I
iambographer, a writer of iambic verses. Shirley, Maid’s Revenge, i. 2 (Montenegro). Gk. ἰαμβογράφος.
idlesse, ydlesse, idleness. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2. 31; Greene, Alphonsus, Prol. 11.
idol, a phantom. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxiii. 94; Od. iv. 1074; an image, Bussy D’Ambois, iv. 1 (Bussy); idole, image, reflection, likeness, Spenser. F. Q. ii. 2. 41. Gk. εἴδωλον, an image, a phantom (Homer).
igniferent, fire-producing, flaming. Birth of Merlin, iv. 5. 95. L. igniferens.
ilke, an ‘elk’, a wild swan. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 86, where it is remarked that it is ‘of Hollanders so term’d’. See [elk].
illecebrous, enticing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 7, § 2; W. Webbe. Eng. Poetry (ed. Arber, p. 45). From L. illecebra, enticement; illicere, to entice.
illect, to entice, allure. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 7, § 4. From the pp. stem of illicere, to allure.
ill-mewed, kept in confinement without proper attention. Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iii. 3 (Jaques). See [mew] (2).
ill-part, playing an evil part; ‘King John, that ill part personage’, Death of E. of Huntington, i. 3 (Friar); see NED. (s.v. Ill, iv. 8. B).
illustrate, to render illustrious; ‘Matter to me of glory, whom their hate Illustrates’, Milton, P. L. v. 739; ‘Good men are the stars, the planets of the ages wherein they live, and illustrate the times’, B. Jonson, Discoveries, lxxxvi (p. 751). L. illustrare, to make famous.
imbibition, treatment with a liquid, which was absorbed. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Subtle).
imboss, to take refuge. Butler, Elephant in the Moon, 130. See below.
imbost, driven to an extremity, like a hunted animal. Beaumont and Fl., Mons. Thomas, iv. 2 (Launcelot); exhausted, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 135. See [embost].
imbosture, embossed ornament, raised work; ‘There nor wants Imbosture nor embroidery’, Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iv. 3 (Rufinus). See [emboss].
imbrangle, to confuse, mix up, entangle. Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 19. A Cheshire word: ‘An imbrangled affair’ (EDD.); cp. ‘brangled’, in prov. use: ‘His accounts are so brangled I could make nothing of ’em’ (Northampton); see EDD. (s.v. Brangle, vb. 2). OF. branler, to shake, brandish (a lance) (Ch. Rol. 3327).
imbrayde, to upbraid. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 12, § 3. See [embraid].
imbroccato, a pass or thrust in fencing. B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 7 (or 4) (Bobadil); imbrocatas, pl., Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Amorphus). Ital. imbroccata, ‘a thrust at fence, or a venie giuen ouer the dagger’ (Florio); imbroccare, to thrust. See [embrocata].
immane, huge, great in size. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxi. 296; Odyssey, ix. 268. L. immanis.
immoment, of no moment, Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 166.
imp, offspring, child. 2 Hen. IV, v. 5. 47; Hen. V, iv. 1. 45; ‘Thou most dreaded impe of highest Jove’, Spenser, F. Q., Introd. 3; i. 9. 6; i. 10. 60; i. 11. 5; ‘The King preferred eighty noble imps to the order of knighthood’, Stow Annals, 1592 (Trench, Sel. Gl.). The orig. mg. of imp was a graft, scion, or young shoot. ME. impe: ‘of feble trees ther comen wrecched impes’ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 3146); OE. impe, a shoot, graft; impian, to graft. Med. L. impotus, a graft (Lex Salica); Gk. ἔμφυτος, engrafted (N.T. James i. 21).
imp, to engraft new feathers on to a hawk’s wing; to supply it with new feathers. Richard II, ii. 1. 292; Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, v. 5 (Guiomar); Rule a Wife, ii. 1. 6.
impacable, unappeasable. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 22; Ruines of Time, 395. L. pacare, to appease.
impale, to encircle, as with a pale, to surround. 3 Hen. VI, iii. 3; Rowley, All’s Lost, ii. 2. 7; Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, v. 308.
impassible, incapable of suffering. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 24, § 2; Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 95. Patristic L. impassibilis (Tertullian).
impeach, to hinder. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 28; Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 576. See [empeach].
impechement, hindrance. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 15 (end). See [empesshement].
imperance, commanding quality, command. Hero and Leander, iii. 392. L. imperare, to command.
impertinent, not pertinent, irrelevant. Bacon, Essay 26; Tempest i. 2. 138.
impeticos, to pocket. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 27; a burlesque word coined by the fool; it seems to suggest petticoat.
implore, entreaty. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5. 37.
imply, to enfold. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 31; i. 6. 6; to involve as a necessary consequence, Pericles, iv. 1. 82.
importable, not to be borne, unendurable. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 35; Chaucer, C. T. B. 3792. L. importabilis, unbearable.
importance, import, meaning. Winter’s Tale, v. 2. 20; a matter that concerns, Cymb. i. 4. 45; urgent request, ‘At our importance hither is he come’, King John, ii. 7; Twelfth Nt. v. 371. F. importance, ‘importance, moment, value’ (Cotgr.).
important, urgent. Much Ado, ii. 1. 74; Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, iv. 1 (Veramour).
importune, grievous, severe. Spenser, F. Q, i. 12. 16; ii. 6. 29; importunate, Bacon, Essay 9. L. importunus, troublesome.
imposterous, impostorous, deceitful, like an impostor. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, iii. 2 (Duke); Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, ii. 3 (Horsus).
impostumation, a tumour. Bacon, Essay 15, § 14. From impostume (imposthume).
impotence, want of self-restraint, ungovernable passion. Massinger, A Very Woman, ii. 1 (Antonio).
impotent, unable to restrain oneself, unrestrained. Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 1; Massinger, Unnatural Combat, iii. 2. 37. L. impotens, powerless. See Trench, Select Glossary (s.v.).
imprest, advance-pay of soldiers or sailors. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, i. 1 (L. Mayor); imprest money, money advanced, a loan, B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iv. 1 (Compass). Ital. impresto, a loan; imprestare, to lend (Florio).
improperation, a reproach, a taunt. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. i, § 3. Deriv. of Late L. improperare, to reproach (Vulgate, Rom. xv. 3).
improve, to use for advantage, to turn to account. Jul. Caesar, ii. 1. 159.
improved, approved. Middleton, The Widow, i. 1 (Brandino).
impuissance, want of power, weakness. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 92).
in; in-and-in, a gambling game for three persons, with four dice; in-and-in was when there were two doublets, or all four dice alike, which swept all the stakes. B. Jonson, New Inn, Bat Burst, an in-and-in man, i.e. a professed gambler. See Halliwell. In by the week, (?) prepared to go on for a week, Udall, Roister Doister, i. 2. 4. In dock, out nettle, a popular charm, said when rubbing a dock-leaf on the skin, to remove the effects of a sting by a nettle. Hence applied to a change from pain to joy, or to any exhibition of inconstancy or unsteadiness (Nares). Udall, Roister Doister, ii. 3. 8; Heywood, English Proverbs, 54, 133. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Nettle). ME. Netle in, dokke out (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iv. 461). See Skeat, Early English Proverbs, § 187.
incarnadine, to dye red. Macbeth, ii. 2. 62. Incarnadine = F. incarnadin; Ital. incarnadino, carnation colour (Florio); lit. flesh-colour, deriv. of carne, flesh.
†incartata, an (assumed) term in fencing. Pl. incartata’s, Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler). Nabbes explains it as being one of the ‘terms in our dialect to puzzle desperate ignorance’.
incend, to heat; to inflame, incite. Incended, heated, Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helth, bk. iii, c. 3; Governour, bk. i, c. 23, § last but one. L. incendere, to set on fire.
incense, to ‘insense’, to make to understand. Hen. VIII, v. 1. 43. ‘To insense’ (also written ‘incense’) is in gen. prov. use in the sense of ‘to cause to understand, to explain’ in Scotland and Ireland, also in England, from the north to Somerset and Cornwall; see EDD. Anglo-F. ensenser, to inspire, persuade (Gower).
incentive, enkindling; ‘Incentive reed . . . pernicious with one touch to fire’ (i.e. the gunner’s match), Milton, P. L. vi. 519.
inceration, a bringing to the consistency of wax. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Face). Deriv. of L. cera, wax. Cp. [ceration].
inchoation, beginning. Bacon, Hen. VII (ed. Lumby, pp. 62, 92). L. inchoatio, beginning (Vulgate, Heb. vi. 1); deriv. of inchoare, to begin.
inchpin, a name among huntsmen for the sweetbread of a deer; by some explained as ‘the lower gut’, so Cotgrave (s.v. Boyau); Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 219; ‘The sweete gut which some call the Inchpinne’, Turbervile, Hunting, 134; B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. i. 2 (Robin).
incision, blood-letting. To make incision, to let blood, in order to cure, As You Like It, iii. 2. 75; gallants were in the habit of stabbing their arms, to prove their love for a mistress, Merchant of Venice, ii. 1. 6.
incomber, an ‘encumber’, an encumbrance on an estate, a mortgage; ‘Raves hee for bonds and incombers’, Dekker, If this be not a good Play (Lurchall’s last speech), Works, iii. 358.
income, an entrance-fee. Latimer, Seven Sermons before Edw. VI (ed. Arber, p. 50); Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, iii. 1 (Mugeron); a coming in, arrival, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xvii. 482.
incompared, incomparable, matchless. Spenser, Verses to Sir F. Walsingham, l. 1.
incontinent, immediately. Richard II, v. 6. 48; Othello, iv. 3. 12. F. incontinent, ‘incontinently, immediately’ (Cotgr.). Late L. in continenti (tempore), in continuous time, without interval (Tertullian); see Rönsch.
incontinently, immediately. Othello, i. 3. 306.
incony, fine, delicate, pretty; ‘My sweet ounce of man’s flesh, my in-conie Jew’, L. L. L. iii. 1. 136; iv. 1. 144; ‘Thy incony lap’, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5 (or 6). A cant word, prevalent about 1600, of doubtful meaning and of unascertained origin.
increable, incredible. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 140. 9; lf. 150, back, 6. OF. increable (F. incroyable), incredible.
indagation, investigation. B. Jonson, Discoveries, lxxiv. L. indagatio (Cicero).
inde, blue; see [ynde].
indeniz’d into, made to dwell in another body, metamorphosed into; ‘The perverse and peevish Are next indeniz’d into wrinkled apes’, Fisher, True Trojans, ii. 3. 23; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, xii. 172. Short for endenizen’d.
indent, to bargain. 1 Hen. IV, i. 3. 87. Lit. to make an indenture or covenant; an indenture being so called because duplicate deeds were cut with notched edges to fit one another. Med. L. indentare, ‘dente infringere, occare’ (Ducange); Law L. indentare, to indent.
indifferent, impartial. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 1; v. 9. 36.
indigne, unworthy, undeserving. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 1. 30. F. indigne.
indignify, to treat with indignity, to scorn. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 30; Colin Clout, 583.
induction, a bringing in; ‘The solemne induction of the Arke into the oracle’, Bible, 2 Chron. v (contents); initial step in an undertaking, 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 2. L. inductio, an introduction, leading into (Cicero).
indue, to clothe, used fig.: ‘Untill ye be indued with power from on high’ (quoadusque induamini virtutem ex alto), Bible, Luke xxiv. 49. L. induo, to put on an article of dress.
indue, to endow. Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 105; Two Gent. v. 4. 153; indued unto, endowed with qualities suited to, Hamlet, iv. 7. 180; indues to, brings to, Othello, iii. 4. 146. See [endue].
indurance; see [endurance].
inew; see [enew].
infame, to accuse as being infamous. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 7, § 10. Infamed, branded with infamy, Bacon, Essay 19, § 6. Med. L. infamare, ‘accusare, criminari’ (Ducange).
infamous, ill-spoken of, of ill report. Milton, Comus, 424; deserving of infamy, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 27.
infant, a youth of noble or gentle birth. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 25 (used of ‘a young knight’ of Prince Arthur); vi. 8. 25 (used of Prince Arthur). OF. enfant, a young aspirant to knightly honours (Ch. Rol. 3196). Cp. the use of ‘Childe’ for a youth trained to arms, in Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 7 (see Glossary, ed. C. P.).
infarce, to stuff, cram full. Sir T. Elyot, Castle of Helth, bk. iii, c. 1; id., Governour, bk. i, c. 3 (end). L. infarcire, to stuff.
infausting, a bringing of ill-luck. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 179). From L. infaustus, unlucky.
infer, to bring upon, inflict. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 31; to bring about, Richard III, iv. 4. 343. L. inferre, to bring upon.
infude, to infuse. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 23, § 2; see Croft’s note, ii. 351.
infuse, infusion. Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love, 47.
ingate, entrance, ingress. Spenser, View of Ireland, Globe ed., p. 650, l. 22; Ruines of Time, 47. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). See [gate].
ingenerate, begotten; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, bk. xviii. 323; implanted, Sir T. Elyet, Governour, bk. i, ch. 20, § 1. L. ingeneratus, inborn, implanted.
ingenious, ingenuous. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, i. 1 (Duchess). Conversely, ingenuously = ingeniously, id., Devil’s Law-case, i. 1 (Contarino).
ingine, ingene, ingenuity, quickness of intellect. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, v. 2 (Tub); Every Man, v. 3 (or 1) (Clement). ‘Ingine’ is the usual Scottish form (EDD.). See [enginous].
ingle, a favourite boy, an intimate associate, darling. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, i. 1 (Truewit); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2 (Viola). A Gloucestershire word, see EDD. (s.v. Ingle, sb.2 1).
ingle, to wheedle, coax. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 2 (Imperia).
ingram, ignorant. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v. 1 (Shorthose); Three Lords and Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 397; Bullein’s Dialogue, 5 (Halliwell); ‘An ingrame, ignarus’, Levins, Manipulus. A Northumberland word (EDD.).
ingurgitation, a gluttonous swallowing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 11, § last; id., bk. iii, c. 22, § 2. Late L. ingurgitatio, immoderate eating and drinking; L. gurges, an abyss, used fig. of an insatiable craving (Cicero).
inhabitable, uninhabitable. Richard II, i. 1. 65; Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. iii, c. 22; p. 266. F. inhabitable, ‘unhabitable’ (Cotgr.). L. inhabitabilis, not habitable (Cicero).
inhabited, not dwelt in, uninhabited. Beaumont and Fl., Thierry, iii. 1 (Thierry). F. inhabité, uninhabited (Cotgr.).
inholder, a tenant. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 17. Not found elsewhere.
iniquity; see [vice].
injury, to injure. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 1 (near the end); Middleton, Your Five Gallants, iii. 2 (Tailby); to abuse with words, ‘We freely give our souldiers libertie to . . . injurie him with all manner of reproaches’, Florio, Montaigne, I. xlvii. F. injurier (Montaigne).
inkle, a kind of tape. Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 208; also incle, Shirley, Gamester, iv. 1 (Page). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Inkle, sb.1) .
inlawed, brought under the protection of the law. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 16).
inleck, a leak in a ship, letting water in. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 560. OE. hlec, leaky. Not found elsewhere.
inly, inward. Two Gent. ii. 7. 18; inly, inwardly, Temp. v. 200; intimately, deeply. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 38.
inmew; in Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, ii. 2 (Miranda): ‘As if a Falcon . . . at his pitch inmew the Town below him.’ Probably a misprint for innew, a spelling of [enew], q.v.
inn, a dwelling-place, abode, lodging. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 33; iii. 3 30; vi. iii. 29. ME. in, dwelling (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3622). OE. inn, ‘domus’ (Matt. xiii. 36).
innocent, a fool, idiot. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 98); Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iii. 1. 14. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.).
inquest, a quest, search. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 4.
inquisition, inquiry, search. Temp. i. 2. 35; ‘Inquisycion for bloode’, Great Bible, 1539, Ps. ix. 12. L. inquisitio, a judicial inquiry (Vulgate, Acts xii. 19).
in-same, together, in company, in late use, a mere expletive; ‘Lo! my top I drive in-same’, World and Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 245; ‘I am seemly-shapen in-same’; id. 247. ME. samen, together (Ormulum, 377); in same, together (used as an expletive), see Wars Alex. 2646.
insecution, close pursuit. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xi. 524; xxiii. 448. Late L. insecutio, ‘persecutio’ (Ducange).
insense; see [incense].
insignement, teaching, showing. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 12, § 5. See [enseignement].
insolence, originality of genius (of a poet); ‘Being filled with furious insolence’, Spenser, Colin Clout, 619. See Trench, Sel. Gl. 150.
insolent, unusual, original; ‘Most loftie, insolent, and passionate’, Puttenham. Eng. Poesie, bk. i, c. 31; p. 77. L. insolens, unusual.
instance, urgency; ‘With all instance and supplicacion’ (= Vulgate, in omni instantia et obsecratione), Tyndale, Eph. vi. 18). F. instance, urgency (Cotgr.).
instance, something which urges or impels, a motive, cause. Richard III, iii. 2. 25; All’s Well, iv. 1. 44. Late L. instantia, urgency.
instant, urgent, persevering. Bible, Rom. xii. 12 (AV.); instantly, urgently, earnestly, Luke vii. 4 (Tyndale and AV.). L. instans, persevering (Vulgate, Acts vi. 4).
instate, to endow. Measure for M. v. 1. 429; instate to, make over to, Dekker and Middleton, Witch of Edmonton, i. 2 (O. Thorney).
instaure, to renew, repair. Marston, What you Will, i. 1 (Jacomo). L. instaurare, to renew (Vulgate, Eph. i. 10).
instinction, instigation, inspiration. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, ch. 13, § 4; natural impulse, instinct, id., bk. iii, ch. 3, § 5. Deriv. of L. instinctus, instigated, pp. of instinguere.
instop, to stop up or fill up the seams of a ship. Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 147. Du. instoppen, to cram in (Sewel).
intend, to stretch or shoot out (of a dragon’s sting). Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 38. L. intendere.
intend, to attend to; ‘(When Augustus was at the games) he did nothing else but intend the same’, Holland, tr. Suetonius. 60 (Trench, Sel. Gl. 151); ‘Every man profiteth in that he most intendeth’, Bacon, Essay 29; Heywood, Wise Woman of Hogsdon, i. 2 (Luce); Massinger, Emperor of the East, i. 2 (Pulcheria).
intendiment, understanding. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 32; Teares of the Muses, 144. Med. L. intendimentum, ‘mens, intelligentia’, intendere, ‘intelligere’ (Ducange).
interesse, the being concerned or having part in the possession of anything; ‘interest’, title, or claim; ‘The right title and interesse that they have’, Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 2, § 5; Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 33; interest on money, Hen. VIII, Instruct. Orator (NED.). Anglo-F. interesse, A.D. 1388 (NED.); Med. L. interesse, ‘usura, foenus, quod ultra sortem solvitur, vel quod quanti alicujus interest’ (Ducange); subst. use of L. interesse, to be between, to be of importance.
interessed, pp., interested; ‘(They) were commonly interessed therein themselves for their own ends’, Bacon, Essay 3 (end); ‘The heathens . . . were nothing interessed in that dispute’, Dryden, Pref. Religio Laici (ed. Christie, Clar. Press, p. 123); Massinger, Duke of Milan, i. 1; spelt interest, invested with a right or share, King Lear, i. 1. 87.
interest, to invest a person with a share in, or title to something; ‘Aurora ravish’d him . . . And interested him amongst the Gods’, Chapman, tr. Odyssey, xv. 326.
interlunar, between two moons; with reference to the period between the waning of the old and the waxing of the new moon; ‘Silent as the moon . . . Hid in her vacant interlunar cave’, Milton, Samson, 89. L. lunaris, relating to the moon.
intrince, intricate, entangled. King Lear, ii. 2. 81; short for intrinsicate, Ant. and Cl. v. 2. 307. Deriv. of L. intrinsecus, inwardly.
intuse, a bruise. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 33. L. intusus, pp. of intundere, to bruise.
inundant, inundating, overflowing. Heywood, Witches of Lancs. v (Generous), vol. iv, p. 252, l. 4. L. inundare, to inundate.
invect, to inveigh. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iii. 3 (M. Tullius). Cp. L. invectio, an attacking with words, deriv. of invehere, to inveigh against.
invent, to find. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 10; v. 11. 50.
invest, to enwrap, to enfold; ‘While night Invests the sea’, Milton, P. L. i. 208; iii. 10; vii. 372; to put on, to don, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5. 18. L investire, to clothe.
investion, investiture. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2 (near the end).
invinced, unconquered; never before conquered. Heywood, Silver Age, A iii (Hercules), vol. iii, p. 131. L. vincere, to conquer. Only found in Heywood’s writings.
invious, pathless, trackless. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 386. Cp. L. invius; from via, a way.
inward, intimate, confidential; ‘Inward Counsellours’, Bacon, Essays, 20, § 4; Marston, Malcontent, iv. 1 (Mendoza); an intimate acquaintance, ‘I was an inward of his’, Measure for M. iii. 2. 138.
†iper, a kind of fish, of small value; ‘Amongst fishes, a poor iper’, Webster, Appius, iii. 4 (Corbulo). Only in this passage.
Irish, an old game resembling backgammon. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 4 (Lady); the Irish game, Shirley, St. Patrick (Epilogue). See Cotton’s Compleat Gamester, 1680, p. 109.
irous, wrathful. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 9, § 1. Anglo-F. irous (Gower); from L. ira, anger.
†irpes (?). ‘From Spanish shrugs, French faces, smirks, irpes, and all affected humours, Good Mercury defend us’, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 3 (Palinode).
Isgrim, the name of the wolf in the story of Reynard the Fox. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Hubert). Isegrim in Caxton’s version; Isengrijn in Willem’s Low German poem; Ysegrim in Leeu’s Low German prose version; see Caxton’s Reynard (ed. Arber, p. ix).
island, a shock-dog, rough dog; lit. ‘Iceland dog’, Shirley, Hyde Park, i. 2 (Mis. Car.); ‘Her Iceland cur’, Massinger, The Picture, v. 1 (Ubaldo).
†iulan, of the first growth of the beard; ‘Iulan down’, Middleton, The Changeling, i. 1 (Vermandero). Gk. ἴουλος, the first growth of the beard. Not found elsewhere.
ivybush, the bush of ivy hung out as a vintner’s sign. Earle, Microcosmographie, § 12; ed. Arber, p. 33. The same as bush in As You Like It (Epilogue).
iwis, ywis, (often written I wis), certainly, assuredly. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 62; Richard III, i. 3. 102; ywis, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 19; i-wusse, B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1 (Tucca); wusse, id., Devil an Ass, i. 3 (Fitz). ME. iwis, certainly, truly (Chaucer, Compleint, 48); OE. gewiss, certain.