Κόκκος βαφική, a shrub, whose red berries or grains gave an orient tincture to cloth.—Fuller, A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, b. iv. c. 6.
Ortolan. This, the name now of a delicate bird haunting gardens, was once the name of the gardener (‘hortolanus,’ ‘ortolano’) himself.
Though to an old tree it must needs be somewhat dangerous to be oft removed, yet for my part I yield myself entirely to the will and pleasure of the most notable ortolan.—State Papers, 1536, vol. vi. p. 534.
Ostler. Not formerly the servant of the inn having care of the horses, but the innkeeper or host, the ‘hosteller’ himself.
And another dai he brougte forth twey pans, and gaf to the ostiler [stabulario, Vulg].—Luke x. 35. Wiclif.
The innkeeper was old, fourscore almost;
Indeed an emblem, rather than an host;
In whom we read how God and Time decree
To honour thrifty ostlers, such as he.
Corbet. Iter. Boreale.