T
T for to, freq. profixed to verbs; as in tabandon, to abandon, tescape, to escape; so in Chaucer, tabyde, tacoye, tamende, &c.
tabid, liable to waste away. Sir T. Browne, Letter to a Friend, § 19; tabidly inclined, id., § 4. L. tabidus, wasting away.
tabine, ‘tabby’, a stuff orig. striped, later waved or watered. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 2. 6. Ital. tabino, ‘tabine’ (Florio). See NED. (s.v. Tabby).
table, the tablet or panel on which a picture is painted; ‘I beheld myself drawn in the flattering table of her eye’, King John, ii. 504; ‘To sit and draw his arched brows . . . in our heart’s table’, All’s Well, i. 1. 106; a picture, ‘The figure of a hangman In a table of the Passion’, Beaumont and Fl., Custom of the Country, iv. 2. 5; Sir T. Elyot, Governour (ed. Croft, ii. 422). L. tabula, a painted tablet or panel of a picture.
table, a writing-tablet. Bible, Hab. ii. 2; Luke i. 63; 2 Cor. iii. 3; tables, a set of tablets, a note-book, Hamlet, i. 5. 107; also, table-book, id., ii. 2. 136; hence, tabled, noted, set down, Cymbeline, i. 4. 6. ME. table: ‘a peyre of tables all of yvory’ (Chaucer, C. T. D. 1741). L. tabula, a writing-tablet.
tables, the ordinary name for backgammon, L. L. L. v. 2. 326. See Nares. ME. tables (Chaucer, C. T. F. 900), Anglo-F. juer as tables (Ch. Rol. l. 111).
tabourine, a small drum. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 275. F. tabourin (Dict. de l’Acad., 1694), see Hatzfeld (s.v. Tambourin).
tabride, a ‘tabard’; a surcoat worn over armour and emblazoned with armorial bearings. Warner, Alb. England, bk. v, ch. 27. See Dict.
tache, a fault or vice. Warner, Alb. England, xiii. 77. 318 (NED.); to find fault with, id., bk. x, ch. 58. ME. tache (tacche), a stain, blemish, fault (P. Plowman, B. ix. 146). Anglo-F. tache, a stain, blemish (Gower, Mirour, 1231).
tack, that which fastens. Phr. to hold tack with, to hold one’s ground with; to be even with; ‘A thousande pounde with Lyberte may holde no tacke’, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2084; to be a match for, to hold at bay, Drayton, Pol. xi. 48; to hold tack, to hold out, to endure, Butler, Hud. i. 3. 277.
tack, a smack, taste or flavour which lasts, holds out. Drayton, Pol. xix. 130; ‘Le poisson pique, begins to have a tacke or ill taste’, Cotgrave. The same word as above.
tackle, a mistress, a trull (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv. 1 (Belfond Senior).
tag, a rabble, mob. Coriolanus, iii. 1. 248; tag-rag people, the mob, Julius C. i. 2. 260; ‘Tagge and ragge, cutte and longe tayle’ (i.e. a mixed mob), Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 45.
taillee, to ‘tally’, to keep account, at the game of basset. Farquhar, Sir H. Wildair, i. 1 (Parly); ‘You used to taillee with success’, id., ii. 2 (Lurewell).
taint, a successful hit. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iii. 374; vii. 222. ME. taynte, a ‘hit’ in tilting (NED., s.v. Taint, sb. 1). Short for attaint, F. ‘attainte, a reach, hit, home touch’ (Cotgr.), OF. atainte (ateinte), deriv. of ataindre, to attain unto, to touch.
taint, to ‘hit’ in tilting. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum. ii. 1 (Carlo); Massinger, Parl. of Love, iv. 3 (near end); Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, i. 3; Chapman, tr. of Iliad, viii. 259.
taint, to ‘tent’, to search a wound. Lyly, Euphues, pp. 65, 314.
tainture, an imputation of dishonour. Fletcher, Thierry, i. 1. 1; Sandys, tr. of Ovid’s Metam. i. 20. See NED. (s.v. Attainture).
take me with you, let me understand you clearly, i.e. do not go faster than I can follow you; be explicit; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 506. Take us with you, understand us clearly, A Cure for a Cuckold (near the end).
take order, to take measures, to make arrangements. North, tr. of Plutarch, Julius Caes., § 9 (in Shak. Plut., p. 52); Octavius, § 8 (p. 246); Bacon, Essay 36; Bible, 2 Macc. iv. 27.
take up, to check oneself, stop short. Pepys, Diary, Nov. 13, 1661; Massinger, Picture, v. 3 (Mathias); to settle, arrange amicably a quarrel, As You Like It, v. 4. 104; to take up one’s quarters, B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 2; Pepys, Diary, Oct. 14, 1662.
taken with the maner; see [maner].
taking, a disturbed state of mind, state of agitation. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 191; also, malignant influence, King Lear, iii. 4. 61. Very common in prov. use in the sense of a state of agitation. See EDD. (s.v. Taking, 2).
taking, infectious. King Lear, ii. 4. 166; Fletcher, The False One, iv. 3 (Septimius). Still in use in Cumberland in this sense, ‘It’s a varra takkan disease’, see EDD. (s.v. Taking, 1 (2)).
tale, a specified number, that which is counted. Bible, Exod. v. 8. 18; 1 Sam. xviii. 27; 1 Chron. ix. 28; ‘Every shepherd tells his tale’ (i.e. counts his sheep), Milton, L’Allegro, 67 (but meaning in this passage disputed).
talent, the talon of a bird of prey. For talon. L. L. L. iv. 2. 65; Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 44; ‘Talant of an hauk’, Levins, Manip. Hence talenter, a bird of prey with talons, as a hawk, Middleton and Rowley, World Tost at Tennis (Denmark House).
tall, valiant, brave. Ant. and Cl. ii. 6. 7; often used ironically, as in Merry Wives, ii. 2. 11; &c.
tallage, a tax, impost, levy, rate, toll; ‘Tallages and taxations’, North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 12 (in Shak. Plut., p. 171). Anglo-F. tallage, ‘taille, taxe’ (Moisy). See Dict. (s.v. Tally).
†tallow-catch, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 256 (so Quartos and Folios). The form and meaning doubtful. Supposed by some to = tallow-ketch, i.e. a tub filled with tallow; by others = tallow keech, a round lump of fat. See [keech].
talwood, wood cut into billets for burning; firewood. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Courte, 79; Tasser, Husbandry, § 53. 12. A Sussex word (EDD.). A rendering of OF. bois de tail, ‘bois en coupe’ (Godefroy).
tamin, a kind of thin woollen stuff; ‘In an old tamin gown’, Massinger, New Way to Pay, iii. 2 (Overreach). F. étamine, stamin; ‘estamine, the stuff Tamine’ (Cotgr.).
tancrete, transcribed, copied. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Courte, 417. OF. tanscrit, for transcrit, transcribed (Godefroy, s.v. transcrit), L. transcriptum.
tanling, one that is tanned by the heat of the sun. Cymbeline, iv. 4. 29.
tannikin, tannakin, tanakin, a dimin. pet-form of the name Anna, used especially for a German or Dutch girl. Marston, Dutch Courtezan, i. 1 (Freevil); Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iii. 1 (Eyre).
tanti, so much for (you); an exclamation of depreciation and contempt. Marlowe, Edw. II, i. 1. 22; Fuimus Troes, iii. 7 (Eulinus). L. tanti, of so much value.
Tantony, for St. Anthony; often with reference to the attributes with which the saint was accompanied; as a crutch, a pouch, or a pig; ‘His tantonie pouch’, Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. 1 (Riscio); ‘Like a tantony pig’, Bickerstaff, Love in a Village, i. 5. 3. See EDD. (s.v. Saint Anthony).
tapet, a cloth on which tapestry is worked. Spenser, Muiopotmos, 276; tapets, pl. tapestries; met. foliage of trees, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 1. OE. tæppet, Late L. tapetum.
tappish, to lurk, lie, hid. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxii. 158; tappis, Lady Alimony, ii. 6 (Tillyvally); tappes’d, hidden, Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, v. 1 (Cheatly). F. tapir, to hide; se tapir, to crouch, lie close, lurk (Cotgr.); pres. part, tapissant. See [untappice].
taratantara, the blast of a trumpet; ‘Christ . . . in the clowdes of heaven with his Taratantara sounding’, Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, 24); ‘The noise of tarantara’s clang’, Grimald, Death of Zoroas, 2. Onomatopoetic, cp. L. taratantara (Ennius).
targe, shield. Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 57; Milton, P. L. ix. 1111. Anglo-F. targe, a buckler (Ch. Rol. 3569).
target, a light round buckler. Hall, Chron. Henry VIII, 2; North, tr. of Plutarch, Julius Caesar, § 11 (in Shak. Plut., 54). See Dict.
tarmagon, a termagant, a virago, vixen. Lady Alimony, i. 4. 1. See Dict. (s.v. Termagant).
tarpawlin, a sailor, jack-tar. Otway, Cheats of Scapin, ii. 1 (Scapin). The same as tarpaulin, a tarred canvas covering. See Trench, Select Glossary.
tarras, tarrass, a terrace. Bacon, Essay 45, § 5; Chapman, May-day, Act v (Lodovico). Hence, tarrest, terraced, provided with terraces; Heywood, London’s Jus Honorarium; Works, iv. 276.
tarre on, to set on a dog, to incite him to bite, King John, iv. 1. 117; Hamlet, ii. 2. 370; ‘To tarr on’, meaning to excite to anger, is in common use in Cheshire (EDD.). ME. terre, to provoke: ‘Nyle ye terre youre sones to wraththe’ (Wyclif, Eph. vi. 4). OE. tergan, to vex, see B. T. (s.v. Tirgan).
tarsell, a tercel, male hawk. Skelton, Philip Sparowe, 558. See [tassel].
Tartarian, a Tartar; a cant word for a thief. Merry Devil, i. 1. 13; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, ii. 5 (end).
task, to tax. 1 Hen. IV, iv. 3. 92. Norm. F. tasque, taxe, règlement imposé par l’autorité pour le prix de certaines marchandises (Moisy), Med. L. tasca (Ducange), L. taxare, to rate, estimate the value of a thing.
†tassaker, a cup or goblet; ‘This Dutch tassaker’, Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, iii. 3 (Valerius). Not found elsewhere.
tassel, the male of any kind of hawk; ‘Tiercelet, the Tassel, so termed because he is commonly a third part less than the female’, Cotgrave; tassel-gentle, the male of the falcon, Romeo, ii. 2. 160; tassel gent, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 49; tiercel gentle, Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo). See [tercel].
taste, to put to the proof, try, prove to be, Twelfth Nt. iii. 4. 267; to try the use of, to use (in affected speech), Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 87; to experience, to feel, Tempest, v. 1. 123.
tat, tatt, a false die; tatts, pl. false dice (Cant). Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Hackum). Tatmonger, a sharper who uses false dice (in the same scene).
tatler, for tattler, a slang term for a repeater, or a striking watch; because it tattles or utters sounds. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, ii. 1 (Belfond Senior).
tatterdemallion, tatterdimallian, a man in tattered clothing; a ragged fellow. Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, v. 1 (Simon); Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. vi, p. 37. See NED.
taumpin, a ‘tampion’, a plug. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 642; ‘Tampyon for a gon, tampon’, Palsgrave. See Dict. (s.v. Tampion).
taunt pour taunte, tit for tat. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 68. F. tant pour tant, one for another (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v. Taunt).
Taurus: ‘Taurus? that’s sides and heart. No, sir, it is legs and thighs’, Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 147. In astrology, the signs of the zodiac were severally supposed to govern various parts of the body; and Taurus governed the neck and throat; hence, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby were both wrong (intentionally so); see Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, ii. 1.
tavell, the bobbin on which silk is wound for use in the shuttle. Skelton, Garland of Laurell, 791; Against Comely Coystrowne, 34. Cp. mod. F. tavelle, the bobbin on which the silk is wound off the cocoons; see NED.
taw, to beat, thrash, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, iv. 3 (Ursula); tawed, treated like hides in making them into leather, ‘Greedy care . . . With tawed handes, and hard ytanned skyn’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 39. See Nares and Dict.
taw, to draw along. Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, l. 14 from end. See Nares (s.v. Tawe).
tawdry, pl. tawdries, defined as ‘a kind of necklace worn by country wenches’; Drayton, Pol. ii. 46; iv. 50. Tawdry-lace, St. Awdry’s lace, i.e. lace bought at St. Awdry’s fair at Ely, Fletcher, Faith. Shepherdess, iv. 1 (Amarillis). See Dict.
tax, to take to task, criticize, censure, reprove. Rowley, All’s Lost, v. 5. 74; Hamlet, i. 4. 18; also, to task, Much Ado, ii. 3. 46. See [task].
teade, a torch. Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 37; id., Muiopotmos, 293; Heywood, Iron Age, Part II (Orestes); vol. iii, p. 424. L. taeda, a torch.
teemed, arranged in a ‘team’; said of horses. Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 314.
teen, harm, injury, hurt, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 18; vexation, annoyance, id., ii. 1. 15; grief, id., ii. 1. 21; ii. 1. 58. In prov. use in the north country in the sense of anger, vexation, in Scotland also in the sense of sorrow, grief. ME. tene, vexation, grief (Chaucer). See Dict. M. and S. OE. tēona, damage, harm, insult, calumny.
†teen, keen; ‘The teenest Rasor’, Lyly, Euphues, pp. 34, 249. Not found elsewhere.
teend, to kindle a fire. Herrick, Hesp., Candlemas Day, id., Ceremonies for Christmas, st. 2. A Lancashire pronunciation, see EDD. (s.v. Tend, vb.2). ME. teend (Wyclif, Isaiah l. 11); OE. tendan, in compounds, as ontendan (Exod. xxii. 6). See [tind].
tegge, a female deer in the second year; ‘Tegge, or pricket, saillant’, Palsgrave; Jacob and Esau, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 193. Skelton has tegges, women (used in contempt), Elynour Rummyng, l. 131. ‘Teg’ is in gen. prov. use in the midland and southern counties in the sense of a yearling sheep before it is shorn (EDD.).
teil-tree, a lime-tree or linden. Bible, Isaiah vi. 13; teyle, Golding, Metam. viii. 620; fol. 102, back (1603). OF. teil; L. tilia.
teint, tint, colour. Dryden, To Sir G. Kneller, 178. F. teint, colour, complexion.
teld, pt. t., told. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 44. In common use in Yorkshire, see EDD. (s.v. Tell, 2). ME. telde, told; ‘And thei . . . telden alle these thingis’ (Wyclif, Luke xxiv. 9). OE. tealde, also telede (Leechdoms); see B. T. (s.v. Tellan).
temper, to govern, rule, control. Spenser, Mother Hubberd, 1294. L. temperare, to regulate, control. In prov. use in Scotland (EDD.).
tempt, to try, essay. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 496; Milton, P. L. ii. 404. In prov. use (EDD.). L. temptare (gen. written tentare), to attempt, essay.
ten bones, the ten fingers. 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 193; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 3 (Petruchio); ‘I swear by these ten’ (i.e. ten bones), B. Jonson, Masque of M. Gipsies (3 Gipsy).
tender, to treat with kindness, to take care of. Two Gent. iv. 4. 145; Taming Shrew, Induction, i. 16; Hamlet, i. 3. 107; regard, care, King Lear, i. 4. 230. See Schmidt.
tenent, a tenet, an opinion; ‘There are other assertions and common Tenents drawn from Scripture’, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med. i. 22; Earle, Microcosm., § 11 (ed. Arber, 34). See NED.
teniente, a lieutenant. Middleton, Span. Gipsy, ii. 1 (Alvarez). Span. teniente de una compañia, lieutenant of a company (Neuman); lugarteniente, lieutenant (Stevens).
tent, to apply a ‘tent’, or plug of linen, to a wound. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo); Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, iv. 3 (Colax). ME. tent of a wound (Prompt. EETS. 476). F. tente (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v. Tent, 2).
tercel, the male of any kind of hawk. Bk. St. Albans (NED.); tiercel, Phillips, Dict., 1706. ME. tercel (Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 405 (v.rr. tersel, tarsell); tarcel, ‘tardarius’ (Voc. 615. 24). OF. tercel (Godefroy), O. Prov. tersol (Levy), Span. terzuelo, Ital. terzuolo, Med. L. tertiolus (Ducange), F. tiercelet (dimin.), ‘a tassel’ (Cotgr.). See [tassel].
terlerie-whiskie, a twirling about; a phrase of little meaning, in the refrain of a song. Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of the B. Pestle, v. iii (Merrythought). See NED. (s.v. Terlerie).
termer (applied to both sexes), one who resorts to London in term-time only, for the sake of gain or for intrigue; a frequenter of the law-courts. Middleton, Roaring Girl (Preface); id., The Witch, i. 1 (Gasparo); Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, i. 1 (Oldcraft).
termless, unlimited, infinite, Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love, 75; incapable of being expressed by terms, inexpressible, indescribable, Lover’s Complaint, 94.
terre, to throw upon the ground; ‘He terr’d his glove’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iii, ch. 16, st. 44. A nonce-word.
†terrial. ‘The terrials of her legs were stained with blood’ (said of a hawk), Heywood, A Woman killed, i. 3 (Sir Francis). Perhaps an error for terret, one of the two rings by which the leash is attached to the jesses of a hawk (NED.).
tertia, a regiment of infantry. B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1. 6; Dryden, Conq. of Granada, II. i. 1 (K. Ferdinand). Span. tercio, a regiment, a third part (Stevens).
testate, a witness. Heywood, Witches of Lancs., v (Generous); vol. iv, p. 251; Iron Age, Part II (Orestes); vol. iii, p. 422.
testy, witness; ‘Gives testies of their Maisters amorous hart’, Faire Em, ii. 1. 100. Cp. L. teste, the word which began the last clause of a writ, and signifying ‘witness’; being the abl. of L. testis, a witness. See NED. (s.v. Teste, sb.2 2 c).
tetchy, teachy, quick to take offence, short-tempered, testy. Spelt teachy, Earle, Microcosm., § 34 (ed. Arber, 56); teachie, Romeo, i. 3. 32 (1592). See NED.
tetragrammaton, the Greek name of the Hebrew ‘four-lettered’ word, written YHWH, vocalized YaHWeH by modern scholars; in the Bible written Jehovah (Exod. vi. 3), but gen. rendered by ‘the Lord’; ‘Our English tongue as well as the Hebrew hath a Tetragrammaton, whereby God may be named; to wit, Good’, Wither, Lord’s Prayer, 17 (NED.); Greene, Friar Bacon, iv. 3. Gk. τετραγράμματον (Philo, 2. 152).
tettish, teatish, peevish, fretful. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v. 2 (Valentine); Woman’s Prize, v. 1 (Bianca).
tew, a set of fishing-nets, nets. Warner, Alb. England, bk. vi, ch. 29, st. 27; spelt tewgh, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, i. 3 (NED.). ME. tewe, fishing tackle (Prompt. EETS. 477), OE. (ge)tǣwe, getāwe, tackle, equipment.
tew, to convert hide into leather; ‘I tewe leather, je souple’, Palsgrave; to prepare for some purpose, ‘The toiling fisher here is tewing of his net’, Drayton, Pol. xxv. 139; to beat, thrash, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 2 (Clause); to tew hemp, Ray’s Country Words, A.D. 1691. In prov. use for dressing leather and beating hemp, see EDD. (s.v. Tew, vb.1 1 and 2). ME. tewyn lethyr, ‘frunio, corrodio’ (Prompt.).
tewly, scarlet. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 798. Silk of this colour is often referred to by earlier writers, as in Richard Coer de Lion, 67, 1516, Syr Gawayne, Beves of Hamtoun (Halliwell, s.v. Tuly); tuly, colowre, ‘puniceus’ (Prompt. EETS. 494). OF. tieulé, of the colour of a tile, i.e. red (Godefroy), deriv. of tieule (F. tuile), a tile, L. tegula.
teyle; see [teil-tree].
teyned. ‘In shape of teyned gold’, Golding, Metam. v. 11. ME. teyne, a slender rod of metal (Chaucer, C. T. G. 1225, 1229, 1240). Icel. teinn, rod, gull-teinn, a rod of gold.
than, then. Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 38 (Common).
tharborough, a form of [thirdborough], q.v. L. L. L. i. 1. 185.
thatch’d head, a term of abuse for an Irishman; one with thick matted hair. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 3 (Maria).
thee, to thrive, prosper. Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 8; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 33; ii. 11. 17. ME. thee (Chaucer), OE. þēon. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Theen).
thembatel, for the embatel, the battlement; ‘Griped for hold thembatel of the wall’, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 581. Not found elsewhere.
therm, tharm, an intestine. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 100). Still in use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Tharm). OE. (Anglian) þarm, a bowel.
thewes, good qualities or habits. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 3; i. 10. 4; ii. 1. 33; ii. 10. 59; Heywood, Britain’s Troy, i. 61 (Nares). Hence thewed, having qualities of a certain kind, F. Q. ii. 6. 26. OE. þēaw, usage, custom, habit.
thewes, the bodily powers of a man, in Shaks. the bodily proportions as indicating physical strength, 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 276; Jul. Caes. i. 3. 81; Hamlet, i. 3. 12.
thick, a thicket. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 39; ii. 3. 21; Shep. Kal., March, 73; Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, v. 5 (Cloe; near the end). In Suffolk groves and woods with close underwood are called ‘thicks’, see EDD. (s.v. Thick, 14).
thiller, the shaft-horse in a team. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4. In gen. prov. use in the Midlands and south of England, see EDD. Deriv. of ME. thylle of a cart, ‘temo’ (Prompt.).
thill-horse, the shaft-horse; ‘The Thill-horse in Charles’s Wain’, Derham (NED.). In common use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Thill, sb.1 2 4). See [fill].
thirdborough, the petty constable of a township or manor. L. L. L. i. 1. 185; cp. Taming Shrew, Induct, i. 12; B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 1 (Hugh). Probably a corruption of an earlier frithborh; OE. friðborh, peace-surety, frankpledge. See NED.
thirdendale: phr. thirdendale gallant, the third part of a gallant, Dekker, If this be not a good Play (Scumbroath); Works, iii. 329. See [halfendeale].
this, thus. Skelton, Death of Edw. IV, 38; Philip Sparowe, 366; and often.
tho, then. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 18; ii. 8. 47. ME. tho, then (Chaucer). see M. and S.; OE. þā.
thole, the dome of a temple, within which votive offerings were suspended; ‘Let Altars smoake and Tholes expect our spoiles’, Fisher, True Trojans, iii. 2 (Nennius). Gk. θόλος, a round building with a cupola; at Athens, the Rotunda in which the Prytanes, the committee of 50, dined at the public cost.
thorow-lights, lights or windows on both sides of a room. Bacon, Essay 45, § 3. From thorow = through.
thrall, v., to enthral, enslave. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 29; vi. 11. 44.
threap, to rebuke; to maintain obstinately. Greene, James IV, Induction (Bohan); threpped, pp., Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 354. In gen. prov. use in both senses in Scotland, Ireland, and in England, north country and Midlands. See EDD. (s.v. Threap, 5); ME. threpe, to assert to be (Chaucer). OE. þrēapian, to rebuke, argue.
threave, a large number, a multitude, a swarm of insects; ‘Threaves of busy flies’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, ii. 401 (in later ed. ‘swarms of flies’); a bundle or handful tied up like a small sheaf, Chapman, Gent. Usher, ii. 1 (Bassiolo). The word is used in many parts of Scotland and England in the sense of a considerable number or quantity, see EDD. (s.v. Thrave, sb. 3). Icel. þrefi, a number of sheaves.
three-farthings. King John, i. 143. Alluding to the very thin three-farthing (silver) pieces of Qu. Elizabeth, which bore her profile, with a rose at the back of her head.
three-pile, three-piled velvet. The richest kind of velvet was called three-pile or three-piled velvet, presumably because it had a triple (or a very close) pile or nap; Wint. Tale, iv. 3. 14. Three-piled piece, referring to velvet, i. 2. 33. Metaphorically, three-piled = exaggerated, L. L. L. v. 2. 407; cp. C. Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, i. 1. From three and pile (4).
threne, a lament. Phoenix and Turtle, 49. Hence, threning (spelt threnning); ‘What needs these threnning words and wasted wind?’, Sir T. Wyatt, To his Love (Wks., ed. Bell, 198). Gk. θρῆνος, a funeral lament.
thrill, to pierce. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 32. Hence, thrillant, piercing. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 4. 46. ME. thirte, to pierce (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2709). OE. þyrlian. See [thrull].
thrill, to hurl a weapon. Webster, Appius, iv. 2 (Virginius); Heywood, Iron Age, Part I, 1632, sig. F (Dyce); Quarles, Sion’s Elegies, ii. 4.
thring, to press forward. Mirror for Mag., Caracalla, st. 1. Still in use in the north country (EDD.). ME. thringe, to press, to force one’s way (Chaucer). OE. þringan, to press.
thrist, thirst. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 17. Thristy, thirsty, id., i. 5. 15. In prov. use in the north country, also in Heref. and Shropshire (EDD.). ME. thrist, thirst; thriste, to thirst (Wars Alex. 4683, 3848).
throat-brisk, (?) part of the brisket near the throat; spelt throte-briske, Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, iii. 620. Cp. throat-sweetbread (also neck-sweetbread), butcher’s name for the thymus gland, see NED. (s.v. Throat, 8 d).
throng, pressed closely together; ‘Hidden in straw throng’ (i.e. in straw pressed closely together), B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, v. 5 (The fourth Motion). OE. þrungen, pp. of þringan, to press. See [thring].
throw, a short space, a little while. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 53. ME. throw, a little while (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 2336). OE. þrāge, ‘for a time’, þrāh, a space of time, a course, running. See M. and S. (s.v. Throwe).
throwster, a twister of silk thread for a weaver. Middleton, World Tost at Tennis (Scholar). In the north country ‘to throw’ is in common use in the sense of to twist, see EDD. (s.v. Throw, 16). OE. þrāwan, to twist.
thrull, to pierce. Morte Arthur, leaf 172. 28; bk. ix, c. 4. See [thrill].
thrum, a weaving term: the waste end of a warp; thrumm’d, furnished with tufts, Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 319; untidily thatched, Middleton, Mich. Term, i. 2. 6; thrum-chinned, with rough untidy chin, id., A Trick to Catch, iv. 3. 7; ‘(A) plaine livery-three-pound-thrum’, B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1. 16 (applied jocularly to a person). ME. thrumm of a clothe, ‘filamen’ (Prompt.). Cp. Norw. dial. trumm, edge, brim (Aasen); Du. ‘drom, a thrum’ (Sewel); G. trumm.
thrum, to beat, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iii. 1 (George). An old Suffolk word (EDD.).
thrust, thirst; to thirst. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 29; iii. 7. 50. OE. þurst, thirst. See [thrist].
tial, a bond, tie, obligation; ‘Nor to contract with such (a woman) can be a Tial’, Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, ii. 1 (Mirabel). A Scotch word (EDD.). See [tyall].
Tib-of-the-buttery, a goose (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen). ‘Tib’ is a pet form of the Christian name Isabel; Tibbie was once a favourite name with the peasants of the Lowlands. See NED.
ticket, on the, on tick, like one who incurs an acknowledged debt. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1. 17.
tickle, not to be depended upon; uncertain, unreliable, changeable. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 5; vii. 8. 1; in unstable equilibrium, easily upset, easily set in motion; in phr. tickle of the sear (sere), easily made to go off (the ‘sear’ being a portion of a gun-lock), used fig. in Hamlet for yielding easily to any impulse (ii. 2. 327). ME. tikel, unstable, uncertain (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3428).
tickle-footed, uncertain, inconstant, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 4 (Elder Loveless).
ticklish, easily disturbed, Chapman, Widow’s Tears, ii. 2 (Arsace).
tick-tack, a complicated kind of backgammon, played both with men and pegs; for rules, see the Compleat Gamester. Meas. for M. i. 2. 196; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 3 (Kiteley). Du. tiktak. tick-tack; ‘tiktakbörd, tick-tack-tables, backgammon tables’ (Sewel); cp. G. tricktrack, backgammon.
tiddle, to pet, to spoil; said of parents and children; ‘My parents did tiddle me’, Nice Wanton, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 173. Hence tidlings, pets, spoilt children, id., 164. In prov. use in Berks., meaning to tend carefully; to bring up a young animal by hand (EDD.).
tie-dog, a bandog; a fierce dog who has to be tied up. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 140. See Nares.
tiego, a dizziness in the head. Massinger, A Very Woman, iv. 3 (Borachia). The expression is put into the mouth of an ignorant woman; it seems to represent ’tigo, short for Lat. vertigo.
tiffany, a kind of thin transparent silk; also a gauze muslin. Fletcher, Noble Gentleman, i. 1 (Marine); Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 1 (Treedle). Apparently the same word as Tiffany, a name for the festival of the Epiphany. OF. Tiphanie (Godefroy), Eccles. L. Theophania, Eccles. Gk. Θεοφάνεια, the Manifestation of God. See Ducange (s.v. Theophania).
tight, tite. Of a ship: water-tight; ‘Twelve tite Gallies’, Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 381; competent, capable; vigorous, stout, Ant. and Cl. iv. 4. 16; neat, trim, carefully dressed, ‘But you look so bright, And are dress’d so tight’, Farquhar, Beaux Strat. i. 1. In prov. use in various senses in all parts of the English-speaking world: e.g. in good health, sound, vigorous (E. Anglia); neat, trim (Scotland); see EDD. See [tith].
tight, pt. t., tied, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 34.
tiller, in archery, the wooden beam which is grooved for reception of the arrow, or drilled for the bolt; ‘The beanie or tiller (of a balista)’, Holland, Amm. Marcell. 221 (NED.); ‘Arbrier, the tillar of a crosse-bow’, Cotgrave; a stock or shaft fixed to a long-bow to admit of its being used as a cross-bow, for greater precision of aim, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2 (Galatea); a bow fitted with a tiller, id., Scornful Lady, v. 1 (Elder Loveless); tiller-bow, a cross-bow, see Roberts, English Bowman (ed. 1801, p. 261), quoted by Croft (Sir T. Elyot, Governour, i. 297); tillering, the putting of a bow upon a tiller, Ascham, Toxophilus, 114. OF. telier (tellier), the wooden beam of a cross-bow, orig. a weaver’s beam (Godefroy), Mod. L. telarium (Ducange), L. tela, a web.
tilly-vally, an exclamation of contempt at what has been said, like our ‘nonsense!’ Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 83; Tilly-fally, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 90. Tille valle, Tille vallee!, an exclamation used by Mrs. Alice More, not liking her husband’s question, ‘Is not this house (in the Tower) as nighe heaven as myne owne (at Chelsea)?’, see Life of Sir T. More, by W. Roper (More’s Utopia, ed. Lumby, p. xlv).
tim, a poor wretch; a term of abuse. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4 (Kastril).
timonist, misanthrope. Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, v. 2 (Astorius). Alluding to Timon of Athens.
tinct, to tinge, colour. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1 (Subtle); tinct, pp. dyed, tinged, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 107. L. tinctus, dyed.
tincture, a colouring matter, Dryden, Juvenal, Ded. 36; hue, colour, ‘The tincture of a skin’, Addison, Cato, i. 4; a spiritual principle or immaterial substance whose character or quality may be infused into material things, which are then said to be tinctured, ‘Nothing can be so mean, Which with his tincture (“for thy sake”) will not grow bright and clean’, Herbert, The Elixir.
tind, to kindle; ‘As one candle tindeth a thousand’, Sanderson-Serm. (ed. 1689, p. 56) (NED.); tind, pt. t. ‘Stryful Atin in their stub, borne mind Coles of contention and whot vengeance tind’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 11. In Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, viii. 410, we find tinne (to kindle). ‘Tind’ is in gen. prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). Wyclif has tend: ‘No man tendeth a lanterne’ (Luke xi. 33). See NED. for an account of the earlier form-history of the word. See [teend].
tine, to kindle, inflame; ‘As late the clouds . . . Tine the slant lightning’, Milton, P. L. x. 1075; ‘The priest . . . was seen to tine The cloven wood’, Dryden, Iliad, i. 635. A form of tind (to kindle), in prov. use in various parts of England. See EDD. (s.v. Tind).
tine, to perish, to be lost. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11. 36. In prov. use in Scotland in this sense, and also, meaning ‘to lose’; see EDD. (s.v. Tine, vb.1). The original sense of the word was ‘to lose’. ME. tine, to lose (Hampole, Psalter, lxi. 10); Icel. tȳna, to lose, to destroy, put to death.
tine, affliction, sorrow. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 15; Tears of the Muses, 3; Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 3 (Cloe); to feel pain, F. Q. ii. 11. 21. OE. tȳnan, to give pain, to vex. See [teen].
tintamar, tintimar, a confused noise, hubbub. Spelt tintamar, Howell, Famil. Letters, vol. i, sect. i. 19, § 2; tintimar, Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, v. 2 (Mrs. Amlet). F. tintamarre, ‘A clashing or crashing, a rustling or gingling noise made in the fall of wooden stuff, or vessels of metal; also a black Santus’ (Cotgr.). See [sanctus].
tinternall, the name of an old tune or burden for a song. Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 430. Cp. F. tinton, the burden of a song; from tinter, to ring.
tip for tap, tit for tat; one hit in requital for another. Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 463. See NED. (s.v. Tip, sb.2).
tipe over, to tilt over, overthrow; ‘I type over, I overthrow, je renverse’, Palsgrave; ‘She tiped the table over and over’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 83. In prov. use in north of England, Shropshire, and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. type, to tilt over, knock down, see NED. (s.v. Tip, vb.2).
tiphon, a ‘typhoon’, whirlwind; ‘A mental tiphon’, Shirley, Example, ii. 1 (Vainman). Gk. τυφῶν = τυφώς, a furious whirlwind (Sophocles).
tippet: in phr. to turn one’s tippet, to change one’s course or behaviour completely; to act the turncoat. B. Jonson, Case is Altered, iii. 3 (Aurelia); also, to change one’s tippet, Merry Devil of Edmonton, iii. 2. 139; ‘He changed his typpette, and played the Apostata’, Foxe, Book of Martyrs, 1049. 2 (NED.).
tipstaff, a staff with a tip or cap of metal, carried as a badge by certain officials. Mercury’s caduceus is called a ‘snaky tipstaff’, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, i. 1 (Cupid); an official carrying a tipped staff, a sheriff’s officer, an officer appointed to wait upon a court in session; ‘Then their Lordships . . . commissioned Atterbury the Tipstaff to fetch a smith to force them open’, Magd. Coll. and Jas. II. p. 148 (Oxf. Hist. Soc).
tire, a ‘tier’, row, rank. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 35; Milton, P. L. vi. 605; Fletcher, Span. Curate, iv. 7 (near the end); Dryden, Hind. and P. iii. 317. OF. tire, row, rank (Godefroy); ‘tire à tire, l’un après l’autre’ (Didot); O. Prov. tiera, teira, ‘suite, série’ (Levy).
tire, to ‘attire’, L. L. L. iv. 2. 131. Hence tire-men, dressers belonging to the theatre, Middleton, Your Five Gallants, ii. 1 (Fitsgrave). Tire, a head-dress, Two Gent. iv. 4. 190; spelt tier, London Prodigal, iv. 3. 32; tire-valiant, a fanciful head-dress, Merry Wives, iii. 3. 60.
tire, to prey or feed ravenously upon. 3 Hen. VI, i. 1. 269; Venus and Ad. 56; Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, ii. 7; Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, iii. 2 (Leocadia). ‘Tiring (in Falconry) is a giving the Hawk a Leg or Pinion of a Pullet or Pigeon to pluck at’, Phillips, Dict. 1706. ME. tyren, to tear, rend (Chaucer, Boethius, iii. 12. 49). F. tirer, to draw, pull, tug; see NED. (s.v. Tire, vb.2 2).
tirik, a mechanical device explaining astronomical phenomena, a ‘theorick’; ‘He turnyd his tirikkis, his volvell ran fast’, Skelton, Speke Parrot, 139; Garl. of Laurell, 1518. See NED. (s.v. Theoric, sb. 3).
tirliry-pufkin, a light and flighty woman. Ford, Lady’s Trial, iii. 1.
tit, a small creature, young thing; a tit of tenpence, a girl worth tenpence; a depreciatory epithet. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iv. 2 (Petruchio).
tite: phr. swithe and tite, quickly and at once, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 4. 13. Very common in the phr. as tite, as soon, as lief, in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Tite, adv.2). ME. tite, quickly; as tyte as, as soon as (Wars Alex. 219, 693). Icel. tītt, at once with all speed; see Icel. Dict. (s.v. Tīðr).
tith, a variant of [tight] (q.v.). Of a ship: water-tight, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 5; sound in body, ‘A good stanch wench, that’s tith’, id., Mons. Thomas, ii. 3 (Thomas). The compar. tither occurs in The Mad Lover, iii. 3 (Chilax) in a nautical allusion. Tithly, vigorously, Island Princess, i. 1. 20; closely, Women Pleased, iv. 3 (Penurio).
tithe, to decimate. Beaumont and Fl., Bonduca, ii. 1 (Penius).
titillation, a means of titillating, producing a pleasant sensation, used of a perfume. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 2 (Face).
titivil (tytyvyllus), a term of reprobation, a knave, villain, and esp. a mischievous tale-bearer, Hall, Henry VI (ed. 1542, f. 43); Skelton, Garl. Laurell, 642; Colyn Cloute, 418; ‘Coquette, a pratling or proud gossip . . . a titifill, a flebergebit’, Cotgrave; titifil, Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, 24). Originally, the name of a devil said to collect fragments of words dropped, skipped, or mumbled in the recitation of the daily offices, and to carry them to hell to be registered against the offender; the name occurs in the mystery plays. Myrrour of our Ladye, i. 20. 54. See note to P. Plowman, C. xiv. 123. See NED. for a full and interesting account of this curious creation of monastic wit.
titivilitium, an exclamation of contempt. B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iv. 1 (Otter). L. titivillitium, a small trifle (used once by Plautus).
to, in comparison with. Temp. i. 2. 480, &c.
to-, prefix, in twain, asunder, in pieces. The following examples occur in Caxton’s Hist. of Troye: to-breke (pt. t. to-brake), to break in pieces; to-breste, to burst asunder; to-bruse, to bruise in pieces; to-drawe, to draw asunder; to-frusshe, to break in pieces; to-hewe, to hew in pieces; to-rente, to rend in pieces. Malory’s Morte Arthur has to-cratche, to tear to pieces; to-ryue, to rive asunder; to-sheuer, to reduce to shivers. See NED. (s.v. To-, pref.2).
toadstone, a stone fabled to be found in a toad’s head, which could cure pain instantly. See As You Like It, ii. 1. 13; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, v. 1 (Livia); Mons. Thomas, iii. 1 (Thomas).
toase, to pluck, to pull, draw. Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 760; ‘It is a great craft to tose wolle wel’, Palsgrave. ME. tosyn or tose wul or odyre lyk, ‘carpo’ (Prompt. EETS. 501). See [tooze].
toater; see [toter].
to-boil, to boil thoroughly, boil down. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 5 (Ferdinand).
to-break, to break in pieces; ‘So inward force my heart doth all to-break’, Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover compareth (ed. Bell, p. 200); to-brake, pt. t., ‘And all to brake his scull’, Bible, Judges ix. 53. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Tobreken). OE. tobrecan, pt. t. tobræc.
tod, a fox. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2 (Tuck); Pan’s Anniversary, Hymn iv, l. 12. A north-country word; Jamieson says, ‘the fox is vulgarly known by no other name throughout Scotland’, see EDD. (s.v. Tod, sb.2).
tod, a bushy mass (esp. of ivy). Spenser, Sheph. Kal., March, 67; Beaumont and Fl., Bonduca, i. 1 (Caratach); id., Rule a Wife, iv. 3 (Juan). In E. Anglia the word is in use for the head of a pollard tree, see EDD. (s.v. Tod, sb.5 1).
to-dash, to dash in pieces. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 18.
todder, slime; the spawn of frogs or toads; ‘Where in their todder loathly paddocks breed’, Drayton, Moses, bk. ii, 116. In prov. use in Leic. for the spawn of frogs or toads, see EDD. (s.v. Tother, sb. 3).
†toderer, a man of loose life. Marston, Malcontent, i. 1 (Malevole).
†tods; ‘I wear out my naked legs and my foots and my teds’, Dekker, O. Fortunatus. iv. 2 (Andelocia). A misreading for ‘toes’.
tofore, formerly. Titus And. iii. 1; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 4. 7. ME. toforn, beforehand (Chaucer); tofore, prep. before (P. Plowman, B. v. 457).
to-frusshed, pp. broken to pieces, crushed, battered. ‘All to-frusshed’, Warner, Alb. England, bk. ii, ch. 12, st. 33. See [frush].
toft, taut, tightly drawn, Peele, Tale of Troy, ed. Dyce, p. 554. See NED. (s.v. Taut, adj. 2). See EDD. (s.v. Taut). ME. toght, tightly drawn (Chaucer, C. T. D. 2267).
token, a small coin, struck by private individuals to pass for a farthing. Tavern-token, Westward Ho, ii. 3 (Birdlime); ‘Not worth a tavern-token’, Massinger, New Way to Pay, i. 1 (Tapwell).
tole, to entice, draw on. Beaumont and Fl., Wit at sev. Weapons, iv. 2 (near the end); tole on, Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 1 (Clorin). In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Toll, vb.2 1). ME. tollen, to attract, entice (Chaucer, Boethius, ii. 7. 15).
toledo, a Toledo sword. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo); near the end; Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, iii. 4 (Bobadilla).
ton, a tunny-fish. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3 (B. Knight). F. thon, a tunny-fish (Cotgr.); L. thunnus; Gk. θύννος.
tone: the tone, for thet one, i.e. that one, the one. Golding, tr. of Ovid, Preface, 96; cp. the tother, for thet other, that other, the other (in the same line). Just below, l. 105, we find tone part, for the tone part, i.e. the one part. See Nares.
tonnell; see [tunnel].
tony, a simpleton. In Middleton, The Changeling, i. 2 (Lollio), we find Tony used as an abbreviation of Antony, and at the same time signifying a simpleton; ‘Be pointed at for a tony’, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii (Freeman); tonies, pl. Dryden, All for Love, Prol., 15.
toot; see [tote].
toothful, toothsome, delicious. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, v. 1 (Theoph.).
too-too, extremely, very. Hamlet, i. 2. 129; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 15 (Common); toto muche, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 42.
tooze, to tease wool; ‘Toozing wooll’, Golding, Metam. xiv. 265; fol. 170 (1603); ‘I toose wolle or cotton or suche lyke, Je force de la laine, and je charpis de la laine’, Palsgrave. See [toase].
top-ayle, highest spike or beard of an ear of corn. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xx. 211. ‘Ails’ (‘iles’) is in prov. use in the south of England for the beards or awns of barley or any other bearded grain, see EDD. (s.v. Ail, sb.2). OE. egl, ‘festuca’ (Luke vi. 41).
tope, I pledge you; lit. touch (or strike) my glass with yours. Shirley, Honoria, v. 1 (2 Soldier). See Dict. (s.v. Toper).
topsiturne, to upset, turn upside down; ‘This object . . . Which topsiturnes my braine’, Heywood, Iron Age (Ajax), vol. iii, p. 341; ‘All things are topside-turn’d’, id., Dialogue 9, in vol. vi, p. 214.
tormentour, a torturer, one deputed to torture and punish offenders, an executioner. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 49; Bible, Matt. xviii. 34. ME. tormentour, executioner (Chaucer, C. T. G. 527).
tortious, injurious, wrongful. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 18. See Dict. (s.v. Tort).
torved, stern. Webster, Appius and Virginia, v. 3 (Virginius). For torvid, Med. L. torvidus (Ducange).
†toss, tosses, pl. (?). Massinger, Picture, ii. 2 (Honoria).
tote, to look, gaze; ‘How often dyd I tote Upon her prety fote’, Skelton, Phyllyp Sparowe, 1146; spelt toote, Speke Parrot, 12; toot, Peele, Arraignment of Paris, i. 2 (Oenone). In prov. use in north of England down to Warw. in the sense of to peep and pry about, see EDD. (s.v. Toot, vb.2). ME. toten (P. Plowman, B. xv. 22), OE. tōtian, to look, gaze.
tote, to project, stick out; ‘Your tail toteth out behind’, The Four Elements, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 42; ‘A toting huge swelling ruff’, Howell’s Letters, bk. i, sect. 3, let. 31, § 7. In prov. use in the north country, also in Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Toot, vb.2 3).
toter, a player upon the horn. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 3 (Pan); toater, Fletcher, Maid in a Mill, iii. 1 (end). See EDD. (s.v. Toot, vb.1).
tother: the tother, for thet other, the other. See [tone].
toto, variant of [too-too], q.v.
totters, tatters, rags. Ford, Sun’s Darling, i. 1 (Folly’s song); tottered, tattered, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5. 6; Edward II, ii. 3. 21; Richard II, iii. 3. 52. Norw. dial. totra, a rag, totror, pl. rags, also taltra(r) (Aasen).
totty, unsteady, confused in thought. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 39; Sheph. Kal., Feb., 55. In prov. use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME. toty: ‘Myn heed is toty of my swink to-night’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4253).
touch, a trait or feature; ‘One touch of nature makes the whole world kin’, Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 175; ‘Evill touches’, Ascham, Scholemaster, 48. Touch = Touchstone, Richard III, iv. 2. 8; used also fig. with reference to the trial of gold, 1 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 10.
touch, often used for any costly marble; properly the basanites of the Greeks, a very hard black granite. It obtained the name touch from being used as a test for gold. It was often written tutch or tuch; ‘He built this house of tutch and alabaster’, Harington, tr. Ariosto, xliii. 14; ‘With alabaster, tuch and porphyry adorned’, Drayton, Pol. xvi. 45; ‘Thou art not, Penshurst, built to envious show of touch or marble’, B. Jonson, Forest, B. ii. 2. See Nares. F. pierre de touche, ‘sorte de pierre, ainsi appelée, parce qu’on s’en sert pour éprouver l’or et l’argent en les y frottant’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762).
touch-box, a box containing powder for priming a fire-arm; ‘Fire the touch-box’, Return from Parnassus, iv. 2. 8. See [twitch-box].
tour, a lady’s head-dress or wig. Etherege, Man of Mode, ii. 1 (Medley). F. ‘Un tour de tête, un tour, sorte de petite perruque de femme’ (Hatzfeld).
toure, towre, to see, to look (Cant). To towre, to see, Harman, Caveat, p. 84; toure out, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
toward, in preparation, near at hand. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1. 81; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 68; towards, Romeo, i. 5. 124; towardness, docility, Bacon, Essay 19.
towker, a ‘tucker’, a fuller of cloth. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 14, § 4. ME. towkere, ‘fullo’ (Voc. 629. 2), towker, P. Plowman, A. Prol. 100. See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Tokker).
town-top, Fletcher, Nightwalker, i. 3 (Nurse). See [parish-top].
to-wry, to hide, conceal; ‘Your sighs you fetch from far, And all to-wry your woe’, Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover’s Case cannot be hidden, 26 (ed. Bell, p. 95). ME. wrye, to cover (Chaucer, C. T. E. 887), OE. wrēon, to cover; wrigen, pp.
toy, a trifle, a trifling ornament. Twelfth Nt. iii. 3. 44; ‘Any toys for your head’, Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 326; Bacon, Essay 19; a trifling matter, something of no value, Othello, i. 3. 270; an idle fancy, whim, King John, i. 1. 232; Richard III, i. 1. 60; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 4. 79; Chapman, Bussy D’Ambois, i (Beaupré).
to-year, this year. Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1 (Duchess); to-yere, id., Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 118. In gen. prov. use in England and Ireland (EDD.). ME. to-yere, this year (Chaucer, C. T. D. 168).
trace, the straps by which a vehicle is drawn, traces. Golding, Metam. ii. 109; fol. 16, back (1603); ‘Trace, horse harnesse, trays’, Palsgrave. ME. trayce, horsys harneys, ‘trahale’ (Prompt.). F. traits, pl. of trait, ‘the cord or chain that runs between the horses’ (Cotgr.). Traces is therefore a double plural. See Dict.
trace, to follow up a track; to traverse, to move forward. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 27; Morte Arthur, leaf 232. 18, bk. x, ch. 30; Milton, Comus, 427; trast, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. v. 8. 37. In use in Ireland in the sense of tracking an animal, see EDD. (s.v. Trace, vb.1 1).
tract, to track, follow up, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 3, 17; Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 101.
tract: phr. tracte of tyme, duration of time, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 22, § 3; to tract the time, to prolong the time, Mirror for Mag., Gloucester, st. 25. Hence tracting, protraction, prolongation, ‘In the tractynge of tyme’, Latimer, Serm. (ed. Arber, 53). F. ‘par traict de temps, in tract of time’ (Cotgr.).
trade, track of footsteps, trodden path. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 39; ‘A common trade to passe through Priam’s house’, Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 593. In north Yorks. the word is in prov. use, meaning a constant passage backwards and forwards, used of men and animals: ‘A lot of rabbits here, by the trade they make’, see EDD. (s.v. Trade, 1).
traditive, traditional. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 196.
traduction, transmission. Dryden, On Mrs. A. Killigrew, 23. Verbal traduction, verbal translation, Cowley, Pref. to Pindaric Odes (beginning). F. traduction, a translation, L. traductio, a transferring, transmission.
traicte, to treat. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 15, § 1. F. traicter, to treat (Cotgr.).
train, to draw on, allure, entice. Com. Errors, iii. 2. 45; train on, 1 Hen. IV, v. 2. 21. Norm. F. trainer, ‘attirer, entrainer, séduire’ (Moisy).
trains, artifices, stratagems. Macbeth, iv. 3. 118; Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 24; Milton, P. L. xi. 624; Sams. Ag. 533, 932; Comus, 151. ME. trayne, or disseyte, ‘fraus’ (Prompt. EETS. 488). OF. traine, ‘trahison’ (Godefroy); cp. F. ‘traine, a plot, practice, device’ (Cotgr.).
tralineate, to deviate, degenerate. Dryden, Wife of Bath, 396. Suggested by Ital. tralignare, to degenerate (Dante).
tralucent, transparent, allowing light to shine through. B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen, prose description at the end, § 6. The same as translucent, Milton, Comus, 861. L. tralucere, translucere, to shine through.
tramels, nets for confining the hair, net-work. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 15; Greene, Looking Glasse, ii. 1. 426 (Remilia); p. 122, col. 2. F. tramail, a net (Cotgr.); Ital. tramaglio, a drag-net (Fanfani), Med. L. tremaculum, tremaclum (Ducange).
trampler, a lawyer. Middleton, A Trick to Catch, i. 4 (Witgood).
trangame, a thing of no value (Cant); ‘But go, thou trangame, and carry back those trangames which thou hast stolen’, Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii (Widow).
translate, to transform. Mids. Night’s D. iii. 1. 122; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. ii. 4 (Brain-worm).
translater, a jocose or slang term for a cobbler who made worn boots wearable by judicious patching, and mending; ‘Jeffrey the translater’, A Knack to know a Knave (Cobbler), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 566. For many examples of the use of this word for a ‘cobbler’, see EDD. (s.v. Translate, 1).
transmew, to transmute, change. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 35; ii. 3. 37. ME. transmuwen (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iv. 467). F. transmuër, to change (Cotgr.). L. transmutare. See EDD.
transmogrify, to transform. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iii. 1 (Belfond Senior). A playful variant of transmodify, by association with the termination -(mo)graphy. In gen. prov. and colloquial use in all English-speaking countries (EDD.).
transversaries, the cross-pieces of a cross-staff, which was an old instrument for taking altitudes and measuring angles. Dekker, Wh. of Babylon (1 King); Works, ii. 233.
trash, (hunting term), to check (a dog) that is too fast by attaching a weight to its neck; ‘This poor trash of Venice, whom I trash For his quick hunting’, Othello, ii. 1. 132; ‘Who t’advance, and who To trash for over-topping’, Tempest, i. 2. 81; Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 1 Caratach). See Nares. In Cumberland the word trash means a cord used in checking dogs, see EDD. (s.v. Trash, sb.3 1).
trash, to tramp after, to pace along. Puritan Widow, iv. 1. 37. In prov. use in Lakeland, see EDD. (s.v. Trash, vb.1 1).
trattle, to prattle, tattle. Bale, Kynge Johan (Camd. Soc.), p. 73; Skelton, Against the Scottes, 2. Hence, trattler, a prattler, ‘A tratler is worse than a thief’, Ray, Proverbs (ed. 1678, 357). A Scotch word, see EDD. (s.v. Trattle, vb.).
travant, a halberdier in attendance on the Emperor in Germany. Chapman, Alphonsus, iii (Alph.). G. Trabant, a satellite, halberdier: cp. Norw. drabant, one of the body-guard of Solomon (1 Kings ix. 22), Magyar darabant. See Kluge’s Etym. Germ. Dict., and NED. (s.v. Drabant).
travers(e, a movable screen, a sliding door. Marston’s Masque at Ashby Castle, MS. (Nares); Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 45; spelt traves, Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 58. ME. travers: ‘We will that our said son be in his chamber . . . the travers drawn anon upon eight of the clock’ (Letters and Ordinances, 1473, in Nares); so in Chaucer: ‘Men drinken and the travers drawe anon’ (C. T. E. 1817); also travas, ‘transversum’ (Prompt. EETS. 489, see note, no. 2387). The word exists in prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Traverse, 2).
traverse, to examine thoroughly. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, ii. 3 (Tarquin).
tray-trace, trey-trace, perhaps (like tray-trip) the name of a game at dice. Trey-trip and trey-trace, Appius and Virginia, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 118.
tray-trip, an old game at dice, in which tray (three) was a successful throw. Twelfth Nt. ii. 5. 207; B. Jonson, Alchem. v. 2 (Subtle); spelt tra-trip, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 1 (Roger); tre-trip, Mayne, City Match, ii. 4 (Aurelia); ‘Lett’s goe to dice a while, To passage, trei-trippe, hazard, or mum-chance’, Machivell’s Dogge, 1617, 4to, sign. B; see Nares. See [trey].
treachetour, a traitor, deceiver. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 8. 7. A contaminated form; due to ME. trechour (a traitor) and ME. tregetour (a juggler). The latter word is found in Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 1277, and C. T. F. 1143, see also tregetowre, ‘mimus, pantomimus, prestigiator, joculator’ (Prompt. EETS. 489). Anglo-F. tregettour, juggler (Bozon), deriv. of OF. tresgeter, Med. L. transjectare, to throw across, to juggle.
treachour, a traitor, Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 32; ii. 1. 12; ii. 4. 27; treacher, King Lear, i. 2. 133; Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, iii. 1 (Otto); Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, v. 1 (Byron). ME. trechour (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 197). OF. trecheör (Bartsch), Romanic type trecatórem, cp. Med. L. tricator, ‘deceptor’ (Ducange).
treague, a truce. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 33. Ital. and Span. tregua, Mod. L. tregua, see Ducange (s.v. Treva); of Germ. origin, cp. OHG. triuwa, truth, a solemn promise (Schade).
treason, a surrender. North, tr. Plutarch, Coriolanus, § 17 (in Shaks. Plut. p. 31). OF. traïson, Med. L. traditio, ‘cessio, concessio’ (Ducange).
treen, pl. of tree. Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 1. ME. treon, trees (Laȝamon, 1835, 25978).
treen, wooden, made of wood. Spenser, F. Q. i. 2. 39; i. 7. 26; Chapman, Byron’s Conspiracy, ii (near end); ‘Treene dishes be homely’, Tusser, Husbandry, 175. In prov. use: treen-plates, wooden trenchers, in E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. treen, wooden (Prompt. EETS. 495).
trench, to cut. Two Gent. iii. 2. 7; Macb. iii. 4. 27. F. ‘trencher, to cut, carve, slice, hew’ (Cotgr.).
trenchand, cutting, sharp. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 17. For trenchant; from F. trencher, to cut.
trenchmore, a lively and boisterous country-dance. Beaumont and Fl., Pilgrim, iv. 3 (Master); Island Princess, v. 3 (2 Townsman); London Prodigal, i. 2. 38; Selden’s Table Talk (s.v. King of England). See Nares.
trendle, a wheel, a hoop. Udall, tr. Apoph., Socrates, § 72; ‘A cracknel or cake made like a Trendell’, Nomenclator (Nares). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Trindle, 1, 2). ME. trendyl, ‘troclea’ (Prompt. 490). OE. trendel, a wheel (Sweet), see [trindill].
trendle, to roll; ‘Like a trendlyng ball’, Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 44 (Works, i. 158). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Trindle, 8). See [trindill].
trepidation, a swaying motion: the libration of the earth. Milton, P. L. iii. 483.
trest; see [trist].
tretably, properly, correctly. Marston, What you Will, iii. 2 (Pedant). OF. traitable, tractable.
trey, tray, three; at cards or dice. L. L. L. v. 2. 232. Anglo-F. treis, L. tres, three.
treygobet, the name of a game at dice. Lit. ‘three (and) go better’. The Interlude of Youth, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 34.
trick(e, neat, tidy, elegant. Tusser, Husbandry, § 15. 35; Ascham, Toxophilus, 6 (Nares); Udall, tr. Apoph., Socrates, § 73; neatly, skilfully, Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1 (Faunus).
tricker, a trigger. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 528; Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, i. 1. Du. trekker, a trigger, a puller; trekken, to draw, pull. See Dict.
trickment, heraldic emblazonry; ‘Here’s a new tomb, new trickments too’, Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of Malta, iv. 2 (Norandine); ‘No tomb shall hold thee But these two arms, no trickments but my tears’, Mad Lover, v. 4 (Calis).
tricotee, a kind of dance; ‘A monkey dancing his tricotee’, Lady Alimony, i. 2 (Trillo). OF. tricotee, an involuntary dance by one compelled by blows (Godefroy); cp. tricote, a cudgel; Tricot, ‘bâton gros et court. Il n’est d’usage que dans le discours familier: Il lui donna du tricot’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762). Of Germ. origin, see Schado (s.v. Stric). See Nares.
trig, a term of abuse. B. Jonson, Alchem. iv. 4 (Kastril).
trigon. The zodiacal signs were combined in triplicities, or four sets of three; each of these formed a trigon. There are four such: (1) the fiery trigon, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius; (2) the earthy trigon, Taurus, Virgo, Capricornus; (3) the airy trigon, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius; (4) the watery trigon, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, according to the four elements, fire, earth, air, water. ‘The fiery trigon’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 288; ‘His musics, his trigon’, B. Jonson, Volpone, i. 1 (Nano); Butler, Hud. ii. 3. 905. Gk. τρίγωνον, a triangle.
trill, to roll as a ball. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 27, § 7; to trickle as a tear, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 78; Sir T. Wyatt, Comparison of Love to a Stream, 2; to twirl, ‘I tryll a whirlygig rounde aboute, Je pirouette’, Palsgrave. In prov. use in sense of to trundle a hoop, also, to twirl (EDD.). ME. tryllyn, ‘volvo’ (Prompt. EETS. 502).
trillibub, a trifle, an expression for something trifling. Massinger, Old Law, iii. 2 (Simonides); Shirley, Hyde Park, iii. 2 (Fairfield); a cheap food, like tripe, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous). See Nares. Cp. the prov. words for entrails, tripe, trollibobs, trullibubs, trollibags, gen. used in phr. tripe and trollibobs (EDD., s.v. Trollibobs). See [trullibub].
trim, neat, elegant, nice, fine; mostly used with irony; ‘The flowers are sweet, their colours fresh and trim’, Venus and Ad. 1079; ‘Trim gallants’, L. L. L. v. 2. 363; ‘These trim vanities’, Hen. VIII, i. 3. 37; ornamental dress, Ant. and Cl. iv. 4. 22; ‘Proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim’, Sonnet 98; phr. in her trim, in speaking of ships, the state of being fully prepared for sailing, ‘Where we in all her trim freshly beheld our royal ship’, Tempest, v. 236; Com. Errors, iv. 1. 90.
trim-tram, a trifle, a worthless speech or thing. Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 114. [‘They thought you as great a nincompoop as your squire—trim-tram, like master, like man’, Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, xiii.] A reduplicative term used in Scotland, expressive of ridicule or contempt (EDDA.).
trindill; ‘That they take away and destroy all shrines, tables, candlesticks, trindills, or rolls of wax’, King’s Injunctions, ann. 1547, in Fuller’s Church History.
trindle-tail. Fletcher speaks of a cur with ‘a trindle tail’, i.e. a tail curled round, Love’s Cure, iii. 3. 17; Honest Man’s Fortune, v. 3. 18; spelt trundle-tail, a dog with a curled tail, King Lear, iii. 6. 73; trendle-tail, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Ursula). See [trendle].
trine, a combination of three things (viz. youth, wit, and courage), Mirror for Mag., Cromwell, st. 26.
trine, an aspect in which one planet was at an angle of 120 degrees from another. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 292; ‘A trine aspect’, Beaumont and Fl., Bloody Brother, iv. 2 (Norbret). Hence, as vb., to conjoin in a trine, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 389. See [triplicity].
trine, to be hanged (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii. 3 (Higgen); Harman, Caveat, p. 31; trine me, hang me, Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Trapdoor).
trinket (trinquet), the highest sail of a ship. Hakluyt, Voyages, iii. 411; ‘Trinquet is properly the top or top-gallant on any mast, the highest sail of a ship’, Blount, Gloss. (ed. 1674). F. trinquet (Cotgr.), Span. and Port. trinquete, deriv. of trinca, a rope for lashing fast; of Germ. origin, cp. G. strick; see Reinhardstöttner, Portuguese Gram. (1878), § 31, and Schade (s.v. Strickan).
trinket, a porringer; esp. one made with a handle, like a teacup, as it is to be hung upon a pin. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 3.
trinket (trenket), a shoemaker’s knife; ‘Trenket, an instrument for a cordwayner, batton a torner (soulies)’, Palsgrave [also spelt trynket]. ME. trenket (Voc. 562. 3); trenkett, ‘ansorium’ (Cath. Angl.); trenkette (Prompt. 490, see note, no. 2395). Cp. F. tranchet: ‘A shoomakers round cutting knife: tranchet de cordouanier’ (Sherwood).
triplicity, a combination of three zodiacal signs in the form of an equilateral triangle; ‘And how the signs in their triplicities, By sympathizing in their trine consents’, &c., Drayton, Man in the Moon, 458. See [trigon].
trist, trest, the station where a hunter was placed to watch the game. At the trest, Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 14; bk. xviii, c. 21; at the tryst, Master of Game, ch. 16 (end). ME. triste, an appointed station in hunting (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1534), tryster (Gawain), tristre (Anc. R.). OF. triste, tristre (Godefroy). See Dict. (s.v. Tryst).
trisulke, three-forked, triple. Heywood, Golden Age, A. iii (Saturn); vol. iii, p. 43; Brazen Age (Hercules), p. 250; a trident, three-forked spear, Heywood, Dialogue 4 (Timon); vol. vi, p. 160. L. trisulcus, three-forked (Virgil).
troad, trode, track of footsteps, beaten path. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 5; Shep. Kal., July, 14; Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 325. ‘Trod’, meaning a beaten track, a foot-path, is a north-country word down to Lincoln (EDD.).
troll, troul, trowl, to roll; ‘To troll the tongue’, Milton, P. L. xi. 620; to circulate or pass round, as a vessel of liquor at a carouse, ‘Troul the bowl’, Beaumont and Fl., Knight of the B. Pestle, ii. 5 (Merrythought); Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 4 (Song); to sing a tune in succession, ‘Troll the catch’, Tempest, iii. 2. 126; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 3 (Dion). In prov. use in various parts of England in the sense of to roll, to circulate, see EDD. (s.v. Troll, vb.1). ME. trollyn, ‘volvo’ (Prompt.).
troll-my-dames, the name of a game; ‘A fellow, sir, that I have known to go about with troll-my-dames’, Wint. Tale, iv. 3. 92 (Autolycus). Also called pigeon-holes; also nine-holes (described by Strutt). The game was played with a board, at one end of which were a number of arches, like pigeon-holes, into which small balls were to be bowled; see Nares. The word troll-my-dames is a corruption of the French name for the game Trou-Madame; see Cotgrave.
tromp, to deceive. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Host). F. tromper. Cp. EDD. (s.v. Trump, vb.3).
trossers, tight drawers. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 3 (Maria); Hen. V, iii. 7. 57 (so most modern edds.). See [strossers].
trot, an old woman. Tam. Shrew, i. 2. 80; used of a man, Meas. for M. iii. 2. 54; Gammer Gurton, ii. 8; Warner, Albion, ii. p. 47 (Nares). In prov. use (EDD.). Anglo-F. trote: ‘la viele trote’ (Gower, Mirour, 17900).
trouchman; see [truchman].
troul, trowl; see [troll].
trow, to think, believe, suppose; ‘I trow not’, Bible, Luke xvii. 9; 2 Hen. VI, ii. 4. 38; v. 1. 85. I trow, added to questions expressive of contemptuous or indignant surprise; ‘Who’s there, I trow?’, Merry Wives, i. 4. 140; ii. 1. 64; also trow alone; ‘What is the matter, trow?’, Cymbeline, i. 6. 47. In prov. use in the north country (EDD.). ME. trowen (Chaucer, C. T. A. 691), OE. trūwian, to believe confidently, to trust in a person or thing (Sweet).
trowses, close-fitting drawers; ‘Four wild Irish in trowses’, Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 1 (Stage-direction); B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1 (Pennyboy Junior); hence, trowzed, clad in ‘trowses’, ‘Poor trowz’d Irish’, Drayton, Pol. xxii. 1577. F. trousses, the breeches of a page (Littré); cp. O. Irish truibhas, close-fitting breeches and stockings (O’Curry, Introd., p. 384); Irish triubhas (Dinneen). See Dict. (s.v. Trousers).
Troy-novant, or New Troy, London. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 46; Peele, Descensus Astraeae, l. 18 from end; id., A Farewell, &c., l. 4; ‘Geoffrey of Monmouth . . . reporteth that Brute lineally descended from the demi-god Aeneas . . . about the year of the world 2855, and 1108 before the nativity of Christ, built this city (London) near unto the river now called Thames, and named it Troynovant or Trenovant’, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, 1). London was the capital of the British tribe, the Trinobantes, one of its ancient names being Augusta Trinobantum, whence the Anglo-F. Troynovant; but by popular etymology Troynovant was connected with the Troia nova (new Troy) of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Nennius.
truage, tribute. Morte Arthur, leaf 35, back, 4; bk. i, c. 23. ME. truage (Rob. Glouc.). OF. truage, treuaige, treutage, ‘vectigal, tributum’, deriv. of true, treü, trehu, ‘tributum’, see Ducange (s.v. Truagium). OF. treü is the same word as L. tributum; cp. O. Prov. traüt, trabut, ‘tribut’ (Levy). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Trewage).
truchman, an interpreter. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Crites); tr. of Horace, Art of Poetry, III (= L. interpete); Holland. Pliny, Nat. Hist., bk. vii, ch. 24; Hakluyt, Voyages, ii. 152; Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid (ed. Arber, 82); trucheman, Puttenham, Eng. Poes. (ed. Arber, 278); trouchman, Three Lords and Three Ladies; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 463. See Nares. F. trucheman (Cotgr.), O. Prov. trocheman, Span. trujaman (Stevens), Arab. tarjumân (Dozy, 351). See Stanford (s.v. Dragoman).
truckle-bed, a bed which could be wheeled under a larger one, Hall, Satires, ii, sat. 6; ‘troccle-bed’, Statutes Trinity Coll., Oxford (ann. 1556). An Oxford University word. L. trochlea, wheel of a pulley. Gk. τροχιλία, a pulley. See Dict.
true, honest. Bible, Gen. xlii. 11; Much Ado, iii. 3. 54; L. L. L. iv. 3. 187; ‘The thieves have bound the true men’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 98; ‘Rich preys make true men thieves’, Venus and Ad. 724. See Wright’s Bible Word-Book.
true-penny, honest fellow; used familiarly. Hamlet, i. 5. 150; Fletcher, Loyal Subject, i. 3 (Putskie).
trug, a trull, concubine. Arden of Fev. i. 500; Middleton, Your Five Gallants, i. 1 (Primero). See Nares.
trullibub, a slut. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, ii. 3 (Eyre). See [trillibub].
trump, a game at cards, similar to our whist. Fletcher, Lover’s Progress, iii. 2 (Lancelot); Peele, Old Wives’ Tale (Clunch).
truncheon, the lower part of the shaft of a broken lance. Dryden, Palamon, iii. 612; ‘Truncheons of shivered lances’, id., tr. of Aeneid, xi. 16. ME. tronchoun, broken shaft of a spear (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2615); Anglo-F. trunçun: ‘Sa hanste est fraite, n’en ad que un trunçun’ (Ch. Rol. 1352).
trundle-bed, a low bed for a servant that ran on castors, drawn out at night from beneath a higher bed; a synonym of [truckle-bed]. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iii. 1 (Brains). In prov. use (EDD.).
trundle-tail; see [trindle-tail].
trundling-cheat, in cant language, a cart. B. Jonson, New Inn, iii. 1 (Pierce). See [cheat] (2).
trunk, a tube; a speaking-tube, B. Jonson, Silent Woman, i. 1 (Cler.); a telescope, News from the New World (Printer); a pea-shooter, ‘Wooden pellets out of earthen trunks’, Middleton, Fam. of Love, iii. 3 (Purge); Eastward Ho, ii (Quicksilver); ‘A trunk to shoot in, syringa, tubulus flatu jaculatorius’, Coles, Lat. Dict.; Brome, New Acad. iv. 1. See Dict. (s.v. Trunk, 2).
trunks, trunk-hose, loose hose, often stuffed with hair. B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Face); Shirley, Sisters, iii. 1 (Strozzo).
truss, to pack close; to fasten up. 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 350; ‘Help to truss me’ (i.e. to tie up the points (strings) of my hose), B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. i. 3 (Stephen). See Dict.
trusses, a pair of, close-fitting leggings; ‘A pair of trusses’ [for an Irishman], Shirley, Love Tricks, i. 1 (near the end). See [trowses].
†trutch sword (?); ‘For a trutch sword, my naked knife stuck up’, Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 3 (Lazarillo). See Nares.
trye, select, refined; ‘Of silver trye’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 26. F. trié, pp. of trier, to try, to refine.
tuch; See [touch] (2).
tucket, a particular set of notes on the trumpet used as a signal for a march (Nares). Also, tucket-sonance, Hen. V, iv. 2. 85. Ital. ‘toccata d’un musico, a præludium that cunning musicians use to play, as it were voluntarily before any set lesson’ (Florio).
tuff-taffeta, a kind of silk. Eastward Ho, i. 1 (Gertrude); B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iv. 1 (Hedon).
tumbler, a kind of greyhound used for coursing rabbits; ‘A nimble tumbler on a burrowed green’, W. Browne, Brit. Pastorals, ii. 4; B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). A Linc. word, see EDD. (s.v. Tumbler, 3).
tumbrel, a farm-cart used for manure. Marston, Epil. to Pygmalion, 26; Satire iv. 13. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Tumbril, 1). ME. tomerel, a dung-cart (Prompt. EETS. 485, tumerel, 494); F. ‘tombereau, a tumbrel or dung-cart’ (Cotgr.).
tumbrel, a sort of bumboat, unfit for sailing. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, iii. 2 (Jaques); iii. 4 (Petruchio).
tundish, a funnel; ‘Filling a bottle with a tundish’, Meas. for M. iii. 2. 182. A ‘tun-bowl’ or a ‘tun-dish’ was a kind of wooden funnel, like a small bucket, with hoops round it, and a tube at the bottom, used for pouring liquids into a cask, in use in Northants, see EDD. (s.v. Tun, sb.1 3 (2)).
tunnel, the shaft of a fire-place, chimney. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 1 (Crispiano), where chimney means fire-place; tonnell, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 29; ‘Tonnell of a chymney, tuyau’, Palsgrave; see Dict. (s.v. Tunnel); tonnels used fig. for nostrils, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. i. 3 (Cob).
tup, to cover as a ram. Othello, i. 1. 89; iii. 3. 396. Tup with, to cohabit with, Warner, Alb. England, bk. iv, ch. 20, st. 33. ‘Tup’ is in gen. prov. use for a ram in England and Scotland (EDD.).
turf. ‘Turfe of a cap, rebras’, Palsgrave (rebras means a turning up, a tucking upwards or inwards); as vb., to make a turned-up edging for a hat, ‘The steward would have had the velvet-head (of the stag) . . . to turf his hat withal’, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2 (1 Woodman). ME. tyrfe, the rolling back of a sleeve, ‘revolucio’ (Prompt. EETS. 483, see note, no. 2350); tirven, to roll back (Havelok, 603).
turgion, the name of a dance. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § 12. F. ‘tourdion, a turning, or winding about; also, the dance tearmed a round’ (Cotgr.); O. Prov. tordion, ‘sorte de danse’ (Levy). From OF. tordre, to twist. See Croft’s note on the word in the Glossary.
Turk. ‘A valiant Turk, though not worth tenpence’, Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iii. 1 (1 Friend); a Turk of tenpence (a term of abuse), Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4 (Ithamore).
turken, to wrest, distort; ‘It turkeneth all things at pleasure’, Gascoigne. Steel Glass (ed. Arber, 37); turquened, pp., id., Pref. to Poesies; ed. Hazlitt, i. 5.
turkis, the gem turquoise. Milton, Comus, 894. See Dict.
turm, a troop. Milton, P. R. iii. 66. L. turma.
turment, a warlike engine; ‘Turmentes of warre’, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 3. OF. torment, tourment (Godefroy). Med. L. tormentum, a machine for hurling missiles (Ducange).
turnbroch, a turnspit. Turnebroche, Tusser, Husbandry, § 80. 2. F. tourne-broche, a turn-spit, a dog used for turning a spit.
Turnbull Street, a street in Clerkenwell noted for thieves and bad characters. Middleton, A Chaste Maid, ii. 2 (2 Promoter). See Nares.
turnpike, a turnstile that revolved on the top of a post, and was furnished with pikes. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Picklock). Also, a revolving frame of pikes, set in a narrow passage to obstruct an enemy, Shirley, Honoria, i. 2 (Alamode).
turquen; see [turken].
turquet, (perhaps) a puppet dressed as a Turk. Bacon, Essay 37.
turquois, a quiver; ‘A turquoys that was full of arowes’, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 299, back, 3. OF. turquois, turquais, Med. L. turcasia, ‘pharetra’ (Ducange); also Norm. F. tarchais (Wace), F. tarquais (15th cent.). Med. Gk. ταρκάσιον, a quiver; Arab, tarkâsh, of Persian origin, see Dozy, Glossaire, 250. The mod. F. form is carquois.
tusk, to thrust into or beat bushes, to drive out game; ‘Make them tuske these woodes’, Lyly, Gallathea, iv. 1 (Telusa).
tutch; See [touch] (2).
tutsan, tutsain, all-heal; a species of St. John’s wort; Hypericum Androsaemum; ‘The healing tutsan’, Drayton, Pol. xiii. 204; ‘Of tutsan or parke-leaues’, Lyte, tr. of Dodoens, bk. i, c. 45. It was considered a panacea for wounds. F. tutsan, ‘tutsan, Park-leaves’ (Cotgr.); Toute-saine, ‘Arbrisseau ainsi nommé, parce que ses feuilles, ses racines, sa semence sont fort utiles en Médecine’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1786).
tutt, a mark; ‘I toucht no tutt’, Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 94. ‘Tut(t’ is in prov. use in Yorks. for a mark, bound, a stopping place in the game of rounders, see EDD. (s.v. Tut, sb.7 2).
tutty, a nosegay. T. Campion, Bk. of Airs, i. 20 (Wks., ed. Bullen, p. 62); ‘Tutty or Tuzzimuzzy, an old word for a nosegay’, Phillips, 1706. In common use in the south-west: Hants., Wilts., Dorset, Somerset and Devon (EDD.). See Prompt. EETS., note, no. 2353 on the word ‘Tytetuste’.
twagger, a fat lamb. Peele, Arr. of Paris, i. 1. 9. A Sussex word for a lamb (EDD.).
twankle, to twangle, to play upon a harp; ‘And twancling makes them tune’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vi. 646. Cp. twangling, Tam. Shrew, ii. 159. ‘Twankle’ is a Warw. word (EDD.).
tweak, a prostitute. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Chough).
tweche: phr. to keep tweche, to keep touch, perform a promise. Wever, Lusty Juventus, 1. 7; in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ii. 47. See EDD. (s.v. Twitch, vb.3).
tweer; see [twire].
twelve: phr. upon twelve, near twelve o’clock; near the dinner-hour; ‘My stomacke is now much upon twelve’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs., i. 1 (Whetstone); vol. iv, p. 175.
twelvepenny-stool gentlemen, gentlemen who were allowed to sit upon a stool upon the stage itself on payment of 12d. Middleton, Roaring Girl, ii. 1 (Mis. T.).
twibill, a double-bladed battle-axe. Spelt twibbil; Stanyhurst. tr. of Aeneid, ii. 490 (L. bipenni, ii. 479). Still in prov. use for a double-headed axe. see EDD. (s.v. Twybill). OE. twibill, a two-edged axe (Sweet). See [twybill].
twig, to do anything strenuously, to press (forward); ‘And twigging forth apace . . . the Egle flue’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 247. A Yorks. expression, see EDD. (s.v. Twig, vb.1 6).
twigger, a wanton person, a wencher, Marlowe, Dido, iv. 5. 21; orig. perhaps applied to a ram, Tusser, Husbandry, § 35. 28.
twiggen, made of osiers; cased with osiers or wicker-work; ‘A large basket or twiggen panier’, Holland, tr. of Pliny, b. xvii, c. 10, 5 § 1; Othello, ii. 3. 152. A Warw. word (EDD.).
twight, to ‘twit’, upbraid. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 12. ME. atwite, to reproach (Laȝamon). OE. ætwītan.
twight, to twitch, to pull suddenly; ‘No bit nor rein his tender jawes may twight’, Mirror for Mag. (Nares); used as pt. t. of twitch, touched, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, iv. 259 (L. tetigit). ME. twykkyn, ‘tractulo’ (Prompt.). OE. twiccian, to pluck, catch hold of.
twin, to separate one from the other. The World and the Child, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, i. 244. So in Scotch use: ‘We should never twin again, except heaven twin’d and sundered us’, Rutherford’s Life (ed. 1761), 234, see EDD. (s.v. Twin, vb.2 2).
twin, to be twinned, to be closely united like twins; ‘True liberty . . . which always with right reason dwells twinned’, Milton, P. L. xii. 85; B. Jonson, Hue and Cry after Cupid (Vulcan).
twink, a twinkling. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 312; phr. with a twink, in a moment, Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Marcella). ‘In a twink’ is in use in various parts of England and Scotland, meaning in the shortest possible space of time (EDD.). ME. twynkyn wyth the eye, ‘nicto’ (Prompt.).
twire, to peep, to peep at intervals, to take a stolen glance at a thing; ‘When sparkling stars twire not’, Sonnet xxviii; ‘To see the common parent of us all, Which maids will twire at ’tween their fingers’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 169; spelt tweer, ‘The tweering constable’, Middleton, Father Hubberd’s Tales (ed. Dyce, v. 594). A Wilts. and Berks. word, ‘How he did twire and twire at she!’ (EDD.). Cp. Germ. dial. (Bavarian) zwi(e)ren, to take a stolen glance at a thing (Schmeller).
twire pipe, a term of abuse; ‘An ass, a twire pipe, a Jeffery John Bo-peep’, Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iii. 1 (Thomas). For twire, see above; pipe may be identified with the Yorks. word pipe, to glance at stealthily, see EDD. (s.v. Pipe, vb.2) = F. piper, ‘to peke or prie’ (Palsgrave). See Dict. (s.v. Peep, 2). So that twire pipe is a reduplicated word meaning a sly peeper.
twissell, the part of a tree where the branches divide from the stock; ‘As from a tree we sundrie times espie A twissell grow by Nature’s subtile might’, Turbervile, The Lover wisheth to be conjoined, st. 6. See EDD. (s.v. Twizzle, 8). OE. twislian, to fork, branch (Hom. ii. 117); ‘twisil tunge’ (double tongue, Ecclus. v. 14).
twitch-box, said to be the same as touch-box, a box containing powder for priming; to prime was to put a little gunpowder into the pan of an old-fashioned fire-arm. ‘Thy flask [powder-flask] and twitch-box’, Damon and Pithias, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 67. See [touch-box].
twitter-light, twilight. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, v. 1 (2 Court.); Mere Dissemblers, iii. 1 (Dondolo). Cp. the Yorks. expression, ‘He came about the twitter of day’, see EDD. (s.v. Twitter, sb.4 10).
twone, twined; pp. of twine. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, ii. 1. 7; twon, id., Sophonisba, iii. 1 (first stage-direction).
twybill, a kind of mattock or double axe. Drayton, Pol. xviii. 77. See [twibill].
tyall, a bell-pull, string, cord; ‘The greate belles clapper was fallen doune, the tyal was broken’, Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 172). See [tial].
tydie, some small bird, a titmouse (?), Drayton, Pol. xiii. 79. ME tidif (tydif), a small bird, perhaps the titmouse (Chaucer, Leg. G. W. 154).
tyne; see [tine].
tyran, tyranne, a tyrant. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Oct., 98. Hence, tyranning, acting the part of a tyrant, F. Q. iv. 7. 1. F. tyran, L. tyrannus, Gk. τύραννος.
tysant, barley-water. Turbervile, Of the divers and contrarie Passions of his Love, st. 2. ME. tysane, ‘ptisana’ (Prompt.). F. ‘tisanne, barly water’ (Cotgr.), L. ptisana, pearl-barley, barley-water (Pliny), Gk. πτισάνη, peeled barley, barley-water (Hippocrates).