Note 234 — GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE.
Reading edition
I imagine this word was formerly used to signify sharp. So in "The Woman's Prize," by Beaumont and Fletcher, act ii., sc. 4—
"They heave ye stool on stool, and fling [a-]main pot-lids Like massy rocks dart ladles, tossing irons And tongs like thunder-bolts, till overlaid They fall beneath the weight."
[Dyce's B. and F. vii., 140.]