V
vacabonde, a wandering beggar, a ‘vagabond’; ‘Fraternitye of Vacabondes’, Awdeley (title of book, 1565). Norm. F. vacabond, ‘vagabond’ (Moisy); F. ‘vacabonds, vagabonds, rogues’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.vv. Vagabond and Vagrant).
vacate, to annul, to make void, to make of no authority; ‘That after-act vacating the authority of the precedent’, King Charles (Johnson); to render vain, to frustrate, Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1 (Dorax). Med. L. vac(u)are, ‘inane, irritum et vacuum efficere’ (Ducange), see Rönsch, Vulgata, 171.
vade, to vanish, pass away; ‘Their vapour vaded’, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 20; ‘How ever gay their blossome or their blade Doe flourish now, they into dust shall vade’, id., v. 2. 40; Ruines of Rome, xx; Shaks. Sonnets, liv. 14; to fade, ‘Upon her head a chaplet stood of never vading greene’, Niccols, Induction, Mirror for Mag. 559 (Nares); Richard II, i. 2. 20.
vah, an interjection; ‘No, vah! Fie, I scorn it’, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 1 (Eyre).
vail, to lower, to let fall; ‘She vailed her eyelids’, Venus and Ad. 956; Hamlet, i. 2. 70; to bow, to stoop, to do homage, Pericles, iv, Prol. 29. ME. avale, to lower (Gower, C. A. viii. 1619). Anglo-F. avaler, to lower (Gower, Mirour, 10306).
vails, pl., profits or perquisites that arise to servants besides their salary or wages. Pericles, ii. 1. 163; Dryden, Juvenal, Sat. iii. 311. In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Vail, 2). Vail is a shortened form for avail. ME. avayle, ‘profectus, proventus, emolumentum’ (Prompt. EETS. 17).
valance, a fringe of drapery; ‘Rich cloth of tissue and vallance of black silk’, Strype, Eccles. Mem., Funeral Solemnities of Henry VIII; a part of bed-hangings, ‘Valenzana del letto, the valances of a bed’, Florio (ed. 1598). Hence valanced, fringed, used fig. of a beard, Hamlet, ii. 2. 442. See Dict.
valew, valour. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 29; Harington, tr. Ariosto, xiii. 39. F. ‘valuë, worth, goodness’ (Cotgr.).
valiant, worth, amounting to in value; ‘Four hundred a year valiant, worth £400 a year’, Middleton, A Trick to catch, i. 1 (Witgood). F. vaillant, ‘a mans whole estate or worth, all his substance, means, fortunes’ (Cotgr.). Cp. Med. L. valens, ‘valor, pretium’ (Ducange).
vall, a vale. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 479. F. ‘val, a vale’ (Cotgr.).
vallies, ‘valise’. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1 (near the end). See Dict.
valure, value, worth. Peele, Sir Clyomon (ed. Dyce, p. 506); Pembroke, Arcadia (Nares); Mirror for Mag. 280; hence, valurous, valuable, Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, i. 2 (Tamb.). See Dict. (s.v. Valour).
vannes, pl. wings, Milton, P. L. ii. 927. Cp. Ital. vanni, ‘the whole wings of any bird’ (Florio).
vance, to ‘advance’. Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 7.
vantbrace, the ‘vambrace’, armour for the fore-arm, Milton, Samson, 1121; Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 297. F. avant-bras, ‘the part of the arm which extends from the elbow to the wrist; also, a vambrace armour for an arm’ (Cotgr.).
vantguard, the ‘vanguard’, front rank. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, iv. 266. ME. vaunt-gard (Holinshed, Chron. Edw. III, ann. 1346; F. avant-garde, ‘the vanguard of an army’ (Cotgr.).
vapour, fume, steam; used, like humour, to denote a man’s characteristic quality, B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii (passim). See full account of this use of the word in Nares (s.v.). Cp. the use of the F. word vapeurs. ‘On appelle Vapeurs dans le corps humain, Les affections hypocondriaques & hystériques, parce qu’on les croyoit causées par des fumées élevées de l’estemac ou du bas ventre vers le cerveau’, Dict. de l’Acad. (ed. 1762).
vardingale, a ‘farthingale’. Three Lords and Three Ladies, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 434. This is the form in Cotgrave (s.vv. Vertugalle and Vertugadin). F. verdugale (Rabelais); ‘sorte de cerceau, panier ou jupon bouffant pour seutenir les jupes’ (Jannet’s Gloss.). Span. verdugado, ‘a Petticoat . . . set out below with a small Hoop, below with one wider and so wider and wider down to the Feet, so that it looks exactly like a Funnel’ (Stevens). See [verdugal].
vare, a wand. Dryden, Absalom, 595. Span. vára, a wand (Stevens.)
vastidity, immensity. Meas. for M. iii. 1. 69.
vasty, vast, spacious. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 52.
vaunt, the beginning; ‘Our play leaps o’er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils’, Tr. and Cr., Prel. 27. Vaunt-courier, a forerunner, King Lear, iii. 2. 25; cp. F. avant-coureur, ‘a fore-runner, avant-curror’ (Cotgr.); see [voward]. F. avant, before, used of place and time.
vaut, to ‘vault’, to leap. Ascham, Scholemaster, 64; Drayton, Pol. vi. 51; B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); hence vawter, a ‘vaulter’, tumbler, dancer; used of a wanton woman, Gosson, School of Abuse, 36.
vease, a rush, impetus, great effort, force; ‘Forth his vease he set withall’, Twyne, tr. of Aeneid, xii. 962. See EDD. (s.v. Fease, sb. 6). ME. vese: ‘Ther-out cam a rage and such a vese that it made al the gates for to rese’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1985); see NED. (s.v. Feeze). See [feeze].
vecture, carrying, conveying, carriage of goods. Bacon, Essay 15, § 11. L. vectura, a carrying, conveying, transportation by carriage or ship (Cicero).
veget, lively, bright; ‘A veget spark’, Cartwright, The Ordinary, iv. 3 (Shape). L. vegetus, lively.
vegetive, a vegetable. Pericles, iii. 2. 36; Massinger, Old Law, i (Nares); as adj. ‘The tree still panted in th’ unfinish’d part, Not wholly vegetive, and heav’d her heart’, Dryden, Ovid, Metam. bk. i (Daphne).
velure, velvet. Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 62; vellure, Beaumont and Fl., Noble Gent. v. 1 (Nares). F. velours, velvet; cp. O. Prov. velos (Levy), L. villosus, shaggy (Virgil); see Hatzfeld.
velvet-tip, the down or velvet upon the first sprouting horns of a young deer. Ford, Fancies Chaste, iii. 3 (Spadone).
vena porta, or gate-vaine (gate-vein), a vein conveying chyle from the stomach to the liver. Bacon, Essay 19, § 11; 41, § 2. L. vena, vein; porta, gate. See [gate-vein].
venditation, ostentatious display. B. Jonson, Discoveries, lxxii, Not. 8 (p. 747). L. venditatio, an offering for sale, display; venditare, to offer again and again for sale.
venerie, hunting. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 22. ME. venerye (Chaucer, C. T. A. 166). Anglo-F. venerie (Gower, Mirour, 20314).
Venetians, Venetian or Venice hose. Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 344; Venetian-hosen (described), Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, p. 56).
vengeable, revengeful, cruel, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 6, § 3; Spenser, ii. 4. 30, 46; terrible, ‘Magdeburg be vengeable fellows’, Ascham, Letter to Raven, 381 (Nares); excessively great, ‘Paulus . . . was a vengible fellow in linking matters together’, Holland’s Camden, p. 78 (Davies); excessively, ‘The drink is vengeable bitter’, Gascoigne, Glasse Gov. v. 1 (ed. 1870). See EDD.
vent, a small inn. Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Hostess); Shelton, tr. Don Quixote, Pt. I. ii. Span. venta, an inn (Stevens). Med. L. venta, ‘locus ubi merees venum exponuntur’ (Ducange); vendita, see Ducange (s.v. Venda, 1); deriv. of L. vendere, to sell.
vent, to vend, sell. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iii. 1. 8; a sale, Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 146); Tusser, Husbandry, § 19. 27. F. vente, sale. See above.
vent, to snuff up or take in the air; to perceive by scent. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.); Drayton, Pol. xiii. 118; Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 75.
vent, to let out, emit, Coriolanus, i. 1. 229; to utter, Ant. and Cl. iii. 4. 8 (common in Shaks.); to give birth to, Chapman, tr. Iliad, xix. 97.
ventages, small holes for the passage of air in a flute or flageolet, to be stopped with a finger. Hamlet, iii. 2. 372.
ventanna, a window. Dryden, Conq. of Granada, I. i. 1 (Boabdelin). Span. ventana.
ventilate, pp. discussed. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 25, § 3. L. ventilatus, pp. of ventilare, to winnow grain, to toss grain into the air in order to cleanse it from chaff (Pliny).
ventoy, a fan. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 2. 4. F. ‘ventau, a fan’ (Cotgr.).
ver, spring. Surrey, Complaint of a Lover, 19 (Tottel’s Misc. 8 and 11); spelt vere, ‘The rotys take theyr sap in tyme of vere’, Skelton, On Tyme, 24. O. Prov. ver, ‘printemps’ (Levy), L. ver.
verdea wine, a wine made of a green grape; and sold at Florence. Beaumont and Fl., ii. 1 (Miramont). Ital. verdéa, ‘a kind of white pleasant dainty Ladies wine in Tuscany’ (Florio).
verdugal, a ‘farthingale’; ‘Stiffe bombasted verdugals’, Florio’s Montaigne (ed. Morley, 1886, p. 273). See [vardingale].
verdugo, a Spanish word for an executioner, a hangman (Stevens); hence, his Verdugo-ship, a contemptuous expression for a Spaniard, B. Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2 (Face).
vespillo, among the Romans, one who carried out the poor for burial; a corpse-bearer. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., Pt. I, § 38. L. vespillo (Suetonius).
vex, to be grieved about anything. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1. 7. In prov. use from Worc. to the Isle of Wight, ‘ ’Er little girl died, and ’er vex’d and vex’d so’ (EDD.).
via!, away!, move on! Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 11; Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, ii. 3 (Launcelot). Ital. via, ‘an adverbe of encouraging, much used by riders to their horses, and by commanders; go on, away, go to, on, forward, quickly’, Florio. See Nares.
Vice or Iniquity, names for the established buffoon in the old Moralities; ‘How like you the Vice in the Play?’, B. Jonson, Staple of News (ed. 1860, p. 388); ‘Thus like the formal Vice, Iniquity, I moralize’, Richard III, iii. 1. 82. See Schmidt, and Nares (svv. Iniquity and Vice).
vice, an iron press with a screw for holding things fast, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 24; to hold one fast as in a ‘vice’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 416. See Dict.
vide-ruff, an old card-game; obsolete. Heywood, A Woman killed, iii. 2 (Cranwell). Prob. vide = vied, pp. of vie, a term in card-playing; see [vie].
vie, to hazard or put down a certain sum upon a hand at cards; to revie, to cover that stake with a larger sum; after which, the first challenger could revie again; and so on. ‘Here’s a trick vied and revied!’, B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 1 (Well-bred); Vie and revie, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal ii, § last; see Gifford’s note. See below.
vie with, to show in comparison or competition with; ‘So with the dove of Paphos might the crow vie feathers white’, Pericles, iv, Prol. 33. ME. envỳe, to show in competition (Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 173, MS. Fairfax). F. envier (au jeu), ‘to vie’ (Cotgr.); Ital. invitare (al giuoco), to vie at any game (Florio); cp. Span. envidar, to invite or open the game by staking a certain sum (Neuman). See Dict.
vild, vile. Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 46; v. 11. 18. A very common form in Tudor English.
viliaco, a scoundrel. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Hum. v. 3 (Sogliardo). Ital. vigliacco, ‘a rascal, a scurvy scoundrel’ (Florio).
vilify, to hold cheap. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 3 (Forobosco). Late L. vilificare (Tertullian).
villatic, belonging to a farm; hence, domestic; ‘Tame villatic fowl’, Milton, Samson, 1695. L. villaticus, belonging to a farm. L. villa, a country-house, farm.
vine-dee, a kind of wine. Mayne, City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). Supposed to represent F. vin de Dieu, or lacrima-Christi.
viol-de-gamboys, a bass-viol, Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 27. Ital. viola di gamba, ‘a violl de gamba’ (Florio). So called because placed beside the leg instead of (like the violin) on the arm. Ital. gamba, the leg. See [de gambo].
virelay, a lay or song with a ‘veering’ arrangement of the rimes. Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 365. See Nares. F. virelay, ‘a virelay, round, freemans song’; virer, ‘to veer, turn round’ (Cotgr.).
virge, verge, a wand. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, v. 3 (Seriben). F. verge, a rod, wand (Cotgr.).
virginals, an instrument of the spinnet kind, but made rectangular, like a small pianoforte. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, i. 1 (2 Citizen); Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 2 (Clown). Also called a pair of virginals, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, ch. iii. Their name was probably derived from their being used by young girls. Hence, virginalling, lit. playing on the virginals, ‘Still virginalling upon his palm!’, Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 125 (a word coined in jealous indignation). See Nares.
visage, to look in the face, gaze on. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, book ii, c. 2, § 3. ‘I vysage, I make contenaunce to one, Ie visaige’, Palsgrave.
visitate, to survey, behold. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 161.
vively, in a life-like manner. Marston, Sophonisba, iv. 1. 154. F. vif.
vives; see [fives].
voider, a basket or tray for carrying out the relics of a dinner or other meal. Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, i. 3 (Lazarillo); ‘Mésciróbba, any great dish, platter, charger, voider, tray or pan’, Florio; ‘Enter . . . serving-men, one with a voider and a wooden knife’, T. Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (The wooden knife emptied the remnants of the food into the ‘voider’); ‘Piers Ploughman laid the cloth and Simplicity brought in the voider’, Dekker, Gul’s Hornbook, i; ‘Voyder, lanx’, Levins, Manip. In prov. use for a butler’s tray, or a large open basket; in west Yorks. it is the usual word for a clothes-basket (EDD.).
volary, a great cage for birds; ‘(she sits) Like the forsaken turtle, in the volary Of the Light Heart, the cage’, B. Jonson, New Inn, v. 1 (Prudence). Ital. voleria, ‘a volery or great cage for birds’ (Florio).
voley: phr. on the voley, o’ the volèe, inconsiderately. Massinger, Picture, iii. 6. 1; B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Prudence). F. à la volée, ‘rashly, inconsiderately, at random, at rovers’; volée, flight, voler, to fly (Cotgr.). See Nares (s.v. Volée).
voluptie, sensual pleasure. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 11, § 16; bk. iii, c. 20, § 1. F. volupté.
volvell, an instrument consisting of graduated and figured circles drawn on the leaf of a book, to the centre of which is attached one movable circle or more; ‘He turnyd his tirikkis, his volvell ran fast’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1517. Fully described by Dyce, ii. 336. Med. L. volvella, volvellum; from L. volvere, to revolve.
vor, vore; see [che vor].
vorloffe, ‘furlough’. B. Jonson, Staple of News, v. 1 (Picklock). Du. ‘verlof, leave, consent or permission’ (Hexham); Dan. forlov, leave, furlough, cp. G. verlaub, leave, permission.
votaress, a woman that is under a vow. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 123, 163; votress, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 225.
vote, an ardent wish, a prayer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iv. 2 (Alcidon); Massinger, Guardian, v. 1 (Severino). L. votum, a desire, an ardent longing (Horace).
voward, for vaward, vanward, vanguard, North’s Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 29 (in Shak. Plut., p. 142); id., § 31, p. 147. F. avant-garde, vanguard. See [vaunt].
vowess, a widow who made a vow to observe chastity in honour of her deceased husband; ‘In that church (Oseneie) lieth this ladie (Editha, wife of Robert d’Oyly) buried with hir image . . . in the habit of a vowesse’, Harrison, Desc. England, bk. ii, ch. 3 (ed. Furnivall, p. 74); Leland’s Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith, Pt. I, 83, 112, 124). In the church of Shalstone in Bucks. there is a monumental brass to the memory of Susan Kingstone, step-sister of Sir T. Elyot, on which she is described as a ‘vowess’; she died in the year 1540. For the widow’s vow of chastity, see Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, 70, footnote); Fosbrooke, British Monachism, 510.