ka, for quo’ (quoth, quotha); ‘Enamoured ka? mary sir say that againe’, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 2 (Merygreek); Peele, Old Wives Tale (ed. Dyce, 455); Penry, Mar-Prelate’s Epitome, 21 (EDD.). In prov. use in Durham, Cumberland, Suffolk (EDD.). Also, ko, ‘I feare him not, Ko she’, Roister Doister, iii. 3.

kam, crooked, awry. Coriolanus, iii. 1. 304. Welsh cam, crooked; Irish cam (Dinneen). See kim-kam.

karl hemp, the male hemp. Tusser, Husbandry, § 15. 24; also called churl hemp, Fitzherbert, Husb., § 146. 28. See carl.

karne, a ‘kern’, a foot-soldier. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid ii, 8. Irish ceatharnach, a foot-soldier, deriv. of ceatharn, a band of fighting men (Dinneen). See keteryng.

katexoken, for kat’exochēn, super-eminently. Massinger, Guardian, iii. 1. 7. Gk. κατ’ ἐξοχήν, by way of eminence.

keak, keke, to cackle as a goose; ‘The silver Gander keaking cried’, Phaer, Aeneid viii, 655; ‘Theves . . . had stolne Jupiter, had a gouse not a kekede’, Ascham, Toxoph. (ed. Arber, 130). Cp. Kek, kek!, the cry of the goose and duck, in Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 499.

keech, a lump of congealed fat. Hen. VIII, i. 1. 55. In fig. use, ‘I wonder that such a Keech can . . . Take up the Rayes o’ th’ beneficiall Sun’, Hen. VIII, i. 1. 55; ‘Did not goodwife Keech the Butcher’s wife come in?’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 101. ‘Keech’ for a lump of chandler’s fat is in common prov. use in Warwickshire, the west Midlands, and Somerset (EDD.).

keep cut; See cut (3).

keep, heed, care. Phr. take thou no keep, Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 85; Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 40. ME. tak keep, take heed (Chaucer, C. T. D. 431).

keight, caught. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 30; v. 6. 39.

keiser, emperor. Fletcher, Mad Lover, ii. 1 (Memnon); kesar, Spenser, Tears of the Muses, 570; keysar, Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 498. Du. keyser (Hexham); cp. G. Kaiser; L. Caesar.

keke; see keak.

kell, the fatty membrane investing the intestines, the caul. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4. 35; a cocoon, an enveloping web, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2 (Alken); Drayton, Pol. iii. 120; the film formed by gossamer-threads on the grass, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 54; Turbervile Hunting, 76. Cp. ‘kell’ in prov. use, meaning the caul, a cap of network, a film on the eye, &c. (EDD.). ME. kelle, ‘reticulum’ (Prompt. EETS. 246, see note, no. 1149).

kell, a kiln. Tusser, Husbandry, § 57. 51. A Suffolk form, see EDD. (s.v. Kiln, sb.¹). Cp. kill.

kemb, to comb. B. Jonson, Catiline, Act i, chorus, 31; Marlowe, tr. of Ovid’s Elegies, i. 7 (last line). In prov. use in Scotland, and in Yorks. and Lanc. (EDD.). ME. kembe, to comb (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2142); OE. cemban; camb, a comb.

kemlin, a large tub used in bread-making, salting meat, &c. Coles, Dict. (s.v. Kimnel); kemelin, Levins, Manip. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. kymlyn, ‘or kelare’ (Prompt. EETS.), also, kemelyn (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3548). See kimnel.

kempe, kemp, a warrior, champion. Morte Arthur, leaf 112. 31; bk. vii, c. 8. OE. cempa; Med. L. campio (Ducange), from campus, field of battle; ME. kemp(e, a warrior, soldier (Wars Alex. 2216, 5499); OE. cempa, ‘miles’ (Matt. viii. 9, Rushworth MS.). See Schade (s.v. Camphjo).

ken, a house (Cant); ‘A boor’s ken’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Ferret). Hence also libkin or lib ken, stalling ken. See bouzing-ken.

ken(n, to discern. Milton, P. L. i. 59; v. 265; xi. 396; 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 101; range of vision, P. L. xi. 379; power or exercise of vision, Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 111; hence, kenning, range of sight, the distance visible at sea, Chapman, Caesar and Pompey, v. 1 (Septimius); Kyd, Soliman, v. 2. 69.

kennet, a small dog for hunting. Pl. kenettys, Boke of St. Albans, fol. F iv, back; kennets, Return from Parnassus, ii. 5 (Amoretts; the whole passage is copied from the former). Anglo-F. kenette (Bozon), dimin. of kien (= F. chien).

Kent: phr. Kent or Christendom. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Turfe); ‘Sith the Saxon King, Never was Woolfe seene, many nor some, Nor in all Kent, nor in Christendome’ (i.e. nowhere), Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 153; the Glosse has: ‘It was wont to be an olde proverbe and common phrase. The original whereof was, for that most part of England in the reigne of King Ethelbert was christened, Kent onely except, which remayned long after in mysbeliefe and unchristened: so that Kent was counted no part of Christendome.’ Ray in his English Proverbs accepts this explanation (ed. Bohn, p. 206). According to Fuller’s opinion, ‘Neither in Kent nor Christendom’ meant, neither in Kent, which was first converted to Christendom, nor in any other part of our English Christendom (i.e. nowhere in England). Also, in Kent and Christendom (i.e. everywhere); ‘I am here in Kent and Christendom, Among the Muses, where I read and rhyme’, Wyatt, The Courtier’s Life (ed. Bell, 218).

Kentish long-tails, a nickname applied to the natives of Kent. Ray’s English Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p. 207). The story of the origin of the nickname is told by Fuller in his Worthies, Kent, under Kentish Long-tailes. See NED. (s.v. Long-tail, 2). Not only Kentish men but Englishmen in general were called ‘caudati per contumeliam’ by their French neighbours, see Ducange (s.v. Caudatus); cp. ‘ces Engloys couez’ (Chans. Norm.) in Moisy (s.v. Cue, p. 250).

kersen; see cursen.

kerve, to carve as a sculptor; ‘Enstructed in painting or kervinge’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 1. ME. kerve (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 325). OE. ceorfan.

kest, pt. t. cast. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 15; Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 45; plotted, considered, id. i. 30. In gen. prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Cast, 2 (7)).

keteryng, a ‘cateran’, a Highland or Irish marauder; ‘A Scottishe keteryng’, Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii. 75; l. 218; ‘Irish keterynges’, ib., Against the Scottes, 83. See NED. (s.v. Cateran). See karne.

ketler, an inexperienced gamester, a novice at gambling; Bunglers and ketlers’ [at gambling], Middleton, Black Book (ed. Dyce, v. 543).

ketling, inexperienced; ‘Like an old cunning bowler to fetch in a young ketling gamester’, Middleton, Father Hubberd’s Tales (ed. Dyce, v. 589). See NED. (s.v. Kitling, B).

key, a quay. Dryden, Annus Mirab. st. 231; Middleton, Women beware, i. 3. 17.

kibbo, a cudgel. Otway, Cheats of Scapin, iii. 1 (Scapin, in a Lancs. dialect). In Ray (ed. 1691. MS. Add.) ‘kibbo’ is given as a Cheshire word (EDD.).

kid, a faggot, small bundle of sticks; ‘Kydde, a fagotte’, Palsgrave; Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 5. 29. In prov. use in various parts of England from the north country to Essex, see EDD. (s.v. Kid, sb.² 1). ME. kydd, ‘fascis’ (Prompt. EETS. 247).

kid, a roebuck in its first year. Spelt kyde, Book of St. Albans, fol. E 4; Turbervile, Hunting, c. 45; p. 143.

kid, notorious; ‘The colonel was a cuckold, or a kid pirate’, Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, i. 1 (Fireball). ME. kid, renowned, famous, illustrious (Wars Alex., see Gl. Index); kyd, known (Chaucer, C. T. E. 1943), pp. of kythe, to make known (C. T. F. 748). OE. cȳðan.

kill, a kiln. Bible, Jer. xliii. 9; Nahum, iii. 14 (ed. 1611). A common prov. form in many parts of England—the north country, Essex, and Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Kiln, sb.¹). Hence kill-hole, Merry Wives, iv. 2. 59 (ed. 1623). Cp. kell (2).

kill-cow, a murderous fellow, butcher; a great fighter. Fletcher, Lover’s Progress, iii. 3 (Malfort); perhaps with reference to the story of Guy of Warwick. See Nares.

kimbo, resembling arms set a-kimbo, Dryden, tr. of Virgil; Pastorals, iii. 67; on kimbow, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii (Novel).

kim-kam, crooked, perverse. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid ii, 44. Cp. the Shropshire saying, ‘Let’s a none o’ your kim-kam ways’ (EDD.). See kam.

kimnel, a tub used for brewing, kneading, or salting meat. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 7 (Alexander); ‘A kimnel, cadus salsamentarius’, Coles, Dict., 1679; ‘kymnell, quevette’, Palsgrave. ME. kymnelle, ‘amula’ (Cath. Angl.).

kinchin mort, a very young female child (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor). Kinchin is perhaps a corrupt form of G. kindchen, little child. See mort (2).

kinderkind, kilderkin, small barrel. Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, p. 383). Du. kindekin, ‘the eighth part of a vat’ (Kilian). See NED. (s.v. Kilderkin), and Dict.

kindle, to give birth to young, bring forth. As You Like It, iii. 2. 358; ‘I kyndyll, as a she-hare or cony dothe’, Palsgrave. Very common in prov. use (EDD.). ME. hyndlyn, or brynge forthe yonge kyndelyngys, ‘feto’ (Prompt.).

kindless, unnatural. Hamlet, ii. 2. 609; Poole, David (ed. Dyce, p. 466).

Kirsome, Christian; ‘As I’m true Kirsome woman’, Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 7. 5. See cursen.

kite, a term of detestation. Fletcher, Wit without Money, i. 1. 16; iii. 4. 16; Hen. V, ii. 1. 80; King Lear, i. 4. 284; Ant. and Cl. iii. 13. 89; Udall, Roister Doister (ed. Arber, 83).

kiss the post, to be shut out of a house in consequence of arriving too late (there being nothing else to kiss but the doorpost); ‘Make haste, thou art best, for fear thou kiss the post’, Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 47.

kix, a ‘kex’, dried-up stalk; a term of abuse. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, i. 2 (Mercury).

knacker, a harness-maker. Tusser, Husbandry, § 58. 5. In Lancashire knacker is a term for a tanner (EDD.).

knap, a knave, a rogue. Spelt knappe, Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 1 (Dulipo); Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 80. ‘A regular knap’, ‘a deead knap’ are Yorkshire expressions for a cunning knave, see EDD. (s.v. Knap, sb.² 1).

knap, a small hill, a mound, knoll. Bacon, Essay 45; a hill-top, Golding, Metam. xi. 339 (L. ‘vertice’). In prov. use in Scotland, and in various parts of England (EDD.). OE. cnæpp, top, hill-top (Luke iv. 29).

knap, to knock, rap, strike smartly; to sound or toll a bell. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 80; also, to knock together, Bacon, Sylva, § 133.

knare, knar, a knot or protuberance on a tree; ‘Woods with knots and knares deformed’, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 536; spelt gnarre, Cockeram’s Dict. (1623). See EDD. (s.v. Gnarr, sb.¹ 1). Cp. ME. knarry, gnarled (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1977). Low G. knarre; Du. knar; see NED.

kned, pp. kneaded. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 1 (Savourwit). In prov. use in the north, and in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Knead, 3).

knee-timber, crooked timber, used in shipbuilding. Bacon, Essay 13.

knight of the post, a notorious perjurer; one who gets his living by giving false evidence. Brome, Joviall Crew (Works, 1873, iii. 366); Marlowe, tr. of Ovid’s Elegies, i. 10. 37; Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, i. 1 (Courtine). [Cp. Pope, Prologue to the Satires of Horace, 365, ‘Knight of the post corrupt, or of the Shire.’] See Nares.

Knight’s Ward, one of the four prison-divisions or ‘sides’. There were usually but three such divisions, the Master’s side, the Twopenny Ward, and the Hole; See counter (3). When there were four, the Knight’s Ward came second. In Eastward Ho, v. 1 (or 2), Wolf says ‘the knight will i’ the Knight’s Ward’, meaning that he was too humble to go into the Master’s side. Also Knight-side, ‘Neither lie on the Knight-side, nor in the Twopenny Ward’, Webster, Appius, iii. 4 (Corbulo). And see Westward Ho, iii. 2 (Monopoly).

knill, knyll, to sound as a bell, ring. Morte Arthur, leaf 428*, back, 6; bk. xxi, c. 10; OE. cnyllan, to strike, ring a bell (B. T. Suppl.).

knitting-cup, a cup of wine drunk by the company immediately after a wedding. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iv. 1 (Compass).

knokylbonyarde, a contemptible fellow. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 485. Dyce’s note gives two other examples. Deriv. of knucklebone.

knot, a flower-bed. Lyly, Euphues, p. 37; Campaspe, iii. 4 (Apelles); Tusser. Husb. § 22. 22. In prov. use in Somerset, Dorset, and Devon, also in the west Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Knot, sb.¹ 13).

knot, the red-breasted sandpiper; ‘The knot that called was Canutus’ bird of old’, Drayton, Pol. xxv. 341; ‘Knotts, i, Canuti aves, ut opinor’, Camden, Brit. (ed. 1607, 408). Dan. knot, sandpiper (Larsen). In the north of Ireland the name for the ringed plover, see EDD. (s.v. Knot, sb.²).

knot-grass, a plant with small pale-pink flowers, Polygonum aviculare. An infusion of it was supposed to stunt one’s growth. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 329; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, ii. 2 (Wife).

knowledge, to acknowledge; ‘I knowlege my folly’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 12, § 3; ‘My flight from prison I knowledge’, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 150.

knub, a small bump. Golding, Metam. viii. 808; fol. 105 (1603); ‘knubbe, callum’, Levins, Manip. Low G. knubbe, a knob, lump; see NED.

knurre, a round knotty projection on a tree; ‘A knurre, bruscum, gibbus’, Levins, Manip.; hence, knurred (knurd), knotted, rugged, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 302. ‘Knurr’ is in common prov. use in the north country (EDD.).

ko; see ka.

korke, to adorn, render illustrious; ‘Duke Lionell, that all this lyne [family of the White Rose] doth korke’, Mirror for Mag., Clarence, st. 6. From corke, the name of a purple dye, mentioned in Statutes of the Realm, Act 1 Richard III. c. 8, § 3, as a dye-stuff; see NED. (s.v. Cork, sb.²).

kost, pt. t. kissed. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 256. Cp. OE. coss, a kiss.

kreking, early dawn; ‘In the first krekyng of the day’ (F. au point du jour), Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 18. 1. Du. ‘het kriecken ofte aenbreken van den dagh, the creeke or the breaking of the day’ (Hexham). Cp. the Scottish phrase ‘creek of day’, day-break (EDD.). Norm. F. crique du jour (Moisy).

kydst, in Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 92, written incorrectly in the sense of ‘knewest’. ME. kithen (pt. s. kidde), means ‘to make known’. See kid (notorious).

kyrie, short for ‘kyrie eleison’ (κύριε ἐλέησον), Lord, have mercy upon us; the earliest and simplest form of Litany. Used humorously for a scolding, causing an outcry; ‘But he should have such a kyrie ere he went to bed’, Jack Juggler, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 138; ‘This kyrie sad solfing’ (translating Talia iactanti, Aeneid i, 102), Stanyhurst (ed. Arber, p. 21); kyry, Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 755.

kyrsin, Christian. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii (Clay). See cursen.

laced mutton, a strumpet. Two Gent. i. 1. 102; B. Jonson, Neptune’s Triumph (Boy). See NED. See mutton.

lachesse, negligence. Caxton, Hist. of Troye, leaf 74, back, 18. ME. lachesse (Chaucer, C. T. I. 720), OF. lachesse, laschesse, deriv. of lasche, slack. L. laxus, lax.

lack, to want. What do y’ lack? what will you buy; the constant cry of the shopkeepers. B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, Induction, l. 1; Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Leatherhead).

lackey, to accompany, like a lackey or foot-boy. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, i. 1 (Harpax). Used fig. ‘A thousand liveried angels lackey her’, Milton, Comus, 455. See Dict.

lad, led; pt. t. of lead. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 4; iv. 8. 2. A Lanc. form, see EDD. (s.v. Lead, 1 (1)).

ladron, a thief, robber. Shirley, The Brothers, v. 3 (Pedro). Span. ladron, a thief; L. latro, a robber.

lady, the calcareous substance in the stomach of a lobster, serving for the trituration of its food; fancifully supposed to resemble the outline of a seated female figure; ‘What lady? the lady in the lobster?’ Shirley, Witty Fair One, iii. 4 (Aimwell).

Lady of the Lake, a personage in Arthurian romance; hence, a fairy, nymph; ‘This bevie of Ladies bright . . . all Ladyes of the lake behight’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 120. Humorously, a woman of light behaviour. Massinger, New Way to Pay, ii. 1 (Marrall).

lag, slow, tardy, habitually late. Richard III, ii. 1. 91; a laggard, Dryden, To Mr. Lee, 43; lag-end, latter part, fag-end, 1 Hen. IV, v. 1. 24. See EDD. (s.v. Lag, adj., 1).

lag: in phr. lag of duds, ‘buck’ or ‘wash’ of clothes, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen).

lag, to carry off, to steal. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20. 15.

laire; see leer.

lam, to beat soundly, to thrash, flog. Lamming, a thrashing, Beaumont and Fl., King and no King, v. 3 (Bacurius); Honest Man’s Fortune, v. 2 (Laverdine); ‘Gaulée, a cudgelling, basting, lamming’, Cotgrave; lambed, pp. beaten, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 2 (Firk). In gen. prov. and colloq. use (EDD.). Cp. Icel. lemja (pret. lamði), lit. to lame.

lamback, to beat severely. Rare Triumphs of Love, iv. 1 (Lentulo), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 204; Munday, Death E. Huntington, v. 1 (Brand), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 305.

Lamia, a fabulous monster supposed to have the body of a woman, and to suck the blood of children. Burton, Anat. Mel. iii. 2; a witch, sorceress, ‘Where’s the lamia That tears my entrails?’, Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv. 1. L. lamia, a witch supposed to suck children’s blood. In the Vulgate, Isaiah xxxiv. 14, the Heb. Lîlîth, ‘the night-hag’, is rendered lamia. Gk. Λάμια, a fabulous monster.

lampas, a disease incident to horses, consisting in a swelling of the fleshy lining of the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. Described in Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 81; Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 52. F. lampas (Cotgr.).

lamping, shining brightly. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 1. Cp. Ital. lampante, bright, shining (Florio).

lance-knight, a mercenary foot-soldier, esp. one armed with a lance or pike. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum., ii. 4 (Brainworm). Palsgrave has: ‘Lansknyght, lancequenet.’ G. lanz-knecht, lance-knight, a perverted form of lands-knecht = land’s knight (see Weigand, s.v. Land). See Dict. (s.v. Lansquenet).

lancepesade, a non-commissioned officer of the lowest grade, a lance-corporal. Massinger, Maid of Honour, iii. 1; lance-presade, Cleaveland, Poems (Nares); lanceprisado, Fletcher, Thierry, ii. 2 (Martell). The term was orig. applied to a trooper who having broken his lance (lancia spezzata) on the enemy was entertained as a volunteer assistant to a captain of foot, receiving his pay as a trooper until he could remount himself (Grose). See Estienne, Précellence (ed. 1896, p. 353) for account of Lance-spessade. See Stanford, and Nares.

lanch, launch, to cut, lance, pierce. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 37; Heywood, Eng. Traveller, ii. 1 (Clown). OF. (Picard) lancher (F. lancier). In W. Somerset they will ask for ‘a lanch to lanch the cow’, see EDD. (s.v. Lance, sb.¹ 1). See Dict. (s.v. Launch).

†land-damn, to rate severely (?). Winter’s Tale, ii. 1. 143. The word in Shakespeare is of doubtful authenticity. The alleged survival of the word in dialects, with the sense ‘to abuse with rancour’, appears to be imperfectly authenticated. For ingenious conjectures see Nares.

landlouper, a runner about the land, a vagabond. Bacon, Henry VII, p. 105; spelt land-loper; Howell, Forraine Travell, p. 67 (Arber). Du. landt-looper, ‘a vagabond, or a rogue that runnes up and downe the countrie’ (Hexham).

langdebiefe, wild bugloss. Tusser, Husbandry, § 39. 16; langdebeef, Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. v, c. 15. OF. lange de beof, ‘ox tunge’, ‘lingua bovis’, ‘buglossa’ (Alphita, 24).

langer, to loiter about; ‘Wandryng and langerynge’, Morte Arthur, leaf 185. 20; bk. ix, c. 20. See Dict. (s.v. Linger).

langued, lit. tongued; in heraldry, represented with a tongue of a specified tincture or colour. Butler, Hud. i. 2. 259. Cp. F. langué, ‘langued, a term of Blazon’ (Cotgr.).

lannard, a ‘lanner’, a species of falcon. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 3 (Fernando); ‘Lanarde, a hauke, lanier’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in Cornwall for the peregrine falcon (EDD.). See Dict. (s.v. Lanner).

†lansket, a shutter, a panel of a door, or a lattice; ‘I peep’d in At a loose lansket’, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, ii. 6 (Jaques). Only found here (NED.).

lantedo, lanteero; ‘Your lantedoes nor your lanteeroes’, Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, iv. 3 (Blurt). See adelantado.

lanterloo, the old name of the card game now called loo. Etherege, She Would if She Could, v. 1 (Sentry). Spelt Lanterlu, and used as a name, Wycherley, Country Wife, v. 3 (near the end). See Stanford.

lap, a cant term for non-intoxicating drink. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); ‘lap, butter-milke or whey’, Harman, Caveat, p. 83.

lapise, lappise, to yelp. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 29, p. 76; id., c. 33, p. 86; ‘lappyse or whymper’, id., c. 39, p. 108. F. glappir, glappissement, (Cotgr.).

lapwing, said to cry out at a distance from her nest, in order to draw the searchers away from it. B. Jonson, Sejanus, v. 10 (Arruntius); and see Massinger, Old Law, iv. 2 (Simonides); Lyly, Alexander, ii. 2 (Alexander). Very common.

lare, a pasture. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 29. A pseudo-archaic use of lair, the place where cattle lie, see EDD. (s.v. Lair, sb.¹ 2, § 3).

lare, to fatten. So explained by Dyce, Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1 (Rosalura).

Lares, the household gods in Roman religion. Lars, Milton, Christ’s Nativity, Hymn, st. 21; B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 2 (Lupus).

lash: phr. in the lash, in the lurch; ‘To run in the lash’, Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 15; ‘Leave in the lash’, id., § 63. 20; ‘lie in the lash’, Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 254; ‘Gave age the whippe, and left me in the lash’, Mirror for Mag., Shore’s Wife, s. 14; Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 446. See NED. (s.v. Lash, sb.¹ 4).

lash, to move violently; ‘Lashing up his heels’ [of a horse], Dryden, tr. of Ovid, Met. xii. 472; ‘ ’Gainst a rock was lashed in pieces’, Congreve, Mourning Bride, i. 1 (Almeria).

lash out, to squander, waste. Tusser, Husbandry, § 23. 18; More, Richard III (ed. Lumby, p. 67).

latch, to catch. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 93; Macbeth, iv. 3. 195; Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 36. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). ME. lacchen (P. Plowman). OE. læccan, to seize, catch.

lato, a mixed metal; ‘latten’. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly); laton, Morte Arthur, leaf 44, back, 25; bk. ii, c. 11. ME. latoun (Chaucer, C. T. A. 699). Norm. F. laton, ‘laiton, alliage de cuivre et de zinc’ (Moisy), Med. L. lato (Ducange). See Dict. (s.v. Latten).

launce, a balance. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 7. 4. L. lanx, a scale.

laund, a ‘lawn’, a glade. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 2; Drayton, Pol. xxvi. 69. ME. launde, a grassy clearing, a glade surrounded by trees (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1691). Anglo-F. launde, OF. lande; probably of Celtic origin, see W. Stokes, Celtic Dict., p. 239.

launder, one who washes linen. Tusser, Husbandry, § 83. 2. Hence laundered (landered), thoroughly washed, Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 171. ME. lawndere (Prompt. EETS. 257). See Dict. (s.v. Laundress).

laundring, washing gold in aqua regia to extract metal from it. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Face).

lautitious, sumptuous, excellent. Herrick, The Invitation, 3. L. lautitia, magnificence.

lave, used of ears: drooping, hanging down; ‘His lave eares’, Wily Beguiled, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix. 304; lave-eared, having long drooping ears, Hall, Satires, ii. 29 (Nares); ‘Lave eared, plaudus’, Levins, Manip. Still in use in the north country (EDD.). ME. lave eres (Wars Alex. 4748).

laver, drooping, hanging down; ‘this laver lip’, Marston, Sat. v. 97. See lave.

lavolta, the name of a lively dance, orig. for two people. Hen. V, iii. 3. 33. Ital. la volta, the turn, ‘a French dance so called’ (Florio).

†lavoltetere, one who dances (and teaches) the lavolta. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 1 (Host).

law, to give, to allow so much start, about twelve-score yards, to a hunted animal. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (near the end); Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 337; ‘She shall have law’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs. ii (Shakstone); vol. iv, p. 199.

lay, law. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 42; esp. religious law, hence, a religion, creed, a faith; ‘ ’Tis Churchmans laie and veritie To live in love and charitie’, Peele, Chron. Edw. I, B 3 (NED.). ME. lay, religion, faith (Chaucer, C. T. B. 376). Anglo-F. lei, ‘loi, loi religieuse, religion’ (Chans. Rol. 85).

lay, a ‘lea’, meadow. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 15; adj. fallow, unploughed, ‘Let . . . land lie lay till I return’, Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, iii. 3 (Sanchio). ME. lay, ‘lond not tyllyd’ (Prompt. EETS.); laie, fallow (Gamelyn, 161). See NED. (s.v. Lea, adj.).

lay, a wager. 2 Hen. VI, v. 2. 27; Othello, ii. 3. 330; Cymb. i. 4. 159. In prov. use in Yorks., Midlands, and E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Lay, sb.¹ 20).

lay, to beset with traps; ‘All the country is laid for me’, 2 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 4; Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iv. 1 (near end); iv. 2 (Tim); A Trick to Catch, i. 2. 3.

lay: phr. to lay in (or a) water, to make nugatory, to bring to a standstill, Lyly, Euphues, p. 34; Mydas, iv. 4 (Martius); Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 21. See NED. (s.v. Lay, vb.¹ 25).

laystall, a place where refuse is thrown aside. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 53; leystall, Drayton, Moses, bk. i. 115. See Nares. A Kentish word, see EDD. (s.v. Lay, vb. 2 (9a)).

leak, leaky. Spelt leke, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 35; leake, id., vi. 8. 24. OE. hlece.

leally, truly, verily. Spelt lelely, Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 1 (Sylvia); loyally, ‘He sall leallie and trewlie use and exerce his office’, Skene, Difficil Words (1681). Anglo-F. leal, loyal (Rough List), O. Prov. leal (Levy).

lear; see lere.

leare, a cheek; learys, cheeks, Morte Arthur, leaf 186. 4; bk. ix, ch. 21; spelt lyers, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, i. 471. OE. hlēor, cheek, face. See leer.

lease, a pasture. Tusser, Husbandry, § 33. 49; lees, Fitzherbert, Husb., § 148. 18; ‘In pastures and leases’, Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. i, ch. 63 (The Place).