solein; see solayne.

solf, to sing the notes of the sol-fa, or gamut; to sing. Calisto and Melibaea, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 71; solfe, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 415. ME. solfe (P. Plowman, B. v. 423).

†solidare, a small piece of money. Timon, iii. 1. 46. Not found elsewhere.

sollar, an upper room. Udall, tr. Erasmus, Acts xx. 8 (= ὑπερῷον, cenaculum); a loft, ‘Sollars full of wheat’, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 1 (Barabas). The word is still in prov. use in various parts of England with many meanings: esp. an upper room, a first-floor apartment; loft or garret (EDD.). The Gk. word ὑπερῷον (Vulg. cenaculumm) in Acts xx. 8 is rendered by soler in Wyclif’s tr. (Luther has söller). In the Heliand and in Tatian soleri = ‘cenaculum’. ME. solere or lofte, ‘solarium’ (Prompt.); ‘Soler-halle at Cantebregge’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3990, see Notes); OE. solor (soler-); L. solarium, a part of the house exposed to the sun, esp. a flat house-top (Vulgate, 2 Sam. xi. 2).

somedele, somewhat, in some measure, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec, 40. In prov. use in Scotland, Yorks., Northants, see EDD. (s.v. Some, 1 (3)). ME. somdel, in some measure (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3911).

somer, a ‘summer’, a supporting beam, a support. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 5. 22. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Summer, sb.²). F. sommier, ‘the piece of timber called a Summer’ (Cotgr.); OF. somier, a pack-horse (Burguy); Med. L. saumarius, sagmarius, ‘equus clitellarius’ (Ducange); deriv. of sagma, a pack, burden; Gk. σάγμα. See Dict. (s.v. Sumpter). For the development of meaning from ‘a kind of horse’ to a ‘timber-beam’, cp. F. poutre, (1) a filly, (2) a supporting beam.

sooreyn, jaded feeling, exhaustion; ‘Abundance breedes the sooreyn of excesse’, Gascoigne, Grief of Joy, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 286. A back-formation from the verb to surrein, to overtire. See surreined.

soote, sweetly, Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 111; also sweet, Surrey, Description of Spring, 1. ME. sote, sweetly (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 2612), OE. swōte, sweetly. Chaucer has also sote as adj. sweet (C. T. A. 1), but the OE. adj. is swēte.

sooterkin, an imaginary kind of afterbirth formerly attributed to Dutch women; ‘There goes a report of the Holland Women that together with their children they are delivered of a Sooterkin, not unlike a Rat, which some imagine to be the Offspring of the Stoves’, Cleveland (NED.); Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 146. [Swift to Delany (Works, ed. 1755, III. ii. 232); Pope, Dunciad, i. 126; ‘Sooterkin, maankalf’, Calisch.] See mooncalf.

sooth, to declare a statement to be true, to corroborate it. Udall, Roister Doister, i. 1. 47; to support a person in a statement, ‘Sooth me in all I say’, Massinger, Duke Milan, v. 2; to sooth up, ‘Sooth me in all I say’, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 10. 19. The same word as soothe, OE. sōðian, to show to be true. The pronunciation of the verb is due to the sb. sooth, OE. sōð.

sophie, wisdom; ‘The seuenfold sophie of Minerue’, Grimald, Death of Zoroas, 67; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 121. Gk. σοφία.

sops-in-wine, a name given to some kind of gilliflower or pink. Spenser, Shep. Kal., April, 138; B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniversary (Shepherd, l. 6). See Nares.

sord, ‘sward’, turf. Milton, P. L. xi. 433; greene-sord, green sward, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 157 (so Fol. 1).

sore, a buck of the fourth year. Phaer, Aeneid x. 725 (L. cervum). ‘The bucke . . . the iij. yere a sowrell, A sowre at the iiij. yere’, Book of St. Albans, fol. e, iiij.

sore. Of the hare: to traverse open ground, ‘I might see [the hare] sore and resore’, i.e. dart off, first in one direction and then in another, Return from Parnassus, ii. 5 (end). ‘When he gooth the howndys before, He sorth and resorth’, Boke of St. Albans, fol. e 8, back.

sore, to make sore, to hurt. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 38.

sort, a company, assemblage of people: Mids. Night’s D. iii. 2. 13; Richard II, iv. 1. 246; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 5; Ps. lxii. 3 (Great Bible, 1539); rank, degree, ‘A gentleman of great sort’, Hen. V, iv. 7. 143; of sorts, of various kinds, ‘They have a king and officers of sorts’ (id., i. 2. 190). Anglo-F. sort, company, assemblage (Gower, Mirour, 16800).

sortilege, a drawing of lots. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. 1, § 18. F. sortilège, L. sortilegium.

soss, to make oneself wet and dirty, to dabble; ‘Sossing and possing, dabbling in mire’, Gammer Gurton’s Needle; i. 4 (Hodge); sost, pp. made wet and dirty, Tusser, Husbandry, § 48. 20. In prov. use in various parts of the British Isles, see EDD. (s.v. Soss, vb.² and vb.³).

†sothbind. ‘But late medcynes can help no sothbynde sore’, Mirror for Mag., Richard, st. 10 (ed. 1578 has: ‘no festered sore’). Not found elsewhere. See Nares.

†sothery. The devils are described as having—‘Theyr taylles wel kempt, and, as I wene, With sothery butter theyr bodyes anoynted’, Heywood, The Four Plays, v. 87, Anc. Brit. Drama, i. 18, col. 2; Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 376. Does it mean ‘Surrey butter’? Surrey is spelt Sothery in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 269; and Sothray in Skelton, El. Rummyng, 96.

souce; see souse.

soud, to consolidate, make whole. Pp. souded, Morte Arthur, leaf 359. 20; bk. xvii, c. 19. F. souder, to consolidate; L. solidare.

souder, to be soldered together, to become whole; ‘The pecys . . . soudered as fayr as euer they were to-fore’, Morte Arthur, leaf 348. 12; bk. xvii, c. 4.

soul, a part of the viscera of a cooked fowl. Heywood, Eng. Traveller, ii. 1 (Clown). See EDD. (s.v. Soul, sb.¹ 8). ‘Âme, the soule of a capon or gose’, Palsgrave; ‘Mazzacáre, the tender part of any bird or fowl, in a Goose it is called the Soul’ (Florio). See EDD. (s.v. Soul, sb.¹ 8) and Notes and Queries (8th S. ii. 169).

souling, relishing, affording a relish; souling well, affording a good relish, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 32. Cp. the north country prov. word sowl(e, a relish, dainty, anything eaten with bread (EDD.). OE. sufl.

sound, to swoon, Two Angry Women, iii. 2 (Francis); Heywood, Four Prentises (Guy), vol. ii, p. 181; a swoon, ‘a deadly sound’, id., Fair Maid of the Exchange (Anthony), vol. ii, p. 15; Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 94; ‘She fell into a traunce or sownde’, Stubbes, A Christall Glasse (ed. Furnivall, 202). In common prov. use in Scotland, also in England in various parts, esp. in Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Sound, vb.²). See sowne (2).

sounder, a herd of wild swine. Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, iv. 163; Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert); ‘That men calleth a trip of a tame swyn is called of wylde swyn a soundre, that is to say ȝif ther be passyd v or vi togedres’ (Halliwell). OE. sunor: ‘sunor bergana’ (Luke viii. 32, Lind.) = ‘grex porcorum’ (Vulg.).

sourd, to arise. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 7; Fabyan’s Chron., ed. 1811, p. 436; p. 499, l. 23. ME. sourde, to arise (Chaucer, C. T. I. 475); F. sourdre; L. surgere.

sous, souse, a ‘sou’, a small coin. Farquhar, The Inconstant, i. 2 (Old Mirabel); Prior, Down Hall, st. 33. [‘Those most heav’nly pictures . . . For which the nation paid down every souse’, Peter Pindar, Works (ed. 1816, p. 397).] An obsolete Scotch word (EDD.).

souse, to swoop down like a hawk. Heywood, Dialogue, 181 (Mercury), vol. vi, p. 247; to deal a heavy downward blow, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 6; Heywood, Brazen Age (Hercules); the downward swoop of a bird of prey, the sudden blow given by a ‘sousing’ hawk, Drayton, Pol. xx. 241; Heywood, A Woman Killed, i. 3. 2; Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv. 2 (Futelli). The word as applied in falconry meant originally the upward spring or swoop of a bird of prey; an older form was sours; OF. sorse (mod. source), lit. the ‘rise’ of the hawk; cp. Chaucer, C. T. D. 1938, and Hous Fame, ii. 36. See Dict. (s.v. Souse), and Notes on Eng. Etym. 275.

souse, brine for pickle. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, ii. 1 (Normandine); ears and feet of a pig in pickle, Tusser, Husbandry, § 12; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 120; hence souse-wife (sowce-wife), a woman who sold ‘souse’, Greene, George-a-Greene (ed. Dyce. 257); Dekker, Shoemakers’ Hol. ii. 3 (Firk). ME. sowce, ‘succidium’ (Prompt. EETS. 424, see note, no. 2063); OF. sous (souz), see Godefroy (s.v. Soult, 2); cp. OHG. sulza (Schade), O. Prov. soltz, ‘viande à la vinaigrette’ (Levy); Ital. solcio, a seasoning of meat (Florio). Cp. also OF. solcier, ‘confire de la viande dans du vinaigre et des épices’ (Raschi). See note on ‘Solz’, in Romania, 1910, p. 176.

sowce-wife; See souse (2).

sow-gard, a protecting shield or shelter (= L. testudo). Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 451. A sow was a military engine consisting of a movable roof arranged to protect men handling a battering-ram or advancing to scale walls.

sowl, to pull by the ears. Coriolanus, iv. 5. 213 (old edd. sole); spelt sole, Heywood, Love’s Mistress, iv. 1 (Vulcan); vol. v, p. 137. ‘Sowl’ is in prov. use in many spellings (soul, sool, sole, soal, saul), meaning to pull by the ears, also to hit on the head, see EDD. (s.v. Sowl, vb.¹).

sowne, to swoon, Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 483; a swoon, Puritan Widow, i. 3. 42. In prov. use for swoon, see EDD. (s.v. Sound, vb.² 1). ME. sownyn, ‘sincopo’ (Prompt. EETS. 324). See sound.

sowse; see souse.

sowter, souter, a cobbler. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 3 (Rosalura); Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto); Mad Lover, ii. 1. 22. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME. souter (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3904); OE. sūtere; L. sutor.

soyle, the watery place in which a hunted animal takes refuge. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 40; p. 115. Used to signify the hunted animal; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 3. 16. See soil (pool).

space, to walk or roam about. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 44. Cp. Ital. spaziare, to walk about (spatiare in Florio). L. spatiari, whence also O. Prov. espasiar, reflex, ‘se promener’ (Levy), and G. spazieren. Cp. Med. L. ‘Spatiamentum, ambulatio, deambulatio, animi relaxatio’ (Ducange).

spade, to make a female animal barren, to ‘spay’. Chapman. Widow’s Tears, v (Governor). Med. L. spadare, ‘spadonem facere’ (Ducange), deriv. of L. spado, Gk. σπάδων, one who has no generative power, eunuch. See spay.

spade-bone, blade-bone, shoulder-bone. Drayton, Pol. v. 266; Skinner (ann. 1671). In prov. use (EDD.). Spade = Norm. F. espalde, ‘épaule’ (Moisy). For the phonology cp. jade = Icel. jalda, a mare, through OF. *jaude, *jalde. See below.

spalle, a shoulder. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29. ‘Spawl’ (‘spaul’) is in prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Spaul). OF. espalle, espalde (F. épaule), Med. L. spatula, a shoulder-blade, L. spatula, a broad-bladed knife. See spade-bone.

span-counter, a boys’ game. One boy throws down a counter, which another wins, if he can throw another so as to hit it or lie within a span of it. 2 Hen. VI, iv. 3; Northward Ho, i. 2 (Philip). See Nares.

spang, a spangle. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1162; Bacon, Essay 37. Hence spang’d, spangled, Three Lords and Three Ladies (Shealty), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 467.

Spanish fig, a poisoned fig. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 30.

Spanish needle, a needle of the best quality. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1. 6.

Spanish pike, a needle; jocosely. Ford, Sun’s Darling, ii. 1 (Folly).

spare, spaire, spayre, an opening or slit in a gown or petticoat. Spayre, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 345; ‘Sparre of a gowne, fente de la robe’, Palsgrave; Skene, Difficill Scottish Words (ann. 1681). ME. speyre of garment, ‘cluniculum’ (Prompt. EETS. 427, see note, no. 2083); spayre, ‘manubium, cluniculum’ (Cath. Angl.).

Spargirica, a name for Alchemy; ‘Ars Spagyrica’ (misspelt), B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 5 (ed. 1616). Ital. Spargirica, a name given to Alchemy from its separating and analysing chemical substances (Fanfani). Cotgrave has ‘Spargirie, Alchymie’, and ‘Spargirique, an Alchemist’. Florio has ‘Spargirio, Alchymy or the Extraction of Quintessences’.

sparkle, to scatter, disperse. Beaumont and Fl., Loyal Subject, i. 5. 4; Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1 (Demetrius); sparkling, scattering, Bonduca, iii. 2 (near the end). See Nares, and Trench’s Select Glossary (ed. 1890). In prov. use in Yorks. (EDD.). See disparkle.

sparse, to scatter. Fairfax, Tasso, xii. 46; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 268. L. spars-us, pp. of spargere, to scatter. See sperse.

spaw, a spa, place with mineral waters; ‘Your Tunbridge, or the Spaw itself’, B. Jonson, News from the New World (1 Herald); The Spawe, Gascoigne, Works, i. 376 (1572). So named from Spa, in Belgium.

spay, to render female animals barren; ‘Geld your loose wits, and let your Muse be spay’d’, Cleveland (Johnson’s Dict.). Anglo-F. *espayer (OF. espeër) < Med. L. spadare, to deprive of generative power (Ducange). See spade.

speed, to dispatch, destroy, kill; ‘With a speeding thrust his heart he found’, Dryden (Johnson); sped, pp. done for, Romeo, iii. 1. 94; Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 72; speeding-place, the place where a wound is fatal, and the man is sped. Marston, What you Will, i. 1 (Quadratus); Chapman, Widow’s Tears, i (Tharsalio).

spence, expense; ‘Spence, cost, despence’, Palsgrave; Ascham, Toxophilus, 122. ME. spense, spendynge, ‘dispensa’, Voc. 578. 45; spence, or expence (Prompt. EETS. 427).

spence, a buttery, a larder; ‘Spens, a buttrye, despencier’, Palgrave; spence, The Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 35 (Taverner). In prov. use in Scotland and the north country, meaning a larder, pantry, store-cupboard, see EDD. (s.v. Spense). ME. spence, botery, ‘promptuarium’ (Prompt. EETS. 427).

sperage, ‘the herb asparagus; it is so called by Gerard, and all the old botanists, as its English name’ (Nares). North, tr. Plutarch, Jul. Caesar, § 16 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 58); Sylv. Du Bartas, Furies (Nares); Haven of Health, c. xxiii, p. 45 (id.). A Glouc. form (EDD.). ME. sperage, asparagus (Palladius, Husbandry, 112).

spere, used in the sense of a youth, a stripling; ‘A lusty spere’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 947; Poems ag. Garnesche, iii. 41. Prob. a fig. use of ‘spere’, a young shoot or sprout, still in prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Spear, sb.¹ 7).

spere, speer, to shoot, sprout, a term in malting, Tusser, Husbandry, § 84. 5. See spire.

sperhauk, sparrowhawk. Morte Arthur, leaf 301. 34; bk. xii, c. 7. Cp. OE. spearhafoc (Voc. 132. 26); spearwa, sparrow + hafoc, hawk.

sperre, to shut, fasten, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 224; Tr. and Cr., Prol. 19 (Theobald’s emendation); ‘I sperre, Je ferme. This verbe is of the northyrne langaige and nat commynly in use’, Palsgrave. Spear, ‘to bar or fasten a door’, is a Northumbrian word, see EDD. (s.v. Speer, vb. 6. 2); ‘To sper, to shut, to fasten a door with a bar of wood’ (Jamieson). ME. sperre, ‘claudere’ (Cath. Angl.); sperred, barred (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 521). Cp. G. sperren, to shut (in or out).

sperse, to scatter, ‘disperse’. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 39; v. 3. 37.

spial, a spy. Bacon, Essay 44. In some edd. for espial in 1 Hen. VI, i. 4. 8; spials, spies, Marl. 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 2. 35. See espial.

spice, a species, kind, sort. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 1, §§ 1, 3; ‘Spyce, a kynde, espece’, Palsgrave. ME. spice, species, kind: ‘Absteyne you fro yvel spice’ (Wyclif, 1 Thess. v. 22); ‘The spices (v.r. speces) of envye ben these’ (Chaucer, C. T. I. 490). OF. espice, a species, L. species, a kind, sort (Vulgate, 1 Thess. v. 22).

spiced, scrupulous, over-nice, too particular; ‘Out of a scruple he took . . . in spiced conscience’, B. Jonson, Barthol. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous); Sejanus, v. 4 (Sej.); Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 1 (Cleanthe). See note on Chaucer, C. T. A. 526. See spice.

spick, lard. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 335. In Scotland the fat of animals, the blubber of whales (EDD.). ME. spyke or fette flesch, ‘popa’ (Prompt. EETS. 428). Icel. spik, the fat of seals or whales, cp. OE. spic, fat bacon; G. speck, bacon, lard.

spilt, (perhaps) inlaid with thin slips. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 5. See EDD. (s.v. Spill, sb.² 1).

spilth, a spilling, pouring out. Used of wine, Timon, ii. 2. 169. A Scottish word; also in use in Suffolk (EDD.).

spinet, a spinny, a copse, thicket. B. Jonson, The Satyr, first stage-direction. L. spinetum, a thicket of thorns; from spina, thorn.

spinner, a spider. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous); Mids. Night’s D. ii. 2. 21; Romeo, i. 4. 59; ‘Spynner or spyder, herigne’, Palsgrave; ‘Araigne, a spider or spinner’, Cotgrave. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. spynner, ‘arania’ (Prompt.).

spintry, a male prostitute. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5 (Arruntius). L. spintria.

spiny, slender. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, iii. 2 (1 Puritan); A Mad World, iii. 2. 7. Cp. prov. words spindly, spindling, spindle, meaning slender, see EDD. (s.v. Spindle).

spire, to sprout, shoot forth. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 52. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Spire, vb.¹ 8). ME. spyryn, as corn or odyre lyk, ‘spico’; spyre of corne (Prompt. EETS. 429 and 463). OE. spīr (Leechdoms), cp. Dan. spire, a germ, sprout. See spere.

spirget, a wooden peg on which to hang things; ‘There hung a Bowle of Beech upon a spirget by a ring’, Golding, Metam. viii. 653. ‘Spurget’ is in prov. use in the north country, E. Anglia, and Sussex for an iron hook, see EDD. (s.v. Sperket).

spirt, to shoot up (as a plant), to sprout. Hen. V, iii. 5. 8; Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 558. In prov. use in the Midlands and Dorset (EDD.). OE. sprytian, to sprout, germinate.

spital, spittle, a hospital. Formerly hospital; whence ’spital. Hen. V, ii. 1. 78; v. 1. 86; Puritan Widow, i. 1. 151; spittle, Sir Thos. More, i. 3. 81; ‘Ladrerie, a Spittle for lepers’, Cotgrave. Hence, spital-house, Timon, iv. 3. 39. ME. spytyl hows, ‘leprosorium’ (Prompt. EETS. 429).

spittle; see spital.

splay, to display, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 93. 13; ‘Hys banners splaide’, and ‘Our ensignes splayde’, Gascoigne (Nares). Cp. E. splay-foot, see Dict. (s.v. Splay).

splay, to castrate, Meas. for M. ii. 1. 249 (mod. edd. spay). In Shropshire heifers are splayed to make them barren (EDD.).

spleen. The organ of the body viewed as the seat of emotions and passions; impetuosity, eagerness, ‘The spleen of fiery dragons’, Richard III, v. 3. 350; malice, hatred, ‘I have no spleen against you’, Hen. VIII, ii. 4. 89; a fit of passion,’ A hair-brained Hotspur, governed by a spleen’, 1 Hen. IV, v. 2. 19; any sudden impulse or fit beyond the control of reason, esp. a fit of laughter, ‘Thy silly thought enforces my spleen’, L. L. L. iii. 77; a caprice, ‘A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways’, Ven. and Ad. 907. See Schmidt.

splent, a lath, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 122. 10; ‘Splent for an house, laite’, Palsgrave. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Splint, sb.¹ 2). ME. splente (Prompt. EETS. 429).

splent, ‘a kind of hard swelling, without Pain, that grows on the Bone of a Horse’s Leg’, Phillips, Dict., 1706; Greene, Looking Glasse, i (p. 120).

sploach, a ‘splotch’, a blot. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master, v. 1 (Don Diego). ‘Splotch’ is in common prov. use (EDD.).

spondil, one of the vertebrae of the spine; ‘The spondils of his back’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Tuck). Gk. (Ionic) σπόνδυλος, (Attic) σφόνδυλος, a vertebra.

spooks-make, interpreter; ‘Of Gods the spooks-make’ (= L. interpres Divum), Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 373. Spooks-make = spokes-make. ‘Spoke’ is in prov. use for talk, conversation (EDD.); ‘make’ is still in prov. use, meaning a companion. See make.

spoom, to sail before the wind. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 96; Beaumont and Fl., Double Marriage, ii. 1 (Master).

spoon-meat, broth. Middleton, The Witch, iv. 1 (Almachildes).

spoorn, some kind of hobgoblin. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); Denham Tracts (ed. 1895, ii. 77); the spoorne, Scot, Disc. Witches, 153.

spousayles, a marriage, wedding. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 12, § 2 (ed. Croft, ii. 142); spousals, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 407. OF. espousailles; L. sponsalia, pl.

sprag, quick, alert. Merry Wives, iv. 1. 84. In prov. use in the north country, Worc. and the west (EDD.). ‘Sprag’ is a later form of ‘sprack’, in common prov. use in various parts of England. Cp. Norw. dial. spræk, fresh, lively (Aasen).

spraints, the dung of the otter, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 73, p. 201; sprayntes, id., c. 37, p. 98; Maister of Game, c. 11; Howell, Parl. of Beasts, 8 (Davies, 162). In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). [C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xviii.] F. ‘esprainctes, espreinctes, dung of the otter’ (Cotgr.); épreintes de la loutre (Hatzfeld). OF. espreindre, to press out, L. exprimere.

sprent, pp. sprinkled. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 45. In prov. use in Scotland and the north country (EDD.). ME. spreynd, also spreynt, sprinkled (Wyclif, Heb. ix. 13; Rev. xix. 13), pp. of sprengen, to sprinkle, OE. sprengan.

spring. A spring garden, a garden in which a concealed spring was made to spout jets of water over a visitor, when he trod upon a particular spot. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Pt. I, sc. 1 (Sophocles).

spring, a dance-tune. Fletcher, Prophetess, v. 3 (3 Shepherd). In prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Spring, 9). ME. spring, a merry dance (Chaucer, Hous Fame, 1235).

spring: a spring of pork, the lower part of the fore-quarter, divided from the neck. Fletcher, The Prophetess, i. 3. 7. In prov. use in Northants (EDD.). See Nares.

spring, the young growth in a wood, a copse, a grove; ‘The nightingale among the thick-leav’d spring’, Fletcher, Faithful Sheph. v. 1; Fairfax, Tasso, xiii. 35; ‘In yonder spring of roses’, Milton, P. L. ix. 218; a young shoot of a tree, Lucrece, 950; fig. a youth, lad, ‘Being yong and yet a very spring’, Mirrour for Mag., Northumberland, st. 4; Spenser, Muiopotmos, 292. ‘Spring’ is in prov. use for young growth, the undergrowth of wood; a copse, a grove (EDD.).

springal, a youth. Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 6; Beaumont and Fl., Laws of Candy, iii. 2 (Cassilane); springald, id., Knt. of B. Pestle, ii. 2; ‘Springald, adolescens’, Levins, Manip. See EDD. (s.v. Springald).

spruntly, smartly, sprucely. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, iv. 1 (Lady T.). The adj. is in prov. use (EDD.).

spurblind, ‘purblind’, nearly blind. Lyly, Sapho, ii. 2 (Phao). Halliwell says that the word was used by Latimer.

spurling, a smelt. Tusser, Husbandry, § 12, st. 5; Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 4 (Carion). ME. sperlynge, ‘sperlingus’ (Cath. Angl.); F. esperlan, a smelt (Cotgr.).

spur-ryal, spur-royal, a gold coin, worth about fifteen shillings; also called a royal or ryal. It had a star on the reverse resembling a rowel of a spur (Nares). Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, i. 1 (Young Loveless); Mayne, City Match, ii. 3 (Aurelia).

spyon, spion, a scout, in an army; ‘Captain of the Spyons’, Heywood, Four Prentises (Guy), vol. ii, p. 242. F. ‘espion, a spy, scout; espier, to spy’ (Cotgr.).

spyrre, to ask, inquire. Morte Arthur, leaf 416, back, 36; bk. xxi, c. 8. Cp. ‘spur’ in use in the north country for publishing or asking the banns of matrimony in church, see EDD. (s.v. Spur, vb.²). ME. speren, to ask (Barbour’s Bruce, see Gloss.). OE. spyrian, to inquire into.

squall, a term of endearment; ‘The rich gull gallant calls her deare and love, Ducke, lambe, squall, sweet-heart, cony, and his dove’, Taylor, 1630 (Nares); Middleton, Mich. Term, iii. 1 (Hellgill); Five Gallants, iv. 2. 3; used as a term of reproach, ‘Obereau, a young minx or little proud squal’, Cotgrave; also, applied to a man as a term of contempt, Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 199). See Halliwell.

squander, to scatter, disperse, Merch. Ven. i. 3. 32; Dryden, Annus Mirab., st. 67. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.).

square, rule, exact conduct; ‘I have not kept my square’, Ant. and Cl. ii. 3. 6; ‘Never breaks square’ (i.e. never gives offence), Middleton, The Widow, ii (end).

square, to quarrel. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 30; Titus And. ii. 1. 100; Ant. and Cl. ii. 1. 45; Harington, Ariosto, xiv. 72; id., Ep. i. 37; a quarrel, Promos and Cass. ii. 4 (Nares). Hence squarer, a quarreller, Much Ado, i. 1. 82. Also, a squadron, ‘Our squares of battle’, Hen. V, iv. 2. 28; ‘Squares of war’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 11. 40. Cp. O. Prov. esqueira, ‘corps de bataille’ (Levy). Med. L. squadra, ‘caterva, turba, cohors; acies, copiae militares’ (Ducange); cp. Ital. squadra, ‘a squadron or troop of men’ (Florio); F. escadre (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.vv. Square, Squadron).

squares. How go the squares? how goes the game? The reference is to the chessboard; Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Purge); May, The Old Couple, iv. 1 (Sir Argent).

squash, the shell or pod of peas or beans; an unripe pea-pod. Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 166; Wint. Tale, i. 2. 161. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Squash, vb.¹ 3).

squat, to squeeze, crush, bruise. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Savourwit). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). OF. esquatir, ‘aplatir, briser’ (Didot). See Dict.

squelch, to crush, bruise, strike with a heavy blow. Fletcher, Nice Valour, v. 1 (Galoshio); a heavy blow, Butler, Hud. i. 2. 836, 933. In prov. use (EDD.).

squelter, to ‘welter’, wallow, roll about; ‘The slaughter’d Trojans squeltring in their blood’, Locrine, ii. 6. 4.

squib, a paltry fellow. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 371. In prov. use in west Yorks. in the sense of a small dwarfish person, see EDD. (s.v. Squib, sb.²).

squib, used fig. for a flashy, futile project or design, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 195).

squich, to move quickly. Marriage of Wit and Science, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley. ii. 387; to wince, to flinch, Soliman and Perseda, iv. (Basilisco), id., v. 343. Probably identical with prov. E. switch, to move quickly, see EDD. (s.v. Switch, vb.¹ 9).

squince, the quinsy. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 22, § 3; ‘Squinantia, the Squince or Squinancie’, Florio; also squincy, ‘Esquinance, the Squincy’, Cotgrave; ‘Shall we not be suspected for the murder, And choke with a hempen squincy’, Randolph, The Jealous Lovers (ed. 1634, p. 54). ME. squynesy, ‘squinancia’ (Prompt. EETS. 431). Sec Dict. (s.v. Quinsy).

squinny, squiny, to look asquint. King Lear, iv. 6. 140; ‘How scornfully she squinnies’, Shirley, Sisters, ii. 2 (Antonio). In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.).

squire, squier, a ‘square’, a rule for measuring, Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 348; by the squire, by exact rule, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iv. 2 (Pan). ME. squire, a carpenter’s instrument (Chaucer, C. T. D. 2090). F. ‘esquierre, a rule or square’ (Cotgr.).

staddle, a prop, support. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 14; a young growing tree left standing in a wood after the underwood has been cut away, Bacon, Essay 29, § 5; id., Henry VII (ed. Lumby, 72). See EDD. OE. staþol, a foundation, firm support.

staffe, a stave, a stanza; ‘Staffe . . . The Italian called it Stanza’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. ii, c. 2 (Of proportion in Staffe).

staffier, a lacquey, a footman. Butler, Hud. ii. 2. 651. F. ‘estaffier, a lackey or footboy, that runs by the stirrup; a servingman that waits afoot, while his master rides; estaphe, a stirrup’ (Cotgr.); Ital. staffiere, ‘a lacquey, that runs by a man’s stirrup’; staffa, ‘a kind of stirrup for a saddle’ (Florio). Of Germ. origin, cp. G. stapfe, a foot-step.

staggers, a sudden fit of giddiness, vertigo. Beaumont and Fl., Mad Lover, i. 1 (Calis); Cymbeline, v. 5. 234; All’s Well, ii. 3. 170; a disease in horses indicated by staggering and falling down, Taming Shrew, iii. 2. 55.

stakker, to stagger. Morte Arthur, leaf 232, back, 6; bk. x, c. 30; and in Palsgrave. ME. stakeren, to stagger (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 2687). Norw. dial. stakra, to stagger (Aasen).

stale, a station where one lies in wait for birds; ‘Stale for foules takynge’, Palsgrave; to lie in stale, to lie in wait or ambush, ‘As I lay in stale To fight with the duke Richard’s eldest son, I was destroy’d’, Mirror for Mag., 366 (Nares); Stanyhurst, Desc. Ireland (Halliwell). ME. staal, of fowlynge or of byrdys takynge ‘stacionaria’ (Prompt. EETS. 432). OF. estal, place, séjour, arrêt; prendre son estal, prendre position (Didot), Anglo-F. estal (Ch. Rol. 1108, 2319).

stale, a decoy; a bird or something in the form of a bird set up to allure a bird of prey; ‘The fowler’s stale the appearance of which brings but others to the net’, Cap of Gray Hairs (ed. 1688, p. 96); see Halliwell; Mirrour for Mag. (Nares); Sidney, Arcadia, ii, p. 169 (Nares); an object of allurement, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 3; Tempest, iv. 1. 187; a device, trick, F. Q. ii. 1. 4; a laughing-stock, Titus And. i. 2. 241. In prov. use in Lincolnsh., see EDD. (s.v. Stale, sb.¹). Anglo-F. estale, ‘appeau, oiseau qui sert à attirer les autres’ (Vocab. to Bozon).

stale, the shaft of an arrow, Chapman, tr. Iliad, iv. 173; the shaft of a javelin, Nomenclator (Nares). In prov. use in the sense of a shaft, a long slender handle, see EDD. (s.v. Stale, sb.² 1). See stele.

stale, the urine of horses and cattle, Ant. and Cl. i. 4. 62 to urinate, Butler, Hud. iii. 1. 152; ‘Escloy, urine, stale’, Cotgrave. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Stale, vb.³). OF. estaler, to stale (of horses), see Godefroy. Of Germ, origin, cp. Dan. stalle, Swed. stalla, to urinate; cp. G. stallen (used of horses); stall, urine.

stale, stalemate, at chess; ‘Like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir’, Bacon, Essay 12.

stale, to render stale, to make common and worthless. Coriol. i. 1. 95; Ant. and Cl. ii. 2. 240; Jul. Caesar, i. 2. 73; a stale, a prostitute, harlot, Much Ado, ii. 2. 26; iv. 1. 66.

stall, to forestall. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iii. 1 (Tiberius); Massinger, Bashful Lover, iv. 3.

stall, to install set in authority, Richard III, i. 3. 206; ‘And stawled gods doe condiscend’, Turbervile, The Lover excuseth himself. Stalled to the rogue (Cant Phrase), admitted as a recognized thief, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll); Harman, Caveat, p. 34. The master-thief admitted a rogue with the ceremony of pouring a quart of beer over his head, and using a formula of words.

stall, to stick fast; ‘When his cart was stalled (he) lay flat on his back and cried aloud, Help, Hercules!’, Burton, Anat. Mel., p. 222 (Nares). In prov. use in the north country and Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Stall, vb. 20).

stalled, pp.; ‘Dole perpetuall, From whence he never should be quit, nor stal’d’ (rimes with cal’d), Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 1245. Meaning doubtful.

stalling ken, a house for receiving stolen goods (Cant). Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Tearcat); stauling ken, Harman, Caveat, p. 83; B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman).

stark, stout, sturdy. Sir T. Wyatt (Nares); stiff (used in speaking of a dead body), 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 42; Romeo, iv. 1. 103; Cymbeline, iv. 2. 209; starkly, stiffly (as in a dead body), Meas. for M. iv. 2. 70. In common prov. use in the north country in the two meanings (1) stout, sturdy, and (2) stiff, esp. through rheumatism (EDD.). OE. stearc, stiff, rigid; rough, strong (B. T.); Icel. sterkr, strong. See storken.

startups, rustic shoes with high tops, or half-gaiters; ‘Guestres [gaiters], startups, high shooes, or gamashes for countrey folks’, Cotgrave; Hall, Satires, book vi; Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 4 (Cloe). See Nares. In prov. use in the Midlands (EDD.).

state, high rank, dignity. 3 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 93; chair of state, a canopied chair, dais, or throne for a king, 3 Hen. VI, i. 1. 51; Hen. VIII, iv. 1. 67; state = chair of state, Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 51; Coriol. v. 24; Macbeth, iii. 4. 5; states, persons of high rank, Cymb. iii. 4. 39; state, an estate, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, i. 1. 7; Rule a Wife, iii. 5 (Leon).

statist, a statesman, politician. Hamlet, v. 2. 33; Beaumont and Fl., Laws of Candy, ii. 1 (Gonzalo); Webster, Appius, i. 3 (Virginius). Ital. statista (Florio).

statua, a statue. Jul. Caesar, iii. 2. Bacon, Essay 27, § 6, and 45, § 3; a picture, Massinger, City Madam, v. 3 (Sir John, 15th speech). L. statua, an image, statue (commonly made of metal).

statuminate, to prop up. B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2 (Tipto). L. statumino (Pliny).

statute-caps, woollen caps, which, by a statute of 1571, citizens were enjoined to wear on holydays. L. L. L. v. 2. 281. Also, the wearers of such caps, citizens, Middleton, Family of Love, v. 3 (Dryfat). See Nares.

statute-lace, lace made according to a law that regulated its width and material. Massinger, Parl. of Love, iv. 5 (Perigot).

statute-merchant, or statute-staple, a bond acknowledged before one of the clerks of the statute-merchant, and mayor of the staple, or chief warden of the City of London, or other sufficient men; see quotation from Blount, in Nares. ‘His lands be engaged in twenty statutes staple’, Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3 (Glister); cp. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. iii. 110.

stauling ken; see stalling ken.

staunce, disagreement. Gascoigne, Supposes, ii. 4 (Dulipo). See distance.

stead, to stand in good stead; ‘Necessaries which since have steaded much’, Temp. i. 2. 165; to be of use to, benefit, help, Gent. Ver. ii. 1. 124; Othello, i. 3. 344; stead up, to take a person’s place (in an arrangement), Meas. for M. iii. 1. 261.

steaming; see steming.

sted, a bedstead. Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Georgies, ii. 726.

stedy, an anvil. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 149, back, 30. This form for ‘stithy’ is in prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Stiddy). Icel. steði. See stithy.

steenkirk, a loose cravat of fine lace. Vanbrugh, The Relapse, i. 3 (Sempstress); Congreve, Love for Love, i. 2 (Scandal). Named with reference to the battle of Steenkerke (1692). See Stanford.

stele, the shaft of an arrow, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 123; the handle of a rake, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 24. 19; ‘Steale or handell of a staffe, manche’, Palsgrave. This word in many spellings is in common prov. use in Scotland and England for a shaft or handle, esp. a long straight handle, see EDD. (s.v. Steal, sb.²). ME. stele, or sterte of a vessel, ‘ansa’ (Prompt. EETS. 434). OE. stela, a stalk. See stale (3).

stelled, fixed; ‘A face where all distress is stell’d’, Lucrece, 1444; stelled fires, fixed stars, King Lear, iii. 7. 61. ‘To stell’ is in prov. use in Scotland in the sense of to place, set, fix, see EDD. (s.v. Stell, vb. 7). OE. stellan, to place.

stellionate, fraudulent dealing. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 62. L. stellionatus, trickery; from stellio, a knave.

stem, to keep in, enclose. Spelt stemme, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 12. Icel. stemma, to stop, dam up.

steming, shining, bright; ‘Two stemyng eyes’, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 53; ‘With skouling steaming eyes’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vi. 300 (L. stant lumina flamma). ME. steeme, or lowe of fyre, ‘flamma’ (Prompt. EETS. 434); stem: ‘A stem Als it were a sunnebem’ (Havelok, 591).

stent, to leave off, to cause to cease. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 12; to cease, pt. t., Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 32. In common prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Stent, vb.¹ 2). ME. stenten, to cease, to cause to cease (Chaucer). See stint.

stepony; see stiponie.

stept in age, advanced in years. Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 152. OE. stæppan, steppan, to proceed, advance (B. T.).

stern, the hinder part of an object; used of the tail of a dragon. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 18; i. 11. 28. The same word as stern, the hinder part of a ship. Hence sternage, steerage, Hen. V, iii, Prol. 18. Icel. stjōrn, a steering, hence, the steering-place.

sterve, to die. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 34; Fairfax, Tasso, ii. 17. ME. sterve, to die, esp. to die of famine (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1249; C. T. C. 451). OE. steorfan, to die; cp. G. sterben.

stethva, a congress of Welsh bards. Drayton, Pol. iv. 177. Welsh eisteddfod.

steven, voice, outcry. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 224; steuyn, Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 130, l. 144. In common prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Steven, sb.¹ 1 and 2). ME. stevene, voice (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2562). OE. stefn.

stick-free, sword-proof, invulnerable to a sword-thrust. Burton, Anat. Mel., Of Witches and Magicians (ed. Shilleto, 1. 233); Shirley, Young Admiral, iv. 1 (ed. 1637). See Mod. Lang. Notes, June, 1912. G. stichfrei, sword-proof.

stickle, to interpose between combatants, and separate them when they had sufficiently satisfied the laws of honour, to act as umpire between combatants; ‘I styckyll betwene wrastellers . . . to se that none do other wronge, or I parte folkes that be redy to fyght’, Palsgrave; ‘(The angel) stickles betwixt the remainders of God’s hosts and the race of fiends’, Dryden, Ded. Trans. Juvenal; to be stickled, to be settled by a ‘stickler’, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymph. 6. Hence stickler, Tr. and Cr. v. 8. 18; Florio, Montaigne, ii. 27; Dryden, Oliver Cromwell, 41. ME. stihtlen, to order, arrange, as a steward or a master of the ceremonies (P. Plowman, C. xvi. 40). See Nares, Trench, Select Glossary (ed. 1890), and Dict.

sticklebag, a ‘stickleback’, a small fish. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, v. 1 (Pompey).

stigmatic, one branded with infamy, Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 26; one branded by nature with deformity, 2 Hen. VI, v. 1. 215; 3 Hen. VI, ii. 2. 136; also, stigmatical, Com. Errors, iv. 2. 22. Gk. στιγματικός, branded with a mark (στίγμα).

stike, a ‘stich’, a verse. Sackville, Induction, st. 21. Gk. στίχος, a row, a line.

still, to ‘distil’, to fall in drops. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 35.

stillatory, a still-room, for keeping distilled waters. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iv. 3 (near end). Late L. stillatorium, from stillare, to fall in drops.

Stilliard, the Steelyard; the place of business used by the German merchants in London. Westward Ho, ii. 1 (Justiniano); Stilyard merchants, merchants of the Steelyard, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p. 88). See Notes and Queries, 10 S. vi. 413, and Dict. (s.v. Steelyard, 1).

stint, to cause to cease. Timon, v. 4. 83; to cease, Pericles, iv. 4. 42; Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 29; Mother Hubberd, 1092. ME. stinte, to cease, to cause to cease (Chaucer). See M. and S. (s.v. Stynten). OE. styntan, to make dull, ‘hebetare’ (B. T.). See stent.