dob-chick, a dab-chick, a small diving bird, Podiceps minor. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 80; spelt dop-chick, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xv. 686. ‘Dob-chick’ is in common prov. use in many parts of England (EDD.).

docket, the fleshy part of an animal’s tail. Greene, James IV, i. 2 (Slip). Dimin. of dock, in the same sense. See NED. (s.v. Dock, sb.² 1).

doctor, a false die; loaded so as to fall only in two or three ways. A slang term; a ‘doctored die’, Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Hackum); Cibber, Woman’s Wit, i (NED.).

dodder, to tremble or shake from frailty; ‘Dodder grasses . . . so called because with the least puff or blast of wind it doth as it were dodder and tremble’, Minsheu, Ductor.

dole, dool, grief, mourning, lamentation. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 155; F. Q. iv. 8. 3. Spelt dewle, Sackville, Induction, st. 14. In prov. use in Scotland and the north of England, see EDD. (s.v. Dole, sb.²). OF. dol, deul, sorrow; see Bartsch (s.v. Duel). See duill.

dole (landmark); see dool.

dolent, a sorrowing one, a sufferer. Calisto and Melibaea, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 82. L. dolens, grieving.

doly, doleful, sad; ‘In doly season’, Wounds of Civil War, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 170; ‘This dolye chaunce’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, bk. ii (ed. Arber, p. 57). See dole (grief).

domineer, to revel, feast; to live like a lord. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 226; B. Jonson, Every Man, ii. 1. 76 (Downright).

dommerar, dummerer, a begging vagabond who feigns to be dumb. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1. 9. See Harman, Caveat, p. 57; ‘Dummerers, Abraham men’, Burton, Anat. Mel. (ed. 1896), i. 409.

Dondego, a Spaniard; short for ‘Don Diego’. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Brett), ed. Dyce, p. 198. See Diego.

done, donne, to do. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 28; vi. 10. 32. ME. doon, don, to do; done, doon, ger. (Chaucer). OE. dōn, to do.

donny, somewhat ‘dun’, or brownish. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 400. See NED. (s.v. Dunny, adj.¹).

dool, dole, dowle, a boundary-mark; ‘With dowles and ditches’, Golding, Metam. i. 136; fol. 3 (1603); ‘They pullid uppe the doolis’, Paston Letters, i. 58. Low G. dōle, dōl, a boundary-mark (Koolman). ‘Dool’ is in common prov. use in this sense in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Dool, sb.² 1).

dool; see dole (grief).

door: phr. to keep the door, to be a pandar. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Trimtram). Door-keeper, a bawd; id., The Black Book, ed. Dyce, vol. iv, p. 525.

dop, a dip, duck, low bow. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Crites); to dip, duck, dive, bob; Dryden, Epilogue to the Unhappy Favourite, 2.

dop, to baptize. God’s Promises, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 318. Du. doopen, to dip, baptize (Sewel).

dopper, doper, a (Dutch) Anabaptist; ‘This is a dopper (old ed. doper), a she Anabaptist’, B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Register); News from the New World (Factor). Du. dooper, a dipper, baptizer (Sewel).

dor, scoff, mockery. Phr. to give the dor, to make game of, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2; to receive the dor, to be marked, Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, i. 1. 29. Icel. dār, scoff.

dor, to make game of, Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iv. 1. 15. Icel. dāra to mock, make sport of.

dorado, name of a species of fish; ‘The Dorado, which the English confound with the Dolphin, is much like a Salmon’, J. Davies, tr. Mandelslo (ed. 1669, iii. 196); a wealthy person, ‘A troop of these ignorant Doradoes’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. ii, § 1. Span. dorado, ‘a fish called a Dory, or Gilt head, an enemy to the Flying Fish’ (Stevens); dorar, to gild; L. deaurare. See Stanford.

dorp, a village. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 238, 298; Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 6. 11. Du. dorp, a village. See Dict. (s.v. Thorp).

dorre, applied to species of bees or flies; a bumble-bee; a drone-bee; fig. a drone, a lazy idler; ‘Gentlemen which cannot be content to live idle themselfes, lyke dorres’, Robynson, More’s Utopia (ed. Arber, 38). OE. dora, ‘atticus’ (Epinal Gl., 119); cp. ‘Adticus, feld beo, dora’ in Cleopatra Glosses (Voc. 351. 22). See NED. (s.v. Dor, sb.¹).

dorser; see dosser.

dortour, a sleeping room, bedchamber. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 24. ME. dortour (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1855). Norm. F. dortur (Moisy), OF. dortoir, Monastic L. dormitorium (Ducange).

dosser, a basket, pannier. Merry Devil, i. 3. 142; Jonson, Staple of News, ii. [4.] (Almanac); spelt dorser, Beaumont and Fl., Night-Walker, i. 1 (Lurcher). An E. Anglian word for a pannier slung over a horse’s back (EDD). ME. dosser, a basket to carry on the back (Chaucer, Hous F. 1940). F. dossier, ‘partie d’une hotte qui s’appuie sur le dos de celui qui la porte’ (Hatzfeld).

dough; see dow.

dought, to make afraid, Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 2 (Suctonius). See dout.

douse, to strike violently; ‘To death with daggers doust’ (also wrongly, dounst, in ed. 1587), Mirror for Magistrates, Henry VI, st. 4. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.).

douse, a sweetheart. Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 7. F. douce, fem. of doux, sweet; L. dulcis.

dout, fear; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 37. OF. doute, fear.

dow, to thrive; ‘He’ll never dow’ (i.e. he’ll never do well), Ray, North C. Words, 13; spelt dough, to be in health, Heywood, The Fair Maid, ii. 1 (Clem). ‘Dow’ is in prov. use in the north, meaning to thrive, prosper, also, to recover from sickness (EDD.). ME. dowe, pr. s. 1 p., am able to do (Wars Alex. 4058). OE. dugan, to be able, to be vigorous (see Wright, OE. Gram. § 541).

dowcets, the testicles of a deer. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2 (1 Woodman); B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., i. 6. In old cookery books dowset was the name of a sweet dish. F. doucet, dimin. of doux, sweet. See NED. (s.v. Doucet), and cp. dulcet.

dowe, ‘dough’. Lyly, Endimion, i. 2 (Tellus); ‘A lytell leven doth leven the whole lompe of dowe’, Tyndale, Gal. v. 9.

dowl(e, soft fine feathers. Tempest, iii. 3. 65 (see W. A. Wright’s note). In prov. use in the S. Midlands for down or fluff (EDD.). ME. doule, a down-feather (Plowman’s Tale, st. 14). See Notes on Eng. Etym.

dowle, see dool.

dowsabell, a sweetheart. A name, used as a term for a sweetheart. Com. of Errors, iv. 1. 110; London Prodigal, iv. 2. 73. F. douce-belle, L. dulcibella, sweet and fair.

doxy, a vagabond’s mistress. (Cant.) Winter’s Tale, iv. 2. 2; Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Prigg). See Harman, Caveat, p. 73; where the sing. form is doxe.

drabler, drabbler, an additional piece of canvas, laced to the bottom of a bonnet of a sail. Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 1 (1328); p. 134, col. 2; Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea, iv. 1 (Y. Forrest); vol. vi, p. 416. From drabble, to wet; from its position. Cp. E. Fris. drabbeln, to stamp about in the water (Koolman). See EDD. (s.v. Drabble).

dragon, the name of a stage in the fermentation for producing the elixir. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly).

drake, a dragon. Peele, An Eclogue Gratulatory, ed. Dyce, p. 563. ‘Drake, dragon’, Levins, Manipulus. OE. draca, L. draco, Gk. δράκων.

drane, a drone. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 3; Skelton, Against the Scottes, 172. ME. drane, ‘fucus’ (Prompt.). The pronunc. of drone in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall (EDD.). OE. drān (drǣn).

drapet, a cloth, a covering. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 27. Cp. Ital. drappetto, dimin. of drappe, cloth.

drasty, worthless, rubbishy; ‘Drasty sluttish geere’, Hall, Sat. v. 2. 49; ‘Drasty ballats’, Return from Parnassus, i. 2 (Judicioso). In several places the s has been misprinted as f; the error originated with Thynne, who, in 1532, twice substituted drafty for drasty in the Prologue to Melibeus: ‘Thy drasty spectre’ (C. T. B. 2113); ‘Thy drasty ryming’ (id. 2120); see NED. OE. dræstig, ‘feculentus’ (Voc. 238. 20).

draw-cut, done by drawing cuts or lots. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid i, 515. See cut (1).

drawer, a waiter at a tavern. Merry Wives, ii. 2. 165; Romeo, iii. 1. 9. One who draws liquor for guests.

drawer-on, an incitement to appetite. Massinger, Guardian, ii. 3 (Cario).

drawlatch, lit. one who lifts a latch; a sneaking thief. Jacob and Esau, ii. 3 (Esau).

dray, a squirrel’s nest. Drayton, Quest of Cynthia, st. 51; [The squirrel] ‘Gets to the wood, and hides him in his dray’, W. Browne, Brit. Pastorals, bk. i, song 5. A prov. word in general use (EDD.).

drazel, a slattern, slut. Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 987. The word is in use in the south of England, in Sussex and Hampshire, see EDD. (s.v. Drazil).

drossel, a slattern, a slut. Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ix, ch. 47, st. 12. A north Yorkshire word (EDD.). See drazel.

drouson; ‘Boiling oatemeale . . . with barme or the dregges and hinder ends of your beere barrels makes an excellent pottage . . . of great vse in all the parts of the West Countrie . . . called by the name of drouson potage’, Markham, Farewell, 133 (EDD.); ‘Drowsen broath’, London Prodigal, ii. 1. 42. OE. drōsna, lees, dregs.

droye, a servant, a drudge. Spelt droie; Tusser, Husbandry, § 81. 3; Stubbes, Anat. Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 78).

droye, to drudge, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 664.

druggerman, a ‘dragoman’, interpreter. Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1 (Emperor); [Pope, Donne’s Sat. iv. 83]. See Dict. (s.v. Dragoman); also Stanford.

drum: phr. Jack Drum’s entertainment, ill-treatment, esp. by turning a man out of doors, Heywood, ii. 2 (Sencer). To sell by the drum, to sell by auction; in North’s Plutarch, Octavius, § 11 (in Shak. Plut., p. 255, n. 3); hence, by the dromme (by the drum), in public, Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ix, c. 53, st. 31.

drumble, to be sluggish, Merry Wives, iii. 3. 156; a sluggish, stupid person, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 118. A dull, inactive person is called a ‘drummil’ in Warwickshire. A person moving lazily about is said to ‘drumble’ in Cornwall (EDD.). Norw. drumla, to be drowsy; Swed. drummel, a blockhead.

drumslade, dromslade, a drum; ‘Dromslade, suche as Almayns use in warre, bedon’, Palsgrave. Also spelt drumslet; Golding, Metam. xii. 481; fol. 149, bk. (1603). Du. trommelslag (G. trommelschlag), the beat of a drum.

drumsler, a drummer. Kyd, Soliman, ii. 1. 224, 241. A form corrupted from drumslager, once in use to mean ‘drummer’. Du. trommelslager, a drummer (Sewel). See above.

dry-fat, a cask, case, or box for holding dry things, not liquids; ‘A dry-fat of new books’, Beaumont and Fl., Elder Brother, i. 2 (Brisae); dry-vat, Dekker, Shoemakers’ H., v. 2 (Firk). See Dict. (s.v. Vat).

dry-foot: phr. to draw or hunt dry-foot, to track game by the mere scent of the foot. Com. Errors, iv. 2. 39; B. Jonson, Every Man, ii. 2 (Brainworm).

Du cat-a whee, God preserve you! Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, i. 2 (Rutilio); Monsieur Thomas, i. 2. 8; Dugat a whee, Middleton, A Chaste Maid, i. 1 (Welshwoman). Welsh Duw cadw chwi, God preserve you!

dudder, to tremble, quake, shake. Ford, Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1 (Cuddy). ‘Dudder’ is a prov. word in various parts of Scotland and England, see EDD. (s.v. Duther). See dodder.

dudgeon, the hilt of a dagger made of a kind of wood called dudgin (dudgeon). Macbeth, ii. 1. 46. ME. dojoun, or masere (Prompt., ed. Way, 436).

dudgeon, the same word as the one above, used attrib. in the sense of plain, homely; since a dudgeon was regarded as a common sort of haft; ‘I am plain and dudgeon’, Fletcher, Captain, ii. 1 (Jacomo); ‘I use old dudgeon’, phrase, id., Queen of Corinth, ii. 4 (Conon).

dudgeon-dagger, a dagger with a hilt made of ‘dudgeon’. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, v. 1 (Curio); dudgin dagger, Kyd, Soliman, i. 3. 160. Shortened to dudgeon, Butler, Hudibras, i. 1. 379.

Dugat a whee; see Du cat-a whee.

duill, to grieve, sadden, make sorrowful; ‘It duills me’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maudlin). Cp. F. deuil, grief. See dole.

duke, a name for the castle or rook, at chess; ‘Dukes? They’re called Rooks by some’, Middleton, A Game at Chess, Induct. 54; Women beware, ii. 2 (Livia).

Duke Humphrey, to dine with, to go without dinner; ‘He may chaunce dine with duke Homphrye tomorrow’, Sir Thos. More, iv. 2. 361. One who had no prospect of a dinner would walk in St. Paul’s, under the pretence of going to see Duke Humphrey’s monument there; on the chance that he might meet there some acquaintance who would invite him. But Duke Humphrey was actually buried at St. Albans (see Stowe’s Survey, ed. Thoms, 125). Cp. Mayne, City Match, iii. 3 (Plotwell and Timothy). See Nares.

dulcet, the dowcet of a stag. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 219. A latinized form; see dowcets.

dumbfounding, a stupefying; said to mean a rough amusement in which one person struck another hard and stealthily upon the back; ‘That witty recreation, called dumbfounding’, Dryden, Prologue to the Prophetess, 47. See EDD. (s.v. Dumbfounder).

dummerer; see dommerar.

dump, a fit of abstraction or musing; ‘I dumpe, I fall in a dumpe or musyng upon thynges’, Palsgrave; ‘Lethargic dump’, Butler, Hudibras, i. 2. 973; a fit of melancholy, ‘In doleful dump’, id., ii. 1. 85; a plaintive melody or song, Two Gent. iii. 2. 85; used of a kind of dance, ‘The devil’s dump had been danced then’, Fletcher, Pilgrim, v. 4 (Roderigo).

dunny, somewhat ‘dun’, or dusky brown. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 400. A north-country word (EDD.). See donny.

Dun’s in the mire (the horse is stuck in the mire), the name of a rustic game in which the players had to extricate a wooden ‘dun’ (a horse) from an imaginary slough. ‘Dun is in the mire’ became a proverbial phrase, so in Chaucer, Manciple’s Prologue, 5. ‘Dun’s i’ th’ mire’, Fletcher, “Woman-hater, iv. 2 (Pandar). The game is alluded to in Romeo, i. 4. 41. ‘If thou art Dun we’ll draw thee from the mire’, and in Hudibras, iii. 3. 110, ‘Your trusty squire, Who has dragg’d your dunship out o’ th’ mire’. See Brand’s Pop. Antiq. (under ‘Games’), and Gifford’s Ben Jonson, vii. 283 (Nares).

dun’s the mouse, the mouse is brown. A jocose phrase of small meaning; sometimes used after another has used the word done; Romeo, i. 4. 40; London Prodigal, iv. 1. 16.

Dunstable, plain (a proverbial phrase), plain speaking. Witch of Edmonton, i. 2 (Old Carter). Cp. the proverb, ‘As plain as Dunstable highway’, Heywood’s Eng. Proverbs, 69, 136; ‘As plain as Dunstable road’, Fuller, Worthies, i. 114 (NED.). See Nares.

durance, confinement. L. L. L. iii. 1. 135; 2 Hen. IV, v. 5. 37; durableness, 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 49. Cp. ‘As the tailor, that out of seven yards stole one and a half of durance’, i.e. durable cloth, Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 344.

Durandell, a trusty sword. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 123. OF. Durendal, the name of the sword of Roland (Ch. Rol. 926). See Durindana.

duret, some kind of dance; ‘Galliards, durets, corantoes’, Beaumont, Masque at Gray’s Inn, stage direction (near the end).

duretta, a coarse stuff of a durable quality. Mayne, City Match, i. 5 (Timothy). Also duretto (NED.). Ital. duretto, ‘somewhat hard’ (Florio).

Durindana, the name of Orlando’s sword. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum. iii. 1 (Bobadil); Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iii. 3 (Malfort); Durindan, Faithful Friends, ii. 3 (Calveskin). Ital. Durindana (Ariosto); see Fanfani. The Italian name for Durendal, by which the famous sword of Roland is known in the old French Chansons de Geste. See Gautier’s note on ‘Durendal’ in his ‘Chanson de Roland’, l. 926, p. 90.

eagre, a ‘bore’ in a river; an incoming tidal wave of unusual height. Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis, 132; spelt agar, Lyly, Galathea, i. 1 (Tyterus). In prov. use in many forms: aiger, ager, eager, eygre, hygre, &c., in Yorks., Nottingham, Lincoln, and E. Anglia (EDD.). See higre.

eame; see eme.

ean. Of ewes: to lamb, bring forth young, to ‘yean’, 3 Hen. VI, ii. 5. 36. Hence, Eaning-time, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Robin). ‘To ean’ is in prov. use in various spellings in many parts of England from the north country to Devon (EDD.). ME. enyn, ‘feto’ (Prompt. EETS. 150); OE. ēanian, to yean. See Brugmann, § 671.

ear, to plough. Bible, Deut. xxi. 4; 1 Sam. viii. 12; Is. xxx. 24. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. ere (Chaucer, C. T. A. 886), OE. erian. See Wright’s Bible Word-Book.

earn, erne, to grieve, to be afflicted with poignant sorrow and compassion. Hen. V, ii. 3. 3 (mod. edd. yearn); Julius C., ii. 2. 129; it earns me, Hen. V, iv. 3. 26; B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 6 (Overdo); earne, to yearn, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 3; i. 6. 25; i. 9. 18; erne, ii. 3. 46. ME. ȝernen, to yearn (P. Plowman), OE. geornan; see Dict. M. and S., p. 267.

earth, a ploughing. Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 50. In prov. use in Suffolk, Hants., Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Earth, sb.²). OE. erð for WS. ierđ, a ploughing (Sweet), deriv. of erian, to plough, ‘to ear’; not the same word as OE. eorðe, earth.

easing, the eaves of the thatch of a house; ‘Under the easing of the house’, North, tr. of Plutarch, J. Caesar, § 16 (end); ‘Severonde, the eave, eaving or easing of a house’, Cotgrave. In gen. prov. use in various spellings, in Scotland and Ireland, and in England, in the north and Midlands to Shropsh. (EDD.). ME. esynge, ‘tectum’ (Cath. Angl.). See evesing.

eater, a servant. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, iii. 2 (Morose).

eath, easy. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 40; Shep. Kal., Sept., 17; spelt ethe, id., July, 90. A north-country word, once much used in poetry (EDD.). ME. ethe, easy (Cursor M. 597), OE. ēaðe, easy, ēað (common in compounds).

eggs: phr. to take eggs for money, to accept an offer which one would rather refuse. Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 161. (Fully explained by me in Phil. Soc. Trans., 1903, p. 146). Farmers’ daughters would go to market, taking with them a basket of eggs. If one bought something worth (suppose) 3s. 4d., she would pay the 3s. and say—‘will you take eggs for money?’ If the shopman weakly consented, he received the value of the 4d. in eggs; usually (16th cent.) at the rate of 4 or 5 a penny. But the strong-minded shopman would refuse. Eggs were even used to pay interest for money. Thus Rowley has: ‘By Easter next you should have the principal, and eggs for the use [interest], indeed, sir. Bloodhound. Oh rogue, rogue, I shall have eggs for my money! I must hang myself’, A Match at Midnight, v. 1. See Nares (s.v. Eggs for Money).

eisel, vinegar; ‘I will drink potions of eisel’, Sh. Sonnets, cxi; spelt eysel. Skelton, Now Synge We, 40. ME. esyle, ‘acetum’ (Prompt. EETS. 147, see note no. 661); aysel (Hampole, Ps. lxviii. 26). OF. aisil, vinegar (Oxford Ps. lxviii. 26).

elegant, for alicant, q.v. A Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 1. 18.

element, the sky. Julius Caes. i. 3. 128; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 116; Milton, Comus, 299. In common prov. use in the west country. A Somerset man describing a thunderstorm would say, ‘Th’ element was all to a flicker’ (EDD.).

elenche, elench, a logical refutation, a syllogism in refutation of an argument. Massinger, Emperor of the East, ii. 1 (Theodosius). Also, a sophistical argument, a fallacy; Bacon, Adv. of Learning, bk. ii, § xiv. 5. L. elenchus, Gk. ἔλεγχος, cross-examination.

elk, the wild swan, or hooper. ‘The Elk’, in the margin of Golding’s tr. of Ovid, Metam. xiv. 509; ‘In hard winters elks, a kind of wild swan, are seen’, Sir T. Browne (Wks. ed. 1893, iii. 313); ‘Swanne, some take thys to be the elke or wild swanne’, Huloet. See ilke.

ellops, a kind of serpent. Milton, P. L. x. 525. Gk. ἔλλοψ, ἔλοψ, lit. ‘mute’, an epithet of fish (so Prellwitz); name for a certain sea-fish, probably the sword-fish or sturgeon, later, a serpent.

emboss, to ornament with bosses or studs, to decorate. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 15; Shep. Kal., Feb., 67.

embost (of a hunted animal). A stag was said to be embossed (embost) when blown and fatigued with being chased—foaming, panting, unable to hold out any longer; ‘The boar of Thessaly Was never so emboss’d’, Ant. and Cl. iv. 11. 3; ‘The salvage beast embost in wearie chace’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 22. Metaph., ‘Our feeble harts Embost with bale’, i. 9. 29; Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 4. 7. ME. embose, to plunge deeply into a wood or thicket (Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 353). OF. bos (bois), a wood. See imbost.

embost, encased, enclosed (as in armour); ‘A knight . . . in mighty armes embost’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 24.

embowd, arched over. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 19.

embraid, to upbraid, taunt, mock. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 7, § 2; Tusser, Husbandry, § 112, st. 7. Cp. ME. breydyn or upbraydyn, ‘Impropereo’ (Prompt. EETS. 64). OE. bregdan, to bring a charge (B. T. Suppl.), Icel. bregða, to upbraid, blame.

embrocata, a thrust in fencing. Marston, Scourge of Villany, Sat. xi. 57. See imbroccato.

eme, uncle. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 47; spelt eame, Drayton, Pol. xxii. 427. 848. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. eme, fadiris brodyr, ‘patruus’ (Prompt.), OE. ēam.

emmew, or enmew; errors for enew, q.v.

empair, to harm, injure. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 48; to become less, to be diminished, id., v. 4. 8. See Dict. (s.v. Impair).

empale, to surround, enclose. Sackville. Induction, st. 67.

emparlance, parley, talk. Spenser, F. Q. v. 4. 50. Cp. Norm. F. emparler, ‘parler, entretenir’, also ‘entretien’ (Moisy), O. Prov. emparlat, ‘éloquent’ (Levy).

empeach, to hinder. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 34; ii. 7. 15; ‘I empesshe, or let one of his purpose’, Palsgrave. F. empescher, ‘to hinder’ (Cotgr.); O. Prov. empedegar, ‘empêcher’ (Levy), Med. L. impedicare, ‘implicare’ (Ducange). See impeach.

empery, dominion, rank of an emperor. Titus And. i. 1. 201; Hen. V, i. 2. 226. Norm. F. emperie (Moisy), L. imperium, empire.

empesshement, hindrance. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 131. 29. See impechement.

emprese, ‘emprise’, enterprise, undertaking. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 257. See NED. (s.v. Emprise).

emprise, an undertaking, an enterprise. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 83; chivalric enterprise, martial prowess, Milton, P. L. xi. 642; ‘In brave poursuit of chevalrous emprize’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 1. Norm. F. emprise, ‘entreprise’ (Moisy).

enaunter, lest by chance. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 200; May, 78; Sept., 161. ‘Anaunters’ is a north-country word, in the sense of ‘lest, in case that’ (EDD.). ME. enantyr; an aunter, in case that (P. Plowman, C. iv. 437); also, an aventure (id., B. iii. 279), see Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Aventure); Anglo-F. en + aventure, chance (Gower).

enbassement, dread, terror, ‘abashment’. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 159. 25; enbaysshement, lf. 91. 31. Cp. ME. enbasshinge, bewilderment (Chaucer, Boethius 4, p. 1. 43).

enbolned, swollen, puffed up. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 207, l. 7 from bottom. Cp. ME. bolnyd, swollen (Wyclif, 1 Cor. v. 2).

enchase, to set (a jewel) in gold or other setting; used fig. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 23; to engrave figures on a surface, Shep. Kal., August, 27; to shut in, enclose, M. Hubberd’s Tale, 626; Chapman, tr. Iliad, xii. 56; xix. 346.

encheason, occasion, reason. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 147. ME. encheson, ‘occasio’ (Prompt. EETS. 312), Anglo-F. enchesoun, occasion (Gower), Norm. F. acheisun, ‘raison, cause, motif’ (Moisy); L. occasio.

endlong, from end to end of, through the length of; ‘Endlong many yeeres and ages’, Holland, Livy, 921; right along, straight on, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 691. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME. endelong, through the length of (Chaucer, C. T. F. 992).

endosse, to inscribe. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 53; Colin Clout, 634; Palsgrave. Anglo-F. endosser, to endorse (Rough List); to write on the back of a document, deriv. of F. dos, L. dorsum, back.

endue, to endow; ‘God hath endued me with a good dowry’ (Vulg. Dotavit me Deus dote bona), Bible, Gen. xxx. 20; spelt endew, Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 51; ‘The King hath . . . endewed (the house) with parkes orchardes’, Act 31 Hen. VIII, c. 5. See indue.

endurance, also written indurance, patience; ‘Past the endurance of a block’, Much Ado, ii. 1. 248; imprisonment, durance, ‘I should have tane some paines to have heard you Without endurance further’, Hen. VIII, v. 1. 122 (the phrase is taken from Foxe’s account of Cranmer’s trial); ‘The indurance of their Generall’, Knolles, Hist. Turks, 1256 (NED.).

enew (t. t. in hawking), to drive a fowl into the water; ‘Let her enew the fowl so long till she bring it to the plunge’, Markham, Countr. Content. (ed. 1668, i. 5. 32); ‘Follies doth enew (misprinted emmew, Ff.) As Falcon doth the Fowle’, Meas. for M. iii. 1. 91. Spelt ineawe, to plunge into the water, Drayton, Pol. xx. 284. Anglo-F. eneauer, to wet (Gower), Norm. F. ewe (F. eau), water. See inmew.

enewed; see ennewe.

enfeloned, made fell or fierce. Spenser, F. Q. v. 8. 48.

enfired, kindled, set on fire. Spenser, Hymn to Love, 169.

enform, to mould, fashion. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 3.

enfouldred, hurled out like thunder and lightning. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 40. OF. fouldre (F. foudre), Romanic type folgere, L. fulgur, a thunderbolt.

enfounder, to drive in, to batter in. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 216, back, 30; lf. 295, back, 25; to stumble, as a horse, to ‘founder’; ‘His horse enfoundred under hym’, Berners, Arth., 87 (NED.). F. enfondrer (un harnois), to make a great dint in an armour; also, to plunge into the bottom of a puddle or mire (Cotgr.).

enginous, ingenious. Hero and Leander, iii. 312; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, i. 452. Cp. Scot, engine (ingine), intellect, mental capacity (EDD.). F. engin, understanding reach of wit (Cotgr.). L. ingenium, natural capacity. See ingine.

engle; see ingle.

englin, the name of a Welsh metre. Drayton, Pol. iv. 181. W. englyn. The Note has: Englyns are couplets interchanged of sixteen and fourteen feet.

engore, to ‘gore’, wound deeply. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 42.

engraile, to give a serrated appearance to; ‘I (the river Wear) indent the earth, and then I it engraile With many a turn’, Drayton, Pol. xxix. 380; engrail’d, variegated, ‘A caldron new engrail’d with twenty hues’, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xxiii. 761.

engrain, to dye ‘in grain’, or of a fast colour. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 131. See Dict. (s.v. Grain).

engrave, to bury. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 42; ii. 1. 60.

enhalse, to greet, salute. Mirror for Mag., Rivers, st. 58. See halse.

ennewe, to tint, shade; ‘With rose-colour ennewed’, Calisto and Meliba, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 62; ‘The one shylde was enewed with whyte’, Morte Arthur, leaf 55. back, 24; bk. iii, ch. 9 (end). Perhaps fr. F. nuer, to shade, tint (Godefroy), see NED.