S (continued 2)

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.

sovenance, remembrance. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 8; Shep. Kal., May, 82, Nov., 5. Anglo-F. sovenance (Gower, Mirour, 8244); F. souvenance, ‘memorie, remembrance’ (Cotgr.).

sovereign, a gold coin, a ten-shilling piece. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 7 (Fallace).

sow, a large lump of metal; ‘Sowes of gold’, Mirror for Mag., King Chirinnus, Lenvoy, st. 1; ‘Pano di metallo, a mass, a sow or ingot of metal’ (Florio).

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, soune, a sound, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 2, § 2; c. 13, § 4; to sound, ‘Sowning through the sky’, Tottel’s Misc., p. 202. ME. sowne (soune), to sound (Chaucer). F. son, sound; sonner, to sound.

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’.

spark, a diamond. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Rolliardo).

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.

spertle, to sprinkle with fluid, Drayton, Pol. ii. 283. In prov. use in the Midland counties, see EDD. (s.v. Spirtle).

spheres. Peacham, Compl. Gentleman, c. 7, gives the old eleven spheres: ‘The eleventh heaven is the habitation of God and his angels. The tenth, the first moover [primum mobile]. The ninth, the Christalline heaven. The eighth, the starry firmament. Then the seven planets in their order’ [viz. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon]. In the Ptolemaic astronomy, the sun went round the earth, which was the immovable centre of the universe.

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).

spitchcock’d. A spitchcock’d eel, a broiled eel spread on a skewer, ‘Spitchcock’d like a salted eel’, Cotton, Burlesque (Poems, p. 222); Cartwright, The Ordinary, ii. 1, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 239. Hence spitchcock, a spitchcocked eel, Northward Ho, i. 1 (Chamberlain). See Dict. (s.v. Spitch-cock).

spitter, ‘Among Hunters, a red Male Deer near two Years old, whose Horns begin to grow up sharp, and spit-wise; it is also call’d a Brocket or Pricket’, Phillips, Dict., ed. 1706; ‘Subulo, an hart havyng hornes without tynes, called (as I suppose) a spittare’, Elyot, 1559. Applied to a full-grown stag by Golding, Metam. x. 117; fol. 121 (1603). Cp. G. spiesser, a brocket, a buck of the second year (Grieb-Schröer).

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-halt, a lameness in which a horse twitches up his leg. Hen. VIII, i. 3. 13.

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).

stammel, stamel, a kind of woollen cloth, of a red colour. Beaumont and Fl., Little French Lawyer, i. 1 (Cleremont); Chapman, Mons. D’Olive, ii. 1 (D’Ol.). See Nares and Halliwell.

stamp, a stamped coin, a coin. Merry Wives, iii. 4. 16; Macbeth, iv. 3. 153.

stand. It stands me upon, it is incumbent on me, it is important to me, I ought. It standeth thee upon, Lyly, Euphues, p. 271.

standard, a standing-bowl. Greene, Looking Glasse, v. 1 (1858); p. 141, col. 2.

stander-grass, standard-grass, stander-wort, standle-wort, Orchis mascula, and other allied plants. Standelwort, or Standergrass, Lyte’s Dodoens, bk. ii, ch. 56; Royal Standergrass, or Palma Christi, id., ch. 59; ‘Foul standergrass’, Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 2 (Clorin).

staniel, a kind of hawk, considered as of inferior value, Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 124; hence, a coward, Lady Alimony, i. 3 (Haxter); hence stanielry, cowardice, id., v. 2. 17. In prov. use in the north country for the kestrel or windhover, see EDD. (s.v. Stannel). OE. stangella, used to translate L. pellicanus in Ps. ci. 7 (Vesp. Psalter). See notes on Eng. Etym.

stank, weary. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 47. Ital. stanco, weary.

stare, a starling. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvi. 541; Middleton, Game at Chess, iv. 2 (B. Knight). In prov. use in Ireland and in various parts of England (EDD.). ME. stare, a starling (Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 348); OE. stær: ‘tuoege staras’ (Lind. Gosp., Matt. x. 29, rendering of Vulgate duo passeres).

stare, to bristle up; said of hair. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 56. 11; § 98. 4; Jul. Caesar, iv. 3. 280. In prov. use: they say in Herts, ‘It will make her (a cow’s) hair to stare’, see EDD. (s.v. Stare, vb. 4). Cp. G. starren, to bristle.

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).

stench, ‘staunch’, firm; hence, continent. Lady Alimony, iii. 3 (Sea-song, st. 5). See EDD. (s.v. Staunch, adj. 10 and 11).

stene, steane, a stone jar or pitcher. Spelt stene, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Aristippus, § 17; steane, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 42. ‘Stean’ is in prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. 3). ME. steene, a pitcher, earthenware vessel, Trevisa, tr. Higden, bk. i, c. 41; OE. stǣna, an earthenware jug (Sweet).

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.

stint, some kind of bird. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 339. In prov. use for various kinds of birds, the dunlin, the sandpiper, and the linnet (EDD.).

stiponie. ‘Stipone, a kind of sweet compound liquor drunk in some ill places in London in the summer-time’, Blount, Glossographia, p. 612. ‘Do you not understand the mystery of stiponie, Jenny? Maid. I know how to make democuana, sir’, Etherege, Love in a Tub, v. 4 (Sir Frederick); also spelt stepony, see Dict. Rusticum, Urbanicum et Botanicum, ed. 3, 1726, where the receipt for brewing this sweet liquor is given; see Notes and Queries, 6 S. iv. 155.

stire, styre, to guide, direct. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 7; ii. 5. 2. OE. stȳran, to direct, steer. See Dict. (s.v. Steer).

stirp, a stem, stock, family. Bacon, Essay 14, § 1. L. stirps, a stem.

stitch, a space between two double furrows in ploughed land; a ridge. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xviii. 495; Odyssey, viii. 171. In the latter passage, a stitch’s length may mean a furrow’s length or furlong. This word is in prov. use in various parts of England for a narrow ridge of land, as much land as lies between two furrows; a balk or portion of grass-land in an arable field; see EDD. (s.v. Stitch, sb.¹ 8 and 9).

stitch, a sudden cramp; hence, a contortion, a grimace. Beaumont and Fl., Captain, ii. 2 (Frederick).

stitchel, a troublesome fellow; a term of reproach. Lady Alimony, v. 3. 13 (Wife). A Linc. word for a troublesome child, see EDD. (s.v. Stetchel).

stithy, an anvil, Hamlet, iii. 2. 80 (some edd. have stith); to forge, ‘The forge that stithied Mars his helm’, Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 255. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. stith, an anvil (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2026). Icel. steði. See stedy.

stoccata, a thrust, in fencing. Romeo, iii. i. 77; stoccado, Merry Wives, ii. 1. 234; stockado, Marston, Sat. i. 132. Ital. stoccata, a thrust, a stoccado given with a stócco (a tuck or short-arming sword); see Florio; Span. estocáda, a thrust with a weapon, a stab (Stevens).

stock, to hit with the point of a sword; ‘A chevalier would stock a needle’s point Three times together’, Fletcher, Love’s Cure, iii. 4 (Alvarez); a thrust in fencing, Marston, Malcontent, ii. 2 (Malevole); Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Matzagente). F. estoc, ‘a rapier or tuck, also, a thrust; coup d’estoc, a thrust, stockado, stab’ (Cotgr.). See stuck.

stock, nether-stock or stocking. Greene, Description of Chaucer, 3 (ed. Dyce, p. 320). In prov. use in Yorks. and Norfolk (see EDD., s.v. Stock, 18).

stock-fish, dried haddock or cod; ‘Haddockes or hakes indurate and dryed with coulde, and beaten with clubbes or stockes, by reason whereof the Germayns caule them stockefyshe’, R. Eden, Works (ed. Arber, p. 303); Temp. iii. 2. 79; Meas. iii. 2. 116. The reason for the name is uncertain; Koolman gives the Low G. form as stok-fisk, and thinks they were so called because dried upon stocks or poles in the sun.

stoin, to be astonished or astounded; ‘I stoinid’, Phaer, Aeneid ii, 774; iii. 48 (L. obstupui). See astonied.

stomach, courage, Udall, Roister Doister, iv. 7. 8, 15; 2 Hen. IV, i. 1. 129; Hamlet, i. 1. 100; proud or arrogant spirit, Hen. VIII, iv. 2. 34; resentment, angry temper, King Lear, v. 3. 75; to resent, to be angry, Ant. and Cl. iii. 4. 12; Marlowe, Edw. II, i. 2. 26. In prov. use for courage, pride, anger, bad temper (EDD.). Cp. Span. and Port. estomago, courage, valour, resolution; L. stomachus, displeasure, irritation, stomachari, to be irritated, out of humour.

stond, a stop, impediment, hindrance. Bacon, Essays 40 and 50. ‘To stand’, to bring to a stop, in prov. use in Surrey and Sussex: ‘I’ve seen a wagon stood in the snow’; see EDD. (s.v. Stand, 7).

stone-bow, a cross-bow from which stones could be shot. Twelfth Night, ii. 5. 51; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2. 9.

stool-ball, a game formerly popular among young women. Middleton, Women beware, iii. 3 (Isabella); Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2. 101; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, vi. 139. The idea of the game was much like that of cricket. A stool was the wicket; the hand was used as a bat, to defend it from the ball. See Strutt’s Sports. The game is still played in many parts of England, and in almost every village in Sussex (EDD.).

stoop, a post, pillar. Tancred and Gismunda, iv. 2 (Tancred), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 66; ‘You glorious martyrs, you illustrious stoops’, Quarles, Emblems, v. 10; ‘Stoulpe before a doore, souche’, Palsgrave; stulpe, Stow, Survey, Bridge Ward Within (ed. Thoms, 79). The word is in gen. prov. use in Scotland and England in various forms: stoup, stowp, stolpe, stulp(e, see EDD. (s.v. Stoop, sb.¹). ME. stulp, or stake, ‘paxillus’ (Prompt. EETS. 444, see note, no. 2171). Icel. stōlpi, a post, pillar, cp. Stōlpa-sund, the Pillar Sound, the Sound of the Pillars of Hercules, the Straits of Gibraltar.

stoop, to swoop downwards as a bird of prey on its quarry; ‘The bird of Jove, stooped from his aery tour, Two birds . . . before him drove’, Milton, P. L. xi. 185; used fig., B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 3 (Lovewit); used trans., to pounce upon, seize, ‘The hawk that stooped my pheasant’, Webster, Northward Ho, v. 1 (Mayberry); ‘Teach it (my spirit) to stoop whole kingdoms’, Fletcher, Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (Demetrius).

stoor, strong, robust, sturdy, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 129. In prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Stour). ME. stoore, or herd, or boystows, ‘austerus, rigidus’ (Prompt. EETS. 439). Icel. stōrr, rough, great. See stowre.

stooved, kept in a warm chamber; ‘Myrtles, if they be stooved’, Bacon, Essay 46. From stoove = stove.

storken, to stiffen, to congeal, coagulate; ‘Storken, congelari’, Levins, Manip. In common use in the north country (EDD.). Icel. storkna, to coagulate. See stark.

stork’s bill, a gesture of scorn; ‘This sanna, or stork’s bill’, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Amorphus). Cp. L. ciconia, (1) a stork; (2) a derisory bending of the fingers in form of a stork’s bill (Persius).

stound, stownd, time, occasion, moment. Spenser, F. Q. i. 8. 38; Shep. Kal., Oct., 49. The ‘Glosse’ to Shep. Kal., May, 257, has ‘stounds, fittes’, i.e. attacks of illness. In prov. use (EDD.). ME. stounde, hour, time (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1212), OE. stund. See stowne.

stoup, a stoop, a low bow, a condescending movement. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 2 (Face); ‘Now observe the stoops, The bendings, and the falls’, id., Sejanus, i. 1 (Silius).

stour, stowre, a conflict, battle, contest; trouble, confusion, disturbance; danger, peril. The word is used in all these meanings by Spenser: F. Q. i. 2. 7; i. 3. 30; i. 4. 46; iii. 1. 34; iii. 2. 6; iii. 3. 50; Shep. Kal., Jan., 27. ME. stour, battle, contest (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1270). Anglo-F. estour, combat, battle (Gower, Mirour, 1927), O. Prov. estor, estorn, ‘combat, mêlée’; estornir, estormir, ‘assaillir, attaquer’ (Levy); Ital. stormo, a conflict, combat (Fanfani); of Germ. origin, MHG. sturm, disturbance, combat (Schade).

stover, provisions, fodder for cattle; ‘Our low medowes . . . not so profitable for stover and forrage as the higher meads be’, Harrison, Desc. Brit. 110 (Halliwell); Tusser, Husbandry, November; Tempest, iv. 1. 63; Drayton, Pol. xxv, p. 1158 (Nares). In prov. use in many parts of England for winter fodder or litter for cattle, hence stubble (EDD.). Anglo-F. estover, maintenance, necessary sustenance; allowances of wood to be taken out of another man’s woods (Cowell’s Interpreter); OF. estovoir, to be necessary. Romanic type stopere, a verb formed from L. est opus, it is necessary, so W. Forster, see Gautier’s Ch. Roland, Glossary (s.v. Estoet). See Ducange (s.v. Estoverium).

stover up, to bristle up. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, ii. 1. 2. ‘To stover’ is entered in EDD. as an obsolete west-country word for ‘to bristle up’, probably from ‘stover’, meaning stubble. See above.

stownd, to amaze, ‘astound’, to beat down, Heywood, Golden Age, A. iii (Enceladus), vol. iii, p. 48; to strike senseless, id., Iron Age, A. v (Ajax); p. 343; stound, pp., Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 19.

stowne, an hour, a short time; ‘Whoso love Endureth but a stowne’, Turbervile, The Lover finding his Love flitted, st. 16. See stound.

stowre, strong, hardy; ‘Constancie knits the bones and makes us stowre’, G. Herbert, Temple, Church-porch, st. 20; ‘Stowre of conversacyon, estourdy’, Palsgrave; Skelton, Against the Scottes, 12; stower, hard, strong, ‘The stower nayles’, Latimer, 7 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber, 185). In prov. use in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Stour). See stoor.

strage, slaughter, heap of slain men. Heywood, Dialogue 2, l. 16; Dial. 3 (Hellen); vol. vi, pp. 111, 143; Webster, Appius, v. 3 (Appius). L. strages, slaughter.

strain, race, descent, breed; ‘The noblest of thy strain’, Jul. Caes. v. 1. 59; Hen. V, ii. 4. 51. A dialect form of strene, q.v.

strain: phr. to strain courtesy, to stand upon ceremony, to refuse to go first, Venus and Ad. 888.

strain, to distrain, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1104. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Strain, vb.³).

strain, to restrain, repress; ‘These stormy windes to straine, or make to blow’, Phaer, Aeneid i, 80.

strake, a particular note blown by a hunter; apparently after the game is killed; ‘To the flyghte, to the dethe, and to strake, and many other blastes and termes’, Morte Arthur, leaf 250, back, 11; bk. x, c. 52; ‘Then [after the death of the game] should the most master blow a mote and stroke’, The Master of Game, ch. 35. Cp. ME. strake, to sound a note, to sound a blast on a trumpet (Wars Alex. 1386).

strake, the hoop of a cart-wheel or chariot-wheel. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xx. 247; Bible, Ezek. i. 18 (margin). In prov. use for a section or strip of the iron tire or rim of a cart-wheel, see EDD. (s.v. Strake, sb.¹ 2).

stramazoun, a downright blow. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, iv. 4 (Fast. Brisk); stramison, Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler). Ital. stramazzone, ‘a downright blow’; deriv. of stramazzare, ‘to kill throughly’ (Florio); cp. F. estramaçon, a stroke given with the edge of the sword (Hatzfeld).

strange, belonging to another country, foreign; ‘Joseph . . . made himselfe strange unto them’, Bible, Gen. xlii. 7 (i.e. acted as a stranger towards them); ‘Strange children’, foreigners, Psalm xviii. 45, 46 (P.B.V.); ‘A strange tongue’, Cymbeline, i. 6. 54; to make it strange, to seem to be surprised or shocked, Two Gent. i. 2. 102; Titus And. ii. 1. 81; B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1 (Subtle). OF. estrange, foreign; L. extraneus.

strangeness, shyness, like that of a stranger. Middleton, The Witch, iii. 2 (Isabella).

strappado, a kind of torture. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 262. The torture consisted in drawing a person up by his arms (fastened together behind his back), and then letting him drop suddenly with a jerk, which inflicted severe pain. The word has been turned into a Spanish-looking form, but it appears to be rather of Italian origin. Ital. strappata, a pulling-up (Florio). Cp. F. strapade (16th cent., Godefroy); estrapade (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762). See Stanford.

strapple, to fasten, bind, Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, iii (Bussy); to impede; id., tr. of Iliad xvi, 438. In W. Yorks. ‘to strapple’ means to bind, make fast with a cord, &c. (EDD.). Cp. ME. strapeles, fastenings of breeches; strapils, Cath. Angl.; see Dict. M. and S.

streak, to stretch. Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. viii. 36, 57. In prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Streak, vb.¹ 1). ME. streken (Hampole, Ps. lxxix. 12); strekis, stretches (Wars Alex. 1953).

strene, generation, breed, race, lineage; ‘Dame Nature’s strene’, The Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 55; Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 32; vi. 6. 9. ME. streen, race, progeny (Chaucer, C. T. E. 157); OE. (Anglian) strēnan (WS. strīenan), to beget, generate. See strain (race).

strength, a fortress, a strong defence, Massinger, Renegado, iv. 2 (Donusa); v. 6. (end); ‘Sin (or Pelusium) the strength of Egypt’, Bible, Ezek. xxx. 15.

streperous, noisy. Heywood, Dialogue I, The Shipwrack (Adolphus); vol. vi, p. 101; Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, ii. 6. 6. Cp. L. obstreperus, noisy, clamorous (Apuleius, Florida, 126); deriv. of strepere, to make a noise.

strich, the screech-owl. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 36. L. strix, Gk. στρίγξ.

strike: phr. strike me luck, used in striking a bargain, and giving earnest upon it; said by the recipient of the money. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 3 (Young Loveless); Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 540.

strike, to steal (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); to pick a purse, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (1 Cutpurse). See Halliwell.

striker, a libertine (Cant). Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iv. 2 (1 Court.); Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iv. 1 (end).

stringer, a wencher (Cant). Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, i. 1 (Wife).

strip, to outstrip. Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 4; to go very rapidly, ‘The swiftest hound, when he is hallowed, strippes forth’, Gosson, School of Abuse (Halliwell).

†strives (?). ‘They [ants] startle forth in troupes of striues’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, bk. xiii. [1583]; fol. U 5, back.

stroke, to flatter, soothe, B. Jonson, Masque of the Barriers (Opinion); stroker, a flatterer, id., Magnetic Lady, iv. 1 (Keep). OE. strācian, to stroke, caress, cp. OHG. streichōn, ‘demulcere’.

strommel; see strummel.

strong, pp. strung, furnished with strings; ‘Playing on yvorie harp with silver strong’, Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 16.

stroot, strout, to swell out, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 402; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, i. 464; to be filled full, id., xxi, line 4 from end. ME. strowtyn, ‘turgeo’ (Prompt. EETS. 468). Cp. G. strotzen, to swell. See strut.

strossers, tight drawers. Hen. V, iii. 7. 57; ‘The Italian close strosser’, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook (Nares). See Dyce’s Glossary to Shaks. See Dict. (s.v. Trousers).

strout; see stroot.

stroy, to destroy. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 15. ME. stroyen, to destroy (P. Plowman, B. xv. 387).

strummel, straw (Cant); ‘The doxy’s in the strummel’, Broome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Randal); strommel, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor). Hence strummel-patched, ‘Strummel-patch’d, goggle-eyed grumbledories’, B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo). Perhaps the same word as strummel, E. Anglian for an untidy rough head of hair (EDD.).

strut, to swell out. Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Pastoral, iv. 25. See stroot.

stryfull, strife-full, contentious. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 12.

stuck, in Hamlet, iv. 7. 161, ‘Your venom’d stuck’, usually explained as = stoccado, a thrust with a rapier, but it may mean the rapier itself. Cp. Cotgrave: ‘Estoc, a rapier or tuck, also a thrust.’ See stock.

studde, stock or stem of a tree. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 13. ‘Stud’ is in prov. use for an upright post, an upright piece of wood to which laths are nailed, hence ‘stud and mud’ buildings (Nottingham), the same as ‘wattle and dab’. ME. stode, or stake, ‘palus’ (Voc. 600. 4), OE. studu, a post (Ælfred, Beda, iii. 10); cp. Icel. stoð, a post. See Dict. (s.v. Stud).

stulpe; see stoop (a post).

stum, unfermented wine, must. B. Jonson, Leges Conviviales, st. 5; Butler, Hud. ii. 1. 569; Dryden, The Medal, 270. Hence stummed wine, wine made from unfermented or partly fermented grape-juice, new strong wine, Otway, Soldier’s Fortune, v. 3 (L. Dunce); Prior, Scaligeriana, 2. Stum, to make lively as with new wine, Etherege, Man of Mode, iii. 2 (Dorimant). Du. stom, stum, ‘the flower of fermenting wine’; gestomde wyn, ‘stummed, sophisticated wine’ (Sewel).

stupe, a piece of tow or flannel dipped in warm liquor, and applied to a wound. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, i. 2 (Dorilaus). L. stuppa, tow.

stutte, to stutter. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3 (Tibullus); ‘I stutte, Je besgue’, Palsgrave. A north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Stutt). ME. stotyn, ‘balbucio’ (Prompt. EETS. 468); stutte, ‘balbutire’ (Cath. Angl.).

sty, stie, to ascend, mount up, rise. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 25; ii. 7. 46; iv. 9. 33; Muiopotmos, 42. ME. stien, to ascend (Wyclif, John xx. 17). OE. stīgan.

styfemoder, stepmother. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 41. 21. Du. stiefmoeder (Hexham).

subact, to subdue. Mirror for Mag., Claudius T. Nero, st. 8. L. subactus, pp. of subigere, to subdue, reduce.

subeth. ‘You are subject to subeth, unkindly sleeps’, Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 4 (Sweetball). F. subet, ‘a lethargy’ (Cotgr.). Med. L. subitus = L. sopitus, deriv. of sopire, to deprive of consciousness, to lull to sleep; see Ducange.

sublime, to cause to pass off in a state of vapour. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Mammon).

submit, to let down, lower, allow to subside. Dryden, To Lord Chancellor Clarendon, 139; submitted, lowered, Astrae Redux, 249.

succeed, to follow after. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 8. L. succedere.

success, issue, result (good or bad); ‘What is the success?’, Ant. and Cl. iii. 5. 6; ‘Such vile success’, Othello, iii. 3. 222; descent from parents, succession, ‘Our parents’ noble names, In whose success we are gentle’, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 394.

successive, successful. Lady Alimony, iii. 1 (2 Citizen).

succussation, trotting. Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. iv, c. 6, § 1; Butler, Hud. i. 2. 48. L. succussare, to jolt.

sucket, a dried sweetmeat, sugar-plum. Beaumont and Fl., Sea Voyage, v. 2. 31; Tourneur, Atheist’s Tragedy, ii. 5 (Levidulcia); Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use in Leic., Shropsh., and Devon (EDD.). OF. succade, also sucrade, ‘chose sucrée, dragée, sucrerie’ (Godefroy); O. Prov. sucrada, ‘sucrée’.

sufferance, pain; Meas. for M. ii. 4. 167; loss, Othello, ii. 1. 23. F. souffrance, ‘sufferance, forbearance, also, need, poverty, penury’ (Cotgr.).

suffragate, to support by a vote, to be subsidiary to, to aid. Dryden, Prol. to the Univ. of Oxford, 31. L. suffragare, to vote for.

sugar-loaf, a high-crowned hat. Westward Ho, v. 3.

sugerchest, the name of a kind of wood; ‘To flesh and blood this Tree but wormewood seemes, How ere the name may be of Sugerchest’, Davies, Holy Roode, Dedication (Davies, Suppl. Eng. Gloss.); Ascham, Toxophilus, pp. 123, 125.

suggill, to beat black and blue; to cudgel. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 1039. L. sugillare.

suitor, pronounced so as to resemble shooter; ‘A Lady . . . hadde three sutors, and yet never a good archer’, Lyly, Euphues, p. 293.

sulk, to furrow, plough, cleave. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 118; ii. 218. L. sulcus, a furrow.

sultanin, an Arabic coin; ‘A thousand golden sultanins’, Dryden, Don Sebastian, i. 1 (Mustapha). Arab, sulṭânîy, belonging to a sovereign; a sultanine (a gold coin about nine shillings), Richardson. Arab, sulṭân, a sultan.

summed, a term in falconry, having all the feathers complete; ‘The muse from Cambria comes with pinions summ’d and sound’, Drayton, Pol. xi, p. 859 (Nares); ‘My prompted song . . . with prosperous wing full summ’d’, Milton, P. R. i. 14; ‘(The birds) feathered soon and fledge . . . summed their pens’, id., P. L. vii. 421; used fig. of clothes, ‘Till you be summ’d again—velvets and scarlets’, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 4 (Lance).

sumpter, a driver of a pack-horse, King Lear, ii. 4. 219; Sir Thos. More, iii. 2. 43. ME. sumpter (King Alisaunder, 6023), OF. sommetier, a pack-horse driver (Roquefort), O. Prov. saumatier, ‘conducteur de bêtes de somme’ (Levy), Med. L. saumaterius (Ducange, s.v. Sagma), deriv. of saumarius, sagmarius, a pack-horse. See somer.

supply, to supplicate, beseech. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 49. F. supplier, L. supplicare.

suppose, a supposition, conjecture. Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 120; Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 11.

surantler; see antlier.

surbate, to tire out the feet with walking. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 34; Turbervile, Hunting, c. 6 (end), p. 15; A Cure for a Cuckold, ii. 4 (Woodroff); surbet, pp., ‘A traveiler with feet surbet’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 22. Hence surbater, one who wearies another out, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iv. 3 (Metaphor). Cp. Cotgrave, ‘Surbature, a surbating’; also, ‘Soubatture, a surbating, or surbate’.

surcease, prop. a law-term, a delay allowed or ordered by authority; arrest, stop, cessation. Macbeth, i. 7. 8; to delay, to desist, Prayer Book, Ordin. Deacons; Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 13; Coriolanus, iii. 2. 121; Lucrece, 1766; Chapman, tr. Iliad, vii. 45. OF. sursis, delay, stop (Littré), Anglo-F. sursise (Laws of William); sursis, pp. of Norm. F. surseër (F. surseoir), to pause, intermit (Moisy), Mod. L. supersedere, to delay (Ducange). In Law L. a writ of supersedeas is issued to stay proceedings, L. supersedere, to desist from. Surcease owes its form to association with cease (F. cesser). Tho original pronunciation of the i in sursis is preserved as in caprice, police, machine, marine.

surcingle, a girth, a girdle. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4 (Captain). OF. sourcengle (Godefroy). L. super, above; cingulum, a belt, girdle, from cingere, to gird.

sure, indissolubly joined, firmly united. Merry Wives, v. 5. 249; L. L. L. v. 2. 286; affianced, betrothed, ‘A woman he was sure unto’, Records of Oxford, A.D. 1530, p. 75.

surfle, surfell, surphle, to wash with sulphur-water or other cosmetic. Marston, Malcontent, ii. 3 (Maquerelle); Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, ii. 1 (Mauruccio). OF. soufrer, to impregnate with sulphur or with sulphur-vapour (Godefroy, Supp.).

surquedry, presumption, pride, arrogance. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 31; Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1 (Rosalaura); Drayton, Owl, p. 1301 (Nares); surcuidrie, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xvii. 20. ME. surquidrie, presumption (Chaucer, C. T. I. 403), arrogance (id., Tr. and Cr. i. 213). Anglo-F. surquiderie (Gower, Mirour, 1443), OF. surcuiderie, arrogance; cp. cuider, quider (Ch. Rol.), L. cogitare, to think.

surreined, overridden, that has felt the ‘rein’ too much. Hen. V, iii. 5. 19. See sooreyn.

surround, to overflow; ‘Surround, or overflow, oultre couler’, Sherwood, so also Cotgrave; ‘By thencrease of waters dyvers londes . . . ben surrounded and destroyed’, Statutes, 4 Hen. VII, c. 7 (A.D. 1489). OF. soronder, to overflow, see Burguy and Roquefort, Norm. F. surunder, soronder (Moisy); Med. L. superundare ‘abonder’ (Ducange). See Notes on Eng. Etym.

sursurrara, a writ of certiorari. Middleton, Phoenix, i. 4 (Tangle). See Stanford (s.v. Certiorari), Nares (s.v. Sasarara), and EDD. (s.v. Siserary).

suscitate, to stir up, Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 26, § 4; suscitability, aptness to move, B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Face). L. suscitare, to arouse.

suspect, suspicion. Comedy of Errors, iii. 1. 87; Rich. III, i. 3. 89; B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 4. Very common in authors of this period. Med. L. suspectus, ‘suspicio’ (Ducange); cp. O. Prov. sospet, ‘soupçon’ (Levy).

suspire, to draw a breath; used of a new-born child, King John, iii. 4. 80; used of a dying man, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 5. 32; a deep breath, a sigh, Massinger, Old Law, v. 1 (Cleanthes); Heywood, Brazen Age (Hercules), in Wks., iii. 249. L. suspirare, to draw a deep breath.

swad, a clown, a rustic. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (Hilts); Lyly, Midas, iv. 3 (Petulus). A north-country word for a stupid fellow, see EDD. (s.v. Swad, sb.³). Prob. identical with swad, a sod, a clod, see EDD. (s.v. Sward, sb.² 1).

swaddle, to beat, cudgel. Fletcher, Captain, ii. 2 (Frederick); Butler, Hud. i. 1. 24; Cotgrave (s.v. Chaperon); ‘To swaddle or cudgel, bastonner’, Sherwood. To swaddle a person’s sides, ‘to beat him soundly’, is a Kentish phrase, Kennett, Par. Antiq. (ann. 1695). See EDD. (s.v. Swaddle, vb.¹ 2). See Halliwell, and Nares.

swag, to sway aside; ‘To swag on one side, pencher tout d’un costé’, Sherwood; Middleton, A Mad World, iii. 1 (Harebrain). See EDD.

swage, to ‘assuage’. Milton, Samson, 184; P. L. i. 556; Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 120. In common prov. use in this sense (EDD.). ME. swagyn, ‘mitigo’ (Prompt.).

swale, a cool shade; ‘Trees which gave a pleasant swale’, Golding, Metam. v. 336 (L. umbra); fol. 60, back (1603). An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Swale, sb.¹). ME. swale, ‘umbra, umbraculum’ (Prompt. EETS. 444). Icel. sval, a cool breeze; Norw. dial. svala (Aasen).

sward, the hard outer rind of bacon; ‘(He) liveth harde with baken swarde’, Kendall, Flowers of Epigrammes (Nares); ‘The sward of bacon, la peau de lard ou d’un jambon,’ Sherwood. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME. sward of flesh, ‘coriana’ (Prompt. EETS. 445). OE. sweard, rind of bacon, cp. G. schwarte, skin, rind.

swarth, a track, pathway; ‘There is a hardway, and at Binsey the said way is called in one or two places the king’s swarth . . . the king’s way’, Hearne, Reliquiae, Feb. 10 and 11, 1728; ‘The king’s swarth (formerly called also Port street), beyond New Parks by Oxford, went over by a bridge the river Charwell’, id., April 23, 1720. OE. swaðu, a track. See swath.

swarth, in Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 162, ‘By great swarths’, apparently ‘in great quantities’. In Cheshire they speak of a heavy hay-crop being ‘a good swarth’, see EDD. (s.v. Swarth, sb.¹). Probably the same word as swath, q.v.

swarth, black, dark, swarthy. Titus And. ii. 3. 72; Two Noble Kinsmen, iv. 2. 27; Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xix. 343. A Kentish form (EDD.).

swarty, dark, ‘swarthy’. Fletcher, Bonduca, iii. 1 (Caratach); Titus And. ii. 3. 72 (in the quarto editions). See Dict. (s.v. Swart).

swash, to strike violently. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 53, 125. In prov. use (EDD.).

swash, a swaggering bully. Three Ladies of London (Fraud), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 254; Britannia Triumphans, 1637 (Nares). Also swasher, Hen. V, iii. 2. 30; swashing, blustering, As You Like It, i. 3. 122; tremendous, crushing, Romeo, i. 1. 70. In prov. use ‘to swash’ means to swagger, to walk with a boastful air; ‘a swasher’ is a swaggerer, see EDD. (s.v. Swash, 5).

swash-buckler, one who ‘swashes’ or beats his buckler, Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, v. 2 (Latorch); Faithful Friends, i. 2. 7; ‘Mangia-ferro, Mangia-cadenacci, a devourer of iron-bolts, a swash-buckler, a bragging toss-blade, a swaggerer’, Florio; ‘Bravache, swaggerer, swash-buckler’, Cotgrave. See Halliwell.

swash-ruter, a swaggaring soldier, a swaggerer. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 544. See rutter.

swath, a row of grass mown; ‘The Greeks fall down before him like the mower’s swath’, Tr. and Cr. v. 5. 25; ‘Grass lately in swaths is meat for an ox’, Tusser, Husbandry. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME. swath of mowing, ‘falcidium’ (Prompt. EETS. 445); swathe, ‘orbita falcatoris’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. swæð, a track, the track of a plough, ‘somita’ (B. T.). See swarth (a track).

swathling-clothes, swaddling-clothes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 112 (Q. edd.). ME. swathlen, to swaddle; swaþeling-bonde, a swaddling-band (Cursor Mundi, 1343). See Dict. (s.v. Swaddle).

†swatley. ‘Ay mun cut off the lugs and naes [ears and nose] on ’em [of him]; he’ll be a pretty swatley fellow, bawt [without] lugs and naes’, Otway, Cheats of Scapin, iii (Scapin, in a Lancs. dialect). Meaning unexplained.

sweam, faintness, attack of dizziness; ‘The slothfull sweames of sluggardye’, Mirror for Mag., Iago, Lenvoy, st. 1; ‘Sweam or swaim, subita aegrotatio’, Gouldman. ‘Sweem’ is a Somerset word for a state of giddiness or faintness, see EDD. (s.v. Swim, sb.²). Cognate with OE. swīma, dizziness, giddiness (B. T.). See sweme.

sweet-breasted, sweet-voiced, having a sweet voice. Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, iii. 1 (Alguazier).

swelt, to faint, swoon; ‘In weary woes to swelt’, Gascoigne (Nares); swelt, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 9; vi. 12. 21. Still in use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Swelt, vb.¹ 2). ME. swelten, to faint, languish (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1356); to die (id., Tr. and Cr. iii. 347). OE. sweltan, to die.

swelter, to exude; ‘Toad . . . that has . . . swelter’d venom’, Macbeth, iv. 1. 8. In prov. use in the sense of a profuse perspiration, see EDD. (s.v. Swelter, 7).

swelth, a whirlpool; ‘A deadly gulfe . . . With foule black swelth’, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 31; ‘Rude Acheron . . . with swelth as black as hell’, id., 69, see Nares. ME. swelth of a water, ‘vorago’ (Prompt. EETS. 445, see note, no. 2179).

sweme, grief; ‘His hert began to melt For veray sweme of this swemeful tale’, Lydgate (Halliwell). ME. sweem, grief (Prompt., Harl. MS.); swem (Gen. and Ex. 1961). Cp. OE. ā-swǣman, to be grieved, ‘tabescere’ (Ps. cxviii. 158 (Lambeth)). See sweam.

sweven, a dream. Morte Arthur, leaf 27. 1; bk. i, c. 13; Ordinary, Old Play, x. 236 (Nares). ME. sweven (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 28). OE. swefn.

swill-bowl, a heavy drinker; spelt swiel bolle. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Cicero, § 65.

swinge, to beat, thrash, lash, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iv. 5 (Valentine); Two Gent. ii. 1. 91; King John, ii. 1. 288; 2 Hen. IV, v. 4. 21; to lash, as with a long tail, Milton, Nativ. 172; sway, tyranny, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 26. In prov. use in Scotland and England in the sense of to beat, thrash (EDD.). ME. swyngyn, also, swengyn, to shake (Prompt.). OE. swengan.

swinge, to singe. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 26. In common prov. use in Ireland, and in various parts of England (EDD.).

swinge-buckler, a swash-buckler. 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 24.

swink, to toil, labour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 8, 36, 58 swinkt, pp., wearied with toil, ‘The swinkt hedger’, Milton, Comus, 293; labour, toil, ‘How great sport they gaynen with little swincke’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 36; Sidney, Arcadia, p. 398 (Nares). ‘To swink’, to toil, work hard, is in use in Galloway, ‘Lord, but he swankit it that day!’ (EDD.). ME. swinken, to toil, swink, toil (Chaucer). OE. swincan.

swithe, quickly. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, ii. 47 (Nares); swithe and tite, quickly and at once, id., i. 4. 13. In common use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Swith). ME. swythe, quickly, immediately (Chaucer, C. T. C. 796, and B. 637). OE. swīðe, strongly. See tit.

Switzer, one of a Swiss mercenary guard. Webster, White Devil (Brachiano), ed. Dyce, p. 12; Hamlet, iv. 5. 97; Switzers, inhabitants of Switzerland, Bacon, Essay 14.

swoop, a sweeping movement, rush. Macbeth, iv. 3. 219; Webster, White Devil (beginning); ed. Dyce, p. 5. Swoopstake (old edd. soopstake), drawing the whole stake at once, indiscriminately, Hamlet, iv. 5. 141.

swough, a heavy murmuring sound. Morte Arthur, leaf 83. 20; bk. v, c. 4. Cp. the prov. words, ‘swow’ and ‘sough’ in EDD. ME. swowyn, to make a murmuring sound (Prompt.). OE. swōgan, to make a noise like the wind.

swound, to ‘swoon’. Fletcher, Night-Walker, i. 4. 8; Middleton, Mayor of Queenb. v. 1 (Oliver); a swoon, Dryden, Palamon, i. 537; iii. 982. In gen. prov. use in England and Scotland (EDD.). See sowne (2).

syke, such. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.). A north-country form, see EDD. (s.v. Such). ME. sike (Wars Alex. 126) OE. swilc (swylc). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Swyche).

symarr, a loose robe for a lady: Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 341. See cymar.

synnet; see sennet.

synteresis, a word said to have been invented by John Damascene, and used by Aquinas and the schoolmen in the sense of ‘observation’ of the laws of right and wrong as exercised by the conscience, self-reproach. Nabbes, Microcosmus, v (Conscience); Manchester Al Mondo (ed. 1902, 39). Gk. συντήρησις, observation, fr. συντηρέω, to observe strictly (a N. T. word, cp. Mark vi. 20). See C. Bigg’s Introd. to Imitatio Christi, p. 2 on the L. sinderesis, iv. 11 (Magd. MS.). The word sindérèse is used by French theological writers, Bossuet for example.

sypers, a thin textile material, J. Heywood, The Four P’s (Anc. Brit. Drama, p. 10). See cypress.

syse, an allowance or settled ration; to keepe the syse, to exercise moderation, Mirror for Mag., Tresilian, st. 10. See Dict. (s.v. Size, 1).