woman-tired, henpecked; ‘Thou art woman-tired, unroosted by thy dame Partlet here’, Wint. Tale, ii. 3. 74.
wondered, gifted with power to perform miracles; ‘So rare a wonder’d father’, Temp. iv. 1. 123.
wone, won, spellings of one; ‘Let no suche a wone prepare unto himself manye horsses’; Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 32); ‘Att won houre’, Tyndale, Rev. xviii. 10 (1526). So also wons, once; Qu. Elizabeth, tr. of Boethius, bk. i, met. 3. See Index to Wright’s English Dialect Grammar (s.v. One).
wonne, to dwell. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 39; iii. 1. 2; wonned, pt. t. Shep. Kal., Sept., 181; woon, pr. t. subj. dwell, may dwell; Virgil’s Gnat, 18. ME. wone, to dwell (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1573), OE. wunian, to dwell.
wonne, dwelling, habitation. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 20 ME. wone, a dwelling (P. Plowman, C. iv. 141).
wood, mad, furious with rage or temper. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 192; 1 Hen. VI, iv. 7. 35. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England down to Linc. (EDD.). ME. wood, mad (Chaucer, C. T. A. 184). OE. wōd.
wood-bind, woodbine. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 2 (Cornelio); wood-bind tree, id., iv. 2 (Felice); Drayton, Pol. xv. 152. ME. wodebynde (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1508). OE. wudebinde (Voc. 137. 5).
woodcock, a simpleton. Much Ado, v. 1. 158. Because a woodcock was easily caught in nets set for it at twilight in glades; cp. cockshut. ‘Go, like a woodcock, And thrust your neck i’ the noose’, Beaumont and Fl., Loyal Subject, iv. 4 (Theodore).
wooden dagger. Such a dagger was worn not only by the ‘Vice’, or buffoon in old plays, but also sometimes by the domestic fool; Fletcher, Noble Gentleman, v. 1 (Longueville). For ‘dagger of lath’, see Twelfth Night, iv. 2. 136. A wooden dagger could also be used as a crumb-scoop, to clear the table of fragments after a meal; see Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 1 (Mercer).
woodquist, a wood-pigeon, ring-dove; ‘A Stock-dove or woodquist’, Lyly, Sapho, iv. 3. 3. Also quist (queest); ‘Phavier, a Ringdove, Queest, Coushot, Woodculver’, Cotgrave. [With phavier, cp. O. Prov. colom favar, ‘pigeon ramier’ (Levy)]. ‘Quist’ (‘queest’), a wood-pigeon, is in prov. use in various parts of the British Isles (EDD.). See NED. (s.v. Queest).
woodsere, the time of year when there is little sap in a tree. Tusser, Husbandry, § 53. 15, § 51. 6. (The time meant has been said to be between Midsummer and Michaelmas; it was thought that wood cut at that season would not grow again.) In E. Anglia the word ‘wood-sere’ is used for the month or season for felling wood, see EDD. (s.v. Wood, sb. 1 (34 b)).
woodspeck, a woodpecker. Golding, Metam. xiv. 314 (L. picum); fol. 171 (1603); Specke is a Norfolk word for the woodpecker (EDD.). Cp. Du. specht, a woodpecker (Hexham). G. specht.
Wood Street, the Compter prison in Wood Street, London. Middleton, Phœnix, iv. 3 (1 Officer). See Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p. 111).
woolfist, a puff-ball. Wily Beguiled, Prologue. For wolf-fist; Gk. L. lycoperdon, which has the same sense; see Weigand, Germ. Dict. (s.v. Bofist).
woolward: in phr. to go woolward, i.e. in wool only, without linen, often enjoined as a penance by the Church of Rome; ‘I have no shirt, I go woolward for penance’, L. L. L. v. 2. 717; ‘He went woolward and barefooted to many churches’, Stow’s Annals, H. 7 (Nares); ‘Wolworde, without any lynnen nexte ones body, sans chemyse’, Palsgrave. ME. wolleward (wolward), see Pricke of Conscience, 3514; P. Plowman’s Crede, 788; P. Plowman, B. xviii. 1 (see note, p. 395). [It is probable that the ME. form wolleward is due to popular etymology, and that the word properly represents an OE. *wullwered, clothed in wool, cp. swegelwered, clothed with heavenly brightness. The corruption would be natural, when the sense of wered was lost, as -ward was a common suffix. The phr. ‘to go woolward’ cannot be genuine: it could only mean ‘to go towards wool’, which is not the sense (Dr. Henry Bradley). See note on the word ‘woolward’ in Mayor and Lumby’s edition of Beda’s Eccles. Hist., p. 347.]
woose, ‘ooze’, soft mud, Phaer, Aeneid iii, 606; wose, id., ii. 135. Hence woosy, full of soft mud, Drayton, Pol. xxv. 205. ME. wose, mud (Wars Alex. 413). OE. wōs; see Napier’s Glosses, 1818.
woose, to ooze, Golding, tr. Ovid, fol. 127. See Dict.
word, a motto; ‘And round about the wreath this word was writ, Burnt I doe burne’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 38; ‘His word which on his ragged shield was writ, Salvagesse sans finesse’, id., iv. 4. 39.
world; ‘It is a world’, i.e. it’s wonderful (to see), Much Ado, iii. 5. 38; Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 313. To go to the world, to get married, Much Ado, ii. 1. 331; a woman of the world, a married woman, As You Like It, v. 3. 5.
worm, to remove what was called the worm from under a dog’s tongue; a supposed preventive of his going mad; ‘I should have wormed you, sir, for [to prevent your] running mad’, Ford, ’Tis pity, i. 2 (Vasque).
wot, in use as the present tense of the vb. wit, to know; ‘I wot not what rule ye keep’, Latimer, Serm. (ed. Arber, 255); ‘I wote not’, Bible, Gen. xxi. 26 (in RV. ‘I know not’); ‘God wot’, Richard III, iii. 2. 89. ME. preterite-present I wot, thou wost, he wot, pl. witen (Chaucer); OE. ic wāt, þū wāst, he wāt, pl. witon. Tudor and later English have much false grammar with respect to this verb: Shaks. has wotting (for witting}, wots (for wot), wot’st (for wost); and wotteth (for wot) is found in the Bible, Gen. xxxix. 8 (in RV. ‘knoweth’).
wrabbed, perverse, hard to manage; ‘So crabbed, so wrabbed, so stiff, so untoward’, Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 211. See Nares.
wrack, destruction, loss; ‘The wrack of maidenhood’, All’s Well, iii. 5. 24; ‘The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack’, 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 127; destruction by sea, shipwreck, Venus and Ad. 454; to ruin, destroy, Hamlet, ii. 1. 113; wracked (wrackt), shipwrecked, Meas. for M. iii. 1. 225. See Dict. (s.v. Wreck).
wrall, to quarrel, to grumble. Tusser, Husbandry, § 101. 4; ‘This my tongue-wralling’, Webster, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 120.
wrawl, to make an inarticulate noise, to caterwaul; ‘Cats that wrawling still did cry’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 27. Cp. ME. wrawhre, ‘traulus’ (Prompt. EETS. 40, see note, no. 181). See NED. (s.v. Caterwaul).
wray, to disclose. Gascoigne, Works, i. 41. ME. wreye, to bewray. reveal (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3503); also, bewreye, ‘The conseil is bewreid’ (Gower, C. A. v. 6785). OE. wrēgan, to denounce, accuse. See Dict. (s.v. Bewray).
wread, to wreathe, to twist, twine, curl; ‘The snake about him wrigling winding wreades’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xi. 753. See EDD. (s.v. Wreath, sb.1 7).
wreak, vengeance. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, ii. 3 (M. Tullius); Knight of Malta, iv. 1 (Zanthia); ‘wrathful wreakes’, angry acts of vengeance, Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 43; 12. 16; to avenge, punish, F. Q. ii. 3. 13. Hence wreakful, full of vengeance, Titus And. v. 2. 32. ME. wreke, ‘vindicta, ulcio’ (Prompt.); wreken, to avenge (Chaucer, C. T. C. 857). OE. wrecan, to punish.
wreak, to ‘reck’, to care. As You Like It, ii. 4. 81 (ed. 1623); Marlowe, tr. Ovid’s Elegies, ii. 11. 22; wreaked, recked, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec., 29. Hence wreakless, reckless, careless, 3 Hen. VI, v. 6. 7. Cp. EDD. (s.v. Wreak, vb.). OE. rēcan (pret. rōhte), to rack, care for (Sweet); see Wright, OE. Gram., § 534.
wrest, a tuning-key for a harp. Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 23.
wretchock, the smallest pig of a litter; smallest chicken in a hatch; a diminutive creature. B. Jonson, Gipsies’ Metam. (Jackman); Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 465. A Worc. word for the smallest pig of a litter (EDD.).
wries; see wry.
wrig, to turn aside. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 573 (L. contorsit). In prov. use in the Midlands, meaning to writhe (EDD.).
writhe, to turn aside, misdirect. Ferrex and Porrex, i. 2 (Gorboduc).
writhled, wrinkled, shrivelled, 1 Hen. VI, ii. 3. 23; Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 42; l. 9.
wroken, pp., revenged. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 108; Muiopotmos, 99; wroke, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 1. ME. wroken, revenged (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 88); wroke (P. Plowman, B. ii. 194); but Chaucer and P. Plowman have also the regular wreken, pp. of wreke, to avenge; OE. wrecen, pp. of wrecan. See Wright, OE. Grammar, § 505.
wrote, to grub up, as a hog; ‘His earth-wroting snout’, Return from Parnassus, iii. 4 (Furor). ME. wrotyn, as swyne ‘verro’ (Prompt. EETS. 547), OE. wrōtan.
wroth, sorrow, vexation; ‘I’ll keep my oath, patiently to bear my wroth’, Merch. Ven. ii. 9. 78.
wry, to turn aside, go aside. Cymbeline, v. 1. 5; ‘Wries, and wriggles’, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 1 (Rowland). ME. wrien, to turn aside (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 906), OE. wrigian.
wun, dwelling, abode. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 23. See wonne (2).
wusse; see iwis.
wych, wich-elm, witch-elm. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 113.
wyhee; see whigh-hie.
wyte, to blame; see wite.
xeriff, a ‘Sherif’, a title of the descendants of Mohammed. Dryden, Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Muley-Moluch); id., Conquest of Granada, i. 1. Xarife, the Spanish way of writing sherif (q.v.), Port. xarife, ‘chérif’ (Roquette).
xeriff, a Portuguese coin worth about 300 reis (Portuguese). Dryden, Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Mustapha), Port. xarafím, Arab, sharîfî or ashrafî, a gold coin often mentioned in the Arabian Nights, see Dozy, Glossaire, 353; cp. Med. L. seraphus, in Baumgarten, Peregrinatio, 23; see Dozy, Glossaire, p. 534. See Stanford (s.v. Xerafin).
yall; see yawl.
yarage (applied to ships), the capability of being managed at sea; ‘Light of yarage’, North, Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 35 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 208); ‘heavy of yarage’, id., § 35 (p. 211).
yare, quick, ready. A word freq. used by Shaks., often given to sailors. Temp. v. 1. 224; Meas. for M. v. 2. 61; ‘The lesser ship . . . is yare, whereas the greater is slow’, Ralegh (Nares); yarely, readily, Temp. i. 1. 4. Yare is in prov. use in the north (EDD.). ME. yare, ready: ‘Terens let make his shippes yare’ (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 2270;. OE. gearu, ready, equipped.
yark, to jerk. Drayton, Pol. vi. 51; to pull forcibly as shoemakers do in securing the stitches of their work; ‘Yark and seam, yark and seam’ (Eyre); ‘For yarking and seaming let me alone’ (Firk), Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1. See the story of Watt Tinlinn in note to Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel, iv. 4. In reply to the Englishman’s taunt, ‘Sutor Watt, ye cannot sew your boots’, Watt retorted, discharging a shaft which nailed the captain’s thigh to his saddle, ‘If I cannot sew, I can yerk’. As sb. a jerk; ‘Tire, a kick, yark, jerk’, Cotgrave. See yerk.
yarum, yarrum, a cant term for milk; see popler.
yate, gate. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 224. In prov. use in the north and in the north Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Gate, sb.1 1 (9)). ME. ȝate, a gate (Wyclif, Ps. cxvii. 20). OE. geat.
yaw (of a ship), to move unsteadily; used fig. Hamlet, v. 2. 120; a devious course, Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 5 (Antonio). Icel. jaga, to move to and fro (as a door on its hinges).
yaw, to cut down; yawde, for yawed, pp., Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 1206. (In the next line we have sawde for sawn, pp.) In Hants. and Devon ‘yaw’ is the prov. pronunc. of ‘hew’, and is used in the sense of mowing or cutting wheat with one hand and with a reaping-hook, see EDD. (s.v. Hew, vb.1 4).
yawd, a nag, a ‘jade’. Brome, Jovial Crew, iv. 1 (Randal). In prov. use in the north, see EDD, (s.v. Yad). The same word as ‘jade’. Yawd is derived directly from Icel. jalda, a mare, whereas jade comes to us through northern French: jalda < *jaude < jade.
yawfrow, a young lady, a mistress. Davenant, The Wits, ii. 1. Du. joffrouw, a gentlewoman, mistress, miss; jonkvrouw, a young lady; Jonkvrouw A., Miss A. (Sewel).
yawl, to howl, bawl; to scream like an infant; spelt yall, Death of E. of Huntington, i. 3 (Doncaster), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 242; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 22; yawling, a bawling, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3 (Margery). In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Yawl, vb.1 1).
yblent, obscured; ‘The faithfull light of that faire lampe yblent’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 1; blinded, ‘With love yblent’, id., Shep. Kal., April, 155. See blend.
ybowne, ready to depart. Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 140. ME. boun, ready to go (Chaucer, C. T. F. 1503). See Dict. (s.v. Bound, 3).
y-clept, y-clep’d, called, named. Milton, L’Allegro, 12. Spelt y-clipped; Ram-Alley, iii. 1 (Puff). See clepe.
y-cond, taught. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 11. (Misused; to con is to learn.) See cond.
yearn, to vex, grieve; ‘It would yearn your heart’, Merry Wives, iii. 5. 45; ‘It yearn’d my heart’, Richard II, v. 5. 76 (in quartos ernd); ‘It yearns me not’, Hen. V, iv. 3. 26. Hence yearnful (yernful), mournful, Greene, A Maiden’s Dream, st. 7. See earn (to grieve).
yearne, to give tongue as hounds do, to bay, Turbervile, Hunting (ed. 1575, pp. 181, 186, 240); see yorning.
yearne, to earn. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 40; vi. 7. 15. OE. ge-earnian, earnian, to earn.
yede, yeed, improperly used as an infin., to go. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 5; ii. 4. 2 yeade, pr. pl. (improp. used), Shep. Kal., July, 109; yode, pt. s. went, id., May, 22, 233; yod, Golding, Metam. vi. 330. ME. yede, went (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1141); ȝede, ȝeode (P. Plowman), OE. ge-ēode (and ēode), went. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Eode).
yeding, going. Sackville, Mirror of Mag., Induction, st. 30.
yelden, submissive; ‘The fierce lion will hurt no yelden thinges’ (i.e. creatures that have submitted), Sir T. Wyatt, To his ladie cruel over her Yelden Lover, 4; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 62. See yold.
yellow. Bands dyed with yellow starch, much used by Mrs. Turner, became unfashionable when that infamous woman was hung (Nov. 15, 1615) for being concerned in the murder of Sir Thos. Overbury; but not very long after they were again in use. ‘Hateful As yellow bands’, The Widow, v. 1 (Martia); ‘Disliked your yellow starch’, Beaumont and Fl., Queen of Corinth, iv. 1 (Tutor).
yellow breeches, to wear, to be jealous. Massinger, Duke of Milan, iv. 2 (Stephano). Yellow, as the hue of jealousy, Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, ii. 2. 14.
yellow-hammer, (jocosely) a gold coin. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (2 Guard).
yellowness, jealousy. Merry Wives, i. 3. 111.
yellow-pate, the yellow-hammer, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 75.
yellows, jaundice in cattle. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 54. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Yellow, 4).
yelt, a young sow; ‘A youngling yelt of brestled sow’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 170. In prov. use in the north and in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Gilt, sb.1).
yeoman-fewterer, the man who, under the huntsman, took care of the dogs, and let them slip at the right moment. Massinger, Picture, v. 1 (Ricardo); Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Page); B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, ii. 3. See Nares (s.v.), and fewterer.
yerde, a rod, a staff. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § 6. ME. yerde (Chaucer). OE. gierd, a rod.
yerk, yirk, to lash with a whip. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 44; Marston, Sat. i. 3, p. 184 (Nares); yarke, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 489. Hence, yerking preferment, a promotion to punishment with a whip, Shirley, Opportunity, ii. 1 (Pimponio); to kick out strongly, Hen. V, iv. 7. 84; Tusser, Husbandry, § 64; to thrust smartly, Othello, i. 2. 5. This word is in prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland, pronounced in many ways, with the meanings (among others), to jerk, to pull forcibly; to lash with a switch or whip, to kick as a horse does, see EDD. (s.v. Yark, vb.1 1, 5, 7). See yark.
yert: in comb. yert-point, lit. ‘jerk-point’; the name of a childish game; perhaps similar to blow-point. Lady Alimony, ii. 5 (Fricase). It may have been a name for spelicans. ‘Yert’ belongs to the group of words: jerk, yerk, jert, see Cotgrave (s.v. Tire).
yfere, together. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 1; vi. 6. 31; Shep. Kal., April, 68; Sackville, Induction, st. 74. ME. yfere, together (Chaucer, C. T. B. 394), also in-fere (C. T. B. 328, D. 924); orig. in fere, in company. OE. on heora gefére, in their company (Luke ii. 44).
yfet, pp. fetched. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, i. 647. See fet.
yield, to reward; ‘The gods yield you for’t’, Ant. and Cl. iv. 2. 23; spelt ’ild, ‘How do you pretty lady?—Well, God ’ild you!’, Hamlet, iv. 5. 41; Macbeth, i. 6. 13. ‘God yield you’ is still in prov. use in Cheshire (EDD.). ME. God yelde yow, God requite you (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1772).
ying, young; ‘The lilly . . rysing fresche and ying’, Dunbar, The Thistle and the Rose, 22. ME. ȝing, young (Barbour’s Bruce, xx. 41).
yirk; see yerk.
ylike, alike, all the same; ‘Ylike to me was libertee and lyfe’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Dec., 36; F. Q. i. 4. 27. ME. yliche (ylike), like, similar; also as adv., alike, in like manner (P. Plowman). OE. gelīc, similar, equal; gelīce, equally, in the same way, in a similar way.
ynde, indigo, dark blue. Morte Arthur, leaf 114, back. 27; bk. vii, c. 11. OF. inde, ‘de couleur d’azur’ (Didot); Med. L. indium, ‘genus coloris caerulei’ (Ducange), for L. indicum, indigo, orig. of India, Indian.
yod; see yede.
yold, pt. t. yielded. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 25. As pp., id., vii. 7. 30. ME. ȝolden, pt. pl. and pp. of ȝelden, to yield (Wars Alex. 2326, 2378). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. ȝelden).
yomenne, ‘yeomen’; the pawns in the game of chess. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, Prol. 20.
yond. This word occurs in the following passages: ‘Then like a lyon . . . wexeth wood and yond’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 40; ‘As Florimel fled from that monster yond’, id., iii. 7. 26; ‘Those three brethren, Lombards fierce and yond’, Fairfax, tr. Tasso, i. 55. It seems to be a synonym of ‘fierce’.
yond, yonder, thither. Tempest, i. 2. 409; Richard II, iii. 3. 91. In prov. use in various parts of England and Scotland (EDD.). ME. yond, yonder (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1099). OE. geond, ‘illuc’ (Matt. xxvi. 86, Rushworth).
yorning, giving tongue as hounds do. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 18, § 5; see Croft’s Glossary. See yearne (1).
yote, to water, soak; ‘Yoted wheat’, Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xix. 760. A west-country word, ‘The brewer’s grains must be well yoted for the pigs’, Grose (1790), see EDD. See below.
yoten, pp. melted. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 5. ME. ȝotun, molten (Wyclif, Job xli. 6, Ps. cv. 19), pp. of yeten, to pour (Chaucer), OE. gēotan.
youl, to howl, to squall like an infant. All Mistaken, i. 1 (near end); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xv. 337. Hence youling, ib., i. 1 (Philidor); in the same, xv. 332. In gen. prov. use in all English-speaking countries; see EDD. (s.v. Yowl). ME. youling, loud lamentation (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1278).
youngth, yongth, youth. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 20; Muiopotmos, 34. ME. ȝongthe (Wyclif, Luke xviii. 21).
ypight, pp. pitched, placed. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 33. See pight.
ysam, together. Spelt ysame (riming with ram and swam). Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 32. See sam. ME. ysamme, together (P. Plowman, A. x. 193), OE. samen, together (Sweet).
y-vound, found. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Medlay).
ywus, ‘ywis’, certainly. Golding, Metam. i. 754 (riming with thus), fol. 13, back (1603). See iwis.
zabra, a small sailing vessel, in use in the Bay of Biscay; zabraes, pl.; Dekker, Wh. of Babylon, Works, ii. 256. Span. azábra, ‘a small sort of Bark us’d in some parts of Spain’; Zábra, ‘a sort of Vessel once us’d in Biscay from 100 to 200 Tun Burden, and serv’d for Fishing or Privateering, now laid aside’ (Stevens). Port, zabra (Roquette). See Stanford (s.v. Azabra).
zambra, a Moorish festival, with music and dancing; a festive dance. Dryden, Conquest of Granada, I, i. 1 (l. 11 from end). Span. zambra, ‘a Moorish dance’ (Stevens). ‘A la rigueur zambra signifie musique d’instruments à vent; on l’a appliqué à la danse parce que l’on danse au son des larigots et des flûtes’ (Cobarruvias). Zambra is from the Arabic root zamara, to play on a wind instrument, Dozy, Glossaire, 364.
zany, a subordinate buffoon, who mimicked the clown. Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 96; cp. L. L. L. v. 2. 463. Ital. ‘záne, the name of John in some parts of Lombardy, but commonly used for a silly John, a simple gull, or foolish Clown in a Play or Comedy, as a Jack pudding at the dancing of the ropes’ (Florio). See Stanford.
zany, to imitate apishly, to mimic. Fletcher, Queen of Corinth, i. 2 (Crates); Lover’s Progress, i. 1 (Clarinda).
zecchine, a gold coin, a ‘sequin’. Shirley, Gent. of Venice, i. 1 (Cornari); Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 79. Ital. zecchino, a Venetian coin, deriv. of zecca, ‘a mint or place of coyning’ (Florio), Arab. sikka, coin; dâr as-sikka-t, a mint (Steingass).
zelant, a zealot. Bacon, Essay 3. Med. L. zelans; see Ducange (s.v. Zelare).
zelatour, a zealot, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, ch. 27. Med. L. zelator, ‘aemulator, inimicus’ (Ducange).
zernick, orpiment. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Surly). Arab. zernîkh, arsenic (Steingass), Pers. zernīχ, orpiment, yellow arsenic; from zar, gold. A word of Indo-European origin. See Academy (May 11, 1895, p. 427), and Horn’s Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (1893, § 691).
OXFORD: HORACE HART M.A.
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
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. . . obtained from the OED web site.
Hyperlinks have been added to cross-references, except in the few cases where the word could not be found.
[End of A Glossary of Stuart and Tudor Words, by Walter William Skeat, edited by Anthony Lawson Mayhew]