(2). A rude, ill-bred person; used half humorously (I. xxi. 35). Cf.
Tennyson, "In Memoriam," cx. :-
"The churl in spirit, up or down
Note the tendency of an aristocracy to make a word of social inferiority
pass into a moral inferiority.
Cincture.] (IV. xvi. 22.)
Combust.] (III. xx. 26.)
Belt, girdle. Lat. cingo, surround.
Lat. comburo, burn. Astrological term.
A planet was said to be combust, or in combustion, when not more
than 8 degrees from the sun.
Conclave.] (II. xxxiii. 2.) Lat. cum, with, and clavis, a key. A
secret room, especially the room at Rome in which the Cardinals meet
for the election of the Pope. Hence it was used for any meeting of
Cardinals, and then for any close assembly.
Corslet.] (VI. v. 3.) A little cuirass; armour to protect the body.
Lat. corpus. For termination, cf. bracelet, anklet, frontlet, varlet.
Couch.] From French coucher, to lay down. (II. xxxiii. 24.) It
was also the technical word for placing the spear in a horizontal position
for a charge. (I. xiv. 10; III. xxii. 35.)
Cowl.] A monk's head-dress. Lat. cucullus.
Cresset.] (II. xviii. 17, xix. 8.) "An antique chandelier "-S. A
lantern: a beacon-light.-"Lay of Last Minstrel," III. xxvi. 8.
Cf. Fr. creuset, sort of lamp; cruise of oil.
Crosier.] (II. xxxi. 8.) Fr. croix. A bishop's staff in the form of a
shepherd's crook. So the Fr. crosse, a curved stick, used in the game
La Crosse.
Croupe.] (V. ii. 14.) Fr. croupe, the buttocks of a horse: over
which passes our "crupper." In the French Dictionary it gives " gagner
la croupe du cheval de son ennemi, l'approcher par derrière."
Darkling.] (II. xxviii. 15.) Being in the dark. Cf. Milton's "Par.
Lost," iii. 39:
"The wakeful bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note."
Used of Milton's blindness, Thomson's "Winter," 536.
Dean.] (IV. xii. 17.) Still used in the North for a little valley. Cf.
Tenterden.
Deas.] (I. xiii. 5.) More commonly dais: a raised part of the floor of
a hall, on which was the high table; or, the high table itself. Prov. deis,
from Lat. disc-us, quoit, quoit-shaped table.
Dight.] (I. vi. 2.) Past participle of a verb" dight" (A.-S. diht-an),
which signifies establish, prepare; very often, deck, array. Cf. Milton's
"Il Penseroso," 159:
"Storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light."
It here means ordained, doomed = bedight.
Dint.] (I. xxiii. 12.) A blow, stroke, or its impress; force. Akin to din.
IV. iv. 23.) Simply a house. Lat. domus; not,
as sometimes (e.g. IV. xvi. 2), a church; much less, a cupola.
Don.] (V. vi. 33.) Put on, lit. do on, contrasted with doff. Cf.
"dup" do up. Shakespeare's "Hamlet," IV. v. :
"Then up he rose, and donned his clothes,
And dupped the chamber door."
And "dout" do out, extinguish.-Id. ib. I. iv. 37 (according to one
reading):
Doth all the noble substance often dout."
Donjon.] Vide note, I. i. 4.
Dower.] Vide note, II. iii. 17.
Dub.] (VI. xii. 11.) To make a knight by striking with the blade
of a sword. Derivation A.-S. dubban; to strike.
Eke.] (III. xix. 4.) And, also, in addition. Ger. auch ; Cf. verb
to eke out, to add to, increase.
Elfin.] (III. frequently.) Adjective from elf, fairy.
Elf.] A.-S. clf. Fairy; but in VI. xxxviii. 1, it almost=oaf, fool.
Embrazure.] (VI. xi. 4.) An opening in a wall or parapet; gene-
rally used like a loophole for firing through.
Facets.] (IV. xi. 18.) Little faces, as the facets of a diamond. In
architecture, flat projections between the flutings of columns.
Falchion.] A sword; properly, a crooked sword, scimitar. Lat.
falx, reaping-hook.
Fay.] (a.) =fairy. Fr. fée; Lat. fata (VI. iii. 39, xvii. 12).
(b.) faith. Fr. foi; Lat. fides (I. xxii. 23, xxvii. 1).
Featly.] (VI. viii. 29.) Cleverly, neatly. Cf. Shakespeare's "Tem-
pest," I. ii., in Ariel's song. (From feat, Fr. fait, Lat. factum, a deed
worthy the name.)
Feud.] (a) Connected with our foe, fiend. Germ. feind, enemy;
fehde, war. A deadly quarrel, not between nations, but between families
and small tribes.
Feud (b) and Feudal.] Der. (1) Gothic, fee, reward (a physi-
cian's fee) and odh, property; or (2) Lat. fideicommissum (through the
Spanish). A feud was land held on condition of performing certain
duties. Feudal, belonging to such feud. So we speak of the Feudal
System, the tenure of land for military service. Some connect with
feud (a).
Fitful.] (III. xxvi. 22.) Intermittent. Cf. Shakespeare's "Mac-
beth," "Life's fitful fever."
Following.] Cf. note, V. vi. 22.
Forayers, foray.] Cf. note, I. xx. 4.
Fosse.] (I. xvii. 6.) Moat. Lat. fossa.
Frontlet.] (1.) (VI. iii. 14.) A band worn on the forehead. Cf. Deut.
vi. (V. xx. 12.) (2.) Term used in architecture, meaning ornaments at
the top.
Galliard.] Fr. gaillard. Adj. gay, saucy. Subs. (1) A gay young
man. (2) (V. xxii. 32). A lively dance. Cf. Shakespeare's "Henry V.,"
I. ii. 252:
"And bids you be advised there's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard won."
And "Twelfth Night," I. iii. 128:
"Sir Toby. What is thy excellence in a galliard, knight?
Sir Andrew. Faith, I can cut a caper.
Sir Toby. Why dost not thou go to a church in a galliard, and
come home in a coranto?"
Gammon.] (III. iii. 7.) Ham. Fr. jambon, from jambe, a leg.
Garish.] (Apparently from A.-S. word gearwian, to dress). Magnifi-
cent, showy, glaring.-Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet," III. ii. : "The
garish sun." And Milton's "Il Penseroso," 138: "Day's garish eye.”
Ghast.] (IV. xxi. 20.) The commoner form of the word is ghastly.
Glee.] (I. iv. 5.) From A.-S. gligg=music. Hence, the gaiety of a
feast, and thence, mirth. It is not connected with glad, as might be
at first supposed.
Gorget.] (V. ii. 23.) A piece of armour for defending throat or
neck. Fr. gorge, throat.
Gossamer.] (II. xiv. 16.) A fine filmy substance, like cobwebs,
which floats in the air in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn.
Cf. Tennyson," In Memoriam," xi. 7 :-
"All the silvery gossamers
That twinkle into green and gold."
Derivation, God-summer. Germ. sommer-fäden, Marien-fäden, from
the legend that the gossamer is the remnant of Our Lady's winding-
sheet, which fell away in fragments as she was taken up to heaven. It
is this divine origin which is indicated by the first syllable of the Eng-
lish word. Keightley ("Fairy Mythology," p. 513) derives it from gorse
and samite.
Gouts, blood-gouts.] (VI. v. 7.) Fr. goutte; Lat. gutta, a drop.
Cf." Macbeth," II. i. 46:
"And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood."
"Gramercy!"] (I. xxv. 1; III. xxii. 19.) Fr. grand merci, many
Guerdon.] (VI. xxxvi. 11.) A reward, requital, recompense;
either in good or bad sense. From same root as re-ward, re-gard, French.
Gules.] (IV. vi. 10.) Heraldic term for red; bright red. Fr. gueules,
from the colour of the gullet, throat; Lat. gula.
Hagbut.] (V. iii. 8.) Also spelt hackbut. A musket. Hackbuteer.
"Lay of Last Minstrel," III. xxi. 12. French, arquebuse, from German,
hakenbüchse. Haken, hook, and büchse, a fire-arm.
Halbert.] (I. viii. 2; V. iii. 7.) Germ. hellebarde; Fr., hallebarde. A
spear with an axe at the end of it. Some derive from Germ. helm, handle
(cf. helm, handle of ship's rudder), and barte, an axe. There is an Old
Germ. form, helmbarte. The halbert is now only used by the town-
officers in Scotland, who attend a magistrate, and who may be compared
with the English javelin-men.
Hale.] (II. xi. 18.) Drag. Cf. St. Luke, xii. 58, "hale thee to the
judge." Cf. haul, hale-yard.
Harry.] (I. xix. 7.) 1. Same as harrow; devastate, ravage; espe-
cially used of plundering lands. Cf. "Lay of Last Minstrel," IV. xxiv. 13.
"Harried the lands of Richard Musgrave." It is also found in a very
curious though not uncommon expression, which may be seen in Spenser's
"Faerie Queene," I. x. 40, where he speaks of Our Lord as "He that
harrowed hell:" and in Lyndsay's "Three Estates," i. 306, and frequently
(ed. Chalmers), "Christ who harried hell," and in Percy's "Reliques."
To harrow a field is to tear up the soil.
2. A later sense is worry, annoy. Cf. Tennyson's "Guinevere," 244:
"Thou, their fool, set on to plague
And play upon and harry me."
It comes from A.-S. hergian, to ravage as an army (Germ. heer, army).
There is also a Norman verb harer, to provoke; and Fr. harasser, which
would seem to be of the same family.
Hosen.] (I. viii. 14.) An old form of the plural of hose, a covering
for the legs, corresponding to stockings. Cf. hosier.
Jeopardy.] Danger. Scotch, jeopard, a battle. Curious deriva-
tions:-1. Fr., jeu perdu, a lost game. 2. Fr., jeu parti, divided or even
game; jocus partitus; Chaucer spells it jeupartie. 3. Germ., gefahr,
danger.
Jerkin.] (I. viii. 14.) A short coat or jacket. Languedoc word,
hergaon, overcoat.
Ken.] (I. xxiv. 13.) Know. (Germ. kennen.) A Scotch word.
Kirtle.] (A.-S., cyrtel; Lat., curt-us; Fr., court; Eng., curt.) An
upper garment, mantle, worn by women. (V. iv. 34.) "Lay of Last
Minstrel," II. xxvi. 2, VI. iv. 7. In Percy's "Reliques," the word
"kyrtell" is used for a man's nether garment; in his Glossary he gives
the two words' separately-kirtle for a woman's, and kyrtell for a
man's, garment. In a note, also, he quotes from an old author, "He
sent for the kyrtle of Holy Hugh the Abbot there."
Leaguer.] (VI. i. 9.) Subs. The camp of the assailants in a siege,
whence a besieged town was said to be beleaguered. Of Dutch origin.
Leaguer is connected with layer, lair. The army lies before the town;
as in the word siege, it sits. An old writer, Sir J. Smythe ("Certain
Discourse," 1590, fol. 2), says :-"They will not vouchsafe in their
speeches or writings to use our termes belonging to matters of warre,
but doo call a campe by the Dutch name of legar: nor will not afford to
say that such a towne or such a fort is besieged, but that it is belegar'd."
Cf. Germ. belägerung, siege. Shakespeare, "All's Well," III. vi. :-
"We will bind and hoodwink him so that he shall suppose no other but
that he is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries, when we bring
him to our tents." And A. Wood, "Annals Univ. Ox." (anno 1646) :-
"They shot into the leaguer at Hedington Hill."
Leash.] Vide note I. vii. 13.
Lee.] (V. xii. 45.) A plain, untilled land. It is more usually spelt
lea. Cf. Gray's "Elegy," 2:-"The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the
lea." Derivations :-Ley, A.-S. fallow; Leag, A.-S. pasture. In Scotch,
lea is used as an adj. not plowed, used for pasture only. Cf. Ramsay's
"Poems," i. 60 (quoted in Jamieson's "Scotch Dictionary ") :—
"Plenty shall cultivate ilk scawp and moor,
Now lea and bare, because thy landlord's poor."
L'envoy.] Vide the last note.
Levin.] (I. xxiii. 12.) Lightning. A.-S., lige=flame of light; vide
quotation from Chaucer, note, I. xxiii. 12. Still used in Scotch. Cf.
"Lay of Last Minstrel," IV. xviii. 10:-" Bore the levin-darting guns."
Liege.] Fr. lige, Lat. ligo, bind. Bound by a feudal tenure: thus
subjects are called liegemen; the lord of liegemen, a liege-lord; and
later, a sovereign, a liege (III. xxi. 15).
Fr. enlumineur, Lat. illuminator. A painter.
A wooden fork, to hold a lighted match, or
(Deriv., lint and stock.) Cf. Shakespeare,
Limner.] (VI. v. 20.)
Linstock.] (I. ix. 8.)
fuse, for firing cannon.
"Henry V., III.," Chorus, 33:
"And the nimble gunner
With linstock now the devilish cannon touches."
List.] (a.) Firstly, the edge of cloth, or flannel; then, a catalogue of
names; then, a line forming the extremity of a field of combat. Hence
lists (plural)=long enclosed space in which tournaments were fought.
(I. xii. 8.)
(b.) Verb, contracted from listen.-(L'Envoy, 4.)
(c.) Verb, wish (from German lüsten.) (VI. xiii. 23; I. viii. 6.)
Cf. St. John iii. 8, "the wind bloweth where it listeth"; Macaulay's
66 Armada,"
‚”“Attend all ye who list to hear our noble England's praise."
It is connected with the verb lust, which is, however, a stronger word,
though not always used in a bad sense. Cf. Psalms xxxiv. 12 (Prayer-
book version), "What man is he that lusteth to live ?" Another meaning
is a leaning, i.e., the ship has a list to starboard.
Listed.] (I. xii. 13.) Derived from list (a.) Cf. "Lay of Last Min-
strel," V. xxvii. 1: " listed plain."
|