Amer. Nat. Apr. 250 Thus such transitions are well known, though of a relatively simplified form in the structure of the calamitean stem.

calamitous (ka'lasmitas), a. [ad. F. calamiteux, -eus (16th c. in Littre) ad. L. calamitosus, contr. of calamitat-osus adj., from calamitat-em calamity. (The contracted termination has supplied an analogy for several similar formations in French and Eng.: see -itous, -ous.)] 1. Fraught with or causing calamity; disastrous, distressful; full of distress, affliction, or misery. 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. vii. (R.) Here is to be noted another heuey thretening which precheth the calamitous afflictions of yc chirche. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 13 That calamitous error of the Jewes, misapprehending the Prophesies of their Messias. 1727 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. vii. (1841) I. 45 In former times, it was a dismal and calamitous thing for a tradesman to break. 1772-84 Cook Voy. (1790) VI. 1984 The late calamitous accident. 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 189 Contests, in which victory would be unprofitable, defeat calamitous.

-f 2. Of persons: Involved in calamity, distress, or affliction; distressed, unfortunate, miserable. Obs. 1668 Act Prevent. & Suppress. Fires in Lond. 2 Fire. rendring very many of the Inhabitants calamitous. 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 313 The Tears and Prayers of calamitous Persons. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 190 [f6 Thou hast seen me happy and calamitous.

calamitously (ks'lsemitasli), adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] In a calamitous manner; disastrously. 1794 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 232 Every subject in which he has borne a part.. has ended calamitously. 1896 Home Missionary (N.Y.) July 145 Churches.. brought suddenly and calamitously into missionary conditions.

ca'lamitousness. rare. [f. as prec. + -ness.] Calamitous condition or quality. 1667 H. More Din. Dial. 11. ix. (1713) 114 The Calamitousness of this Scene of things. 1852 Smith Eng. & Fr. Diet. Calamitousness .. affreuse misere.

calamity (ka'ltemiti). Also 5-6 calamyte, 6-7 calamitie. [a. F. calamite, f. L. calamitat-em (nom. calamitas), damage, disaster, adversity; by Latin writers associated with calamus straw,

corn-stalk, etc., in the sense of damage to crops from hail, mildew, etc. But there is difficulty in reconciling this with the force of the suffix, which etymologically could give only some such sense as ‘the quality of being a calamus, reed, or straw’ (cf. civitas, auctoritas, bonitas); hence some would refer it to a lost *calamis ‘injured, damaged’, whence incolumis ‘uninjured, sound’. Bacon (Sylva §669) thus fancifully etymologized the word ‘Another ill accident is drouth, at the spindling of the corn, which with us is rare, but in hotter countries common; insomuch as the word calamitas was first derived from calamus, when the corn could not get out of the stalke.’]

1. The state or condition of grievous affliction or adversity; deep distress, trouble, or misery, arising from some adverse circumstance or event. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxii. 80 He was restored .. from anguisshe and calamyte in to right grete prosperite. c 1529 Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. 1. 103 II. 6, I shalbe releuyd and in this my calamyte holpyn. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. 11. I. (Arb.) 109 They fell from one calamitie into an other. 1592 Shaks. Rom. & Jul. in. iii. 3 Thou art wedded to calamitie. 1623 Cockeram, Calamity, misery. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 203 If 3 So full is the world of calamity, that every source of pleasure is polluted. 1754 Richardson Grandison III. xxx. 352, I am in calamity, my dear. I would love you if you were in calamity. 1841-44 Emerson Ess., Compensation Wks. (Bohn) I. 54 Yet the compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time.

2.

A grievous disaster, circumstance causing loss distressing misfortune.

an or

event or misery; a

1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 32 Thair is na calamitie .. that may chance to man or woman. 1586 Cogan Haven Health lxxv. (1636) 81 A griefe of the head, proceeding of a rheume, which is a common calamity of Students. 1671 Milton Samson 655 The bearing well of all calamities. 1683 Burnet tr. More's Utopia 143 Because of any great Calamity that may have fallen on their Person. 1748 Johnson L.P. Wks. 1816 X. 325 It was not his custom to look out for distant calamities. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 60 Voltaire saw his [Newton’s] death mourned as a public calamity.

3. attrib. and Comb., as calamity-how lev, -howling, -prophet, -shouting (U.S. colloq.); Calamity Jane, the nickname of Martha Jane Burke (nee Canary) (? 1852-1903), a famous American horse-rider and markswoman, applied to a prophet of disaster. 1892 Congress. Rec. 2 Mar. 1654/1 We had some ‘calamity howlers’ here in Washington. 1905 D. G. Phillips Plum Tree 264, I.. sent Woodruff East to direct a campaign of calamity-howling in the eastern press. 1876 Cheyenne (Wyoming) Daily Leader 23 Nov. in N. Mumey Calamity Jane (1950) 55 Calamity Jane .. now slingeth hash as a waiter in a Custer City Hotel. 1882 Street & Smith's New York Weekly 16 Jan. 1 Calamity Jane, the Queen of the Plains. A Tale of Daring Deeds by a Brave Woman’s Hands. 1885 E. L. Wheeler {title) Deadwood Dick on deck; or, Calamity Jane the heroine of Whoop-up. 1930 N. & Q. 27 Sept. 232/1 A crepe-hanger is the ultimate in depressing persons; ‘wetblankets’, ‘gloomy Gus’s’, ‘calamity Janes’, are all a degree milder, i960 TV Times 8 Jan. 11/1 I’m a real Calamity Jane. 1894 Republican Campaign Text-bk. for 1894 229 This is going to be a bad, sad year for the calamity prophets of both parties. 1911 J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Warren's Wards i. 3 The pair of calamity prophets broke off their lament. 1892 Congress. Rec. 17 Mar. 2160/2 Calamity-shouters whose occupation is gone unless they can prove that calamity stalks abroad.

f calamize, v. Obs.—° [ad. Gr. KaXafj.ll.tiv to pipe on a reed, f. ko.Xapos reed: see calamus.] intr. To pipe or sing. 1656 in Blount Glossogr.

|| ,calamo'dendron. Palseont. [f. Gr. naXap-os reed + StvSpov tree.] A supposed genus of fossil trees; the fruits are found along with calamites, and are supposed by many to belong to them. 1873 Dawson Earth Man vi. 131 The.. Calamodendron or Reed-tree .. had stems with thick woody walls.

calamury, variant of calamary. || calamus (’kaetamas). Also 6 kalmus, calmus. [a. L. calamus, Gr. naXapos reed.] fl. A reed, a cane: vaguely used by early writers, after Latin or Greek authors. Obs. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvn. xxix. (1495) 622 Calamus is holowe wythin as a cane. Ibid. xxx. 622 Strawe is called Calamus vsualis. 1597 Gerard Herbal 1. xlv. 63 Bastard or false Calamus grows naturally at the foot of a hill. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 375 The shorter and thicker that the reed is, the better is the Calamus. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 53 The true or bitter Calamus is a Kind of Reed.

2. sweet calamus, C. aromaticus:

a. some eastern aromatic plant or plants (supposed by some to be Andropogon Schoenanthus, the Sweet-scented Lemon Grass of Malabar); b. applied by some English herbalists to the native Sweet Flag or Sweet Rush (Acorus Calamus). 1388 Wyclif Ezek. xxvii. 19 Dan, and Greece, and Mosel, settiden forth in thi fairis .. calamus. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xv. lxxiii. (1495) 515 Calamum smellyth full swete of yuory. 1535 Coverdale Jer. vi. 20 Wherfore bringe ye me ..swete smellinge Calamus from farre countrees? 1611 Bible Ex. xxx. 23 Take thou .. of sweet calamus [Coverdale Kalmus] two hundred and fiftie shekels. 1650 Rawley tr.

Bacon's Life & Death 45 Broath .. with .. a little Angellica Seed, and Calamus. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece 1. iv. 243 Calamus Aromaticus 3 Ounces, leaves of Wall-Rue 4 Ounces. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xviii. 251 Of plants not ciliaceous.. Calamus Aromaticus or Sweet Rush. 1851 Longf. Gold. Leg., Nativity vi, Another goblet!.. Stir., drops of myrrh And calamus therein!

3. A genus of palms comprising many species, the stems of which grow to an extraordinary length, and form canes or rattans. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 135/2 Calamus .. the species .. grow in the forests, climbing over trees and bushes to a greater extent than any other known plants. 1885 H. Stanley Congo, The luxuriant and endless lengths of calamus are useful for flooring and verandah mats.

4. ‘A fistular stem without an articulation’ (Treas. Bot.). f 'calamy1. Obs. rare. Also chaalamy. form of calamus, in sense 2.

Early

1382 Wyclif Ex. xxx. 24 Tak to thee swete smellynge thingis .. of chaalamy [1388 calamy].-Jer. vi. 20 Wherto to me .. 3ee bringen .. calamy swote smellende?

f'calamy2. Obs. rare. [Cf. Ger. kalmei.] 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. ii Lapis calaminaris, or cadmia; in our language calamine, calamy, or cadmy.

calander, -re,

obs. varr. calandra.

calander, obs. form of calender. Ilcalando (ka'lando, -ae-, -ae-).

[It. calando slackening, descending: cf. calade.] A musical direction indicating that the tone is to be gradually diminished, and the rate slackened.

calandra

(ka'laendra). Also 6 calander, 9 calandre. [a. F. calandre, It. calandra (= Sp. calandria), ad. med.L. calandra, Gr. KaXavbpos, all applied to the same bird.] A species of lark (Alauda Calandra) with a body thicker than that of the sky-lark, found in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe 65 He was a Triton of his time, and a sweete singing calander to the state. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 726 Concerning the nature of the Calander.. she is hard to tame, if she be not taken in the nest. 1803 Rees Cycl., Calandra, the calandre lark. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 19 Apr. 12/1 In Milan, and also in Florence,.. he saw enormous masses of small birds .. field and calandra larks, and robin-redbreasts. 1953 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles II. 8 The calandra is a Mediterranean species. Ibid., The calandra lark is found almost exclusively in cultivated areas.

calandria (ka'laendria).

[Sp., lit. ‘lark (bird); calander’.] A closed cylindrical vessel with a number of tubes passing through it, used as a heat exchanger in an evaporator and, in some nuclear reactors, to separate a liquid moderator from the fuel rods and coolant. 1929 B. Heastie in E. Hausbrand Evap. App. (ed. 4) xxvii. 445 The Kestner Salting Type Evaporator consists essentially of., the separator and the calandria. The separator is a large cylindrical vessel around which the calandrias are grouped. Ibid. 446 Steam is admitted to the calandria, and the liquor then passes .. down into the bottom box of the calandria, up the calandria tubes, and back into the separator. 1955 Bull. Atomic Sci. Feb. 72/2 Working chiefly by remote control, the intensely ‘hot’ calandria, the heart of the reactor, was removed for safe burial. 1963 New Scientist 7 Nov. 305 In a tank (or ‘calandria’) which contains the heavy-water moderator there are fixed vertical tubes to contain the nuclear fuel.

fcalandring. Obs. [cf. calender v. and ii.2] A kind of stuff. 1697 Evelyn Numism. viii. 280 Several sorts of Stuff’s, Calandring and Chambletings.

calangall, var. of galingale, a plant.

Ilca'langay. A kind of white parrot, a native of the Philippine islands. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Calangay.. has a crest of white feathers. 1775 in Ash; and in subseq. Diets.

calange, obs. form of challenge. calapash, calapee, var. calipash, calipee. 'calapite, 'calappite. [In Fr. calapite: f. Malay calapa, kalappa, the coco-nut.] A stony concretion sometimes found in the coco-nut, and used as an amulet; a vegetable bezoar. calapyne, var. of calepin. calash (ka'laej), sb. Also 7 gallesh, calleche, calesh, galeche, 7-8 caleche, 9 caleche. [a. F. caleche, from Slavonic: Boh. kolesa, Pol. kolaska, dim. of kolasa ‘wheel-carriage’, f. kolo wheel: cf. Russ, kolaska calash, koleso wheel. In Eng., after many eccentricities, the word settled down as calash; but the Fr. form caleche is frequent in modern writers in reference to the Continent or Canada.] 1. A kind of light carriage with low wheels, having a removable folding hood or top. In Canada, a two-wheeled, one-seated vehicle,

CALASH usually without a cover, with a seat for the driver on the splashboard. a. Form caleche, etc. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 104/1 The Pope .. taking the air in a rich Caleche. 1673 Dryden Marr. a la Mode (1691) 16, I have been at your Lodgings in my new Galeche. 1676 Etheredge Man of Mode in. ii. (1864) 36 Truly there is a bell air in Galleshes as well as men. 1678 Butler Hud. in. 11. 871 Ladies hurried in Calleches, With Cornets at their Footmens Breeches. 1681 Dineley Jrnl. Tour Irel. in Trans. Kilkenny Archseol. Soc. Ser. 11. (1864) IV. 46 The Modell of a Calesh or Relune to be drawn with one Horse. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3801/7 A Cannon Shot.. carried away part of his Caleche. 1845 Gresley Frank's First Trip to Continent 24 A caleche was called. 1866 Thoreau Yankee in Can. i. 10 The Canadians, .were riding about in caleches.

f$. Form calash. 1679 R. Mansell Narr. Popish Plot 43 Proposing first to go in his Calash, and pass fora French-man. 1711 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. 43 The Motion [of a].. light Calash .. at first may seem a little troublesome, and the Shocks too rude. 1849 Sir R. Wilson Life (1862) I. iii. 129 Sleeping in the Calash.

2. The folding hood of such a carriage; also, the hood of a bathing machine, perambulator, etc. 1856 A. Smith Mr. Ledbury I. xv. 117 The calash of a.. bathing-machine.

3. A woman’s hood made of silk, supported with whalebone or cane hoops, and projecting beyond the face. Formerly in common use. 1774 Westm. Mag. II. 352 Chip hats or calashes. 1791 Wesley in Wks. (1872) VIII. 307 Give no ticket to any that wear calashes. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxix, That lady in her clogs and calash. 1852 Hawthorne Blithed. Rom. II. xii. 212 Priscilla wore, .a calash, which she had flung back from her head, leaving it suspended by the strings. 1867 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford (1873) 52 Three or four ladies in calashes met at Miss Barker’s door. A calash .. is a covering worn over caps not unlike the heads fastened on oldfashioned gigs.

4. attrib., as in calash-driver, -head, -top.

CALCARY

774 appears to have come into Eng. through some foreign lang. which changed r into /.] A name for certain varieties of pulse, as Dolichos barbadensis, D. sinensis, etc. 1620 Cocks's Diary II. 311 (Y.) They make their provition in aboundance .. garvances, or small peaze or beanes. 1767 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 126/2 Orders of his Majesty in council ..Importation into this Kingdom of oats.. peas, beans, tares, callivancies. 1772-84 Cook Voy. (1790) I. 246 Rice, callevances, and water-melons. Ibid. 255 To bring away the maize and callavances. 1779 Forrest New Guinea 104 Abounding with kalavansas (beans), but having no rice. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay vi, Salt fish and calavances, for such was our cargo, c 1880 Sir J. Hooker in Yule Gloss, s.v., When I was in the Navy, haricot beans were in constant use as a substitute for potatoes, and, in Brazil and elsewhere were called Calavances.

calaverite (ka'laevarait). Min. [f. Calaveras in California (where first found) + -ITE.] A tellurid of gold, or of gold and silver, bronzeyellow, massive, and without crystalline structure. 1868 Dana Min. 795 (Supp.) Calaverite is frequently associated with petzite. 1874 Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. XIV. 229 Calaverite .. is associated with sylvanite and quartz.

calaw,

variant of calloo.

calawey,

var. of calewey, Obs., a kind of pear.

calc- (kaelk). Min. and Geol. [a. Ger. kalk lime, MHG. kale, OHG. chalch ( = OE. cealc chalk), WGer. a. L. calc-em (calx) lime. In adopting the German term, English mineralogists have spelt it like Latin, and extended its use.] Lime: used attrib. or in comb. = ‘lime-, calcareous’, as in calc-sinter, -spar, -tuff; also calcaphanite, a calcareous variety of aphanite; calc-schist, calcareous schist, limestone shale. 1875 Dawson Dawn of Life iii. 53 Dark grey micaceous limestone or calc-schist. 1879 Rutley Stud. Rocks xiii. 247 The calc-aphanite schist has a schistose structure.

ca'lash, v. Also 9 callash. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To furnish with a calash.

llcalcaire (kal'keir).

calash, obs. form of galosh. calastic, a. so in Burton for chalastick, ad. Gr. xaXaoTLKos laxative. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. 11. v. iii. i. (1651) 401 Octavius Horatianus.. prescribes calastick Cataplasms, or dry purging medicines. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Calasticks, purging medecines, or oyntments. 1678 Phillips, Calasticks.

calat(e, var. of callet, Obs., drab, strumpet. calathian (ks'leiBisn), a. [ad. L. calathiana, otherwise, perh. correctly, calatina (viola).] In Calathian Violet, a name transferred from Pliny, identified with a gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe). 1578 Lyte Dodoens II. xxi, Of Autumne Belfloures, or Calathian Violets.. Cordus calleth them Pneumonanthe'. and truly it seemeth to be a certayne kinde of Gentian. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 85 Some smell not at all, to wit, the Calathian Violet with the small leafe. c 1806 R. Surtees Poem in Taylor Life (1852) 301 Our autumn fields are with pale gentian set, And the calathian glowing violet.

ii cala'thidium. Bot. [mod.L.; dim. f. L. calathus (see below).] ‘A name for the head of flowers (or better for the involucre only) of Compositae’ (Gray Bot. Text-bk.).

[Fr. (ad. L. calcarius)-, ‘calcareous’, sb. in Geology ‘calcareous stone, limestone’.] In calcaire grossier and calcaire silicieux (lit. coarse and siliceous limestone) the French names of two Middle Eocene strata of the Paris basin, used by geologists generally. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 64 The yellowish white building-stone of Paris, well known by the name of Calcaire grossier. 1838 - Elem. Geol. (1865) 300 The calcaire siliceux and the calcaire grossier occupy distinct parts of the Paris basin. 1873 Dawson Earth & Man x. 247. 1874 Dawkins Cave Hunt. ii. 26 The same may also be said of the calcaire grossier of the basin of Paris.

fcalcane. Obs. [see

-ANE2a.] Davy’s name for chloride of calcium; cf. bismuthane. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 348 Calcane consists of 31 chlorine and 19 of calcium.

calcaneal, calcanean (kael'keiniial, -an), a. Phys. [f. L. calcane-um + -al!, -an.] belonging to the heel-bone.

Of or

1847-9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 770/1 A superior and inferior calcaneal branch are generally observed. 1855 Owen Skel. & Teeth 65 There are three calcaneal processes.

Hence calcaneo- (-’einiiau), combining form, as in calcaneo-cuboid, -scaphoid, -tibial adjs. 1836-39 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II. 340 The strong calcaneo-cuboid ligament. 1842 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. 131 The inferior calcaneo-scaphoid ligament is a broad and fibro-cartilaginous band of ligament. 1839-47 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. III. 452/1 The calcaneo-tibial articulation.

Ilcalcaneum (kael'keinuam). calcaneum. f. calc-em heel.] heel.

Phys. [L. (os) The bone of the

calathiform ('kasbOiform), a. Bot. [mod. f. L. type *calathiformis basket-shaped, f. calathus basket (see below) + -formis -form: cf. F. calathiforme.] (See quot.)

1751 Chambers Cycl. 1798 C. H. Wilkinson Ess. Phys. & Philos. 39 The Calcaneum or hock. 1866 Huxley Preh. Rem. Caithn. 94 The whole length of the limb from the.. head of the femur to the under surface of the calcaneum.

1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. 400 Calathiform, cup-shaped; of somewhat hemispherical outline.

f calcanth. Obs. Name of a plant.

|| calathus (’kaebGas). PI. -i. [L.: a. Gr. Ka.Xa.6os vase-shaped basket, as seen on the head of Demeter in ancient Greek statues.] 1. An ancient basket (in sculpture, etc.). 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., The calathus or work-basket of Minerva, is no less celebrated among the poets, than her distaff. 1846 Ellis Elgin Marb. I. 20 On the head is a calathus, or basket. 1857 Birch Anc. Pottery I. (1858) 43.

2. Bot. = calathidium; ‘The head of flowers borne by composites’ (Treas. Bot. 1866). calavance fkaebvaens). ? Obs. Forms: 7 garvance, caravance, 8 calla-, callevance, callvanse, kalavansa, 8 callivancy, 8- calli-, calavance. [Orig. garvance, caravance, a. Sp. garbanzo chick-pea, according to Larramendi ad. Basque garbantzu, f. garau seed, corn + antzu dry. (Diez says the question of derivation from Gr. epefitvdos chick-pea is not worth consideration; though the Pg. form ervanfo suggests connexion with the Gr.) Calavance

1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 398 The fume of wall-wort, calcanth, parsely.. do also kill mice.

calcanth, -thum, calcanthus,

vitriol; see chalcanthum.

improper

1832 J. Lindley lntrod. Bot. 1. 120 Sometimes a petal is lengthened at the base into a hollow tube, as in Orchis, See.: this is called the spur or calcar, and by some nectarotheca. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 138/2 Calcar, or spur in flowers, is a hollow projection from the base of a petal, and has usually a conical figure. 1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. 400 Calcar, a spur; mostly used for the nectariferous one of a calyx or corolla.

2. Anat. Any of various spur-like bones of vertebrates, or the tibial spur of some insects. 1895 Camb. Nat. Hist. V. iii. 104 The spines at the top of the tibia [of insects], projecting beyond it, are called spurs, or calcares. 1898 Parker & Haswell Textbk. Zool. II. 254 On the tibial side of the first [digit] is a spur-like structure or calcar..: such a rudimentary digit is called a pr*hallux. 1951 C. K. Weichert Anat. Chordates x. 484 A small additional bone, the prehallux, or calcar, occurs on the tibial side of the tarsus in most salientians.

calcar, var. of calker1, Obs., a diviner. calcarate (’kselkareit), a. Bot. [f. calcar2 + -ate.] Furnished with a calcar or spur; spurred. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 143 Sepals 4-5, combined at the base.. the upper one calcarate. 1870 Bentley Bot. 221.

1822 Edin. Rev. XXXVII. 255/4 His sketch of the calashdriver. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's (1832) 233 [The vehicle] had a calash head.

1807 W. Irving Salmagundi (1824) 32 Well callash’d without and well bolster’d within.

!| calcar2 (’k£elka:(r)). Bot. [L. calcar, calcarispur, f. calc- heel + -ari- belonging to: see -ar.] 1. A hollow ‘spur’ from the base of a petal.

f.

chalc-,

Calycanthus.

calcar1 (’kaelka:(r)). [ad. It. calcara ‘a lime-kill’ (Florio), ‘a kind of oven or furnace to calcine vitreous matter in’ (Baretti); cf. L. calcaria lime¬ kiln, fern. sing, of calcarius, f. calx, -cis lime.] 1. In Glass-making-. ‘A small furnace, in which the first calcination is made of sand and potash, for the formation of a frit’ (Ure s.v.). 1662 C. Merret tr. Neri’s Art Glass 19 Mix St spread them well in the Calcar, with a rake, that they may be well calcined, & continue this till they begin to grow into lumps. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 104 The English call the whole Quantity, bak’d at a time in the Calcar, a Batch, 1832 Porter Porcelain & Gl. in Lardner's Cab. Cycl. 155 The Calcar is in the form of an oven about ten feet long, seven feet wide, and two feet high. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts II. 654 A reverberatory furnace or calcar.

2. Metall. An annealing arch or oven.

calcareo- (kael'keariau). Combining form of calcareous, used a. with adjectives, as calcareo-argillaceous (composed of clay with a mixture of lime), calcareo-magnesian, -sulphureous, etc.; also calcareo-coralligenous, producing a calcareous coral; b. with sbs. as calcareo-barite (see quot.) 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. 127 Springs strongly impregnated with calcareous or calcareo-sulphureous matters. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 204 Calcareo-magnesian limestone. 1837 Dana Min. (1868) 617 Calcareobarite is a white barite from Strontian containing.. 6-6°/ of lime. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. iv. (1873) 75 The grand calcareo-argillaceous deposit. 1846 Dana Zooph. vii. (1848) 113 Astrseiche, calcareo-coralligenous.

calcareous, -ious (ktel'kearias), a. [f. L. calcarius of lime (f. calc-em + -drius) + -ous. The spelling in -eous, which appeared about 1790, is erroneous, influenced by words in -eous, from L. -eus. The etymological sense of calcar-eous would be ‘of the nature of a spur’.] Of the nature of (carbonate of) lime; composed of or containing lime or lime-stone. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 52 If., the stones be of the warm calcarious kind. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. IV. 10 An animal or calcarious earth, which ferments with vinegar. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 284 Rich loams on a calcareous bottom. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) I. 34 Eggs covered with a hard, calcareous shell. 1854 Woodward Mollusca 81 The calcarious grit of Berkshire. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. viii. 120 If a water be described simply as calcareous, it is generally assumed that the particular salt of lime which it holds in solution is the carbonate.

b. calcareous earth = lime, chalk; calcareous spar = calc-spar; calcareous tufa = calctuff. 1756 Watson in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 896 Ten grains of calcarious earth. 1799 Mitchill Med. Geog. in Med. Jrnl. I. 255 Chalk, or calcareous earth. 1816 Sir H. Davy in Faraday Exp. Res. 4 Calcareous tufas.. found in every part of Italy. 1817 R. Jameson Charac. Min. 107 Calcareous spar, heavy spar afford examples of the hexahedral prism.

Hence calcareously adv., cal'careousness. Trav. France, etc. II. 167 This bank calcareously stratified. 1864 Webster

1816 Keatinge

appears to be Calcareousness.

calcariferous (kaelka'rifaras), a. [properly f. L. calcar spur + -(i)ferous; cf. F. calcarifere; the misuse (as if f. calc-) in 2 was app. due to thoughtless analysis of calc-arious as calcar¬ eous.] 1. ‘Bearing spurs’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). 2. catachr. for calciferous. 1853 Th. Ross Humboldt's Trav. III. xxxii. 387 M. Boussingault.. calls the rock of the Morros a ‘problematic calcariferous gneiss'. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Calcariferous, containing, or mingled with, lime.

calcariform (ksl’kaerifoim), a. [mod. f. L. ealedri- spur + -form, or a. F. calcariforme-, with the same confusion of calcar with calc- as in prec.] a. ‘Shaped like a calcar or spur’ (Treas. Bot.). b. catachr. ‘Having a calcareous, rhomboidal appearance’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1881). calcarine (’kaelkarain), a. [f. L. calcar spur + -ine.] Spur-like. 1871 Huxley in Darwin Desc. Man vii. (1883) 205 The deep calcarine fissure.

calcarious, etymol. form of calcareous. t'calcary, a. Obs. rare-', [ad. L. calcarius-, see -ARY1.] = CALCAREOUS. 1766 Phil. Trans. LVI. 232 The rocks below are mixed, calcary and noncalcary.

CALCATE f calcate, v. Obs. rare. [f. L. calcat- ppl. stem of calcare to trample under foot, f. calx the heel. ] trans. To trample or stamp under the heel. 1623 Cockeram, Calcate, to stampe. 1657 Tomlinson Renou s Disp. 552 It should be calcated with ones feet.

cal'cation. rare.

[f. prec.: see -ation.] Trampling under the heel; kicking.

1656 Blount Glossogr., Calcation, a treading or stamping. 1721-90 in Bailey. 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 342 Even a few

supernumerary calcations would have been overlooked.

t'calcatory. Obs. rare-', [ad. L. calcdtorium, f. calcare (see calcate).] A winepress, where the grapes are trodden. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. I. 461 Above it [thi wyne celar] well the calcatory make, A wyne pitte the oon half either to take.

HCalca'vella, Calca'vellos.

[so called from Carcavelhos (karka'veXos) in Portugal.] A sweet white wine brought from Lisbon. 1816 Accum Chem. Tests (1818) 190 Various wines and spirituous liquors .. Calcavella.

calce, calce-vive:

see calx.

f 'calceate, a. Obs. [ad. L. calceatus, pa. pple. of calceare to shoe, f. calceus shoe; see -ate2.] Furnished with shoes, shod. Fathers Calceate: the ‘mitigated’ or ‘moderate’ Carmelites, who do not go barefoot. Also as sb. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa 11. xvii. 117 He lived among the Fathers Calceate of the Rule relaxed. Ibid. II. xxi. 137 A Calceate Carmelite. Ibid. II. xxvii. 170 To live .. apart from the Calceates.

'calceate, v. Obs. [f. L. calceare: see prec. and -ate3.]

‘To shooe or put on shooes or socks’

(Blount Glossogr. 1656).

Hence 'calceated ppl. a. = calceate a. 1730-6 Bailey, Calceated, shod, or fitted with Shoos. Hence in Johnson and mod. Diets.

calced (kaelst), a. rare. [f. L. calc-eus shoe + -ED2.] Shod; = calceate. (Cf. discalced.) 1884 Addis & Arnold Cath. Diet. s.v. Carmelite, In Ireland there appear to be seven or eight Carmelite Friaries, calced and discalced.

calcedon, calcedony,

etc.: see chal-.

calceiform ('kaelsi:ifo:m), a. Bot. [mod. f. L. calceus shoe- + (i)form; cf. F. calceiforme.] Shaped like a shoe or slipper; calceolate. i860 Worcester cites Gray.

calceolaria (.kaelsiiau'lesns, ktelsis- ). Bot. [f. L. calceolus ‘small shoe, slipper’, dim. of calceus + botanical suffix -aria.] ‘Slipper-flower’ or ‘slipper-wort’; a genus of Scrophulariacese, the flower of which has some resemblance to a broad-toed slipper. Native to S. America, but cultivated in our gardens for the beauty of the flower. Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 324 Cuttings of Calceolarias, Fuchsias, Linums, and Pelargoniums, should now be planted in a shady border. 1873 Miss Broughton Nancy II. 35 The scentless flame of the geraniums and calceolarias. 1846 J. Baxter

calceolate (’kaelsialeit), a. Bot. [f. as prec. + -ate2.]

Shaped like a slipper.

1864 in Webster. 1870 Bentley Bot. 221 A slight modification of the personate.. sometimes termed calceolate. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. 11. 216. Hence 'calceolately adv. 1881 Dickson in Jrnl. Bot. X. 131 The far side of the funnel becomes calceolately pouched to an enormous extent.

calces, pi.

of calx.

f cal'cescence. Obs. [f. L. calc- lime, after fluorescence-, so called because typically exhibited in the lime-light.] Earlier term for calorescence. 1881 Nature XXIV. 66 Akin gave the name of calcescence to the phenomenon of the change of non-luminous heat-rays into luminous ones as in lime-light, but the term has been superseded by Tyndall’s term calorescence.

calcey,

CALCINATION

775

obs. form of causeway.

f 'calcia. Chem. Obs. [f. L. calc(i)- lime; cf. magnesia, soda, etc.] Oxide of calcium, lime. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 346 The important substance lime or calcia.

calcic ('kselsik), a. Chem. [f. calc-ium + -ic.] Of or containing calcium; = calcium attnb. 1871 Nichols Fireside Sc. 275 Calcic carbonates. 1883 Nature 1 Feb. 325 Precipitated calcic and magnesic phosphates. 1884 Harper's Mag. Aug. 442/2 [It] contains so large a per cent, of lime that it may well be called a calcicsulphur water.

calcicole ('kaelsiksl), a. Bot. [f. L. calc(i)-lime, calx + colere to inhabit.]

That grows best in

calcareous soil. Hence as sb., a calcicole plant. So cal'cicolous a.

processes continue to deposit shelly material. Gunther Fishes 315 Covered with calcified papillae.

1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 562/1 As to saxicole lichens .. they may be divided into two sections, viz. calcicole and calcifugous. To the former belong such as are found on calcareous and cretaceous rocks. 1886 J. E. Bagnall Handbk. Mosses 33 Another very characteristic calcicolous moss is Eucladium verticillatum. 1932 Fuller & Conard tr. Brauti-Blanquet's Plant Sociol. vi. 183 Mere traces of lime .. enable calcicoles to survive. Ibid. 184 The occurrence of calcicolous (lime-constant) communities. 1952 P. W. Richards Tropical Rain Forest ix. 223 Calcicole and calcifuge species. Ibid., True calcicoles.. dependent on the chemical rather than the physical properties of the limestone.

cal'cigenous, a. Chem. ? Obs. [f. L. calc(i)- in sense of calx + -gen-us born, bearing + -ous; cf. alkaligenous.] Producing a calx; said of those metals which with oxygen form a ‘calx’.

calcicrete

('kaelsikrirt), see calcrete.

calcidoine,

obs. form of chalcedony.

calciferol

(kael'sifaral). Chem. [f. calciferous a. + -ol, as in ergosterol.] Vitamin D2. 1931 T. C. Angus et al. in Proc. R. Soc. B. CVIII. 340 We think the provisional adoption of a name is justified.. and suggest ‘Calciferol’ in view of the high antirachitic activity of the substance. 1942 Endeavour I. 31/1 The first few almost microscopic crystals of calciferol were inspected by enthusiastic chemists. 1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xv. 174 Cases of lupus frequently respond to calciferol.

calciferous (kael'sifsras), a. [f. L. calc(i)- lime + -ferous. Cf. F. calcifere.] Yielding or containing (carbonate of) lime. (Chiefly Geol.) 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. 436 An effervescent calciferous clay. 1836-9 Todd Cycl. Anat. Phys. II. 380/2 This calciferous fluid forms a layer of shell. 1876 Page Adv. Textbk. Geol. xvii. 314 Some beds of calciferous sandstone.

calcific (kasl'sifik), a.

[f. as prec. 4- -fic.] Forming lime; belonging to calcification.

1861 Bumstead Ven. Dis. (1879) 594 Gummatous tumors occasionally undergo calcific degeneration. 1866 A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 59 We find calcific deposits in cheesy masses. 1869 Huxley Phys. xii. 324 A deposit of calcific matter takes place.

calcification (.kaelsifi'keifan).

[n. of action f.

calcify (L. * calcific-are)-, see prec. and -ation;

cf. F. calcification.] Conversion into lime; replacement of other matter by lime; the hardening of a structure, tissue, etc. by the deposit of salts of lime, as in the formation of teeth, and many forms of ‘petrifaction’ . *849-52 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 876/1 As calcification of the tooth progresses towards its base. 1854 Woodward Mollusca 11. 229 The shells.. differ from Rhynconella chiefly in the calcification of the oral supports.

b. concr. (the result of calcifying.) 1869 Nicholson Zool. xxx. (1880) 289 A calcareous shell formed by calcifications within the walls of the first three cephalic segments. 1872-Palaeont. 88 The sclerodermic coral.. is an actual calcification of part of the tissues of the polype.

calciform ('kaelsifoim), a. [f. L. calc(i)- lime a pebble + -form; but see also 3.] fl. Of metals: In the state of calx; oxidized.

1880

1854 Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc. Chem. 434 Metals, the oxides of which were termed by ancient chemists calces, and which are, therefore, known as the calcigenous metals. C1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 311/1 Three classes; namely, Alkaligeneous, Calcigeneous, and Metals proper.

calcigerous (k®l'sid33r3s), a. [f. L. calc(i)- + -ger bearing + -ous.] lime.

Holding or containing

*839-47 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. III. 847/2 Calcigerous cells. 1842 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. 53 True bone, characterised by the existence of numerous calcigerous cells.

calcimangite (kselsi'maerjgait). Min. [f. L. calc(i)- lime + mang-anese + -ite.] A synonym of Spartaite or manganiferous calcite. 1868 Dana Min. 678.

calcimine

(’kaelsimin, -main). [Later modification of kalsomine, after L. calci-, calx lime + inorganic -m- + -ine4. ] A trade name given to a kind of white or coloured wash for walls. 1864 Webster cites Hart. 1885 Spons' Mech. Own Bk. 612 The wash or calcimine can be used for ordinary purposes. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 2.9912. Should the ceilings and walls be calcimined or whitewashed, wash off old calcimine or whitewash. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 23 Jan. 4/3 The old-gold calcimine.. that covers the wall of the drawing-room. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xi. 134 Sharlee tapped the calcimine with her pointed finger-nails. 1930 T. S. Eliot tr. St.-J. Perse's Anabasis 27 My heart twittered with joy under the glare of the calcimine. 1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait iii. 19 The faint smear on the cream calsomine.

Hence 'calcimine v., to whitewash; 'calci,miner, a whitewasher, or wall-colourer. 1885 Advance (Chicago) 4 June 361 Yesterday the calciminers invaded our dwelling. 1919 Chambers's Jrnl. May 327/1 The quarters were.. somewhat garishly calcimined within. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel 300 He was in a small room calsomined bright yellow.

calcimurite (kaelsi'mjuarait). Min. [f. L. calc(i)- lime + muri-ate (= chlor-ate) + -ite.] ‘A chloritic calcareous earth’ (Craig); a blue or olive-green earth of the consistency of clay. calcinable (ksel'sain3b(3)l), a. [f. calcine -able] Capable of being calcined.

v.

+

1652 French Yorksh. Spa ii. 22. 1756 Wright in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 675 Marble, sea-shells, chalk, and other calcinable matter. 1789 j. Keir Diet. Chem. 93/1 By fire it [molybdena] is calcinable.

t'calcinate, a. and sb.

Obs. [ad. med.L. calcinatum (that which is) calcined.] A. adj. Calcined. B. sb. A calcined form or product, as calcinate of magnesia.

1782 Withering in Phil. Trans. LXX. 333 Iron in a calciform state. 1784 Kirwan ibid. LXXIV. 160 Many calciform iron ores become magnetic by calcination. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 47 Thus, as the metals have been distinguished by the termination ‘urn’ as ‘aurum’, so their calciform or oxidated state might have been denoted by the termination ‘a’ as ‘aura’.

1610 Markham Masterp. 11. xli. 284 Eate it out either with verdigrease .. or else with Mercury calcinate. [1685 Boyle Effects of Motion iv. 37 Nitre itself may without Tartar be speedily reduced to a Calcinatum.]

2. ‘Pebble-shaped’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1881). 3. [f. L. calx heel.] ‘Having a projection like a

1559 Morwyng Evonym. 319 Sum put Tartarum to be calcinated in a newe pot in a potters oven. 1598 Florio, Calcinare, to calcinate. 1610 Markham Masterp. 11. lxxix. 355 Other Farriers vse to calcinate Tartar, and dissolue it in water. 1626 Bacon Sylva §87 The Heat that these degrees; First, it indurateth and then maketh Fragile; And lastly it doth Incinerate, and Calcinate.

heel’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1881).

calcifuge ('kaelsif(j)u:d3), a. Bot. [f. calci- (see a.) + -fuge.] Not suited by calcareous soil; that grows best in acid soil. Hence as sb., a calcifuge plant. So cal'ci fugous a.

calcicole

1882 [see CALCICOLE a.]. 1909 Cent. Diet. Suppl., Calcifuge a. 1926 Tansley & Chipp Study of Veget. vii. 122 When the acidity is well marked the soil bears special plant communities (often called calcifuge) excluding many species of plants altogether. 1946 Nature 17 Aug. 240/1 Several other blue-fruiting calcifuges. 1957 P. Greig-Smith Quant. Plant Ecology v. 109 Compare, for example, the occurrence of Calluna vulgaris, normally calcifuge, on calcareous soils under extreme climatic conditions.

calcify (’kselsifai), v. Phys. [f. L. calc(i)- lime + -fy; on the type of a L. *calci-ficare, F. calcifier.]

1. trans. To convert into lime; to replace other matter by lime; to harden by the deposit of lime. 1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856) 42 Each layer was successively calcified .. and thrown off by the mantle to unite with those previously formed. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon 11. ill. iii. 97 The stones are gradually dissolved, and serve to calcify and harden the new skin.

2. intr. To become calcified; see prec. sense. 1859 J- Tomes Dent. Surg. (1873) 3 The edges of the front teeth first assume their full dimensions in the form of pulp, and then calcify. 1876 tr. Wagner's Pathol. 259 The fibrin calcifies, becoming a fixed, continuous stone-like mass.

Hence 'calcified ppl. a.; 'calcifying vbl. sb. and ppl. a. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. fi? Phys. I. 116/1 The chorion of the ova is generally thin or coriaceous, seldom calcified or hard. Ibid. II. 381/2 The calcifying fluid from which the shell is formed. 1875 Blake Zool. 233 The calcifying

t'calcinate, v. Obs. [f. med.L. calcinat- ppl. stem of calcinate.] = calcine.

Hence ‘calcinated, 'calcinating ppl. adjs. 1611 Cotgr., Calcinatoire, calcinatorie, calcinating. 1615 Daniel Queen's Arcad. (1717) 185 He sucks Out of a little hollow instrument Of calcinated Clay, the Smoak thereof. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Cinnaber, made of calcinated Sulphur and Quick-silver.

calcination (kadsi'neijsn). [n. of action f. med.L. calcinare: see calcine and -ation.] 1. The action or process of calcining; reduction by fire to a ‘calx’, powder, or friable substance; the subjecting of any infusible substance to a roasting heat. C1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. & T. 251 Oure fourneys eek of Calcinacion [v.r. Calcynacion] . 1393 Gower Conf. II. 86 The point of sublimation And forth with calcination. 1583 Plat Divers new Exper. (1594) 22 Wheresoeuer there bee any stones that be subject to calcination. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. 11. v. (1616) 632 Name the vexations, and the martyrizations Of mettalls in the worke .. Putrefaction, Solution, Ablution, Sublimation, Cohobation, Calcination, Ceration, and Fixation. 1678 R. R[ussell] tr. Geber 11. 1. iv. xiv. 120 Calcination is the Pulverization of a Thing by Fire. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 167 Bones.. may be freed of the animal matter by calcination. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts I. 573 The process of burning lime, to expel the carbonic acid, is one of calcination.

fb. Extended to other processes producing similar results; or used as synonymous with oxidation in general. Obs. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 268 Calcination is solution of bodies into Calx or Alcool, by desiccation of the native humidity, by reverberate ignition, by Amalgamation,

by Aqua fortis, the Spirit of salt Vitriol, Sulphur, or the like. 1641 French Distill, i. (1651) 9 Calcination. .may be done two waies—by firing, by Corosion. 175* Chambers Cycl. s.v. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. 1. 1. i. 10 According to its degree of oxydation (calcination). 1822 Imison Sc. & Art II. 20 The process of combining a metal with oxygen was called calcination, now oxigenation.

2. gen. A combustion.

burning

CALC-SINTER

776

CALCINATOR

to

ashes,

complete

1616 Bullokar, Calcination, a burning, a turning into ashes. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. v. 92 The earth reformed out of its ashes and ruins after such a calcination. 1822 Blackw. Mag. XII. 280 Those burnings of barns . and the general calcination which has gone through the country.

3. A calcined condition. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 28 Steno had compared the fossil shells.. and traced the various gradations from the state of mere calcination, when their natural gluten only was lost, to the perfect substitution of stony matter.

b. concr. That which has been calcined, a calcined product or ‘calcinate'. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 104 Fritt is .. a Calcination of those Materials which make Glass. 1725 Bradley Fam. Diet. II. s.v., A quarter of an Ounce of this Calcination.

f 'calculator. Obs. [Agent-noun f. med.L. calcinare.] One who practises calcination.

19 There are souls in which the burning heat of some transfusing purpose calcines every other thought.

3. intr. To suffer calcination. 1704 Newton Opticks (J.) This crystal is a pellucid fissile stone.. enduring a red heat without losing its transparency, and, in a very strong heat, calcining without fusion. I771 Hamilton in Phil. Trans. LXI. 49 Its cone in many parts has been calcined, and is still calcining, by the hot vapours. 1861 A. B. Hope Eng. Cathedr. vi. 226 The drawback of these stones [clunch and chalk] is.. that under fire they calcine.

[f. calcine v. + -ED1.] Reduced to dry powder or ash by burning; subjected to the thorough action of fire; purged by fire.

calcined (ksl'saind).

1583 Plat Divers new Exper. (1594) 37 Weigh out of this calcined coppresse one part. 1605 Timme Quersit. 11. i. 105 Salts may be extracted out of all calcined metalls. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 264 Calcin’d Hartshorn, which has something of this Quality. 1810 Henry Elem. Chem. (1826) I. 619 Pure magnesia.. is.. prepared by the calcination of the carbonate, and hence its name of calcined magnesia. 1870 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (ed. 3) xi. 301 When a decoction of meat is effectually screened from ordinary air, and supplied solely with calcined air, putrefaction never sets in. 1876 Routledge Discov. 28 The calcined ore is then ready for the blast furnace.

1635 Person Varieties 1. 42 What is your opinion concerning the potableness of Gold, after which, our Chymists .. and Calcinators .. make such search and labour?

tcal'cineous, a.

calcinatory (kael'sinsteri, 'kaelsi-), a. and sb. [f. med.L. calcinat- ppl. stem of calcinare + -ORY.] A. adj. Serving for calcination.

1660 tr. Paracelsus Archidoxis 1. vi. 86 How acute or Calcineous soever it be.. tis by that acuity alone that it Operates.

1611 Cotgr., Calcinatoire, calcinatorie, calcinating. 1678 R. R[ussell] tr. Geber v. i. 273 Let the Calcinatory Furnace be made square in length four foot.

B. sb. A vessel used for calcination calcinatorium (vas) in Du Cange].

[=

1730-6 in Bailey; hence in Johnson and mod. Diets.

t'calcine, a. Obs. rare~x. [? ad. med.L. calcineus, or ? *calcinus, f. calx lime.] Of lime. 1576 Baker GesnePs Jewel of Health 206 a, An oyle will then issue, which shall be named the calcine oyle.

Obs. rare—', [a. med.L. calcine-us (f. calx lime) + -ous.] Of the nature of quick-lime; caustic.

calciner (kaersain3(r)). [f. 1. One who calcines.

calcine v. + -er1.]

1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. xxix, A Calciner of Ashes.

2. An apparatus for calcining; spec, a kiln or furnace for roasting ore. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 502/1 The charge of ore usually put into the calciner weighs about three .. tons. 1870 Eng. Mech. 21 Jan. 447/3 There are two calciners in use [in roasting copper ore], one of them known as an ‘open’, and the other as a ‘blind’ calciner. 1879 Encycl. Brit. iX. 842.

calcining (kael'sainir)), vbl. sb. [f. calcine (kael'sain, 'kael-), v. Also 4 calcene, 4-5 calcyne. [ad. med.L. calcinare, a term of the alchemists, ‘to burn like lime, to reduce to calx'. Prob. the med.L. word arose in Italy, where calcina ‘lime, quick-lime’, deriv. of It. calce, L. calcem, is cited by Du Cange in a Latin document of 1215; Florio has also calcinare to burn lime, ‘to burn minerals to correct the malignitie of them’. The accentuation 'calcening occurs in Chaucer; calcine is the pronunciation in Ben Jonson, and all the poets since; though some recent Dictionaries give 'calcine either as an alternative or sole pronunciation.]

1. To reduce to quick-lime, or to an analogous substance, by roasting or burning; ‘to burn in the fire to a calx or friable substance’ J. By the alchemists and early chemists this was supposed to be to reduce a mineral or metal to its purest or most refined residuum by driving off or consuming all the more volatile and perishable constituents; in reality it yielded in most cases a metallic oxide, though sometimes only a finely comminuted or sublimed form of a metal, or a desiccated form of other substance. c 1386 [see calcining vbl. sb.]. c 1460-70 Bk. Quintessence 9 The science to brynge gold into calx.. in \>e corusible 3e schal fynde pe gold calcyned and reducid into er|?e. 1580 R. Day {title) The Key of Philosophic.. howe to prepare, Calcine, Sublime, and dissolue all manner of Mineralls. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 599 Fire burneth and calcineth stone, whereof is made that mortar which bindeth all worke in masonry. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. 11. iii. (1616) 624, I sent you of his feces there, calcin’d. Out of that calx, I ha’ wonne the salt of Mercvry. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 199 Swines hoofs burnt or Calcined till they be white. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. 1. §50, I would gladly know how Moses with an actuall fire calcin’d, or burnt the Golden Calfe into powder. 1799 G. Smith Labor at. I. 77 A little nitre thrown into the crucible, which effectually calcines the remaining regulus of antimony. 1822 Imison Sc. & Art II. 318 Take some oysters-shells, calcine them, by keeping them in a good fire for about an hour. 1832 Ht. Martineau Hill Vail. iv. 57 Mr. Wallace explained how the ironstone, or mine as it is called, is calcined in the kilns. 1874 Knight Diet. Mech. s.v. Calcination, Copper and other ores are calcined, to drive off the sulphur, the sulphurets being oxidized and sulphuric acid being disengaged and volatilized.

b. To subject to a heat sufficient to desiccate thoroughly, destroy contained organisms, etc. 1880 MacCormac Antisept. Surg. 105 Schroder and Dusch established that it was not necessary to calcine air.

c. fig. To purify or refine by consuming the grosser part. 1634 Habington Castor a (1870) 130 Yet you by a chaste Chimicke Art, Calcine fraile love to pietie. 1648 Earl Westmorld. Otia Sacra (1879) 88 The Crimson streaks belace the Damaskt West, Calcin’d by night, rise pure Gold from the East. n Chambers Cycl. Supp. 1832 Gell Pompeiana I. vi. 106 The stove of the caldarium. 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics (i860) I. v. i. 110 It.. grinds their corn, fills their caldarium. 1881 Darwin Earth-worms 227 The tops of the broken down walls of a caldarium or bath were likewise covered up with 2 feet of earth.

Caldee, obs. form of Chaldee. II caldera (kal'dera). Geol. [a. Sp. caldera = Pg. caldeira, F. chaudiere cauldron, kettle, boiler:—L. caldaria, pl. of prec.] A deep cauldron-like cavity on the summit of an extinct volcano.

1829 Carlyle For. Rev. & Cont. Misc. IV. 138 Mathesis, of which, it has been said, many a Great Calculist has not even a notion.

1865 Lyell Elem. Geol. (ed. 6) 632 Enlarged afterwards into a caldera. 1875 Watts Diet. Chem. VII. 553 [In] the valley of Furnas .. the soil is now perforated by a number of geysers. The three largest and most active of these are called ‘caldeiras’.

t calcu'lose, a. [ad. L. calculos-us stony.] 1. Stony, pebbly.

'calderite. Min. A variety of garnet.

r 1420 Pallad. on Husb. 11. 274 The feldes calculose.

2. Med. = calculous 1. 1686 Sir T. Browne’s Pseud. Ep. 11. iv. 61 Calculose [ed. 1646 calculous] concretions in the kidney.

Hence calculosity.

CALEFACTION

778

rare

1837 Dana Min. (1868) 269 Calderite, a mineral from Nepaul, is said to be nothing but massive garnet.

caldese, var. of chaldese v., to cheat. fcaldewelle. Obs.

1656 Blount Glossogr., Calculosity, fulness of stones or Counters.

1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 192 Item payd ffor viij. pypys of caldewelle, ix.r.

calculous ('kaelkjutas), a. [ad. L. calculos-us, f. calculus stone, pebble; corresp. to F. calculeux.] 1. Med. Of or pertaining to a calculus or the stone; diseased with the stone; calculary.

t caldmawe: see calmewe.

1605 Timme Quersit. in. 156 A remedy .. to mittigate and to dissolue such calculous & stony matter. 1683 Robinson in Ray's Corr. (1848) 137 A good medicine in some scorbutic and calculous cases, a 1801 W. Heberden Comment, xvi. (1806) 84 In opening the bodies of calculous persons. 1803 Med. Jrnl. IX. 355 To ascertain the precise nature of calculous urine. 01827 Abernethy Surg. Wks. (1827) II. 207 No calculous concretion was found after death. 1858 Lond. Rev. Oct. 230 A victim of confirmed calculous disease.

\2. Stony (as the ‘calculary’ of a pear). Obs.

caldrife, var. of cauldrife a. Sc., cold. caldron, another spelling of cauldron sb. fcale, sb.1 Obs. [a. F. cale in same sense.] A kind of head-dress worn by women; a caul. 1588 Deloney in Roxburgh Ballads (1887) VI. 391 Her Ladies.. in costly cales of gold.

f cale, sb.2 Obs. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4453/4 One black Gelding.. with a very large Star tending to a Cale, a charge lately laid on his Left Eye.

cale, sb.3,

early northern f. kale, cole, cabbage,

and cabbage broth or soup.

cale:

see also cales.

t cale, v. Obs. [a. F. cale-r in same sense (= Pr., Sp. calar. It. calare):—L. chala-re, ad. Gr. xaAa-x to slacken, loosen, let down, lower.] trans. To lower (sails, yards, etc.). 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 211 By the malignancie or over-mastering power of a cross winde, they should be forced to cale the hypocritical bunt.

|| calean, callean, calleoon. [Pers. qaliyan.] ‘A water-pipe for smoking; the Persian form of the hubble-bubble’ (Yule). 1739 Elton in Hanway Trav. (1762) I. 1. v. 16 Several Persians of distinction, who, smoaking their callean, observed a profound silence. 1811 H. Martyn Let. in Mem. ill. (1825) 412 Reclining in garden and smoking caleans. 1828 Kuzzilbash i. 59 (Y.) The elder of the men met to smoke their calleoons under the shade.

caleatour:

see caliatour.

calecannon,

var. of colcannon.

caleche, caleche:

see calash.

Caledonian (kaeli'daunian), a. and sb.

[f. Caledonia, Roman name of part of northern Britain, in modern times applied poetically or rhetorically to Scotland, or the Scottish Highlands, ‘Caledonia, stern and wild’ (Scott).] A. adj. 1. Of ancient Caledonia; of Scotland. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Caledonian, belonging to Scotland, formerly called Caledonia. 1785 Warton Milton's Silv. Lib. (T.) Tinged with Caledonian or Pictish woad. Mod. Used in titles, as ‘the Gentlemen of the Caledonian Hunt’, ‘the Caledonian Railway’.

2. Geol. Designating or pertaining to the great mountain-building episode of late Silurian and early Devonian times in Britain and Scandinavia; also applied to contemporary mountain-building elsewhere. Hence 'Caledonoid a., of or pertaining to the direction assumed by the Caledonian mountain-folds, generally from north-east to south-west. 1903 Geikie Text-Bk. Geol. (ed. 4) I. in. 1. iii. 394 In north-western Europe, the prevalent line along which terrestrial plications took place during the earlier half of Palaeozoic time was from S.W. or S.S.W. to N.E. or N.N.E. —the Caledonian chain of Professor Suess. 1906 Sollas tr. Suess’s Face of Earth II. in. ii. 82 These pre-Devonian mountains, which proceed from Norway and form the whole of Scotland . . we call the Caledonian mountains. 1913 C. Lapworth in G. A. Auden Handbk. for Birmingham 598 The trend.. N.E., S.W... which suggests that trend characteristic .. of the ‘Caledonian Movement’ becomes .. naturally referred to as the Caledonoid Trend. 1929 L. J. Wills Physiogr. Evol. Brit. 11. vi. 76 ‘Caledonian’ implies a fold produced during the post-Silurian orogeny, but ‘Caledonoid’ refers to a south-west to north-east fold of any age-

B. sb. A native of ancient humorously — Scotchman.

Caledonia;

1768 J. Macpherson (title) Critical Dissertations on the Origin of the Ancient Caledonians. 1781 (title) The Unfortunate Caledonian in England. 1813 J. Grant (title) Account of the Piets, Caledonians, and Scots. 1883 Daily News 4 Sept. 5/6 Those who go ‘through’ with the volatile Caledonian [Flying Scotchman],

caledonite (’kaelidau.nait). Min. [f. L. Caledon¬ ia Scotland + -ite.] A mineral (see quot.) found at Leadhills in Lanarkshire and elsewhere. 1863 Watts Diet. Chem. (1879) cupreous sulpho-carbonate of lead, Scotland.

caleduct,

I. 722 Caledonite, from Leadhills in

var. of caliduct.

caleevere,

obs. form of caliver.

calefacient (kaelifeij(i)3nt), a. and sb. [ad. L. calefacient-em, pr. pple. of calefacere to make warm, f. cale-re to be warm 4- facere to make.] A. adj. Producing warmth. B. sb. Med. A medical agent which produces warmth or a sense of heat. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 418 It’s cured..by., calefacients. 1881 in Syd. Soc. Lex. 1885 Ld. Bramwell in 19th Cent. June 1027 Galen .. says: ‘Old age is cold and dry, and is to be corrected by calefacients.’

t cale'facted, ppl. a. [f. L. calefact-us heated + -ed.] Heated, warm. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physick 85/1 Liquefye it in some calefactede locatione.

calefaction

(kaeli'fsekjan). Also 6 cali-, 7 calfaction, callifaction. Now rare. [ad. L. calefaction-em, n. of action f. calefacere.] 1. Making warm (lit. and fig.); warming, heating. x547 Boorde Brev. Health lxxiii. 22 It doth signifye califaction of the lyver. 1574 Newton Health Mag. 4 Exercise by motion and calefaction. 1658 R. Franck North. Mem. (1821) 35 Ardent are other some because influenced by callifaction. C1750 Franklin Lett. Wks. i84oVI.98The blood is returned again to the heart for a fresh calefaction. *852 J. H. Newman Scope Univ. Educ. 10 The science of calefaction and ventilation is reserved for the north.

CALEFACTIVE 2. Heated condition.

calendse, kalendse calends, the day on which

1634 R. H. Salerne Regim. 196 The Calefaction or boyling ceaseth not by Blood-letting. 1844 Blackvj. Mag. 509 [He] paused after his labours in a state of extreme calefaction. f3. Med. (See quot.) Obs. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 268 Calfaction is a.. preparing simple and compound medicaments, not by boyling or burning, but by the moderate heat of the Sun, fire, fimus equinus, vel ejus vicarius.

calefactive (kasli'faektiv), a. Now rare. [f. L. calefact-, ppl. stem of calefacere to warm: see -ive.] Having the tendency to warm; warming. 1576 Newton tr. Lemnie’s Complex. (1633) 101 The warme and calefactive spirit, which .. was infused into the whole world. 1678 Hobbes Decameron Wks. 1845 VII. 120 The air.. had gotten a calefactive power. 1874 B. Bernard X. Lover I. 158 Calefactive depths of Celticism.

calefactor

(kaeh'faekt3(r)). [Agent-noun of Latin type from calefacere to warm.] f 1. He who, or that which warms; a warmer.

1605 Timme Quersit. 11. vii. 133 It standeth in neede of a calefactor and restorer of heate.

2. Name of a small kind of stove. 1831 Fraser's Mag. III. 140 On the one hand .. smokes (in patent calefactors) a Dinner of innumerable courses.

cale'factory (kaeli'faektari), a. and sb. [ad. L. calefactorius having heating power, f. calefacere to warm; in B, ad. med.L. calefactorium a place or appliance for warming.] A. adj. Adapted for or tending to warming. 1711 J. Puckle Club (1817) 53 Love, like sunbeams.. contracted to one object is fervent and calefactory. 1848 Bachelor of Albany 78 Calefactory arrangements and thermal comforts.

B. sb. 1. The room in a monastery where the inmates warmed themselves. 1681 Blount Glossogr., Calefactory, is a room in a Monastery, with one or more fires in it, where the Religious persons warm themselves, after they come from Matins. 1774 T. West Antiq. Furness (1805) 73 The locutorium, calefactory, and conversation room. 1844 S. R. Maitland Dark Ages 406 Warmed by hot air from the stove in the calefactory.

2. A warming-pan; the ball of precious metal containing hot water, on which the priest warmed his hands when administering the eucharist in cold weather; otherwise called the pome. 1536 Inv. Lincoln Cathedral in Monasticon Anglic. VIII. 1281 A calefactory, silver and gilt, with leaves graven, weighing nine ounces and half. 1536 Regist. Riches in Antiq. Sarisb. (1771) 198 A Fat of Silver for holy water.. a calefactory, silver and gilt with divers Scriptures. f3. = CALEFACIENT sb. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 203 Many calefactories .. as Pepper, Bartram, Bitumen. f'calefy, v. Obs. Also calify. [ad. med.L. caleficare, f. calere to be hot; see -fy.] 1. trans. To make warm or hot; to warm, heat. Also absol. Hence 'calefied ppl. a. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (1531)31 This spirituall sterre of grace .. calefyeth [marg. warmeth] & illumyneth our soules. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physick 13/1 Take the kernelles of wallnuttes, lay them in calefyede water. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 38 Which taken alone do greatly calefy.

2. intr. To become warm. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 51 Crystall will calefy unto electricity, that is a power to attract strawes or light bodies. 1658 R. Franck North. Mem. (1821) 350 Soils, which calify and indurate by the Sun’s reflection.

calegarth, var. of

calgarth

Obs.,

cabbage

accounts were due; see calends.]

1. The system according to beginning and length of successive and the subdivision of the year into fixed; as the Babylonian, Jewish, Arabic calendar.

which the civil years, its parts, is Roman, or

Julian Calendar, that introduced by Julius Caesar b.c. 46, in which the ordinary year has 365 days, and every fourth year is a leap year of 366 days, the months having the names, order, and length still retained. Gregorian Calendar, the modification of the preceding adapted to bring it into closer conformity with astronomical data and the natural course of the seasons, and to rectify the error already contracted by its use, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in a.d. 1582, and adopted in Great Britain in 1752. See style. C1205 Lay. 7219 He [Julius Caesar] makede I?ane kalender. 01300 Cursor M. 24916 pat moneth pat man clepes.. Decembre in \>e kalunder. 1387 Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 247 Som monf>e in pe kalendere hap but foure Nonas, and som hap sixe. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle v. i. 73 The competister in the Craft of the Kalendar he cleped seculum the tyme of an honderd yeere. 1611 Bible Pref. 2 When he [Caesar] corrected the Calender, and ordered the yeere according to the course of the Sunne. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xxiii. 311 When the public attention was called to the reformation of the Kalendar. 1854 Tomlinson Arago's Astron. 188 The Arabic calendar, which is that of the Mahometans, is exclusively based on the course of the moon. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits x. Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 70 Roger Bacon explained precession of the equinoxes, [and] the consequent necessity of the reform of the calendar. 1886 R. Thomson Relig. Humanity 20 The founder of the Church [Aug. Comte] drew up its calendar.. Each of the thirteen lunar months of the year is sacred to the memory of a great leader of humanity.

2. A table showing the division of a given year into its months and days, and referring the days of each month to the days of the week; often also including important astronomical data, and indicating ecclesiastical or other festivals, and other events belonging to individual days. Sometimes containing only facts and dates belonging to a particular profession or pursuit, as Gardener's Calendar, Racing Calendar, etc. Also a series of tables, giving these facts more fully; an almanac. CI340 Alisaunder 623 If any wight.. wilnes pem [pe twelue signes] knowe, Kairus to pe Kalender • & kenne yee may. C1391 Chaucer Astrol. 1. § 11 The names of the halidayes in the kalender. 1481 Caxton Myrr. 11. xxxi. 126 This is xii tymes so moche & more ouer as the calender enseigneth. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, The Table and Kalendar expressing the order of the Psalms and Lessons. 1595 Shaks. John hi. i. 86 What hath this day deseru’d?.. That it in golden letters should be set Among the high Tides in the Kalender? 1635 Austin Medit. 207 Our Church keeps no Solemnitie for his [John the Baptist’s] Death (though the Remembrance of it be in her Calender). 1759 Miller Gard. Diet. Pref., The Gardeners Kalendar which was inserted in the former editions of this book. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 38 Greatness .. of a kind not to be settled by reference to the court calendar. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 423 Appendix, Agricultural Calendar. 1879 Print. Trades jfrnl. xxviii. 11 Almanacks and calendars in great variety.

b. A contrivance for reckoning days, months, etc. 1719 De Foe Crusoe 1. 74 Every seventh Notch was as long again as the rest, and every first Day of the Month as long again as that long one, and thus I kept my Kalender. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ., Captive (1778) II. 31 A little calendar of small sticks, .notch’d all over with the dismal days and nights he [a captive] had passed there. 1863 T. Wright in Macm. Mag. Jan. 173 The Roman calendar of marble., presented the more prominent attributes of the modern almanac.

f 3.fig. A guide, directory: an example, model.

garden.

Ilcalembour (kalabur, 'kaetambusr, -ae-). Also calembourg. [Fr. (According to Chasles, quoted by Littre, from the name of ‘the Abbe de Calemberg, a witty personage in German tales’, i.e. Pfarrer Wigand von Theben, known as the ‘Pfaff von Kahlenberg’ or Priest of Kahlenberg in Lower Austria.)] A pun. 1830 Fraser's Mag. II. 237 All British-born .. people .. father their calembourgs on Rogers. 1876 A. S. Palmer Word-hunter’s Note-bk. 167 A mere calembour on the resemblance between the word ebrius and Ebraeus.

calembuc(o, calemint, calend,

CALENDARER

779

obs. form of calambac.

obs. form of calamint.

occas. obs. sing, of calends.

calendal (ks'lendal), a. [f. L. calend-se

calends

+ -al1.] Of or pertaining to the Calends. 1839 Fraser’s Mag. XX. 204 In the most ancient calendal system. Ibid. 328 Each of the thirty calendal forms had its one or more animal representatives.

calendar

('k£etand3(r)), sb. Forms: 3-8 kalender, 4 kalunder, calundere, kalendeere, -dre, -dare, 4-5 kalendere, 4-8 calender, 5 calendere, kalander, 7 callander, 6- kalendar, 7- calendar, [a. AF. calender, = OF. calendier list, register: —L. calendarium account-book, f.

C1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 542 Thou..woste well that kalender ys she To any woman that wull louer be. c 1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) I1C5 Lete hem afore be to yow a Kalendere. 1413 St. Trials Hen. V(R.) Images.. introduced .. by the permission of the church, to be as a calendar to the laity and the ignorant. 1426 Audelay Poems 27. 1602 Shaks. Ham. v. ii. 114 He is the card or calendar of gentry.

4. A list or register of any kind. (In the general sense, now only fig.) ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2641 Kydd in his kalander a knyghte of his chambyre. 1479 Office Mayor Bristol in Eng. Gilds 429 To be called and named the Maire of Bristowe is Register, or ellis the Maire is Kalender. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 141 He shoulde haue alwaies a little calender of them apart to vse readily. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Ch. Militant 243 When Italie .. shall.. all her calender of sinnes fulfill. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 207 The last time in Daniel’s Kalendar of his Four Kingdoms. 1689 Myst. Iniq. 16 Registred in the Kalender with those that stood precluded the King’s Favour. 1857 H. Reed Led. Brit. Poets iii. 81 The calendar which opens so nobly with the name of Chaucer, closes worthily in our day with that of Wordsworth.

b. esp. A list of canonized saints, or the like. (Now usually treated as a form of sense 2, the days dedicated to the memory of the saints being usually registered in the ‘calendar’ or almanac.) 1601 Holland Pliny II. 346 When they receiued /Esculapius as a canonized god into their Kalender. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows in. §45. 266 Such as the Holy Ghost registreth in the Kalender of true Saints. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xxxiii. 254 The calendar of martyrs received.. a considerable augmentation. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 256 Peace offerings to every saint in the Kalendar.

c. A list of prisoners for trial at the assizes.

[1591 Declar. Gt. Troubles in Harl. Misc. (1809) II. 214 To call those inquisitions, with their answeres to be put into writing .. to keepe in a maner of a register or kalender]. 1764 R. Sanders (title) The Newgate Calendar. 1768 Blackstone Comm. IV. 376 The usage is, for the judge to sign the calendar, or list of all the prisoners’ names. 1823 Lamb Last Ess., To Shade of Ellis ton, Rhadamanthus .. tries the lighter causes.. leaving to his two brothers the heavy calendars. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits iv. Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 28 The crimes recorded in their calendars.

d. spec. A list or register of documents arranged chronologically with a short summary of the contents of each, so as to serve as an index to the documents of a given period. [1467 Ordin. Worcester in Eng. Gilds 370 The Kalender of the articles and acts afore specified.] 1830 (Rolls Series) (title) Calendars of the Proceedings in Chancery in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1856 (title) Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series of the Reign of Edward VI.

f5.fig. A record. Obs. 1601 Shaks. All's Well 1. iii. 4 The Kalender of my past endeuours. 1649 Selden Laws Eng. 1. lvii. (1739) 105 His meritorious Holy War could never wipe it out of the Calendar of story. air gold in tresur gadrid pai samen A goldin calf f>ar-of pai blu. 0 1340 Hampole Psalter xxi[i]. 11 Many calfis has vmgifen me; fat bulles me has vmseged. c 1371 Wyclif Begg. Friers (1608) 12 Priests.. wenten to calveren of gold. 1382 - Hosea xiv. 2 We shuln 3eelde the calues of our lippis [= Vulg. vitulos, lxx Kapnov]. c 1400 Maundev. ix. 105 Calveren of gold. 1483 Cath. Angl. 51 With Calfe, fetosus. I534 MS. Acc. St. Johns Hosp. Canterb., Off ye cat’ of cristchurch for a chawlfe, iijs. iiijd. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 10 He that hath borne a calfe, shall also beare a bull. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 48 As wise as Waltam’s calfe. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 89 A tail almost as long as a calves. 1629 J. Cole Of Death 105 Before we can offer unto God with a good conscience, the calves of our lips. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 416 They., fell off From God to worship Calves. 1727 Swift Modest Prop. Wks. 1755 II. 11. 66 Their mears in foal, their cows in calf. 1861 Th. Martin Horace's Odes 11. v. 80 Your heifer bounding in play With the young calves.

b. to slip (cast) the calf: to suffer abortion; said of the cow, also (humorously) of women (obs.) 1664 Pepys Diary 19 Sept., Fraizer is so great with, .all the ladies at court, in helping to slip their calfes when there is occasion. 1842-71 Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 178 A cow that suffers abortion slips her calf.

c. transf. Applied to human beings: A stupid fellow, a dolt; sometimes a meek inoffensive person. Also as a term of endearment. Essex calf: a nickname for a native of that county. 01553 Udall Royster D. 11. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 94 You great calf, ye should have more wit, so ye should. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. 1. ii. 126 How now (you wanton Calfe) Art thou my Calfe? 1627 Drayton Nymphid. (1631) 171 Some silly doting brainless calfe. 1711 Steele Sped. No. 113 3, I cried, like a Captivated Calf as I was. 1719 D’Urfey Pills IV. 43 It prov’d an Essex Calf. 1865 Punch 20 Apr., An Essex calf of the first magnitude.

2. ellipt. Leather made from the hide or skin of a calf. (More fully calf-leather] see 7.) 1727 Swift Furth. Acc. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. 1. 156 As to the report of my poor husband’s stealing o’calf, it is really groundless, for he always binds in sheep. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxviii. 9 The material used is Calf. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 88 Calf is .. prepared by the process called by tanners ‘tawing’.

3. The young of other animals; as of deer, the elephant, the whale. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxx. (1495) 793 The hynde etyth of the herbe Dragancia to be delyuerde of her calffe the more eesely. i486 Bk. St. Albans Ejb, Ye shall hym [a hart] a Calfe . call at the fyrst yere. 1597 Return fr. Parnass. II. 11. v. 887 Your Hart is the first yeare a Calfe, the second yeare a Brochet. 1725 Dudley in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 260 The Calf, or young Whale, has been found perfectly form’d in the Cow, when not above seventeen Inches long, i860 Tennent Ceylon II. 397 An elephant, which had been captured by Mr. Cripps, dropped a female calf. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 1. xi. xi. §2. 155 The hounds also by their tongues indicate.. the presence, if any, of a calf with the hind. 1884 Jefferies Red Deer iv. 63 The young of the .. tall red deer are called calves.

4. sea-calf, a popular name of the seal, esp. Calocephalus vitulinus (or Phoca vitulina). C1613 Chapman Odyss. iv. (R.) In sholes the sea calues came. 01711 Ken Hymnar. Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 182 The Calves Marine, who on firm Ground Are wont to take a Sleep profound. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXL 161/2 The vulgar name is sea-calf, and on that account the male is called the bull, and the female the cow. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxvii. 221 Some overgrown Greenland calves.. Very strange are these seal.

5. transf. a. A small island lying close to a larger one. [ON. kalfr; known in Eng. only in ‘The Calf of Man’.] 1833 J. Gorton Topogr. Diet. I. 347 Calf of Man.. An island, situated off the south-west extremity of the Isle of Man. i860 H. Marryat Jutland I. vii. 91 The early North¬ men often named these small islands calves. 18.. Backwell Isle Man Guide 60 Beyond .. lies the Calf of Man .. The Calf . .contains about 600 superficial acres of land. 6. An iceberg detached from a coast glacier; a

fragment of ice detached from an iceberg or floe. 1818 Edin. Rev. XXX. 18 The fragments of ice, which the seamen term calves. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlii. (1856) 395 The interposition of floating fragments or calves. Ibid. xliii. 401 Calves .. fragments of tables .. which have been forced down by pressure, and afterward.. have been liberated again from the floe and find their way upward wherever an opening permits.

7. Comb. a. Obvious and general, as calfbrains, -flesh, -guts, -head, -house, -leather, -pen, -whale, -worship; calf-like adj. and adv. (For parts of the animal the genit. calf s, calves’, is now usual.) ?c 1600 Distracted Emp. 1. i. in O. PI. (1884) III. 181 You love the cubboarde Wherein your ‘calves brayns are loekt up for breakfast. 01300 Cursor M. 2714 He.. pam fedd wit ‘calf flesse [Trin. MS. calues flesshe], c 1425 Voc. in WrWiilcker 661 Caro uitulina, calfflesche. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. II. iii. 34 It is a voyce in her eares which .. *Calues-guts, nor the voyce of vnpaued Eunuch to boot, can neuer amend. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 87 To dress a ‘Calf s Head Surprise. 1813 Moore Post Bag iii. 34 The dish .. Was, what old Mother Glasse calls, ‘a calfs-head surprised’! 1823-Fab., Holy Alliance II. 91 A Duke, of birth sublime.. (Some calf-head, ugly from all time). 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 472 ‘Calves-house, 22 feet by 16, with their pens. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 416/2 The calf-house, .should be a roomy, well-ventilated

building. 1726 Amherst Terrse Fil. xxxviii. 200 Dress'd in a suit of ‘calve’s-leather cloaths. 1610 Shaks. Temp. iv. i. 179 *Calfe-like, they my lowing follow'd. 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 86 Have the ‘calf-pens opening into the cowshed for convenience of suckling. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xiii, I was going to swim to the ‘calf whale. 1650 Fuller Pisgah v. v. 152 ‘Calfe-worship.. continued in the kingdome of Israel, i860 Pusey Min. Proph. 82 He [Jeroboam] would have calf-worship to be the only worship of God.

b. Special combinations: calf-bed, a cow’s matrix (dial.); also (humorous) parturition (of a cow), cf. child-bed; calf-bound a. (Bookbinding), bound in calf (cf. 2); calf-country, calf-ground (Sc.), the place of one’s birth or early life; f calfhaulm (see quot.); calf-kill, a heath plant (Kalmia latifolia) injurious to cattle eating it; cf. ‘lambkill’ = K. angustifolia; calf knee, popular name for the malformation called genu valgum, or knock-knee; calf-land = calf-country; calflea (Sc.), ‘infield ground, one year under natural grass’ (Jamieson); calf-lick (dial.), a tuft of hair on the forehead which will not lie smoothly and evenly; a cowlick, a ‘feather’; f calf-lolly (? nonce-wd.), a stupid calf; calf-love, romantic attachment or affection between a boy and a girl; calf-lymph, vaccine lymph obtained direct from the animal; calf s-teeth sb. pi, milk teeth; calf-time, the period of youth; calf-trundle (dial.), ‘the entrails of a calf; fig. applied to the ruffle of a shirt, or flounces of a gown’ (Halliwell); calf-ward (Sc.), a small field or enclosure for calves. Also calf’s-foot, calf¬ skin, CALVES’-SNOUT. 1822 Southey Lett. (1856) III. 305 Your uncle Tom has lost a cow, in *calf-bed. 1831 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 561 That, I believe, is his * calf-country. 1884 Illust. Lond. News 21 June 606/2 We’ll go and take a look at my *calf-ground. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ill. 486 A Cow that strains in Calving, when their *Calf-haulm, Udder, or Bag, will come down and swell as much as a blown Bladder. 1765 Dickson Agric. xiii. 109 When it is only two or three years old, it is called, in some parts of the country, calf-lea. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxvii, I was.. a *Calf-lolly, a Doddipole. 1823 Galt Entail I. xxxii. 284,1 made a *calf-love marriage. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. II. 104 It’s a girl’s fancy—Just a kind o’ calf-love—let it go by. 1884 Christian World 5 June 417/4 Any doctor can procure *calf-lymph for his patients. 1688 R. Holme Armoury 11. 173/2 A *Calf Ride [is] a place made of Boughs.. in which the Calf is kept whilst he is sucking. 1599 Porter Angry Worn. Abingd. (1841) 88 Ere your * calues teeth were out, you thought it long. 1822 Scott Nigel ix, Where have you been spending your *calf-time? 1785 Burns Dr. Hornbook xxiii, His braw *calf-ward whare gowans grew.

calf2 (ka:f). Also 4 caalf, 5-7 calfe, 7 calue. [app. a. ON. kalfi of unknown origin; adoption from Ir., Gael, calpa leg, calf of the leg, has been conjectured.] 1. The fleshy hinder part of the shank of the leg, formed by the bellies of muscles which move the foot. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 148 Lajambe, the caalf. c 1386 Chaucer C. T. Prol. 592, fful longe were his legges and ful lene ylyk a staf ther was no calf ysene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 58 Calfe of a legge, sura. ri45 Voc. in Wr.Wiilcker 678 Hie musculus, the calfe of the lege. 1541 R. Copland Guy don's Quest. Chirurg., The calfe ouer the leg mouyng the fote and ancle. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. v. ii. 645 His legge is too big for Hector. More Calfe certaine. 1794-6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) I. 58 The contraction of the calf of the leg in the cramp. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvii, A handsome person and calves.

b. transf. stocking.

The

corresponding

part

of

a

01659 Cleveland Pet. Poem 55 My Stocking-calves.. Are paradiz’d as naked as my Nock. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. 1. ii, The calves of these stockings are thickened a little too much.

2. Applied to the corresponding part of the arm containing the belly of the triceps muscle. i860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. (1887) 33 The triceps.. furnishes the calf of the upper arm.

3. calf-length a. (of a garment, boots, etc.) reaching down to, or up to, the calf of the leg. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ix. 143 Turning up .. in a calf-length white motoring coat. 1967 Harper's Bazaar Sept. 60/1 New calf-length skirt for the country. 1968 Ottawa Jrnl. 24 June 17/5 Sue Ellen .. started down the aisle in white calf-length boots. 1969 J. Gardner Founder Member vii. 115 A pair of heavy calf-length stockings.

calf(e, obs. form of

calve v.

fcalfam, sb. Obs. rare~l. ? =

caliph. 1550 Bale Apol. 119 In thys poynte here hath he shewed hymselfe a very wyse calfam.

calfate, calfet: see

calfret v.

calfhood ('karfhud). Calf state or stage. 1880 G. Allen Evolut., In Summer Fields, Cows hate dogs instinctively, from their earliest calfhood upward.

t'calfin, sb.

Obs. Sc. Also calfing, colfin. [Jamieson suggested connexion with F. calfater calfret.] The wadding or other stopping of a gun. 1676 W. Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. xii. App. (1848) 587 Such other calfine as was at hand. 1722 in Wodrow

CALFIN Sufferings Ch. Scot. II. App. 8 The burning Calfing was left on his Gown. 1736 Trial Capt. Porteous 21 (Jam.) He was so near as to see.. the colfin flee out of the pannel’s gun.

t'calfin, v. Obs. Sc. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To wad (a fire-arm). 1793 Piper o' Peebles 19 (Jam.) It’s no been fir’d, I find it fu’, Weel calfin’d wi’ a clout o’ green.

does not appear, however, where Shakspere found the form.] The name of a character in Shakspere’s Tempest, ‘a saluage and deformed slaue’ (Dram. Personae); thence applied to a man of degraded bestial nature. Also attrib. and Comb., as Caliban-like adj. Hence 'Calibanish a.; 'Caliba,nism.

a 1528 Skelton Poem agst. Garnesche 30 Your longe lothy legges..as a kowe calfles. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall (1845) 269 Long, lean, calfless legs, i860 Smiles Self-Help x. 256 Calveless legs and limp bodies.

[1610 Shaks. Temp. i. ii. 308 Wee’ll visit Caliban, my slaue, who neuer Yeelds vs kinde answere.] 1678 Butler Hud. ill. 1. 282, I found th' Infernal Cunning-man, and th’ Vnder-witch, his Caliban, With Scourges.. arm’d. 1839 Kemble Jrnl. Georgian Plantation (1863) 222 The Calibanish wonderment of all my visitors .. is very droll. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 69 Where is the Dutch pug? Where is that Narcissus of canine Calibanism? 1872 Du Chaillu Country of Dwarfs 62 The fiendish countenances of the living calibanish trio. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iv. xxix, Grandcourt held that the Jamaican negro was a beastly sort of baptist Caliban. 1909 Lady's Realm Feb. 465/2 He was a Caliban-like creature, primitively ugly. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. 22/2 A lunatic.. indulges in Calibanlike gambols, unheeded. 1965 F. Sarceson Memoirs of Peon iv. 90 Mr. Gower-Johnson with his Caliban fish-eye.

calfling ('kaiflir)). In 6 calueling. [f.

calibash, obs. form of calabash, calipash.

calfish ('kaifij),

a. [f. calf1 + -ish1.] Akin to or

resembling a calf; fig. raw, untrained. 1765 Law Behmen's Myst. Magnum xxv. (1772) Calfish understandings.

115

calfless ('kaiflis), a.1 Having no calf (sb.1). 1388 Wyclif Job xxi. 10 The cow caluyde, and is not priued of hir calf [e.r. maad calflees]. 01528 [see next],

'calfless, a.2 Also calve-, [f. calf2 + -less.] Of the leg: Destitute of calf; thin, lean.

calf1

+

-ling.] A little calf. 1598 Yong Montemayor’s Diana 79 Licking their yong and tender caluelings.

t'calfret, v. Obs. Also calfate, calfet, calfuter. [ad. F. calfrete-r (Cotgr.), calfater, calfeutrer to caulk (a ship). The word occurs also as It. calafatare, Sp. calafatear, -fetear; usually believed to be f. Arab, qalafa, in 2nd conjugation qallafa to caulk a ship with palmtree fibre, etc.; cf. med.Gr. KaXafdrqs caulker. The Fr. form calfeutrer is conjectured to have been influenced by feutre felt.] trans. To stop up (with oakum) the seams of (a ship); to caulk. a 1600 Hume in Sibbald Chron. Scot. Poetry (1802) III. 381 (Jam.) Weill calfuterd [printed calsutered] bots. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 482 They.. therewith [viz. with reeds] calfret or calke the ioints of their ships. 1648 Hexham Dutch Diet. (1660) Kleuteren.. to give Knocks or Blowes, or to Calfate. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 11. xiii, The Plaintiff truly had just cause to calfet.. the gallion.

calfs-foot, calves-foot. Also 5 calvysfote, 6 calfes foote. 1. lit. The foot of a calf; hence, calves-foot jelly. 1620 Venner Via Recta iii. 70 The vse of them (especially of Calues feete) is very profitable in consumptions. 1775 Nourse in Phil. Trans. LXVI. 438, 1 now allowed him chicken broth .. calves-feet jelly. 1785 W. Scott in Med. Commun. II. 85, I procured some calf's foot jelly. 1879 Sala in Daily Tel. 28 June, What purported to be mock-turtle soup .. with pieces of calves-foot or cow-heel in it.

2. Herb. The Cuckoo-pint or Wake-robin (Arum maculatum): see arum. [So Fr. pied-deveau.] C1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wiilcker 588 Jarus, Cokkupyntel et Calvysfote. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. vii. 322 Calfes foote or Cockowpynt. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 30 The hearb Arum, called in English Wake-Robbin or Calves-foot.

calf-skin. Also calf s-, calves-, calve-. The skin or hide of a calf; a superior kind of leather made from this, and used in bookbinding, shoemaking, etc. More rarely = vellum. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. iv. iii. 18 Hee that goes in the calues-skin, that was kil’d for the Prodigall. 1595-John ill. i. 129 Hang a Calues skin on those recreant limbes! 1604 in Shaks. C. Praise 60 Master Bursebell the calves-skin scrivener. 1704 Swift T. Tub v. 75 Copies, well-bound in calf-skin. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 74, 990 calve-skins [exported in 1 yr. from Petersburg]. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Courage 207 Cowardice shuts the eyes till the sky is not larger than a calf-skin.

fb. A purse, etc., made of calf-skin. Obs. 1618 Dekker Owles Alman., This puts.. coyne into the Painters calueskinne.

fc. attrib. 1606 Wily Beguiled Prol. (N.) His calfs-skin jests from hence are clear exil’d. 1785 Grose Class. Diet. Vulg. Tongue Calf-skin fiddle, a drum.

calf’s snout: calfuter:

see calves’-snout.

see calfret.

t 'calgarth, cale-garth.

[f.

cal(e,

kale

+

garth.] A cabbage garden, a kale yard. 14.. Harl. MS. 1587 in Promp. Parv. 58 Cauletum, cawlegarthe. 1483 Cath. Angl. 51 A Cale garth, ortus, etc.-, vbi, a gardynge. 1575 Richmond Wills (1853) 255, j old cal-garth spade and j haye spayde.

call-, a non-etymological spelling of calli- in words formed from Gr. xaAA-oy beauty; confused with calo- from Gr. x-aAo-s beautiful. See calli-.

cali-:

caliber, obs. form of calaber. calibogus (kaeli'baugas). U.S. Also calli-. [Scheie de Vere suggests that the -bogus is from bagasse: cf. bogus2.] A mixture of rum and spruce-beer. 1785 Grose Diet. Vulg. Tongue, Calibogus, rum and spruce beer, American beverage. 1861 L. de Boilieu Recoil. Labrador Life 162 Callibogus, a mixture of Rum and Spruce-beer, more of the former and less of the latter.

calibrate ('kashbreit), v. [f. calibre + -ate3: cf. F. calibrer.] a. trans. To determine the calibre of; spec, to try the bore of a thermometer tube or similar instrument, so as to allow in graduating it for any irregularities: to graduate a gauge of any kind with allowance for its irregularities, b. To determine the correct position, value, capacity, etc., of; to set an instrument so that readings taken from it are absolute rather than relative; spec, to mark (a radio) with indications of the position of various wavelengths or stations. Also transf. Hence 'calibrated ppl. a., 'calibrating vbl. sb. (usu. attrib.). 1864 in Webster. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 27 The [thermometer] tube must be calibrated, i.e. the irregularities in the bore must be determined and allowed for. 1870 Tyndall Heat x. App. 330, I give here the method of calibrating the galvanometer. 1881 Tait in Nature XXV. 128 The external gauge was accurately calibrated. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 6/3 The tube was handed on to a calibrating machine, which accurately ‘shaped’ it. 1909 Installation News III. 95/1 A very accurately calibrated check meter. Ibid. 160 A complete Testing and Calibrating Plant. 1930 Daily Mail 4 Jan. 7/1 To get the [wireless] set to do its best it must be calibrated. 1959 Halas & Manvell Film Animation xix. 228 All scene movements which he has to calibrate in terms of camera and rostrum movements. i960 M. Sharp Something Light viii. 74 Calibrating a cup of char with Rossy as one extreme, and tea at Gladstone Mansions as the other, tea with the Meares.. came about halfway.

calibration (kaeli'breijbn). [f. prec. + -ation.] The action or process of calibrating. Also, a set of graduations or markings; a classification. Also attrib. 1871 B. Stewart Heat §20 The relative diameter of the bore .. having now been determined by Calibration. 1922 F. W. Aston Isotopes v. 55 This is our first calibration curve —of necessity inaccurate owing to the gaps between the points. 1930 Daily Mail 4 Jan. 7/1 With calibration you can tune in at will to any foreign programme that is within the receptive powers of the set. 1959 Halas & Manvell Film Animation xix. 228 He may also have to readjust the cameralens .. for other effects of movement in the scene according to the calibrations he has previously worked out. Ibid. 337 Calibrations, markings to indicate the movement of a background in panning shots, the movement of the camera in tracking shots, or as a guide to the position of in-between drawings. 1965 Language XLI. 173 As an example of special calibration, consider 400 indirect object prefixes.

calibrator ('kaeli,breit9(r)). [f. calibrate v. + -or.] One who, or that which, calibrates; spec, in Med., an instrument for measuring the calibre of a passage, etc. Med. Diet. 127/2 Calibrator, an instrument for dilating the urethra or for measuring the caliber of a passage. 1932 News Chron. 23 Sept. 7/4 A novel wireless calibrator, called the Easy Station Finder.. enables owners of non-calibrated tuning arrangements to tune-in to any desired station with accuracy. 1958 Spectator 8 Aug. 201/2 The aisles and transepts are piled high with sheaves of crankshafts and bunches of calibrators. 1900

Dorland

see also cale-.

of

calibre, caliber ('k£elib3(r): occas. 'kaliibr), sb. Also 6-8 caliver, 8 calabar, calliber, -bre, caliper, calabre. [a. F. calibre (qualibre in Cotgr. 1611) = It. calibro, Sp. calibre (OSp. also calibo, Diez) of uncertain origin; the Arab, qdlib ‘mould for casting metal’, or some cognate derivative of qalaba to turn, has been suggested as the source. See CALLIPER.

cannibal1, or perh. actually a form of Carib. It

(Mahn conjectured as source L. qua libra of what weight?)

fcaliatour, caleatour. In Caliatour('s) wood, a dye-wood from the Coromandel coast, identified by some with red sandal-wood. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2269/2 Of Caleatours Wood.

caliawndyre, Caliban

CALICHE

782

var. of coliander, Obs.

(’kaelibaen).

[App.

a

variant

Calibre and Calliper(s are apparently originally the same word. Several 16th c. writers assign the same origin to caliver, the name of a species of harquebus, as if this were derived from arquebuse de calibre, or some similar name. Littre has ‘douze canons de calibre d’empereur (12 cannons of emperor's calibre) pour la batterie’ of 16th c. The frequent use of caliver in the sense of calibre, in the 16th and 17th c., appears to favour this.] 1. fa. The diameter of a bullet, cannon-ball,

or other projectile. Obs. b. Hence, The internal diameter or ‘bore’ of a gun. (As the ‘calibre’ of a piece of ordnance determines the weight of the projectile it can throw, phrases like ‘guns of heavy calibre’ often occur in popular use.) 1588 E. York Ord. Marshall. City London in Stow's Surv. (1754) II. v. xxxi. 570/1 We had our particular Calibre of Harquebuze .. The Prynces .. caused seven thousand Harquebuzes to be made, all of one Calibre. I591 Sir J. Smythe Instruct. Militarie 189, I would that all their bullettes should be of one Caliver. a 1595 - Animadv. Capt. Berwick in Grose Mil. Antiq. (1801) 297 A harquebuze and a currier, both .. of one caliver heighthe of bullet. 1678 Phillips, Caliber, in Gunnery the heighth of the bore in any peice of Ordnance. 1708 Kersey, Caliver or Caliper, the Bigness, or rather the Diameter of a piece of Ordnance, or any other Fire-arms at the Bore or Mouth. 1746 Rep. Cond. Sir J. Cope 99 All the Cannon was of the same Caliber, being il Pounders. 1727-51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The caliber is the rule by which all the parts of a cannon, or mortar, as well as of its carriage, are proportioned. 1778 Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 65 The bore., was nearly 2o£ calibers long. 1803 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. H. 327 We., have taken about 60 pieces of cannon .. of the largest calibres.

c. transf. The diameter of any body of circular section; esp. the internal diameter of a tube or hollow cylinder; in Phys. chiefly of an artery. 1727-51 Chambers Cycl., Caliber or Caliper, in a general sense, notes the extent of any round thing in thickness, or diameter. In which sense we say, a column is of the same caliber as another, when they are both of the same diameter. 1764 Reid Inquiry vi. § 19 The caliber of these empty tubes. 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 77/2 If we brace the arteries.. we shall find their calibres everywhere diminished.

2. fig- fa. Degree of social standing or importance, quality, rank. [The earliest cited sense; prob. from Fr.] Obs. b. Degree of personal capacity or ability; ‘weight’ of character; (often with conscious reference to 1). In wider sense: Quality, ‘stamp’, degree of merit or importance. 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. 164 The forfeiture of the honor of a ladye of equall calibre [elsewhere spelt calabre] and callinge to mee. a 1649 Drumm. of Hawth. Skiamachia Wks. (1711) 199 Sir Henry Vane, or others of such calibre? 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 108 Declamations of this kind coming from men of their Calibre.. were highly mischievous. 1808 Scott in Lockhart i. (1842) 9/1 The calibre of this young man’s understanding. 1826 J. Gilchrist Lecture 55 We know the Doctor’s caliber well enough. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown Pref., Playing against an eleven of their own calibre, i860 Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 57/2 Majorities would be compelled to look out for members of a much higher calibre. 1870 Disraeli Lothair xxviii. 125 The host, with the Duke of Brecon on his right and Lothair on his left, and ‘swells’ of calibre in their vicinity. 3. pi. calibers. = callipers.

4. attrib. and in comb., as in calibre-rule, -scale (see quots.); calibre-compasses, -square: see calliper. 1729 Shelvocke Artillery 1. 1 The Calibre Scale., an Instrument or Ruler.. to determine the Weights of all Iron Bullets by their Diameters. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Caliber-rule is an instrument, wherein a right line is so divided, as that the first part being equal to the diameter of an iron or leaden ball of one pound weight, the other parts are to the first, as the diameters of balls of two, three, four, etc., pounds, are to the diameter of a ball of one pound. The caliber is used by engineers, from the weight of the ball given, to determine its diameter, or caliber; or vice versa.

t calibre, -ber ('kaeliba(r)), v. Obs. [f. prec. Cf. F. calibrer.] trans. To determine the calibre of; to measure with callipers. Hence 'calibered, -bred ppl. a. 1731 in Bailey, vol. II. 1775 in Ash.

'calibred, a.

[f. calibre sb.

-1-

-ed.]

Of or

having calibre: chiefly in comp. 1887 Standard 7 Nov. 5/7 The smaller calibred weapon.

Caliburn, -burno ('kaflib3:n, kaeli'b3:nau). Also Calab-, Caleb-. The name of King Arthur’s sword. See Excalibur. 1297 R. Glouc. 174 Mid is suerd he was igurd.. Calibourne it was icluped. Ibid. 208 Calebourne is gode suerd. ?ai40o Morte Arth. (1847) 353 The kyng with Calaburne knyghtly hym strykes. 1799 S. Turner AngloSax. (1830) I. ill. iii. 175 A sword, fancied to have been his caliburno. 1813 Scott Trierm. 1. xv, On Caliburn’s resistless brand.

calic(e,

early form of chalice.

calicate,

incorrect spelling of calycate.

caliche (ka'linfei).

Min. [Amer. Sp., f. Sp. caliche pebble in a brick, flake of lime.] In arid areas of North and South America, any of various mineral deposits (esp. native Chile saltpetre) containing sodium nitrate, calcium carbonate, or other salts. 1858 Simmonds Diet. Trade, Caliche, a name for nitrate of soda found in Peru. 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Rec. 349/2

CALICIFORM

caliciform

('kaelisiform), a. Also (erron.) calyciform. [ad. mod.L. caliciformis, f. L. calicem (calix) cup + -(i)form: cf. F. caliciforme.] a. In the form of a cup; cup¬ shaped. 1849-52 Todd Cycl. Anat. papilla.

CALIFORNIUM

783

Iodine occurs in caliche or raw nitrate deposit, as iodate of sodium. 1892 E. S. DanaJ. D. Dana's Syst. Min. (ed. 6) 871 In the district of Tarapaca, northern Chili,.. the dry pampa . . is covered with beds of this salt (caliche) several feet in thickness. 1939 W. H. Twenhofel Pnnc. Sedimentation ix. 342 Caliche.. is a deposit of calcium carbonate and other salts made in semiarid regions.

IV.

1122/1

A caliciform

b. Archaeol. Resembling a calyx. 1902 [see bell-beaker (bell sb11 c)]. 1933 W. F. Albright in Ann. Amer. Sch. Oriental Res. 1931-32 XIII. 66 The caliciform vessels have a rudimentary stem. 1949 Archaeol. Palestine v. 80 This ceramic culture came down from Syria, where is it known as ‘caliciform’ because of the tendency of potters to prefer the calyx form of vases to any other.

calicinated

(ka'hsineitid), ppl. a. [app. irregularly f. L. calix cup.] Made cup-shaped. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. n. vi. 460 The beautiful calicinated fibula.

calicle ('kselik(3)l). Biol. Also {erron.) calycle. [ad. L. caliculus, dim. of calix cup.] (See quot.) 1848 Dana Zooph. ii. 16 note, Calicle.. is used for the prominences which contain the cells in many corals. Ibid. iii. 20 Every calicle is the site of a polyp-flower. 1874 A. Wilson in Gd. Words. 703 A row of little cup-like bodies .. known as ‘hydrothecae’ or ‘calycles’.

calico ('kaelikao).

Forms: a. 6 (Cal3ecot), callicutt, 6-7 calecut, 6-8 calli-, calicut, 7 calicute, 7-8 callicot. j3. 6 kalyko, calyco, calocowe, (callaga, -ca), 6-8 callico(e, 7-8 calicoe, 7- calico. [In i6-i7th c. also calicut, from the name of the Indian city (sense 1), called in Malayalam Kolikodu, in Arabic Qaliqut, med.L. (Conti) Collicuthia, Pg. Qualecut (V. de Gama), Calecut (Camoens). It is not clear how the form calico, occurring in 1540 as kalyko, arose; it may have been merely an English corruption; the F. calicot has been suggested as the intermediate form, but the age of this is uncertain.] 1. The name of a city on the coast of Malabar; in the 16th c. the chief port, next to Goa, of intercourse between India and Europe; used attrib. in Calicut-cloth, Calico-cloth: see next. a. [C1505 Dunbar Warldis Instabilitie 62 It micht have cuming in schortar quhyll Fra Cal3ecot and the new-fund Yle.] 1541 (July) Lett. Credence of T. Bellenden fr. Jas. V to Hen. VIII, IX peces of Callicutt claith pertenyng to ane William Blaky in Leith. 1589 Hakluyt Voy. (1886) I. 3 Of silke and linnen wouen together, resembling something Callicut cloth. - Voy. (1599) II. 1. Ep. Ded., Lapped vp almost an hundred fold in fine calicut-cloth. 1540 Lane. Wills (i860) II. 151 A surplyse and an elne kalyko cloth. [1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. 142 The newe founde land named Calyco.] 1549 Will. L. ap Rhes (Somerset Ho.) Calocowe clothe. 1605 E. Scot in Middleton's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) App. iii. 165 (Y.) They [the Javanese] weare a kinde of Callico-cloth.

2. Hence: a. orig. A general name for cotton cloth of all kinds imported from the East (see quot. 1753); ‘an Indian stuff made of cotton, sometimes stained with gay and beautiful colours’ (J.); subsequently, also, various cotton fabrics of European manufacture (sometimes also with linen warp), b. Now, in England, applied chiefly to plain white unprinted cotton cloth, bleached or unbleached (called in Scotland and U.S. cotton), c. in U.S. to printed cotton cloth, coarser than muslin. a. 1622-62 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 205 A Smock of Calicute, a kind of linnen cloth here made, and from hence so called. 1678 Tavernier's Voy. Kingd. Tonquinxiii. 43 Blue Calicuts. Ibid., Relat. Japon 58 Chites or painted Calicuts which they call calmendar. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 349/1 Dowlas, Scotch Cloth, Callicot. 1758 Ellis in Phil. Trans. L. 453 Callicuts are painted with the juice of this shrub. 1789 Coxe Trav. Switz. I. 30 Their manufactures are coarse callicots and muslins. b. 1578 Invent, in Drapers' Diet. 42, iiij yards of Callaga, 65. 4d. xij yards of Callaca, 12s. 1590 Webbe Trav. (Arb.)3i Fine Lawne or Callico thrust down my throate. 1616 Trav. Eng. Pilgr. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 326 A camel, laden with callicoes. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. Ind. 31 A very great Trade of fine Cotton Cloth or Callico. 1666 Pepys Diary 24 Sept., Flags, which I had bought for the Navy, of Calico. 1714 Fr. Bk. Rates 230 The Arrest., forbidding the Sale or Consumption of painted Callicoes from the East-Indies, or such as are printed or painted at Home. 1719 J. Roberts Spinster 347 A tawdry, pie-spotted, flabby, ragged, low-priced thing, called Callicoe . . made .. by a parcel of Heathens and Pagans, that worship the Devil, and work for a half penny a day. 1740 Johnson Drake Wks. IV. 452 Dressed in white cotton or calicoe. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Callicoes are of divers kinds, plain, printed, painted, stain’d, dyed, chints, muslins, and the like. 1774 Act 14 Geo. Ill, iii, Instead of the Word Callico, which stands for foreign Callicoes, each piece may be marked with the words British Manufacture, i860 Warter Sea Board Down II. 22 The wind sounded like the tearing of calico. 1875 Ure Diet. Arts I. 579 It was easy for needy adventurers to buy printed calicoes. - II. 565 Hung with black lustreless calico.

c. 1841-44 Emerson Ess. Prudence Wks. (Bohn) I. 99 Calicoes [cannot] go out of fashion.. in the few swift moments., the Yankee suffers.. them to remain in his possession. 1863 Life in South II. 293 Cotton-prints, .called ‘calicoes’ in America, for dresses. 1872 Bret Harte Prose & P. I. 40 The furniture was extemporized from packing cases .. and covered with gay calico.

Balder xxiii. 98 Summer.. Crowned with oak and ash, Her hot feet slippered in the calid seas.

3. simple attrib. (or adj.) a. Of calico (cf. sense 1). calico ball, a ball where the ladies wear only cotton dresses.

1528 Paynell Salerne's Regim. Qijb, This walnut., is harde of digestion .. by reason of hit calidite. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physic 47/2 For caliditye, and itchinge of the Eyes. 1620 Venner Via Recta (1650) 5. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 51 The potentiall calidity of many waters.

1612 Rates (Scotl.) 294 (Y.) Calico copboord claiths, the piece., xb. 1641 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 24 The men, wearing a large calico mantle yellow coloured. 1796 Campaigns, 1793-4 I. 11. ii. 101 Callicoe sheets keep us decently warm. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 141 Flaunting in a calico shirt and a pair of silk stockings from Moorshedabad.

b. Coloured in a way suggestive of printed calico; variegated, piebald. Chiefly of horses. Also as sb., a calico horse. U.S. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. 24 Nov. 372 Bantering nature fairly out of countenance representing her tricked out in all the tawdry finery of copper skies, purple rivers, calico rocks, red grass, [etc.]. 1812-Hist. N. Y. (ed. 2) II. vn. iii. 182 Behold .. Van Corlear, mounted on a .. calico mare, a 1861 T. Winthrop Canoe & Saddle (1883) x. 144 A hundred horses, roans, calicos.. blacks and whites. 1878 B. F. Taylor Between Gates 207 There would be scant room for the calico horses to canter. 1954 J. Potts Go, Lovely Rose (1955) ix. 60 Havelka’s calico cat., was taking a fastidious stroll.

4. Comb., as calico-glazer, -making, -smoother, -trade, -weaving’, calico-bush, the American mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia)', calico-diaper (see quot.); f calico-lawn, ? a fine quality of calico, lawn of calico or cotton; calicoprinter, one whose trade is calico-printing; calico-printing, the art or trade of producing a pattern on calico by printing in colours, in mordants which produce colours on being dyed, or by other process. 1814 Pursh Flora Amer. Sept. I. 297 Kalmia latifolia.. called Laurel or in the mountains *Callico-bush. 1829 Loudon Encycl. Plants 356 Kalmia latifolia, Calico-bush. 1914 L. H. Bailey Standard Cycl. Hort. II. 627/2 Calico bush: Kalmia. 1969 Hay & Synge Diet. Garden Plants 314/1 Kalmia {Ericaceae) latifolia. Mountain Laurel, Calico Bush. 1696 J. F. Merchant's Wareho. 12 *Callico-Diaper.. called so by reason it is made of Cotton, as the Callicoes are, and is wrought into little figures. 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6196/7 Mathew Bacon.. *Callico-Glazer. 1809 A. Stewart in Lockhart Scott (1839) III. 180 Breaking into the workshop of Peter More, calico-glazer, Edinburgh. ?I592 Descr. Carrack Madre de Dios (Y.) The calicos were book-calicos, *calico launes, broad white calicos, fine starched calicos, coarse white calicos, browne coarse calicos. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1791/4 Two striped Muslins or Callico Lawnes. 1859 Smiles Self-Help 36 Robert Peel.. began the domestic trade of *calico-making. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4264/4 William Shirwin .. *Callico-Printer. 1854 Mrs. Gaskell North 6? S. xix, One of the half-dozen calico-printers of the time. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. 1. iii. 15 Sugar-baking and *callicoe-printing are the great articles. 1867 N. & Q. Ser. iii. XI. 186/1 In 1676 Calico printing.. was invented and practised in London. 1762 Gentl. Mag. 6 We have obstructed them in the ’•'callico trade.

fcalicrat. Obs. [app. f. Callicrates, name of a Greek artist celebrated for his minute ivory carvings of ants and other small animals (Pliny N.H. vii. xxi. §21, ‘Callicrates ex ebore formicas et alia tarn parva fecit animalia ut partes eorum a ceteris cerni non possent’).] An ant. 1596 J. Burel Passage of Pilgremer, The Calicrat, that lytle thing, Bot, and the hony Bie.

calicular (ka'likjobr), a. [f. L. calicul-us, dim. of calix a cup + -ar.] See also calycular. fl. ? Resembling a little cup (? or perh. = calycular). Obs. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 124 Contemplating the calicular shafts [of the teasel] and uncous disposure of their extremities.

2. Biol. Of or pertaining to a calicle. 1849 Murchison Siluria x. 221 They.. produce their young clusters through this marginal calicular development. 1872 Nicholson Palaeont. 94 Three chief forms of gemmation.. amongst the compound Zoantharia—viz. basal, parietal, and calicular.

Hence ca'licularly adv. 1846 Dana Zooph. iv. §60 The coralla .. may be described as calicularly branched.

caliculate (ks'likjubt), a. [f. L. calicul-us (see prec.) + -ate2. ] Having calicles. 1846 Dana Zooph. (1848) 437 Corallum below, short caliculate, calicles pariform.

caliculated, = prec; also obs. f. calyculated. ca'liculato-, combining form of caliculate, as in caliculato-ramose: see quot. 1846 Dana Zooph. iv. §82 The coralla of these species are .. styled caliculato-ramose (i.e. Each calicle forming a separate branch to the corallum: arising from segregate budding).

calid ('kaelid), a. arch. [ad. L. calidus warm.] Warm, tepid; hot. (in Med.’, cf. calidity). 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physic 41 /z Applye the same on the Foreheade .. the salve beinge reasonable calide. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 141 A thin, calid, and chollerick humour. 1681 Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xxii. §1 Enlivened by the Suns calid Influence. 1854 Syd. Dobell

fca'lidity. Obs. [ad. mod.L. caliditas, f. L. calid-us (see prec.); = F. calidite: see -ity.] Warmth, heat. (Chiefly techn. in Med.)

calidity, var. of callidity, shrewdness. caliduct ('kaslidAkt). [f. (app. by Wotton) L. cali-dus hot, or cal-or heat + ductus, after aqueduct. Cf. F. caliduc (in the Academy’s Diet. 1801).] A duct or pipe for the conveyance of heat by means of steam, hot water, or air. 1651 Reliq. Wotton. 254 Pipes.. transporting heate to sundry parts of the House from one common Furnace.. I am ready to baptize them Caliducts as well as they are termed Venti-ducts and Aquae-ducts that convey winde and water. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 228 Since the Subterranean Caliducts have been introduced.. the most tender .. Plants .. did outlive .. those rigorous Seasons. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The ancient caliducts. 1863 Draper Int. Devel. Europe xvi. (1865) 348 Earthen pipes, or caleducts, imbedded in the walls.

calif, variant of caliph. California (kEeli'foinis). [The name of the state on the Pacific Coast of North America.] fl. Money. Obs. slang. 1851 London at Table 1. 5 Some ‘California’, as the fast young men of the day term ‘money’, is necessary for these houses. 1852 C. M. Yonge 2 Guardians xi. 183 You had plenty of money... I know you keep California in your pocket.

2. Used attrib., esp. in the names of various species of animals and plants; = Californian a. 1831 F. W. Beechey Voyage to Pacific II. 81 The California quail (tetrao virginianus). 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiv, A few hides were brought down, which we carried off in the California style. Ibid., Telling us that it was ‘California fashion’ to carry two on the head at a time. 1846 in Calif. Hist. Soc. Q. V. 380, I begin to conclude that californea Horses are not a hardy race of animals. 1874 Coues Birds of Northwest 363 Ferrugineous Buzzard, or California Squirrel Hawk. 1881 Appleton s Ann. Cycl. XII. 312/2 Ceanothus thyrsiflorus is a small tree producing an abundance of light blue flowers, and known as the California lilac. 1891 F. F. Victor Atlantis Arisen 225 The California poppy, Eschscholtzia, is found in Southern Oregon. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 15 Apr. 6/3 A California grey whale, the first to be captured off the Island coast, has been brought in to the Sechart whaling station. 1926 Ibid. 16 July 4/4 My attention has been drawn recently to some California poppies, growing on the roadside along the Malahat [Road]. 1927 C. M. Russell Trails plowed Under 3 A high-forked, full-stamped California saddle. 1967 ‘E. Queen’ Face to Face xxi. 96 A bottle of undistinguished California burgundy.

Californian (kasli'fomian), a. and sb. [f. prec.] A. adj. Of or belonging to, native or peculiar to, California; esp. in the names of species of birds, beasts, and plants. 1785 Cutler in Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. I. 400 The Spaniards are said to have procured from the Californian Indians, the art of dyeing the best black. 1801 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds Suppl. II. 281 Californian Quail. 1839 A. Forbes California 192 Many of the [Indian] baskets are ornamented with.. the black crest feathers of the Californian partridge. Ibid. 251 The wheels of the Californian ox-cart.. are of a most singular construction. 1845 J. Fremont Exped. 245 Some of the banks being absolutely golden with the Californian poppy, (eschscholtzia crocea). 1884 R. L. Stevenson Silverado Squatters iii. 34, I was interested in Californian wine.., still in the experimental stage, c 1900 in A. Davis Package £sf Print (1967) pi. 185 {label) Extract Eonia Californian Poppy. J. & E. Atkinson London. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping {1969)34/1 Soaps.. Californian Poppy—box of 3 tablets 3/3. 1926 A. Huxley Jesting Pilate iv. 260 Californian figs and oranges. 1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock 1. iii. 46 A handkerchief scented with Californian Poppy. 1956 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. July 54/2 Californian redwood, Sequoia sempervirens.

c.

B. sb. A native or inhabitant of California. 1789 Morse Amer. Geogr. 479 The characteristics of the Californian, are stupidity and insensibility. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiv, We saw three men .. dressed partly like sailors and partly like Californians. 1893 K. A. Sanborn Truthful Woman in S. Calif, ii. 18 Some one says that Californians ‘irrigate, cultivate, and exaggerate’. 1969 I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam iii. 48 A soft-spoken Californian of medium build with hair already going a little grey.

californite (kasli'foinait). Min. [f. California + -ITE1 2 b.] A compact form of green vesuvianite found in California. 1903 G. F. Kunz in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. XVI. 397 (heading) Californite {Vesuvianite),—a new ornamental stone,., recently [discovered] in California. Ibid. 398 This interesting mineral.. is a form of vesuvianite distinctive enough to warrant giving it a special variety name,.. I therefore propose the name ‘Californite’ for this massive, translucent mineral. 1955 Brown & Dey India's Min. Wealth (ed. 3) 633 A compact green variety [sc. of idocrase] known as californite resembles jade.

californium (kaeli'fDimam). [f. the University of California, where it was discovered, + -ium.]

CALIFY A transuranic radioactive element; symbol Cf; atomic number 98. 1950 in Amer. Speech (1951) XXVI. 291/2 Scientists have created a new element—Californium—carrying the heaviest atom ever known, it was announced Friday. 1954 Sci. News XXXII. 109 Through the absorption of 13 successive neutrons and 4 emissions of electrons (beta decay), it [5c. plutonium-239] was converted into californium-252, which was separated chemically. 1969 Times 22 Apr. 6/6 Element 104 has successfully been synthesized by bombarding the artificial element californium.

calify, var. calefy v. Obs. t'caligate, a. Obs. [ad. L. caligatus ‘booted’, f. caliga half-boot, esp. that worn by the Roman soldiers: see -ate2.] Wearing caligx or military boots; esp. in knight caligate. c 1562 Entertainm. Temple in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. I. 134 After followed his messenger and Caligate Knight. 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 40 b, These are Knightes in their offices, but not nobles, and are called knights Caligate of Armes, because they were startuppes to the middle legge. 1586 Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 106 A caligate knight, that is a souldior on foote. 1656 Blount Glossogr.t Caligate, that wears stockings, buskings, or harness for the Legs.

f cali'gation. Med. Obs. Also 7 call-, [ad. L. cdligatibn-em dimness of the eyes, f. caligare to be dim or misty.] Dimness or mistiness of sight. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 252 The calligation or dimnesse of their sight, the hissing of their eares. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 111. xviii. 153. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 195 Sucn medicaments as cure caligation.

caligi’nosity. arch. [f. as if ad. L. *cdliginositas, f. caliginosus: see caliginous and -ity; cf. F. caliginosile.] Dimness of sight. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 334 [Eyebright] takes away caliginosity and cures all pituitous diseases. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. v. xxxvii. 348, I prefer a cheerful caliginosity, as Sir Thomas Browne might say.

caliginous (ks'lidjinas). Also 6 calaginous. [ad. L. cdliginos-us ‘misty*, f. cdltgin-em mistiness, obscurity: cf. F. caligineux.] Misty, dim, murky; obscure, dark; also fig. (Now arch.) 1548 Compl. Scot. 38 A1 corrupit humiditeis, ande caliginus fumis. 1578 Banister Hist. Man viii. 98 The liuer maketh the thicker bloud and that which is calaginous. 1650 tr. Caussin’s Angel of Peace 53 Those men.. precipitate themselves into.. caliginous observations. 1790 Cowper Odyss. xin. 443 The goddess enter’d deep the cave Caliginous. 1794 Mrs. Piozzi Synon. II. 310 That caliginous atmosphere which fills London towards the 10th of November. 1849 Lytton Caxtons 11. xn. Ixi, Her lone little room, full of caliginous corners and nooks. 1849 Tait's Mag. XVL 218.

t ca'liginousness. Obs. [f. prec. + -ness.] Caliginous quality; obscurity; dimness of sight. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 166 Caliginousnes of the eyes. 1731 Bailey, vol. II, Caliginousness, darkness, fullness of obscurity.

Ilcaligo (ka'laigau). [L.] Dimness of sight. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 139, I. .examined her eye, but could discover no.. appearance of caligo. 1881 in Syd. Soc. Lex.

caligrapher, -meter, etc.: see calli-. Ca'ligulism. nonce-wd. [f. Caligula, cognomen of the third Roman Emperor + -ism.] A mad extravagance such as Caligula committed. 1745 Walpole Lett, to Mann (ed. 2) II. 103 (D.) Alas! it would be endless to tell you all his Caligulisms.

iCaligus ('kseligas). Zool. [mod.L., f. caliga ‘shoe’.] A genus of pcecilopodous crustacean parasites, family Caligidx. Hence 'caligoid. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 161/1 Caligus.. commonly known among the fishermen as fish-lice. 1852 Dana Crust. 11. 1525 Few Caligoids have been reported from the Torrid zone.

calimanco, obs. form of calamanco.

fcalino.

Obs. rare—'1. [Perh. suggested by ‘calino custure me’, the corrupt form of a popular Irish melody, frequently mentioned c. 1600. (Cf. Shaks. Hen. V. iv. iv. 4, and editors.) But cf. also F. calin ‘a beggarly rogue or lazie vagabond that counterfeits disease’ (Cotgr.).] 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 24 Amongst our English harmonious calinos, one is vp with the excellence of the browne bill.. another playes his prizes in print.

caliology (kseli'Dbd^). [f. Gr. naXid wooden dwelling, hut, nest + -ology.] That department of ornithology which is concerned with birds’ nests. Hence calio'logical a. 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 772 There are not many works on nidification, for ‘Caliology’ or the study of nests has hardly been deemed a distinct branch of the science. 1884 COUES N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 227 One of the most delightful departments of ornithology, called caliology. 1902 C. Dixon Birds' Nests Introd. 4 The late J. G. Woods’ popular treatment of birds’ nests.. practically exhausts the special literature of caliology.

f'calion. Obs. Also 5 calioun, 5-6 calyon. [Of uncertain etymology. Cf. obs. F. caillon ‘a dot, clutter, clot, or congealed lumpe of flegme, bloud, etc.’(Cotgr.), app. f. cailler to coagulate, curdle, clot (:—L. coagulare).] A flint nodule; a boulder or pebble; often collective.

(ka'linda). [American Sp.] An American Negro dance, found in Latin America and the southern United States. 1763 tr. Le Page du Pratz's Hist. Louisiana I. iv. iv. 271 Under pretence of Calinda or the dance, they [sc. the Negroes] sometimes get together to the number of three or four hundred. 1880 G. W. Cable Grandissimes 121 There our lately met marchande.. led the ancient Calinda dance. 1958 P. O liver in P. Gammond Decca Bk.Jazz i. 22 Dances such as the bamboula and the calinda, which are still to be found in the West Indies.

caliphate (’kselifeit). Also -at. [f. as prec. + -ate: in F. caliphat, med.L. caliphatus.] 1. The rank, dignity, or office of caliph. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v.. The Caliphate comprehended the power both of the royalty, and priesthood. 1817 Keatinge Trav. I. 314 The grand signior is considered as the head of that religion since the extinction of the caliphat. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 519 The califate.

b. The reign or term of office of a caliph.

fca'liphe. Obs.-' A kind of sailing vessel.

Forms: 7 calapatch, 8 calibash, callepash, 8- calipash, callipash, (9 calapash). [Perh. calipash and calipee may be adoptions of some West Indian words; the former suggests Sp. carapacho (see carapace).] fa. The upper shell or carapace of the turtle (obs.) b. That part of the turtle next to the upper shell, containing a dull green gelatinous substance. H. Pitman Relation in Arb. Garner VII. 358 We left some peces of the flesh on the calapatch and calapee, that is, the back and breast shells. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones 1. 1 The tortoise.. besides the delicious calibash and calipee contains many different kinds of food. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) 217 An alderman who swallows three pounds of callipash and callipee. a 1845 Hood Turtles, Having.. Forestall’d the civic Banquet yet to be, Its callipash and callipee. 1883 Pall Mall G. 21 Nov. 11/2 The callipee is the white portion of the flesh which comes from the belly; the calipash is black in colour, and is taken from the back. 1689

calipee (’kaelipi:).

Forms: 7 calla-, challapee, 7-9 calapee, 8 callepy, 8- calli-, calipee. [See prec.; not found in any other European lang.] 1. f a. The lower shell or plastron of the turtle. (obs.) b. That part next the lower shell, containing a light yellowish gelatinous substance. R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 36 Lifting up his [a Turtle’s] belly, which we call his Calipee, we lay open all his bowells. 1679 Trapham Jamaica in Sir T. Blount Nat. Hist. (*693) 354 The Callapee, viz. the Belly-part so called, baked, is an excellent dish. 1689 [see calipash]. 1699 Dampier Voy. I. 102 The Challapee, or Belly [of a tortoise]. 1769 Mrs. Kaffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 15 Cut off the bottom shell, then cut off the meat that grows to it, (which is the callepy or fowl). 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay xviii, Turtle lying on their backs, and displaying their rich calapee. [see prec.l 1657

f2. A kind of turtle. ? Obs. 1704 Stedman Surinam (1813) I. i. 16 The turtles are divided into two species, and are generally distinguished in Surinam by the names of calapee or green turtle, and carett.

cali'peva, calli-.

calinda

1881 Pall Mall G. XXXIV. 1417 His Caliphal pretensions will not be seriously disputed.

calipash (’kaelipaej).

caliper, -compasses: see calliper.

1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 296/2 In July and August the plains of New Castile.. are sunburnt wastes;.. the atmosphere is filled with a fine dust, producing a haze known as calina. 1927 Kendrew Climates of Continents (ed. 2) 244.

caliphal ('kaelifal), a. [f. prec. + -al1.] Of or pertaining to a caliph.

*734 Sale Koran Prelim. Disc. 56 Moseilama.. had a great party, and was not reduced till the Khalifat of Abu Beer. 1859 Macaulay Pitt Misc. (i860) II. 359 His short and unreal caliphate. 1869 J. Baldwin Preh. Nations vi. 232 In theyear 637, during the califate of Omar. 2. The dominion of a caliph. 1614 Selden Titles Honor 93 Whil’st the Chaliphat remained vndeuided. 1871 Freeman Hist. Ess. 1. vi. 140 The Empire even in the East was not a Caliphate.

ultimate derivation is disputed. See Calay in Yule.] ‘The tin of Siam and Malacca, of which the Chinese make tea-caddies, etc.’, by some said to be an alloy of lead and tin.

calina (ka'lima). [Sp.] (See quot. 1887.)

Caliphaes of the Sarasins were kings & chiefe bishops. Ibid. 754 Called by the calipha and inhabitants of Caire. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. I. 1. xiii. 63 The story of this Bagded or Baldach and her Chalifs [also written chalipha], 1614 Raleigh Hist. World 11. 199 The state of the Caliphe. 1615 Bedwell Arab. Trudg., One of the Chalifs. 1734 Sale Koran Prelim. Disc. 181 The third Khalif of the race of al Abbas. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 101 1 The favour of three successive califs. 1784 Henley in BeckfortTs Vathek (1868) 123 note, Caliph . . comprehends the concrete character of prophet, priest, and king. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) III. 228 The califs of Bagdad. 1849 W. Irving Mahomed's Success, ii, He contented himself.. with the modest title of Caliph, that is to say, successor, by which the Arab sovereigns have ever since been designated.

ri459 Merlin xx. 329 His horse.. ran so swyfte that [Pthrough] the felde that was full of smale caliouns that the fire sparkeled thikke. 1463 in Bury Wills 37 If.. brykke be not sufficient to endure, lete it be maad with calyoun and moorter. 1499 Promp. Parv. 58/2 Calyon .. rounde stone, rudus. 1555 Fardle Facions 1. vi. 101 Criekes.. whose entringes thenhabitauntes vse to stoppe vp with great heapes of calion and stones.

Ilcalin. [Fr.: a. Pg. calaim, a. Arab, qalae-i; the

175a Bi-awes Lex Mercat. Red. 817 A mixed metal called Calin. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Calin, the name of a sort of mixt metal, seeming composed of lead and tin. It is prepared by the Chinese, and they make several utensils of it, as tea-canisters, coffee-pots, and the like. 1847 in Craig; and in mod. Diets.

CALIVER

784

Also calipeever, (-piver), callipiver. A fish: a mullet of the West Indies, Mugil liza, much esteemed as a delicacy. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle (1862) 239 Cold calipiver— our Jamaica Salmon. Ibid. (1859) 395 That calipeever so crisp in the boiling. 1866 Morn. Star 17 Mar., Such delicacies as the callipiver and turtle steaks. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 170 The Calipeva or Jamaica Salmon.

caliph, calif ('kaelif, ’keilif). Forms: 5 calyphee, -iffe, -yffe(e, 5-7 caliphe, 6 calipha, 7 chalif, -iph, 7- calif, 8- khalif, caliph. [ME. califfe, caliphe, etc., a. F. caliphe, calife, ad. med.L. calipha, ad. Arab, khalif ah, successor (f. khalafa to succeed, be behind), assumed by Abu-bekr after the death of Mohammed. Later forms attach themselves more directly to the Arabic: orientalists now favour Khalif. The pronunciation with long a (ei) is not justifiable.] The title given in Mohammedan countries to the chief civil and religious ruler, as successor of Mohammed. *393 Gower Conf. I. 245 Ayein the caliphe of Egipte. c 1400 Maundev. v. 36 Sahaladyn that toke the Califfe of Egypte and slough him. Ibid. xxi. 230 The Calyphee of Baldah. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1594) 597 The

*393 Gower Conf. II. 258 With caliphe and with galey The same cours, the same wey. Which Jason toke.

'caliphship. rare. [f. caliph + -ship.] The office of caliph. 1677 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 266 (T.) Ally, son-in-law to Mahomet.. pretending to the caliphship.

Calippic: see callippic. calls, obs. form of chalice; var. of callis. Ilcalisaya (kaeli'seia). [? A native S. American name, adopted as the botanical specific name.] In calisaya bark: the most valuable sort of Peruvian Bark, obtained from Cinchona calisaya. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 173/2 The Carthagena yellow barks both contain quinia, but in less quantity than the Calisaya bark. 1875 H. Wood Therap. (1879) 60 Calisaya or Royal Yellow Bark.

Hence cali'sayine, an alkaline substance from calisaya bark, used in making a kind of bitters. calisthenic, -ics, variants of callisthenic a., callisthenics sb. pi. caliver (’kselivafr), ka’li:v3(r)). Obs. exc. Hist. Forms: 6 qualivre, calliour, kalli-, qualli-, kaly-, calea-, 6-7 caly-, cally-, calee-, calever, 7 caliever, calivre, 6-9 calliver, 6- caliver. [App. the same word as calibre; see the quotation from Littre there, and the following: *588 E. York Ord. Marshall in Stow's Surv. (1754) II. v. xxxi. 570/1 When I was first brought up in Piemount. .we had our particular Calibre of Harquebuze to our Regiment, that one Bullet should serve all the Harquebuzes of our Regiment.. Of which Worde of Calibre, came first this unapt Term which we use to call a Harquebuze a Calliver, which is the Height of the Bullet and not the Piece. Before the Battell of Mounganter [= Moncontour, 1569], the Prynces caused seven thousand Harquebuzes to be made, all of one Calibre; which were called Harquebuze du Calibre de Monsieur le Prince. So as I think some men not understanding Frenche, brought hither the name of the Height of the Bullet for the Piece. 1594 Barwick Disc. cone. Weapons 8 It is supposed by many that the weapon called commonly a Caliver is another thinge than a Harquebuze, whereas in truth it is not, but only a Harquebuze, sauing that it is of a greater circuite or Bullet then the other is of: wherfore the Frenchman doth call it a peece de Calibre, which is as much as to say, a peece of bigger circute. 1611 Florio, Colibro, as Calibro, an instrument that gunners vse to measure the height of any piece or bullet. Also the height or bore of any piece, from whence our word Caliuer is derived; being at first a piece different from others.]

1. A light kind of musket or harquebus, originally, it appears, of a certain calibre, introduced during the 16th c.; it seems to have been the lightest portable fire-arm, excepting the pistol, and to have been fired without a ‘rest’. 1568 in Archaeologia (1829) XXII. 78 [In an inventory of the goods at Grafton and Salwarpe 28th November 1568, occurs] ‘Kalyvers’. 1569 [see 3] . 1574 Lane. Lieutenancy (1859) 1. 32 Ffitt men to serve w'h qualliuers. 1577 Churchw. Acc. St. Margaret's, Westm. (Nichols 1797) 19 Paid fornewe stocking of five calyvers I2J. 1578 Sir R. Constable Order of Campe (Harl. MS. 847 If. 53 b) The ordonnance.. halberts, harquebusses, qualivres, launces. *587 Holinshed Sc. Chron. (1806) II. 303 A.. hot skirmish., between the Englishmen and Frenchmen with hagbuts, caleevers, and pistolets. 1588 Lucar Tartaglia’s Colloq. 61

CALIVER

CALL

78s

His Caliver.. must be in length at the least three foote and two ynches, and the bore must be in Diameter | of an ynch His Musket.. the bore in Diameter js of an ynch. 1588 T. Deloney in Roxb. Ball. (1887) VI. 390 With Muskets, Pikes, and good Caleeuers, for her Graces safegarde then. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres 1. i. 3 A good Calliuer charged with good powder and bullet. 1602 Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 53 He that shooteth in a Caleeuer at birdes. 1613 Hayward Norm. Kings 77 Of late yeeres .. the harquebuze and calliuer are brought into vse. 1642 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. ill. (1692) I. 670, 100 Colliers .. whom he armed with Pikes, Musquets, and Calievers. 1678 Phillips, Caliver, or Calliver, a small Gun used at Sea. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxvii. 129 The caliver.. was so inconvenient that it had not entirely discredited the bow. 1821 Scott Kenilw. i, Then you are from the Low Countries, the land of pike and caliver? 1834 Planche Brit. Costume 278 During this reign [James I's] the caliver, a matchlock that could be fired without a rest, came greatly into use.

fb. A soldier armed with a caliver. Obs. 1581 Styward Mart. Discip. 1. 44 The Caleuers or Coriers. Such must haue either of them a good and sufficient peece, flaske, touch bore, pouder, shot, &c. 1591 Garrard Art Warre 83 Calivers or Horgabuzieres or Musketieres. *589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 37 One of them lately at \ orke, pulling out his napkin to wipe his mouth after a lie, let drop a surgeans caliuer at his foote where he stood.

3. attrib. and Comb., as caliver-man, -shot, etc. 1569 in Heath Grocer's Comp. (1869) 10 Furnyshed with calyuer matches with flasks. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. I. v. xv. 447 A calliver-shot could scarce' reach from the one side to the other. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 170 In a muskett, two calever shott, or many smaller, a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts i. (1704) 174/2 The Fleet was to pass w'ithin Calliver Shot of this Fort. 1829 Scott Hrt. Midi. xxxii, Ye musquet and calliver-men.

1. A pointed piece of iron on a horse-shoe to prevent slipping; = calkin. 1587 Turberv. Epitaphs & Sonn. (1837) 387 He sets a slender calke, And so he rides his way. 1591 Percivall Sp. Diet., Rampones, caukes in a horse shooe. 1881 Daily Tel. 17 Jan., Where would the poor horse be without the ‘calks’ on the hind feet?

2. A piece of iron projecting from the heel of a boot, shoe, or clog, which digs into the ice or frozen ground, and prevents slipping. U.S. 1805 Naval Chron. XIII. 113, In Canada it is customary during the winter season.. to wear on the feet a sort of patten, called caulks. 1874 Knicht Did. Mech. s.v., The calk .. attached to a boot consists of a plate with spurs, which project a little below the heel.

fcalk, sb.2 Obs. rare. Perh. calculation: cf. calk v.1; perh. = chalk. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 88 With astrologe and vther instrument, With compas, calk, and als with quadrent.

calk, obs. and northern form of chalk. fcalk, v.' Obs. Also calke, kalk. [app. shortened from calcule, calkil, calkle.] 1. trans. To calculate, reckon; esp. astrologically. 1401 Pol. Poems (185 9) II. 61 Ify cowde calkyn A1 manere kyndes. 11440 Prornp. Parv. 58 Calkyn, calculo. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas, xviii. i. On his boke he began to calke How the sonne entred was in Gemyne. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence xxvi. 3 Whose fortunes kalked made the father sad. 1646 J. Geree Astrologom. 19 Woolsey calked the Kings Nativity.

2. intr. or absol.

1863 Sala Capt. Dang. I. iii. 43 He was averse to all high¬ handed measures of musketooning, and calivering.

1398 [see calking i], 1455 in Paston Lett. I. 350 Oon Doktor Grene, a preest, hath kalked and reporteth, that, etc. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 55/1 They kalked on his natyvyte. r556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xliv. 26 If one diuell with an other for lies should calke.

caliver,

3. ? To appropriate, lay claim to. [Perhaps a different word = to chalk out.]

'caliver, v. nottce-wd. [f. prec. sb.] trans. To shoot with a caliver.

obs. form of calibre.

fcaliverer. Obs. rare—[f.

caliver sb.

+

-er1.]

A soldier armed with a caliver. I59° Sir J. Smythe Disc. Weapons 5 Harquebuziers may skirmish with more dexteritie and certeintie than the Caliverers with their Calivers.

Ilcalix ('kasliks). PI. 'calices. [L. calix cup (see chalice). On account of the running together of

this and the Graeco-Latin calyx ‘outer covering of a fruit or flower-bud’ (cf. It. calice, Sp. caliz, F. calice), modern scientific writers rarely distinguish the two, but commonly write both as calyx. The diminutives calicle and calycle are more generally distinguished.] A cup; a cup-like cavity or organ; e.g. the truncated termination of the branches of the ureter in the kidney; the wall of the Graafian follicle, from which an ovum has escaped; the cup-like body of a crinoid or coral which is placed on the top of the stem; the body of a Vorticella; a cup-shaped depression in the upper part of the theca of a coralligenous zoophyte, which contains the stomach-sac (sometimes in French form calice). Also, Gr. Antiq. = CYLIX. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xlii (1737) 180 A Carbuncle jetted out of its Calix or Cup. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 284 Remaining in one of the calices or infundibula in the kidneys. 1849 A. Rich Illustr. Comp. Lat. Diet. 1869 Nicholson Zool. xii. (1880) 160 A shallower or deeper cup¬ shaped depression, which contains the stomach-sac of the polype, and is known as the ‘calice’. 1881 Mivart Cat 233 The part surrounding this prominence is called the calix. 1912 H. B. Walters in Catal. Gr. Vases Brit. Mus. I. 11. 228.

Calixtin, -ine (ka'hkstin). Eccl. Hist. 1. [in F. Calixtin, in med.L. pi. Calixtini, calix cup, in sense 1 referred to L.] A member of a section of the Hussites, who maintained, as their chief article, that the cup as well as the bread should be administered to the laity; a Utraquist. 1710 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 16th C. I. 11. xxxi. 185 Those called Calixtines, who administered the Sacrament in both kinds. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The Calixtins.. in the main .. still adhered to the Doctrine of Rome. 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 361/1 The Hussites now divided into several branches, some.. more moderate and rational, such as the Callixtines.

2. An adherent of the opinions of George Calixtus (1586-1656), a Lutheran divine and professor at the University of Helmstedt, Brunswick, noted for his moderate and conciliatory views and writings on controversial points; a syncretist. 1727-51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Calixtins are esteem’d a kind of Semi-Pelagians. 1826 C. Butler Grotius xii. 201 Denominated Syncretists or Calixtines from George Calixtus.

caliz,

obs. form of chalice.

calk (ko:k), sb.1 Also 6 calke, cauke, 9 caulk, [app. ultimately f. L. calc-em {calx) heel, calcaneum heel, or calcar spur: but the history is wanting.]

1606 Birnie Kirk-Burial 30 By kirk-buriall the pavement [is] so partiallie parted to paticulare men, that if they cleaue to that they haue calked, the people that rests must byde at the doore.

calk (ko:k), v.2 [f. calk r6.‘] trans. To provide (a shoe) with a calk or calkin; to rough-shoe. 1624 Scott 2nd Pt. Vox Populi 46 As many.. as would suffice for sixe or eight thousand horse all calked sharpe and frost-nayled of purpose for trauaile ouer the Ice.

Hence 'calking vbl. sb.; also attrib., as in calking-anvil, an anvil for forming horse-shoe calks; calking-tongs, for sharpening these. 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Gloss, s.v. Calciatura, The calking or cauking of horseshoes, i.e. to turn up the two corners, that a horse may stand the faster upon ice. 1886 Pall Mall G. 5 Feb. 4/1 Colonel Myles’s system was the exact opposite of the much-practised ‘calking’.

calk(ko:k, kselk), v.3 Also caique, [a. F. calque-r, in same sense, ad. It. calcare to press under:—L. calcare to tread. (Cf. cauk.) Often supposed to be identical, etymologically, with chalk, with which it has nothing to do.] trans. To copy (a design) by rubbing the back with colouring matter, and drawing a blunt point along the outlines so as to trace them in the colour on a surface placed beneath. Hence 'calking vbl. sb. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. (1769) 52 Two plates exactly counter-calked. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 147 Transferred by tracing, or, as it is also called, calking.

calk, var. of caulk; obs. f. cauk calkel, var. of calcule

v.

v.

to tread.

Obs. to calculate.

calken, local name of the Weaver Fish. 1674 Ray Local Wds., Sea Fishes, Collect. 104.

f ‘calker1. Obs. Also 6 calcar, 7 calcour. [f. calk v.1 + -er1.] A calculator of nativities, etc.; an astrologer; a magician, conjurer. I535 Coverdale Isa. ii. 6 Calkers of mens byrthes, whereof ye haue to many. 1584 R. Scott Discov. Witchcraft vii. xv. 122 Imps, calcars, conjurors. 1662 Fuller Worthies 1. 209 Forewarned (by what Calker I wot not).

calker2 ('ko:k9(r)). Sc. Also caulker, [f. calk + -ER1.] = CALKIN. Also^zg.

.2

v

1794 Burns To John Taylor ii, Poor slip-shod giddy Pegasus Was but a sorry walker; To Vulcan then Apollo goes, To get a frosty calker. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxix, They turn down the very caulkers of their animosities and prejudice, as smiths do with horses’ shoes in a white frost. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xvi. (1859) 434 The Bight of Leogane is a horseshoe, Cape St. Nicholas is the caulker on the northern heel.

calker3, var. of caulker. calkes, illiterate spelling of calx. calketrap(pe, -treppe, obs. ff. caltrop. calkil, var. of calcule v. Obs. to calculate. calkin ('ko:kin, 'ktelkin). Forms: (5 kakun), 6 calkyn, 7 cawkin, 7- calkin, calking. [Possibly going back to a ME. *calkain, a. OF. calcain heel:—L. calcaneum heel; but the earliest form

kakun agrees with the Du. kalkoen, MDu. calcoen ‘ungula,’ f. L. calx. Some orthoepists treat (’korkin) as only a vulgar or colloquial pronunciation, but others know no other.] 1. The turned-down ends of a horse-shoe which raise the horse’s heels from the ground; also a turned edge under the front of the shoe; applied esp. to these parts when sharpened in a frost. 1445 Bokenham Female Saints (1683) 223 Tweyn hors.. Of wych the toon hym greuously boot, And wyth hys kakun the tother hym smoot. 1587 Holinshed Scot. Chron. U iij b, Causyng a smyth to shoe three horses for him contrarily, with the calkyns forward. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 322 Little gravel stones getting betwixt the hoof, or calking, or spunge of the [horse’s] shooe. 1610 Markham Masterp. 11. xcvii. 387 Let your [horse-]shooes behinde haue a cawkin on the out-side. 1727 Bradley Fam. Diet. I. s.v. Bleymes, Calkings spoil the Feet of a Horse. 1868 Regul. & Ord. Army [P1214 The calkins of the hind shoes are to be removed, as these are not needed on board.

2. The irons nailed on the heels and soles of strong shoes or clogs to make them wear longer. 1832 Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 314 The price of men’s clogs is five shillings. .This price includes calking, i.e. the iron-work. t'calking, vbl. sb1

Obs. [f. calk 1. Calculation, computation.

.1

v

+ -ing1.]

1398 Trevisa Barth de P.R. (Tollemache MS.) vm. xxvii, pe science and use of calkynge [1535 calclynge; Lat. calculi] and acountes.

2. spec. Astrological prognostication. C1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 103 Ych yere wer certeyn dayes three By calkyng cast and computacion Sowght and chosen. 1562 Phaer /.Eneid ix. Bbij, To king Turnus deere he calkinges kest. But not with calking craft could he his plague beswitch that day.

calking vbl. sb.2, calkling,

var. of caulking.

var. of calculing vbl. sb.

calkule, -ylle, var.

calcule v.

Obs.

Obs.

call (ko:l), v.

Forms: (i ceallian), 3 callen, 3-6 calle, (4 cale, kal, kel), 4-5 kail, 4-7 cal, 5 callyn, 6 caal, (caul(e), 4- call. Also {Sc.) 7-9 caw, 8-9 ca’. [OE. shows a single instance of ceallian: but ME. callen, kallen, was originally northern, and evidently a. ON. kalla to call, cry, shout, to summon in a loud voice, to name, call by a name, also to assert, claim (Sw. kalla, Da. kalde). A common Teut. vb.: in MDu. callen, Du. kallen to talk, chatter, prattle, MLG. kallen, OHG. challon, MHG. kallin to talk much and loud, to chatter:—OTeut. *kallojan, cogn. with got- in Slav, golos voice, sound, and perhaps with Aryan root gar- to chatter. The connexion of meaning in Branch III seems far¬ fetched, but there appears to be no doubt of its identity.]

I. To shout, utter loudly, cry out, summon. * intr. 1. To utter one’s voice loudly, forcibly, and distinctly, so as to be heard at a distance; to shout, cry: often emphasized by out, to cry out. Const, to, after (a person whose attention it is desired to engage). One may also call across a river, up a shaft, down stairs, into a passage, etc. See also senses 21-23. (Not in Johnson.) a 1000 Byrhtnoth (Gr.) 91 Ongan ceallian ofer cald w£eter Byrhthelmes beam, a 1225 St. Marher. 3 Ha bigon to cleopien ant callen pus to criste. a 1300 Cursor M. 5720 Sua lang pai cald, drightin pam herd. Ibid. 7341 pan bigan pai cal and cri pat godd o pam suld ha merci. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 148 Upon her knees she gan down falle.. and to him calle. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburgh (1848) 105 Callynge to her, in the name of Jhesu. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. Induct, ii. 91 Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket. 1604Oth. 1. i. 74 Heere is her Fathers house, lie call aloud. 1667 Dryden Mart. Mar-all 11. i, Do you hear, my aunt calls. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 44 If 6 The Mother is heard calling out to her Son for Mercy. 1714 Ellwood Autobiog. (1765) 93 He calling earnestly after me. 1788 Dibdin Mus. Tour xxxvi. 143 note, He called to one of the sailors to tell him what it was. 1848 S. Bamford Early Days vi. (1859) 63, I thereupon called as loudly as I could. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 837 He call’d aloud for Miriam Lane.

b. Said of animals, chiefly birds, making certain cries or notes; of bees before swarming. i486 Bk. St. Albans A ij. In the tyme of their loue they call and not kauke. 1552 Huloet, Call lyke a partryche. 1609 C. Butler Few. Mon. v. (1623) Liij, After the second swarme, I have heard a young Ladie-Bee call. 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recr. 1. (1706) 73 Being almost spent, it is painful for them [the hounds] to call. 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb. s.v. Bees, In the Morning before they Swarm, they approach near the Stool, where they call somewhat longer. 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides 289 The poor partridges .. were calling all around us. 1847 Longf. Ev. 1. v. 2 Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping maids of the farmhouse. 1851 Tennyson To Queen 14 While..thro’ wild March the throstle calls.

c. Said trumpet.

of

sounding

a

summons

with

a

1606 Shaks. Tr. & Cr. 1. iii. 277 Hector.. will to morrow with his Trumpet call, To rowze a Grecian.

d. fig. Said of inanimate things. 1611 Bible Ps. xlii. 7 Deepe calleth vnto deepe at the noyse. 1842 Tennyson Sea-fairies 9 Day and night to the billow the fountain calls.

CALL e. Cards. To make a demand (for a card, for one’s opponents to show their hands, etc.): as (a) in Long Whist, at a certain point in the game, to call upon one’s partner to produce an honour if he has one, in which case the game is won; to call (for trumps)', see 22 d. (b) in Poker, to call upon one’s opponents to show their hands, (c) in Quadrille, to ‘call a king’, i.e. demand and take into one’s own hand a king from one’s partner’s hand, (d) in Bridge (trans. and intr.), to bid. 1680 Cotton Compl. Gamester, in Singer Hist. Cards 338 If he forgets to call after playing a trick, he loseth the advantage of can-ye for that deal. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. 36. 2/1 If either A. or B. have Honours they are at Liberty to Call. 1820 Hoyle's Games Impr. 44 (heading) Of calling honours. I bid. 80 If both sides are eight, and no one calls, each player must possess an honour. Ibid. 93 (Quadrille) Call to your strongest suit except you have a queen guarded. 1883 Longm. Mag. Sept. 499 {Poker) When the bet goes round to the last player.. and he does not wish to go better, he may simply ‘see it’ and ‘call’. 1906 A. Sutro Walls of Jericho 11, Duchess. I call no trumps. Tiny. Shall I play to no trumps, partner? 1923 Harmsworth's Househ. Encycl. I. 532/1 The best that you can do is to call one of the suit you want led in case B goes no trumps. 1928 A. Waugh Nor many Waters ii. 74, I called, ‘Three No Trumps.’ And the man on my left doubled. 1958 Listener 11 Dec. 1012/1 West was the dealer and the opponents did not call.

f. To make a telephone call. (Cf. sense 4m) 1882 J. E. K. The Telephone 19 The means by which the Exchange operator knows which subscriber is calling is very ingenious and very simple. Ibid. 38 An anxious mother.. called through the Exchange for the doctor. 1928 Hecht & MacArthur Front Page 11. 72 Endicott (into phone)'. Endicott calling. Gimme a rewrite man.

2. to call at a door: orig. to call aloud there so as to make known one’s presence and business to those within; hence, to knock or ring, and speak or make a communication to one who answers the door; whence, to call at a house, to go to the door, or enter, for the purpose of some communication—the extended notion of entering was at first expressed by to call in, still in familiar use = ‘look in’ in passing, or incidentally; to call on (a person)-, to pay him a short business, ceremonial, or complimentary visit; and absol. to call = make or ‘pay’ a call. [a 1300 Cursor M. 10096 Mi saul es cummen, leuedi, pe to And calles at pi yatt ‘vndo’! 1598 Shaks. Merry W. iv. v. 9 Go, knock and call.] 1593-Rich. II, 11. ii. 94 To day I came by, and call’d there. 1599-Much Ado in iii. 44 You are to call at all the Alehouses. 1603-Meas.for M. iv. v. 6 Goe call at Flauia’s house, And tell him where I stay. 1711 Budgell Sped. No. 150 (*9, I happened the other Day to call in at a celebrated Coffee-house near the Temple. 1787 Cowper Lett. 18 Jan., A young gentleman called here yesterday who came six miles out of his way to see me. 1831 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 366 If she is obliged to call again. 1834 Macready Remin. I. 420 Called at the Literary Fund office, and saw.. the secretary. 1881 Mrs. Riddell A. Spenceley II. iii. 65 She thought of calling in Banner Square. Mod. Call in some time during the day. Have many visitors called to-day?

b. to call at (a place): to stop for a short time in passing, in order to speak or communicate in some way with people there: said e.g. of a carrier who ‘calls’ at a house or place to deliver or receive a parcel, and has his regular ‘houses of call’; also of a vehicle, railway train, ship, steamer, which ‘calls’ or ‘touches’ at places on its way. Merely ‘to make a short stop or stay at a place’ is not to call, purpose of speaking, dealing, visiting, or other communication.. is of the essence of the notion. 1670 Cotton Espernon 11. vm. 378 His Majesty continuing his way through Guienne, took occasion to call at Blaye. 1727 Swift Gulliver 11. viii. 174 The captain called in at one or two ports. 1752 Beawes Lex Mercat. 267 Where the vessel was to have liberty to call, in her way down, for a pilot. 1799 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) III. 147 Captain Blackwood.. calls at Minorca in his way down. Ibid. 352 Direct the Ships to call off here, but not to anchor, a 1888 Railw. Time Table, Trains call at this station when required.

** trans. 3. To utter (anything) in a loud voice; to read over (a list of names) in a loud voice; to proclaim, announce, give out, make proclamation of. Often with out. Also absol. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 411 He callez A prayer to pe hy3e prynce, for pyne, on pys wyse. c 1720 Gay (J.) Nor parish clerk, who calls the psalm so clear. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 530 How .. should it come into his head that calling a psalm was more holy employment than sawing a board? 1855 Thackeray Newcomes II. xlii. 445 ‘Adsum’!.. the word we used at school when names were called. 185s Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 489 His duties were to call the odds when the Court played at hazard. 1886 Manch. Exam. 14 Jan. 4/7 Sir Erskine May called out the names of members in the order in which they were to.. take the oath.

b. To announce or proclaim authoritatively; to decree. 1647 in Sc. Pasquils (1868) 152 Might make the Pope a jubilee call. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 367 The newly made barristers ‘call’ carouse in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. 1876 Trevelyan Macaulay I. iii. 124 He could be angry as an opponent, but.. knew when to call a halt. Mod. Here the captain called a halt. We had better call a halt for a minute.

4. a. To summon with a shout, or by a call; hence to summon, cite; to command or request the attendance of, bid (any one) come; formerly

CALL

786

also, to ask, invite, ‘bid’ formally or authoritatively. Also absol.; and with adverbial extension, as away, back, home, in, out, into a place, to a duty. 01300 Cursor M. 3712 Sithen his sun he cald him till. Ibid. 19793 bai hat war oute, in did he calle. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. iii. 3 The kyng called a clerke..To take mede pe mayde. c 1500 Blowbol's Test, in Halliwell Nugae P. 3 Whylis ye have your right memorie Calle unto you your owne secretory. 1535 Coverdale Mark xv. 16 The soudyers.. called the whole multitude together. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI, ii. (Arb.) 57 They were not called to the feast. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. 11. iii. 61 Come away man, I was sent to call thee. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 264 f 1 The Bell which calls to Prayers twice a Day. 1712 Tickell Ibid. No. 410 [f 1 Sir Roger’s Servant was gone to call a Coach. 1831 Macaulay in Life & Lett. I. (1880) 209, I called a cabriolet. 1847 Tennyson Princess 11. 447 The chapel bells Call’d us. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 11 Southampton was called before the Council, a 1888 Mod. At the end of the play the chief actors were called before the house.

b. fig. Also spec., to summon to another world. i wif pi sister dere. Ibid. 27541 (Fairf.) Synnis.. clerkis callin veniale. 1481 Caxton Tulle of Old Age, The poet Ennius callyd hym his swete hony. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. 1. xxvii, That quadrate is called properly to be drawen in a circle, w hen all his fower angles doeth touche the edge of the circle. 1581 Confer. 11. (1584) I, The Papistes call iustice for treason, persecution for religion. 1611 Bible Malachi iii. 15 Now we call the proud happy, a 1631 Donne Paradoxes (1652) 2 You can cal it pleasure to be beguil’d in troubles. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton i. (1840) 1 The woman, whom I was taught to call mother. 1736 Butler Anal. 1. i. Wks. 1874 1- 19 That living agent each man calls himself. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc 1. 29 Her parents mock at her and call her crazed. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 426 Would you not call a man able who could do that?

12. To apply abusive names to; to abuse, vilify. Now dial. Cf .to call (one) names, 17 c. 1633 Ford ’77$ Pity ill. vi, I fear this friar’s falsehood; I will call him.

1701 Swift Mrs. Harris' Petit. Wks. 1755 III.

CALL II. 61 As though I had call’d her all to naught. 1825 Brockett N. Country Gloss. 37 Call, to abuse. They called one another! i860 Dial. Batley s.v., In the unsophisticated Yorkshire dialect.. to call is to put forth torrents of abuse. 1874 Crowle Adv. 19 Dec., No child in the Band of the Cross must use bad language or call any one.

III. To drive. Sc. 13. trans. To urge forward, drive (an animal or a vehicle). Perh. originally ‘to drive with shouts’; but no trace of this is known since the 14th c., and the sense is not in ON. *375 Barbour Bruce x. 223 Than Burmok.. callit his wayn toward the peill. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 718 Thir cartaris.. callyt furth the cartis weill. a 1600 Montgomerie Flyting 73 Many ,eald 30W hast thou cald ouer a know. 1785 Burns Cotter s Sat. Nt. iv, Some ca’ the pleugh. 1794{title) Ca’ the yowes to the knowes. 1832-53 Whistle-binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. III. 29 My father wad lead wi’ a bairn, But wadna be ca’d for the deil*.

b. To drive in the chase, to hunt. 1768 Ross Helenore 122 (Jam.) We never thought it wrang to ca a prey.

c. To make to go; to turn, drive. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 167 If that her tippony chance to be sma’ We’ll tak a good scour o’t and ca’t awa. a 1776 in Herd Sc. Songs II. 19 We ca’d the bicker aft about. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvi, Even if he were a puir ca’the-shuttle-body [i.e. weaver]. 1863 J. Nicholson The Burnie, Ca’ aboot the mill wheel. [So to ca' ower, to knock over.]

d. fig. as in call clashes: ‘to spread malicious or injurious reports’ (Jam.), call the crack: to keep the conversation going, call one's way: to pursue one’s way, move on. 1768 Ross Heletiore 76 (Jam.) Ca’ your wa’, The door’s wide open. 1785 Burns Ep. Lapraik ii, On fasten-een we had a rockin. To ca’ the crack and weave our stockin. 1858 M. Porteous Real Souter Johnny 13 While Souter Johnnie ca’d the crack.

14. To drive (a nail); also, to fix, fasten, or join by hammering; to forge, weld. Also ca’ on. 1513 Douglas JEneis vm. vii. 174 In every place sevin ply thai well and call. 1676 W. Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. xii. (1848) 504 Cawed in the boots by the hangman. 1768 Ross Helenore 84 (Jam.) But to the head the nail ye mauna ca. 1789 Burns Kirk's Alarm, He has cooper’d and cawt a wrong pin in’t.

15. absol. To drive (a horse, cart, etc.), to ca' canny, to drive gently and carefully, also fig. Also to drive (a weapon) at, let fly at. a 1500 Sir Egeir 45 (Jam.) His spear before him could he fang.. And called right fast at Sir Gray Steel.. And Gray Steel called at Sir Grahame. 1823 Galt Entail I. xxvii. 239 But.. ca’ canny. Mod. Will you come and ca’? [i.e. drive a skipping-rope].

16. irttr. (for refl.) To drive, be driven. 1717 Wodrow Corr. (1843) 11- 246, I regret your want of health, and fear you may be calling off from an ill time to the joy of your Lord. 1768 Ross Helenore 70 (Jam.), I mounts, and with them aff what we could ca’. 1794 Burns Young Jockey 12 When Jockey’s owsen hameward ca’. 01803 in Scott Minstr. Sc. Bord. I. 199 (Jam.) There will never a nail ca’ right for me.

IV. Phrases and Combinations. * Phrases. 17. a. to call attention to: to direct or invite (a person’s) notice to; to point out, show. (Cf. 4g.) 1827 P. Cunningham Two Yrs. in N.S. Wales I. 204 To call their attention to the procuring of this valuable medicine. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faith/, xxvii, To which I shall soon have to call the attention of the House. 1885 Sir E. Fry in Law Rep. XXIX. Chanc. 484 It is not necessary to call attention to the evidence. Mod. Attention was called to the state of the Thames.

b. to call cousins: to address each other as ‘Cousin’; to claim cousinship or kinship with. So formerly to call brothers or sisters. (Cf. 11.) C1603 Marston lnsat. Countesse Wks. 1856 III. 112 We two, that any time these fourteene yeeres have called sisters. c 1623 Middleton Anyth, for quiet Life Wks. (Dyce) IV. 443 So near I am to him, we must call cousins. 1751 H. Walpole Corr. (1837) I. 156 Pray do you call cousins. 1808 Scott Autobiog. in Lockhart (1839) 6 My father used to call cousin, as they say, with the Campbells of Blythswood.

c. to call names: to apply opprobrious names or epithets to (a person). (Cf. 12.) [1594 Shaks. Rich. Ill, I- iii. 236 That thou hadst call’d me all these bitter names.] 1697 Dampier Voy. (1698) 117 They.. content themselves with standing aloof, threatning and calling names. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 274 f 1 Calling Names does no Good 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xxii. (i860) 233/2 He replied to my jokes by calling names. 1884 Times (weekly ed.) 5 Sept. 3/1 They were not in the habit of calling one another names.

d. to call (a thing) one’s crwn: to claim or regard as one’s own. (Cf. 11 b.) 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, in. ii. 454 My robe, And my integrity to Heaven, is all I dare now call my own. 1762 Gibbon Jrnl. in C. Morison Life 37, I had hardly a moment I could call my own. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop iii, She daren't call her soul her own. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown 1. v, The first place that he could call his own.

e. to call out of one's name, to address by a name other than the true one. 1848 Dickens Dombey ii. 12 Perhaps if she was to be called out of her name, it would be considered in the wages. 1885 C. M. Yonge Two Sides of Shield I. iii. 38 She had rather not be called out of her name.

f. to call it a day: see day sb. 20 b; so to call it a night. 1934 J- Spenser’ Limey breaks In xi. 180 There were at least sixty pounds there, and I quickly collared the lot and called it a night. 1968 K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 55 At

CALL

787 length, when he had about half a ton of meat on the Rover, he decided to call it a night. g. to call one's (or the) bluff: see bluff sb.2 3.

18. to call in question: to summon for trial or examination; to impeach; to challenge, impugn, dispute, cast doubt upon; formerly, also, to examine, make inquisition into; so f to call in doubt. (Cf. 4.) I579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 119 That.. I should call in question the demeanour of all. 1587 Harrison England 1. 11. v. (1877) 130 This is alas too open and manifest.. and yet not called into question. 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. v. ii. 6 Neither call the giddinesse of it in question. 1601-Jul. C. iv. iii. 165 Now sit we close about this Taper heere, And call in question our necessities. 1671 Milton Samson 43 Let me not rashly call in doubt Divine prediction. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) I. xiii. 371 This opinion..has only recently been called in question. 1844 Thackeray B. Lyndon xix, For calling the honour of his mother in question.

19. to call into being, existence: to give life to, make, create, call into play: to bring into action. Disc. (1759) I. ii. 76 To call Men from the Grave into being. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. x. 508 It was no small work to call into being that mighty abbey. 1873 Max Muller Sc. Relig. 29 By which a canon of sacred books is called into existence. 1874 Blackie SelfCult. 45 An art which calls into play all the powers that belong to a prompt and vigorous manhood. 20. a. to call to account: to summon (one) to 1754 Sherlock

render an account, or to answer for conduct; hence, to reprove, rebuke: cf. account sb. 7, 8. call to arms: to summon to prepare for battle or war. call to the bar: to admit as a barrister; see bar sb.1 24. call to (one's) feet, legs: to bid one stand up; spec, to bid one in a company rise and speak, propose a toast, sing, etc. (Cf. 4, 6.) a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1664) Dja, Call your observation to accompt and you shall find it as I say. 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 13 They who heard St. Peter call a lame man unto his legs. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 89 [Pi He was called to the Bar. 1833 Ht. Martineau Manch. Strike v. 61 This ‘mob’ declared their intention of calling Wentworth to account. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 192 Calling the old soldiers of the Commonwealth to arms. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 139 He who transgresses them is to be corrected, or, in other words, called to account. b. to call to memory, mind, remembrance: to recollect, recall, cause to be remembered; also with back: cf. 26 d. (Cf. 4.) 1472 Paston Lett. 700 III. 51 Preying yow to call to your mynd. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. 11. 1, I cannot call your name to remembrance. 1611 Bible Mark xiv. 72 Peter called to minde the word that Iesus said vnto him. 1701 Earl Clarendon in Pepys' Diary VI. 207 Whose name I cannot call to mind. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxiv, Calling to mind what had occurred. 1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. (1877) I. 3 It is necessary to call to mind.. a strangelyforgotten truth.

c. to call to witness, record, surety : to summon or appeal to (one) to bear witness, etc. (Cf. 4d.) *535 Coverdale Deut. iv. 26, I call heauen and earth to recorde [1611 to witnesse] ouer you this daie. 1601 Shaks. All's Well v. iii. 108 She call’d the Saints to suretie, That she would neuer put it from her finger. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 504 They were all ready to call God to witness that they renounced all spiritual connection with foreign prelates. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 1291 To this I call my friends in testimony.

** With prepositions. Formed on the intrans. senses 1 and 2; the combination, however, has often the force of a transitive verb, and takes an indirect passive, as ‘a light was called for’, ‘we are not called upon to act’. 21. call after. See 1. fAlso, to ask for, demand, summon (obs.). c 1340 Cursor M. 1377 Langl. P. PI.

17842 Anoon pei calde aftir parchemyne. B. iii. 100 The kynge called after Mede.

22. call for. a. To ask loudly or authoritatively for; to order; fig. to claim, require, demand. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xxxvi. 29, I wil call for the corne, and wil increase it. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 172 Hee calls for wine. 1601-All's Well 1. i. 202 My Lord cals for you. 1737 Berkeley App. Querist §104 Wks. 1871 III. 534 Whether our circumstances do not call aloud for some present remedy? 1801 I. Milner Life xiii. (1842) 246 He said some things which, I thought, called for a fresh lashing. 1843 Ruskin Mod. Paint. (1857) I. Pref. 9 The crying evil which called for instant remedy. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Grk. Test. 18 Few employments call for so much patience.

b. To call for (a speaker, actor, etc.) to appear in order to receive the applause of the audience. 1822 New Month. Mag. IV. 315 If the public call for an actor whom they have not seen a long time. 1831 Macready in Remin. I. 413 The audience called for me, and seemed pleased in applauding me. 1851 Illust. Lond. News 46 The author and the performers were called for.

c. To go to or stop at a place and ask for. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 103 The cadgers .. call for it againe as they come backe. 1833 Ht. Martineau Three Ages iii. 89 To be left at the Blue Lion till called for.

d. Card-playing, to call for trumps: to indicate by special play to one’s partner that he is to play out trumps. Also absol. 1746 Hoyle Whist (ed. 6) 79 If your Partner calls..you are to trump to him.

23. to call on or upon. a. To call to a person with a request or entreaty; to address in a loud voice; to apostrophize the absent or dead. c 1400 Destr. Troy 388 The Kyng was full curtais, calt on a maiden. 1475 Caxton Jason 70 And whan he had so don

he began to calle upon the two knightes. 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. 1. ii. 15 Who is it in the presse, that calles on me? 1718 J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. (1730) Ded., The Texts., in which he does so often call upon Atheists and Infidels.

b. To invoke, or make supplication to (God, etc.). 01300 Hymn to Virg. 1 in Trin. Coll. Horn. App. 257 Moder milde flur of alle .. On pe hit is best to calle. a 1300 Cursor M. 5718 On drightin can pai cri and call. Ibid. 19670 All pat calles on pi nam. 1490 Caxton Eneydos iv. 19 The goddis by hym adoured and callid on. 1611 Bible Gen. iv. 26 Then began men to call vpon the Name of the Lord. 1867 Lytton Lost T. Miletus 67 One night on death he called And passed with death away.

c. (a) To appeal to, make direct application to (a person) for (something) or to do (something); to require, to make a demand upon. In the passive, said also of the call or requirements of duty. 1472 Marg. Paston Lett. No. 695 III. 45 Yt is seyde here that my Lord Archebysschoppe is ded; and yf yt be so, calle up on hys suertes for the mony. c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. lxxix. 1 Whilst I alone did call upon your aid. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 120 JP 2 He called for help upon the sages of physick. 1814 Lett.fr. England II. liii. 368 He called upon his congregation for horses. 1530 Palsgr. 473/2 Call upon them to remember my mater. 1603 Shaks. Meas.for M. v. i. 287 Speake not you to him till we call vpon you. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 427 They would be called upon by parliament to produce their records. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 530 Lord Berkeley called on all his friends to help him. 1883 Sir W. Brett in Law Rep. 11 Queen's B. Div. 599 Without calling upon the defendant’s counsel we are prepared now to give judgment, a 1888 Mod. A man is not called upon to make such sacrifices every day.

(b) To require or urge (a horse) to exert itself further. Cf. ask v. 2 b. 1850 ‘H. Hieover’ Pract. Horsemanship viii. 163 In the last few strides [of a race], where sudden and increased exertion is called for, and the horse is, in technical phrase, ‘called upon’. 1886 Ld. Suffolk & W. G. Craven Racing v. 86 Romanus is seen to. .lose his pace. Wood calls on him without mending matters. 1894 Custance Riding Recoil, xi. 162 When I called on the gallant animal for the final effort, he got up and won.

fd. To appeal to as an authority or precedent. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. 1. (1843) 22/2 His [Earl of Manchester’s] authority.. was still called upon. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. 312 Commonly Princes call on such Statutes when themselves are called on by their necessities.

fe. due).

To make a claim for, demand (money

1472 Marg. Paston Lett. 695 III. 44, I pray 30W send me a kopy of the dyssecharge.. bothe for my dyscharge and 30wyrs wat sum ever that be callyd upon of eyther of us here after. 1607 Shaks. Timon 11. ii. 22 My Master is awak’d by great occasion To call vpon his owne.

ff. To impeach, challenge. Obs. 1606 Shaks. Ant. & Cl. 1. iv. 28 Full surfets, and the drinesse of his bones, Call on him for’t. 1740 Chesterf. Lett. I. clx. 295 You call upon me for the partiality of an author to his own works. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §73 Supposing his character called upon, not only as a professional man, but as a man of veracity.

g. To pay a short visit to, to make a call on. 1602 Shaks. Ham. iii. iii. 34 lie call vpon you ere you go to bed. 1822 New Month. Mag. IV. 403 He had called on me in Wales, and stayed with me nearly three days. 1840 Fraser's Mag. XXI. 404, I can .. occupy myself.. in calling upon some friends.

*** With adverbs. (See also the prec. senses, and the adverbs themselves for less specialized combinations.) 24. call again, a. See senses 1-3, and again. fb. [sense 4.] To call back, recall, restore; to revoke, retract. Obs. c 1340 Cursor M. 26459 If eft misdos wel es right J>e laured call again his plight. C1330 R. Brunne Chron. 215 (Matz.) Calle ageyn thin oth. 1483 Cath. Angl. 52 To calle agane, reuocare. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas, xxi. xvi, Dede done can not be called agayne. 01528 Skelton Ph. Sparowe 22 Nothynge it auayled To call Phylyp agayne Whom Gyb our cat hath slayne. 1562 Turner Herbal 11. 84 a, The juice., calleth them agayn that ar brought in to an extreme depe slepe. 1587 Golding De Mornay xiv. 211 Time can-not be called againe.

25. call away, [sense 4.] To summon or cause to come from one’s actual place or occupation; fig. to divert, call off (the mind, thoughts, etc.). 01748 Watts (J.) The passions call away the thoughts. 1741 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann III. ix. 27, I. .am called away and scarce know what I say. 1833 Lamb Last Ess. Elia (Chandos) 478 When.. necessity calleth him away. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 41 Menexenus, who is called away to take part in a sacrifice.

26. call back. a. See senses i, 3, and back. b. [sense 4] trans. To summon (a person) to return; to recall; to bring back (a thing). 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits viii. (1596) 117 The much cold.. calleth backe the naturall heate inward by counterposition. 1611 Bible i Esdr. i. 50 God .. sent by his messenger to call them backe. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 409 The raging Tempest call’d him back in vain. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 68 Wine may call back the vital powers in disease.

c. To revoke, retract. I553 Bale Vocac. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 356 He called a great pece of his tale backe againe. 1605 Broughton Corrupt. Handling of Relig. 6 He calleth backe himselfe in particulars. 1611 Bible Isa. xxxi. 2 Yet he., wil not call backe his words. 1848 s. Bamford Early Days vii. (1859) 68 Rap out a round regimental oath, and as instantly call it back with a ‘Lord help us’.

CALL d. To recall to memory, remember. 1851 Trench Poems 38 Then calling back this day we will be strong.

e. intr. To revert to type; = throw back, throw v. 38 d. 1853 Jrnl. R. Agrie. Soc. XIV. 1. 112 Isolated individuals appear, which, in the phraseology of breeders, ‘call back’ to their more remote progenitors. 1855 Ibid. XVI. 1. 22 The offspring are said .. to call back to their grand parents.

27. call down. a. intr. See senses I, and down adv. b. trans. See sense 4, and down; also fig. to invoke from above, bring down, cause to descend. 1810 Scott Lady of L. hi. x, On his name Shall call down wretchedness and shame. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 324 Calling down a blessing on his head. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 197 Irregularities which called down the censures of Pope Leo.

fc. [from 3.] To lower by proclamation; to denounce, decry. Obs. 1551 Robinson tr. More's TJtop. (Arb.) 59 To calle downe the value of coyne to lesse then it is worthe. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. 11. §3 If an untruth .. bee once on foot.. it is never called downe. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. iv. (1821) 267 All other moneyes.. shall bee decryed, annulled, and called downe. 1668 Child Disc. Trade {1698) 246 If the rate of Usury should be called down.

fd. [from 1.] To call to one to come or sit down, to stop (a speaker). Obs. 1656 in Burton Diary (1828) I. 295 He went on a little way in it, but was called down, in respect it was late.

e. To rate or reprove; to challenge sharply. colloq. 1896 Ade Artie iii. 27, I didn’t want to call her down. 1897 Kipling Capt. Courageous ix. 196 An unsatisfied dough¬ faced youth who took delight in ‘calling down the old man’ and reducing his mother to tears. 1904 F. Lynde Grafters v. 58 He .. so far lost his temper as to get himself called down by the judge, a 1910 ‘O. Henry’ Trimmed Lamp (1916) 209 When Fernando wanted to give me several thousand dollars for my trousseau he called him down something awful. 1940 H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood i.i. 35 It’s all very well for you to call it down, young lady, and criticise it.

28. call forth, a. lit. To summon or cause to come forward; to call out. 01300 Cursor M. 11083 Sir Zachari pai did call forth. 1526 Tindale Acts xxiv. 2 When Paul was called forth, Tartullus began to accuse him. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. 1. ii. 15 Call forth your Actors by this scrowle. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 649 Calling forth by name His mightie Angels.

b.fig. To summon fig., to cause to appear; to draw forth, elicit; to summon up (courage). 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 501 The Western Winds .. Call forth the tender Grass. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 666 And call new beauties forth from ev’ry line. 1713 - Prol. Addison's Cato 16 He.. calls forth Roman drops from British eyes. 1853 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 731 He then called forth his courage, and went up.

29. call in. a. intr. See senses 1, 2, and in. b. trans. See 4; spec. To withdraw from the outside, from an advanced position, from free action, from circulation or publicity. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 28 Call in the Powers, good cousin Westmerland. 1633 Massinger New Way iv„ ii, Callin his license. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 32 If one of your publisht Orders.. were call’d in. 1668 Child Disc. Trade (1698) 246 That money will be suddenly called in. 1676 R. Dixon Two Test. 70 If a Book be called in, I will therefore buy it. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 114 The last proclamation of June, 1842, calling in light gold. 1885 Law Rep. 2Q Chanc. Div. 461 The whole balance of the mortgage .. might be at once called in. 1885 Manch. Exam. 5 May 4/7 The Russians are willing to call in their outposts.

c. To summon for assistance or consultation. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders v. i. §103. 468/2 The Swedes, who were called in for the support of the German liberty. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 36 To call in the aid of the microscope. 1885 Sir J. Hannen in Law Rep. 10 Probate Div. 90 Sir William Gull was called in.

d. To require the payment or repayment of (money outstanding): cf. call sb. 11. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3749/8 Part of the 10 per Cent... to be called in. 1713 Ibid. No. 5114/3, 20s. per Share was., called in.

30. call off. a. See senses 1,3, and off. b. [See 4.] To summon away, or from what one is doing; fig. to divert, call away (the attention). 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 545 The Lord.. will call off those evils wch they groane under. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 104 If2 My Eyes were suddenly called off from these.. Objects by a little Party of Horsemen. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxxi, But the appearance of. .the jailer’s two servants now called off our attention. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. iv, And in mid chase called off his hound.

c. trans. To cancel (an engagement, etc.), draw back from (an undertaking). Also intr. 1888 Mrs. Oliphant Second Son v, Why, in the name of all that’s idiotic, do you call off now, and disappoint her.. and defy me? 1900 Ade More Fables 158 He was about to Call Off the Vestry Meeting, the Dinner, and all other Engagements for a Week to come. 1902 Daily Chron. 17 Oct. 5/3 The delegates of the Miners’ Convention must first pass a vote upon the question of calling off the strike. 1927 Observer 14 Aug. 6 That he would have been profoundly relieved if the whole expedition had been called off. 1952 V. Gollancz My Dear Timothy 388 But I am almost certain that, war, or no war, I should have called it off.

31. call on. a. See senses 1, 3, and on adv. (a., sb.1)

CALL

788 fb. trans. To invite to come on, allure, incite; fig. to encourage the growth of, bring on. Obs. 1603 Florio Montaigne II. xii. (1632) 296 It is a wonder, whither the perverse wickednesse of mans heart will proceed, if it be but called-on by any little successe. 1626 Bacon Sylva §546 How to multiply and call on mosses.

c. intr. Of hounds: To ‘challenge’. 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb. s.v. Fox-hunting, And for such as are first cast off, let them be old stanch-hounds, which are sure; and if you hear such an one call on merrily, you must cast off some other to him. 1847-78 Halliwell s.v., When hounds are first cast off, and find game, they are said to call on.

32. call out. a. See senses 1,3, and out adv. b. To call or summon forth; fig. to evoke, spec. to summon to active or permanent service in a campaign or in a state of emergency. C1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wulcker 605 Provoco.. to calle out. 1779 Digest of Militia Laws 112 Every such person, having served in the Militia when called out into actual service. 1840 Fraser's Mag. XXII. 697 The usual trick of being called out a dozen times, under pretence of a patient wanting me. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 291 When the trainbands were called out against an enemy. 1853 Bunn Old Eng. II.53 Shot by the military, who had been called out for the occasion. 1876 Green Short Hist. iv. §3 (1882) 176 [His] fiercest burst of vengeance was called out by an insult to his mother, a 1888 Mod. The military were called out. 1890 Chambers's Jrnl. 5 July 423/1 The fog-signalmen .. are often called out for a night’s ‘fogging’ just as they have finished a hard day’s work. 1921 Act 11 12 Geo. V c. 15 §9 Where.. a man of the Naval Reserves., is called into actual service or called out for permanent service.. on an occasion of great emergency.

c. To challenge to fight (esp. a duel). 1823 New Month. Mag. VIII. 111 Damme if I don’t call them out. 1840 Fraser's Mag. XXI. 594 In modern., parlance, ‘I call you out’. 1882 Pebody Eng. Journalism xi. (1883) 78 [He] contrived . .to be called out for a criticism which was too free and frank even for those times.

f d. To call for repayment of (money in a bank, or the like). Obs. 1682 Luttrell Brief Ret. (1857) I. 211 Severall persons who had money in the chamber of London .. thought fitt to call it out, but were told there were no orders to pay any.

e. To summon (workers) to strike, orig. U.S. 189s H. P. Robinson Men born Equal 284 Ugly threats, moreover, were being made by the strikers that the members of other labor organizations would be ‘called out’. 1947 Times 1 May 5/2 The chairman.. talked of launching a national strike and of calling out the seamen, the road transport workers, and the engineers. 1957 Screen Printer & Display Producer July 1/1 It was never the intention of the Union to call all its members out.

33. call over. a. See senses 1,3, and over. b. To read aloud (a roll or list of names), to which the persons called are to answer, in order to prove their presence. Also absol. 1687 Bp. Cartwright in Magd. Coll. & Jas. II (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 117 We called over the College Roll. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxiv, A gentleman in black .. proceeded to call over the names of the jury. 1864 H. Cox Instit. 1. ix. 137 It has been the practice of the House of Commons, on several occasions of sufficient importance, to order that the House be called over at a future day.

fc. To read aloud, recite (an announcement), proclaim; to recite, rehearse (a story). Obs. or dial. 1681 Select.fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 466 Here let me call over a story. 1865 Harland Lane. Lyrics 137 Iv o’ Sunday to’t chourch theaw wilt gang, Ther axins tha’ll yer um coed o’er.

d. call over the coals: see coal. 34. call together (see 5). To summon to assemble, to convoke. 1526 Tindale Luke xxiii. 13 And Pilate called [Wyclif clepid] to geder the hye prestes. 1611 Bible yer. 1. 29 Call together the archers against Babylon. Mod. Call the workmen together at once.

35. call up. a. See senses 1, 3, and up adv. b. To summon, from some lower region or place (e.g. from Hades), to bring into the mind by an effort of memory or imagination. 1632 Milton Penser. 109 That thy power Might.. call up him who left untold The story of Cambuscan bold. 1667 - P.L. ill. 603 Philosophers.. call up unbound.. old Proteus from the Sea. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Worn. & B. II. viii. 146 A tinselled nymph .. calling up commonplaces with a wand. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 32 Able to call up a personal image of several men of the days of Eadward.

c. To summon before an authority, tribunal, or examiner. 1753 World No. 35,1 was unfortunately called up to give evidence against him. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 323 In school., the master ‘calls up’ a certain number .. with each of whom he construes a part.

d. To call to mind, recall. 1713 Addison Cato 1. iv, Why do’st thou call my sorrows up afresh? 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 155 The occasion .. could not but call up some recollections.

e. To call on or incite to rise and speak. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 524 These words called up Rochester. He defended the petition.

f. To call to battle; spec, to summon to military service. Cf. call-up. [? 1684 in Roxburghe Ballads (1897) VIII. 453 Come fill up my cup, come fill up my Can; come saddle my horse and call up my man.] 1827 Scott Bonnie Dundee in Lit. Gaz. 8 Dec. 786 Come saddle my horses and call up my men. 1857 Blackw. Mag. LXXXII. 281/2 The landwehr of the first band are liable .. in the event of war, to be called up, 1899 Atteridge Wars of Nineties 550/2 Thus Japan had an army

of nearly 70,000 men on a peace footing, which by calling up the reserves could be expanded into a war force of more than a quarter of a million. 1914 Eng. Rev. Sept. 258 We saw young Belgians crowded in trains en route for the front, men who were ‘called up’ against the enemy.

g. To summon up (summon v. 7). 1889 Illustrations, a Piet. Rev. 143 Calling up whatever remnants of valour were left to me,.. I advanced.

h. To summon (a person) on the telephone. 1898 [implied in caller-up], 1900 [see phone sb.2 and u.] a 1910 'O. Henry’ Strictly Business (1917) '>■ 29 Kelley went to the nearest telephone booth and called up McCrary’s cafe. 1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah iii. 137 Engaged! Who is she calling up now?

call (ko:l), sb. Also 4-6 cal, calle, (8-9 Sc. ca, 9 Sc. and dial, caw, dial, cawal). [f. prec. vb.] 1. a. A loud vocal utterance or speech, a shout, a cry; a loud vocal address or supplication. a 1300 Cursor M. 6790, I, for-soth sail here pair call. Ibid. 1377 An o paim.. Be-for ihesus par made his call. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. 1. 207 They gave but a call, and in came their Master. 1704 Pope Past., Summer 83 But would you sing .. The moving mountains hear the pow’rful call. 1822 New Month. Mag. V. 150 You are amused with the perpetual opening and shutting of box doors, and the aubible calls of ‘Mrs. So and so’s places’.

b. spec. The reading aloud of a roll or list of names; a roll-call: see call v. 33 b. a723 Bp. Nicolson in Ellis Orig. Lett. 11. 446 The Commons were very warm yesterday: and their Debates ended in a Call of their Members. 1780 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 318, I think to make my motion as soon as possible after the call of the House, a 1832 Mackintosh Revol. 1688 Wks. 1846 11. 51 The attendance was partly caused by a call of the House .. On the call.. it appeared that forty were either minors, abroad, or confined by sickness.

c. A word or name called; mentioned or indicated.

a thing thus

1801 Strutt Sports Past. iv. ii. 296 The other calls at pleasure head or tail; if his call lies uppermost. . he wins.

d. A summons or communication by telephone; a telephone conversation. (See also attrib. uses.) 1878 Design & Work IV. 306/3 Apparatus .. to enable the sound of the voice while singing to be heard all over a room, and which I use as a ‘call’, instead of an electric bell. 1879 G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone i. 23 It being necessary to keep the vibratory bells at each station in circuits, in order that the calls may be heard. 1882 J. E. K. The Telephone 19 The number of calls made upon the Exchange clerks. 1884 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 199/1 Before we follow the series of operations forming a complete call, let us examine the system of telephones used in the Broadway Office. This .. allows these batteries to be used for the calls to the subscribers by means of ordinary electric bells. 1899 Post Office Guide July 533 This deposit is refunded if the call is not extended. 1944 ‘N. Shute’ Pastoral ii. 22 Give me twopence for the call, and I’ll give him a tinkle in the morning. 1953 R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 290 There was a call for you about a quarter of an hour ago. From London.

2. The cry of an animal, esp. of a bird. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. 11. 62 The Hen by her common call, gives no meat to her Chickens. 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 250 The call of a bird, is that sound which it is able to make, when about a month old. 1833 Chamb. Jrnl. II. 148 They can hear the call of their calves. 1842 Tennyson Locksley H. 171 They shall.. Whistle back the parrot’s call. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 301 Neither redwing nor fieldfare sings during the winter; they of course have their ‘call’ and cry of alarm.

3. a. A particular cry or sound used to attract or decoy birds, etc. I53° Palsgr. 202/2 Call for quaylles, croquaillet. 1590 Lodge Euphues' Gold. Leg. (1887) 98 Aliena smiled to see how Ganymede flew to the fist without any call. 1596 Raleigh Disc. Guiana (1887) 76 The deer came .. as if they had been used to a Keepers call. 1851 Illust. Lond. News 15 Feb. 127 The birds after answering to the call.. at last darted off again.

b. A small instrument or whistle to attract birds, etc., by imitating their note. 1654 Bate Myst. Nature & Art 73 They are known among some Shopkeepers by the name of Cals; and there are long white boxes of them, which are transported hither from France. 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb. s.v. Calls, As for the Artificial Calls .. they are best made of Box and Walnut Tree, or such hard Woods. 1708 Kersey s.v., Among Fowlers, Calls are arteficial Pipes, made to catch Quails, etc. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v.. Different birds require different calls; but most or them are composed of a pipe or reed, with a little leathern bag, somewhat in the form of a bellows.

fc. A decoy-bird. lit. and fig. Obs. 1595 Shaks. John III. iv. 174 They would be as a Call To traine ten thousand English to their side. 1624 Massinger Pari. Love iv. iii, This fellow has a pimp’s face, And looks as if he were her call, her fetch. 1725 Bradley Earn. Diet. s.v. Lark, Those live Birds tyed to the Packthreads are nam’d Calls.

4. Hunting. A strain or ‘lesson’ blown upon the horn to cheer and encourage the hounds. 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. 1. (1706) 18 The Call, a Lesson blowed on the Horn to comfort the Hounds. 1721 in Bailey.

5. a. The act of calling at a door or place on the way: hence, house of call. b. A short and usually formal visit: to make, pay, receive, a call. *7^3 Cowper Task 1. 244 Dependant on the baker’s punctual call. 1816 Parody in Times 25 Jan., Enumerate the princapal houses of call in .. London. 1862 Trollope Orley F. xiv, She had.. made a morning call on Martha Biggs. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. v. 90 We passed without a call to day. 1884 Harper's Mag. Sept. 493/2 The chief interest of Queenstown is as a port of call.

6. a. Summons, invitation, bidding. Also fig.

CALL

789

a 1300 Cursor M. 3022 Mete and drinc he gaue )>am all fat wald cum al til his call. 1592 Shaks. Ven. & Ad. 849 Tapsters answering every call. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 378 Who first, who last.. At thir great Emperors call.. Came singly where he stood. 1752 Johnson Rambl. No. 204 |f 5 His call was readily obeyed. 1833 Ht. Martineau Briery Cr. iv. 92 A call to devotion. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz (C.D. ed.) 71 The bell rings and the orchestra in acknowledgment of the call play three distinct chords. 1875 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Eloquence Wks. (Bohn) 111. 193 Men who lose their talents, their wit.. at any sudden call.

fb. A summons to answer accusation, impeachment. Obs.

to

a

charge;

c 1340 Cursor M. 19138 (Fairf.) J>ai gedder bad bring forf pe apostles alle for til ansquare to paire calle.

c. A summons by applause for a speaker, actor, etc., to appear before an audience. Cf. call v. 22 b. 1825 News 4 Sept. 286/1 Mr. Kean came forward, and addressed the audience... 'It is impossible to withstand so gratifying a call.’ 1887 Punch 12 Mar. 125/1 The enthusiastic .. call that greeted him on the conclusion of his excellent work. 1921 ‘Ian Hay’ Willing Horse viii. 129 Seven legitimate calls after the first act.

d. A summons or signal sounded upon a bugle, trumpet, etc.; also fig. 1581 Styward Mart. Discip. i. 18 In sounding a march, a cal, ye charge .. ye retrait. 1677 Milton P.L. vii. 295 Armies at the call Of Trumpet.. Troop to thir Standard. 1713 Lond. Gaz. No. 5135/3 The Drums beating a Call. 1875 B. Taylor Faust II. iv. iii. 269 The first clear call of bells is swept across the land.

e. concr. A whistle, or other instrument, on which such a call is sounded. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) The call can be sounded to various strains, each. . appropriated to some particular exercise. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm, iv, She whistled on a small silver call which hung around her neck.

f. call to the bar: admission to the status of barrister; see bar sb.1 24, barrister. Also f call of serjeants (obs.). e, kuthe, 3-5 cow)>e, cowthe, (4 coth), 4-5 couJ>e, 4-6 couthe, (5 cou3the), 4 north. cu}>, cuth, 4-6 couth, (also in 4-5 with k-); /3. 4-6 coude, k-, 5-6 coud, 7-8 often cou’d; y. 6 coulde, 6- could, (6 coold, 6-7 cold, 6Sc. culd). The current spelling is erroneous: / began to be inserted about 1525, app. in mechanical imitation of should and would, where an etymological / had become silent, so that these words now rimed with coud, and might better have been written shoud, woud\ cf. northern wad. In the sense know, the earlier form couth was retained longer. a. c893 K. tTlfred Oros. 1. ii. § i Ninus .. se cuSe manna aerest dry-craeftas. CI250 Gen. Ex., 289 Ne kuSe he no3t blinne. 01274 Prisoner's Prayer 1 in Philol. Trans. (1868) 104 Ar ne kuthe ich sorghe non. c 1297 R. Glouc. 29 He was y flowe an hey, & ne cowpe not a-li3te. 01300 Cursor M. 21420 (Cott.) Ful wel he cuth [later MS. cutht, coupe]. Ibid. 23945 (Edin.) I wald spek if I cupe [C.G. cuth, F. coupe]. C1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 813 As pe wyf coupe. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7444 Wha couth pan telle, o 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 75 He took fro them all that he couthe. 1519 Mem. Ripon (1882) I. 315 In as convenient hast as I couthe. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 875 In Inglande couthe scho get none ordinance. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 10 Well couth he tune his pipe. 1607 Walkington Opt. Glass 18 Ne any couth his wit so hiely straine. 1652 C. Stapylton Herodian v. 37 So well his leere he Couth [rime South]. j3. c 1350 Will. Palerne 4378 As he coude. c 1386 Chaucer Sqrs. T. 31 A Rethor excellent That koude [v.r. coude, coupe, koupe, coupe] hise colours, a 1400 Octouian 111 (W.) The emperour, couthde no man kythe His ioye. 11420 Chron. Vilod. 554 As he wel cou3the and ou3te to do. 1478 John Paston Lett. 812 III. 219 He koud get the good wyll. c 1500 in Hazl. E.P.P. 211 Yet could he neyther pates noster nor ave. C1532 Ld. Berners Huon clxvi. 654 A1 preuely as he coude. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, in. 738 Th’.. Entrails cou’d no Fates foretel. 1762 Gentl. Mag. 137 [Will] cou’d his fears impart. y. C1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 129 There was none that coude.. yet Gouernar dyd as moche as he coulde. 1530 Myrr. Our Ladye (1873) 20 The same Alphonse.. coulde nothynge of her language. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 61, I coold my rulez, coold conster, and pars. 1584 Powel Lloyd's Cambria 315 [He] cold doo no good. 1588 A. King Canisius’ Catech. 114 He culd nocht be praeiudiciable to ye kirk. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii 6 He could not rest, c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tong. (1865) 20 Of this I cold reckon armies. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 265 He could not consent. 1882 Leslie Keith Alasnam's Lady III. 201 He really couldn’t say where.

b. 2nd sing, couldest, couldst (kudst). Forms: 1 cuSest, 4 couthest, coudest, couldest, couldst.

6-

ciooo Ags. Gosp. John i. 48 Hwanon cuSest Su me [Lindisf. wistes Su vel cuSes Su]. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. v. 540 Koudestow au3te wissen vs pe weye. Ibid. vm. 76 pow couthest me wisse. 1526 Tindale Mark xiv. 37 Couldest not thou watche [so all exc. Rhem. couldst, Wyclif myatist not]. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 950 And couldst thou faithful add?.. Faithful to whom?

c„ plural could (kud). Forms: 1 cuSon, 2-3 cuj?en, 3-5 couthen, couthe, (4 coben, 5 coothe), 4-6 couth, 4-5 koude, cowde, 5-6 coude, 6 kowd, colde, 6- could. a 1000 Caedmon's Daniel 258 [Hi] dydon swa hie cuSon. c 1175 Cott. Horn. 223 Hi cuSon 3eiSer god and yfel. ai cowd a-gayn him finde resoun nane. 1350 Will. Palerne 1033 Alle pe surgyens of salerne.. ne coupen have 30ur langoures a-legget. c 1400 Rom. Rose 789 Welle koude they the gise. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle 111. iii. (1483) 51 Ye that more good coothe. 2:1449 Pecock Repr. 1. vi. 28 As othere men mi3ten and couthen do. c 1450 Merlin x. 146 Thei cowde heir tydynges. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (i860) 13 They .. couthe have no socoure. 1510 Love Bonavent. Mirr. (Pynson) viii. Dj, They coude the langage of Ebrewe. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon vii. 16 The ii. brethern kowd not. 1580 Sidney Arcadia 397 Well my pipe they couth. 1646 E. F[isher] Mod. Divinity 237 They could skill to say. Mod. Could you or couldn’t you?

3. Pres. Subj.: a. sing, can (kaen). Since 16th c. levelled with the Indie. Forms: 1-4 cunne, (3-4 kunne), 4-5 conne, (4 cone, konne). aet [hi] andsware seejan cunnen. 1735 Wks. 1871 III. 320 Confute them if you can.

Berkeley

4. a. Past Subj. sing, could, 2nd sing. could(e)st. (Like the Indicative.) Forms: i cuSe, 3-5 couthe, (4 cope, kou3de), 4-6 couth, 4-6 coud, coude, 5 cowde, 6- could. a 1300 Cursor M. 438 If he cuth [v.r. coude, couth, coupe]. Ibid. 4555 Coud pu [ v.r. cuth, cowde; Trin. coudestou] tell me quat it ware. Ibid. 20024 poi. .i cothe. C1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 382 No leyser to telle all 3if I kou3de. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1878) 361 If thou couthiste peynte. 1508 Fisher Wks. (1876) 172 So yf he coude fynde x good and ryghtwyse personnes. C1532 Ld. Berners Huon clxvi. 654 To seke yf he coude fynde the damoysell. 1586 Ferne Lacyes Nobil. 11, I had rather.. my daughter Alice couth karoll a lay so lustilie. 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) Oh that thou couldest! 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iv. 705 Were Lovers Judges, or cou’d Hell forgive. Mod. I wish I could help you.

b. plural could. Forms: i cuSen, 3-4 couthen, coude, 6- could. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1330 pah we cuSen. a 1300 Havelok 369 Til pat he koupen speken. 1394 P. PI. Crede 623if pei coupen her crede. 1611 Bible 2 Cor. xi. 1 Would to God ye could bear with me.

5. Infinitive can (kaen). Obs. exc. Sc. or dial. Forms: 1 cunnan, 2-4 cunnen, 3-5 cunne, 4 connen, 4-5 conne, 6- can (in 9 dial.; regular in Sc.) See also con v. CI175 Lamb. Horn. 73 pet heo sculen.. heore bileue cunnen. .2]

1. = CARLING2.

carlage, obs. Sc. var. of carlish a. car-less, earless ('kailis), a.

[-less.] Not possessing, or unprovided with, a (motor) car; without cars.

'carlet. [ad. F. carrelet, in same sense, dim. of carrel, carreau file:—Romanic *quadrello, dim. of quadro:—L. quadrum square.] A file of triangular section, two sides being single-cut, and one smooth; used by comb-makers. 1688 R. Holme Armoury in. 383/2 Combmakers Tools.. a Carlett.. three square, whereof the smooth side is up, and one of the Teeth side seen. 1874 in Knight Diet. Mech.; and in mod. Diets.

[Carlet in Richardson, etc., a mistake for Cartel, i.e. (the earl of) Carlisle, in the following: 1630 Drayton Barons Warres iv. 7 That craftie Carlel closely apprehended.]

Carley (’ka:li).

The name of an American, Horace S. Carley, used attrib. (chiefly as Carley float) to designate a type of large raft carried on board ships for use in emergency (see quot. 1922). Also ellipt. [1903 U.S. Pat. 734,118 Horace S. Carley of Hydepark, Massachusets, Assignor to Carley Life Float Company, of Philadelphia... I, Horace S. Carley,.. have invented a new and useful Improvement in Life-Rafts.] 1915 Illustr. War News 26 May 23/2 Our illustration shows a valuable life¬ saving device in the form of the Calley [«c] Life-Buoys. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 451/1 The Carley Life Raft.. is made in various sizes. A large copper pipe is bent into the form of an O, brazed up to be airtight, surrounded by cork and canvas, provided with a strong rope netting to form a floor within the O, and fitted with hand ropes, etc. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 82 ‘Carley Floats’, life-saving rafts of circular shape. 1942 Ann. Reg. 1941 131 A search.. produced no more evidence of the catastrophe than two empty life-boats and a Carley float. 1951 N. Monsarrat Cruel Sea in. vi. 161 Alongside the boats were the Carley floats. Ibid., There were two Carleys.

carl hemp. Also 6 churle hempe, charle hemp, [from carl sb.1 in sense ‘male’; but the name was actually given in 16th c. to what is now known to be the female plant (being the robuster and coarser). (So in med.L., and other langs.; the popular error was pointed out by ray Hist. (1686) I. 159 ‘Mas robustior (haec nobis foemina dicitur quia prolifica)', also by Linn/eus Amosnitates (1746) I. 329; and fully discussed by Blair, Botan. Essays (1730) 246.)]

1. The female or seed-bearing hemp plant, which is of stronger growth, and produces a coarser fibre. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §146 Thy female hempe must be pulled from the churle hempe, for that beareth no sede.. The churle hempe beareth sede . . the hemp therof is not soo good as the female hempe. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 32 Karle hempe, left greene, now pluck vp cleene. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ccxxvii. 572 The male is called Charle Hempe, and Winter Hempe. The female Barren Hempe, and Sommer Hempe. 1691 Ray N.C. Wds. (E.D.S.) s.v., Nostrates dicunt karl-cat pro fele masculo, et karl-hemp pro cannabo majori vel masculo. 1877 E. Peacock N.-W. Line. Gloss. (E.D.S.) The carl or male hemp was used for ropes, sackcloth, and other coarse manufactures; the fimble, or female hemp, was applied to .. domestic purposes. fig. 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 373 (Jam.) You have a stalk of carle hemp in you;—spoken to sturdy and stubborn boys. 1789 Burns To Blacklock, Come Firm Resolve, take thou the van, Thou stalk o’ carl-hemp in man.

2. Also called shortly carl.

CARLICUE 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 113 The fimble to spin and the karl for hir seede. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach’s Husb. (1586) 39 b, The female or firble Hempe is first pulled up, afterward the male or the carle, when his seede is ripe, is plucked up. (In mod. Trade and other Diets.)

carlicue, U.S. var. curlicue. 'carlie. Sc. [f. carl sb.' +

CARMALLE

902

-IE =

-y4.] A little

carl, a man short of stature. 1697 Cleland Poems 68 (Jam.) Some peevish clownish carlie. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wyiie I. 40 (Jam.) Andrew settled into a little gash carlie, remarkable chiefly for a straightforward simplicity.

t'carlin. Obs. Also carline. [a. F. carlin, ad. It. carlino, f. Carlo Charles, the name of several rulers, esp. Carlo I, 1266.] ‘A small silver coin current in Naples and Sicily, equivalent to about four-pence English’ (Chambers Cycl. Supp.), or, in later times, twopence. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Cr. 11. i. 7 The Pardon will cost ..a Dukat and 5 Gross or.. 5 Carlins. 1799 Sir T. Troubridge in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1845) III. 329 Sailors .. all driven into the gun-boats without a carline. 1818 Hobhouse Hist. Illust. Ch. Harold 541, 26 pence of the ancient small money (now, worth a carline).

carline1, -ing ('kailin). Chiefly Sc. Forms: 4 kerling, -lyng, 6 carlyng, 6-9 carling, carlin, carline. [Northern ME. kerling, a. ON. kerling woman, esp. old woman, fern, of Karl (with umlaut and -ing, Norse form of -in, -en). Carlin is assimilated to carl, and in the ending follows the Sc. pronunciation of -ING as -in, as in mornin’, flittin’, etc. In Sc. commonly ('kerlin).] A woman, esp. an old one; often implying contempt or disparagement, like carl sb.' 2. a 1300 Cursor M. 11056 \>e tan was leuedi maiden ying, \>e to)>er hir hand-womman kerling. c 1375 ? Barbour St. Theodera 21 Thru flatry Of kerlyngis, pat in mony wyse 3ung mene betresis oft-syse. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. 1942 Vnto the nimphe I maid a busteous braid, Carling [v.r. Carline] (quod I) quhat was 3one. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn v. i, Why .. sold’st him then to me .. for ten shillings, carlin? 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull 11. iv, [Peg says] There’s no living with that old carline his mother. 1787 Burns To J. Smith, That auld, capricious carlin, Nature. 1810 Tannahill When John and me were married, My minnie, cankert carling, Would gi’e us nocht ava. 1827 Scott Chron. Canong. Introd. (1863) 242 It was but about a young cateran and an auld carline. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 56 Goodwife.. Thou art a sturdy carline yet.

b. Applied particularly to a witch or one charged with being such. 1528 Lyndesay Dr erne 45 Off the reid Btin and the gyir carlyng. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 514 How King Duffois was witchit be.. ane Witche Carling that duelt in Forres. 01700 in Sc. Pasquils (1868) 44 A witches son, shame fa’ his face Sa carling lyke. 1790 Burns Tam O’Shanter, The carlin caught her by the rump, And left poor Maggie scarce a stump, a 1835 Hogg Witch of Fife lix, The kerlyngs drank of the bishop’s wyne Quhill they scentit the morning wynde.

carline2 (’kailin).

[a. F. carline, Sp., It., and med.L. carlina, reputed to be for Carolina, from the emperor Karl or Carolus Magnus (Charlemagne)—‘Herba quam Carolinam vocant, quod Magno quondam Carolo divinitus ostensa fuerit, adversus pestiferam luem salutaris’ (Ruelle c 1525 in Du Cange).] A genus of Composite plants, closely allied to the thistles, and hence generally called Carline Thistle. The common species (Carlina vulgaris) grows on dry soil, and is conspicuous for the straw-coloured, hygrometric involucre which surrounds the dull purple disk of the flower. 1578 Lyte Dodoens IV. lxvii. 529 Carline Thistel.. White Caroline Thistel. Ibid. 530 They call it Carlina, or Carolina, bycause of Charlemaigne Emperour of the Romaynes, vnto whom an Angel first shewed this Thistel, as they say when his armie was striken with the pestilence. Ibid., The roote of Carline boyled in wyne, is very good .. against the Sciatica. 1605 Timme Quersit. ill. 177 The rootes of angelica, of the Carline-thistle. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. PI. III. 182 Carline-thistle. 1879 Lubbock Sci. Lect. xi. 36 The heads of the common carline .. present a sort of thicket, which must offer an almost impenetrable barrier to ants.

carline3, a. and sb. Also Caroline. Applied to one of the balls in a particular game at billiards; also to the game in which this is used. 1820 Hoyle's Games Impr. 372 The Caroline or Carline game is played either on a round or square table with five balls, two white, one red, another blue, and the Caroline ball yellow. 1863 Pardon Hoyle's Games 408 The carline holed in a centre pocket scores six.

carling1, carline ('kafluj, -lin). [Of uncertain etymology: in mod.F. carlingue ‘the step of a mast, the peece of timber whereinto the foot thereof enters’ (Cotgr.), (according to Littre from English); Pg., Sp., It. carlinga. Icel. kerling (in the pulur), as if the same word as carline1.] 1. Naut. One of the pieces of timber about 5 inches square in section, lying fore and aft under the deck of a ship, with their ends let culvertailwise into the beams. ‘On and athwart these the ledges rest, whereon the planks of the deck and

other portions of carpentry (Smyth Word-bk.).

are

made

fast’

Merovee

+

-ing). Another form is A. adj. a. Belonging to the second dynasty of French kings, founded by Carl or Karl the Great (Charlemagne). Carolingian.]

1611 Cotgr. s.v. Aileurs, Our Ship-wrights name them Comings or Carlings. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 7 Carlings .. lieth along the ship from beame to beame. 1775 Falch Day's Diving Vess. 5 These stanchions were again supported with cross beams or carlings in the middle of the chamber. 1804 A. Duncan Mariner's Chron. II. 325 The first explosion.. struck them against the carlings of the upper deck, so as to stun them. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxi. 119 The water dropping from the beams and carlines. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 103 The carlings by the side of, and for the support of the mast.. are much larger than the rest. 1863 Times 19 Mar. 14/2 Iron carlines.

2. dial, (see quot.). *875 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Carlin, or Carelin, the portable beam beneath a hatchway in the floor, for giving cross-support to the hatch-lid.

3. carling-knee, a piece of timber lying transversely from the ship’s side to the hatchway, serving to sustain the deck between the two. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 30 Carling-knees, for the Dauid. 1627-Seaman s Gram. ii. 7 The Carling knees .. comes thwart the ship from the sides of the Hatches way. 1704 in J. Harris Lex Techn. 1867 in Smyth.

carling2

('kailirj). In 6 carline, 7 carlin. [Possibly f. care in Care Sunday -I- -ling. Peas, parched, or otherwise prepared, appear to have been long associated with Lent: see Brand ‘MidLent Sunday’, and Palsgrave 652, ‘I parche pesyn, as folkes use in Lent, je grasle des poys.' This being so, carl v.2 would be from carling.] 1. (See quots.) 1562 Turner Herbal 11. 93 a, The perched or burstled peasen which ar called in Northumberland Carlines, a 1724 in Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 90 There lads and lasses.. Will feast.. On sybows, and rifarts and carlings. C1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) Lane. Dial. Gloss., Carlings, peas boiled on Care-Sunday. 1875 [see carl sb.2 1].

2. Carling Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, on which it was customary to eat parched peas. ci68o in Law Mem. 191 note, [Protest of the Gibbites] They solemnly renounce .. ‘old wives fables and bye words, as Palm-Sunday, Carlin-Sunday.. etc.’ 1777 Brand Pop. Antiq. (1849) I. 112. 1786 Gentleman's Mag., In Northumberland the day is called Carling Sunday. The yeomanry .. steep peas, and afterwards parch them, and eat them on the afternoon of that day, calling them carlings. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 378 Care Sunday is the fifth Sunday from Shrove Tuesday.. It is also called Carle Sunday, and in some parts Carling Sunday.

carling3,

(f.

var. of carline.

-fcarlip. Obs. rare—'. ? A species of fire-arm. 1659 Unhappy Marksman in Harl. Misc. (1812) IV. 7 (D.) The carlip is but short, wanting some inches of a yard in the barrel.

carlish ('kaflif), a. Also 3 karl-. [f.

carl sb.1 + Of or pertaining to a carl or carls; churlish, clownish, vulgar, coarse; rude, mean. Hence 'carlishness. -ISH1.]

a 1240 Wohunge in Cott. Horn. 273 Ne pole me neauer mi luue nohwer to sette o karlische pinges. C1375 Barbour Troy-bk. 1. 86 Hyme lykis erare to be Carlyche pane curtase. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 77 Chorlysche or carlysche, rusticanus. a 1500 Colkelbie Sow 11. 513 (Jam.) This carlage man, this foirsaid Colkelbe. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 179 b, At suche a carlishe aunswer. 1552 Huloet, Carlishnes or churlyshnes, rusticitas. a 1624 Bp. M. Smyth Serm. 245 When a poore Dauid, as it were, would borrow a sheep of carlish Nabal. 1803 W. S. Rose tr. Amadis de G. 78 Two carlish knights stood by.

Carlism ('ka:liz(3)m). [a. F. carlisme, Sp. carlismo, f. Carlos Charles + -ism.] Attachment to Don Carlos, second son of Charles IV of Spain, and his heirs, as the legitimate successors of Ferdinand VII (died 1833), to the exclusion of the daughter of the latter, and her heirs; Spanish legitimism. So Carlist sb., an adherent of Don Carlos; adj., pertaining to Carlism.

1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xlix, The Carlovingian Sceptre was transmitted .. in a lineal descent of four generations. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 45 The weakness of the Carlovingian monarchs. b. = Caroline a. i a (spec. use). 1853 H. N. Humphreys Orig. & Progress Art of Writing xi. 119 The more regular style of writing adopted about this time in France is termed, by paleographers, Caroline, or Carlovingian. 1906 E. Johnston Writing & Illuminating (1077) 1. i. 7 (heading) Caroline (or Carlovingian) writing. 1957 A. Nesbitt Hist. & Technique Lettering 1. iv. 27 Carlovingian writing was named after the dynasty of which Carl the Great is the chief representative. 1980 M. Drogin Med. Calligraphy iv. 50 We know the script today as Carolingian Minuscule, Carlovingian Minuscule, Caroline Half-Uncial, [etc.]. B. sb. = Carolingian sb. 1845 J. S. Mill in Edin. Rev. LXXXII. 415 Five centuries.. extended from Clovis to the last of the Carlovingians. 1882 C. T. Lewis Hist. Germany 11. v. 111 In the year 987, by the death of a fifth Louis (‘le Faineant’, the lazy), the family of the Carlovingians ingloriously died out in France.

Carlowitz ('kadsvits, -wits). Also Karlowitz(er). [a. G. karlowitzer.] A red wine of Carlowitz on the Danube (above Belgrade). 1858 Murray's Handbk. Trav. S. Germany 519 A good full-bodied red wine, known under the name of Karlowitzer. 1888 Catal. Cellar Wines (Christie, Manson & Woods) 24 July 7 One Bottle of Carlowitz. 1892 W. & A. Gilbey Price List Wines 9 Castle Hungarian Claret Karlowitz. 1920 G. Saintsbury Notes Cellar-bk. 93 The commoner vintages were not intolerable; you could drink Carlowitz if you tried, and the Austrian Voslauer was not to be despised.

Carlsbad ('kadzbaed). The German form of the name of Karlovy Vary, a town in Czechoslovakia, used attrib. in Carlsbad plum, a blue-black dessert plum, usu. crystallized. 1885 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List Jan. 72 Carlsbad plums.. per lb. 1/7. is Bretons renged about pe feld, J>e karole of the stones be¬ held, Many tyme 3ede pam about. Ibid. 195 Whan he had gon alle aboute Within pe karole & withoute. c 1470 Harding Chron. lxx. x, Within [the] Giauntes Carole, that so ther hight, The [Stone hengles] that nowe so named been.

U A precinct, a space enclosed by rails, etc. See Du Cange. f5. A small enclosure or ‘study’ in a cloister. [See numerous OF. examples in Godefroy, and quot. from Premonstrat. Statutes in Du Cange ‘in claustro carolae vel hujusmodi scriptoria’.] 1593 Descr. Monuments, &c. Ch. Durham §41 (1842) 70 In every wyndowe three Pewes or Carrells, where every one of the old monks had his carrell, severall by himselfe, that when they had dyned they dyd resorte to that place of Cloister, and there studyed upon there books, every one in his carrell all the after nonne. 1721 Bailey, Carrel, a Closet or Pen in a Monastery. 1810 Acc. Gloucester Cath., The ten divisions for the windows in the south cloister are divided into twenty carrols; two carrols in each window;—their width four feet.

b. carol-ivinclow: ? a bay-window. ci6oo Jupp Acc. Comp. Carpenters 223 In 1572 the Carpenters Company of the City of London ordered a caroll-window to be made in the place wher the window now standethe in the gallerie.

f6. A chain. [So F. quarole, two examples in Godef.: see also Du Cange.] C1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 2885 Scho putte ilke resche in other. And made a karole in a stounde, The ton hende touched to grounde, And the othir scho helde on heygh.

7. Comb, and attrib., as carol service, singer, singing (also as pr. pple.)\ carol-song, -ivise; carol-chanting ppl. adj. C1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 201 (Camb. MS.) And songyn as it were in carolewyse. 1583 T. Watson Poems (Arb.) 137 Let those lament who lust, lie sing a carroll song for obsequy. 1601 Chester Love's Mart. (1878) 5 And carrollchanting birds are sudden mute. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Diet. Mus. Terms 77/2 Carol singing is of great antiquity among Christian communities. 1911 E. Duncan Story of Carol xiv. 180 On Christmas Eve country carol-singers spent half the night tramping the ice-bound ways. Ibid. 191 An amusing story, connected with carol-singing, is related in Pasquil's Jests. 1928 P. Dearmer et al. Oxford Bk. Carols p. xvi, William Hone .. anticipated that carol-singing would entirely disappear in a few years. Ibid. p. xxii, ‘Carol services’ are indeed not infrequently held even to-day at which not a single genuine carol is sung. 1954 T. S. Eliot Confidential Clerk 1. 17 I’ve always sung in our voluntary choir And at the carol service. 1954 Radio Call (Austral.) 22 Dec. 10 As on previous Christmas eves, they’ll be carol singing for appreciative audiences. 1978 Washington Post 19 Nov. F2/2 Its four holiday stamps.. showing carol singers through the ages will go on sale Wednesday.

carol ('kaeral, -d1), v. For forms see prec. [a. OF. caroler, f. carole-, see prec. The derivative forms in -ed, -ing, -er, are now most commonly spelt (in England) with ll (carolled, etc.) though for no good reason: cf. F. caroler, carolant, caroleur.] fl. intr. To dance in a ring to the accompaniment of song; to dance and sing, make merry. Obs. a 1300 Cursor M. 7600 [par] karold [Gott. dauncid] wimmen be pe wai. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9041 J>ese wommen 3ede and tollede here oute Wyp hem to karolle pe cherche aboute. Ibid. 9138 J>ese men pat 3ede so karol-lande Alle pat 3ere hande yn hande. c 1400 Rom. Rose 810, I wolde have karoled right fayn, As man that was to daunce right blithe. C1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 327 Ladyes and damoyselles did carowle and sing.

2. To sing, orig. in accompaniment to a dance. Now usually: To sing a lively or joyous strain. (Chiefly poet.) c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 848, I sawe her daunce so comely, Carol and sing so swetely 1393 Gower Conf. III. 30 If she carole upon a songe, Whan I it here, I am so fed. CI440 Promp. Parv. 62 Caroolyn, or synge carowlys [P. carallyn], psalmodio. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb., Tho

wouldest thou learne to caroll of love. 1633 P. Fletcher Pise. Eel. xi. i, And carol lowd of love, and loves delight. 1791 Cowper Iliad xvni. 712 Carolling to it with a slender voice. 1853 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun viii. 17 Juvenal s qualification for carolling gaily through a forest full of robbers.

b. ironically. 1440 J. Shirley Dethe K. James (1818) 18 Sirs the spows is foundon, wherfore we bene cumne, and all this nyght haf carold here.

c. transf. of the warbling of birds, etc. 1595 Spenser Epithal. 79 Hark, how the cheerfull birds do chaunt.. And carroll of Loves praise. 1768 Beattie Minstr. 1. v, Where the grey linnets carol from the hill. 1830 Tennyson Sea-Fairies, Merrily merrily carol the gales.

3. trans. a. with cognate object. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 60 Then carroll I vp a song withall. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 37 To carroll out this roundelay. 1718 Prior 2nd Hymn Callimachus (R.) Hovering swans.. carol sounds harmonious. 1797 Philanthrope No. 25 Many a feather’d warbler.. Carrol’d the melodious lay. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 700 Carolling as he went A true-love ballad,

b. To sing of, celebrate in song. 1634 Milton Comus 849 The shepherds.. Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays. 1683 Chalkhill Thealma Cl. 40 Shepherds Swains still Carol out her Fame. 1774 Westm. Mag. II. 374 The Muse That carrol’d Sir John Hill!

ca'rolathine. Min. [f. Karolath in Silesia.] A variety of allophane, found in rounded balls of a honey-yellow colour at Zabize in Upper Silesia. 1858 in Dana Min. 500.

Carolean (kaera'liisn), a. and sb. [f. L. Carolus Charles + -ean as in Jacobean a. (s6.).] A. adj. = Caroline a. i b. B. sb. One who lived in the reign of Charles I or II. 1911 Chambers’s Jrnl. 15 July 513/1 The rapacity and meanness of the Ministers in the Carolean era. 1927 Observer 8 May 15/2 The spirit that animated the restored Caroleans in their exhumatory operations against the regicides. 1927 Daily Tel. 12 July 5/5 A Carolean Poet [sc. Marvell]. 1939 Archit. Rev. LXXXV. 58/1 This seeming late 18th century window is in strange company, surrounded as it is by what appear the familiar swags of essentially Carolean aspect.

caroler, -oiler Ckaersbjr)).

[f. carol v. + -er1.] One who carols; a carol-singer; a singer, bard. 1806-7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life if. (1826) 29 'Sunt et mihi carmina’.. says the caroller. 1852 Miss Yonge Cameos (1877) III. xxxiii. 345 Coming down with some alms for the carollers.

f'carolet. Obs. rare-1, [dim. of carol sb.; see -et1.] A little carol or song. 1593 Drayton Sheph. Garl. vii, Repeat a carowlet in rime.

|| carolin ('kaerslin). [Ger. Karolin. f. L. Carolus Charles.] The name of a gold coin formerly current in Bavaria and in Wurtemburg; the Bavarain carolin was worth 20s. 4-23d. sterling, that of Wurtemburg 20s. 147d. 1821 in Kelly Cambist. 1847 in McCulloch Diet. Comm. 326.

Carolina (kaera'lains). The name (after Charles II.) of a North American colony, now forming two states (North C. and South C.) of the American Union; hence applied to the Sweet Potato (see quot.), and used in the names of various plants and animals, as Carolina ash, osprey, whiting; also Carolina Allspice, the flowering shrub Calycanthus floridus; Carolina Pink, Spigelia Marilandica, also called Indian Pink, of which the root is an active anthelmintic; Carolina rice, a variety of rice, the ripe husk of which is yellowish. See also Caroline a. 2. 1734 Mortimer Nat. Hist. Carolina in Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 317 Alburnus Americanus, the CarolinaWhiting. 1787 Jefferson Let. 30 July in Writings (1853) II. 195 The Carolina rice.. crumbles in certain forms of preparation. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery i. 44 The Patna .. rice.. is not so good as the Carolina for the general purposes of cookery. Ibid. 45 The Carolina rice even answers, well dressed, in this way. 1884 Century Mag. Jan. 442/1 The sweet potato was adopted from the aborigines in all the Southern colonies, and it is yet known in the market as the ‘Carolina’. 1866 Treas. Bot. 203 Carolina Allspice or Sweet-scented shrub. 1962 Guardian 12 Jan. 8/5 Soak a breakfast-cupful of Carolina rice.

'Caroline, sb. [see carolin, Carlin.] A name of coins of various countries and of different values; sometimes = carline, or carolin. Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 195 A rounde plate of syluer as brode as the coyne cauled a Corolyne. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4571/2 (Naples) A Captain is to receive five Carolines a Day. 1717 Berkeley in Fraser Life (1871) 578 The clergy of Ischia get each a Caroline a mass. 1783 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. II. 78 (Sweden) A Caroline, (about one shilling and two-pence value). 1865 Athenaeum No. 1953. 448/2 The forty golden Carolines with which the GrandDuke .. repaid the dedication. 1555

Caroline ('kasralain), a. [f. Carol-us Charles.] 1. Of or pertaining to Charles: esp. a. of Charles the Great (Charlemagne); spec. designating a style of minuscule handwriting developed in France at the time of

CAROTENE

908

CAROLATHINE Charlemagne;

b. of Charles

I.

and

II.

of

England, or their period. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 322 Under the Caroline kings. 1805 W. Saunders Min. Waters 314 The village of Carlsbad.. as well as., the Caroline Waters [named after] the emperor Charles IV. in 137°- x^39 Hallam Hist. Lit. IV. iv. v. §22. 234 Waller has a more uniform elegance.. than any [other] of the Caroline era. 1850 F. Madden tr. J. B. Silvestre's Univ. Palseogr. I. cxxix. 346 The text is in clear, well proportioned, Caroline minuscules, with the words not divided, the tails and tops of the letters of proper length, and the strokes of the m and n inclined towards the left; graphic characters which indicate the ninth century, and the kind of writing termed Caroline. 1874 F. Hall in N. Amer. Rev. CXIX. 310 Our Caroline divines. 1883 I. Taylor Alphabet II. viii. 181 Owing to its manifold excellencies.. the rapidity with which it could be written, the ease with which it could be read, and economy of parchment^ the Caroline minuscule, as it is usually called, grew rapidly in favour. 1884 Courthope Addison i. 20 The Caroline dramatists. 1897 [see Carolingian A]. 1957 N. R. Ker Catal. MSS. containing Anglo-Saxon p. xxii, It should be assumed that.. writing dated s. xi or later is Caroline minuscule. 1962 D’Ardenne in Davis & Wrenn Eng. & Medieval Studies 85 The manuscript is written in Latin on parchment in a smooth round English form of the Caroline minuscule. o |2. Applied in end of 17th c. to a fashion of hat. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2246/4, 25 black Hats, commonly called Caroline. 1695 Ibid. No. 3119/4 A Young Man, aged about 17.. wears.. a Carolina Hat.

carom, carrom ('kaersm). An abbreviation of carambole, applied to the stroke so called in

Billiards; now corrupted to cannon sb.1 7. A. sb. 1779 C. Jones Hoyle’s Games Impr. 260 Which stroke is called a Carambole, or for shortness, a Carrom. 1826 Hoyle Impr. 396 A carombole or carom. 1850 Bohn Handbk. Games 519 A canon (formerly carom or carombole). 1872 Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. xii. 84 We accomplished very little in the way of caroms.

B. v. intr. (transf. in quots.) To strike or glance and rebound. Also fig. Chiefly U.S. i860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. 67 She glanced from every human contact, and ‘caromed’ from one relation to another. 1883 Harper’s Mag. Mar. 494/2 A single stone was made to ‘carom’. 1911 Mulford Bar-20 Days iv. 45 The table skidded through the door on one leg and carromed off the bar at a graceful angle. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger (1968) xvii. 219 It was here that Mrs. Brewster made the mistake .. of caroming off a telegraph post into the ditch. 1946 H. Croome Faithless Mirror xviii. 192 The car lurched crazily.. up the gully, caroming from side to side. 1952 B. Wolfe Limbo 'go xix. 284 The phrase caromed through his mind. 1967 Boston Globe 18 May 3b 8 Rockets carom to the moon.

caromel,

variant of caramel.

'carony bark. ‘A synonym of true Angustura bark' (Syd. Soc. Lex.).

caroling, -oiling ('kaerolirj), vbl. sb. [f. carol v.

1853 Th. Ross tr. Humboldt's Trav. III. xxv. 2 note, The trade carried on .. in the Carony bark, which is the beneficial bark of the Bonplandia trifoliata.

+ -ING1.] The action of the vb. carol. C1300 K. Alis. 1045 At theo feste was trumpyng.. Carolyng, and turneieyng. C1386 Chaucer Chan. Yem. Prol. & T. 792 Was never.. lady lustier in carolynge. 1523 Ld. Berners From. I. ccxix. 279 On a Sonday after dyner.. ther was great daunsyng and karolynge. 1596 Spenser Heav. Beauty 265 Carolings Of Gods high praise, a 1834 Coleridge Lit. Rem. I. 82 (L.) The sweet carolings of As you like it. 1853 C. Bronte Villette xxiv. (1876) 256.

t ca'roon1, ca'rroon, ca'roome. Obs. [Etymol. obscure. Derivation from car or F. carre has been conjectured; cf. also OF. carron paving tile: was the impost originally levied to defray paving?] ‘A licence by the Lord Mayor of London to keep a cart’ (Wharton Law Lex.

caroling, -oiling, ppl. a. That carols. 1867 Miss Braddon R. Godwin I. i. 5 Carolling music of birds. 1880 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 329 The singer’s caroling lips are dust. Caro'lingian,

a.

and

sb.

A.

adj.

=

Carlovingian, q.v.; spec. = Caroline a. i a. 1881 Athenaeum No. 2803. 86/2 The accessories preserve something that is Carolingian. 1882-3 Schaff Relig. Encycl. III. 1777 Ornaments of the Carolingian period. 1897 H. W. Johnston Latin MSS. ii. 72 Of the better forms the Caroline (Carolingian) may be regarded as the type, as it finally became the literary hand of all Western Europe. 1912 E. M. Thompson Introd. Gr. & Latin Palaeogr. xvi. 367 At Tours, where, under the rule of Alcuin of York, who was abbot of St. Martin’s from 796 to 804, was specially developed the exact hand which has received the name of the Carolingian Minuscule. 1962 D. B. Updike Printing Types (ed. 3) I. iii. 50 This Carolingian minuscule.. became the dominant handwriting of western Europe. B. sb. A member of the Carlovingian dynasty. 1894 E. F. Henderson Hist. Germany in Middle Ages vii. 100 (heading) The later Carolingians. 1910 Encycl. Brit. V. 381/2 In Italy the Carolingians maintained their position until the deposition of Charles the Fat in 887. 1942 H. & R. Norden tr. Ludwig's Germans i. 34 From the Carolingians to the Great Revolution, France experienced no real change of dynasty. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. III. 129/1 The Frankish monarchy under the Carolingians was fundamentally different from that of the Merovingians. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropaedia XI. 931/2 Under the Carolingians, the slaves in Gaul formed only a residual class, although the slave trade was still active. Carolinian, Charles;

and

a. its

[f.

med.L.

derivative

Carolxnus Carolina.]

of a.

Belonging to Charles the Great, b. Belonging to one or both of the Carolinas in U.S. Also sb. 1705 Penn Let. 9 Dec. in Penn-Logan Corr. (1872) II. 105 The Carolinian Lords. 1707 J. Archdale New Descr. Carolina 15 By the Encouragements of several Carolinians than in England my Going was concluded on. 1818 Mass. Agric. Repository & Jrnl. V. 60 Populus Angulata— Carolinian Poplar, name given to it in Europe, because first brought from Carolina. 1847 Secret Soc. Mid. Ages 321 The Fehm-Gerichte .. named .. Carolinian Tribunals, as having been (as was believed) instituted by Charles the G^eat. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 226 Sharp and cold to a Carolinian. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. IV. xlvii. 228 It became the pride of native Carolinians not to accept a seat in [the king’s council]. c. = Caroline a. 1 b. Also as sb., a poet of the time of Charles I or II. 1949 M. Bewley in Scrutiny Mar. 16 The tone of the colloquialism is Carolinian. Ibid. 19 The Carolinians exploit the fashion for the grace and elegance of conceit it allows them. caro'litic, a. Arch. Erroneous f. corollitic. 1842-76 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Carolitic column, one with a foliated shaft. carolus ('kaeralas).

[f. Carolus, Latinized form

of Karl, Charles.]

A gold piece struck in the

reign of Charles 1.; originally valued at 20s., but afterwards at 23s. The name has been given to various

other

coins

bearing

‘Carolus’

as

the

name of the monarch; e.g. a Carolus dollar. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2258/4 A Boy about 18 years old.. Run away with.. 5 Carolus pieces of Gold. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) II. xx. 216, 120 Carolus’s were also in this purse. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 490 Every trader had his own strong box.. and.. told down the crowns and Caroluses on his own counter.

i860). 1720 Stoui’s Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) II- V. xviii. 389/1 If the yearly Rent of 171. 4d. a piece be not paid to the said President and governors, the Caroon, that is, the License of such person so wanting or refusing shall be forthwith suspended. 1730-6 Bailey, Carroon, a Rent received for the Privilege of driving a car or cart in the city of London. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames xi. 331 To regulate and control Carroons, or privileged Carts. 1832 E. V. Williams Executors & Adm. I. 531 A caroome, or a license by the Mayor of London to keep a cart.

caroon2 (ks'ruin). [Etymol. unknown. (Mahn compares Ir. caor, dim. caoran, the rowan-tree berry; but there is no connexion.)] A species of cherry. 1858 in Simmonds Diet. Trade.

caross,

var. kaross, an African cloak of skins.

fca'rosse. Obs. Also in 7 caroce. [a. F. carosse (now carrosse), ad. It. carozza, augmentative of carro chariot, etc.: cf. the parallel caroche.] A carriage, a CAROCHE. 1598 Florio, Carroccia.. a caroce, a coche, a chariot. 1608 Chapman Byron’s Trag. Plays (1873) II. 297 The Carosse of the Marquis of Rhosny Conducted him along to th’ Arcenall. 1657 COLVIL Whigs Supplic. 89 And when ye travel in carosses, Ye will salute the high-way crosses. j caro'teel, -el. [possibly ad. Arab, qirtdl, collective of qirtalat, qartillat ass’s burden, basket, fruit-basket.] ‘The commercial name for a tierce or cask, in which dried fruit and some other commodities are packed, which usually averages about 7 cwt.’ (Simmonds Diet. Trade). 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb., Caroteel of Cloves 4 to 5 C. Weight; Currants 5 to 9 C.; Malt about 3 C. 1721 Bailey, Caroteel, a quantity of some Commodities; as of Cloves, from 4 to 5 Hundred Weight.

carotene, carotin ('kserstim, -in), [a. G. carotin (H. W. F. Wackenroder 1831, in Mag. Pharmacie XXXIII. 148), f. L. carota carrot + -ENE, -IN1.] An orange or red hydrocarbon, C40HS6, synthesized in several isomeric forms by carrots and many other plants, and an important source of vitamin A. Also attrib. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 563 A peculiar crystallizable ruby-red neuter principle, without odour or taste, called carotin. 189s Naturalist 24 [Berries of mountain ash.] Their colouring matter is due to carotin. 1897 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXXII. 11. 225 The author does not attempt to decide whether the crystals formed in this reaction are all xanthophyll or all carotin crystals, or whether these are identical or whether they consist in part of colouring matters nearly related to carotene. 1951 Science News XXII. 75 Vitamin A., is one half of a carotene molecule and is formed from carotene in the intestinal wall of animals. i960 [see cryptoxanthin].

Hence .carote'naemia (U.S. -nem-), .caroti'naemia, the presence of carotene in the circulating blood. 1919 A. F. Hess & V. C. Myers in Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. LXXIII. 1745/1 In cases of carotinemia the urine was colored yellow as well as the serum. 1959 Listener 11 June 1017/1 Occasional cases of a condition known as carotinaemia were encountered... It arose from an overindulgence in carrots.

CAROTENOID carotenoid, carotinoid ('kaerstinoid). Biochem. [ad. G. Carotinoide (M. Tswett 1911, in Ber. d. Deut. Bot. Ges. XXIX. 630) ; see prec. + -oid.] Any one of a group of pigments including the carotenes, the xanthophylls, and fucoxanthin, found in many plants and animals. Also attrib. or as adj. I9I3 Chem. Abstr. 2956 {title) The Occurrence of Carotinoids in Plants. 1917 Haas & Hill lntrod. Chem. Plant Products (ed. 2) v. 229 Carotin, Xanthophyll, and Fucoxanthin.. are known collectively as the Carotinoids. 1922 L. S. Palmer {title) Carotenoids and related pigments. 193° Brit. Jrnl. Exper. Path. Apr. 81 The relation between the carotenoid pigments and vitamin A. 1952 New Biol. XIII. 40 Doubling the number of chromosomes in pure yellow corn caused a 40% increase in the carotenoid pigment content, including the active provitamin A fraction of the carotenoids. 1968 Times 16 Nov. 9/7 Sporopollenin is a polymer formed of sub-units known as carotenoids.

carotic (ks'rotik), a. Pathol, and Phys. [ad. Gr. KapwTtKos stupefying, soporific, f. napovv to stupefy. Cf. F. carotique.\ 1. a. ‘Having power to stupefy or produce stupefaction’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.), b. Of the nature of or pertaining to stupor or carus; in a state of cams. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xvi. 567 He was thought to be carotick, but he was not so; for at length he awaked. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Carotic sleep, profound drowsiness. 2. = carotid, (rare.) 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physic 53 The temporal muscle, and the Carotick Arteries. 1843 J. Wilkinson Swedenborg's Anim. Kingd. I. ii. 85 The cranial or carotic blood.

carotid (ka'rDtid), a. and sb. [ad. Gr. KapoorlS-es, f. Kapovv ‘to plunge into deep sleep, to stupefy’, because compression of these arteries is said to produce carus or stupor. (Galen.)] A. adj. Epithet of the two great arteries, one on either side of the neck, which supply blood to the head. Each of the two primitive carotid arteries afterwards divides into two branches, called the external and internal respectively. 1667 E. King in Phil. Trans. II. 450 Which made me open the Carotid Artery. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Obs. 193 It had passed beneath, and torn the internal carotid artery. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 649 They ascend .. to the upper part of the larynx, where they divide into the external carotid and the internal carotid arteries.

b. Pertaining to or adjoining the carotid arteries; e.g. carotid canal, the tunnel through the temporal bone which gives passage to the internal carotid, and its plexus of nerves (carotid plexus). 1842 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. 26 Nearer to the apex of the bone is a large oval opening, the carotid foramen. 1877 Burnet Ear 88 The carotid canal is the simplest in structure .. of the canals in or about the tympanum.

B. sb. A carotid artery. 1741 Monro Anat. (ed. 3) 90 The Arteries derived from the external Carotids. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 477 After the incision into the carotid of a horse. 1862 Calverley Verses & Tr. 46 With vest blood-spotted, and cut carotid.

f ca'rotidal, a. Obs. [f. prec. +

-al1.] = prec. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. 1. 66 The carotidal Arteries. 1737 Bracken Farriery (1763) 83 The Blood which is brought to the Brain by the Carotidal and the Vertebral Arteries.

carotidean (kaerau'tidian), a.

[f. as prec. -ean. Cf. F. carotidien.] = prec.

+

r836-39 Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 285/5 He would exclude the Vidian nerve, or at least its carotidean branch.

carouba (ka'ruiba). A variant of

carob (tree),

following the Arabic form of the word. 1856 J. H. Newman Callista (1885) 330 A few olives and caroubas. 1867 Lady Herbert Cradle L. ix. 233 The socalled ‘Forest’ of Carmel., with dwarf oak, bay, carouba. 1884 Harper's Mag. 209/1 Looking at the carouba-trees.

caroul,

CARP

909

obs. form of carol.

carousal (ka'rauzal). [f.

carouse v. + -al1; but the formation may have been aided by the misunderstanding of carousel, and its association with carouse v.] A fit of carousing, a drinking-feast or carouse; revelry in drinking. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy VII. xliii. (R.) The swains were preparing for a carousal. 1801 Southey Thalaba vi. xxviii, Sounds of carousal came, and song. 1814 Byron Lara 1. vii, Join’d the carousals of the great and gay. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 124 The Germans were celebrated for their hospitality.. and their carousals. If Erroneously put for carousel q.v.

fca'rouse, adv. Obs. Also garaus, carous. [a. Ger. gar aus, in gar-aus trinken to drink ‘all out’, to empty the bowl. Cf. all out, the English phrase in same sense. In 16th c. F., Rabelais has boire carrous et alluz.\ In the phrase to drink, quaff (pledge one) carouse: i.e. to the bottom, to drink a full bumper to his health. 1567 Drant Horace Ep. i. 18 The tiplinge sottes at mid¬ night which to quaffe carowse do vse. 1586 T. B. tr. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 193 Rather than they wil refuse to drink carouse. 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood (1874) 43 His hostesse pledg’d him not carouse [rime house], 1609

Holland Amm. Marcell, xxvti. i, Some againe drinking garaus. 1667 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. 1. (1684) 40.

xvi. vi. 187 Carrousel.. is, in betailored running at the ring.

carouse (ka'rauz), sb. Forms: (6 garouse), 6-7

If Many writers employing the word historically, have erroneously identified it with carousal.

carous, car(r)owse, -ouse, 7 car(r)ousse, carrouze, (caraus, garaus, -ausse, karausse), 7-9 carouze, 6- carouse. [The prec. adv. in phrase to drink carouse, taken for obj. of the vb.: cf. F. une carrousse, Sp. carauz, also from Ger. The word formerly rimed with house, mouse-, the pronunciation (-auz) appeared first in the vb., c 1660 (cf. grass, graze, advice, advise, etc.), and subsequently spread to sense 3 of the sb., taken as a deriv. of the vb.] fl. The action or fashion of ‘drinking carouse’. 1559 Mirr. Mag. 610 (R.) Lyseus fruitful cup with full carowse Went round about. 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood vii. (1874) 13 Drinke some braue health vpon the Dutch carouse .. Or visit Shorditch, for a bawdie house. 1611 Rich Honest. Age (1844) lntrod. 19 Their best was, I drinke to you, and I pledge yee; some shallow-witted drunkard found out the Carowse.

f2. A cupful drunk ‘all out’, a full draught of liquor, a full bumper to one’s health, a toast. Obs. bef. 1700 (but used by Scott). 1594 Drayton Ideas vii, Quaffing Carowses in this costly Wine. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 277 Quaffe carowses to our Mistresse health. 1611 Rowland Four Knaves (1843) 13, I. .will drinke a healths carouse. 1611 Cotgr., Carous, a carousse of drinke. 1617 Moryson I tin. in. 11. iii. 86 All which garausses he must drinke. 1674 Milton Moscov. Wks. 1738 II. 145 The Emperor standing up, drank a deep Carouse to the Queen’s Health. 1813 Scott Rokeby 1. vii, Quaff the full carouze.

3. A drinking bout; a carousal; carousing. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 228 Bassus at the Thracian carowse. 1725 Pope Odyss. 1. 480 The early feast and late carouse. 1833 Ht. Martineau Manch. Strike i. 8 To go to the Spread-eagle and have a carouse. 1851 Longf. Gold. Leg., Refectory ad fin., What means this revel and carouse?

carouse (ka'raoz), v. Forms: 6 karous, garouse, carous, 6-7 carrouse, car(r)owse, 7 garousse, carrowze, -ouze, 7 -8 carowze, -ouze, 6- carouse, [f. carouse adv.: cf. F. carousser ‘to quaff, swill, carouse it’ (Cotgr.).] 1 intr. To drink ‘all out’, drink freely and repeatedly. So to carouse it.

.

1567 Drant Horace Ep. xiv, I that in tune and out of time, karoust it without measure. 1596 Raleigh Discov. Guiana (1848) 64 Some.. garoused of his wine til they were reasonable pleasant. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 349 To quaffe and carouse again vpon it more lustily. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Carouse., to drink all out. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xv. 173 To procure Wine and carouze with him, which they did, and he got beastly drunk. 1779 Johnson L.P., Thomson Wks. IV. 167 Thomson., carousing with lord Hertford and his friends. 1827 Pollock Course T. iv, Drinking from the well of life, And yet carousing in the cup of death. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. vi. 102 b. To drink a bumper to (any one), to drink

health or success to. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 1. 107 Swilling, gulling and carowsing from one to another. 1594 Lyly Moth. Bomb. 11. i. 92, I carouse to Prisius, and brinch you mas Sperantius. 1604 Shaks. Ham. v. ii. 300 (2nd Qo.) The Queene Carowses [1st Qo. drinkes] to thy fortune Hamlet.

12. trans. To drink off or up, to drain, to quaff, to swill; to drink (a health). Obs. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 432 The Glasses wher-in you carouse your wine. 1604 Shaks. Oth. 11. iii. 55 Roderigo.. To Desdemona hath to night Carrows’d Potations, pottledeepe. 1617 Moryson I tin. iii. 162 Some Gentlewomen were so free in this excesse, as they would .. garousse health after health with men. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 168 To Carrouze strong Drink, Brandy, Wine. 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 545 Egypt’s wanton queen, Carousing gems.

b.fig. 1589 R. Harvey PI. Perc. 23 Carrouse vp your owne quarrels in the cup. 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. 1. 20 Why doe we thus .. carouse full Bowles Of boyling anguish? 1660 W. Secker Nonsuch Prof. 11 If the Cup be lawful we must not carouze it.

carousel (kaerui'zel). Also 9- carrousel, [a. F. carrousel, ad. It. carosello, garosello ‘a kind of joust or feat on horseback’. Littre takes It. carosello or garosello as dim. of garoso, quarrelsome, contentious, f. gara quarrel, strife; but this is doubtful, and possibly the etymological form was carrosello, from carro chariot.)] 1 ‘A tournament in which knights, divided into companies (quadrilles) distinguished by their liveries and dresses, engaged in various plays and exercises; to this were often added chariot races, and other shows and entertainments’ (Littre).

.

1650 Marvell Death Ld. Hastings, Before the Crystal Palace where he dwells The Armed Angels hold their Carousels. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2117/4 A great carousel is preparing here [Paris] against Easter. 1697 Dryden Virg. AEneid v. (1806) III. 131 This Game, these Carousels Ascanius taught. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. vii. xc. 414 The carousel, the expence of which amounted to seventy thousand crowns. 1839 James Louis XIV, III. 27 Those carousels and mock-fights. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI.

fact,

a kind of superb

1709 Steele Tatler No. 33 ff 10 A Carousal, wherein many of the Youth of the first Quality, .ran for the Prize. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. 1. 35 His fine taste in dress, festivals, and carousals. 1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840) II. 28 A royal carousal given by Charles the Fifth of France to the Emperor. 1823 Lingard Hist. Eng. VI. 23 The young king loitered for weeks at Calais, spending his time in carousals and entertainments. 1858 Planche D'Aulnoy's Fairy T. 440 After which, there were ballets, carousals, and a thousand other things.

2. A merry-go-round, a roundabout. Also attrib. Chiefly U.S. (where freq. written carrousel). 1673 R. Folyarte Let. in D. Braithwaite Fairground Archit. (1968) iii. 34 A new and rare invencon knowne by the name of the royalle carousell or tournament being framed and contrived with such engines as will not only afford great pleasure to us and our nobility in the sight thereof, but sufficient instruction to all such ingenious young gentlemen as desire to learne the art of perfect horsemanshipp. 1899 N. Y. Times Illustr. Mag. in F. Fried Piet. Hist. Carousel (1964) iii. 82 A carousel costs from $300 to $10,000 according to the decoration and finish... A carousel that will seat 60 riders measures 40 feet in diameter and costs $2,200. 1909 Sat. Even. Post 13 Mar. 64/1 We make everything., from a hand-power Merry-Go-Round to the highest grade Carousselles. 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye xxv. 250 She sat down on this big.. horse. Then the carousel started, and I watched her go round and round. 1956 E. Ambler Night-Comers iii. 58 There was even a small fair in progress. A carousel had been set up. 1958 S. Ellin Eighth Circle (1959) II. xi. 122 A faraway sound of carrousel music. 1968 R. Petrie MacLurg goes West x. 89 Bracketed on, so that they hung semi-rampant.. were the two carousel horses.

3. (See quot. 1961.) Now esp. one at airports for the delivery of passengers’ luggage. 1961 Webster, Carrousel, a conveyor (as for assembly-line work) on which objects are placed and carried round a complete circuit on a horizontal plane. 1970 Which? Nov. 352/1 Older people .. found it hard to tug their cases off the carousels. carouser (k3'rauz9(r)). One who carouses. 1596 Raleigh Discov. Guiana (1848) 64 The greatest garousers and drunkards of the world. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man 1. (1603) 24 Carowsers that will match Nero. 1732 Ld. Lansdowne To Garth (R.) The bold carouser and advent’rous dame. 1849 W. Irving Mahomed viii. (1853) 27 The noise brought the carousers from their tents. carousing (ka'rauzirj), vbl. sb. The action of the

verb carouse. Often attrib. 1583 Stanyhurst AZneis iii. (Arb.) 81 They kept a myrry carousing. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse (ed. 2) 23 b, Downe to ye bottome of his carrowsing cups. 1617 Moryson I tin. iii. 11. 87 Which kind of karoussing they call the crowning of the Emperor. 1650 Hubbert Pill Formality 137 Drowned in carowsing bowls. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Germ. II. 208 At Vienna, Their chief diversion is feasting and carousing. 1861 Ramsay Remin. iii. 62.

ppl. a. ca'rousingly adv. ca'rousing,

That carouses.

Hence

1603 Florio Montaigne 11. ii. (1634) 188 Our carowsing tospot German souldiers. 1704 Rowe Ulysses 11. i. 955 These Carousing Lovers. 1848 Craig, Carousingly. 1875 Myers Poems 58. carowaye, -weie, obs. ff. caraway. carowl, carowse, obs. f. carol, carouse. caroygne, -oyne, obs. ff. carrion.

sb.1 Also 5-7 carpe. PI. carp, formerly carps, [a. OF. carpe (Sp. carpa):—late L. carpa (Brachet cites Cassiodorus a 575 ‘destinet carpam Danubius’). The same name (modified in termination, etc.) appears in Romanic, Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavonic: cf. esp. OHG. charpho, MLG. karpe masc. pointing to a possible WGer. *karpo. But the original source is unknown.] 1. A freshwater fish, Cyprinus carpio, the type of the family Cyprinidse-, introduced into England as early as the 14th c., and commonly bred in ponds.

carp (ka:p),

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 62 Carpe, fysche, carpus. 1462 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 561 My master putte into the said ponde, in gret carpes, xxj. 1584 R. Scot Disc. Witcher, xm. x. 248 A bone taken out of a carps head, stancheth bloud. 1653 Walton Angler 1. ix, The Carp is the Queen of Rivers: a stately, a good, and a very subtle fish. 1718 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. liv. II. 80 In the fish ponds are kept tame Carp, said to be, some of them, eighty years of age. 1770 White Selborne xl. 103 In this water are many carps. 1854 Badham Halieut. 257 That singular fleshy palate which is popularly but incorrectly known all over the world as carp’s tongue. 1867 F. Francis Angling iii. (1880) 84 In rivers carp bite more boldly than in ponds.

2. Applied to other species of the genus Cyprinus, or family Cyprinidse, to which belong the Gold and Silver Fish, the Prussian or Crucian Carp (C. gibelio), the Norwegian Carp (Scarpsena norvegica), and others. 1786 White Selborne xcviii, Gold and silver fishes.. Linnaeus ranks ,. under the genus of cyprinus or carp. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §567 The Cyprinidse or Carp tribe. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 107 Collection of Stuffed.. Carp, Crucian Carp, Gold Carp.

CARP 3. Comb,

carp-louse, a name for small crustaceans of the family Argulidae, parasitic on fishes; cf. fish-louse. 1678-1706 Phillips, Carp-stone, a triangular stone found in the chop of a carp, white without and yellow within. 1889 in Cent. Diet. 1909 J. J. Lister in A. Sedgwick Textbk. Zool. III. 410 Carp-lice. Copepods with large compound eyes. 1931 J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xx. 417 Mention may also be made of the so-called Carp Louse (Argulus), another Crustacean parasite.

carp, sb,2 [f. carp w.1] f a. Discourse. Obs. rare, f b. Power of speech. Obs. rare. c. Carping speech, cavil (with play on carp sb.1). C1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 882 In sounande notez a gentyl carpe. Ibid. B. 23 Kryst kydde hit hymself in a carp onez. Ibid. B. 1327 )>at he ful clanly bi-cuv-er his carp bi pe laste. 1618 Mynshul Ess. Prison 1st Ep. Ded. i, Carpes haue bin good cheap this Lent, for I haue had more than I desired for nothing. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 9 May 4/1 Criticism—what a lady I know calls ‘the carpers carping with their carps’. 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. Jan. (1964) 331 But one more carp before 1 close. 1967 Observer 24 Oct. 25/2, I have one carp, however. His own performance.. tends to become confusing. U Associated with cark. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark viii. 57 a, Their vayne and superfluous carpe and care.

carp (karp), v.1 Also 4 karp, 5 karpe, 4-7 carpe. [Senses 1-3, chiefly in northern poetry (especially in alliterative verse), were probably a. ON. karpa to brag; but the later prose senses 4-6 appear to be derived from, or influenced by, L. carpere to pluck, fig. to slander, calumniate. The ulterior history of the ON. word is uncertain.] fl. intr. To speak, talk. Obs. a 1240 Wohunge in Cott. Horn. 287 Carpe toward ihesu and seie pise wordes. 01300 Cursor M. App. Resurrect. 388 Als pai come narre pe castelle, to-geder carpand. c 1400 Destr. Troy 829 The Kyng pan full curtesly karpes agayne. 1420 Siege Rouen 1235 in Archaeol. XXII. 381 Vnnethe thay myjt brethe or carpe. 1470 Harding Chron. Proem, x, Leonell.. that wedded .. The erles daughter of Vister, as man do Karpe. 1570 Levins Manip. 33/3 To carpe, talke, colloqui, confabulari. 1575 Turberv. Bk. Falconrie Epil. Aaiij, To carpe it fine with those that haue no guile.

fb. To discourse of, in speech or writing. Obs. 1350 Will. Palerne 216 J>e kowherdes bestes i carped of bifore. 1393 Langl. P. PL C. xxii. 199 Thus conscience of crist and of pe croys carpede. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. in. Prol. 26 (Jam.) Of thame.. Carpe we bot lityl. 01605 Montgomerie Flyting 575 Of his conditions to carp for a while.

f2. trans. To speak, utter, say, tell. Obs. 1350 Will. Palerne 503 To karp pe sope. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 325 To carpe Proverbes and demaundes sligh. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4610 When Calcas his counsell had carpit to the end. 1515 Sc. Field 73 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 216 Our Knight full [of] courage carpeth these words.

f3. intr. To sing or recite (as a minstrel); to sing (as a bird). Obs. c 1425 Thomas of Erceld. 313 ‘To harpe or carpe, whare-so pou gose, Thomas, pou sail hafe pe chose sothely’: And he saide ‘harpynge kepe I none, For tonge es chefe of mynstralsye’. 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) Civ/2 In goodly ditie or balade for to carpe. a 1528 Skelton Agst. comely Coyst. 13 In his gamut carp he can. C1570 Thynne Pride & Lowl. (1841) 8 Many was the bird did sweetly carpe Among the thornes. 1802 Lochmaben Harper vii. in Scott Minstr. Scott. Bord. (1869) 94 Then aye he harped, and aye he carped Till a’ the lordlings footed the floor.

f4. Vituperatively: To talk much, to prate, chatter. Cf. carper. Obs. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. x. 69 Clerkes.. carpen of god faste, and haue [him] moche in pe mouthe. 01528 Skelton Col. Cloute 549 Some.. Clatter & carpe Of that heresy. 1530 Palsgr. 476/1, I carpe (Lydgate),^ carquette.. This is a farre northen verbe. 1557 Praise Maistr. Ryce in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 202 Came Curiousness and carped out of frame.

5. spec. To talk querulously, censoriously, or captiously; to find fault, cavil. sense.)

(The current

(Certain examples of this before the 16th c. are wanting: the early ones may have merely the sense of 1 with contextual colouring. Cf. carper.) [1377 Langl. P. PI. B. x. 286 Abasshed To blame yow or to greve, And carpen noght as they carpe now, Ne calle yow dumbe houndes. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859)11.77 Thou carpist also of oure coveitise, and sparist the sothe. 1515 Barclay Egloges i. (1570) Aj, Some in Satyres against vices dare carpe.] 1548 Soul John-Nobody in Strype Cranmer (1694) App. 139 They will currishly carp. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. 1. xiii. (1634) 49 Servetto carpeth, that God did beare the person of an Angell. 1655 Digges Compl. Ambass. 377 The King.. carpeth upon the marriage, a 1677 Barrow Serm. Malice of Soc., In carping and harshly censuring., their neighbours. 1785 Burns 2nd Ep. Lapraik, Ne’er grudge an’ carp, Tho’ fortune use you hard an’ sharp. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xv. 386 The bulk of society did not assemble to carp and to cavil.

b. Const, at. 1586 Thynne Contn. Holinshed Pref., Curiouslie carping at my barrennes in writing. 1794 Burke Corr. IV. 235 That faction and malice may not be able to carp at it. 1879 M. Arnold Falkland Mixed Ess. 207 We will not carp at this great writer.

16. trans. To find fault with, reprehend, take exception to. Obs. I55° Cranmer

CARPENTER

910

Sacrament 100 a, Whiche my saiyng diuers ignorant persones. .did carpe and reprehende. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Luke vii. marg., The Pharisees did alwaies carpe

Christ. 1598 Grenewey Tacitus Ann. v. ii. (1622) 117 Couertly carping the Consull Fufius. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 230 Carping whatsoever hath been done or said heretofore. 1678 R. Barclay Apol. Quakers iii. § vii. 87 Our Adversaries shall have nothing from thence to carp.

|7. intr. discriminate.

(?)

To

censure;

to

judge,

1591 Troub. Raigne K. John (1611) 21 Any one that knoweth how to carpe, Will scarcely iudge us both one countrey borne.

|8.

(?) To contend, fight. Obs. rare.

1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 606 With brandis bricht that scherand wer and scharp So cruellie togidder did tha carp.

ii Associated with cark, q.v. c 1465 Chevy Chace 11. 135 Tivydale may carpe off care. 1522 World & Child in Hazl. Dodsley I. 267 Ever he is carping of care. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals 1. 11. 49 Poor drudgeing.. Priests that carp and moyl all day long. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 312 Carping for the unprofitable goods of this world.

carp, v.2 [? ad. L. carpere to pluck, card.] (See quot.) Hence carper, carping vbl. sb. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 202 The business to which children are first put in this business is carping; that is, preparing thistle-teasels for the workman, who fits them into the rods and handles for dressing the cloth. The little carpers sit at this easy work.

t car'pacious, a. Obs. rare~x. [f. Lat. carperey taken in sense of Eng. carp: after loquacious, rapacious, etc.: see -acious.] Given to carping. 1574 R. Scot Hop Gard. (1578) 62 Corrupt and hastye Judges.. carpacious Controllers, and .. impudent Scoffers.

carpal ('kaipsl), a. Anat. [ad. mod.L. carpdlis, f. carpus wrist.] Of or pertaining to the carpus or wrist. 1743 Bevan in Phil. Trans. XLII. 489 Several Anchylosses’s formed in the small Joints, viz. carpal and meta-carpal Bones. 1840 G. Ellis Anat. 402 The posterior carpal artery is very small. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 416 The articulation between the carpal and metacarpal bones. 1856 Yarrell Hist. Birds I. 390 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing.

b. sb. pi. = Carpal bones. 1855 Owen Skel. & Teeth 15 The row of short bones joined with these are the ‘carpals’.

Carpano

(ka:'pa:n3u). [Name of Antonio Carpano, who made the first commercial preparation of vermouth in Italy in 1786.] The proprietary name of an Italian vermouth; a drink of this. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. 6 Aug. 572/2 The little waiter had that moment emerged.. with a wet tray and a cool glass of carpano. 1950 D. Ames Corpse Diplomatique xii. 89 Dagobert ordered a Carpano for me and a Campari for himself. 1961 Guardian 21 Nov. 13/2 Carpano is.. a dark, bitter-sweet vermouth. 1968 Hurd & Osmond Send him Victorious 20 Raikes began to fumble in his pockets for money to pay for his Carpano.

I carpe diem ('ka:pi 'daiem). [L., enjoy the day, pluck the day when it is ripe’.] An aphorism quoted from Horace (Odes 1. xi) affirming the need to make the most of the present time. Also attrib. 1817 Byron Let. 2 Jan. in Moore Life (1830) II. 68, I never anticipate, — carpe diem —the past at least is one’s own, which is one reason for making sure of the present. 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Gr. x. 89, I daresay old Horace gives very good advice when he says, ‘carpe diem’. 1867 ‘Ouida’ Under Two Flags II. ii. 41 The reckless life of Algeria .. with .. its gay, careless carpe diem camp-philosophy. 1901 Daily News 7 Mar. 6/1 The ‘Carpe diem’ philosophy is not the philosophy of happy people. 1914 T. A. Baggs Back from Front xix. 91 ‘Carpe diem’ is their motto, and indeed, they enjoy life while they may. 1957 N. Frye Anat. Criticism 299 The carpe diem poem based on a moment of pleasure in experience.

carpel ('karpsl). Bot. [mod. f. Gr. eap-n-os fruit, on type of mod.L. dim. *carpellum\ see -el, and cf. F. carpelle.] One of the divisions or cells of a compound pistil or fruit; or the single cell of which a simple pistil or fruit consists. [1817 Dunal Monogr. des Anonacees 13 II serait utile et commode d'avoir un mot particulier pour exprimer dans un fruit multiple, le fruit partiel resultant de chaque ovaire feconde et developpe; je propose ici celui de carpelle, carpellum.] 1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 372 Carpels are modified leaves. 1869 Gray Bot. §547 It is convenient to have a name which shall designate a single pistil-leaf, whether occurring as a distinct simple pistil, or as an element of a compound pistil. For this purpose the name of Carpel has been devised. 1881 G. Allen in Knowledge No. 4. 65 A little central boss or cushion, supporting several carpels or unripe fruitlets.

fcarpell. Obs. rare—1. 1593 Peele Edw. I (1829) 155 ‘God save her grace, & give our young prince [Edw. II] a carpell in their kind.’

carpellary (’kaipstari), a. Bot. [f.

carpel; see

-ary, and cf. F. carpellaire.] Pertaining to, or of

the nature of, a carpel. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 216 The two carpellary leaves of which the fruit is formed. 1835-Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 372 The carpellary theory of structure.

t carpencloth, carpyncloth. Obs. [Cf. carpent obs. f. carpet.] Probably carpet-cloth; table¬ cloth or bed-covering of carpet. 1577 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) I. 414, Beddinge, iij carpenclothes of tappestarye iiij/. xs.—iiij grene carpynclothes.

fcarpenel.

Obs.

Some kind of fabric; ?

=

CARPMEAL. 1523 Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, xi, Clothes called carpenel whites, commonly made for lining of hosen.

carpent ('kaipsnt),

carpar, -are, obs. f. carper. Carpathian (kai'peiOisn), a.1 [f. Carpathos: see -ian.] Of or pertaining to Carpathos Karpathos, an island in the JEgean Sea.

Brit. Macropxdia III. 947/1 Today, each of the Carpathian countries has its own general geological maps.

or

1634 Milton Comus 872 By hoary Nereus wrincled look, And the Carpathian wisards hook. 1797 Encycl. Brit. IV. 179/1 The sea which, from this island, is called the Carpathian Sea. 1925 Glasgow Herald 30 July 6 In a spell of Carpathian silence.

Carpathian (kai'peiGian), a.2 and sb. [Prob. immediately ad. G. Karpathen (Karpatisch adj.) Carpathian mountains:—L. Carpatus, Gr. KapTTaTrjs opos (Ptolemy), of uncertain ulterior etymology: see -ian.] A. adj. Epithet of a range of mountains extending from northern Czechoslovakia to Romania; pertaining to the region of these mountains. B. sb. pi. The Carpathian mountains. 1673 E. Browne Trav. Hungary, Servia 3 The Carpathian Mountains which divide Poland and Hungary. 1694 Phil. Trans. 1693 XVII. 470 Next, Let us suppose this Ocean interspersed with wide and spacious Tracts of Land; with high ridges of Mountains such as the Pyrenean, the Alps, the Apennine, the Carpathian in Europe. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. ix. 218 A ridge of hills, rising from the Danube, and called the Carpathian mountains, covered Germany on the side of Dacia or Hungary. 1835 J. B. Robertson tr. F. von Schlegel's Philos, of Hist. ii. 84 The great Danubian countries, extending from the South of the Carpathian mountains, down to the other mountainous chain northward of Greece. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. XX. 390/1 The Carpathians, extending from West to East in a semicircular line of 200 leagues, are, according to Beudant, not so much a chain as a high terrace.. terminated at both extremities by high mountain masses. 1862 Mackenzie & Irby Across Carpathians i. 1 The Carpathian or Krapack chain of mountains incloses the kingdom of Hungary on three sides, in the form of a bow... In the north.. it fully merits the epithet from which etymologists have derived its name— Chrib, Chrebet, the high mountain, or still more literally, the high back. 1919 G. B. Shaw Inca of Perusalem 215 Before ten years have elapsed every civilized country from the Carpathians to the Rocky Mountains will be a Republic. 1932 J. S. Huxley Probl. Relative Growth vii. 206 The Red Deer is by nature a forest species; driven from the lowlands, .. it grows stunted. This, however, takes no account of the difference in relative size of antlers between Scotch and e.g. Carpathian strains. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. III. 131/2 The territory of the Carpathians is shared by Czechoslovakia, the U.S.S.R., Poland, Hungary and Rumania. 1974 Encycl.

v. rare. [ad. med.L. carpent-are to cut or make as a carpenter; cf. F. charpenter, in the senses here given.] trans. To make as a carpenter; fig. to put together, construct mechanically. Hence 'carpented ppl. a. 1623 Favine Theat. Hon. 11. xiii. 231 Extended upon the Crosse, made and carpented of Oake. 1878 T. Sinclair Mount 75 With carpented ‘Columbiads’, unfortunately he [Poe] condemned poetry not founded at all on the tour de force plan of little ambitious prosaic spirits.

carpent(e,

obs. (erroneous) f. carpet.

t'carpentage.

Obs. [f. carpent Carpenter’s work, carpentry.

+

-age.]

1660 Hexham Dutch Diet., Barckoener, a certaine Beame of carpentage.

carpentarie, -ary,

obs. f. carpentry.

fcarpentaries. Obs. perh. pi. of carpentarie, -ary, as a variant form of carpenter; perh. for carpentaris, pi. of form carpentar: see -ar2. i486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. fjb, Carpentaries and makeris of howses.

carpenter (’ka:p3nt9(r)), sb. Forms: 3 carpenter, (4 carpunter, 5 -pentour, -pynter, 6 -pintor, (Sc.) charpenteir). [a. AngloFr. carpenter, ONF. carpentier (F. charpentier = Pr. carpentier, Sp. carpentero. It. carpentiero):—\ate L. carpentari-us originally ‘carriage-maker’, f. carpent-um two-wheeled chariot, wagon. L. carpent-um was app. a. OCelt. *carpentom, whence OIr. carpat, mod.Ir. & Gael, carbad carriage, chariot, litter, bier; prob. related to OCelt. *carr-om\ see car. Isidore xix. xix. 1 says ‘Lignarius generaliter ligni opifex appellatur. Carpentarius speciale nomen est. Carpentum enim solum facit.’]

1. ‘An artificer in wood’ (J.); as distinguished from a joiner, cabinet-maker, etc., one who does the heavier and stronger work in wood, as the framework of houses, ships, etc. CI325 Coer de L. 5934 My fadyr n’as mason, ne carpentere. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 367 Of Dedalus pe carpunter. a 1400 Leg. Rood (1871) 30 J>at holi tre was fairest po..pe carpenters it let[e] adoun. c 1400 Destr. Troy I597 Carpentours, cotelers, coucheours fyn. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, xxii. § 1 A maister Ship Carpenter.. havyng men

CARPENTER undre hym. 1548 Compl. Scot. 10 Ane merchant, ane cordinar, charpenteir. 1564 Bulleyn Dialogue (1886) 8 Suche Carpenter, suche chips. 1567 Drant Horace Ep. xiv, The carpintor dothe grudge. 1611 Bible Mark vi. 3 Is not this the carpenter, the sonne of Mary? 1665-9 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1675) 376 Like the Carpenters that toyl’d to build the Ark to save Noah from the Deluge, themselves perisht in. 1835 Miss Mitford in L’Estrange Life III. iii. 31 Captain Gore is .. a capital working carpenter. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. App. 381 The trade which of all manual trades has been most honoured; be for once a carpenter.

2. fig. cf. ‘builder, constructor.’ Langl. P. PI. B. x. 410 Carpenters vnder criste holy kirke to make. 1597 2nd Pt. Return fr. Pernass. IV. ii. 1722 The chiefe Carpenter of Sonets. *393

3. Naut. ‘An officer appointed to examine and keep in order the hull of a wooden ship, and all her appurtenances’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.). Hence carpenter's crew, mate, yeoman, etc. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. viii. 35 The Carpenter and his Mate. 1708 Royal Procl. 20 May in Lond. Gaz. No. 4440/1 Trumpeters, Quarter-Gunners, Carpenters Crews. J753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The carpenter has a mate under him, and a crew or gang to command on necessary occasions. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xvii, The captain .. sent for Mr. Muddle, the Carpenter.

4. Short for carpenter-ant, carpenter-bee, etc. 1883 Knowledge 13 July 20/1 [One species of tree-ants] bore into the trunk of the tree itself, by reason of which .. they are designated Carpenters.

5. attrib. and Comb., as carpenter-fashion,

CARPET

911

carpentership. [See -ship.] The art or occupation of a carpenter;/ig. workmanship. 1574 Withals 30 Carpentership, architectura. 1885 Blackw. Mag. July 98/2 One man gave up his carpentership.

carpentry ('kcupontri). Also 4 carpentarie. [a. ONF. carpenterie — F. charpenterie (= Pr. Carpentaria, Sp. carpinteria):—L. Carpentaria (sc. fabrica) carriage-maker’s workshop: cf. -RY.]

1. The trade or art of a carpenter; the art of cutting, working, structures.

and

joining

timber

into

*377 Langl. P. PI. B. x. 178 Tooles of carpentrie. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxxv. 33 Werkis of carpentarye. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxx. 144 Two connyng men maisters in carpentre. 1586 Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 72 Carpentarie.. dealeth with wood. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 117 It had been more proper for me in these Exercises to have introduced Carpentry before Joinery. 1836 Emerson Nature, Spirit. Wks. (Bohn) II. 166 Idealism is a hypothesis to account for nature by other principles than those of carpentry and chemistry. 1873 Roorkee Civil Engineer. I. iii. §241 Carpentry is the art of combining pieces of Timber for the support of any considerable weight or pressure.

2. Timber-work constructed by the carpenter; ‘an assemblage of pieces of timber connected by framing, or letting them into each other, as are the pieces of a roof, floor, centre, etc.’ (Gwilt).

-shop, -theory. In possessive case, frequently designating varieties of tools and instruments specially used by carpenters, as carpenter's axe, chisel, clamp, gauge, level, plane, square, etc. carpenter-ant (see 4); carpenter-bee, a genus of solitary bees, Xylocopa, the females of which excavate cells in decaying wood in which to deposit their eggs; f carpenter-grass, common Yarrow, Achillea millefolium-, carpenter’s herb, common Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris-, erroneously, bugle and yarrow; carpenter’s measure, tonnage as measured by the cubic foot; carpenter’s or carpenter-scene (Theat.), (a) a scene introduced on the front of the stage to give the stage-carpenters time to arrange complicated scenery behind for the next act; (b) the painted scene which forms the background of this, and shuts off the part of the stage behind, where the stage-carpenters are at work; carpenter-work, carpentry; also^ig.

1555 Fardle Facions 1. iv. 46 The chiefe citie.. stondeth not by building of masonrie, & carpentrie as ours. 1616 Markham Countr. Farm 333 Borne vp with carpentrie or frames of timber. 1770 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 VI. 335 The carpentry of the roof.. is sheeted or covered with deals. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vii. iii, Solid well-painted carpentry.

1844 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 635/1 The wings of the .. *carpenter-bees are most frequently black, with a fine purple or violet gloss. 1857 Sears Athan. xii. (1858) 102 The idea of the universe as a building which.. God put up ♦carpenter-fashion. 1526 Gt. Herball (Britten & H.) In some places is called *Carpenter-grasse, it is good to reioyne, and soudre woundes. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 1. xc. 133 Brunella, in English Prunell, ^Carpenters herbe, Selfe heale & Hooke heale. 1611 Cotgr., Herbe au charpentier .. Carpentershearbe, Sickle-worte, Hooke-heale, Selfe-heale. 1737 Ozell Rabelais (1807) II. 119 He should go search for some millefoil, commonly called the carpenter’s herb. 1861 Miss Pratt Blower. PI. IV. 176. 1768 Phil. Trans. LVIII. 312 Secured in a tube from the wind, in the manner of ♦carpenters levels. 1756 in Picton L' pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 147 A bounty of ten shillings a ton., of ♦Carpenter’s measure, i860 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 750 (Hoppe) The dialogue of a front-scene (known technically as a ♦carpenter’s scene) when your play requires a complicated view to be arranged behind it. 1864 Athenaeum No. 1928, 506/2 Carpenter-scenes. 1874 Graphic 31 Jan. 111/2 A Carpenter’s Scene is generally a flat in the first grooves consisting of some murky picture or other. 1882 Freeman in Longm. Mag. I. 88 ‘Barber-shop’, ‘♦carpenter-shop’. 1688 R. Holme Armoury in. ix. § 13 A Joyners Rule .. and a ♦Carpenters Square. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. 1. v. §33 (1875) 120 He declines to accept the *carpenter theory of creation as the most worthy. 1553 Udall Respublica (1952) v. vi, I woulde ere long of yowe [haue] made suche ♦carpenter weorke, That ye shoulde haue saide Policie had been a clerke. 1720 in Jrnl. Derbysh. Archaeol. Soc. (1905) XXVII. 216 Carpenter work 160. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 168 They embrace the particulars of mason-work, carpenter-work, slater-work,.. smith-work. 1909 Daily Chron. 2 June 5/2 The play is at best a piece of very crude carpenter-work.

carper2. One who prepares teasels: see carp v.2

'carpenter, v. [f. prec.] intr. To do carpenter’s work, trans. To make by carpentry; to do carpenter’s work; to put together mechanically. Also fig. c 1815 Jane Austen Persuas. (1833) I. xi. 301 He drew, he varnished, he carpentered. 1844 [see carpentered ppl. a.]. 1861 Sat. Rev. 7 Dec. 582 The man who ploughs or carpenters sees a satisfactory fruit of his labours. 1885 A. Brereton Dram. Notes 50 Mr. Paul Meritt and Mr. Henry Pettitt.. know how to carpenter a play for the stage. 1908 Daily Chron. 23 Oct. 6/1 The acting may be bad, the play cribbed and carpentered, but if people are genuinely moved the essence is there. 1909 Mrs. Stratton-Porter Girl of Limberlost xi. 212 When I think of how you are carpentered, I’m adoring the result.

Hence 'carpentered ppl. a., 'carpentering vbl. sb. (also attrib.). 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. iv. iii. (D.) The Salle des Menus is all new carpentered. 1838 Dickens O. Twist liii, Here he took to gardening, planting, fishing, carpentering. 1840 Thackeray Catherine vii, He succeeded to.. the carpentering business. 1844 W. G. Wills in Pall Mall G. 28 July 4/1 A playwright may take a month . . and only produce a carpentered thing at last. 1884 Black Jud. Shaks. xxviii, She even tried her hand at carpentering.

3. attrib. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 832 Carpentry Wood .. brought here from Lower Saxony. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 542 The inward carpentry-work.

carper1 (’ka:p3(r)). [f. carp v. + -er1.] One who carps, j- a. A talker, prattler. Obs. b. A fault-finder, a caviller, a captious critic. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 62 Carpare, fabulator, garulator. 1547 Recorde jfudic. Ur. Aiib, The besye brabling of curyouse carpers. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (1841) 36 Every Duns will bee a carper. 1581 J. Bell Hadden's Answ. Osor. 501 A carper of other mens faultes. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. Ep. Ded. 9 He will meet with very many Carpers and Cavilers. 1666 J. Smith Old Age (1752) 51 That audacious carper at the works of God. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. vm. 1007 Carpers abound in this misjudging world.

fcarpese. Obs. rare~l. [a. 16th c. F. carpase, ad. L. carpasum, a. Gr. uap-n-aaov.] A plant with narcotic juice mentioned by ancient authors. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 11. 1. iii. 161 The stifning Carpese, th’ eyes—foe Hemlock stinking. [1611 Cotgr., Carpase.]

carpet ('kaipit), sb. Also 4 karpete, (6 carpente), 5-6 carpette, -pyte, 6 carpett, -pete, 6-7 carpit. [ME. carpete, varying with carpette, and in 16th c. carpyte: from F. or med.L., and this from It. OF. had carpite (13th c.), sort of coarse cloth (mod.F. carpette rug, small (Turkish) carpet is app. from Eng.). Med.L. had carpita, carpeta, explained by Carpentier in Du Cange as ‘a kind of villose or thickish cloth, and a garment of that cloth’; also carpetta. Florio has It. carpetta ‘a carpet for a table’; mod.Ital. diets, carpita a coarse carpet; La Crusca says ‘a coarse hanging for a table, made of rough woollen materials, and of patches, of motley colours’. Carpita is etymologically identical with F. charpie (Pic. carpie, Latinized carpia 13th c.) ‘lint (for surgical purposes) procured by the unravelling of old linen,’ the pa. pple. fern, of OF. charpir to card wool, to unravel cloth & reduce it to threads, to tear to shreds, corresp. to It. carpire, pa. pple. carpito, representing (with change of conjugation) L. carper e to card, pick, pluck, tear, pull in pieces. The name carpita may have been originally given to a fabric formed of unravelled cloth, or of shreds of cloth patched together. The variants carpeta, carpetta also occur in later med.L., doubtless from Italian carpetta, which assumes the form of a diminutive ]

I. As a simple sb. In med.Lat. use, ‘A kind of villose or thickish cloth, and a garment of that cloth’. Carpentier cites, inter alia, 1291 Carmelite Rule, Habeat unusquisque frater unam Carpitam, quod est nostrae Religionis signum, non de petiis consutam sed contextam [a carpet which is the distinctive dress of our order, not sewed together of pieces (or patches) but woven together]. 1295 Unam carpitam de pann serico velluto [a carpet of silk velvet cloth]. ^1

sort of covering.. to be spread on a table, trunk, an estrade, or even a passage, or floor. 1728 Newton Chronol. Amended, To adorn their beds and tables with rich furniture and carpets.

b. on the carpet (i.e. of the council table): under consideration or discussion [cf. F. sur le tapis.] Also colloq. (orig. U.S.) (with admixture of sense 2 a): undergoing, or summoned to receive, a reprimand. Cf. sense 2d and mat sb.1 1726 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 255 The great cry made for the people’s powers in election . . which is the case now upon the carpet. 01734 North Lives Pref. 21 These three brothers, whose lives are upon the carpet before me. 1773 R. Graves Spirit. Quix. x. xi. (D.) He.. contrived to bring another subject upon the carpet. 1800 Weems Washington xii. (1877) 187 A question of importance being on the carpet. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. iv. iii. (1866) 604. 1900 G. Ade Fables in Slang 120 Next Morning she had him up on the Carpet and wanted to know How About It. 1902 Lorimer Lett. Merchant 134 The boss of the canning-room [will be] called up on the carpet and made to promise that it will never happen again. 1921 Ld. Dunsany If 1. i. 9 You been on the carpet, Bill? 1936 Sketch 22 Jan. 148/1 His manager had just had him on the carpet, pointing out that his work had been getting steadily bad for the last few months. 1944 ‘N. Shute’ Pastoral v. 136 After the first shock of realising that she herself was on the carpet. 1961 Times 8 May 13/2 Such a solution is not on the carpet now.

2. a. A similar fabric, generally worked in a pattern of divers colours, used to spread on a floor or the ground, for standing, sitting, or kneeling on, or (now usually) to cover a floor, or stair. Also the material, as in ‘a piece of carpet’. 1438-60 Lib. de Antiq. Legib. ccvi, Duas vestes vocatas Carpette stemendas coram fontem ecclesias. 14.. MS. Addit. 6113P 106a in Dom. Archit. III. 107, Iij chambres of pleasaunce.. all the floures covered with carpettes. 1513 More Rich. Ill (1641) 439 On a carpit in a Ladies chamber. 1548 Hall Edw. IV, 234 (R.) A prelate, more mete for a ladyes carpet, than for an ecclesiasticall pulpet. 1580 Baret Alv. C 144 A carpet of Turky, Polymeta phrygia. 1682 Dryden Mac FI. 91 No Persian carpets spread th’ imperial way. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 289 [P 9 The Dervise.. laid down his Wallet, and spread his Carpet after the Manner of the Eastern Nations. 1839 tr. Lamartine's Trav. East 155/1 [In] the mosques .. I found a small number of Turks, seated cross-legged, or kneeling on the carpets. 1861 Flor. Nightingale Nursing 61 A dirty carpet, .infects the [sick] room.

b. Being, at first, chiefly a luxury of a lady’s chamber, it became an attribute of luxury and effeminacy (see esp. 6); also of the chamber, drawing room, or court, as opposed to the camp or field. 1581 Styward Mart. Discip. To Rdr. 2 Whereby we maie not be reputed sleepers, or followers too much of the carpet. 1630 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 32 For the times began to be quick and active, and fitter for stronger motions, than those of the Carpet. Ibid. 40 They were of the Court and Carpet, not led by the genius of the Camp.

f c. knight of the carpet: see quotations; also = CARPET-KNIGHT. Obs. ? 1547 in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. 11. App. E, The Knights of the Carpet dubbed by the King on Shrove Tuesday. [These were evidently Knights Bachelors', the list follows that of the Knights of the Bath made at same time.] 1586 Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 105 A Knight., may be dubbed.. in the time of peace vpon the Carpet.. he is called a Knight of the carpet, bycause that the King sitteth in his regall chaire of estate and the Gentleman.. kneeleth before his Soueraigne vpon the carpet or cloth vsually spred.. for the Soueraignes footestoole. 1630 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 47 A worse Christian than he was, & a better knight of the carpet than he should be. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 57/2 Knights of the Carpet, or Knights of the Green Cloth; to distinguish them from Knights that are Dubbed as Soldiers are in the Field.

d. to walk the carpet: said of a servant summoned before the master or mistress for a reprimand. (Cf. carpet v. 4.) 1823 Galt Entail III. xxix. 278 Making..her servants ‘walk the carpet’.

e. to sweep (or push) (something) under the carpet: to conceal (something embarrassing or unpleasant), in the hope that it will go unnoticed or be forgotten. 1963 Times 24 Jan. 6/1 It would be self-deception to think that unemployment could be dealt with by emergency measures and pushed under the carpet. 1966 Listener 17 Mar. 390/2 You cannot sweep these problems under the carpet as the Labour Government is doing.

3. fig. a. Applied to a covering or expanse, as of grass or flowers, resembling a carpet in smoothness, softness, or varied colouring. 1593 Shaks. Rich. II, iii. iii. 50 Vpon the Grassie Carpet of this Plaine. 1670 Evelyn Diary 22 July, At either end of the towne, upon the very carpet where the sports are celebrated. 1757 Dyer Fleece 1. 26 They .. The close-wov’n carpet graze. C1854 Stanley Sinai & Pal. ii. (1858) 122 The carpet of flowers.. on the bankes of the Chebar.

f 1. a. A thick fabric, commonly of wool, used to cover tables, beds, etc.; a table-cloth. Obs.

b. spec, in Cricket, the surface of the field, the ground. Also attrib., as carpet drive.

1345 Sacrist's Roll Lichfield Cathed. {Derbysh. Archaeol. Trans.) 9 Item unus pannus qui vocatur Karpete. 1434 in Rogers Agric. & Prices IV. 577. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 283 Laye carpentes about the bedde. 1527 Inv. Sir H. Guildf ord's Goods (MS.), A carpet of grene cloth for a lytill foulding table. 1563 Foxe A. & M. an. 1555 Oct., The carpet or cloth, which lay upon the table whereat M. Ridley stood, was remoued. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. x. 287 A Communion-table will not catch cold with wanting a rich carpet. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3851/4 One green Cloth Carpet, with a small Fringe round it, for the Communion Table. 1727-51 Chambers Cycl., Carpet, a

1882 Cricket 22 June 93/3 His hits .. are never high; on the contrary they are mostly, to use the slang of the cricket field, ‘on the carpet’. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 23 July 7/2 A grand carpet drive to the off-boundary. 1899 Snaith Willow the King v. 74 It flew like a streak to mid-off all along the carpet. 1908 W. E. W. Collins Country Cricketer's Diary xiv. 233 Leaving us in a parlous bad condition by putting catch after catch. , upon the carpet. 1927 M. A. Noble Those ‘Ashes' 201 Bowley tried a carpet drive through the covers. 1950 W. Hammond Cricketers' School x. 98 The batsman’s art.. is to learn how to turn the ball.. so that.. it shall stay ‘on the carpet’.

CARPET c. Aeronaut, slang. The ground; on the carpet, at or near ground level. 1918 J. M. Grider War Birds (1926) 258, I was right on the carpet and over a little ruined village. 1934 V. M. Yeates Winged Victory xxi. 165 He could not go down on to the carpet again point blank into the mouths of the machine guns.

d. Civil Engin. (See quot. 1954.) 1920 H. E. Goldsmith Mod. Road Constr. & Maintenance App. I. 86 Carpet, a bituminous surface of appreciable thickness, generally formed on top of a roadway by the application of one or more coats of bituminous material with gravel, sand, or stone chippings added. 1930 Engineering 15 Aug. 210/1 It consisted of a 2 in. stone-filled asphalt carpet laid on a reinforced-concrete foundation. 1954 Gloss. Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 31 Carpet, a wearing course containing a road tar or bitumen binder and having a compacted thickness not greater than i\ inches.

e. A large number of bombs dropped to damage an area intensively, esp. to clear the way for advancing ground troops. Also attrib. and Comb. 1944 T. H. Wisdom Triumph over Tunisia xxiii. 181 Our massed bombers.. set off to lay Tedder’s bomb carpet; to blast a passage for the armies right through to Tunis. 1945 Baltimore Sun 23 Feb. 3/5 Several ministries were laid in ruins that Saturday as a result of the American carpet bombing. 1945 Life 4 June 25 A carpet raid is an effort to pulverize an area in front of ground troops to facilitate a breakthrough. 1946 Aviation Ann. 16 Carpet bombing., consists simply of dropping such a heavy concentration of bombs in a small area that the defenders are stunned and demoralized for a short time. Ibid., A carpet attack in a certain sector. 1968 L. van der Post Portrait Japan i. 29 Carpet bombing by the United States Air Forces flattened the capital.

4. Short for carpet-moth, see 5. 1856 R. Shield Pract Hints 108 Those beautifully marked Geometry called ‘carpets’ by collectors. 1859 Stainton Butterf. & Moths 11. 73 In the month of May the ‘Carpets’ enter on the scene. 1866 E. Newman Brit. Butterf. & Moths 64 The Satin Carpet, .the Ringed Carpet.

II. In combination or attributively. 5. Comb. a. attributive (pertaining to a carpet, or made of carpet), as carpet-cloth, -shoe, square, -web, -work', b. objective, as carpetbeater, -beating, -dusting, -maker, -planner', c. instrumental, as carpet-covered adj.; d. similative (resembling a carpet of smooth turf), as f carpet-grass, f-ground, f-hill, f -walk, t-way, also carpet-smooth, -woven adjs. Spec, combs, as carpet-bed (Gardening), a bed in which dwarf foliage-plants of different colours are arranged so as to form a pattern like that of a carpet; so carpet-bedding, -garden', carpet beetle, any of various beetles or their larvae, especially Dermestidse, destructive to carpets and other fabrics; carpet-broom, -brush, one used for sweeping a carpet; carpet-dance, a dance on the carpet, an informal dance (the carpet being taken up for dancing on great occasions); carpet-moth, a name for several species of Geometer moths, from their variegated colouring; carpet-rod, a metal rod to keep a stair-carpet in its place, a stair-rod; carpet shark, a shark of the genus Orectolobus having spots on the back suggesting the pattern of a carpet; carpet slipper, a slipper the uppers of which were orig. made of carpet-like material; also used attrib. to express an informal or slip¬ shod method of work; carpet-snake, a large Australian snake (Morelia variegata) with a variegated skin; see also quot. from Whitworth; carpet sweeper, a household implement with a revolving brush or brushes for sweeping carpets; carpet-weed, the genus Mollugo (N.O. Caryophyllacese). See also carpet-bag, -KNIGHT. 1836-7 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 44/1 A jobbing-man— *carpet-beater and so forth. 1883 Pall Mall G. 7 Sept. 4/1 The *‘carpet beds’, where some intricate pattern is worked out in a variety of colours. Here no flower is allowed, the effect being due entirely to the colours of the leaves. 1889 Cent. Diet., * Carpet-beetle, a popular name of Anthrenus scrophularise, a beetle of the family Dermestidse. 1961 Which? July 157/1 The varied carpet beetle, often known in its larval phase as the woolly bear (Anthrenus verbasci). 1615 Churchw. Acc. Gt. Wigstone, Leicestersh. (Nichols 1797) 149 New ♦Carpet-cloth for the communion table. 1835 T. Hook G. Gurney I. v. 84 Hard *carpet-covered benches. 1846 R. Ford Gatherings from Spain xxiii. 325 An extempore ball, which might be called a *carpet-dance, if there were any. 1861 T. Peacock Gryll Gr. xxiii. 198 On these occasions, it was of course a carpet-dance. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. (Hoppe), A well-conducted automaton to come and play quadrilles for a carpet-dance. 1756 Mrs. Calderwood Jrnl. (1884) 26 Fine *carpet-grass. 1677 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. v. (1706) 30 He will tread as boldly on Stones as on ♦Carpetground. 1759 Dilworth Pope 144 An ambling muse running on a carpet-ground. 1732 Mrs. Pendarves in Mrs. Delaney's Autobiog (1861) I. 376 This house lies on the top of a *carpet hill. C1500 Cocke Lorell's B. (1843) 9 Brouderers,.. and *carpyte makers. 1863 Trafford World in Ch. I. 90 Another corridor.. reduced upholsterers and ♦carpet planners to despair. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair iii, She looked for one instant in his face, and then down at the ♦carpet rods. 1929 S. Elliott Napier in Times 2 Aug. 14/1 The ‘Leopard’ or ‘*Carpet’ shark. 1956 Coast to Coast *955-56 128 The two spearsmen came in with a five-foot carpet shark. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 157/1 The

CARPETING

912 large *carpet slippers that served her for shoes. 1902 Chambers's Jrnl. 10 May 353 Etymologists relieve the tedium of a hard day’s work by a relapse into the carpetslipper side of their science. Ibid., The old monks were adepts at carpet-slipper derivation. 1905 H. A. Vachell Hill i. 17 He slimes about in carpet slippers—the beast! 1967 S. Beckett Eh Joe 15 Joe, late fifties, grey hair, old dressinggown, carpet slippers, in his room. 1844 Mrs. Browning Lost Bower xviii, * Carpet-smooth with grass and moss. 1863 Wood Nat. Hist. III. 115 The Diamond Snake .. [and] The ♦Carpet Snake.. are variable in their colouring. 1864 Glasgow Herald 12 Apr., An enormous carpet snake which .. was found to measure 12 feet 6 inches in length. 1885 G. C. Whitworth Anglo-Ind. Diet., Carpet snake.. Loosely applied to any kind of snake found in a dwelling house, other than a cobra or a dhaman .. most commonly the lycodon aulicus. 1901 F. H. Burnett Making of Marchioness 1. i. 20 She .. bought herself a Kensington ♦carpet-square, as red as Kensington art would permit it to be. 1973 H. Carmichael’ Too Late for Tears vi. 80 The carpet square patterned in reds and browns and greens. 1859 Rep. Comm. Patents 1858 (U.S.) II. 444 That description of *carpet or floor sweepers in which a revolving brush .. is made to take up and deposit the sweepings in a case covering the brush. 1892 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Dec. 19/4 Bissell carpet sweeper. i960 Which? Apr. 85/1 The ideal carpet sweeper is one which picks up a lot of dirt, but only a little carpet pile, and which is easy to use and empty. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 201 Mow *Carpet-walks. 1664 H. More Myst. lniq. 549 To keep rank and file.. not to break order though all be not *Carpet-way. a 1658 Cleveland The Times 31 We.. Must not expect a Carpet way. 1884 Browning Ferishtah 128 A *carpet-web I saw once leave the loom. 1611 W. Barksted Hirem (1876) 81 All the floore with ♦Carpetworke was strawn. 1816 Jane Austen Emma 1. x. 72 If I give up music, I shall take up carpet-work. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 414 The *carpet-woven grass that beautifies our lawns. 6. a. attrib. and Comb, arising out of sense 2 b, as

car pet-consideration,

gentry,

toy;

courtship,

f carpet-man,

friend,

f carpet-monger,

one who frequents ladies’ boudoirs or carpeted chambers,

one

who

f carpet-trade,

deals

the

in

‘carpet-trade’;

occupations

amusements of the chamber or boudoir.

and Also

carpet-knight (q.v.), and many appellations akin to it (in which carpet implies haunting the chamber

or

boudoir),

as

carpet

captain,

champion (champion of the dames), coward, peer, shield, squire (=

squire of dames), or

modelled on it (with the sense of dilettantism, shirking of practical work, difficulty, or danger), as carpet geologist, poet, soldier, etc. 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 153 Like a *Carpet capitaine he .. removed his Campe & fled to Crespy. 1623 Cockeram iii, Paris, a Carpet Captaine, rather than a Warriour. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xvi. xxxii. 286 A ^Carpet champion for a wanton dame. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. iii. iv. 258 He is knight dubb’d with vnhatch’d Rapier, and on *carpet consideration. 1636 Massinger Bashf. Lov. 1. i, You are not to be won By carpet-courtship, but the sword. 1605 Play Stucley in Sch. Shaks. (1878) 201, I am a soldier And hate the name of *carpet-coward. wepoun, oper we beep adreent. [Hence 1494 in Fabyan.] 1481 Caxton Myrr. 1. v. 18 They come the sooner to their ende and to carayne.

3. transf. a. Used (contemptuously) of a living human body; cf. CARCASS (? obs.). fb. The fleshly nature of man, ‘the flesh’ in the Pauline sense (obs.). 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xiv. 331 Ne noyther sherte ne shone ..To keure my caroigne. 01450 Knt. de la Tour xxvii. (1868) 39 To aorne suche a carion as is youre body. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W.) 1. xxxv. 31 a, To leue thy careyne and folowe Ihesu Cryste. 1549 Compl. Scotl. xvii. 154 Our carions ande corporal natur..is baytht vile ande infekkit. 1596 Shaks. Merck. V. in. i. 38 Shy. My owne flesh and blood to rebell. Sol. Out vpon it old carrion, rebels it at these yeeres. 1832 Ht. Martineau Demerara ii. 27 Much good may your tender mercies do your carrion.

f4. Used (contemptuously) of a living person, as no better than carrion. Obs. 1547-64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) x. § 1 It were better for a woman to be barren Than to bring forth a vile wicked carren. 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. 11. i. 130 Priests and Cowards, and men Cautelous, Old feeble Carrions. 1661 Pepys Diary 15 Sept., Pegg Kite .. will be .. a troublesome carrion to us executors.

f5. Used of animals: sometimes app. in sense ‘noxious beast’, ‘vermin’; sometimes merely ‘poor, wretched, or worthless beast’. Obs. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 142 The euill creatures ben wors than serpentes, lyons or caraynes. 1562 J. Hey wood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 119 Daws ar carren. 1573 Tusser Husb. xvi. (1878) 35 Let carren & barren be shifted awaie, For best is the best, whatsoever you paie. 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. 1. vi, The beasts of offence be Squunckes, Ferrets, Foxes. Ibid. 1. viii, Having shewed you the most offensive carrions that belong to our Wildernesse. 01639 W. Whateley Prototypes 1. xix. (1640) 227 They [dogs and monkeys] be paltry carrions.

6.fig. Anything vile or corrupt; fcorrupt mass; ‘garbage’, ‘filth’. 1524 S. Fish Supplic. Begg. 18 Declaring suche an horrible carayn of euyll ageinst the ministres of iniquite. 1597 1st Pt. Return Parnass. v. i. 1455, I woulde prove it upon that carrion of thy witt. 1845 Carlyle Cromwell (1873) I. 21 Flunkyism, falsity and other carrion ought to be buried! 1870 Emerson Soc. & Sol., Courage Wks. (Bohn) III. 113 Melancholy sceptics with a taste for carrion, who batten on the hideous facts in history. 1879 Froude Caesar xxiii. 402 note, Roman fashionable society hated Caesar, and any carrion was welcome to them which would taint his reputation.

B. attrib. passing into adj. 1. a. Consisting of, or pertaining to, corrupting flesh. (Usually with some notion of contempt.) 01535 More De quat. Noviss. Wks. 101 No man findeth fault, but carrieth his carien corse into ye quere, and . . burieth ye body boldly at the hie alter. 1583 Stanyhurst TEneis ill. (Arb.) 77 A stincking Foule carrayne sauoure. C1613 Rowlands More Knaves 30 Some carion beast, Whereon the Rauens and the crowes doe feast, i860 Pusey Min. Proph. 454 The carrion-remains should be entombed only in the bowels of vultures and dogs.

fb. As an epithet of Death personified; also of Charon. Obs. 1566 Adlington Apuleius 62 Deliver to carraine Charon one of the halfepens, which thou bearest, for thy passage. 1587 Mirr. Mag. Q. Cordila xlvii. 4 By hir elbowe carian death for me did watch. 1576 Par ad. Daynty Dev. (N.) Seeing no man then can death escape.. We ought not feare his carraine shape. 1596 Shaks. Merck. V. 11. vii. 63 A carrion death, Within whose emptie eye there is a written scroule.

2. Applied in contempt to the living human body, as no better than carrion (cf. 3). 1537 Surr. Northampton Priory in Prance Addit. Narr. Pop. Plot (1679) 36 In continual ingurgitations and farcyngs of our carayne Bodies. 1563 Homilies II. Excess Appar. (1859) 316 Why pamperest thou that carreyne flesh so hye? 1577 Stanyhurst Desc. Irel. in Holinshed VI. 14 By the imbalming of their carian soules with the sweet and sacred flowers of holie writ. 1606 Shaks. Tr. & Cr. iv. i. 71 For euery scruple Of her contaminated carrion weight. 3. fa. Carrion-lean, skeleton-like. Obs. b.

Rotten; vile, loathsome; expressing disgust.

CARRON OIL

918

1817 Kirby & Spence Entomol. II. xxi. 242 Those unclean feeders, the *carrion beetles (Silphae, L.). .are at the same time very fetid. 1959 E. F. Linssen Beetles I. 159 Burying beetles, carrion beetles, rove beetles, etc. 1839 Thirlwall Greece III. 137 Neither dogs, nor *carrion-birds, would touch them .. so long as the pestilence lasted. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1828) II. xxiv. 386 The *carrion-chafers, and others of the lamellicom beetles. 1855 J. Johnston Chem. Com. Life I. 332 The Stapelias are called *carrion-flowers because of the disagreeable putrid odours they exhale. 1852 Thoreau Summer {1884) 1/23 The Smilax herbacea, carrion flower, a rank green vine .. It smells exactly like a dead rat in the wall, and apparently attracts flies like carrion. 1787 Best Arigling (ed. 2) 114 The Oak, Ask, Woodcock, *Carion or Down hill fly comes on about the sixteenth of May. 1796 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Sat. Wks. 1812 III. 395 Courtsycophants, the Carrion-flies. 1861 Hulme tr. MoquinTandon 11. iv. i. 241 Larvae of the carrion fly. 1581 T. Howell Deuises (1879) 234 Art thou so fond, with *carren kyte to haunt. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apophth. 245 b, Because it was so *caren leane. 1554 J. Procter tr. Vincentius To Rdr., How owgle and carrion-lean ye are to se. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 135 So carrion leane in the knowledge of Scriptures. 1602 Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 74 It is better to haue a declaration too copious then carion-leane. 1710 Brit. Apollo III. 18. 2/1 He is so Carrion-lean. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 189 It maketh them *carran-like leane. 1878 Tennyson Q. Mary iv. iii. 171 The *carrion-nosing mongrel. 1589 Cooper Admon. 140 As *carren Rauens flye . .to stinking carcasses. 1728 Swift Answ. Memorial Wks. 1755 V. 11. 173 The district in the several markets, called *carrion-row. 1829 Scott Anne of G. ii, The huge *carrion vulture floated past him.

Poems (1789) II. 112 (Jam.). 1818 Scott tIr!. Midi, xvi, I can say the single carritch, and the double carritch, and justification, and effectual calling. Mod. Sc. He knows the carritches thoroughly. Fergusson

b. to give carritch: to take to task. 1776 Herd Sc. Songs II. 219 (Jam.) The very first night the strife began, And she gae me my carnage.

Hence 'carritch v. trans., to catechize. 1837 R. Nicoll Poems (1842) 83 The Minister.. duly carritchin’ the bairns.

carri'witchet,

car'witchet. Forms: 7 carwhichet, -whitchet, -wichet, corwhichet, 7-9 carwitchet, 8 carrawitchet, cary-whichit, carry witchet, 9 carwhichit, carriwitchet. [Derivation unknown. Dr. Fitzedward Hall in Mod. Eng. asks ‘can it be a corruption of F. colifichetV] A pun, quibble; a hoaxing question or conundrum. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair v. i. (1631) 69 All the fowle i’ the Fayre, I meane, all the dirt in Smithfield, (that’s one of Master Littlewit’s Carwhitchets now). 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. (N.) Devices.. of planting the lie of Dogs with whiblins, corwhichets, mushromes and tobacco. 1662 Dryden Wild Gall. 1. i, A bare Clinch will serve the turn; a Carwichet, a Quarterquibble, or a Punn. 1669 Butler Rem. II. 120 Carwitchets, Clenches and Quibbles, a 1743 Savage Author to be let §4, I.. deal in clinches, puns.. and carrywhich-its. C1750 Arbuthnot Dissert. Dumpling (N.) Conundrums, and carrawitchets, —at which the king laughed till his sides crackt. 1822 Scott Nigel xiii. Mortally wounded with a quibble or a carwitchet at the Mermaid. 1874 Slang D. Carriwitchet, a hoaxing, puzzling question .. as ‘How far is it from the first of July to London Bridge?’

Ilcarro ('kairsu). [Pg.] In Madeira, a sledge usu. drawn by bullocks. 1882 E. M. Taylor Madeira 198 Those Mount sledges, or carros, in which people are impelled down the steep Mount road at a very rapid rate. 1900 A. J. D. Biddle Madeira Isl. I. 118 The carros (bullock-cars mounted on runners). 1928 J. E. Hutcheon Things seen in Madeira iii. 64 Madeira is indebted to Englishmen for two of these unique modes of conveyance, the bullock-carro, and the runningcarro of the mountains. Ibid. 66 There are ox-carros and mule-carros. 1953 E. Nicholas Madeira & Canaries viii. 59 In the old days horses, mules, and bullock carros were used as a means of transport.

carrob, carroch(e: carrogh,

see carob, caroche.

erroneous f. curragh, coracle.

carrol(l, -old,

obs. ff. carol.

Carrollese (’kaeraliiz), Carrollian (kas'rolian), Carrolline ('kaeralain), adjs. [See -ese, -ian, Resembling, or characteristic of, the style of ‘Lewis Carroll’ (C. L. Dodgson (1832-98), author of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’). So Carrolli'ana [see -iana]. -ine1.]

carrion crow, [see prec.] A species of Crow (Corvus Corone) smaller and more common than the Raven, and rather larger than the Rook, which feeds on carrion, small animals, poultry, etc. It is the ‘Crow’ of most parts of England, and the ‘Corbie’ of Scotland. 1528 More Heresyes iii. Wks. 225/2 We fare as doo the rauens and the carein crowes yl neuer medle with any quicke flesh. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 122 The Carrion Crow is less favored by mankind. 01811 J. Leyden Ld. Soulis xliii, And they heard the cry, from the branches high, Of the hungry carrion crow.

b. Applied by Dampier, Sloane, etc., to a Vulture. 1699 Dampier Voy. II. 11. 67 Carrion Crows are blackish Fowls, about the bigness of Ravens; they have bald Heads, and redish bald Necks like Turkeys; and.. are often mistaken for such. Ibid. Some of the Carrion Crows are all over white.. The Logwood-Cutters call the white ones King Carrion Crows. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) II. 28 The Carrion Vulture.. Synonyms. Vultur Aura. Linn. .. Carrion Crow. Sloane.

[1899 S. D. Collingwood L. Carroll Picture Bk. vii. 321 {heading) Miscellanea Carrolliana.] 1907 Westm. Gaz. 25 July 2/3 There is nothing Carrollese about the lines. 1924 S. H. Williams {title) Some rare Carrolliana. 1927 Observer 3 Apr. 8 The book has the Gilbertian or, rather, Carrolline, title of ‘Ships and Sealing Wax’. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Jan. 49/2 The Carrollian heroine. 1963 Listener 14 Mar. 474/3 The King Shag, which, with Carrollian panache, makes its nest from guano, scurvy-grass, and mesembryanthemum. 1969 J. Brown Rhapsody of Words 70 The Carrolline adjective galumphing. 1970 Guardian 10 Apr. 10/4 Membership of the society.. includes most of the important collectors of Carrolliana in this country and abroad.

carrollite ('kaeralait).

Min. [Named from Carroll Co. Maryland, where found.] A variety of cobalt pyrites containing copper. 1887 Dana Man. Min. 181.

t carrio'nere. Obs. ? nonce-wd. [cf. F. saliere saltcellar, poivriere pepper-box, etc.] A holder or dispenser of carrion, or of that which stinks like it.

carrom,

1648 Herrick Hesper. (Grosart) II. 184 Fie, quoth my lady, what a stink is here? When ’twas her breath that was the carrionere.

-ade.]

t'carrionize, v. Obs. rare~l. [f. carrion + -ize.] trans. To turn into carrion, to corrupt.

(Said in N. & Q. 5th Ser. II. 247 (1855) to be the invention of Gen. Robt. Melville.) 1779 Admiralty Minute 16 July (MS. Record Off ), Experiments having lately been made.. of the utility of small pieces of cannon called carronades, and the Comptroller of the Navy.. having recommended the use of them. 1781 Gentl. Mag. LI. 485 Trials were made of an hundred pound carronade, mounted on a battery at Leith. 1809 Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. IV. 439 You have omitted to require carriages for the carronades. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 131 Our large boats had carronades mounted in their bows. 1858 Greener Gunnery 67 Carronades .. short.. ordnance without trunnions, but fastened by a loop under the reinforce. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 61 The manufacture of carronades or ’smashers’ at the Carron works. attrib. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 52 To take a seat upon the carronade slides.

1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 43 Her Heart, her Lungs .. al are carioniz’d and contaminated with surfets of selfewill. 1623 Cockeram, Carionized, stinking.

t'carrionly, a. and adv. Obs. Also 6 carrenly. [f. CARRION + -LY.]

A. adj. Of the nature of carrion; corrupt, vile, loathsome. B. adv. Like carrion. 1547-64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) viii. §6 Pampering his carrionly carkasse. Ibid. 7 The rumor of no vice stinketh more carrionly, then the name of lechery. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 52 Such pestilent smell of a carrenly thing. 1609 Bp. Barlow Answ. Nameless Cath. 68 A Carrionly Curre.

var. of carom, carambole.

carronade (kasrs'neid). Mil. [f. Carron, near Falkirk in Scotland (where originally cast) + A short piece of ordnance, usually of large calibre, having a chamber for the powder like a mortar: chiefly used on shipboard.

carritch, -es ('kairitf, -ae-, -i:z). Sc. [Carritches is a corruption of catechize sb. F. catechese, which has been treated as a plural, with sing. carritch.] = catechism.

carron oil. [From Carron ironworks, where

1761 Mem. Magopico 5 (Jam.) A blind woman.. taught him the A, B, C, and the Mother’s Carritch. 01774

1884 Chamb. Jrnl. 4 Oct. 655/2 The best thing to apply to a burned or scalded part is Carron oil spread on lint.

much used.] A liniment composed of equal parts of linseed oil and lime water (Syd. Soc. Lex.).

CARROON carroon, carrot carette,

var. of caroon1.

('kaerst), carot,

sb.

Forms:

carote,

6

carotte,

carrat, carroote, 7- carrot,

caret, 6-7

carete,

carret,

7

[a. F. carotte:—L.

carota; ad. Gr. Kapcorov ? f. Kapti head, top.

(Cf.

K€(f>aXcxjTovy headed, said of plants, as garlic.)]

1. An umbelliferous plant (Daucus Carota) having

a

cultivation edible.

large, is

tapering

bright

red,

root,

which

fleshy,

sweet,

and

allusion to the proverbial method of tempting a donkey to move by dangling a carrot before it) an enticement, a promised or expected reward; freq. contrasted with ‘stick’ (= punishment) as the alternative. *533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 28 Parsnepes and carettes .. do nourishe with better iuyce than the other rootes. 1634 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons Introd. 26 Parsenipps and carrootes. 1776 Johnson in Boswell (1887) IE 439 You would not value the finest head cut upon a carrot. 1783 Cowper Epit. Hare, Slic’d carrot pleas’d him well. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 244 The quantity of nutritive matter.. in the whole weight of carrot, being 98 parts in 1000. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 24 Aug. 2/2 Among other carrots dangled before the electors last month was Bimetallism. 1916 E. W. Gregory Furnit. Collector 228 The spectacle of an otherwise intellectual individual engaged in trying to plumb the depths of duplicity to which dealers can descend in faking old furniture is like that of the donkey pressing eagerly forward after the dangling carrot. It would .. be very pleasant to possess the carrot of complete knowledge, but the conditions render it impossible. 1948 Economist 11 Dec. 957/2 The material shrinkage of rewards and the lightening of penalties, the whittling away of stick and carrot. 1954 J. A. C. Brown Social Psychol, of Industry i. 15 The tacit implication that.. most men .. are .. solely motivated by fear or greed (a motive now described as ‘the carrot or the stick’). 1963 Listener 21 Feb. 321/2 Once Gomulka had thrown away the stick of collectivization, he was compelled to rely on the carrot of a price system favourable to the peasant. b. Something shaped like a carrot; a plug. Chiefly U.S. 1646 Sir J. Temple Irish Rebell. 106 The Rebels.. put a gag or carret in the said Master Bingham’s mouth. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. 1. 17, I.. presented him with two carrots of tobacco. 1857 Trans. III. Agric. Soc. II. 360 The creoles manufactured the tobacco into carrots, as they were called. A carrot is a roll of tobacco twelve or fifteen inches long, and three or four inches in diameter at the middle of the roll, and tapered towards each end. 1890 Congress. Rec. 27 Aug. 9213/2, I have here some carots [sic] of Cuban tobacco. 3. pi. Applied humorously or derisively to ‘red’ or ‘carroty’ hair, or to one who has such hair. (In the latter case used like a proper name.) £•1685 Yng. Mans Counsellour, Roxb. Ball. II. 559 The Carrots I’d like to forgot, which is the worst colour of all. 1685 S. Wesley Maggots 57 The Ancients.. Pure Carrots call’d pure threads of beaten gold. 1690 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, Carrots, Red hair’d People. 1775 Sheridan Rivals 1. i, Jack Gauge, the exciseman, has ta’en to his carrots. 1876 Mrs. Molesworth {title) ‘Carrots,’ Just a little boy. 4. attrib. or as adj. = carroty. ? Ohs. 1671 Glanvill Disc. M. Stubbe 28 If I had said your head was Red, I had not been such a Liar neither; it was direct Carrot. cx68o Roxburgh Ball. (1886) VI. 219 The Carrot pate be sure you hate, for she’l be true to no man. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 114 To picture Judas with .. a squint eye.. a carrot beard. 1877 Blackie Wise Men 95 The roving Scythian, with his carrot curls. 5. Comb., as carrot-coloured, -eating, -headed, -pated adjs., carrot-fly, -poultice, -root, -seed; carrot (rust) fly, a small fly (Psila rosse) whose larva feeds mainly on carrots; carrot-tree, an umbelliferous shrub (Monizia edulis) with an root,

found

in

Deserta

Grande,

acid. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 837/1 Furs .. of the hare and the rabbit,.. dressed, carroted, and cut from the skin. 1906 Watson Smith Chem. Hat Manuf. 17 The secretage or ‘camming’ process .. consists in a treatment with a solution of mercuric nitrate in nitric acid, in order to improve the felting qualities of the fur.

'carrotiness. [f. carroty + -ness.] Carroty quality or colour, ‘redness of hair’ (J.). 1730-6 Bailey, Carotiness. 1755 in Johnson.

in

*538 Turner Libellus, Daucus creticus.. mihi uidetur anglis esse, Wylde carot. 1548 - Names of Herbes 60 Carettes growe in al countreis in plentie. 1565-78 Cooper Thesaur., Carota .. the wilde caret. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xvii. 232 Carrot has a large winged involucre. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 237 Unsuccessful attempts to change by culture the wild carrot into the esculent one. 2. a. Usually, the edible root itself, fig. (with

edible

CARRY

919

an

uninhabited island S.E. of Madeira. a 1659 Cleveland Smectymn. 63 Robson and French.. May tire their *Carret-Bunch. 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1935/4 A *Carrot coloured Beard and Hair. 1672 Davenant News fr. Plymouth (1673) 13 These ^Carrot-eating Dutch. 1840 J. & M. Loudon tr. Kollar's Treat. Insects 11. 161 The larva of the *carrot-fly is cylindrical. 1882 Garden 1 Apr. 219/1 The Carrot fly {Psila rosse) is one of the true flies. 1951 Colyer & Hammond Flies Brit. Isles xv. 197 The common Carrot Fly or Carrot-rust Fly, an agricultural pest of some significance. 1719 D’Urfey Pills II. 323 Confound the *Carrot Pated Jade. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 349 The *carrot poultice., would perhaps be useful. 1595 Househ. Bk. Earl Cumbrld in Whitaker Hist. Craven (1812) 320 Pd. for vi cabishes, and some *caret roots bought at Hull, ns. 1831 J. Davies Manual Mat. Med. 187 Carrot Root.. has been employed in decoction as a stimulant. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 242 ’•‘Carrot-seed is raised..in Essex. 1866 Treas. Bot. II. 750 The *Carrot-tree, has a crooked woody stem one to four feet high .. The orchil-gatherers and fishermen .. eat the roots.

'carroting, vbl. sb. (See quot.) 1880 Libr. Univ. Knowl. VII. 357 Furs intended for felting .. are treated with a solution of nitrate of mercury, an operation called carroting or secretage.

carroty ('kaerati), a. [f. carrot sb. + -y1.] a. Like a carrot in colour, red; said of hair. Also, of persons: red-haired. 1696 Tutchin Pind. Ode v. 18 Long was his Chin, and carotty his Beard. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iv. 106, I have never met with any North-Briton, Dane, or any other, more carotty and freckled. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xiv. (1804) 77, I had parted with those carroty locks. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i. 276 Long, carroty hair. 1887 Daily News 9 Dec. 8/5 He was a tall, carroty man. 1912 C. N. & A. M. Williamson Heather Moon in. 297 The plainest, oldest, and carrotiest of the three red-headed maids. 1947 W. S. Maugham Creatures of Circumstance 16 A shock of untidy carroty hair.

b. Comb, as carroty-haired, -headed, -polled. 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Hair Powder Wks. 1812 III. 285 Poor Carroty-polled Phyllis. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack viii, A carroty-headed boy. 1856 Thackeray Christmas Bks. 251 That carroty-haired Angelica.

carrouse, -ouze, -owse, obs. ff. carouse. carrousel, var. carousel. f'carrow. Obs. [Ir. cerrbach (mod. spelling cearrbhach) gambler. See O’Donovan’s Tribes and Customs of Hy Many, 104, 122, where other Anglo-Irish spellings are given.] (See quots.) 1577-87 Holinshed Chron. I. 45/1 A brotherhood of karrowes, that proffer to plaie at cards all the yeare long. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (1862) 527/1 There is another .. much more lewd and dishonest, and that is, of their Carrows, which is a kinde of people that wander up and downe to Gentle-mens houses, living onely upon cardes and dice. 1829 Scott Antiq. Introd. 8 In the character of the Irish itinerant gambler, called in that country a carrow.

carry ('kaeri), v. Forms: 4-5 carie, carye, cary, 5-6 carrie, 5- carry, [a. ONF. carie-r, mod. Pic. carrie-r — Central F. charier, charrier:—late L. carricare to cart, convey in a car, f. carr-us car. An earlier L. carricare in sense of ‘load’, became carcare, car gar e, whence OF. charchier, chargier: see charge. After this, was formed a new carricare in sense of ‘transport in a cart’, which gave OF. carier, charier. Ultimately therefore carry has the same etymology as cark, charge, and cargo.] From the radical meaning which includes at once ‘to remove or transport’, and ‘to support or bear up’, arise two main divisions, in one of which (I.) ‘removal’ is the chief notion, and ‘support’ may be eliminated, as in 4, 5, and several of the fig. senses; while in the other II.) ‘support’ is the prominent notion, and ‘motion’ (though usually retained) may entirely disappear. Cf. ‘Do not leave the carpet-bag here; carry it up stairs’, with ‘Do not drag it along the floor; carry it’. For the former take is now largely substituted.

I. To transport, convey while bearing up. * Of literal motion or transference in space. 1. trans. To convey, originally by cart or wagon, hence in any vehicle, by ship, on horseback, etc. [CI320 in Dugdale Monast. (1661) II. 102 De libero transitu cum plaustris carectis & equis.. cariandi decimas suas et alia bona sua.] 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (Rolls) 13987 He.. dide pern carie to per contres, & byried pern at here cites. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. 1. xiv, Vpon cartis he shal doo carye wyth hym. 1538 Starkey England 65 To the hole destructyon .. of al other caryd in theyr schyp. 1611 Bible Gen. xlii. 19 Carry corne for the famine of your houses.2 Kings ix. 28 his seruants caried him in a charet to Ierusalem. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. ii. 18, I carried about 40/. in . . toys.

spec. a. To bear a corpse to burial, b. To carry corn from the harvest field to the stackyard. 1466 3. Paston's Funeral in Let. II. 268 Geven to Martyn Savage .. awaytyng upon my master at London be vii. dayes before that he was caryed, iis. xd. [1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 23 After that he .. repeth it, byndeth it, shocketh it, and at the last caryeth it home to his barne.] 1801 Bp. of Lincoln in G. Rose Diaries i860 I. 427 Our wheat is all carried. 1851 H. Mayo Pop. Superst. (ed. 2) 170 It is a field of wheat, but it has been cut and carried.

c. absol. Said e.g. of a carrier. ^1631 Milton On Univ. Carrier ii. 18 If I mayn’t carry, sure I’ll ne’er be fetched. Mod. The common carrier who carries between London and Totteridge.

d. intr. (for pass.). Of soil: to stick to the feet, or to horses’ hoofs. 1892 Field 30 Jan. 155/2 The frost.. caused the fallows and seeds to ‘carry’ a good deal, and they could only hunt very slowly. Ibid. 156/3 An expanse of ploughed soil which ‘carries’ considerably.

Cf.

2. a. To bear from one place to another by bodily effort; to go bearing up or supporting. So tofetch and carry, to carry coals (fig.): see coal. c 1340-70 Alex. & Dind. 725 3e .. carien by costum corn to

carroting vbl. sb. and secretage. 1862 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 560/1 Furs have their felting property sometimes increased by the process of carroting, in which the action of heat is combined with that of sulphuric

hure temple. C1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1280 Y saugh him carien a wyndmelle. CI386- Prol. 130 Wei coude she carie a morsel, c 1449 Pecock Repr. 1. vi. 30 His apostlis.. wolden aftirward carie fischis in paniers. 15II 1st Eng. Bk.

carrot

('kaerst), v. [f. the sb., from the yellow colour imparted to the fur.] trans. To treat (fur) with nitrate of mercury (see quot.

1906).

Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 32/2 He [gryffon] wyll well cary in his neste an oxe. 1610 Shaks. Temp. 11. i. 90 Hee will carry this Island home in his pocket. Ibid. hi. i. 25 lie beare your Logges .. lie carry it to the pile. 1611 Bible j Kings xxi. 10 Carie him out, and stone him. - Isa. xl. 11 He shall gather the lambes with his arme, and carrie them in his bosome. 1711 Steele Sped. No. 41 [f6 Honeycomb., carried off his Handkerchief full of Brushes. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. iv. (1809) 83 A horse, .which does not carry me at all in the same way he did the man I bought him of. 1816 Scott Guy M. xxiii, ‘Dumple could carry six folk, if his back was lang eneugh.’ 1884 Miss Braddon Ishmael iv, The lad .. carried the youngest on his shoulder across the sands.

b. Falconry. To bear a hawk upon the fist. 1826 Sir J. Sebright Observ. Hawking (1828) 35 The passage-hawk, when first taken, must be carried all day upon the fist, and fed at night by candle-light. 1881 E. B. Michell Falconry in Min. in Macm. Mag. Nov. 39 He [the young hawk] is ‘carried’ for some hours amongst men, children, dogs, and horses, so as to become accustomed to their presence.

c. absol. f to carry double: said of a horse with saddle and pillion. See also quot. 1677. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 813/1 They were put to carie and draw. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. hi. i. 274 Shee can fetch and carry: why a horse can doe no more; nay a horse cannot fetch, but onely carry. 1677 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat., Hunting (1706) 17 When a Hare runs on rotten Ground, or in a Frost sometimes, and then it sticks to her Feet, we say, she Carryeth. 1678 Butler Hud. hi. 1. 569 A Beast.. Which carries double, c 1720 Prior Alma 111, To go and come, to fetch and carry. 1862 Huxley Lect. Wrkg. Men 105 The Carrier [pigeon], I learn .. does not ‘carry’.

3. Also said of a cart, wagon, railway train, ship, bicycle, or other vehicle; so running water carries bodies floating on it, or suspended in it, wind carries leaves, balloons, slates, etc. 1377 Langl. P. PI. B. xix. 326 A carte hy3te cristendome to carie Pieres sheues. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. 1. i. 88 And floating straight, obedient to the streame, Was carried towards Corinth. 1652 Evelyn Diary 22 Mar., Flinging it into a rapid streame, it.. carried away the sand, etc. 1803 Med. Jrnl. X. 363 Blood carries with it the basis of nutrition. Mod. This tricycle has carried me five thousand miles.

4. To bear or take (a letter, message, report, news, and the like). (Without reference to weight). c 1340-70 Alex. & Dind. 184 And bad him in haste To pe king .. carien his sonde. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. 1. i. 112 Nay Sir, lesse then a pound shall serue me for carrying your Letter. 1641 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camd.) I. 53 He being dessigned to carry that newes. 1670 Milton P.L. v. 870 These tidings carrie to th’ anointed King. 1820 Hoyle's Games Impr. 467 On such complaint being carried to any one of the stewards. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 600 The news .. had been carried to the Earl of Pembroke.

5. a. To conduct, escort, lead, ‘take’ (a person) with one, without reference to the mode of transit; to ‘take’ (a horse, a ship) to a place, a given distance, etc. Now arch, and dial. 15x3 Douglas JEneis xm. i. 57 The Troianis. .by power of hie Jove ar hiddir cary. X584 Powel Lloyd’s Cambria 79 Carieng with them the Archbishop. 1611 Bible 2 Kings ix. 2 Look out there Jehu .. and carry him to an inner Chamber. 1659-60 Pepys Diary 27 Feb., My landlord carried us through a very old hospital. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 2 He that can carry a ship to Lisbon may with the same ease carry it round the world. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 795 The Japonese Pilots.. come aboard and carry the Vessel into Port. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 6 f 9 The lady carried her horse a thousand miles in a thousand hours. 1771 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 7 My father carried his wife with three children to New England. 1818 E. Burt's Lett. N. Scotl. I. 66 note, The Scots.. talk of.. getting on the back of a cart-horse, and carrying him to grass. 1822 J. Flint Lett. Amer. 264 (Americanisms) Carry the horse to water. 1861 Ramsay Remin. Ser. 11. iv. 51 ‘Carry any ladies that call up stairs.’ 1886 Burton Arab. Nts. (abridged ed.) I. 286 As soon as it was dusk, the slave-girl came to him and carried him to the house.

b. esp. captive.

To take by force, as a prisoner or

1584 Powel Lloyd's Cambria 93 Caried him towards the ships. 1588 Pittington Vestry Bk. (Surtees) 27 Nicolas Yonger was carried to Littleburne about the rogge monie. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 97 Go carry Sir Iohn Falstaffe to the Fleete. 1665 Pepys Diary 10 Aug., My she-cosen Porter.. to tell me that her husband was carried to the Tower. 1799 S. Freeman Town Off. 99 Apprehend and carry him before a justice.

c. in Backgammon. 1820 Hoyle's Games Impr. 294 Directions how to carry your men home. Ibid. 296 Six and five, a man to be carried from your adversary’^ ace-point, as far as he can go, for a gammon, or hit.

6. a. to carry all before one: (i.e.) like a body moving with irresistible force and carrying away or propelling everything in its course. 1672 R. Wild Poet. Licent. 35 Some men there be that carry all before ’em. 1848 L. Hunt Jar Honey vii. 81 That, indeed, carries everything, even truth itself, before it. 1878 Bosw. Smith Carthage viii. 169 The Irreconcilables carried everything their own way.

b. To shoot down, ‘bring to the ground’. 1653 H. Cogan Pinto's Trav. xlix. §1. 190 Having discovered this game [wild boars], we got as near to them as we could, and discharging amongst them, we carried two of them to the ground.

7. a. To transfer (a number, cipher, or remainder) to the next column or unit’s place before or after, in the elementary operations of arithmetic. 1798 Hutton Course Math. (1806) I. 23 To carry as many to the next figure as were borrowed before. Ibid. (1827) I.

CARRY

CARRY 161 The i to carry from the decimals is set down. 1825 in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 35 You are to put down the 4 and carry 2.

b. To transfer (entries) from one account book to another. 1745 De Foe's Engl. Tradesm. (1841) II. 41 This carrying things from the journal.. to the ledger.. is called posting.

8. A channel, drain, pipe, etc. is said to carry water or other liquid or fluid, sound, etc. 1601 Holland Pliny vi. xxvii, When it begins once to carry a more forcible streame it is called Tigris. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 389 The voice of a man carryed in a trunk, reed or hollow thing. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones 1. iv, A constant cascade not carried down a regular flight of steps. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 733 The Canal.. serves to carry the water.. to this city. 1878 Holbrook Hyg. Brain 55 The nerve filaments carry the will. 1886 Law Times LXXXI. 59/2 A 9-inch sewer, which carried the drainage from the houses into the main brick sewer.

9. a. A bow, a gun, or the like is said to carry an arrow, a ball, or other missile to a specified distance or in a specified way. Usually absol.\ and transf. or fig. 1636 Healey Theophrast. 19 Hee, that saluteth a man as farre off as his eye can carry levell. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §3 Scholars are men of Peace, but.. their pens carry farther, and give a lowder report than thunder. 1644 Nye Gunnery (1670) 4 After you have made one shot, and find the Peece carry just over the Mark. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. viii. 226 About as high as a crossbow can carry. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 377 A fine, telling phrase that will carry true.

b. Golf and Cricket. Of the ball, or the player hitting it, or the club, etc.: to cover (a distance) or pass (a point) at a single stroke. Also absol. Cf. CARRY sb. 4 b. 1875 R. Clark Golf 2 it, The balls carried considerably higher than the weather-cock. 1887 W. G. Simpson Golf 155 Many prefer it [sc. a dragging shot] to an ordinary loft at shortish distances, the latter being more difficult within, say, thirty yards than when the player has further to carry. Ibid. 184 His game is easily insulted by being made to go round, or play short of, a bunker, it ought to be allowed to try to carry. 1903 J. Braid in Benson & Miles Bk. Golf 30 At a greater distance where the mashie will not carry I should very often use an iron. 1929 Morning Post 17 June 16/2 Off the next ball —a full-pitch—he only just failed to carry the ring. 1953 B. Locke On Golf 11. xvi. 117 It is important at times to be able to hit very high iron shots to carry formidable obstacles, such as big bunkers or even trees.

c. intr. Of sound: to travel or be heard at a distance. Cf. carrying ppl. a. i b. 1896 M. Corelli Mighty Atom iii. 54 Lionel’s voice could not now ‘carry’ far enough to echo the farewell. 1932 E. V. Lucas Reading, Writing ii. 45 He [sc. Andrew Lang] had a voice that did not carry—‘roupy’ he himself called it. 1934 Discovery Dec. 354/2 The sound .. carries remarkably well.

10. The wind is said to carry a ship along, which it drives or impels over the sea. 1526 Tindale Acts xxvii. 17 We let doune a vessell and soo were caryed. 1565-78 Cooper Thesaur. s.v. Nauis, The shippe fleeteth beyng caryed with winde and sale. 1590 Shaks. Com. Err. 1. i. 110 Her part.. Was carried with more speed before the winde. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. v. 99 The wind, which carries one into the port, drives another back to sea. 1737 Pope Horace's Epist. 1. vi. 70 Where winds can carry, or where waves can roll.

11. To cause to go or come. a. The impelling moral cause or motive is said to carry one to a place. 1876 Green Short Hist. v. § 1 (1882) 213 A mission carried him [Chaucer] in early life to Italy.

b. A march, journey, a space traversed, is said to carry one to a point. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 240 The great march which carried Harold from London to Stamford bridge.

12. Provision, or money, which lasts out till one reaches a distant point of space or time, is said to carry one to that point. 1703 Burchett Naval Trans, iv. xxi. (1720) 553 They intended to take in Provisions, being so much streighten’d that they had not enough to carry them to the Havana. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 695 A scanty stock of silver, which .. was to carry the nation through the summer.

13. fig. To continue to have with or beside one, as one moves on; to ‘take with’ one. 1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port, xxxv, A hollow way, which we carried with us to Aranjuez. Ibid, lxxxiii, We carried a mountainous country along with us, on the left hand. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack, xlvii, We made sail, carrying with us three-fourths of the flood. 1857 Merc. Mar. Mag. (1858) V. 9, I carried a steady Trade [wind], all sail set.

920

carry it in his first Book of Laws. 1878 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 194 He carries the process a step further.

** With notion of taking away by force. 15. a. To take as the result of effort, to win (as a prize), succeed in obtaining: also to carry off. (F. emporter.) Cf. 17. 1607 Shaks. Cor. 11. i. 254 He would misse it [the consulship], rather then carry it But by the suite of the Gentry to him. 1611 Cotgr., Enchere.. any Portsale, Outrope.. wherein he that bids most for a thing is to carrie it. 1625 Bacon Friendsh., Ess. (Arb.) 169 He had carried the Consulship, for a Frend of his. 1647 W. Browne Polex. 1. 69 He alwaies fights alone, and alone carries the victory, a 1716 South 12 Serm. (1717) VI. 379 Consider.. what the Issue may be, if the Tempter should carry thy Choice. 1734 trRollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) V. xiv. 312 He had carried the prize at the Olympic games. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1871) V. xlii. 169 He strove to carry with his own hand the victory.

b. Hence to carry it: to gain the advantage, win the contest, ‘win the day’, ‘bear the palm’. 1580 North Plutarch 621 Caesar carried it by much. 1598 Merry W. iii. ii. 70. 1601-All's W. iv. i. 30 It must bee a very plausiue inuention that carries it. 1647 W. Browne Polex. 11. 98 Love carried it from Jealousie. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xviii. §8 Revelation.. must carry it against the probable Conjectures of Reason. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 181 The name Selangan carries it generally over the other [name]. 1870 Goulburn Cathedral Syst. i. 7 Where the two come into collision, the second must carry it over the first. Shaks.

c. So to carry the day. 01685 N. Lockyer in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xciv. 15 He returns, and then his people carry the day. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 429 The French King had. .said that the last piece of gold would carry the day. 1879 McCarthy Own Times II. xix. 59 The phrase had carried the day.

16. a. To take away or win from the enemy by military assault (a town, position, ship, etc.). 1601 Shaks. All's W. iii. vii. 19 The Count.. Layes downe his wanton Siedge before her beautie, Resolue to carrie her. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, Wks. 1857-62 VI. 129 The town would have been carried in the end. 1677 Govt. Venice 101 Dying of pure indignation that he could not carry the Town. 1703 Burchett Naval Trans, iii. xix. (1720) 384 Lawson .. pressed so hard upon De Ruyter, that he had like to have carried him. 1797 Sir J. Jervis in A. Duncan Nelson (1806) 46 Boarded and carried two of the enemy’s gun¬ boats. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. x. 444 Horne directed eight regiments .. to carry this position.

b. fig. and transf. senses.)

(Often with mixture of

1622 Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer Pref., To court the affections and .. by their help, to carry the understanding. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 340 They were words which at once carried the whole assembly with them. 1884. Reade Perilous Seer, xiii, Always kept his temper and carried everybody, especially the chaplain.

c. To gain (a district, etc.) in an election. (Cf. 17.) U.S. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. ix. 124, I thought our ticket would ha’ caird the country with a resh. 1905 D. G. Phillips Plum Tree 122 We, our party, carried the state, as usual. Our legislative majority was increased by eleven. 1965 T. C. Sorensen Kennedy viii. 212, I told him [sc. J. F. Kennedy]—mistakenly as it turned out—that he had carried California.

17. a. To gain victory for, to be victorious or successful against opposition with (a matter or measure for which one contends). Hence such phrases as to carry one's candidate-, to carry ( = win) an election, etc. a 1619 Fotherby Atheom. I. i. §5. 7 Arguments., sufficient to carry the matter. 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 9 If the King would have acted with the spirit that he sometimes puts on, they might have carried their business. 1723 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 9 Several of the elders., have carried a call for Mr. John Hepburn. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 125 The government had been unable to carry its measures. 1870 Stanhope Hist. Eng. II. xiii. 178 They carried their candidates in the centres of popular election.

b. frequent in phrase to carry one's point, cf. 16. 1699 Bentley Phal. 429 If I can carry this Single Point. 1759 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 416 The surest way of carrying his point. 1885 Mrs. Macquoid Louisa III. ii. 21 She had carried her point with her husband.

18. esp. To carry a motion in a meeting, a bill in a legislative assembly, etc.: to get it passed or adopted by the whole or a majority of the votes.

14. a. To extend or continue (a line, a piece of work) in the same direction to a specified distance, or in a given direction. *393 Gower Conf. II. 112 Ne yet the mone, that she carie Her cours alonge upon the heven. 1704 Worlidge Diet.

1666 Marvell Corr. lix. Wks. 1872-5 II. 198 Upon division of the House .. ’twas caryed for the provisos being committed. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iv. 147 Let faithful tellers take the Poll, and note the Ay’s and Noe’s; And if we carry’t, then Sir! Down goes the Innovation, once agen Sir! 1837 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxx. 135 This motion was carried, probably by a very small majority. 1863 H. Cox Instit. 1. viii. 100 The second Reform Bill was carried by a large majority. Mod. The remaining clauses were carried unanimously.

Rust, et Urb. s.v. Lapis Calam., They should carry Airshafts with them, as in Lead-Mines. 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 32 Such a Pipe may be carried into a Bed and warm it. 1772 Hist. Rochester 28 [They] did not carry this tower to the height it now is. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 154 The defences were not carried down to the water. 1878 Bosw. Smith Carthage 424 The man who .. could carry a wall from sea to sea.

*** Of figurative transference. 19. a. In a variety of figurative uses taken from 1 or 2, the subject, or object, or both, being things immaterial, or the motion not in space, but from or into a sphere of thought or action = take, conduct, transport, transfer, cause to go.

b. fig. of things immaterial: as in to carry to excess, too far, etc.

1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 29 b, But at his ende, caryenge it out of this worlde with hym, he shall neuer dye, 1713 Berkeley Wks. III. 189 If we carry our thoughts from the corporeal to the moral world. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 257 Heritable rights may be carried from the debtor to the creditor either by, etc. 1818 Cruise Digest III. 45 It does not appear that this case was ever carried to the

1711 Addison Sped. No. 119 5 This kind of Goodmanners was perhaps carried to an Excess. 1728 T. Sheridan Persius v. (1739) 67 The highest, and most generous Notions of Friendship. How high does Cicero

House of Lords. 1857 Buckle Civilis. I. ix. 589 [Private judgment] carried into politics, over-turned the government. 1885 Act. 48 ® 49 Viet. 1. §25 All sums received .. shall be carried to the consolidated loans fund. 1662 Bk. Com. Prayer, Collect 4th Sund. after Epiph., Such strength and protection as shall.. carry us through all temptations. 01778 Chatham Lett. Nephew i. 3, I will recommend to Mr. Leech to carry you quite through Virgil’s JEneid. 1781 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 438 The grand principles of justice and policy are not dear enough to us to carry us through the difficulties which we should encounter. 1873 Black Pr. Thule xviii. 280 The perfect independence of that gentle young lady.. might carry her too far. b. to carry the war into the enemy's camp,

etc.: to move the scene of fighting to the enemy’s camp, to take up the attack; freq. fig.-, to carry the war into Africa (U.S. colloq.): to act aggressively, to go over to the attack. 1828 Reg. Deb. Congress IV. 1. 1315/1, I shall not. .act in mere self-defence. I shall carry the war into Africa. 1835 R. J. Mackintosh in J. Mackintosh Life I. 81 Nor was this production altogether defensive; the war was now and then carried into the enemy’s quarters. 1845 Q. Rev. II. 162 Having in so far attempted to vindicate Condorcet, we carry the war into the enemy’s camp by asserting that Lord Brougham’s biography is obnoxious to all the charges. 1855 J. B. Jones Winkles 202 But the way to be redressed .. is to carry the war into Africa. 1927 L. P. Hartley in C. Asquith Black Cap 47 ‘I don’t think Rollo is slow,’ remarked Jimmy, hoping to carry the war into her country. 1938 H. McCloy Dance of Death xx. 237 Her smile annoyed Basil. He carried the war into Africa. ‘Are you aware that M. Pasquale takes morphine?’

20. To impel or lead away as passion does, or by influencing the mind or feelings; to incline, move, urge, sway, influence. Now usually carry away, cf. 46 b. 1577 St. Aug. Manuell (Longmans) 62 The soule.. is caried with desirousnes, drawen with longyng. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. iv. 34 Caried with fervent zeale. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 335 Subiect to flatterers, who carried him to their pleasure. 1608 Golding Epit. Frossard's Chron. III. 152 The king, .was altogether carryed by this man, in such sorte as he both neglected and hated his vnckles in respect of him. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. 11. ii. vi. i. (1651) 291 We should moderate our selves, but we are furiously carryed. 1715 Burnet Own Time I. 556 That idleness to which youth is naturally carried, a 1844 Campbell ‘How delicious is the winning’ iii, Just as fate or fancy carries.

21. to be carried.-, to be rapt, to be moved from sobermindedness, to have the head turned. Obs. exc. Sc. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. ix. § i They are not caried with such giddinesse [tanta vertigine raptari\. 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. iii, If their heads were not carried with the notice which the foolish people .. took of them. **** rp0 con(fuct business).

22. a. To conduct, manage (a business or affair), arch. Now usually to carry on. 1590 Shaks. Mids. N. hi. ii. 240 This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled. 1599-Much Ado iv. i. 212 This wel carried, shall.. Change slander to remorse. 1607-12 Bacon Ess., Seditions, &c. (Arb.) 395 When Discordes, and quarrells .. are carryed openly. 1612 - Vain-glory ibid. 462 If they haue neuer so little Hand in it, they thinke it is they that carry it. 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 193 The elections were carried with great heat. 1845 Browning Soul's Trag. (1868) 23 So will you carry matters, that the rest of the world must at length unite and put down, etc. fb. Hence to carry it: to conduct matters,

behave, act. Obs. 1601 Shaks. Twel. N. III. iv. 150 We may carry it thus for our pleasure. 1625-6 Shirley Maid's Rev. m i, She will carry it so, that Velasco shall be suspected. 1671 Flavel Fount. Life iv. 9 The Lord seemed to carry it as one at a distance from his Son. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 306 Sir Jacob carried it mighty stiff and formal.

c. with extension to carry into execution, practice, etc. (Cf. next.)

effect,

I73I~59 Miller Gard. Diet. Pref., Carrying this into practice. 1769 Goldsm. Hist. Rome (1786) I. 483 [They] were appointed to carry it into execution. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth iv, He would find it difficult to carry it into execution. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii, 123 He did not tarry long in carrying his purpose into effect.

***** mfr or absolute uses implying motion. |23. To drive, ride, move with energy or speed. 1362 Langl. P. PI. A. Prol. 28 Coueyte not in cuntre to carien [some B. MSS. have kairen] aboute. Ibid. iv. 22 Thanne Conscience on his capul carieth forth faste. 1399 ~; 7 Etch. Redeless in. 301 Whanne realles remeveth and ridith thoru tounes, And carieth ouer contre. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fabl. 58, I tuke my club and homeward could I carie, So ferlying as I had seene ane Fary. 1513 Douglas JEneis viii. iv. 100 In haist Hercules com at hand Wyth furius mynd careing ouyr the land. Ibid. xii. xi. 136 Lat ws follow that way, and thiddir cary.

24. Falconry. To fly away with the game or quarry, [so Fr. charrier.] 1615 Latham Falconry (1633) 14 Affirming that Doves will make Haggards carry: which is not so, for this is ldlenesse and want of skill in their keepers, that causes them to Carry. 1677 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (1706) II. 49 Should she be guilty of Carrying, yet by this means she will be reclaimed, and forget that Error. 1826 Sir J. Sebright Observ. Hawking (1828) 8 Less disposed to carry, i.e. to fly away with the game; a fault to which all hawks are more or less inclined.

II. To support, sustain. * With more reference to motion. 25. To hold, hold up, sustain, while moving on or marching; to bear, to carry weight (in

CARRY Horseracing): i.e. such additional equalises the competitors.

weight

as

*5^3 Foxe A. & M. (1583) 73 The myracles of the foresayde Helenus . . how he caried burning coales in his lap. 1782 Cowper John Gilpin 115 ‘He carries weight!’ ‘He rides a race! 1818 Scott Rob Roy iii, ‘ You ride four stone lighter than I. ‘Very well; but I am content to carry weight.’ 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 6 Warriors carry the warrior’s pall.

26. a. To bear, wear, hold up, or sustain, as one moves about; habitually to bear about with one (e.g. any ornament, ensign, personal adjunct; also a name or other distinction). 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 266 Carie a swerd in a scaberge. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxvii. vii, Rubies of India .. which carry the name also of Carchedonij. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 149 Deacons, for a difference from the Priests, carried a round wreath of white cloth. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows v. §11. 421 More fit.. to carrie a bush-bill rather then a battell-axe. 1703 Burchett Naval Trans, iii. xix. (1720) 389 The victorious Fleet.. under the Command of the Earl of Sandwich, who carried the Standard. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 46 We do not know whether they are to carry arms. Mod. He carries a snuff-box. c

b. To bear within one, contain. x5°9 Hawes Past. Pleas, xvi. vii, My sadde body my hevv hert did cary. 1748 Smollett Rod.' Rand, lxvii', A sailor having drunk more new rum than he could carry. 1880 Daily Tel. 3 Dec., Valuable carbonates of lead, which carry silver

c. To be pregnant with. 1776 Johnson in Boswell (1831) III. 458 Mrs. Thrale is big, and fancies that she carries a boy. 1788 J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 361 The mother supposed to be now carrying a third child.

27. To bear about (mentally); to have or keep in the mind. *583 Babington Commandm. 315 O let us carrie some greater care to observe His will. 1602 Carew Cornwall 107/1, I carried once a purpose, to build a little woodden banqueting house. 1709 Berkeley Ess. Vision §91 We ought to carry that distinction in our thoughts. 1878 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. 1. 195 To carry ever with us the unmarked, yet living tradition.

28. To bear as a character, mark, attribute, or property; to exhibit, display: a. to the senses. 1581 Act 23 Eliz. ix. §2 Whiche Coulers, althoughe they carrye a Shew of a good, true and perfitte Couler. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 46 That Lady trew, WThose semblance she did carrie under feigned hew. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts Isa. xi. 15 That baye . .carries the forme of a tongue. 1671 Milton Samson 1073 His habit carries peace, his brow defiance. 1704 Worlidge Diet. Rust, et Urb. s.v. Foal, The same Shape he carries at a Month, he will carry at six Years old. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 30 Any writer who has carried marks of a deranged understanding. 1873 Holland A. Bonnie, xv. 236 Both carried grave faces,

b. to the mind. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ill. xxiii. (Arb.) 279 Rude and vnciuill speaches carry a marueilous great indecencie. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 76 Make your descant carrie some forme of relation to the plaine song. Ibid. 114 These waies of double descant carie some difficultie. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 1. ii. 45 Something that carries a kind of analogy to Sense. 1693 Mem. Ct. Teckely Ep. Ded. 6 At this Day they carry the highest Value. 1845 Stephen Laws Eng. II. 576 The liability.. may at first sight carry the air of hardship.

fc. To towards.

CARRY

921

bear

(affection,

respect,

etc.)

to,

1598 Barret Theor. Warres 11. i. 19 He ought to carie great respect vnto the Sergeant Maior. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. v. (1628) 147 The naturall affection they carried vnto the Country-men. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 112 Jf 2 To carry an universal Benevolence towards every Thing that has Life, a 1718 Penn Wks. (1726) I. 538 The Over-fondness some carry to their Opinion.

d. So, to carry weight, authority, and the like. In to carry conviction there is a mixture of notions. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 233 Words cannot carrie Authority so weighty. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. 11. vii. §2 Such as do not carry an immutable obligation along with them. 1691 T. H[ale] Ace. New Invent. 13 The Navy Officers, with whom it carries so much weight. 1729 Butler Serm. iii. Wks. 1874 II. 33 Conscience.. carries its own authority with it. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 192 The voice almost carried conviction.

29. To bear or convey (a meaning, sense, etc.). 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxiv. 207 The sense they [words] carry in the Scripture. 1881 Tylor Anthrop. vi. 162 The root, which carries the sense.. is followed by suffixes strung on to modify it.

30. To bear implicitly or as a consequence; to involve. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. 11. vi. §5 Those predictions which have seemed to carry the greatest improbabilities with them. 1717 Col. Rec. Penn. III. 39 Understood to Carry their assent along with it. 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot, iv. 168 The determination of [these questions] carries., the question of ecclesiastical polity. 1877 F. Conder Bas. Faith ii. 66 A positive judgment carrying immense consequences.

31. A loan, etc. is said to carry interest, a bill to carry grace. 1693 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 313 Corn carries a price, Annona car a est. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4870/4 Notes carrying 6 per Cent. Interest. 1767 Blackstone Comm. 11. xxx, A contract, which carries interest. 1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. People, These little farms carry twenty shillings.. an acre. 1866 Crump Banking v. 104 Bills or notes on demand carry no grace.

** With chief reference to manner. 32. a. To hold (the body, head, etc.) up in a certain way.

1583 Babington Commandm. (1590) 352 Till hee and his counsell have brought his maintainers to carie but a small port. 1619 R. West Bk. Demean, in Babees Bk. (1868) 295 To carry up the body faire, is decent. 1723 S. Morland Spec. Lot. Diet. 12 His coming to an Estate makes him carry his Head so high. 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6258/3 Stolen.. a Mare.. does not carry her Tail well.

b. said of a ship. 1796 in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. Introd. 223* The Captain gets on .. and carries a good helm. 1836 Marry at Pirate iii, ‘How does she carry her helm, Matthew?’ inquired Oswald .. ‘Spoke a-weather’.

c. ahsol. 1829 Lond. Encycl. V. 194 A horse is said to carry well, when his neck is arched, and he holds his head high.

33. refl. a. To comport, demean, behave oneself. Also of conduct. 1593 Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 253 To carrie himselfe for a Presbyter. 1653 H. Cogan Pinto's Trav. xv. §3. 49 Let us carry ourselves in such sort, as they may not perceive we fear them as Enemies. 1719 Col. Rec. Penn. III. 86 Carrying themselves very rudely. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. I. iii. 43 The way in which sheep carry themselves on abrupt and saltatory occasions. 1876 G. Eliot Dan. Der. v. xxxvi. 331 She carried herself with a wonderful air.

b. of conduct or behaviour to or towards others, arch, or Obs. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 11. Seneca, How to cary our selues towardes our neighbours. 1668 Pepys Diary 4 Nov., The Duke of York do., carry himself wonderfull submissive to the King. 1714 Ellwood Autobiog. 74 My Sisters, .carried themselves very kindly to me.

fc. intr. (for refl.) To behave. Obs. 1634-46 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 95 He craved the advise of the Assemblie how to carie in the mater. 1673 O. Walker Education 285 It is an action of very great Prudence to carry even between adulation and sowreness. 1726 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 269, I hope the youth will carry so as he may not be ashamed of the God of his fathers.

f34. to carry a hand (over, upon, to): to treat in a specified way; so to carry an eye on: to watch, oversee. Obs. 1596 J. Norden Progr. Pietie (1847) 22 We must carry a very short hand over our affections. 1622 Massinger, etc. Old Laws 11. ii, I’ll carry an even hand to all the world. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. xxi. (i82i)2i5To carrie a strict hand upon the Commissaries. 1646 Sir. T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 1. viii. 30 If any man .. shall carry a wary eye on .. many other. 1723 S. Morland Spec. Lat. Diet. 12 To Carry a severe Hand over any one.

|35. To wield; to carry a (great) stroke, to wield or have great influence. Obs. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres 11. i. 22 The Lieutenant.. in the absence of his Captaine, carieth his roome, charge and command. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts Dan. xi. 4 To carry that sway and greatnesse wch that great monarch bore before them, c 1645 Howell Lett. (1678) 205 My Lord Wentworth .. carries a mighty stroke at Court. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. x, Though Sulphur seem to carry the master stroak. 1651 Culpepper Astro! Judgem. Dis. (1658) 6 The time of the year carries a great stroke in this businesse.

36. Mil. To hold a weapon in the position for saluting. 1796 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 239 Carry swords! Eyes — right! 1833 Ibid. 1. 60 The men remain at ‘Carry Swords’, till ordered to ‘Slope’. 1844 Regul. & Ord. Army 265 Reliefs are to carry their Arms when passing Officers who are dressed in their Uniforms. 1859 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 152 The officers recover and carry swords.

*** With chief reference to sustaining. 37. to carry sail: said of a ship, or of those who work it. [F. charrier de la voile.] 1631 Massinger Emperor of E. iv. iii, You carry too much sail for your small bark. 1703 Burchett Naval Trans, v. xiii. (1720) 641 The Adventure .. stood away with all the Sail she could carry. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxvi. 103 ‘I fear, sir, we cannot carry the mainsail much longer.’ 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxi. 119 No one could say that he was slow to carry sail.

38. a. To support, sustain the weight of, bear. 1626 Bacon Sylva §530 Carry Camomile, or Wilde Thyme.. upon sticks, as you do Hops upon Poles. 1831 Brewster Optics x. 93 An armed natural loadstone, which could carry i\ Roman pounds. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. i. 30 Main arches.. carried by., pillars. 1875 Buckland Log-Bk. 59 The thick skin which carries the hair.

b. said of plants. 1626 Bacon Sylva §425 They will put forth many, and so carry more Shoots vpon a Stemme. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 2 This Plant.. carries its Seed in little Bunches or Clusters on its Top. 1828 Steuart Planter's G. 368 The Trees of the present year.. all carried a healthy leaf.

c. To hold or keep on hand (securities, merchandise, a stock, etc.), orig. U.S. 1848 W. Armstrong Stocks 10 It is nominally considered that the stock is meanwhile ‘carried’ or possessed by the seller. 1869 J. H. Browne Gt. Metrop. iii. 48 (Funk), Operators can .. carry such an amount of stocks as astounds the weaker ones of the street. 1870 Medbery Men Myst. Wall St. 77 When a broker agrees to ‘carry’ stock, he says, Seven per cent, unless the market tightens. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 8/3 The only remedy we see.. is for the sufferers to carry smaller stocks. 1917 Twyford Purchasing & Storing 325 It is not economical to carry in stock several variations of articles of a similar nature. 1930 Publishers' Weekly 11 Jan. 214/1 Mr. Brady explained that he did not carry the book. 1963 J. Mitford Amer. Way Death 233 Casket and Sunnyside is carried in only six eastern libraries.

d. To maintain or keep up with financial (or other) support, orig. U.S. 1879 Bradstreet's 8 Oct. 4/4 He is forced to pay on loans necessary to ‘carry’ the farmer. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 877/2 The men of business .. have for years carried the New York Academy of Music. 1917 Atwood Exch. Specul. 51 In common parlance the customer trades on a ‘margin’. Expressed in another way the broker ‘carries’ the customer

for all except a small part of the cost. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Feb. 124/3 When the production period of capital goods ends, therefore, there will be no savings to ‘carry’ them, and the boom must end. 1944 Ann. Reg. 1943 157 The Central Government could not continue indefinitely to ‘carry’ a province to which Nature had given so generous a crop. 1947 J. Bertram Shadow of War vii. i. 211 If one man ‘swings the lead’ in a coal gang of four, the other three must ‘carry him’ by working all the harder. 1959 G. Slatter Gun in Hand ii. 23, I been carryin ya all mornin.

f39. To grievous).

bear,

endure,

‘take’

(anything

1583 Babington Commandm. (1590) 431 He is a slave to the thing that he gapeth for, and to make up his mouth he will cary any thing. 1605 Shaks. Lear iii. ii. 48 Mans Nature cannot carry Thaffliction nor the feare. 1679-1715 Burnet Hist. Ref. 351 Queen Anne did not carry her death so decently.

40. a. To bear as a crop; to sustain, support (cattle). Also, to maintain (a population). 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 166 The foot of every brook.. carries amazing crops of lint. 1846 Grote Greece (1862) II. xvi. 395 The cold central plain did not carry the olive. 1884 Times (weekly ed.) 12 Sept. 7/4 A grazing farm . . which is said to carry 600 head of cattle. 1905 19th Cent. Nov. 816 Mackay, with back country carrying about 15,000 people.

b. Of a journal, newspaper, etc.: to print (an article) in its pages. Also transf., to broadcast, orig. U.S. 1926 Publishers' Weekly 22 May 1676/1 There are many towns in which the newspapers do not carry book reviews. 1927 Ibid. 12 Feb. 609 Publishers' Weekly of January 8th carried a letter signed by a committee of the American Booksellers’ Association .. which commented adversely on the Literary Guild. 1929 E. Wallace Kennedy the Con Man iv. in Red Aces 178 We carry big ads. in all the papers. 1946 D. L. Sayers Unpopular Opinions 128 Any proposal to control the branded goods.. will be violently opposed (on the loftiest hygienic grounds) by the papers that carry the branded advertising. 1957 BBC Ilandbk. 73 The Light Programme carries the People’s Service in the morning and the ‘Sunday Half-hour’ of community hymn singing in the evening. Ibid. 170 The German Service carried programmes and discussions on this subject.

41. To support (an inference, analogous case, etc.); to give validity to. 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot, vii. 298 The end being of infinite moment carries all means and makes all lawful. 1885 G. Denman in Law Times' Rep. LIII. 785/1 It is impossible to say that any one case is so in point as to carry this case.

42. Cards. To retain the cards of one suit in one’s hand, while those of another are thrown out. 1744 Hoyle Piquet ii. 9 Which of these suits are you to carry? 1820 Hoyle's Games Impr. 121 {Piquet), Suppose elder-hand, that you have the ace, queen, seven, eight and ten of clubs, also the ace, knave, seven, eight and ten of diamonds, etc., carry the ace, knave, etc.

143. To have (specified dimensions). Obs. [So F. porter, ‘avoir telle dimension’.] 1601 Holland Pliny II. 574 Another Obeliske, which carried in length a hundred foot wanting one. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 382 The height of the West arched roofe .. carrieth an hundred and two foot. 1670 Lassels Voy. Italy (1695) II. 60 The walls shew you what compass it carried.

III. Combined with adverbs. See also the preceding senses and the adverbs for non-specialized combinations. 44. carry about. a. See senses 1-3, and about. Mod. It is too valuable to carry about with you.

b. trans. To move or drive hither and thither. I539 Bible (Great) Ephes. iv. 14 Caryed aboute with euery wynde of doctrine. 1611 - Hebr. xiii. 9 Be not caried about with diuers and strange doctrines. fc. To cause to revolve, set in motion. Obs. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 180 Wheels turn’d with Wind, Water, or Horses, to carry the Work about. 45. carry along. See senses of carry and ALONG. *833 Chamb Jrnl. No. 70. 141 A stone bridge carrying along the road from Peebles to Selkirk. 46. carry away. a. trans.

[ci6oo

= carry off, a.

Sonn. lxxiv, When that fell arrest Without all bail shall carry me away.] 1603 Florio Montaigne (1632) 432 A popular sickenesse .. carried away an infinite number of persons. Shaks.

b. To move forcibly from the firm footing of reason and judgement. 1570 Huloet, This thing rauished or caried me awaye, whether I would or no. 1587 Golding De Mornay Pref. 1 Their reason is caried awaie and ouermaistered by the course of the world. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 151 If 2 Woman-kind.. are carried away with every Thing that is showy. 1879 Froude Caesar xvii. 275 Carried away by the general enthusiasm for liberty. c. To break off and remove by force. Also, to

lose by breakage; and intr. Chiefly Naut. 1537 Wriothesley Chron. of the house awaye with him.

(1875) I. 61 Carriinge a parte 1703 Burchett Naval Trans. v. xxii. (1720) 723 The best Bouer Ancher carried away with a Shot. C1750 Narrative Byron's Voy. 4 (L.) We carried away our mizen-mast. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xv. 41 Her jib-boom ran between our. .masts, carrying away some of our rigging. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. iii. (1856) 27 We ran into an iceberg., and carried away our jib-boom. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., That ship has carried away her fore top-mast. 1881 Daily News 9 June 5/4 Something may carry away on board the leading boat.

fd. To win, gain for oneself, or as one would have it. Obs.

CARRY 1581 Nowell & Day in Confer. 1. (1584) C iiij, His wordes .. were [not] of sufficient credite to carry away such a matter. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts Hebr. ii. 2 Every transgression .. carryed away a terrible judgement from the just hand of God. 1677 Earl Orrery Art of War 157 Whoever keeps in Reserve a Body of Men .. rarely misses to carry away the victory.

f e. to carry it away: to have the advantage, carry the day. Obs. 1598 Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xm. vi. (1622) 187 This opinion carried it away. 1602 Shaks. Ham. 11. ii. 377 Do the Boyes carry it away? 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts Matt. xxvi. 25 Doe not thinke that either thy secrecy or impudence can carry it away without notice.

47. carry back. trans. To take back in time by process of thought or retrospective action. 1722 De Foe Plague (1756) 221 None knows how far to carry that back, or where to stop. 1876 Green Short Hist. ii. §7 (1882) 95 The legend .. carries us back to the times of our own TElfred.

48. carry forth. See simple senses and forth. 49. carry forward. trans. To transfer from one column, page, or book to its successor, or to the next account. 1839 Reply Lockhart's Pamph. 97 Carry forward £41.478 155. 5d. 50. carry in. See senses 1-5, and in adv.

51. carry off. a. trans. To remove from this life, be the death of. c 1680 Temple Health & Long L. Wks. 1770 III. 275 Old Parr .. might have .. gone further, if the change of country diet and air for that of the town had not carried him off. 1710 Addison Toiler No. 221 If 2 A Fever, which .. at last carried him off. 1878 Seeley Stein III. 559 A serious cold, which in seven days carried him off. b. To win (the prize, honours, etc.: cf. 15); so

to carry it off. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth vi, Some of those who think they carry it off through the height of their plumed bonnets. 1882 Pebody Eng. Journalism vii. 57 The North Briton carried off the palm.

c. To cause to pass; to take away the adverse effect of; to render passable. 1715 Burnet Own Time II. 177 They promised .. to carry off his impeachment with a mild censure. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola 1. iii, A rapid intellect and ready eloquence may carry off a little impudence. 1879 Miss Braddon Vixen III. 152, I have not enough diamonds to carry off black velvet.

d. To bear it out, face or brave it out. 01704 R. L’Estrange (J.) If a man carries it off, there is so much money saved. 1886 Stevenson Dr.Jekyll i. (ed. 2) 8 Frightened too.. but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan.

e. To take away, abduct, steal. 1817 Jane Austen Sanditon (1954) viii. 405 If she could not be won by affection, he must carry her off. 1829 Peacock Misf. Elphin xi. 141 The mountain sheep are sweeter, But the valley sheep are fatter; We therefore deemed it meeter To carry off the latter. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 423 A body of constables .. carried off the actors to prison. 1969 G. Payton Payton's Proper Names 266/1 Lochinvar, the hero of a song in Scott’s Marmion who carries off the fair Ellen at her wedding feast.

52. carry on. a. trans. To

continue or advance (a proceeding) from the stage already attained. 1649 Milton Eikon. Wks. 1738 I. 377 To carry on the solemn jest. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. 374 Which., assisted to carry on the mistake. 1858 Trench Parables i. (1877) 68 They did but carry on the work which he had.. begun. 1876 Green Short Hist. viii. §5 (1882) 511 Poetic Satire had become fashionable in Hall.. and had been carried on vigorously by George Wither.

b. To maintain, stopping.

CARRY

922

keep

up,

prevent

from

1606 Shaks. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 174 He..carries on the streame of his dispose, Without obseruance or respect of any. 1707 Floyer Pulse-Watch 32 The Circulation will be carry’d on more rarely. 1790 Paley Horae Paul. 1. viii, They carry on no connexion of argument. 1813 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. xii. 232 The conversation was carried on. 1856 Brewster Mart. Sc. 11. ii. (ed. 3) 125 We at the same time carried on a regular series of observations. 1877 Brockett Cross & Cr. 34 The conflict which has been carried on for nearly three hundred years.

c. To practise continously or habitually; to conduct, manage, work at, prosecute. 1644 Slingsby Diary (1836) 127 Carry ing on his business with so much success. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 305 IP 5 The last War, which had been carried on so successfully. 1748 Anson's Voy. 1. v. (ed. 2) 61 Besides the battery mentioned above, there are three other forts carrying on for the defence of the harbour. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §101 Plan for carrying on the works. 1802 Mar. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 217 His trial must be carried on in open day. 1884 Ld. Coleridge in Law Times Rep. 8 Mar. 45/1 Brickmaking, which is undoubtedly a business, was being carried on.

d. intr. (orig. Naut.) To continue one’s course, move on. Also, in military use, to continue as before, resume the former situation or occupation; to proceed to carry out instructions, to ‘go ahead’. Hence gen., to ‘keep going’, to persist; to make the best of things. 1832 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 643 Carry on, carry on; reef none, boy, none. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxiii. 125 As we were going before it [the gale], we could carry on. 1853 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun Wks. III. 35 She carried on, as sailors say, under easy sail. 1909 Daily Chron. 24 July 4/4 ‘Carry on!’ is a word they have in the Navy. It is the ‘great word’ of the Service... To-morrow the workaday life of the Fleet begins again, and the word will be, ‘Carry' on!’ 1915 ‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship i. 14 The ship .. began to heel slowly

over. The Captain.. raised the megaphone to his mouth. ‘Carry on!’ he shouted. ‘Every man for himself.’ 1915 A. D. Gillespie Lett, from Flanders (1916) 183 All except the officers were just carrying on as usual, which meant that, except for the sentries, you could see nothing except boots sticking out from the dug-outs. 1915 ‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thou. xiv. 190 ‘Do you understand my order?’ thundered the Colonel... ‘I do, sir,’ replied Blaikie politely, ‘but—’ ‘Then, for heaven’s sake, carry on!’ 1919-Last Million vii. 97 I’m not one to ask for sympathy when there’s others needs it more... Carry on—that’s my motto! 1927 C. E. Montague Right off the Map 156 ‘We’ll let the men carry on resting,’ said Willan. 1932 ‘F. Iles’ Before Fact xv. 261 Linda said.. ‘I want to talk to you.’ 4 Carry on, sergeant,’ said Mr. Thwaite amiably. 1940 War Illustr. 19 Jan. 623 But War caught these essential transport toilers at their job, and in the good British spirit they—not perhaps without an excusable grumble—felt they could but ‘carry on’.

e. To continue a course of conduct or relations; esp. (colloq.) to behave or ‘go on’ in some conspicuous way which one does not more minutely characterize. Also spec, (a) To behave, esp. to speak, in a rowdy, excited, or badtempered way; (b) to engage in flirtation, esp. of a dishonourable nature, to have an affair (with). 1828 Mrs. Royall Black Bk. II. 27 They romped and squalled, and to use a Yankee phrase, ‘carried on’ at such a rate that he and Mrs. C. were greatly annoyed. 1856 Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. iii, How Lady Carmine’s eldest daughter is carrying on with young Thriftless. 1863 Bates Nat. Amazon vii. (1864) 195 More drinking is then necessary.. and thus they carry on for many days in succession. 1876 Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly xxxv, She and I carried on for a whole season. People talked, a 1876 E. Leigh Gloss. Cheshire (1877) 37 Carry on, v. ‘She carried on shameful’, i.e. she used very unladylike language, or she shewed bad conduct. 1886 Stevenson Dr.Jekyll iv. (ed. 2) 37 Stamping with his foot.. and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman. 1892 R. L. Stevenson Uma i, in Illustr. London News 2 July 11/1 What’s she carrying on about? Ibid, ii, 9 July 42/1 There was Adams in the middle, gone luny again, and carrying on about copra like a born fool. 1930 W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale viii. 92 It was impossible that she could be ‘carrying on’ with Lord George. 1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board 4 She don’t half carry on about the beer I drink. 53. carry out. (See senses 1-5, and out.)

fa. trans. To transport (the mind) in ecstasy or devotion. Obs. 1599 Davies lmmort. Soul xxxv. (L.) These things transport and carry out the mind. 1639 Harvey in Carlyle Cromwell (1872) V. x. 154 His requests, wherein his heart was so carried out for God and His People. b. To conduct duly to completion or

conclusion; to carry into practice or to logical consequences or inferences. 1605 Shaks. Lear v. i. 61 Hardly shall I carry out my side, Her husband being aliue. 1840 Fraser's Mag. XXII. 317 His jackass brother..‘carried out’, as the phrase now is, the principle so far that it drove him from the throne. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 117 Henry.. proceeded to carry out his father’s ultimate intentions. 1875 Jowett Plato's Crito (ed. 2) I. 391 The law which requires a sentence to be carried out. 1885 Sir H. Cotton in Law Rep. 30 Chanc. 13, I do not think that the cases.. carry out the proposition for which he has cited them.

c. to carry out one's bat (in Cricket): to leave the wickets (esp. at the close of the game) without being ‘out’. Also freq. with omission of out. So to carry one’s bat through: to go in first and remain undismissed at the end of the innings. [1833 J- Mitford in Gentl. Mag. Sept. 236/1 Tom scored the amazing number of 95 runs in his first innings, and brought his bat out with him.] 1833 New Sporting Mag. Sept. 325 Take care .. or through the game Your bat you will not carry. 1846 W. Denison Cricket: Sk. Players 18 Brown carried his bat out with 112 runs marked against his name. 1859 All Y. Round No. 13. 306 We had made our 80 runs in less than two hours, and carried out our bats. 1867 G. H. Selkirk Guide Cr. Ground ii. 23 If the player carrying his bat out was one of the two who first went in, he is said to have carried his bat through. 1882 Cliftonian June 228 The former carried his bat for a lucky 14. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 18 May 7/1 Grace has carried his bat twenty-two times when scoring centuries. 1933 D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise xviii. 311 The satisfaction of carrying out his bat for 14.

d. trans. To bear out (a corpse) for burial. 1526 Tindale Acts v. 6 And the yonge men roose vp .. and caryed him out, and buryed him [so 1611]. 1832 Tennyson May Q., New Year's Eve 42 When I have said goodnight for evermore, And you see me carried out from the threshold of the door.

54. carry over. a. trans. To influence (any one) to pass over to the other side. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvii. IV. 64 To carry over a regiment or two would do more harm than good. Ibid, xxii, Marlborough had promised to carry over the army, Russell to carry over the fleet. b. To carry to a new account; to keep over to

the next settling day on the Stock Exchange; to allow an account to remain open over the day when its settlement is due; also said of the debtors. 1745 De Foe's Engl. Tradesm. (1841) II. 19 Carried over £10 145. 2d. 1839 Reply Lockhart's Phamph. 13 Balance carried over.. £2932 45. 4 d. 1880 Standard 15 Dec, The charge for ‘carrying over’ English Railways advanced in the later hours. 1887 Daily News 26 Feb. 6 The smaller brokers and dealers were ‘carried over’ on sufferance.

c. To transfer.

1889 E. Carpenter Civilis. iv. 105 The ideal passion of that period .. was that of comradeship, or male friendship carried over into the region of love. 55. carry through.

trans. To conduct or bring safely through difficulties, or a crisis; to prosecute to the natural end. 1605 Shaks. Lear I. iv. 3 My good intent May carry through it selfe to that full issue For which I raiz d ray likenesse. 1832 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 67/2 It is by similar means that conservative meetings.. may be carried through in every part of the country. 1863 tr. V. Hugo's Miserables viii (ed. 7) 163 Impudence had carried him through before now. 1874 Act 37 & 38 Vic. xciv. § 10 Such petition shall be presented, published and carried through.

56. carry up. a. trans. To continue (building, etc.) to a given height. 1705 Stanhope Paraph. I. 80 For carrying up his Spiritual House. 1747 Col. Rec. Penn. V. 61 So much of the Buildings as was carried up before such Notice. 1876 Gwilt Archit. 566 Where walls .. are to be carried up.

b. To bring up (one portion of a series or subject) so as to preserve its due relation to the rest. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilg. iii. 17 Wee march forth. by two and two, Father Thunder himselfe carrying vp the reare. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iii. 392 Unable to carry up its payment to the level of the taxation.

c. To trace back in time. 1677 Hall Prim. Orig. Man. II. ii, He carries up the Egyptian Dynasties before the Flood. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. iv. 64 The feud .. is carried up by them to the feud between Joseph and his brethren.

fd. To bear, holding up; to hold up. Obs. 1563 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 66/2 She was caried up from drowning. 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, IV. i. 51 She that carries vp the Traine. 1685 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 340 These six persons following carried up the pall.

e. = carry over or forward to the top of a new column, in accounts. carry (’kaeri), sb. [f. prec. in various unconnected applications, of dialectal or technical origin.] 1. a. A means of transport; a vehicle, b. spec. ‘A two-wheeled barrow’ (Jamieson). Sc. and north, dial. 1605 Stowe Ann. 1272 On the last of March, HenryBarrow and John Grenewood were brought to Tybome in a carry. 1820 Caldeonian Merc. 20 July, Alexander then asked the loan of her carrie. 1863 Atkinson Danby Provine., Carry, a kind of waggon with solid floor but unplanked sides .. Used for carting stone, wood, etc., and in hay and harvest time. 1887 Scott. Leader 20 May 4 One of the.. horses.. started, violently throwing Wilson on to the front of the ‘carry’.

c. (See quot.) 1881 Antrim & Down Gloss. (E.D.S.) Carry, a weir or mill-lead.

12. Falconry. Manner of carrying. Obs. 1618 Latham 2nd Bk. Falconry (1633) 90 Shee is a buzzard; shee is of a bad carry, he can make her do nothing.

3. The position required by the command to ‘carry arms’; cf. carry v. 36. 1833 Regul. Instr. Cavalry 1. 170 The lance to be brought to the ‘Carry’. 4. a. The range (of a gun); cf. carry v. 9. 1858 Mayne Reid Oceola lxxxiii, Our position was beyond the ‘carry’ of their guns.

b. Golf. The distance between the spot from which a ball is struck and that where it first lands; also, the trajectory of the ball. Cf. carry v. 9 b. 1887 W. G. Simpson Golf 112 Getting both hands well under the club also produces a low carry. 1890 H. G. Hutchinson Golf xvii. 445 Carry, the distance from the place where the ball is struck to the place where it pitches. Hence a long carry, and a short carry. 1896 W. Park Golf 104 A well hit drive should be almost all carry; the ball should not run any distance after it falls. Ibid. 262 A long carry or a short carry are used to signify the distance a ball must be lofted usually over a hazard. 1899 Golf Illustrated 29 Dec. 319/2 The carry alone is estimated to have been close on two hundred and fifty yards. 1953 B. Locke On Golf 11. xvi. 118 You must not take a divot with this shot, otherwise you will not get the loft and the carry needed.

5. A portage between navigable rivers or channels U.S. and Canada. Cf. carriage. i860 All Y. Round No. 75. 588 We crossed the carry at day-break. 1884 Harper's Mag. June 125/1 Boats came to St. Louis from Montreal with but few ‘portages’ or ‘carries’. 6. a. The drift of the clouds as they are carried

along by the wind. Sc. 1819 H. Busk Vestriad v. 870 Still towering, till the faithless currents change, And adverse carries floating hopes derange. 1828 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 292 The clouds are driving fast aloft in a carry from the sea. 1857 R White Madeira 170 The direction of the wind .. registered from the ‘carry’ of the lower strata of clouds.

b. The clouds collectively, firmament, sky. 1788 Picken Poems 60 (Jam.), I min’.. sin’ he used to speel Aboon the carry. 1807-10 Tannahill Sleeping, Maggie, Mirk and rainy is the night, No a starn in a’ the carry.

7. a. gen. The action or an act of carrying; a posture or manner of carrying. 1880 G. Fraser Lowland Lore 134 She [sc. a hare] got a guid lang carry [in a sack]! 1925 E. F. Norton Fight for Everest: 1924 1. v. 117 We hoped that their [sc. porters] reluctance would be reduced .. by the fact that the carry had now been once successfully accomplished. 1951 J. Frame

CARRY-ALL Lagoon 66 I’m having first go, Minnie said. But I haven’t even had a carry of it [rr. a kite], I protested. 1966 J. Chamier Cannonball i. 4 The barman, with the glass of vodka stopped dead in his carry. 1967 ‘G. Bagby’ Corpse Candle (1968) xiii. 165 Schmitty hung him over his shoulder in a comfortable carry. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 624 Basque games and contests (50-pound carries, walking weight carries,.. and a granite-ball lift). b. N. Amer. Football. An act or instance of

carrying the ball in order to gain ground. Cf. rush sb.2 3 a. 1949 Pittsburgh Press 6 Nov. 40/4 The 20-year-old junior from University City, Mo., averaged more than 10 yards a carry., at Harvard stadium. 1962 Springfield (Mass.) Republican 18 Nov. 131/2 Grisham, who outrushed the entire Missouri team by getting 116 yards on 23 carries, sparked the scoring drive with a 30 yard run. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 36/5 Raimey. . is leading the Eastern Football Conference in rushing. He has run for 571 yards, 6.9 a carry. 1984 News (Mexico City) 12 Mar. 30/1 Dupree’s 11 carries made him the Breakers’ most active rusher. carry-all, carryall ('kaerioil). U.S. [f. carry

v.

4- all: app. altered by ‘popular etymology’ from carriole.] a. A light carriage for one horse, usually four-wheeled and capable of holding several persons. Now also, a closed motor vehicle with facing seats along the sides, a station wagon. 1714 J. Stoddard Jrnl. in N.-E. Hist. & Gen. Reg. V. 27 Mr. Longuille sent a carryall for us. 1837 Ht. Martineau Soc. Amer. (1839) I. 276 We mounted our carry-all, a carriage which holds four. 1851 Hawthorne Twice-told T. I. xvi. 249 A four wheeled carryall, peopled with a round half dozen of pretty girls. 1882 Howells in Longm. Mag. I. 45 The neighbouring farmer-folks in buggies and carryalls. 1939 in Webster Add. 1940 Austral. Motorist 1 Apr. 366/1 The first commercial models to issue from the Vauxhall-Bedford factories since the declaration of war., are a 6 cwt. model, known as the ‘Carryall’, and a J-ton model. 1977 D. J. Narus Great Amer. Woodies & Wagons 42 Chevrolet took a giant leap forward in 1935 and introduced the Suburban Carryall. 1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. C22/7 (Advt.), Stakes, carryalls, stepvans, [etc.]. 1983 Washington Post 15 Aug. A6/2 Their hard-sell advertising drew dune buggies and four-wheel drive carryalls down the beach by the hundreds. b. In Canada applied to a sleigh (Bartlett). Cf. CARRIOLE 2.

c. transf. That which carries everything one has. 1884 J. Habberton My Friend Moses 216 A haversack; could he find one of these carry-alls. 'carry-away. [f. carry away, carry

v.

46 c.] In

Yachting, the breakage of a spar, rope, etc. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 23 May 5/1 The ‘carry-away’.. was the most serious that could have happened. First bowsprit snapped, and topmast bent to leeward. 1928 Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 15/6 Mrs. Percy Sabel’s Widgeon had a carry-away, and was forced to give up when well placed.

f 'carry-castle. Obs. A descriptive term for an elephant, which carries a castle. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas 1. vi. (1605) 193 The scalie Dragon, being else too low For th’ Elephant, vp a thicke Tree doth goe..To watch the Carrie-Castell. 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkewormes & Flies 34 To see a Norway whale, or Libian cat, A Carry-castle or a Crocodile.

'carry-cot. [cot s6.4] A portable cot for a baby. The proprietary name Karri-Kot and variants also occur. 1943 H. Croome O Western Wind xvi. 131 He slept all day long in his carry-cot. 1951 A. Baron R. Hogarth 140 Young couples.. carrying two-handled carry-cots between them from which .. babies bellow.

Comm. [f. carry forward, v. 49.] A balance of money carried forward, esp. after providing for a dividend, reserves, etc. carry-forward. carry

1898 Westm. Gaz. 17 May 8/1 The last carry-forward was £ 132. 1901 Ibid. 7 Aug. 7/1 This is one of the few companies which does not announce its carry forward with the dividend. 1959 Economist 28 Feb. 817/2 The ordinary dividend .. is paid by drawing upon the carry-forward. carryg, obs. var. of carrack. carrying ('kaeriir)), vbl. sb. 1. The action of the vb.

CARSE

923

carry

in various

senses. C1440 Promp. Parv. 62 Caryynge. 1521 in Bury Wills (1850) 123 Item for carieng of tymber. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 13 The sheathing, furring, carrying, washing, and breaming. 756 P. Browne Jamaica 294 ‘Cat’s claws. This little plant is frequent about Old Harbour. 1848 C. A. Johns Week Lizard 310 Hippochxris maculata. Spotted ‘Cat’s-ear. c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 38 Centinodium, swyne-grece uel ‘cattesgres. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. PI. V. 5 Sun Spurge.. Country people call it..‘Cat’s milk.. it is a troublesome weed.

feat, sb.2

Obs. exc. in Comb. Also catt. [Originally, the same word as prec.; Du Cange has catta ‘navis species’, also gatus of date CI175; OF. chaz, chat, catz (see Jal. and Godef.); but the relation between these and the Eng. word, and the reason of the name, do not appear.] A name given to a vessel formerly used in the coal and timber trade on the north-east coast of England; see Falconer’s description (quot.

1769). (The name is unknown to the oldest of the Elder Brethren of Trinity House, Newcastle (aged 82), and to the oldest North Sea pilots there. One of the latter, however, remembers to have heard as a boy the joke ‘Do you know when the mouse caught the cat?’ (the Mouse being a sand¬ bank in the Thames); and several remember the expression cat-built in the early part of the century. The last ‘cat-built’ ship is said to have been lost more than 30 years ago. N.E.D.) 1699 in Diet. Nat. Biogr. VIII. 305/1, I was made a lieutenant by the lords of the admiralty for boarding a cat that was laden with masts. 1747 (Dec. 4) J. Gambier to Secretary Adm'lty (MS.) Drove a new catt of near 500 tons on the Barrough Sand. 1759 Adm. Saunders in Naval Chron. XIII. 439 Two Cats, armed and loaded with provisions. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine (1789) Cat, a ship employed in the Coal trade, formed from the Norwegian model. It is distinguished by a narrow stern, projecting quarters, a deep waist, and by having no.. figure[head]. These vessels are generally built remarkably strong, and carry from four to six hundred tons. Chatte, a small twomasted vessel, formed like a cat or Norwegian pink. 1794 Rigging Seamanship I. 236 Cat, a vessel, used by the Northern Nations of Europe, with three masts and a bow¬ sprit, rigged similar to an English ship; having, however, pole-masts and no top-gallant sails. 11825 J. Dugdale New Brit. Trav. iv. 303 Certain vessels, called Ipswich Cats of large tonnage.. formerly employed in the coal-trade here.

Hence (perh.) cat-boat, a kind of sailing-boat having the mast placed very forward and rigged with one sail; cat-rig, a rig of one fore-and-aft mainsail, used for pleasure-boats in smooth water; so cat-rigged adj.; cat-built (see above). 1867 F. Ludlow Little Bro. 96 The cat-rig boat.. carries a main-sail only and is a favourite on the Shrewsbury river. 1883 Harper's Mag. Aug. 444/2 Victories of which cat-boats might be ashamed. 1885 Sat. Rev. 3 Jan. 11/1 Open boats of one jib and mainsail and cat varieties. 1887 Daily Tel. 10 Sept. 2/5 A couple of trim-looking catboats .. were dropped astern at a great rate.. The catboatman is ambitious.

cat, sb.2, var. kat. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 110/2 In Arabia the beverage [sc. coffee].. only supplanted a preparation from the leaves of the cat, Celastrus edulis. 1904 U.S. Consular Rep. No. 285. 549 The cat is a plant containing a medicinal principle which acts as a tonic upon the muscles of the heart. 1934 Dylan Thomas Let. 15 Apr. (1966) 103 If I. .could see them as a Yucatan people, call them to a cat-drinking ceremony.

up close to the cat-head. (i8cq) 80 Lend a hand

1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle ii. to cat the anchor. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 203 The cable.. will. . clear itself in catting. 1890 W. Clark Russell Ocean Trag. 111,1 hey had catted, and were fishing the anchor forwards.

b. to cat and fish: to raise the anchor to the cat¬ head and secure it to the ship’s side. 1808 Regal. Service at Sea V. iv. §25 Never .to give her head-way untill the anchors are catted and fished. 1881 W. C Russell Sailor's Sweeth. I. iii. 59 Everything was now snug forward, the anchor catted and fished, and the decks clear CAT 14.

3. To flog with the cat-o’-mne-tails. 1865 Spectator 18 Nov. 1271 /i Thirty of them were lashed to a gun, and catted with fifty lashes each.

4. dial, and colloq. To vomit. See to shoot the cat (CAT sb.1 13 d). 5. intr. To be deposited in the manner of salt, etc., round objects, in crevices, or the like. (Cf. cat sb.1 11 b.) 01909 Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. VII. 901 (Cent. Diet. Suppl.), The material which cats here is in a state not capable of ready absorption, and must act locally.

Hence 'catted ppl. a.\ 'catting vbl. sb.

cata-, cat-, cath-. Gr. Kara-, tear-, KaO-, a preposition used in comp, with the senses a. down (locally); b. down (of diminution, reduction, consumption, waste), away, entirely, ‘up’; c. implying disparagement or abuse ( = mis-)-, d. inferior, subsidiary; e. down upon, against (as blows fall); f. against and reflected back, hence, answering to, according to, alongside of, each to each; g. intensive, downright, thoroughly, completely; h. hence, like Eng. be-, making a verb transitive. All these senses occur in Eng. words into which cataenters; most of these are adapted or formed from compounds already made in Greek, others follow or extend Greek analogies. See also KATA-.

cata'ballitive, a. nonce-wd. [f. Gr. Kara/SaAAeiv to cast down.] Tending to throw down. 1815 T. Peacock Headlong Hall 79 A machine containing a peculiar cataballitive quality.

f Cata'baptist. Obs. [ad. Gr. Kara^aTmorfis ‘coined by Gregory Nazianzen as opp. to paTTTiOTTjs’ (L. and f. Kara, down + ^aTrrLorrjs one who dips, baptizer.] ‘One that abuseth or depraveth, or is an adversary to the sacrament of Baptism* (Blount Glossogr. 1656). A nickname of 16-17th c. for any one who rejected the orthodox doctrine of baptism.

s.);

1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xv. (1634) 648 Catabaptists, which denie that we be rightly baptised, because we were baptised by wicked men and idolaters in the Popish Kingdome. 1640 Bp. Hall Episc. 11. vii. 128 The receiving of Infants to holy Baptisme is a matter of so high consequence, that we justly Brand our Catabaptists with heresie, for denying it. 1642 Featly Dippers Dipt 23 (R.) They [Anabaptists] are called also Catabaptists, from the preposition Kara and signifying an abuser or prophaner of baptism. 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. I. vi. ii. 227 The Anabaptists, whom he calls Catabaptists. 1864 Mem. W. Bull ii. (1865) 27 He was a Catabaptist, holding that the ordinance of baptism was to be administered only to Jews and Pagans.

So fCatabaptism; Cata’baptistry [cf.

+ Catabap’tistical

a.; the

cat, sb.* Colloq. abbrev. of catalytic a., in cat

f

cracker, cracking, etc. (cf. catalytic a.).

doctrine of Catabaptists.

1943 Fortune Sept. 50/1 ‘Cat cracker’ is the oil industry’s nickname for the new catalytic cracking processes now producing high-octane gas. 1952 Economist 6 Sept. 581/1 {heading) Premium Petrol and Cat Crackers. 1957 New Scientist 18 July 36/2 ‘Cat-cracking’.. show[s] the power of catalysis in large-scale chemical industry.

1574 Whitgift Def. Answ. in. Wks. 1851 I. 368 Neither is this any title of ‘catabaptistry’. 1655 J. Goodwin {title), Cata-Baptism; or new Baptism waxing old, and ready to vanish away. 1661 Gauden Consid. 12 The Liturgy., vindicates the .. Catholick use of Infant Baptiam against the Anabaptistical novelty and Catabaptistical perverseness.

CAT (kaet), sb:5 Med. Abbrev. of computeriz)ed axial (or computer-assisted) tomography, a form of tomography in which a computer controls the motion of the X-ray source and detectors, processes the data, and produces the image. Cf. CT s.v. Cja. Used attrib. in CAT scanning, etc.

llcatabasion (-’baezian).

1975 Wall Street Jrnl. 10 Dec. 1 The machine, known as a CAT scanner, produces in minutes an X-ray picture revealing the deadly tumor that had escaped her physicians’ notice. 1976 A. Richardson in R. W. P. Russell Cerebral Arterial Dis. xi. 225/1 In the routine elective radiology pride of place must now be taken by the use of computerised transverse axial tomography (CAT scan) by the apparatus devised by EMI. 1976 Americana Ann. 1977 322/2 CAT scanning came of age in 1976. 1979 L. Shainberg Brain Surgeon (1980) i. 20 He had an X-ray of his cerebral tissue called a CAT-scan. 1983 Listener 28 Apr. 2/3 Voluntary groups have raised the money.. to buy CAT scanners for their local hospitals.

cat (kaet), v. [f. cat sb.1] 1. Naut. a. trans. To raise (the anchor) from the surface of the water to the cat-head. Also absol. 1769 Falconer Diet. Marine {1789) To cat the Anchor, is to hook a tackle called the cat to it’s ring, and thereby pull it

Anabaptistry],

[Gr. Karapdoiov.] A place for relics under the altar of a Greek church. 1753

>n Chambers Cycl. Supp.

(Also in mod. Diets.)

catabatic

(-'baetik), a. Med. [ad. Gr. KarafiaTiKos affording an easy descent, f. KaTafialveLv to go down.] ‘Descending or declining by degrees. Applied to a fever which gradually abates in severity till its termination’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1881). I catabi bazon. Astrol. Obs. [Gr. KdTajJtjSa^ov bringing down, lowering.] (See quot.) 1696 in Phillips. 1721-1800 in Bailey. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Catabibazon, in Astronomy, the moon’s descending node; called also Dragon’s Tail.

catabolic (kasts'bolik), a. Biol. Also 9 katabolic. [f. as next + -ic.]Of, pertaining to, or exhibiting catabolism. 1876 Foster Phys. §30 (1888) 43 To distinguish the products .. into waste products proper, the direct results of katabolic changes, and into bye products.. which cannot.. o COIls^erec^ as necessarily either anabolic or katabolic. 1894 H. Drummond Ascent Man 290 The act of fertilization is the anabolic restoration, renewal, and rejuvenescence of a

CATABOLISM

catabolism (ks'taebsliz^m). Biol. Also 9 katabolism. [f. Gr. KaTofioX-ri a throwing down (f. KarafiaWeiv to throw down) + -ism.] That phase of the metabolism of living bodies which consists in the breaking down of complex organic compounds into simpler ones; destructive metabolism. 1876 Foster Phys. §530 (1888) 807 Wherever destructive metabolism, katabolism, is going on, heat is being set free. 1889 Geddes & Thomson Evol. Sex ii. 27 The male reproduction is associated with preponderating katabolism. 1889 Nature 26 Sept. 525/1 The words in question, ‘anabolism’, which being interpreted means winding up, and ‘catabolism’, running down, are the creation of Dr. Gaskell. Prof. Hering’s equivalents for these are ‘assimilation’, which, of course, means storage of oxygen and oxidizable material, and ‘disassimilation’, discharge of these in the altered form of carbon dioxide and water. 1894 Kidd Soc. Evolut. ix. 287 The tendency—by itself disintegrating and destructive—known as katabolism. 1957 [see catabolic].

catabothron:

see katavothron.

catacathartic:

see catocathartic.

f Cata'catholic, a. Obs. nonce-wd. [f. cata-in sense of perversion.] Catholic by a perversion of the name. 1608 Bp. King Serm. 25 Catacatholique cruelty be a prouerbe.

Let.. Catholique,

catacaustic (kasta'korstik), a. and sb. [mod. f. Gr. Kara- back, again (as in catoptrics) + kcuiotikos caustic. So F. catacaustique.] catacaustic {curve)', a caustic curve formed by reflexion. 1708 Kersey, Catacaustick Curve. 1721 Bailey, Catacausticks, causticks by Reflection. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Caustic, Every curve has its twofold caustic: accordingly, caustics are divided into catacaustics and diacaustics. 1807 in G. Gregory Diet. Arts.

catachese, -ise,

var. of catechese, -ize.

|| catachresis (kaeta'kriisis). Also 7 kata-, cate-, [a. L. catachresis, a. Gr. Karaxpr]OLs misuse (of a word), f. Karaxpr)oBai to misuse, f. Kara with sense of perversion + xPV°®al to use.] Improper use of words; application of a term to a thing which it does not properly denote; abuse or perversion of a trope or metaphor. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 190 marg., Catachresis or the Figure of abuse. 1605 J. Dove Confut. Atheism 81 The three famous Lakes.. which are commonly by the figure catachresis called seas. 1662 Fuller Worthies hi. 185 The general Katachresis of Good for Great (a good blow, good piece, etc.). 1810 Coleridge Friend (ed. 3) III. 221 The proverb is current by a misuse, or a catachresis at least, of both the words, fortune and fools.

catachrestic (kaets'krsstik, -'iistik), a. [ad. Gr. Karaxpr]ctlkos misused, misapplied: see prec.] Of

the nature of catachresis; wrongly used, misapplied, wrested from its proper meaning. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Catachrestical, Catachrestique, abusive, as when one word is improperly put for another. 1725 J. Reynolds View of Death x, Go Doating, fond Philosophy, With all thy Catachrestic Names. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) III. 238 The phrase is, so to say, catachrestic, not used in a proper sense.

cata'chrestical, a.

[f. as prec. + -al1.] Having to do with catachresis; also = prec. 1609 Bp. Barlow Answ. Nameless Cath. 156 This.. Misbegotten Catachresticall companion. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 88 An abusive Catechresticall sence. 1695 Humfrey Mediocria 35 Justification from a law, and not by it, is a Catechrestical speech. 1884 C. A. Briggs Bibl. Study 355 Hyperboles, analogies, and loose catachrestical expressions.

cata'chrestically, adv. [f. prec. + -ly2.] In a catachrestic manner; by improper use of language or terms. ci6oo Timon iv. iii. (1842) 67. 1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astro1. xviii. 375 He would catachrestically, or improperly, apply them to the partes of the Zodiacke. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. iv. ii. (1852) 49 The churches (as they were catechrestically called). 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 274 And (to speak catachrestically) they are most likely to die in the Church, who are.. most prepared to leave it.

The history of the human race is but a parenthesis between two cataclasms of the globe which it inhabits. 1870 Bowen Logic ix. 301 To suppose that there was any Cataclasm, any violent disruption of what is the usual course of nature. Hence cata'clasmic a. 1888 H. S. Holland Christ or Eccles. 37 Something abrupt, violent, cataclasmic.

a. [f. Gr. Karaxdovtos subterranean, f. Kara down, under + xdovios of the ground, f. x®(r>v ground + -ian.] Subterranean. Pluto., was always., a

So catach'thonic a. 1884 Athenaeum 8 Mar. 314/3 In the Takashima coal-mine .. an underground, or, as he prefers to call it, a catachthonic observatory.

cataclasm ('ktetaklaez^m).

[ad. Gr. Karabreakage, f. Kara-KXav to break down, break off.] A break or disruption.

cataclysmist (kasta'klizmist). [f.

1887 J. J. H. Teall in Geol. Mag. IV. 493 The structures are of the kind for which Prof. Kjerulf has proposed the term cataclastic. I venture to suggest.. that we should distinguish between the three types of clastic rocks at present recognized by using the terms epiclastic, cataclastic and pyroclastic... Cataclastic—Rocks largely composed of fragments produced during the deformation of older rocks by the earth stresses. 1896 J. W. Judd Student's Lyell 560 Many metamorphic rocks exhibit a similar ‘cataclastic’ structure. 1903 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 4) 421 When the temperature is 300° C. or 400° C. no cataclastic structure is observable. 1958 Van Nostrand's Sci. Encycl. (ed. 3) 287/1 Cataclastic .. has the same meaning as crush breccias. This term is also applied to the deformation and granulation of minerals such as may take place during dynamic metamorphism.

cataclinal (kaets'klainal), a. Geol. Now rare. [f. Gr. KaraK.\ii!rjs sloping, f. Kara down + kXIveiv to bend + -al. Cf. monoclinal a. and 56.] (See quot. 1875.) Cf. ANACLINAL a. 187s J- W. Powell Expl. Colorado River n. xi. 160, I have .. classified these valleys .. in the following manner .. cataclinal, valleys that run in the direction of the dip. 1960 B. W. Sparks Geomorphol. vi. 104 Terms originally proposed by Powell, such as cataclinal. . have found no wide usage, as they are unnecessarily obscure.

cataclysm ('kaet3kliz(a)m). Also 7-clisme. [a. F. cataclysme (16th c. in Littre), ad. Gr. KaraKXvopos deluge (also fig.), f. Kara-KXv^eiu to deluge, f. Kara down + kXv^-clv to wash, dash as a wave.] A great and general flood of water, a deluge; esp. the Noachian deluge, the Flood. In Geology resorted to by some as a hypothesis to account for various phenomena; hence used vaguely for a sudden convulsion or alteration of physical conditions. 1637 Heywood Roy. Ship 3 More soules.. then perisht in the first Vniversall Cataclisme. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 91 Mankind sinned Malitiously, before God brought the general cataclysme upon them. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 101 For the proofs of these general cataclysms we have searched in vain. 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. II. ii. 52 The accumulated waters.. will sweep through the ancient gap with the force of a cataclysm. 1879 tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. iv. 77 The hypothesis usually called the Theory of Cataclysms or Catastrophes.

2. fig.; esp. a political or social upheaval which sweeps away the old order of things. 1633 True Trojans 11. 1 in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 468 Ready to pour down cataclysms of blood. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 6 Heaven rained on them great cataclysms of flames. 1861 Sat. Rev. 20 July 67 That the Indian army surgeons will be swept away in the general cataclysm. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 108 In the general upheaval of doctrine.. during the Reformation cataclysm.

cataclysmal (kaeta'klizmal), a. [f. prec. + -al1: cf. abysmal.] = cataclysmic. 1857 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. xviii. (1876) 337 It is never cataclysmal save over the most partial and isolated tracts. 1862 D. Wilson Preh. Man (1864) I. iii. 50, I could detect nothing .. indicating cataclysmal action. fig. 1882 Q. Rev. July 275 We now know what it is the Radical party are waiting for.. It is a cataclysmal catastrophe. 1885 Spectator 19 Dec. 1693 [He] is too old to stand the shock of such a cataclysmal enlightenment.

cataclysmatist (kaeta'klizmstist). rare-1, [f. Gr. KaraKXvapa, -paros (taken as = Kara.KXvop.6s CATACLYSM) + -1ST.] = CATACLYSMIST. 1855 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea xv. §645 It is manifest, say the cataclysmatists, that though the two hemispheres do receive annually the same amount of solar heat, etc. So catacly'smatic a. = cataclysmal. 1883 Merivale White Pilgr., Hackel, Fast dying out are man’s later appearances, Cataclysmatic geologies gone.

cataclysmic (kaeta'klizmik), a. [f. cataclysm + -ic. Cf. F. cataclysmique.] Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of, a cataclysm. 1851 Kingsley Yeast Epil., What if the method whereon things have proceeded since the Creation were.. a cataclysmic method? 1879 Le Conte Elem. Geol. 551 The old geologists regarded these changes.. as sudden and cataclysmic.

K\aup.a

cataclysmically (kaeta'khzmiksli), adv. [f. cataclysmic: see -ically.] By a cataclysm.

1829 Southey Sir T. More II. 201 The cataclasms of the moral and social world. 1834-Doctor cxxiii. (1862) 304

1889 I. Taylor Aryans iii. 132 The civilization .. was not introduced cataclysmically, by the immigration of a new race.

cataclysm +

One who adopts the hypothesis cataclysms in Geology; a ‘catastrophist’. -1ST.]

of

1887 Athenseum 24 Sept. 410/3 In 1865 the battle of the ‘Uniformitarians’ and ‘Cataclysmists’, ‘Sub-aerialists’ and ‘Marinists’, was still raging.

cata'clystic, cataclastic (kaets'klaestik), a. Geol. [ad. Norw. kataklas(-struktur) (T. Kjerulf 1885, in Nyt Mag. Naturvidensk. XXIX. 268), f. Gr. Kara down 4- kXclotos broken (#cAav to break).] Designating a structural character due to intense crushing.

catachthonian (kaetsk'Bsunian),

1888 Rhys Hibbert Led. 131 chthonian or catachthonian Zeus.

CATACOMB

965

katabohc cell. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XV. 303/1 The manifold chemical transformations involved in the building up (anabolism) of more complex materials and the breaking down (catabolism) of these and other substances... exchange and storage of energy occur—storage of energy in anabolic and release of energy in catabolic change.

* KaraKXvortK-os,

a.

rare~x. f.

KaraKXvt,etv

[f. Gr. type (see above).]

Cataclysmic. 1864 Reader No. 88. 298/2 The cataclystic geology.

catacomb

('kaetokaum, -ku:m). [a. F. catacombe, ad. It. catacomba (= Pr. cathacumba, Sp. catacumba):—late L. Catacumbas, a name of which even the original application is uncertain: see below.] 1. A subterranean place for the burial of the dead, consisting of galleries or passages with recesses excavated in their sides for tombs. a. Representing the Latin catacumbas (catecumpas), or (?) ad catacumbas, used as early as the 5th c. in connexion with the subterranean cemetery under the Basilica of St. Sebastian, on the Appian Way, near Rome, in or near which the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul were said to have been deposited: this is the only sense in which the word occurs in English before the 17th c. 971 Blickl. Horn. 193 Eal folc Romwara befeng pa lichoman on psere stowe Catacumbe py weje pe hate Appia. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 119/1 Whan thou hast wasshed it [my body] thou shalt burye it at Cathacombes by the appostlis. Ibid. 205/2 The grekes.. threwe the bodyes [of the two apostles] in a pitte at catacumbas. 1636 Abp. Williams Holy Table (1637) 220 The famous place called Catacombe (a word of mongrell composition, half Greek, half Latin, and signifying as much as near the Tombs), a kind of vaulted Church under the earth. 1756-7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 207 From this church a pair of stairs leads down into the Roman catacombs. 1854 Cdl. Wiseman Fabiola 11. ii, The cemetery of St. Sebastian [among] other names had that of Ad Catacumbas: the meaning of this word is completely unknown. 1870 W. B. Marriott Test. Catacombs 1 Catacombs—this name properly applies only to one particular cemetery beneath the church of St. Sebastian.

b. In later times applied (in the plural) to all the subterranean cemeteries lying around Rome (which, after having been long covered up and forgotten, were fortuitously discovered in 1578). In the singular applied to a single crypt or gallery. 1662 J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII (1867) 121 Ten miles, almost, round about Rome, under the vineyards and cornfields, are hollow caves, streets, rooms, chappells, finely painted, etc., which is called Rome underground, or the Catacombs. 1683-4 Robinson in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 479 Those Quarries became Catacombes. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 129 ff 7 There has lately been found an Humane Tooth in a Catecomb [at Rome]. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. iv. 395 It was .. after the discovery of the Catacombs. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 35 Sextus, bishop of Rome, had been slain in the catacombs. 1870 W. B. Marriott {title), Testimony of the Catacombs, and of other Monuments of Christian Art. 1876 E. Venables in Diet. Chr. Antiq. 313/2 The catacombs became places of refuge in times of persecution (.. though not to the extent popularly credited). Ibid. 314/1 At the entrance of the Jewish Catacomb on the Via Appia.

c. Extended to similar works elsewhere, as at Naples, at Syracuse, in Egypt, etc. 1705 Berkeley Cave of Dunmore Wks. 1871 IV. 508 Those artificial caves of Rome and Naples called catacombs. 1717 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlvii. 39 During his wonderful stay in the Egyptian catacombs. 1732 Lediard Sethos II. ix. 327 Bury the king’s corpse in the catacombs of Utica. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 271 Under the mountains adjoining the Kiow are several catacombs. 1858 R. Vaughan Ess. & Rem. I. 5 The Necropolis, with its Catacombs. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xv. 290.

2. In a wider sense, applied to any subterranean receptacle of dead bodies, as the catacombs of Paris, which are worked-out stone-quarries (see quot.); also fig. place of entombment of former races of animals, etc. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 359/2 The catacombs of Paris could not be called catacombs with any propriety until very recent times, when, by a decree of the French government, all the churchyards were emptied of their contents, and the skulls and bones sent to the spacious subterranean quarries, where they are now arranged in a manner that is grotesquely horrible. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. iv. (1879) 80 This point being a perfect catacomb for monsters of extinct races.

3. transf. A place arranged with crypts and recesses, like the catacombs. 1884 Harper's Mag. Nov. 828/1 These are, catacombs of books, with lettered avenues.

indeed,

b. spec. A compartment in a cellar with recesses for storing wine. 1795 Edin. Advert. 2 Jan. 2/1 One half of the sunk flat or cellars, neatly laid out and furnished with catacombs. 1816 Scott Old Mort. ix. He ran down to the cellar at the risk of breaking his neck, to ransack some private catacomb. [note.—The name regularly applied to the Roman catacombs during the first four centuries, when they were in use, as well as during the succeeding four or five centuries, while they were still objects of attention and care, was coemeterium. Catacumbas, catecumbas, appears in the 4th (?), 5th, and following centuries only in connexion with the name of the cemetery of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way, which is distinguished as Coemeterium Catacumbas, or

CATACOMBISH shortly Catacumbas. In other cases Catacumbas appears to be used as name of the locality, or perhaps of the part of the Appian Way, in which this cemetery lay. The earliest instances are: ?a400 Inscr. in Orelli 4575 Comparaui.. uiuus in catacum[b]as a[d] lumenarem a [fjossore .. 411 [or ? 354] Martyrology (Bucher ad Canon. Pasch. 237) Depositio martyrum.. Decimo tertio Kalendas Februarij, Fabiani in Callisti et Sebastiani in Catacumbas... Tertio Kalendas Iulij, Petri in Catacumbas et Pauli Ostiense. a600 (List of Cemeteries) Cimeterium catecumbas ad St. Sebastianum Via Appia. a 600 Greg. Magn. Epist. iv. Ind. xii. Ep. 30 In loco qui dicitur catacumbas collocata sunt. 0700 hnperia Cesarum (Eccard Corp. Hist. Med. /Ev. I. 31) Maxentius [a.d. 311 ] Termas in Palatio fecit et Circum in Catecumpas. c 705 B/eda De Sex JEt. Mund. ad ann. 4327 Damasus .. fecit basilicam.. aliam in catacumbas ubi jacuerunt corpora sancta apostolorum Petri et Pauli. 0900 Anastasius Hadrian 1. §343 In loco qui appellatur catacumbas ubi corpus beati Sebastiani martyris cum aliis quiescit. a 1300 De Mirabil. Romas, Ccemeteria Calisti juxta Catacumbas. The evidence does not settle the disputed question whether the name originally belonged to the cemetery, or (as the majority of investigators now appear to think) to the locality. Some of the other cemeteries were named from their locality, e.g. Ostiense, Ad Septem Columbas, Ad Duas Lauros (names of taverns), but most from a personal name as Calisti, Domitillae, Cyriacae. The word catacumbas was in later times treated as an acc. pi., with nom. sing, catacumba', but in earlier use it appears to be invariable. To account for this, some have surmised that the full name was Ad Catacumbas, others that it was itself a Greek phrase Kara Kv^fias. The recorded meanings of Gr. kv^t] are ‘the hollow of a vessel, a drinking vessel, cup, or bowl (whence a possibility that Kara Kv^ifias was the name of a tavern); a boat, L. cymba\ a knapsack, wallet’. But the question how a Greek phrase was likely to become the name of something near Rome, when it is not known what that thing was, is manifestly futile; still more profitless are conjectures that the word might contain the Greek preposition combined with a Latin, Sabine, or Celtic word or root, which may be seen in works or articles treating of the Catacombs. There appear to be no examples of the application of the word to the other Roman subterranean cemeteries in ancient times, though catacumba is apparently used by Joannes Diaconus (9th c.) of those of Naples: see Du Cange. But the actual extension of the name belongs to modern times, since the discovery of ‘Subterranean Rome’.]

f 1. A course or lists for tilting. Obs.

a.

nonce-wd.

1826 Blackw. Mag. XIX. 242 The smell.. is dull, dead, - almost catacombish.

catacornered: see cater, -cornered adv. and a. catacorolla (.kstakau'rDb). Bot. [f. cata- + corolla.] ‘ An additional corolla, either inside or outside the natural one’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). catacoustics (kaeta'kaostiks). [mod. f. cata- in sense ‘against and back from’ + acoustics. In F. catacoustique. Cf. catoptrics.] 1. A name for the science of reflected sounds. 1683 Phil. Trans. XIV. 473 Hearing may be divided into Direct, Refracted, and Reflex’d, which are yet nameless, unless we call them Acousticks, Diacousticks, and Catacousticks. 1721 in Bailey. 1751 in Chambers Cycl. In all mod. Diets.

2. (See quot.) 1803 Rees Cycl., Catacoustics are ecoutes or small galleries from distance to distance in front of the glacis of a fortified place.

catacumbal (kaeta'kAmbal), a. rare. [f. late L. catacumba (see catacomb) + -al1.] Of or resembling a catacomb. 1865 Littledale North Side Altar 8 Two distinct types of churches, .(a) the Catacumbal form, (b) the Basilican.

catadioptric (.kaetsdaifiptrik), a. [f. cata- in catoptric + dioptric. Cf. F. catadioptrique.] Pertaining to or involving both the reflexion and the refraction of light. 1723 Hadley in Phil. Trans, {title), An Account of the Catadioptric or Reflecting Telescope, made by him. 1759 Gentl. Mag. 72 Mr. Dollond’s new catadioptric Micrometer. 1866 Reader 3 Nov. 913 A catadioptric apparatus, in which lenses are combined with totally reflecting prisms.

So catadi'optrics, the science of catadioptric phenomena. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 30 A.. work on Catadioptrics, which he began about the year 1723.

0

1623 Cockeram, Catadrome, a tilt-yard. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Catadrome, a place where they run with horses, for prize; a Tilt-yard. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Catadrome, an engine which builders use like a Crane, in lifting up or putting down any great weight. 1874 Knight Diet. Mech., Catadrome.

catadromous

(ks'tEedramss),

a. [f. Gr. KaTa.8pop.os (f. Kara. down -I- -Spofios running) + -OUS. Cf. ANADROMOUS.] 1. Zool. Of fishes: Descending periodically from the upper to the lower reaches of the river, or to the sea, in order to spawn; as the Eel. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 97 Fresh-water fishes may be .. catadromous or such as reside in fresh waters.

2. Bot. (See quot.) 1881 J. G. Baker in Nature XXIII. 480 Milde’s classification of ferns into a catadromous and anadromous series according as to whether their lowest secondary branches originate on the posterior or anterior side of the pinnae.

t'catadupe. Obs. Also 7 -doup, -dupa. [a. F. catadoupe, catadupe, ad. L. catadupa (pi.), ad. Gr. Kardhov-noi (pi.) the cataracts of the Nile, f. Kara down + Souwos thud, heavy sound of falling, Sovirc-etv to sound heavy, fall with a thud. (But see Liddell and Scott.)] 1. A cataract or waterfall, orig. those of the Nile. 1596 Lodge Wit's Miserie (N.) Sien of my science in the catadupe of my knowledge, I nourish the crocodile of thy conceit. 1662 Fuller Worthies 111. 142 In the River Caun in this County, there be two Catadupae or Waterfalls. 1681 Chetham Angler's Vade-m. ii. §1 (1689) 111 At Kilgarran upon the Tivy .. is a Catadoup, or very high Cataract. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. xxxiv, The Catadupes of the Nile in Ethiopia. 1755 J. Ismay in Yorksh. N. Q. I. 206 The dams across the river are in the nature of Cataracts, and are a sort of catadupes.

[L. Catadupi.] cataracts of the Nile.

The dwellers by the

1607 Brewer Lingua in. vii. (R.) The Egyptian Catadupes never heard the roaring of the fall of Nilus because the noise was so familiar unto them.

catafalque (‘kaetafselk), cata'falco. Also 8 -falch, 9 -falc, -falk. [a. mod.F. catafalque, ad. It. catafalco (which also occurs in English); in Pr. cadafalcs, cadafaus, OCat. cadafal, Sp. cadafalso, cadahalso, cadalso, ONF. caafaus (in reg. -faut), OF. chaafaus (-faut), chafault, chafauld, whence OF. escafaut, eschafaut, mod.F. echafaud, Eng. scaffold; in med.L. variously found as catafaltus, cadafaldus, cadajfale, cadapallus, cadaphallus, chafallus. Of unknown derivation; even the orig. form is uncertain; F. pointing to -fold- or -fait-, It. to -falc-, Sp. to -fals (see scaffold). The derivation proposed by Diez is entirely discarded (see Romania I. 490). M. Paul Meyer thinks the first element may be the Gr. Kara- which was sometimes used in med.L. in sense ‘beside’, ‘alongside’ {Romania II. 80). ‘The cadafals or chaafaus in OF. was a wooden erection crowning walls, and projecting from them on both sides. Thence the besieged commanded assailants beneath’.]

1. ‘A stage or platform, erected by way of honour in a church to receive the coffin or effigy of a deceased personage’ (Littre); ‘a temporary structure of carpentry, decorated with painting and sculpture, representing a tomb or cenotaph, and used in funeral ceremonies’ (Gwilt). 1641 Evelyn Diary (1871) 36 In the middle of it was the hearse or catafalco of the late Arch-Dutchesse. 1643Mem. (1857) I. 46 In the nave of the church lies the catafalque, or hearse, of Louis XIII. 1766 Ann. Register 58 The supposed corpse was deposited upon a magnificent catafalco, or scaffold, erected from the bottom to the top of the church and illuminated all over with wax candles. 1760 Pocock Tour Scotl. (1881) 242 A sort of small wooden Catafalch placed over the tomb. 1831 Landor Fra Rupert Wks. 1846 II. 579 Never drops one but catafalc and canopy Are ready for him. 1834 Gentl. Mag. CIV. 1. 104 A rich catafalque was erected in the centre, in which the remains of the Marshal were deposited during the service.

2. A movable structure of this kind; a kind of open hearse or funeral car. 1855 Browning Statue & Bust 57 The door she had passed was shut on her Till the final catafalk repassed. 1864 Daily Tel. 16 Sept., The open hearse—one of the most extraordinary catafalcoes ever seen upon wheels.

3. transf. (humorous.) catadi'optrical, a. = prec. 1672 Phil. Trans. VII. 4004 An Accompt of a New Catadioptrical Telescope invented by Mr. Newton. 1696 Ibid. XIX. 215 Catoptrical or Dioptrical or Cata-dioptrical Machines. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic iv. 86 The apparatus .. may be called the catadioptrical phantasmagoria, as it operates both by reflexion and refraction.

catadrome ('kaetadraom). [ad. Gr. KaTa.8pop.os (L. catadromus) a course for exercise, lists, a rope for rope-dancers, f. 8pop.os race, course.]

Hence catagenetic (.kaetsdy'nEtik) a., of the nature of retrogressive evolution. 1896 E. D. Cope Org. Evol. 482 If the tendency of the catagenetic energies is away from vital phenomena.

2. (See quot.)

2. pi.

catacombish ('kaetskaumij), Savouring of the catacombs.

CATALANIST

966

1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. 1. iii, The black and yellow catafalque known as ‘the best bed’.

catagenesis (kaet3'd3£nisis). genesis.]

Retrogressive

[See cata- and evolution. Cf.

anagenesis. 1884 E. D. Cope in Amer. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. XXXIII. 468 The process of creation by the retrograde metamorphosis of energy, or, what is the same thing, by the specialization of energy, may be called catagenesis. 1893 [see anagenesis]. 1900 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms.

cata’glottism. rare. [a. F. cataglottisme ‘a kisse or kissing with the tongue’ (Cotgr.), ad. Gr. KaTayXwTTiofxa, -1.0p.0s a lascivious kiss .] 1656 Blount Glossogr., Cataglottism, a kissing with the tongue. Cotgr. 1678 Phillips, Cataglottism. a thrusting out the tongue in kissing. 1905 H. Ellis Stud. Psychol. Sex IV. S The kiss is not only an expression of feeling; it is a means of provoking it. Cataglottism is by no means confined to pigeons.

f cata'glyphic. a. Obs. rare[f. Gr. type * KarayXvfiK-os, f* Kara-yXofeiv to carve out, groove.] Of carving out or incising. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xli, Carv’d in Cataglyphick [a ouvrage cataglyphe],

Work

catag'matic,

a. and sb. Med. [a. F. catagmatique (Cotgr.), f. Gr. Karaypa, -aros breakage, fracture, f. Kar-ayvvvai to break, shatter.] A. adj. Of or belonging to fractures or their medical treatment. 1684 tr. Bonet’s Merc. Compit. VII. 250 [The stump after amputation] being every day covered with dry thread and a catagmatic Powder. 16.. Wiseman Surg. (J.), I put on a catagmatick emplaster. I7°4 J- Harris Lex. Techn., Catagmatick Medicines, are such as are used to help to consolidate Broken Bones. 1881 in Syd. Soc. Lex.

B. quasi-sb. A medicine having the property of healing fractures. 1657 Phys. Diet., Catagmaticks, medicines to consolidate, or knit together broken bones. 1751 ’n Chambers Cycle, and in mod. Diets.

So fcatag'matical, a. Obs. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 123 Of them that apply Catagmatical Plaisters to all diseases.

t 'catagraph. Obs.~° [ad. Gr. Karaypaf-os drawn in outline, f. Kara-ypafeiv to delineate.] 1656 Blount Glossogr., Catagraph, the first draught or delineation of a picture. 1721 in Bailey, etc.

t Ca'taian, a. Obs. A variant of Cathaian, a man of Cathay or China; ‘used also to signify a sharper, from the dexterous thieving of those people’ (Nares); ? a thief, scoundrel, blackguard. [1577 Eden & Willes Hist. Trav. 237 The Cathaian kyng is woont to graunt free accesse vnto.. forreiners.] 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 11. i. 148, I will not beleeue such a Cataian, though the Priest o’ th’ Towne commended him for a true man. 1601 - Twel. N. ii. iii. 80 My Lady’s a Catayan. 1630 Dekker 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. I43llemake a wild Cataine of forty such: hang him, he’s an Asse. 1649 Davenant Love & Hon. (N.) Hang him, bold Cataian, he indites finely.

catal(le,

obs. f. cattle.

Catalan Ckaetolaen), a. and sb. A. adj. Of or belonging to Catalonia, the most northeasterly province of Spain, once an independent principality. Catalan forge, a blast-furnace for reducing iron ores, extensively used in Catalonia and the neighbouring districts: so Catalan furnace, hearth, etc. B. sb. 1. A native of Catalonia; the language of Catalonia, a dialect of Provencal or Langue d’Oc, with affinities towards Spanish. 2. The language of Catalonia. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cclvi. (1482) 334 Pope Calyxte the iij was a Catalane. 1792 A. Young Travels 25 Region of the Pyrenees.. the language of the country is a mixture of Catalan, Provencal, and French. 1807 Southey Lett. fr. England III. lxxiii. 335 Scotch.. differs far more from English than Portugueze from Castilian, nearly as much as the Catalan. 1839 Ure Diet. Arts 709 The Catalan forge can be profitably employed only where wood is exceedingly cheap and abundant, a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1861) V. 97 The Catalans had risen in rebellion. 1861 Fairbairn Iron 42 The disposition of the Catalan hearth during the process of reduction. 1867 Bloxam Chem. 321 In the Pyrenees, where the Catalan process is employed, a 1877 Knight Diet. Mech., Catalan-furnace, a blast-furnace for reducing iron ores, extensively used in the North of Spain. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Catalan forge, a forge with a tuyere for reducing iron ore, with charcoal, to a loup of wrought iron; a bloomarv. 1906 Belloc Hills & Sea 261 Hundreds of men had spoken to me in Catalan. 1933 H. J. Chaytor Hist. Aragon iv. 62 Catalan presents a different problem; the question whether it belongs to the Hispanic or to the GalloRoman branches of the Romance languages is even yet in dispute, i960 W. D. Elcock Romance Lang. v. 435 The question whether Catalan should be considered as a language has at times given rise to debate, much of it illformed and coloured by political partisanship... During the later medieval period it came to rank as one of the ‘great languages’ of western Europe.

Catalanist ('kaetslamist),

sb. (and a.). [f. + -ist.] One who favours the independence of Catalonia; usually attrib. or as adj. So 'Catalanism, the favouring of independence for Catalonia; also, an idiom or Catalan

CATALASE

967

mode of expression belonging to the Catalan language. 1905 Daily Chron. 23 Sept. 5/3 The Catalanist Agitation. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 25 May 2/1 The ‘Catalanist’ Home Rulers. 1923 Glasgow Herald 8 Oct. 9 The suspension of.. more or less seditious Catalanist journals. 1930 S. DE Madariaga Spain xviii. 304 Catalanism is, above all, a Barcelona affair. 1949-C. Columbus 433 Ulloa . . led by his strong Catalanist bias, paints this struggle as an effort of the Catalans to liberate themselves. 1958 Archivum Linguisticum X. 31 Gallicisms (including Provempalisms and Catalanisms).

catalase ('kastoleis, -z). Chem. Also katalase. [f. catal(ysis + -ase.] Any of the haem-containing enzymes that catalyse the reduction of hydrogen peroxide. 1901 o. Loew in Rep. U.S. Dept. Agric. LXVIII. 12 Since it is clear that the power of catalyzing hydrogen peroxid is not due to any of the known enzyms, it appears justifiable to ascribe this power to a special enzym. The writer proposes to call this catalase. 1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 20 Aug. 28 Yeast contains .. nuclein, zymase, endotrypsin, and katalase. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 921/1 Certain oxydases, catalases and de-amidizing enzymes.. play an important part in the various metabolic processes. 1958 New Biol. XXVII. 118 Hydrogen peroxide, a powerful poison against which most organisms—but not Ascaris—are protected by an enzyme, catalase, which destroys it.

catalectic (kaeto'lektik), a. Pros.

[ad. late L. catalectic-us, a. Gr. KaTaXynTtKos leaving off, incomplete, f. Kara-X-qycLv to leave off, stop. Cf. F. catalectique.] A. adj.Of a verse: Incomplete in its syllables; wanting a syllable in the last foot. Often in postposition in imitation of Latin. B. sb. A catalectic line or verse. 1389 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (Arb.) 142 The Greekes and Latines vsed verses in the odde sillable of two sortes, which they called Catalecticke and Acatalecticke .. the catalectik or maymed verse. 1631 B. Jonson Staple of News iv. iv, Pentameters, Hexameters, Catalecticks. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV. 228/1 The Iambic Tetrameter Catalectic. 1883 tr. Ten Brink's E.E. Lit. 155 The catalectic tetrameter, well known to antique poetry. 1903 Saintsbury Short Hist. Eng. Lit. (ed. 3) 11. ii. 52 A strict iambic form of tetrameter catalectic, or alternate dimeters acatalectic and catalectic.

catalecticant (kaeto'lektikont). quots. 1852, i860.) cata'lectically adv.

So

Math. (See cata'lectic a.,

1851 J- J Sylvester Canonical Forms in Coll. Math. Papers (1904) I. 211 The theory of the catalectic forms of functions of the higher degrees of two variables. Ibid., If, however, certain further relations obtain between the coefficients of F, the canonical form reappears catalectically, the function becoming in fact representable as a single cube. 1852 Ibid. 293, I shall hereafter refer to a determinant formed in this manner from the coefficients of / as its catalecticant. i860 Cayley Coll. Math. Papers (1891) IV. 606 The name catalecticant denotes a certain invariant of a binary quantic of an even order.

t'catalects, sb. pi. Obs. rare. [ad. L. catalecta (see below), a. Gr. * KaraXeKra, f. KaraXeyeiv to reckon in the list of, reckon among. Cf. F. catalectes, and analects.] In sense of L. catalecta, name of a collection of short poems ascribed to Vergil; also, fragments or detached pieces. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 10 That grammarian whom Virgil in his catalects so taunteth. Ibid. 46 Joseph Scaliger, in his Catalects, hath saved.. certain verses of a most learned poet.

catalency, corrupt, of catalempsy, catalepsy. catalepsy

('kaetolepsi). Also 4-6 -lempsie, -lencie. [ad. med.L. catalepsia, f. Gr. KaraX-qjns a seizing upon (see next); the L. form catalepsis was formerly in common use. In F. catalepsies 1. Med. A disease characterized by a seizure or trance, lasting for hours or days, with suspension of sensation and consciousness. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P R. vu. x. (1495) 229 There ben thre . manere of Epilency .. Epilencia .. Analempsia .. Cathalempsia. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health lxiv. 27 b, The Catalency which is one of the kyndes of the fallynge sickenes. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 200 Apoplexies, Catalepsies, and Coma’s. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 366 There is a Disease of the same kind call’d a Catalepsis. 1866 A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 839 Catalepsy.. is evidently allied to one of the forms of hysteria.

2. Philos. Comprehension, apprehension. [1580 North Plutarch (1676) 446 The old Academicks.. hold, that a man may certainly know and comprehend something, and called that Catalepsin.] 1656 Blount Glossogr., Catalepsie, occupation, deprehension, knowledge. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) I. 365 The doctrine of Acatalepsy recalls to us the Stoical doctrine of Catalepsy, or Apprehension.

cataleptic (kaeto'leptik), a. (and sb.) [ad. late L. cataleptic-us, a. Gr. KaraXtynTiKos cataleptic, f. KaraX’qTTT-os seized, f. KaTCLXap.f$av€iv to seize upon.] A. adj. 1. Med. a. Affected by catalepsy. 1684 tr. Bond's Merc. Compit. in. 86 Galen.. allows Malmsey-wine to Cataleptick persons. 1862 Lytton Str. Story II. 224 A cataleptic or ecstatic patient. 1866 Cornh. Mag. Sept. 379 A soulless body, a cataleptic subject mesmerized by a stronger will.

b. Of or pertaining to catalepsy.

CATALOGUE RAISONNE

j794“6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) I. 325 Reverie is a disease of the epileptic or cataleptic kind. 1817 Mar. Edgeworth Love & L. hi. xliv. 171 The cataleptic rigidity of his figure relaxed. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. i. 7 Silas’s cataleptic fit occurred during the prayer-meeting.

2. Philos. Pertaining to apprehension. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) I. 356 Of true phantasms, some are cataleptic (apprehensive) and others noncataleptic... The cataleptic phantasm is that which is impressed by an object that exists.

B. sb. One affected by catalepsy. 1851 H. Mayo Pop. Superst. (ed. 2) 118 The cataleptic apprehends or perceives directly the objects around her. 1862 J. Cunningham in Macm. Mag. Apr. 514 There have been cataleptics.. who had two distinct currents of existence.

Hence (in Med.) cata'leptiform, cata'leptoid adjs., resembling catalepsy. 1847-9 Todd Cycl. Anat. fef Phys. IV. 695/1 This contraction .. may keep it [the limb] fixed in'a cataleptiform manner. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Cataleptoid.

catalexis (kaeto'leksis). [f. Gr. no. raX^is termination, f. KaraXijyeiv to leave off.] 1. Absence of a syllable in the last foot of a verse. 1830 Seager tr. Hermann's Metres II. xix. 46 Cretic verses are for the most part terminated by that same foot, and have no other catalexis. 1898 Saintsbury Short Hist. Eng. Lit. 11. iii. 77 Halidon is told [by Minot] in octave eights admitting catalexis. 1957 W. Beare Latin Verse vii. 82 From iambic trimeters we pass freely to dimeters, monometers, iambics with catalexis and syncopation.

2. A catalectic verse or line. 1850 MureL/l Greece III. 55 The combination of a single short verse or ‘catalexis’ with one or more longer verses.

catallactic (kaeto'laektik), a. [ad. Gr. KaTaXXaKTiKos (not recorded in this sense), f. Ka.Ta.XXdoorew to change, exchange.] A. adj. Pertaining to exchange (see B.). 1862 Ruskin Unto this Last 133 The perfect operation of catallactic science.. Do away with these, and catallactic advantage becomes impossible.

B. sb. pi. A proposed name for Political Economy as the ‘science of exchanges’. 1831 Whately Lect. Pol. Econ. i. (1855) 4 The name of Political Economy.. The name I should have preferred as the most descriptive, and on the whole least objectionable, is that of Catallactics, or the ‘Science of Exchanges’. 1862 Ruskin Unto this Last 132 The Science of Exchange, or, as I hear it has been proposed to call it, of ‘Catallactics’, considered as one of gain, is „. simply nugatory.

Hence cata'llactically exchange.

adv.,

by

way

of

1862 Ruskin Unto this Last 155 You may grow for your neighbour.. grapes or grapeshot; he will also catallactically grow grapes or grapeshot for you, and you will each reap what you have sown.

catalo (’kaetolou). U.S. Also cattalo, cattelo. [f. cat(tle + buff)alo.] A cross between the male buffalo and the domesticated cow. 1889 Kansas Times & Star 20 May, Colonel [Charles] Goodnight was the first man to experiment with crossing buffalo and cattle. A big herd of the hybrids, called ‘cattalo’, is now on his Texas ranch. 1894 San Francisco Midwinter Appeal 10 Feb. 3/3 Grand Exhibit of Buffaloes and Cattleos. 1899 C. J. Jones in H. Inman Buffalo Jones' Forty Years of Adv. 243 To these cross-breeds I have given the name ‘Catalo’, from the first syllable of cattle and the last three letters of buffalo. 1906 Harper's Mag. Apr. 798 [The buffaloes] sad captives sinking to slow extinction in the hybrid cattelo with his mongrel name. 1923 Chambers's Jrnl. July 454/1 The crossing of buffalo with domestic cattle. From the mating .. has been evolved the ‘cattalo’. 1958 Irish Times 23 Aug., The Cattalo, which was bred in Alberta, is an animal with fine beef qualities.

catalogic (kaeto'lod3ik, -'logik), a. [f. catalogue + -ic.] Of the nature of, or pertaining to, a catalogue. So cata'logical a. 1882 Athenaeum 9 Sept. 331/1 The former [article] is ‘prescientific’, the latter too catalogic.

catalogist, variant of cataloguist. catalogistic (.kaetabu'd^stik), a. pertaining to cataloguing.

rare.

Of or

1840 W. H. Mill Applic. Panth. Princ. (1861) 29 In the Sankhya or Catalogistic school of philosophy.

t catalogize ('k£etolD,d3aiz, -,gaiz). Obs. [f. Gr. KaTaXoyl^-eoSai to count up, recount, reckon among; with the meaning partly from this, and partly from catalogue + -ize. Cf. CATALOGUIZE.]

1. To reckon up. 1602 Carew Cornwall 54 b, As the Welshmen catalogize Ap Rice, etc... vntill they end in the highest of the stock.

2. To enumerate or insert in a catalogue. 1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. 320 He deserueth to be Catalogued as founder of this kingdome. 1660 S. Fisher Rusticks Alarm Wks. (1679) 505 Sure enough the man Catalogized all these together out of his Concordance. 1665 Moxon Tutor to Astron. 1. (1686) 19 Which.. may be Catalogised either for the memory of the Observer, or the knowledge of Posterity.

catalogue ('kaetslDg), sb. Forms: 5 cateloge, cathaloge, catholog, cattologue, 7 cathalogue, 6, 9 catalog, 6- catalogue, [a. F. catalogue, and ad. late L. catalogus, a. Gr. KardXoyos register, list, catalogue, f. KaraXeyeiv to choose, pick out, enlist,

enroll, reckon in a list, etc., f. Kara down + Xey-eiv to pick, choose, reckon up, etc.] 1. a. A list, register, or complete enumeration; in this simple sense now Obs. or arch. 1460 Capgrave Chron. 71 And than was Cyriacus Pope, but. . he is not put in the Cateloge of Popes. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 295/4 Be was.. set to the Cathaloge of martirs. CI535 Dewes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 936 They be noted., among the Catalogue of verbes. 1587 in Ellis Orig. Lett. II. 229 III. 133 That leaving a Catalog of all our names we may depart. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. vii. 72 A Catalogue of the Monasteries, Seminaries, and Nunneries in Flanders. 1660 (title), Englands Glory, Or, an Exact Catalogue of the Lords of His Maiesties most Honourable Privy Councel. 1711 Addison Sped. No. 74 f 10 In the Catalogue of the Slain the Author has followed the Example of the greatest ancient Poets. 1839 Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. xi. (1847) 127 In some of the catalogues of the bishops, St. Petrock is mentioned as the first.

b. jig. List, roll, series, etc. 1590 Barrow & Greenwood in Conferences 41 Your cattologue of lyes wherof you accuse vs. 1611 Shaks. Cymb. 1. iv. 5 Though the Catalogue of his endowments had bin tabled by his side. 1719 Young Revenge 11. i, I have turn’d o’er the catalogue of woes. 1792 Burgess in Corr. Ld. Auckland (1861) II. 438 To fill up the catalogue of their calamities. 1824 Travers Disc. Eye 325 The frightful catalogue of disasters which the spirit of controversy promulgates.

2. Now usually distinguished from a mere list or enumeration, by systematic or methodical arrangement, alphabetical or other order, and often by the addition of brief particulars, descriptive, or aiding identification, indicative of locality, position, date, price, or the like. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 227 Home, and to my chamber, and there finished my Catalogue of books. 1676 Lister in Ray's Corr. (1848) 124, I am well pleased your Catalogue of Plants is again to be printed. 1727 Swift Gulliver ill. iii. 196 They have made a catalogue of ten thousand fixed stars. 1834 Mrs. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xxxvii. (1849) 416 The first catalogue of double stars, in which their places and relative positions are given. 1870 L’Estrange Miss Mitford I. v. 154 [It] may apply almost as well to the Booksellers’ Catalogue as to the Parish Register. Mod. (title). The London Catalogue of British Plants. The British Museum Catalogue.

3. a. A list of college or university graduates, alumni, or teachers, b. A university or college calendar. U.S. 1682 J. Bishop in Mass. Hist. Coll. (1868) 4th Ser. VIII. 311,1 lately received .. a Catalogue of Harvard’s sons. 1786 in J. Maclean Hist. Coll. N.J. (1877) I. 344 Ordered, That a- complete catalogue of the graduates of this College be prepared and published at the expense of the present Senior class. 1812 (title) Catalogue of the Officers and Students [of Harvard]. 1823 (title) Catalogue of officers and students in Yale College November 1823. 1842 Z. Thompson Hist. Vermont 11. 155 Middlebury College .. Catalogue of Alumni and Honorary Graduates. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxxi. 686 The ‘University of Deseret’ puts forth a pretentious catalogue, with a lengthy list of professors. 1945 G. Santayana Middle Span viii. 159 My name had figured in the Harvard Catalogue.. for 30 years.

4. Miscellaneous attrib. uses. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 127 Each of the catalogue plates will have two exposures. 1899 Daily News 29 Apr. 7/3 A Piccadilly firm have offered to buy at catalogue price the picture by Policeman Jones, of Leeds, accepted for the Royal Academy. 1908 Amer. Libr. Assoc. Catalog Rules p. v, The size and quality of catalog cards. 1961 Oxf. Mail 6 Oct. 2/3 (Advt.), Catalogue paster required.

catalogue ('kaetslDg), v. [f. the sb. Cf. F. cataloguer.] 1. trans. To make a catalogue or list of; to enumerate in catalogue form. 1598 Chapman Iliad 11. Argt., Beta.. catalogues the navall knights, a 1612 Harington Brief View Ch. 80 (T.) He so cancelled, or catalogued, and scattered our books. 1705 Prowse in Hearne Collect. (1885) I. 10, I am.. busie in Catalogueing his Books. 1863 Miss Braddon Eleanor's Vid. I. i. 3, I would rather not catalogue her other features too minutely. 1884 Law Times 3 May 11/1 [He] had begun to lot and catalogue the furniture. 1886 Pall Mall G. 15 Jan. 6/2 While engaged in cataloguing a library.

2. To inscribe or insert in a catalogue. Also/ig. 1635 Heywood Lond. Sinus Sal. Wks. 1874 IV. 298 Amongst Schollars (In which number I may Catalogue your Lordship). 1762-71 H. Walpole Anecd. Paint. III. i. (R.) If religion is thrown into the quarrel, the most innocent acts are catalogued with sins. 1870 Miss Bridgman R. Lynne II. iii. 64 He had catalogued Dicky Blake as a fool. 1886 Law Times LXXX. 165/1 The book .. was catalogued under the author’s name only.

3. absol. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xliv. (1612) 212 And here occasion apteth that we catalogue a while.

Hence 'cataloguedppl. a., 'cataloguing vbl. sb. 1795 Burke Regie. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 102 Their studied, deliberated, catalogued files of murders. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 79 Mineralogy ceased to be.. a mere laborious cataloguing of stones and rubbish.

cataloguer ('k3eto,lDgo(r)). [f. prec. + -er. Cf. F. catalogueur.] One who catalogues. 1841 D’Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 120 The pen of a slumbering cataloguer. 1849 E. Warwick Poet's Pleas. (1853) 42 An accurate cataloguer of his flowers. 1884 Harper's Mag. Nov. 828/1 Girls . . trained as cataloguers and library assistants.

II catalogue raisonne (katabg rezone). Also erron. raisonnee [Fr., = carefully studied or methodical catalogue.] A descriptive catalogue

CATALOGUISH

CATAMITE

968

arranged according to subjects, or branches of subjects; hence gen. or loosely, a classified or methodical list. 1784 H. Walpole Descr. Strawberry-Hill p. i, Catalogues raisonnes of collections are very frequent in France and Holland. 1792 C. Smith Desmond III. 169 He had glided away on a descriptive tour to his own seat near Bath; and was giving a catalogue raisonnee of its conveniences. 1803 Edin. Rev. Oct. 79 A catalogue raisonnee, if executed with judgment and impartiality, would be a very useful appendage to every work. 1818 Hazlitt Eng. Poets viii. 324 There is no Gay in the present time to give a Catalogue Raisonne of the performances of the living undertaker of epics. 1835 Penny Cycle. IV. 380/2 The best specimen of a Catalogue Raisonne that we know of any of the more considerable collections of this country, is that of the library of the writers to the Signet in Edinburgh, published in one volume quarto in 1805. 1903 F. L. Gardner (title) A Catalogue raisorme of works on the occult sciences. 1948 Ann. Reg. 1947 227 An expenditure of £37,528 million. It was a huge figure, but the catalogue raisonne of its component items challenged its critics at their weakest point, i960 Guardian 16 June 8/5 The erudition embodied in the catalogue raisonne is quite exceptional.

Sci. News Let. 29 Oct. 274/1 Peroxidase.. catalyzes, or sparks, the transfer of oxygen from hydrogen peroxide, .to another substance. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Set. & Technol. V. 19/2 Most of the chemical reactions that take place in living organisms are catalyzed by specific enzymes, without which such reactions would proceed at a negligible rate, if at all. 1969 Nature 27 Dec. 1250/1 The technology bred of science has catalysed stupendous economic growth.

catalysis

(ka'taelisis). [a. Gr. KardXvoig dissolution (e.g. of a government), f. KaraXvav to dissolve, f. Kara down + Xv-eiv to loosen.] fl. Dissolution, destruction, ruin. Obs. rare. 1655 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 67 In this sad catalysis and declension of piety to which we are reduced. 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. 1. iv, The sad catalysis did come, and swept away eleven hundred thousand of the nation.

2. Chem. The name given by Berzelius to the effect produced in facilitating a chemical reaction, by the presence of a substance, which itself undergoes no permanent change. Also called contact action.

i860 All Y. Round II. 252 Our old friend the cataloguist .. when he gets into the Chamber of Horrors. 1883 M. & F. Collins You play me false xii. 85 She did all her work, whether as amanuensis or cataloguist, at the famous table.

1836 Berzelius in Edin. New Phil. Jrnl. XXI. 223 Many bodies.. have the property of exerting on other bodies an action which is very different from chemical affinity. By means of this action they produce decomposition in bodies, and form new compounds into the composition of which they do not enter. This new power, hitherto unknown, is common both in organic and inorganic nature .. I shall.. call it catalytic power. I shall also call Catalysis the decomposition of bodies by this force. 1842 W. Grove Corr. Phys. Forces Pref. 12, I am strongly disposed to consider that the facts of Catalysis depend upon voltaic action, c 1865 in Circ. Sc. I. 83/1 By means of what has been termed catalysis, alcohol is.. converted into acetic acid.

cataloguize ('kastalD.gaiz).

catalysotype (kaeta'lisstaip). Photogr. [f. prec.

'cata,loguish,

a. nonce-wd. Savouring of a catalogue.

[see

-ish.]

1791 T. Twining Country Clergym. (1882) 148 Dry, prosaic and cataloguish [verses].

'cata.loguist.

[f.

catalogue

+

-ist.]

=

CATALOGUER.

[f. catalogue

+

-ize; cf. catalogize.] trans. To catalogue. 1609 Bp. Barlow Answ. Nameless Cath. 22 He shall be denounced an Heretike, and so Cataloguised on HolyThursday. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 94 Amongst which rabble may be cataloguized, the swarmes of Gnats, Flies and Snakes. 1820 Shelley Ess. & Lett. (1852) 522 More.. than I am able To cataloguize in this verse of mine.

Catalonian

(kaets'bomsn), a. and sb. [f. Catalonia, the Spanish province (Cataluna, Cat. Catalunya)', see -ian.] = Catalan. 1707 Mortimer Husb. xviii. 496 The Catalonian or Spanish jessamine., is not so high as the former. 1781 Dillon Lett. Eng. Trav. Spain 1778 v. 63 The Aragonians and Catalonians adopted the Castilian dialect. 1823 T. Ross tr. Bouterwek's Hist. Span. & Pg. Lit. I. 6 In the kingdom of Arragon, the language in general use was the Catalonian. 1829 K. H. Digby Broad Stone, Orlandus xxi. 53 1 He spoke Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Catalonian, and Italian. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 361/2 During the war of the Spanish succession, the Catalonians. . took the part of the Archduke Charles of Austria against Philip of France. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 433/2 This Catalonian work of the 14th and 15th centuries. 1876 Ibid. V. 217/2 The Catalonians are a frugal, sharp-witted and industrious people. 1958 A. R. Radcliffe-Brown Method in Social Anthropol. 11. v. 185 From the many Latin dialects there came into existence the present Romance languages— French, Provencal, Italian, Catalonian, Castilian, Portugese. 1963 Times 25 Feb. 9/2 The accused, all Catalonians, included six lawyers.

|| catalpa (ko'taelpa). Bot. [From the language of the Indians of Carolina, where Catesby discovered C. bignonioides in 1726.] A genus of trees (N.O. Bignoniacese), natives of N. America, W. Indies, Japan and China, having large simple leaves, and terminal panicles of trumpet-shaped flowers. Two species, known also as Indian Bean, and St. Domingo or French Oak, are cultivated in England. Also attrib. i73i*48 Catesby Nat. Hist. Florida (1754) I. 49 The Catalpa Tree. 1794 Martyn Rousseau’s Bot. xxii. 317 The Catalpa is a large tree with leaves remarkably simple and heart shaped. 1856 Bryant Winds i, Before you the catalpa’s blossoms flew, i860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 174 The large white blossoms of a catalpa tree . .just under my window.

catalyse ('kaetolaiz), v. Also fkata-, -lyze.

[f. analysis.] trans. To increase the rate of (a reaction or process) by catalytic action; to produce by means of catalysis. Also fig. Hence 'catalyser, -or, (rare) 'catalysator, a catalyst; 'catalysing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. catalysis after analyse,

1890 Nature 13 Nov. 25/1 Every micro-organism produces, from the substances which it katalyzes.. a material or materials, which, on accumulation, inhibit its growth. 1893 Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 237 Numberless specific catalysators exist which act only upon certain phenomena. 1901 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. Apr. 236 The ratio of the velocity of the reaction to the concentration of the catalysor is nearly constant in dilute solutions of strong acids. 1904 Jrnl. Phys. Chem. May 373 Measurements were made of the effect of catalyzers on the formation of C^HsCl and C6H6C16 from benzene and chlorine. 1904 J. McCabe tr. Haeckel's Wonders of Life ii. 47 Many recent chemists and physiologists are of opinion that plasm is a colloid catalysator. 1917 Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 726/2 Some of these natural catalysers can be manufactured. 1926 Spectator 21 Aug. 280/1 [Advertising] is.. the great mover of merchandise, the catalyser of commerce. 1937 Discovery June 181 /1 Traces of impurities that catalyse reactions may lead to erroneous inferences. 1943 Koestler in Horizon Apr. 242 But tradition might act on a man in two ways: either as a sterilizing, or as a catalysing agent. 1944 J. S. Huxley Living in Rev. xi. 115 They do not impose their own plans, but they catalyse planning jointly with others. 1955

+ Gr. tvttos type.] A picture produced by a calotype process using iodide of iron: see quot. 1853 R. Hunt Man. Photogr. 80 It would seem as if the salt of silver, being slightly affected by the light, sets up a catalytic action, which is extended to the salts of iron .. The catalysis which then takes place has induced me to name this process., the Catalysotype. 1854 Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc. Chem. 85.

catalyst ('kaetalist). Chem. [f.

catalysis, on the analogy of analyst.] A substance which when present in small amounts increases the rate of a chemical reaction or process but which is chemically unchanged by the reaction; a catalytic agent. (A substance which similarly slows down a reaction is occas. called a negative catalyst.) Also fig.

1902 Nature 3 Apr. 523/1 No reactions are possible under the influence of catalysts that could not take place in their absence without a breach of one of the laws of energy. 1920 Chambers's Jrnl. 284/1 Nickel is used as a ‘catalyst’, or a carrier of hydrogen in the hydrogenation .. of oils for use in the manufacture of margarine. 1927 Haldane & Huxley Anim. Biol. viii. 169 We have begun to isolate many of the intermediate products of metabolism and the catalysts that govern the course of the reactions by which they are formed. 1943 H. Read Politics of Unpolitical xiv. 160 Shelley called poets the unacknowledged legislators of the world, and the epithet was well chosen. The catalyst is unchanged, unabsorbed; its activity therefore not acknowledged. 1948 Glasstone Physical Chem. (ed. 2) xiii. 1126 If the reaction is hindered by the added substance it is said to be a negative catalyst, and the word catalyst, when used alone, is almost invariably taken to imply acceleration of the chemical process. 1953 Sci. News XXVIII. 117 There is no reason why a catalyst.. should be rendered totally inactive by a change in the geometry of the substance acted upon. 1954 J. I. M. Stewart Mark Lambert's Supper 139 In the intricate chemistry that gives motive-power to the machine he has himself acted as an obscure catalyst. 1968 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. (ed. 4) x. 209 Enzymes are catalysts peculiar to living matter.

catalytic (kaets'litik), a.

[ad. Gr. KaraXvriKos able to dissolve, f. KardXvois catalysis.] Of the nature of, or pertaining to, catalysis; having the power of acting by catalysis. Also fig. catalytic cracker: the device in which catalytic cracking is carried out; catalytic cracking [crack v. 23]: the cracking of petroleum oils by a process using a catalyst. 1836 [see catalysis 2]. 1839-47 Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 153/2. 1842 W. Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 86 That the increased electrolytic power of water.. depends upon a catalytic effect. 1861 Times 26 Oct. 6/5 Bodies known as catalytic agents. 1876 tr. Schutzenberger's Ferment. 43 The theory of catalytic forces.. maintained by Berzelius. 1927 Chem. Abstr. 644 (title) Catalytic cracking of heavy fractions of petroleum... A special exptl. app. for catalytic cracking, in which a continuous influx of oil and recovery of the gas, oil and volatile products is carried out, is described. 1943 in Amer. Speech (1944) XIX. 150/1 Supersonics .. may usher in a new age of chemistry with radio being used as a catalytic agent. 1945 Koestler Yogi Commissar 32 It has to act as a catalytic agent, as the saliva in the process of creative assimilation. 1951 Economist 11 Aug. 358 The modern catalytic cracker., may use as many as 350 instruments measuring and controlling such variables as flow, pressure and temperature.

Hence cata'lytically adv., manner, by catalytic action.

in

a

catalytic

1845 G. Day Simon's Anim. Chem. I. 19 Fibrin is stated to have the power of decomposing binoxide of hydrogen catalytically.

catalytical (kaets'Iitikol), a. =

catalytic a. 1889 in Cent. Diet. 1923 Glasgow Herald 30 May 8 Catalitical salts.

catamaran (.kaetama'raen, ks'tamaran). Also 7 cattamaran, 8 catamoran, kattamaran, 9 catamarran. [ad. Tamil katta-maram tied tree or wood (katta tie, bond; maram wood).] 1. a. A kind of raft or float, consisting of two, three or more logs tied together side by side, the middle one being longer than the others; used in the East Indies, especially on the Coromandel coast, for communication with the shore. Also applied to similar craft used in the West Indies for short voyages, and to others of much larger size used off the coast of South America; as well as to a kind of raft made of two boats fastened together side by side, used on the St. Lawrence and its tributaries. In recent use, a sailing boat with twin hulls placed side by side, widely used as pleasure craft and in sailing contests. 1697 Dampier Voy. I. vi. 143 The smaller sort of Barklogs .. are more governable than the other.. This sort of Floats are used in many places both in the East and West Indies. On the Coast of Coromandel.. they call them Catamarans. These are but one Log, or two, sometimes of a sort of light Wood .. so small, that they carry but one Man, whose legs and breech are always in the Water. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 24 (Y.) Coasting along some Cattamarans made after us. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 263 Rafts of bamboo,-like the catamarans on the coast of Coromandel. Rigging 1st Seamanship I. 242 Balsas, or Catamaran, a raft made of the trunks of the balsa, .lashed together, and used by the Indians .. in South America. The largest have 9 trunks of 70 or 80 feet in length, are from 20 to 24 feet wide, and from 20 to 25 tons burthen. 1804 A. Duncan Mariner’s Chron. III. 112 We saw two of the catamarans.. coming towards us, with three black men on each. 1834 Caunter Orient. Ann. i. 4 The catamaran .. is generally about ten feet long by eighteen inches broad. 1876 Times 25 Oct. (D.) The fan of her screw propeller came in contact with a floating catamaran. 1957 Times 13 Dec. 15/2 The catamaran has strongly caught the fancy of those to whom speed is the prime satisfaction to be had from sailing. There were races for catamarans at Cowes last summer.

b. attrib. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 47 Tumble overboard Liferaft. Reversible Catamaran principle.

f2. Applied to a kind of fire-ship or instrument of naval warfare resembling the modern torpedo; esp. to those prepared in 1804 to resist Napoleon’s intended invasion of England. Obs. 1804 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 419/2 This undertaking commonly known by the appellation of the Catamaran expedition. 1809 Naval Chron. XXII. 453 The explosion of a catamaran. 1882 Allardyce in Athenseum 26 Aug. 268/2 He experimented with Fulton’s ‘catamarans’—the prototypes of the modern fish torpedoes —against the Boulogne flotilla. fig. 1822 Byron in Moore Life V. 319 If you have any political catamarans to explode, this is your place. 1832 Blackw. Mag. XXXI. 480 He is..the very catamaran of oratory, and when he explodes, etc.

3. Applied to a cross-grained or quarrelsome person, esp. a woman, colloq. [? Associated with cat.] 1833 Marryat P. Simple vi, The cursed drunken old catamaran. 1848 Lytton Harold iv. 168 To dress that catamaran in mail. 1868 M. Collins Anne Page II. 223 That old catamaran of a maiden aunt of his.

'Catama'ran, v. nonce-wd. [f. prec. sb.] blow up with a catamaran. Also fig.

To

1820 H. Matthews Diary Invalid (1835) 288 In fact, Napoleon has so catamaranned the foundations, that more than one ecroulement has already taken place.

|| catamenia (kaets'miims), sb. pi. Phys. [Gr. KaTapbfjvia menses, properly neut. pi. of KaTaftf/vios monthly, f. p.f)v month.] The menstrual discharge. I754“64 Smellie Midwif. I. 107 If the Catamenia do not flow at the stated time the patient is soon after seized with the Chlorosis. 1845 G. Day Simon's Anim. Chem. I. 271 A woman labouring under suppression of the catamenia.

catamenial (kaets'miimal), a. [f. prec. + -al1.] Pertaining to the catamenia; menstrual. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 314 The Catamenial discharge. 1859 Todd Cycl. Anat. V. 662/2 The catamenial period and interval together occupy a space of one lunar month.

f cata midiate, v. Obs. [f. Gr. KarapLeihid-eiv to despise.] ‘To put one to open shame and punishment for some notorious offence, to scorn, to defame’ (Blount Glossogr. 1656). catamite ('kaetamait). [ad. L. Catamitus corrupt form of Ganymedes name of Jupiter’s cup-bearer; also, a catamite.] A boy kept for unnatural purposes. 1593 Drayton Moon-Calf Wks. 1753 II. 484 His smoothchin’d. .catamite. 1601 Holland Pliny I. in Called Cinedopolis, by reason of certain Catamites and shamefull baggages that king Alexander the Great left there. 1699 Bentley Phal. 417 Agatho himself., was a Catamite. 1795 T - Taylor Apuleius viii. (1822) 185 A certain young man .. a common catamite.

Hence 'catamited, catamiting ppl. adjs. (as if from a vb. catamite). 1624 Heywood Captives 11. ii, That ould catamiting cankerworme. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece I. 1. xxvi, The catamited Boy shall have no Action issued out against him.

CATAMOUNT catamount ('kaetsmaont).

CATAPHYSIC

969

[Shortened

from

CATAMOUNTAIN.]

+ 1. = catamountain; a pard or panther. Obs. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. 1. 5 With clea’s or tallons (like a Catamount). 1730-6 Bailey (folio) Cat-a-mount, a Mongrel^ or wild Cat.

2. A common name in U.S. of the puma or cougar (Felis concolor), also called Panther, Painter, and Mountain (or American) Lion. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 86 The catamount seems to be the same animal which the ancients called Lynx. 1825 Bro. Jonathan I. 109 A wild beast.. I say! twarn’t a cattermount tho’, was it? 1855 O. W. Holmes Poems 193 The woods were full of Catamounts, And Indians red as deer. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Courage Wks. (Bohn) III. 108 The hunter is not alarmed by bears, catamounts, or wolves. 1884 Echo 24 Nov. 4/3 In Pennsylvania, bears and catamounts are so numerous .. in Pike county as to be a perfect nuisance to the farmers.

catamountain, cat o’ mountain (kaets'mauntin, -su'mauntin). Forms: 5-7 cat of the mountain, 6-7 cat of mountain, 7-8 catamountain(e, (8 cat-amountant), 6- cat o mountain, 7- cat-a-mountain. [app. of English formation: it does not appear that the ME. ‘cat of the mountain’ was a translation from another language.] 1. A name applied originally to the leopard or panther; by Goldsmith to the Ocelot (Felis pardalis), and by others to species of Tiger-cat. I432-5° tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 159 [In Ethiopia] cattes of the mownteyne [pardi]. 1526 Tindale Rev. xiii. 2 And the beast which I sawe was lyke a Catt off the Mountayne. 1598 G. Gifford Disc. Relig. 134 The black Moore cannot change his hew, nor the cat of the mountaine her spots. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3708/4 On the Third is a Cat-amountant. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 262 The Catamountain, or Ocelot, is one of the fiercest, .animals in the world. 1840 Ainsworth Tower of Lond. (1864) 163 Moustaches, bristling like the whiskers of a cat-a-mountain. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VI. xvi. vii. 211 He springs upon the throat of Hirsch like a cat-o’-mountain.

2. transf. A wild man from the mountains. 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Cust. Country 1. i. 400 To a wild fellow that would worry her.. To the rude claws of such a cat-o’mountain. 1650 A. B. Mutat. Polemo 14 To bragg (meerly on the dependance o’ these crafty Catamountaines). 1842 Lytton Zanoni iv. vi, These wild cats-a-mountain!

3. attrib. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. 11. ii. 27 Your Cat-a-Mountainelookes, vour red-lattice phrases, a 1857 Carlyle Misc. I. 29 Boisterous outlaws with huge whiskers, and the most cat-o’mountain aspect. 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. II. vii. 220 Animated with a ferocious cat-o-mountain spirit.

1878 Cornh. Mag. XXXVIII. 648 To live under the same roof, a cat-and-doggish life.

t ca.tanti'phrastical, a. kclt* avTLpaaiv by

Obs. rare-1, [f. Gr. antiphrais: cf.

ANTIPHRASTICAL.] = ANTIPHRASTIC. 1645 J. Goodwin Innocency & Tr. Triumph. 51 It may be that this argument is figurative and cat-antiphrasticall: And so, by confusions, disorders, etc. he means peace, unitie and concord amongst men.

catapan ('ksetapsen). [ad. med.L. catapan-us, cate-, cati-\ in F. catapan-, according to Littre, f. Gr. Karenavco totv a£iajp,dTU)v (he who is) placed over the dignities.] The officer who governed Calabria and Apulia under the Byzantine emperors. 1727-51 Chambers Cycl., Catapan or Catipan, a name the later Greeks, about the twelfth century, gave the governor of their dominions in Italy. 1832 tr. Sismondi's Ital. Rep. i. 24 From time to time .. a catapan, or other magistrate, was sent. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) III. vi. ii. 428 The Greek Argyrous the last catapan, the ally of Leo IX. had retired in despair.

t'catapasm.

Obs. Med. [ad. Gr. Kardnaapa (‘Paulus /Egineta vii. 13’, Syd. Soc. Lex.), f. Kara-ndao-eiv to besprinkle, strew over.] ‘A former term .. for any dry medicine in powder, which was sprinkled on ulcers’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 201 Odoriferous Powders .. strewed upon cloaths are properly called Catapasms. 1678-96 in Phillips. 1818 in Todd. 1849 in Smart.

catapeltic, a. (sb.) rare~°. [a. Gr. KaraneXTiK-ds pertaining to a catapult s6.] A. adj. Pertaining to a catapult. B. sb. A catapult. 1849 in smart (adj.). 1864 in Webster (adj. and sb.).

catapetalous (kEeta'petalas), a. Bot. [f. Gr. Kara each to each + neraXov petal sb. + -ous.] Having the petals ‘united only by cohesion with united stamens, as in Mallow’ (Gray Bot. Textbk. 401). 1847 in Craig.

II catapetasma (kaetapi'tEezma). [Gr. KaraneTaofMa curtain, veil, the veil of the temple, f. KaTa-neTawi-vai to spread out over.] The curtain at the chancel-screen, veiling the altar from the congregation, in the Greek Church. 1798 W. Tooke Catherine II (ed. 2) II. v. 85 On the roof, over the catapetasma and holy doors, is a representation of the supreme being.

t cata'nadromous, a. Obs. Zool. [f. mod.L. catanadromi (Gesner), f. Gr. koto, down + ava up + -Spolios running.] An epithet preferred by some early naturalists to ANADROMOUS.

cataphatic (kaets'faetik), a.

[I753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Anadromous.. Some use the word Catanadromi in the same sense.] Hence in some mod. Diets.

1869 [see apophatic a.]. 1937 Wall & Adamson tr. Maritain's Degrees Knowl. iv. 291 It is clear.. that apophatic theology, which knows God by the mode of negation or ignorance, knows him better than cataphatic theology, which proceeds by that of affirmation and science. 1951 Theology LIV. 29 In an end age he [sc. Berdyaev] turned.. from a cataphatic to an apophatic theology.

catananche (ktets'naerjki:). Bot. [mod.L. (Linnaeus 1735), f. L. catanance plant used in love potions, Gr. Ka.TO.vd.yKTj, f. koto, down + avayKT) compulsion.] The name of a genus (Catananche) of herbs of the family Compositae with blue or yellow flowers; a plant of this genus. 1798 tr. J. F. Gmelin's Linnaeus' Syst. Nat. XIV. 291 Compositae... The genera are .. Catananche, Candia lion’sfoot. 1836 Loudon Encycl. Plants 678 Catananche... The modern genus, which contains two or three species of ornamental border annuals, can have no reference to that of the ancients. 1868 S. Hereman Paxtons Bot. Diet. 116/2 Catananche .. a pretty genus, that succeeds well in common soil. 1961 Times 25 Nov. 11/4 The artemisias, catananches, [etc.]. 1962 Amat. Gardening 19 May 21 A packet of seed of catananche which gave me a lovely group of lavender-blue daisy-like flowers in August.

cat and dog, cat-and-dog. 1. Referring to the proverbial enmity between the two animals: attrib. Full of strife; inharmonious; quarrelsome. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 27 He.. shall see them agree like Dogges and Cattes. a 1745 Swift Phyllis (D.) They keep at Staines the old Blue Boar, Are cat and dog, and rogue and whore. 1821 Scott Kenilw. ii, Married he was .. and a cat-and-dog life she led with Tony. 1822 in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 96 The fast-sinking Old Times newspaper, its cat-and-dog opponent the New Times. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset I. xliii. 384 They, .were gracious .. and abstained from all cat-and-dog absurdities.

2. to rain cats and dogs: to rain very heavily. Also attrib., raining heavily. [01652 R. Brome City Wit (1653) iv. i, It shall raine.. Dogs and Polecats.] 1738 Swift Polite Conv. 11. (D.), I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs. 1819 Shelley Let. to Peacock 25 Feb., It began raining cats and dogs. 1849 Thackeray in Scribner's Mag. I. 551/1 Pouring with rain .. and the most dismal.. cat and dog day. 1949 A. Wilson Wrong Set 188 It always ‘rained cats and dogs’.

3. A game played with a piece of wood called a cat (cf. cat sb.1 10 a.) and a club called a dog. 1808 in Jamieson. 1884 Public Opinion 5 Sept. 301/2 Cat and dog is in one sense a classical game. Bunyan tells us that he was playing at it.

Hence cat-and-doggish a.

Ka.TaaTLK-6s affirmative

Theol.

[ad. Gr. assent).] by positive

(Karaeva 1 to

Defining God positively or statements, opp. apophatic a.

Hence cata'phatically adv. 1937 Wall & Adamson tr. Maritain's Degrees Knowl. iv. 297 Theological faith.. must first advance cataphatically, making known the mysteries of the Godhead to us in communicable enunciations.

cata'phonic, a. [f. Gr. rare + wvri voice, sound + -ic. Cf. cataphonics.

catacoustics.]

Pertaining

to

In mod. Diets.

cataphonics (kaeta'fDniks), sb. pi. The science of reflected sounds; = catacoustics. 1683 Phil. Trans. XIV. 473 Unless we call them Cataphonicks. 1819 Rees Cycl., Cataphonics, in Music, synonymous with catacaustics.

t 'cataphor. Obs. [medical L. cataphora, coma, a. Gr. Karaop-a, a bringing down, a lethargic attack.] ‘A deep or dead sleep’ (Blount 1656).

cataphoresis (.kaetsfs'riisis). Also kata-, [f. Gr. Kara down + (froprjois being carried.] a. Med. The action of causing medicinal substances to pass through the skin into living tissue by the use of an electric current. b. = electrophoresis. Hence .catapho'retic a. 1889 N.Y. Med. Jrnl. 27 Apr. 449/1 (heading) Electric cataphoresis as a therapeutic measure. Ibid., The cataphoretic action of electricity has often been made use of experimentally to introduce drugs into the system through the skin. 1895 Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. Suppl. 267/1 The use of iodine by cataphoresis has been attempted in cases of goitre. 1908 Times 9 Oct. 10/1 The possibility of using cataphoresis as a means of conveying foods and drugs to the system. 1944 Electronic Engin. XVI. 341 When a solid particle becomes suspended in a liquid medium of higher dielectric constant it becomes, in general, negatively charged relative to the dispersion medium and will therefore be attracted to the anode of an electrode system placed in the solution. This phenomenon is known as cataphoresis. Ibid., It is logical to regard electrolytic conduction as the limiting case of cataphoretic conduction. 1944 S. Field Princ. Electrodeposition xx. 279 Since colloidal suspensions are electrically charged they migrate to one electrode or the other under the influence of an applied P.D. This motion is

known as cataphoresis or electrophoresis. 1949 Electronic Engin. XXI. 405 One application of these aspect ratio resistors is to coat a sheet of insulating material by a capillary process, by spraying or by cataphoresis with a uniform resistance film of constant value of ohms per square. 1954 Ibid. XXVI. 404 It has been found that the cataphoretic coating process has some advantages.

cataphoric (kseta'forik), a. Also 9 kataphoric. [ad. Gr. Kara(/)opLK~6sy f. Karatfxopd a bringing down, f. Kara down -I- ep€iv to carry.] 1. Of the action of an electric current: Carrying a fluid along with it, producing electric osmose. 1887 in Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890 M. A. Starr in Electricity in Daily Life (1891) 271 The second action of a continuous galvanic current is to move along with it the fluids which lie in its path. This is called its cataphoric action. 1891 M. A. Starr in Electr. Daily Life 271 The second action of a continuous galvanic current is to move along with it the fluids which lie in its path. This is called its cataphoric action. 1895 Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. Suppl. 267/1 The cataphoric transfer of molecules of protoplasm and liquid from one cell to another. 1903 Med. Record 7 Mar. 363/1 The cataphoric electrode.. is connected with the positive pole of the battery.

2. Gram. Of, pertaining to, or designating reference to a succeeding word or group of words; contrasted with anaphoric a. 1976 Halliday & Hasan Cohesion in English i. 17 So far we have considered cohesion purely as an anaphoric relation... But the presupposition may go in the opposite direction, with the presupposed element following. This we shall refer to as cataphora... The presupposed element may .. consist of more than one sentence. Where it does not, the cataphoric reference is often signalled in writing with a colon. 1983 Brown & Yule Discourse Analysis vi. 192 Endophoric relations are of two kinds: those which look back in the text for their interpretation, which Halliday & Hasan call anaphoric relations, and those which look forward in the text for their interpretation, which are called cataphoric relations. 1985 R. Quirk et al. Comprehensive Gram. Eng. 185 When the adverbial follows the past tense, this may be called the cataphoric use of the definite past .. :We went to the theatre.

cataphract ('kEtafrsekt).

[In sense i, ad. L. cataphractes, a. Gr. Kara^paKT-qs coat of mail; in 2, ad. L. cataphractus, Gr. KardtjypaKTos clad in full armour; f. Ka.Ta.pdoaeiv to clothe in mail.] f 1. An ancient coat of mail. Obs. 1581 Savile Tacitus Hist. 1. lxxix. (1591) 44 Cataphracts, a kind of harnish .. composed of iron plates or stiffe bendlether. 1855 tr. Labarte's Arts Mid. Ages iv. 117 The ancient cataphract, the military habit of the patricians. fig. 1627 Feltham Resolves 11. viii, Virtue is a Cataphract: for in vain we arm one Limb, while the other is without a defence.

b. Zool. ‘The armor of plate covering some fishes.’ Webster cites Dana. 2. A soldier in full armour. 1671 Milton Samson 1619 Before him and behind, Archers and slingers, cataphracts and spears. 1814 H. Busk Fugit. Pieces 173 Around, in panoply complete, Grim cataphracts await. H Catachrestically for cataract. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 72 Borne so neere the dull making Cataphract of Nilus, that you cannot heare the Plannet-like Murick of Poetrie. 1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. To Rdr. 7 As he were borne neere the dull making cataphract of Nilus.

Hence 'cataphracted a., Zool. covered with a scaly or horny armour; cata'phractic a., ‘pertaining to or resembling a cataphract’ (Webster); covered with or as with armour. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Cataphracted, covered with a homy skin, as with a scaly cuirass. 1890 Meredith One of our Conq. (1891) I. v. 67 Not even the flower., would hold constant, as they, to the constantly unseen—a trebly cataphractic Invisible.

f 'cataphragm. Obs. rare. [ad. Gr. type *Ka.TdpaypLa, f. as cataphract] Defensive covering or coating. 1656 J. Serjeant tr. White's Peripatet. Inst. 380 The left side .. necessarily participates more of the Vegetative Vertue then any other member of the exteriour Cataphragm.

Cataphrygian (kaet3'frid3(i)3n), a. and sb. Ch. Hist. One of a heretical sect in the 2nd century who followed the errors of Montanus; a Montanist; so called because they originated in Phrygia. 1585-7 Rogers 39 Art. 65 The .. Cataphrygians .. who held how Christ not in body but in soul ascended into heaven. 1750 Lardner Wks. (1838) III. 90.

cataphyllary (kaeta'filari), a. Bot. [f. Gr. Kara down, degraded + vXXov leaf + -ary.] cataphyllary leaves: the colourless or brownish scales found on various parts of plants, esp. underground, regarded as modifications of foliage-leaves. 1875 Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. i. iii. 193 Scale- or ‘Cataphyllary-Leaves’ are usually produced on underground shoots .. although they also frequently occur above ground, especially as an envelope to the winter-buds of woody plants (as the horse-chestnut, oak, etc.).

f cata'physic, a. Obs. [f. Gr. Kara down, against, etc. + vois nature + -ic.] Contrary to

CATAPHYSICAL nature. So cataphysics sb. pi. {nonce-wd.)-, see quot. 1654 J er. Taylor Real Pres. A ij, The wildnesse.. of their Cataphysicks (for Metaphysicks it is not) their affirmatives and negatives are neither natural, nor above, nor besides nature, but against it. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Cataphysick, against nature.

cata'physical, a. nonce-wd. [f. as prec. + -al1.] Against nature, unnatural; infra-natural. 1839 De Quincey Autobiog, Sk. Wks. I. 337 (D.) A visual object, falling under hyper-physical or cata-physical laws. Ibid. II. v. 251 Some artists .. have given to Sir Walter Scott a pile of forehead which is unpleasing and cataphysical, in fact a caricature of anything.. seen in nature.

cataplasm

('kaet3plaez(3)m). Med. [a. F. cataplasme, ad. L. cataplasma, a Gr. KararrXaopba poultice, f. KaTa-nXaooeLv to plaster over, apply a plaster.] A poultice: formerly also a plaster. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. 1. i. 2 Cataplasmes made with the iuse of these herbes, and with floure. 1602 Shaks. Ham. iv. vii. 144. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 90 A Cataplasme made of bread crums, milk, and a little Saffron. 1626 Cockeram Cataplasme, a plaister, compounded of certaine oyntments to cure sores. C1720 Gibson Farriers Disp. xiii. (1734) 261 Some make a distinction between Poultise and Cataplasm. 1866 S. Thomson Diet. Dom. Med. 356 The well known mustard plaster or cataplasm.

b. fig. 1622 Fletcher Spanish Cur. iv. v, This Cataplasm of a well-cozened Lawyer. 1796 Burke Regie. Peace Wks. VIII. 135 The emollient cataplasms of robbery and confiscation. 1831 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 462 Endeavour has been made to provide a cataplasm.

cata'plasmic, a. [f. prec. + -ic.] Of the nature of a cataplasm. So cata'plasmical a. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. 11. 259/2 A Cataplasmicall Satyre.. very profitable to cure the impostumes of vice. 1689 Moyle Sea Chyrurg. 11. xxviii. 84 To make it into a Cataplasmick consistence.

cata'plectic, a.

[mod. ad. Gr. KaTa-nX^KTiK-os fitted to strike or be stricken down: see cataplexy.] Of or pertaining to cataplexy. 1883 Romanes Ment. Evol. Anim. xviii. 309 Such an animal as a wood-louse or death-watch, which fall into a kataplectic state immediately on being alarmed.

catapleiite (ksts'plirait). Min. [Named 1850, f. Gr. Kara together with + trXeiov more + -ITE, because it occurs along with several other minerals.] A hydrous silicate of zirconium and sodium; a hexagonal opaque mineral of light yellowish-brown colour. 1854 Dana Min. (1868) 401.

cataplexy ('kaetapleksi).

[In Ger. kataplexie, mod. f. Gr. Ka.Ta.Tr\T]gis (Hippocrates) stupefaction, f. KaTa-nX-r/aa-eiv to strike down with terror or the like.] The temporary paralysis or hypnotic state in animals when ‘ shamming death’. 1883 Romanes Ment. Evol. Anim. xviii. 308 The researches of Professor Preyer on the hypnotism of animals .. showed that fright is a strong predisposing cause of ‘Kataplexy’, or mesmeric sleep in animals .. He ascribes the shamming dead of insects to the exclusive influence of kataplexy.

t cata'podially. Obs. nonce-wd. [? f. Gr. Kara TToSafs close behind, immediately after.] c 1600 Timon iv. iii. (1842) 66 The moone may bee taken 4 manner of waies; either specificatiuely, or quidditatiuely, or superficially, or catapodially.

f cata'presbyter. Obs. nonce-wd. [f. Gr. Kara against + presbyter.] A presbyter catachrestically so called; or an oppositionpresbyter. 1659 Gauden Tears of Ch. 429 (D.) Various factions., have each their Anti-Ministers, their Cata-Presbyters, or counter-preachers bandying one against the other.

fcatapuce. Obs. Herb. [a. F. catapuce- in It. catapuzza, med.L. cataputia: cf. L. catapotium, Gr. KaTanoTiov that which can be gulped down, pill, bolus (whence It. catapotio, Florio).] Lesser Spurge Euphorbia Lathyris. c 1386 Chaucer Nonne Pr. T. 145 Of catapus or of gaytre beriis. [1791 Huddesford Salmag. (1793) 140 Without purge or catapotium. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xx. 284 Called Broad leaved Spurge or Cataputia.]

catapult ('kaetspAlt), sb.

Forms: 6 catapelt, -pulte, 6- catapulta (only in sense 1), 7- catapult, [a. F. catapulte or L. catapulta, a. Gr. KaraneXTris catapult, prob. f. Kara against + ndXXeiv to hurl, cast, poise (a missile).] 1. An ancient military engine for discharging darts, stones, or other missiles; the motive power being obtained by a strong lever working on an axis, which was tightly strained with twisted ropes and suddenly released. The ballista and catapulta were originally distinct, the former being used for throwing stones, etc., and the latter for darts; but afterwards the names were used synonymously. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 495 The great hollow Catapelts which shoote the darts from aloft. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 41 The Ramme.. farr different in

CATARACT

97° forme from the magonell or catapulte. 1605 Camden Rem. (1657) 206 When a catapult was first seen at Lacedemon, Archimedes exclaimed: O Hercules, now manhood is come to an end. 1732 Lediard Sethos II. ix. 277 Catapulta’s and battering rams. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xxiv, May my brains be knock’d out by a.. catapulta. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc viii. 533 The catapults Drove there their dreadful darts. 1829 W. Irving Granada (1850) 338 The mangled body of the Moor was.. thrown into the City from a catapult. 1850 ‘Bat’ Cricket-Man. 49 By the application of the Catapulta to peaceful purposes, the batting has been.. improved. 1878 B. Smith Carthage 392 The Matrons cut off their long hair and twisted it into ropes for the catapults.

2. An instrument consisting of a forked stick with an elastic band fastened to the two prongs, used to shoot small stones, bullets, peas, etc. 1871 A. R. Hope Schoolboy Fr. (1875) 227 The holes seem to have been made by a catapult. 1887 Manch. Guard. 7 May 9 He.. shot the bird with a catapult. Mod. The police have orders to seize all catapults.

3. A mechanical contrivance by which aircraft are launched at a high speed; also attrib. So catapult launching, etc. 1927 Daily Express 12 Dec. 11/4 Bearn, new aircraft carrier, will carry forty airplanes to be launched by a compressed air catapult at forty-seven miles per hour after a run of sixty-five feet along the deck. 1928 Times 28 Aug. 12/6 Catapult Air Mail. 1929 Air Ann. Brit. Empire 56 Catapult launching which has been successfully developed and can be used from ships. 1934 Flight 15 Feb. 148/1 For use as a catapult ship on the South Atlantic route. 1940 E. C. Shepherd Britain's Air Power 11 The aeroplane is set on the catapult carriage while its engine is started and run up. 1941 W. S. Churchill Secret Session Speeches (1946) 39 A number of special vessels carrying catapult Hurricane aircraft are employed on patrolling duties. 1959 Times 28 Apr, 11 /y Eagle.. equipped to take the new generation of aircraft, made possible by the installation of steam catapults.

Hence cata'pultic a., catapul'tier, one who works a catapult (cf. fusilier, etc.). 1831 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXIX. 306 Balls are showered upon them.. from a hundred catapultic arms. 1859 Helps Friends in C. Ser. n. I. ii. 146 Flinging the ball with catapultic force, i860 Reade Cloister & H. xliii. (D.) The besiegers.. sent forward their sappers, pioneers, catapultiers, and crossbowmen.

'catapult, v. [f. prec. sb.] a. trans. To hurl as from a catapult. Also^ig. b. To shoot or shoot at with a catapult, c. intr. To discharge a catapult. 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIII. 499 The throne itself was catapulted into the square. 1880 Daily Tel. 17 Feb., Lovely creatures are catapulted into the air and fall down into a net. 1883 D. Pryde Highways of Lit. ii. 30 He [a boy] catapults sparrows. 1929 C. C. Martindale Risen Sun 202 Like a fresh breeze, thus to get the pure truth catapulted at you! 1944 Blunden Cricket Country iv. 56 The second ball which T. catapulted down, swung out. 1959 Times 13 Jan. 9/6 Modern technology is catapulting some aspects of Asian life into the twentieth century.

d. To discharge by means contrivance. Cf. prec. 3.

of a

catapult

1912 Sci. Amer. 14 Dec. 512 (heading) Catapulting a Hydro-aeroplane from a Fighting Ship. 1928 Daily Express 29 Aug. 8/2 The Post Office has just announced that for a special fee it will accept British letters and postcards for the United States on the understanding that before arriving in New York they are to be catapulted from the ship by seaplane. 192s Scotsman 30 Aug. 9/6 The aeroplane will be catapulted into the air on approaching the American coast. 1931 Air Ann. Brit. Empire 318 The machine is a tractor biplane .. capable of being catapulted from the deck. 1959 Daily Tel. 23 Feb. 11/6 The rocket-powered North American X-15 .. will be catapulted from a B-36 bomber at 35-40,000 ft. and.. may reach a height of 300 miles and a speed of 4,000 m.p.h.

e. intr. To fling oneself as though hurled by a catapult. 1928 Daily Express 10 Apr. 5/2 Langley catapulted into the room and drove his axe through the window. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xx. 148, I catapulted to my feet.

Hence 'catapulting vbl. sb. 1881 Chequered Career 5 The lead.. we saved for catapulting, an amusement only indulged in by lower boys. 1938 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLII. 864 The German catapulting ships stationed in mid-ocean and forming seaplane stations.

fcataput.

Obs. [in med.L. and It. (Florio) cataputia.] (See quot.) 1688 R. Holme Armoury n. 420/2 The Catheter of some termed a Cataput, and Cataputia; it is an Instrument long, narrow and round .. it is to search a deep wound, and also .. to pour or squirt in liquid Oyntments and Salves.

cataract ('ksetaraekt), sb. Forms: 5 cataracte, (cateracte, catterak, 6 catracte, catharact, catarrhacte, 6-7 catarract(e, 7 cattaract, chateract, 8 catarect, 6- catarack), 7- cataract, [a. F. cataracte (in senses 1-4, 6), ad. L. cataracta waterfall, portcullis, floodgate, a Gr. Karap(p)dKTT]s down-rushing, a down rushing bird, a portcullis, waterfall, ? (in LXX) floodgate; f. Karapdao-eiu to dash down, dash headlong, rush or fall headlong, as rain or a river, f. kcit’ or Kara down + a pda a- or pdoo-eiv to dash. (But some think it a deriv. of KaTapp-qyvu-vcu to break down.) The sense-development in Gr., L., and Fr.-Eng., is not in all respects clear.] f i. pi. The ‘flood-gates’ of heaven, viewed as keeping back the rain (with reference to Gen. vii. 11, viii. 2, where Heb. has ’rbt lattices, windows,

LXX KarappaKTai, Vulg. cataractas, the former prob., the latter certainly, = flood-gates, sluices; hence also Fr. cataractes du del). This, the earliest use in Eng., is now Obs. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy in. xxiv, It seemed in the high heauen The Cataractes hadden be vndo. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 32 (Matz.) Now ar the weders cest, and cateractes knyt. 1612 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. xiii. 137 To open the Cataracts of Heaven, and pour down water continually. 1656 Earl Monm. Adv.fr. Parnass. 93 That he would open the Chateracts of Heaven. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 824. 1684 Burnet Th. Earth I. 13 The rain descended for forty days, the cataracts or floodgates of heaven being open’d,

fb. applied to waterspouts; also transf. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 386 They say.. that in certeyne places of the sea, they sawe certeyne stremes of water which they caule spoutes faulynge owt of the ayer into the sea.. Sum phantasie that these shulde bee the cataractes of heauen whiche were all opened at Noes fludde. 1605 Shaks. Lear hi. ii. 2 Blow windes, and crack your cheeks; Rage, blow You Cataracts, and Hyrricano’s spout. 1634 Hebbert Trav. 7 A long spout of stinking raine Pyramide wise, dissolved itselfe very neere us. This hidious Cataract. 1667 Milton P.L. 11. 176 What if all.. this Firmament Of Hell should spout her Cataracts of Fire.

2. A waterfall; properly one of considerable size, and falling headlong over a precipice; thus distinguished from a cascade. [A rare sense in Gr., but common in L., where applied to the Cataracts of the Nile.] 1594 Bp. King Jonas (1618) 346 We see what catarrhactes and downe-falls there are by the rage of the water. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 98 The lowest cataract or fal of water [of the Nile]. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. vi. 88 Where Tivy falling down doth make a Cataract. 1725 De Foe Voy. round W. (1840) 343 A terrible noise.. as of a mighty cataract, or waterfall. 1834 Mrs. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. §16 (1849) 151 The great cataracts of the Oronoco. 1839 Thirlwall Greece II. 185 From the steppes of Scythia to the cataracts of the Nile.

b. transf. A violent downpour or rush of water. 1634 Herbert Trav. 54 A violent storme of raine.. caused such a sudden Deluge and Cattaract, that a Carravan of two thousand Camels perisht. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. 111. 290 From on high huge Cataracts descend. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall iii, The hollow ocean-ridges roaring into cataracts, i860 Froude Hist. Eng. VI. 1 Cataracts of water flooded the houses in the city, and turned the streets into rivers.

c. transf. and fig. (cf. flood). c 1630 Drumm. of Hawth. Poems 61 And Tongues .. (Could ye amidst Worlds Cataracts them heare). 1784 Cowper Task iv. 73 Cataracts of declamation thunder here. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. I. iii. v. 164 His cataract of black beard. Ibid. V. xiii. iv. 44 Never came such a cataract of evil news on an Aulic Council before.

f 3. A portcullis; also the grating of a window. Obs. [Prob. in Gr. earlier than sense 1; common in med.L. but rare in Eng.] [1360-1 MS. Vicars' Roll York, In j cateracta facta ante hostium Will, de Preston, 6d.\ 1656 Blount Glossogr., Cataract, a Portcullis, a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. Prol., Others.. assured the Port-culleys, fastned the Herses, Sarasinasks and Cataracts. 1853 Stocqueler Milit. Encycl., Cataract, a portcullis.

4. Pathol. An opacity of the crystalline lens of the eye, or of the capsule of the lens, or of both, ‘producing more or less impairment of sight, but never complete blindness’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). [App. a fig. use of the sense portcullis. In Fr., the physician A. Pare (c 1550) has ‘cataracte ou coulisse’; and Cotgr. (1611) has coulisse ‘a portcullis., also a web in the eye’, the notion being that even when the eye is open, the cataract obstructs vision, as the portcullis does a gateway. (But if originally in med.L., it might arise from the sense ‘window-grating’ fenestra clathrata, Du Cange.)] 1547 Boorde Brev. Health lxvi. 28 b, A Catharact, the which doth let a man to se perfytly. 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 235 Ther is a Cataract, which doth light upon the eyes of a Hawke. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 54/2 For Catarracts or Pearles of the Eyes. 1611 Florio, Catardtta .. called a Cataract or a pin and web. 1782 W. Heberden Comm. lxvi. (1806) 329 A cataract is always preceded by a dimness, or blue cloudiness of objects. 1791 Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 221 To understand that he would couch her gratis, if the cataract was ripe. 1822 Good Study of Med. (1844) III. 168 Simple cataract comes on without pain. 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 40 Cataract is especially transmissible in the female line. fig. 1630 Brathwait Eng. Gentlew. (1641) 319 Those thicke Cataracts of earthly vanities are dispersed. 01711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 41 Your eyes thus dimly will Things Heav’nly see. Till they from sensual Cataracts are free.

15. A brake for flax. Obs. rare. 01693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. 1. 401 Athwart those Cataracts they break and bruise to very Trash the woody parcels.

6. Mech. A form of governor for single-acting steam-engines, in which the stroke is regulated by the flow of water through an opening. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. iii. (ed. 3) 27 Another very beautiful contrivance for regulating the number of strokes made by a steam-engine.. is called the Cataract. 1861 Rankine Steam Eng. 58 A pump brake of a simple kind is exemplified in the apparatus called the cataract.

f7. (See quot.) Obs. fa 1400 Ret. Ant. I. 9 Cataracta, a catarac of the ethere, i. via subterranea. 8. attrib. and Comb., as cataract patient, curls, wig, etc.; cataract-like adj.; cataract-wise adv.; cataract-bird, an Australian bird (see quot.); cataract-knife, cataract-needle, a knife and

CATARACT needle used in the extraction of cataract, or in couching. 1868 Wood Homes without H. xii. 215 The bird.. is called .. the ’Cataract Bird (Origma rubricata) because it is always found where water-courses rush through rocky ground [in Australia], 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 21 Nov., That beaming belle..with the ’Cataract curls, i860 Tyndall Glac. 1. ii. 12 An avalanche pours ’cataract-like over a ledge. 1688 R. Holme Armoury in. 399/2 A ’Cataract-needle .. is used to draw up the Cataract off the sight of the eye while it is cuting away. 1882 Good Study of Med. (1844) III. 165 A ’cataract patient sees a lighted candle as if it were involved in a cloud. 1870 Athenaeum 31 Dec. 881 Boileau Despreaux himself, in his court suit and his ’cataract wig. 1879 J. Hawthorne Laugh. Mill 39 The stream fell ’cataract-wise into a deep pool below.

cataract, v. [f. prec. sb.] a. trans. To pour like a cataract, to pour copiously (nonce-use). b. intr. To fall in a cataract. 1796 Coleridge Let. in Biogr. Lit. App. (1847) II. 370 The Monthly has cataracted panegyric on me. 1832 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 125 No river should cataract larger than the Clyde. 1844 E. Warburton Crescent & Cross (1845) I. 285 The whole body of the Nile precipitates itself.. cataracting very respectably.

cataractal (’ksetaraektal), a.

[f. cataract + -al1.] Of the nature of a cataract (lit. and fig.).

1888 W. Clark Russell Death Ship xxxviii, A cataractal roaring of water. 1891 Illustr. Lond. News 17 Jan. 74/2 The sea swept.. with a cataractal fury. 1926 C. L. Warr Principal Caird 237 The outburst of popular indignation .. was simply terrific in its power of cataractal denunciation.

'cataracted, ppl. a. [f. cataract sb. or v. + -ED.] Having cataracts: poured in cataracts. 1830 Blackw. Mag. XXVIII. 146 With rivers cataracted among the mountains. 1832 Wilson ibid. XXXI. 866 They look down into the cataracted abysses.

t cata'ractic, a. Obs. [f. cataract + -ic.] Of the nature of a cataract (see senses 2 and 5 of the sb.). So cata'ractical a. 1693 J. Beaumont On Burnet's Th. Earth. 1. 56 Cataractical Falls, and Serpentine Courses of Rivers, a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais III. I. 401 Certain Catarractick Instruments.

cata'ractine, a. [f. as prec. + -ine.] = prec. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. 335 These cataractine glaciers.

f cataractist. Obs. [f. as prec. + -ist.] A surgeon or practitioner who treats cataracts. 1660 tr. Paracelsus Archid. 11. 140 According to the prescription of the Catarractists, or blind Doctors.

cataractous

(kseta'raektas), a. Pathol. cataract + -ous.] Affected with cataract.

CATASTROPHE

971

[f.

1771 Smollett Humphr. Cl. (1815) 107 Rheumatisms, catarrhs, and consumptions, are caught in these nocturnal pastimes. 1782 E. Gray in Med. Commun. I. 47 At Venice .. the common name of the disease, Russian catarrh [influenza]. 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 117 The Symptoms which attend catarrh are too generally known to require being mentioned. 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris vi. 171 Your cold, of course, is a catarrh. 1831 Youatt Horse xii. (1847) 258 Various names.. influenza, distemper, catarrhal fever, and epidemic catarrh. 1868 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 338 So oppressed am I with this American catarrh, as they call it.

catarrh, v. nonce-wd. [f. prec.] To remove or take by catarrh. 1822 Lamb in Life Lett. xii. (1837) 111 As many clerks have been coughed and catarrhed out of it [the War-Office] into their freer graves.

catarrhacte,

obs. form of cataract.

f catarrha'gogal, a. Obs. rare. [Implies a sb. catarr hagogue, f. catarrh sb. + -ayajyos leading.] Carrying off catarrh. 1651 Biggs New Disp. If 240 A catarragogall Remedy.

catarrhal (ks'tairal), a. [f. in mod.F. catarrhal.] pertaining to, catarrh.

catarrh sb. + -al1: Of the nature of, or

1651 Biggs New Disp. IP258 Catarrhall defects. 1787 Gentl. Mag. Nov. 1020/2 Catarrhal fevers have now become more frequent. 1824 J- McCulloch Highl. Scotl. III. 193 The catarrhal phenomenon of St. Kilda. 1848 Kingsley in Fraser's Mag. 104 A soulless, skyless, catarrhal day. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 17 note, A spasmodic and catarrhal affection, not unlike hay fever.

catarrhine, catarhine ('kaetarain), a., and sb. Zool. [f. Gr. Kara alongside of + pis, piv-a nose, nostril.] A. adj. Designating one of the two divisions of the order Quadrumana, including those apes or monkeys, which have the nostrils close together, oblique, and directed downwards, and opposable thumbs on all the limbs. It includes all the apes of the old world. B. as sb. A catarrhine monkey. 1862 Dana Man. Geol. 422 note. The Catarrhines, confined to Africa and Asia, excepting one at Gibraltar. 1863 Huxley Man's Place Nat. i. 23 The man-like apes.. are what are called ‘Catarrhine apes’; that is, their nostrils have a narrow partition, and look downwards. 1881 Spectator 25 Dec., Our common ancestor the catarrhine ape.

ca'tarrhish, a. Obs. [f. catarrh sb. + -ish1.] Of the nature of catarrh. t

1689 Moyle Sea Chyrurg. in. x. 114 To purge the Brain, and all the Body of that Catarrish humour.

1824 Travers Dis. Eye (ed. 3) 319 The cataractous eye is not unfrequently amaurotic. 1875 H. Walton Dis. Eye 743 In ordinary cataractous capsular opacity.

fca'tarrhopous, a. Obs. [f. Gr. Karappon-os (f.

catarie, var. of catery.

1666 G. Harvey Morb. Angl. x. 92 Why the same corrosive humour should sometimes prove Anarrhopous.. and otherwhiles Catarrhopous (flowing downwards).

catarrh (ka'ta:(r)), sb. Forms: 6 cattar, cattarue, catarh, catterhe, Sc. caterr, catter, 6-7 catar, catarre, catarrhe, 7 catarr, cathar, catharre, cather, 7- catarrh, [a. F. catarrhe, in 15th c. caterre, 16th c. catarre (= Pr. catar, Sp., It. catarro), ad. L. catarrh-us, ad. Gr. Karappovs running down, rheum, f. Karappeiv to flow down.] f 1. The profuse discharge from nose and eyes which generally accompanies a cold, and which was formerly supposed to run down from the brain; a ‘running at the nose’. Obs. [1398 Trevisa Barth. De. P.R. vii. iv. (1495) 224 Dissoluynge and shedynge thumours of the heed highte Catarrus.] 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 23 b, Egges be good ageinst Catars, or stilling out of the hed into the stomake. Ibid. 69 b, Catarres or reumes. 1536 Bellenden Cron. 46 a (Jam.) In the nixt winter Julius Frontynus fell in gret infirmite be imoderat flux of catter. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 11. (1594) 364 Sodainely choked by catarrhes, which like to floods of waters, runne downewards. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 272 The catar or rhume, which, in a horse, is called the glaunders. 1656 in Blount Glossogr. 1794-6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) I. 425 When the secretion of these capillary glands is increased, it is termed simple catarrh.

f2. Formerly also applied to: Cerebral effusion or haemorrhage; apoplexy. Obs. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 5117 Sum ar dissoluit suddantlye Be Cattarue or be Poplesye. 1579 Fenton Guicciard, 111.(1599) ‘42 King Charles dyed .. of a catterhe which the Phisitians call apoplexie. 1708 Kersey, Catarrh of the Spinal Marrow, a Falling-out of the Marrow of the Back-bone. 1721-1800 in Bailey.

3. Inflammation of a mucous membrane; usually restricted to that of the nose, throat, and bronchial tubes, causing increased flow of mucus, and often attended with sneezing, cough, and fever; constituting a common ‘cold’. Often with qualifying word, as alcoholic, bronchial, chronic, gastric, uterine catarrh; epidemic catarrh, influenza; summer catarrh, hay-asthma. 1588 R. Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 132 A generall sicknesse .. called the Cattarre or murre. 1675 Gascoigne in Rigaud Corr. Sc. Men (1841) I. 221 The great epidemical catarrh, which hath ranged through so many countries.

Kara down -t- ponij downward inclination) -ous.] Tending or moving downwards.

+

ca'tarrhous, a. ? Obs. [f.

catarrh -I- -ous: app. after 16th c. F. catarreux, catarrheux.\ Pertaining to, subject to, or of the nature of, catarrh; = catarrhal. 1651 Biggs New Disp. ff250 To excrete the catarrhous matter. 1782 Johnson in Boswell (1831) V. 29, I am now harassed by a catarrhous cough. 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v., Cure for a catarrhous cough.. the inhalation of the vapour of warm water.

t cata'rumpant, (?)-rampant, a.

nonce-wd. (humorous): cf. Gr. Kara, cat and rampant. 1689 T. Plunket Char. Gd. Commander 49, I hope.. Their Cat-like Cause, that lusty Puss is nigh To hanging; notwithstanding that she is So Catarumpant now.

catasetum (kaets'sirtsm). Bot. [mod.L. (L. C. Richard 1822, in K. S. Kunth Synopsis Plantarum I. 330) f. Gr. Kara down + L. seta bristle.] A plant of the genus Catasetum, a genus of epiphytic orchids native to tropical America, in which the rostellum of the male flower is developed into two slender horns or bristles. 1829 Loudon Encycl. Plants 1. xx. 756. 1843 Florist's Jrnl. IV. 184 A beautiful dwarf orchideous plant, resembling a catasetum in habit. 1914 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 631/1 Catasetums have established themselves, some with huge pseudo-bulbs. 1956 Diet. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) (ed. 2) 1. 412/2 When growing, all Catasetums benefit by a tropical atmosphere. 1962 Amat. Gardening 7 Apr. 6/3 In most of the catasetums and mormodes the male and female flowers are carried on separate spikes or separate plants.

fcataskeu'astic, a. Obs. rare[ad. Gr. KaraoKevaoTaKos constructive (in Aristotle Rhet. 2. 26, 3, opposed to \vtik6s destructive), f. KaraoKeudCew to equip, prepare, construct, f. KaraoKeor/ preparation.] Constructive. 1645 J. G[oodwin] Innoc. & Truth Tri. 41 No occasion to argue any thing, .in a cataskeuastique or positive Way.

catasophistry. Obs. rare—', [f. sophistry, after Gr. KaraoorfilCeodar to outwit, to evade by quibbling, f. Kara down, etc. + ool£-eo6ai to quibble, etc.] Quibbling, deceit. f

1609 J. Melvill Let. in Diary (1842) 782 Greater craft.. and catasophistrie wer nevir usit.

cataspilite (ka'tsespilait). Min. [Named in 1867 f. Gr. KardoTriXos spotted, defiled + -ite.] A hydrous silicate of alumina, with some iron, manganese, etc.; an ash-grey pearly mineral found in Sweden. 1868 Dana Min. 403.

j| catasta. [a. L. catasta scaffold, stage for selling slaves, etc., also an engine of torture. According to Lewis and Short, f. Gr. Ka.rdara.ais settling, putting down, fixed state, etc. (? Thence It. catasta funeral-pile, Pg. catasta stall in which slaves are set for sale).] a. Hist. A block on which slaves were exposed for sale. b. Hist. A stage or bed of torture used in early Christian times, fc. Humorously or affectedly used for the stocks (obs.). 1650 A. B. Mutat. Polemo 12 What will not money do with a Scot (now their Catasta is in readiness). 1664 Butler Hud. 11. 1. 238 In close Catasta shut [ed. 1694 401 note, Catasta is but a pair of Stocks in English]. 1685 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 91 How could they have sung in the midst of Flames, smiled upon Racks, triumphed upon Wheels and Catastaes. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xiii. (Hoppe) Standing an hour on the catasta to be handled from head to foot in the minimum of clothing.

catastaltic, a. Med. [ad. L. catastaltic-us, a. Gr. KaraaraXrLKOS, f. KaraoreXXftv to repress, check.] Restraining, checking: formerly applied to astringent and styptic substances. 1851 in Mayne.

I catastasis (ka'taestasis). [Gr. Kardaraais settling, appointment; settled condition; f. Kadiordvai to set down, appoint, establish, settle; f. Kara down + ora- stand. In mod.F. catastase.] 1. (See quots.) [This sense not in Gr. or L.] 1656 Blount Glossogr., Catastasis, the third part of a Comedy, and signifies the state and full vigour of it. Tragedies and Comedies have four principal parts in respect of the matter treated of. I. Protasis. 2. Epitasis. 3. Catastasis. 4. Catastrophe. 1668 Dryden Dram. Poesy in Arb. Garner III. 520 Thirdly. The Catastasis or Counter¬ turn, which destroys that expectation. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Catastasis.. the third part of the antient drama; being that wherein the intrigue is supported, carried on, and heightened till it be ripe for the unravelling in the catastrophe. 1761 Sterne Trist. Shandy iv. Slawkenb. Tale, The epitasis, wherein the action is more fully entered upon and heightened, till it arrives at its state or height, called the catastasis. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1872) II. vi. i. 223 No catastrophe, rather a catastasis or heightening.

2. Rhet. The narrative part of a speech, usually the beginning of it, in which the orator sets forth the subject to be discussed. (In mod. Diets.) 3. Med. ‘The state or condition of anything; constitution; habit of body’. (In mod. Diets.) f catastematic,

a. Obs. rare-'. [ad. Gr. established, sedate, moderate, tranquil (in ijSovi) Karaorriparucr) moderate pleasure, a term of the Epicurean philosophy), f. Kardarripta settlement, constitution, f. KoBiardvaC, see prec.] KaraoTTjpLarLKds

1655-60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 134/2 Catastematick, permanent pleasure, which consisteth in privation of Grief and a quiet void of all disturbance, which Epicurus held [to be our ultimate end].

cataster.

[ad. It. Sp., catastro.] = cadastre. 1855 Milman Lat. Christianity IX. xiv. i. 18 The valuation of Pope Nicholas, the established cataster which had been acted on for above a century.

catasterism

(ka't3estariz(a)m). [ad. Gr. Karaorf.piap.6s a ‘placing among the stars; KaraorepLopol was the name of a treatise attributed to Eratosthenes giving the legends of the different constellations’ (Liddell and Scott); (ult.) f. Kara + dorr/p Star. Cf. ASTERISM.] a. pi. The treatise mentioned above, b. A constellation. 1803 G. S. Faber Cabiri II. 251 The remarkable assemblage of catasterisms.. in the neighbourhood of the supposed ship of Jason. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. 1. iv. §1 (L.) The ‘Catasterisms’ of Eratosthenes.. were an enumeration of 475 of the principal stars according to the constellations in which they are. 1852 Th. Ross Humboldt's Trav. Introd. 17 The catasterisms of their zodiac.

catastrophal (ka'taestrafal), a. [f. + -al1.] Of the disastrous.

nature

of a

catastrophe

catastrophe;

1842 P. Scrope Volcanos 6 The great catastrophal earthquake of Riobamba. 1882 Daily News 6 Feb., Mr. Proctor, after his catastrophal forebodings.

catastrophe (ka'taestrafi). Also 7 catastrophy. [a. Gr. Karaorpori overturning, sudden turn, conclusion, f. Kara-orpeeLv to overturn, etc., f. Kara down + orpetjieiv to turn.] 1. ‘The change or revolution which produces the conclusion or final event of a dramatic piece’ (J.); the denouement. 1579 E. K. in Spenser's Sheph. Cal. May, Gloss., This tale is much like to that in Aesops fables, but the catastrophe and ende is farre different. 1584 R Scot Discov. Witcher, iii. x.

CATASTROPHIC 44 marg., A comicall catastrophe. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. 11. i. (Arb.) 21 Sad is the plot, sad the Catastrophe. 1616 R. C. Times’ Whis. (1871) ill Thou shalt be the protasis and catastrophe of my epistle. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth II. 157 That happy catastrophe and last scene which is to crown the work. 1714 Gay What d'ye call it Pref., They deny it to be Tragical, because its Catastrophe is a Wedding. 01876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. 1. iii. 158 Such was the catastrophe of this long and anxious drama.

2. ‘A final event;

a conclusion generally unhappy’ (J.); a disastrous end, finish-up, conclusion, upshot; overthrow, ruin, calamitous fate. 1601 Shaks. All's Well i. ii. 57 On the Catastrophe and heele of pastime When it was out. 1609 Armin Ital. Taylor (1880) 194 Thinking to deuower And worke my hues Catastrophy. 1628 Mead in Ellis Orig. Lett. 1. 343 III. 265 This was the obscure catastrophe of that great man. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. 1. 251 The late war, and its horrid catastrophe. 1678 Littleton Lat. Diet., A Catastrophe or upshot of a business, catastrophe exitus. 1728 Morgan Algiers II. iii. 256 This catastrophe had the brave Barbarossa and all his vast Designs. 1783 Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. iv. 128 The catastrophe of that siege is well known. 1850 W. Irving Mahomet II. 290 This miserable catastrophe to a miserable career.

fb. humorously. The posteriors.

Obs.

2 Hen. IV, 11. i. 66 Away you Scullion,. He tickle your catastrophe. 1597 Shaks.

3. An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things. 1696 Month. Mercury VII. 91 The Consternation and Confusion .. upon such a sudden Catastrophy. 1717 De Foe Hist. Ch. Scot. (1844) 5 Her many Revolutions, Convulsions, and Catastrophes. 1871 Farrar Witn. Hist. iii. 92 God reveals His will not by sudden catastrophes and violent revolutions.

b. esp. in Geol. A sudden and violent change in the physical order of things, such as a sudden upheaval, depression, or convulsion affecting the earth’s surface, and the living beings upon it, by which some have supposed that the successive geological periods were suddenly brought to an end. (Cf. CATACLYSM, CATASTROPHISM.) 1832 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 89, II. 160. 1858 Whewell Novum Org. Renov. 25 (L.) There are, ip the palsetiological sciences, two antagonist doctrines: catastrophes and uniformity. 1887 Spectator 7 May 626/1 No geologist of repute now believes that mountain-ranges originated in catastrophes.

4* A sudden disaster, wide-spread, very fatal, or signal. (In the application of exaggerated language to misfortunes it is used very loosely.) 1748 Anson Voy. iii. ii. (ed. 4) 429 Thus were we all.. reduced to the utmost despair by this catastrophe. 1795 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 289 The public catastrophe was actually completed by the actual recall of Lord F. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. (1861) II. 270 An inundation, more tremendous than any.. recorded in those annals so prolific in such catastrophes. 1856 Kane A ret. Expl. II. xiii. 131 This fishery is fearfully hazardous; scarcely a year passes without a catastrophe. Mod. Our hostess was immensely relieved that dinner had gone off without any catastrophe. My luggage has not arrived: what a catastrophe!

catastrophic

(kgets'strofik), a. [ad. Gr. KaTCLOTpOLK~6s, f. kclt aor pO(j>fj CATASTROPHE.] Of the nature of, or belonging to, a catastrophe: esp. in the history of the earth or the universe. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) III. 512 The supposed proofs of catastrophic transition. 1849 Murchison Siluria xx. 491 A catastrophic destruction of such animals. 1871 E. H. Plumptre Spirits in Pris. (1884) 348 Events which are not continuous, but catastrophic.. such as the Resurrection and the Last Judgment.

cata'strophical, a.

[f. as prec. + -al1.]

Referring to, dealing with, catastrophes; also — prec. 1826 Blackw. Mag. XIX. Pref. 24 Paragraphs circuitously approaching.. to a catastrophical climax. 1876 Contemp. Rev. XXVIII. 740 A .. disturbance of the laws and direction of matter and force,—sudden, and catastrophical. Hence cata'strophically adv. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 155 As soon as that repression was catastrophically removed.

catastrophism and

(ks'taestrsfiz^m). biological

[f.

phenomena

were

caused by catastrophes, or sudden and violent disturbances

of

nature,

rather

remained catastrophists in Biology. 1879 Lit. World 161/1 We are still catastrophists in judging of history.

t ca'tastrophize. Obs.—° ‘To end a Comedy or the like’ (Cockeram 1623). f catastrophonical, a. (A nonsense word.) 1605 Marston Dutch Court, ii. i, A signe of good shaving, my catastrophonicall fine boy.

fcatastrum. Obs.~° [ad. Gr. Karaorpuipo. deck.] ‘The decke or hatch of a ship’ (Cockeram). f Catath'leba. Obs. rare~l. [? f. Gr. KaraflAijS- to press down.] Some fabulous monster. c 1300 K. Alis. 6564 Another best ther is, of eovel kynde .. Catathleba is hire name.

catathymia

(kseta'Gaimra). Psychiatry. [mod.L., ad. G. katathymie (H. W. Maier 1912, in Zeitschr. f. Neurol. & Psychiat. XIII. 555), f. Gr. Kara according to + dvpos spirit, temper.] A condition in which the mind falls under the control of the emotions. Hence cata'thymic a., cata'thymically adv. 1934 E. B. Strauss tr. Kretschmer's Text-bk. Med. Psychol. 11. vi. 71 By catathymia. .we mean the transformation of the psychic content by affective influences. The primitive world-picture is much more catathymic than our own... This is sufficient to bring about the catathymically determined conviction. Ibid. vii. 101 In such cases of schizophrenia the type of thought is again almost entirely catathymic, even to the extent of the loss of all contact with the realities. 1949 Brit.Jrnl. Psychol. XL. 13 In catathymia we are dealing with changes to which the psychic content is subjected, and transformed, by affective influences.

catatonia (kasts'tsums). Path. Also 9 katatonia. [f. Gr. Kara, down + -rovtaf from rovoir TONE.] A form of insanity, characterized by epilepsy and catalepsy. 1889 in Cent. Diet. 1917 C. R. Payne tr. Pfister's Psychoanal. Method 1. vi. 132 Probably there was catatonia; her brother suffered from a severe form of this disease and was cared for in an insane asylum. 1937 ‘C. Caudwell’ Illusion & Reality 258 In catatonia the affects are repressed. 1956 A. Huxley Heaven & Hell App. 84 In psychological terms .. from catatonia and feelings of unreality to a sense of heightened reality in vision and, finally, in mystical experience. 1963 New Scientist 18 July 146 The inert state called catatonia which is characteristic of some kinds of schizophrenia.

Hence cata'toniac, one who is affected with catatonia. 1888 Alien. & Neurol. July 458 Kieman found four head injuries among 30 katatoniacs.

catatonic (kaeta'ttmik), a. [f. as prec.: see -ic 1.] Characterized by catatonia. Hence as sb., one affected by catatonia. 1908 Practitioner Jan, 12 There may be catatonic stupor, automatic obedience, and occasionally impulsive automatism. 1917 C. R. Payne tr. Pfister's Psychoanal. Method 11. xix. 499 The overcoming of the resistance is impossible in catatonics of an advanced stage. 1948 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Dec. 89 Catatonic schizophrenia is characterized by negativism, catalepsy, suggestibility, stupor, excitement, mannerisms, stereotypy. 1957 P. Lafitte Person in Psychol. 7 The scale or scope of activity may vary, down to the limit of the catatonic schizophrenic, whose endless wars and reconciliations are conducted in strict privacy.

catavothron:

see katabothron.

catawampous (kaeta'wompss), a. slang (chiefly U.S.). Also cata'wamptious (-Jas). [A humorous formation, the origin of which is lost: the first part of the word was perhaps suggested by catamount, or ? by words in Gr. Kara-.] Fierce, unsparing, destructive. Also, askew, awry. (A high-sounding word with no very definite meaning.) 1840 Spirit of Times 25 Jan. 561/2 Him is done up—used up catawampous—kicked up into eberlasting hoki! 1844 [see v. 3]. 1856 Househ. Words XIII. 148 It had fallen a victim to the jaws of deadly alligator, or catawampous panther. 1885 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts. ix. 153 She got me plumb catawampus. 1889-Broomsedge Cove iii. 44 But it’s a powerful differ ter please this man an’ not git that one set catawampus. 1917 L. M. Montgomery Anne’s House of Dreams xxxvi. 308 Dear me, everything has gone catawampus with me this week. chaw

catastrophe 3 + -ism.] The theory that certain geological

CATCALL

972

than

by

continuous and uniform processes. 1869 Huxley in Sci. Opinion 21 Apr. 464/1 By Catastrophism I mean any form of geological speculation which.. supposes the operation of forces different in their nature .. from those which we at present see in action. 1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. 19 It was the Geology of Catastrophism. fig. 1885 Century Mag. XXXI. 68 The Craig household .. was conducted on the theory of ‘catastrophism’ rather than that of ‘uniform law’.

catastrophist (ks'tasstrsfist). Geol. [f. as prec. + -1ST.] One who holds the theory of catastrophism; opposed to uniformitarian. Also attrib. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) III. 509 Geologists who had been bred up in the catastrophist creed. 1879 Spencer Data of Ethics iv. §17 For a generation after geologists had become uniformitarians in Geology, they

Hence cata'wampus sb., a bogy, a fierce imaginary animal; cata'wampously, cata'wamptiously adv., ‘fiercely, eagerly. To be catawamptiously chawed up is to be completely demolished, utterly defeated’ (Bartlett Diet. Amer.). 1843 R. Carlton’ New Purchase I. xxviii. 265 The tother one what got most sker’d is a sort of catawampus (spiteful). 1852 Lytton My Novel in Blackw. Mag. LXXI. 434 To be catawampously champed up [ed. 1853 chawed up] by a mercenary selfish cormorant of a capitalist. 1857 F. Douglass Speech (Bartlett) To take to our heels before three hundred thousand slaveholders, for fear of being catawamptiously chawed up? 1874 M. Collins Frances I. 162 The catawampuses you see about harvest time—they fly quite pretty in the air, but, O my gracious, don’t they sting! 1893 Yonge & Coleridge Strolling Players xvii. 145 Classes had better.. swallow each other, like the crocodile and the catawampus.

Catawba (ka'to:ba). [From the river Catawba in S. Carolina, U.S. (named from the Katahba Indians), where the grape was first discovered. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 223, I begin with the Katahba, because their country is the most contiguous to CharlesTown.]

. .

a. An American species of grape (Vitis Labrusca), which is largely cultivated in the central States of the American Union, b. The light sparkling rich-flavoured wine made from this grape (first made c. 1830). More fully Catawba grape, wine. 1857 Rep. Commiss. Patents Washington 433 The Catawba is the grape generally planted in vineyards for the production of wine, c 1857 Longf. Birds of Passage, ‘Catawba Wine’, For Catawba wine Has need of no sign, No tavern-bush to proclaim it. 1864 Browning Sludge, It was your own wine, sir, the good Champagne (I took it for Catawba, you’re so kind). 1867 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 241 Five thousand gallons of the still unvexed Catawba.

catayl(e, catayll(e, obs. ff. cattle. f cata'zaner. Obs. rare~x. 1632 Shirley Ball v, iO the Catazaners, we turned there!

t cat-band. Sc. Obs. ‘A bar or iron for securing a door; a chain drawn across a street for defence’ (Jam.). The exact sense is doubtful. 1650 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 507 Also the toun..made catbands of yron to hold off horses, brought the canons.. within the toune, &c. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas.I( 1829) 80 To make preparations for defence.. to big up their own back gates, closes, and ports, have their catbands in readiness. 1671 Acts of Sederunt 11 Feb. (Jam.) In case they have not sufficient catbands upon the doors of their prisons.

catbird ('kaetb3id). [See quot. 1885.] 1. a. An American thrush (Mimus Carolinensis). 1731 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 175 Muscicapa vertice nigro. The Cat-Bird. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. 230, I hear the whispering voice of Spring, The thrush’s trill, the cat-bird’s cry. 01879 Lowell Poet. Wks. (1879) 38 The cat-bird croons in the lilac-bush. 1885 Pall Mall G. 21 May 4/2 The ‘cat-bird’.. derives its name from its ordinary cry of alarm, which somewhat resembles the mew of a cat.

b. The name given to several species of Australian birds whose cry resembles the mewing of a cat. 1848 J. Gould Birds Australia IV. pi. 11 Ptilonorhynchus Smithii... Cat Bird. Ibid., Situations suitable to the Regent and Satin Birds are equally adapted to the habits of the Cat Bird. 1887 D. Macdonald Gum Boughs 36 One of the most peculiar of birds’ eggs found about the Murray is that of the locally-termed ‘cat-bird’, the shell of which is veined thickly with dark thin threads as though covered with a spider’s web. 1889 R. B. Anderson tr. Lumholtz’s Among Cannibals vii. 96 The cat-bird (JEluraedus maculosus), which makes its appearance towards evening, and has a voice strikingly like the mewing of a cat. 1957 Encycl. Brit. V. 24/2 Catbird... In Australia, a name given to any of several bowerbirds, especially to Ailuroedus crassirostris, which builds no bower.

2. Phr. the catbird seat: a superior advantageous position. U.S. slang.

or

1942 J. Thurber in 55 Short Stories from New Yorker (1949) 61 ‘Sitting in the catbird seat’ meant sitting pretty, like a batter with three balls and no strikes on him. 1958 Wodehouse Cocktail Time xiii. 114 ‘I get you. If we swing it, we’ll be sitting pretty,’ ‘In the catbird seat.’

cat-boat: see cat sb.2 catcall (’ksetkofi), sb. Also 8 catcal. [From the nocturnal cry or ‘waul’ of the cat.] 1. A squeaking instrument, or kind of whistle, used esp. in play-houses to express impatience or disapprobation. (See Spectator No. 361.) 1659-60 Pepys Diary (1879) I. 67, I.. called on Adam Chard, and bought a cat-call there, it cost me two groats. 1712 Addison Sped. No. 361 jf 2,1 was very much surprised with the great Consort of Cat-calls .. to see so many Persons of Quality of both Sexes assembled together at a kind of Catterwawling. 1732 Fielding Covent Gard. Trag. 1. i, I heard a tailor sitting by my side. Play on his catcal, and cry out, ‘Sad stuff!’ 1753 Gray's Inn Jrnl. No. 61 A shrill toned Catcall, very proper to be used at the next new Tragedy. 1865 Land. Rev. 30 Dec. 687/1 That vilest of all the inventions of Jubal, the catcall.

2. The sound made by this instrument or an imitation with the voice; a shrill screaming whistle. 1749 Johnson Irene Prol., Should partial cat-calls all his hopes confound He bids no trumpet quell the fatal sound. a 1764 Lloyd Author’s Apol. Wks. 1774 I. 1 Powerful cat¬ call from the pit. 1817 Mar. Edgeworth Harrington (1833) 82. 1881 Daily Tel. 27 Dec., In the face of catcalls and other occasional demonstrations from the 'gods’.

3. One who uses the instrument. 1714 Budgell Sped. No. 602 A notorious Rake that headed a Party of Cat-cals.

catcall (’kaetkofi), v. [f. prec.] l.intr. To sound a catcall, esp. at a theatre or similar place of amusement. *734 Fielding Univ. Gallant Prol., ’Tis not the poet’s wit affords the jest, But who can catcall, hiss, or whistle best? 1762 Canning in Poet. Register (1807) 455 Let them cat-call and hiss as they will. 1820 Blackw. Mag. VIII. 5 Some catcalled, and some roared ‘go on’.

2. trans. To receive or assail with catcalls. a 1700 Dryden Prologue Pilgrim (R.) His cant, like merry Andrew’s noble vein, Cat-calls the sects to draw them in again. 1843 Macaulay Mad. D’Arblay, Ess. (1854) 711/2

CATCH Better to be hissed and catcalled by her Daddy than by a whole sea of heads in the pit of Drury Lane Theatre.

Hence 'catcalling vbl. sb. and ppl. a. C1781 Mad. D'Arblay in Macaulay Ess. (1887) 748 That hissing, groaning, catcalling epistle. 1864 Daily Tel. 9 Dec., The gods indulged in their usual habit of whistling and cat¬ calling. 1881 Ld. W. Pitt Lennox Plays, Players, &c. I. 77 A sound of hissing and cat-calling was now heard.

catch (kaetj), sb.1 Also 5 cacche, kache, Sc. each, 5-6 Sc. caich(e. 6 catche, cache, 6-7 katch, 7 Sc. caitche, 7-9 (chiefly in sense 14) ketch, [f. the vb. (The senses are taken from different uses of the verb, and form no regular series among themselves.)] 1. a. The act or fact of catching in various senses; see the vb. 1580 Sidney Arcadia 1. (1613) 91 She would faine the catch of Strephon flie. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, lxviii, Demands To Princes made in Catch of Rebel Hands. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 203 She intended to have me, if she could catch, and it was indeed a kind of a catch. 1870 Daily News 20 Sept., The French captured a German schooner., and this wretched little catch called forth an uncommon deal of enthusiasm and cheering. 1884 J. Payn Thicker than W. vi. 42 There was a ‘catch’ in her breath. 1887 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 692 The young people.. play at catch with coloured balls.

fb. to lie (or be) at (the) catch, to lie (or be) upon the catch: to lie in wait; to be on the watch for an opportunity of catching or seizing something, esp. of catching a person’s words, finding fault, making objections, etc. Obs. 1630 Sibbes Bruised Reed xv. Wks. 1862 I. 68 As one sitting at a catch for all advantages against them. 1642 Rogers Naaman 528 As a prisoner.. always lies at the catch and opportunity to seeke his escape. 1656 H. More Antid. Ath. 11. xi. §7. 75 Scaliger lay at catch with him [Cardan] to take him tripping wherever he could. 1742 Richardson Pamela IV. 170, I saw he was upon the Catch, and look’d stedfastly upon me whenever I mov’d my Lips. 1814 Jane Austen Lady Susan xiv. (1879) 230 Miss M. is absolutely on the catch for a husband.

c. In Rugby football and baseball (see quots.). 1867 [see fair a. 10 d]. 1868 H. Chadwick Base Ball 45 A running catch is made when the ball is caught on the fly while the fielder is on the run. 1896 R. G. Knowles & Morton Baseball 14 He.. must be as proficient in making running catches as in bringing off standing ones. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 431/1 If a player makes a fair catch he shall be awarded a free kick, i960 E. S. & W. J. High am High Speed Rugby xiii. 183 The method of making a fair-catch is to make a mark on the ground with the heel as the ball is caught, and to call: ‘Mark!’

d. Rowing. The grip of the water taken with the oar at the beginning of a stroke. 1881 Standard 30 Mar. 3/7 The shallow waters of the Cam .. make it very difficult for a crew to imitate the catch at the beginning of the stroke. 1898 Encycl. Sport II. 296/2 Catch, the instant application of the weight and muscles of legs and body to the oar at the moment it enters the water.

e. In full glottal catch (see glottal a. ). Often used as a synonym of the more frequent glottal stop. 1925 P. Radin tr. J. Vendryes's Lang. 1. i. 30 It is directly after the vowels, when the emission of air is complete, that this catch or ‘stop’ occurs. 1964 Crystal & Quirk Prosodic Features in Eng. iii. 43 One flap of tremulousness.. is equivalent to a ‘catch’ in the voice (i.e. one flap or brief roll of glottal trill).

2. a. The catching of fish. b. The number of fish caught at one time, or during one season. 1465 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 473 To axe of my lord of Duram in yifte the kache of Hangeford. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 377 The expence of fishing must be paid .. after which the benefit of the catch is supposed to accrue to the proprietors. 1875 Buckland Log-bk. 12 The catch depends very much upon the weather. 1884 Stubbs' Merc. Circular 27 Feb. 194/1 The total catch of mackerel by the New England fleet was 236,685 barrels.

c. A crop, esp. one sufficient to render further sowing unnecessary. U.S. colloq. 1868 G. Brackett Farm Talk 128 That’s one reason why I sowed the field to barley—so as to get a good catch. 1941 Harper's Mag. Aug. 329/1 My newly laid down field, where I didn’t get a very good catch of grass.

3. Cricket, a. The act of catching the ball, when struck by the batsman, before it reaches the ground, and so putting him ‘out’. Also, a ball so hit that a fielder may catch it. catch-andborwl, a catch made by the bowler. 1770 J. Love Cricket 17 Weymark unhappily misses a Catch. 1816 W. Lambert Instr. & Rules Cricket 15 Strikers are generally cautious at first, which will frequently cause a catch. 1837 Dickens Pickw. vii, At every bad attempt at a catch.. he launched his personal displeasure at the head of the devoted individual in such denunciations as..‘now butter-fingers’. 1886 Gurney Phantasms of Living I. 561 His mental condition after just missing a catch. 1888 Steel & Lyttelton Cricket iii. 110 A catch in the slips or at point, or a catch and bowl, is not infrequently the result. 1906 A. E. Knight Compl. Cricketer iv. 146 Rightly judged by the eye, a catch should drop into the hands. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 20 July 15/1 Hence the number of catches-and-bowls he used to bring off.

b. transf. A player who catches well. 1854 F. Lillywhite Guide to Cricketers 58 [He is a] beautiful field at long-leg, being a sure catch. 1884 Lillywhite's Cricket Ann. 102 H. J. Ford; a safe catch in the long-field.

|4. Sc. A chase, pursuit. Obs. at.. gaderel? and catel of o|?er men. 1393 Gower Conf. of catel, or of londe. c 1394 P. PI. Crede 116 clop to coveren wip our bones.

e. fig. Rubbish, trash. (But cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9.) 1643 Milton Divorce iv. (1851) 28 Certainly not the meere motion of camall lust, not the meer goad of a sensitive desire; God does not principally take care for such cattell.

f2. a. As an individual sing. = chattel, with collective pi. originally in association with ‘goods’ or other pi. noun. Obs. This use was evidently derived from law-Latin, in which catallum, catalla were so used. Cf. cum suis catallis omnibus mobilibus, cited by Du Cange, from Leg. Edw. Conf. p. 894, and the phrase melius catallum the best chattel, droit de meilleur catel, the heriot, ibid. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 68 Sapience.. can not be lost as other catalles and wordely goodes may. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 245 The residew of alle my goodis, catellis, and dettis. 1641 Termes de la Ley 49 Catals comprehend in it selfe all goods mooveable & immooveable, except such as are in nature of freehold.. Catals are either reall or personal!. 1644 Jus Populi 37 The condition of a slave is worse than of a beast or any inanimate Cattels. 1720 Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype 1754) II. v. xxvi. 457/1 That they ought not to be taxed of their rents and Catalls.

fb. fig. (see 1 c.) Obs. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iii. xv. 203 They setten in aduenture so dere a cateil as is .. the lyffe. 1567 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) I. 273 Superstitions and feyned cattells onlye deuised to illud the symple and vnlerned.

3. Often used in the phrase goods and cattel; later more frequently goods and cattels, of which the extant form is goods and chattels: see CHATTEL. As in this sense the form cattals is specially prevalent, it looks like a translation of a legal Anglo-Lat. bona et catalla. Du Cange quotes from Leg. Edw. Conf. c. 35 Cum decimis omnium terrarum, ac bonorum aliorum sive catallorum. c 1430 Freemasonry 468 Take here goodes and here cattelle Unto the kynges hond, everydelle. 1436 Test. Ebor. (1855) II. 76 Ye residewe of all my godes and my cateil. 1464 in Paston Lett. 493 II. 167 The administracion of the goods and cateil. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, xlv, Londes, tenementes, godes, catail, and all other the premysses. 1418 E.E. Wills (1882) 35 The Residue of alle my Godes and my Catallys mebles. 1450 in Paston Lett. 107 I. 144 Whiche riotous peple .. bare awey alle the goodes and catalx. 1454 in Ellis Orig. Lett. 11. 38 I. 121 And toke godes and catals. 1528 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 61 Ye goods or catells of ye said schollers. 1597 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass. 1. i. 185 It’s all the goods and cattels thy father lefte thee. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 211 All contributions to the see of Rome .. were forbidden upon pain of forfeiture of all the goods and cattals for ever. % The transition to sense 4 is seen in the following: 1529 Frith Pistle to Chr. Reader 10 Commaunded to destroye the Kynge of Amelech and all his goodes, howbeit

he spared the kinges liffe & ye fayrest goodes & catelles, makinge sacrifice with them. 1547 Homilies 1. Falling from God 1, Yr he should kyl al the amalechites, and destroye them clerely with their goodes and cattals: yet he .. saued .. all the chief of their cattail [ed. 1574 has cattel, cattell], therwith to make sacrifice.

II. Live stock. (Forms catel, cattel(l, cattle.)

4. a. A collective name for live animals held as property, or reared to serve as food, or for the sake of their milk, skin, wool, etc. The application of the term has varied greatly, according to the circumstances of time and place, and has included camels, horses, asses, mules, oxen, cows, calves, sheep, lambs, goats swine, etc. The tendency in recent times has been to restrict the term to the bovine genus, but the wider meaning is still found locally, and in many combinations. As this sense was originally comprised under 1, distinct instances before 1500 are scarce. 01300 Cursor M. 6002 Hors, asse, mule, ox, camell, Dun pan deid all pair cateil. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvm. 274 Bot cattell haf thai fundyn nane, Outane a kow that wes haltand. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. 1. xiii. 8 And tyl all catale pasture gwde. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §37 Shepe in myne opynyon is the mooste profytablest cattell that any man can haue. 1535 Fisher Wks. 1. (1876) 391 When hee goeth to hys pastures to see hys Cattayle. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 125 b, The Camel is cheefly used in ye east parts, which some suppose to be the serviceablest cattell for man that is. Ibid. 153 b, The Dogge (though the Lawyer alloweth him not in the number of cattel) and though he yeeldes of himselfe no profite, yet is he .. to be esteemed. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. 400 Blithe were the common cattell of the field. 1604 E. G[rimston] D' Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xvi. 170 There are great numbers of cattell, especially swine. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 183 The goatherds of the countrey do give thereof to their cattel. 1650 Fuller Pisgah. 11. ii. 80 How came the Gadarens, being undoubtedly Jews . . to keep such a company of useless cattell [= swine]? 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, iii. 590 Is Wool thy Care? Let not thy Cattle go.. where Burs and Thistles grow. 1741-2 Act 15 & 16 Geo. II, xxxiv, By cattle, in this act, is to be understood any bull, cow, ox, steer, bullock, heifer, calf, sheep, and lamb, and no other cattle whatever. 1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 297 Cattle of no kind will thrive but in the master’s eye. a 1856 Longf. Psalm of Life, Be not like dumb driven cattle, Be a hero in the strife. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 89 The former use of cattle as a medium of exchange.

fb. Extended to fowls, bees, etc. Obs. or arch. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. 1. 1057 So made that lysardes may not ascende, Ne wicked worme this cateil [bees] for to offende. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 163 I wilnot refuse to shew you somwhat also of my feathered cattel. 1589 R. Harvey PI. Perc. 17 Take heed, thine owne Cattaile sting thee not. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman D'Alf. 1. 139 In breeding of Cattell, as Pigs, Hens, and Chickens, and the like. 1830 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 129 Among all manner of bovine, swinish and feathered cattle.

c. Now usually confined to, or understood of, bovine animals. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. 1. x. (Arb.) 104 Neat or cattail becoome of bygger stature. 1570 Levins Manip. 55 Cattel, boves, jumenta. 1605 Camden Rem. 1 Replenished with cattell both tame and wilde. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 57 Their Horse and Cattel. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 73 Fair for the sale of black cattle once a fortnight.. There is belonging to Chillingham Castle a large park where there is a kind of wild cattle which are all white. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 378/2 In the usual acceptation of the word [cattle] it is confined to the ox. 1887 Daily News 11 Jan. 2/4 A fair demand for both cattle and sheep.

d. In the language of the stable, applied to horses. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 224 Such as a Carrier makes his Cattle wear, And hangs for Pendents in a Horse’s Ear. 1733 Fielding Quix. in Eng. 1. iii, Your worship’s cattle are saddled. 1750 Coventry Pompey Litt. 11. iv. (1785) 58/1 He kept a phaeton chaise, and four ‘bay cattle’. 1826 Scott Woodst. xxxii. 1835 Sir G. Stephen Search of Horse ii. 34 All the disabled cattle of the summer stages to Brighton, Southampton, and so forth. 1886 J. S. Winter In Quarters, To cast reflections unfavorable to.. the color of their uniform, the class of their cattle.

e. Applied by slaveholders to their slaves. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiii, What have any of you cussed cattle to do with thinking what’s right?

5. a. Used also as an ordinary plural of number, fb. rarely as a singular = beast, ox, etc. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 123 We found there in all one hundred twentie eight cattell. 1725 Minute Bk. Soc. Antiq. (Brand s.v. Funerals), A hundred black cattle are killed. 1796 W. Marshall Yorksh. (ed. 2) I. 158 A cattle, when it goes into a drinking pit.. throws the chief part of its weight upon its fore feet. 6. With attributes; neat cattle, homed cattle:

oxen, bovine animals, black cattle: ‘oxen, bulls, and cows’ (J.); prob. at first properly applied to the black breeds found in the highlands of Scotland, Wales, and other districts, to which it is still by some restricted, but as other colours appear in the progeny of these, the name has come to have a general application. 1535 Coverdale I Kings iv. 23 Ten fat oxen, and twenty small cateil, and an hundreth shepe. 1701 Col. Rec. Penn. II. 27 That there shall be no neat Cattle kill’d. 1725 Min. Book Soc. Antiq. 21 July (Brand), After the body [of a Highland chief] is interred, a hundred black cattle and two or three hundred sheep are killed for the entertainment of the company. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Cattle, Black Cattle more particularly denotes the cow kind. These are also denominated neat cattle. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xlii. 555 Their sheep and horned cattle were large and numerous. 1803 j. Bristed Pedest. Tour II. 450 We now turned due west over the mountains, and .. met some blackcattle drovers. 1815 Scott Guy M. iv, Green pastures, tenanted chiefly by herds of black cattle, then the staple

CATTLE commodity of the country. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 378/2 [Cattle] In the usual acceptation .. is confined to the ox, or what is called black cattle or horned cattle. But as many varieties are not black, and several have no horns, the name neat cattle is more appropriate. 1864 D. Mitchell Wet Days at Edgew. 257 Known for his stock of neat cattle. 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 209 The horned cattle, horses, and sheep are remarkably fine.

7. In various extended uses; mostly contemptuous: a. of vermin, insects, and the like. ? Obs. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 170 In the holes of this wicked cattell [Rats]. Ibid. 318 Lizards and serpents, and other noysome cattell. a 1656 Bp. Hall Invis. World iii. iii, Doth he fetch frogs out of Nilus?.. they can store Egypt with loathsome cattle as well as he. 1639 T. De Gray Compl. Horsem. 100 It hath caused the Horse to voyd many of these bad Cattle [worms]. 1673 Cave Prim. Chr. 11. vii. 169 Flies, Wasps, and such little Cattel. 1685 R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. iv. 86 Tame Cattel they have none except lice.

b. of men and women, with reference to various preceding senses, arch. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 27 We haue infinite Poets, and Pipers, and suche peeuishe cattel among vs in Englande, that Hue by merrie begging. 1600 Shaks. A. Y.L. iii. ii. 435 Boyes and women are .. cattle of this colour. 1682 Evelyn Diary 24 Jan., The Dutchess of Portsmouth, Nelly,., concubines, and cattell of that sort, as splendid as jewells .. could make them. 1690 B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, Sad Cattle, Impudent Lewd Women. 1768 H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 11 To have consulted astrologers and such like cattle. 1823 Scott Peveril xx, To sweep this north country of such like cattle [priests].

III. Attrib. and Comb, (all belonging to branch II, and referring mainly to bovine animals). 8. General relations: a. objective or obj. gen. with verbal sb. or agent noun, as cattle-breeder, -breeding, -dealer, -driving, -drover, -farming, -hougher, -houghing, -killing, -maiming, -raiding, -raiser, -raising, -rearing, -rustler, -rustling, -stealing, -thief. 1827 Whately Logic in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) 234/i Bakewell, the celebrated *cattle-breeder. 1877 tr. Tiele's Hist. Relig. 17 Without neglecting ‘cattle-breeding and agriculture. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. 1. (1863) 103 A rich and liberal ‘cattle-dealer in the neighbourhood. 1878 Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 60 If ‘cattle-driving was to be interpreted as levying war. 1806 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 260 The object of ‘cattle-farming is chiefly breeding. 1886 Pall Mall G. 8 May 1/1 Executing the just judgment of offended Heaven upon ‘cattle-houghers, traitors, and assassins. 1831 Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 217 B -..is literally a ‘cattlejobber. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 5/1 The renewed outbreak of ‘cattle-maiming in this parish [sc. Great Wyrley]. 1965 K. H. Connell in Pop. in Hist. xvii. 433 Arson and murder, the boycott and cattle-maiming were some of their weapons. 1899 Daily News 13 Nov. 7/4 The real object of this ‘cattle-raiding expedition. 1853 ‘P. Paxton’ Yankee in Texas 122 He lived on the frontier amid the Ingens, and ‘cattle-raisers. 1896 Daily News 16 Jan. 5/6 All the victims were well-known cattle-raisers. 1878 I. L. Bird Lady's Life in Rocky Mts. (1879) x. 170 Perry’s Park is one of the great ‘cattle-raising ranches in Colorado. 1883 Athenseum 2 June 693 In Galicia cattle-raising is rapidly superseding tillage. 1923 Daily Mail 15 Feb. 8 A great crisis has fallen upon the cattle-raising industry of this Republic. 1953 E. Smith Guide to Eng. Trad. 3 Some livestock farmers .. specialize in sheep-rearing rather than in cattle-raising. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 37 ‘Cattle-rearing formed an important branch of Egyptian agriculture. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy vii. 86 The stampede .. was the work of ‘cattle rustlers. 1907 S. E. White Arizona Nights 1. iii. 60 We .. saw the beginning of the cattle rustling, i960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 75/1 The alleged case of cattle¬ rustling. 1803 Edin. Rev. I. 404 The renown of ‘cattlestealers. 1862 T. E. DeVoe Market Bk. I. 172 A foraging party, under .. the city’s former governor.. extensively known as a ‘‘Cattle Thief. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy vii. 101 The biggest cattle-thief ever bom in Medinah County. b. attrib., as cattle-cabbage, -camp (camp sb.2 4 c), -close, -country, -culture, -dropping, -farm, -feed, -food, -herd, -kraal, -market, -park, -path, -pen, -show, -track, -trade, -trough, -yard, etc.; (connected with the transport of cattle), as cattle-boat, -car, -ship, siding, -steamer, -train, -truck, -wagon, etc. c. instrumental and parasynthetic, as cattlespecked, -sprent, etc.; cattle-proof adj. d. cattlefarm vb. (rare). i860 Sala Make your Game 14 Not a ‘cattle-boat luckily, though, in some pens forward, there were a few sheep. 1889 C. Edwardes Sardinia 375 This Black Hole of a cattle-boat. 1945 Wyndham Lewis Let. 13 Mar. (1963) 381 There still is no alternative: a cattle-boat.. or stop here. 1900 H. Lawson Verses Pop. at cawsed moche sorowe. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531). 4 b, That . . oftentymes causeth heresyes & errours. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg, ill. 763 A Drench of Wine., the Patient’s Death did cause. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 430 How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 55 The ruin of their empire.. was caused by the loss of freedom and the growth of despotism.

b. Const, object and inf. with (formerly also without) to. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 114 It causeth .. A man to be subtil of wit. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 543 How durst thou .. to be so bold To cawse hym dy? 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 34 It sail cause the cum in great dangeir. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. 11. iii, Take heed, you doe not cause the blessing leaue you. 1611 Bible Amos viii. 9, I will cause the Sunne to go downe at noone. 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. 11. iv. 73, I caused him bleed oftner then once. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 216 Out of the fertil ground he caus’d to grow All trees. 1842 W. Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 10 It is the gravitation of the water which causes it to flow.

c. with obj. and inf. pass. 1494 Fabyan i. iii. 10 They., caused great fyres to be made. 1535 Coverdale Ps. civ. [cv.] 20 Then sent the kinge and caused him be delyuered. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. i. 42 She caused them be led.. Into a bowre. 1678 Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. ii. §84. 472/2 He..caused his five Brethren to be all strangled in his presence. 1821 J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. 127 To cause a statement in writing.. to be hung up in some conspicuous place.

fd. with inf. simply, as to cause make, to have or get (something) made, cause (it) to be made. (Cf. F. faire faire, etc.) Obs. ? exc. Sc. 1535 Coverdale i Kings ii. 36 The kynge sent, and caused for to call Semei. 1649 Drumm. of Hawth. Hist. Jas. I, Wks. (1711) 5 The king .. caused abolish the indictment. 01693 URQUHART Rabelais ill. xliv. 358 She caused kill them. 1753 Scots Mag. Feb. 91/2 The directors had caused prepare the draught. 1820 Mair Tyro's Diet. (ed. 10) 5 Numa caused make eleven more [shields] of the same form.

e. with obj. sentence, arch. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 108 That causeth why that some passe Her due cours to-fore another. C1510 Virgilius in Thoms Prose Rom. 23 She caused workemen shulde make the walles ageyne. 1611 Bible John xi. 37 Could not this man .. haue caused that euen this man should not haue died? 1722 De Foe Plague (1756) 93 This caus’d, that many died frequently.. in the Streets suddenly.

f 2. To actuate, move, force, drive (an agent) to (some action or emotion). Obs. C1400 Destr. Troy 13402 What causet the kyng to his cleane yre. c 1430 Syr Try am. 641 Grete nede cawsyth hur therto.

f 3. As vb. of incomplete predication: To make or render (a thing something). (Cf. L. efficere.) 1576 Baker Jewell of Health 90 a, If oftener it shall be dystilled, it is then caused the effectuouser. Ibid. 113 a, It

causeth them also most white. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 188 An honest life will cause it a pleasaunt lyuing.

f4. To give reasons or excuses [= L. causari]. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 26 He, to shifte their curious request, Gan causen why she could not come in place.

cause, v.2 rare~]. [a. F. cause-r to talk, chat.] To speak familiarly, converse, talk, chat. 1839 Bailey Festus xxvii. (1848) 321, I have caused face to face with elements.

f cause, v.3 Obs. rare. ? To cast or shed. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 862 Thaire myddel teeth aboue at two yere age Thai cause, at yeres mi an other gage. Ere yeres six gothe the gomes stronge, The caused first at yeres vi are even.

cause, ’cause, conj. Obs. exc. dial. [An elliptic use of prec. sb. for because (dial, a-cause).] 11. (with of) = because of, on account of. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 184 Churches.. were gyuen To god and saynt Werburge cause of deuocion. 2. = because. Since c 1600 often written

'cause; now only dial., or vulgar', also spelt cos, coz, cuz, case, etc. 1556 Lauder Tractate 295 3e suld not chuse thame cause 3e lufe thame. 1592 Marlowe Jew Malta iv. ii. 1535 Do you mean to strangle me? Yes, cause you use to confess. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 169 It was the more terrible, cause hee had seene Mecha, and never after lied. 1653 in Walton Angler xi. 218, I cannot hate thee [Musick], ’cause the Angels love thee. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin 11. Argt., ’Cause he had left her in the Lurch. 1711 E. Ward Vulgus Brit. xi. 121 ’Cause none will credit what they say. 18.. Prout in Burrowes Rem. 267 All for what? ’Kase his courage was good. 1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 411/2 Jason pitied her ’cause she was lonesome.

!| cause celebre (koz selebr). [Fr.] A celebrated legal case; a law-suit that excites much interest. 1763 H. Walpole Let. 11 Aug. (i960) XXII. 155 An extraordinary law-suit.. curious enough for the Causes celebres. 1765 D. Garrick Let. 27 Jan. in R. B. Peake Mem. Colman Fam. (1841) I. 136, I have taken a slice at the laworatory here [Paris]... It was a cause celebre. 1857 Trollope Three Clerks xli, Of course a cause celebre such as this was not going to decide itself in one day. i860 Once a Week 22 Sept. 363/2 Well-nigh all the great murders—the causes celebres of blood in our day—have been most deliberately planned. 1882 Standard 16 Dec. 5/6 In the Criminal Court of Innspriick to-day proceedings were opened in a cause celebre of a .. most painful character. 1955 Times 27 May 11/1 The defence of the Dutch and Indonesian accused in the cause celebre which recommences today.

'caused, ppl. a. Affected by causes. 1875 Holyoake Co-oper. Eng. I. 333 No mad, devil-born will, but a caused will, obedient to the laws of evidence.

causedness ('koizidnis).

rare.

[f.

prec.

+

-ness.] (See quot.) 1829 Jas. Mill Hum. Mind 11. xiv. (1869) 43 In abstract discourse effect [means] the same as would be meant by causedness.

causeful ('koizful), a.

rare. [f. cause sb. + fa- Showing or yielding a cause or reason. Obs. b. Having (good) cause or reason, well founded, well-grounded, c. That is a cause of, productive, fruitful of. -ful.]

C1400 Test. Love iii. (1560) 298/2 Withouten causefull evidence, mistrust in jealousie should not be weued. 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella (1622) 575 Yet waile thy selfe, and waile with causefull teares. 1613 Sherley Trav. Persia 7 His causefull indignation. 1849 D. Jerrold Man of Money Wks. 1864 IV. 95 More causeful of blood and tears than the hammer of Thor. f 'causefully, adv. Obs. rare. [f. prec. + -ly2.] With (good) cause, with reason. 1615 T. Adams Black Devil 68 If we thrive not in.. Godlines, wee may causefully call our sanctity into question.

causeless ('kaizlis), a. [f.

cause sb. + -less.] 1. Having no antecedent cause: a. fortuitous; b. not to be explained by any natural cause; c. antecedent to all causes. C1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 731 Grete God above That knoweth that none act is causeles. 1601 Shaks. All's Well 11. iii. 3 They say miracles are past, and we haue our Philosophicall persons, to make moderne and familiar things supernaturall and causelesse. 1712 Blackmore Creation 1. 18 His causeless power, the cause of all things known.

2. Of persons: That has no cause or excuse for his action (obs.); that has no cause at law. c 1374 Chaucer Ariel. & Arc. 229 Nowe is he Fals, ellas! and Causelesse, And of my woo he is so rewthelesse. 1598 Drayton Heroic. Epist. vii. 161 Love causelesse still, doth aggravate his cause. 1607 Bp. Hall Ps. vii, If I .. Doe good unto my causeless foe That thirsted for my overthrow.

3. Of acts, etc.: Without cause; for which there is no justifying cause or reason; groundless. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. 27472 Condampnit for ane causles cryme, But ony fait. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 29 The causelesse rigour of the cruell Dame. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxv. § 16 And so delivered them from causeless blame. 1649 Milton Eikon. Wks. 1738 I. 387 A causeless and most unjust Civil War. a 1711 Ken Hymns Festiv. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 348 He ne’re inflicts a causeless Pain. 1852 Hawthorne Tanglewood T., Dragon's Teeth, The strangest spectacle of causeless wrath.

B. As adv. or in quasi-adverbial construction. (Often capable of being explained as an adj. in sense 2, qualifying the subject or object of the vb.)

CAUSELESSLY CI374 Chaucer Troylus 1. 779 What may this be, That thou dispaired art, thus causelesse?