—the meaning being, “to have at an entire advantage.”[822] The expression occurs again in “Othello” (ii. 1), where Iago says:
“I’ll have our Michael Cassio on the hip.”
Nares,[823] however, considers the phrase was derived from hunting; because, “when the animal pursued is seized upon the hip, it is finally disabled from flight.”
In “As You Like It” (ii. 3), where Adam speaks of the “bonny priser of the humorous duke,” Singer considers that a priser was the phrase for a wrestler, a prise being a term in that sport for a grappling or hold taken.
FOOTNOTES:
[764] See Drake’s “Shakespeare and His Times,” vol. ii. pp. 178-181.
[765] Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1870, vol. ii. p. 290.
[766] “Glossary,” p. 84.
[767] “Glossary,” p. 210.
[768] From Gifford’s Note on Massinger’s Works, 1813, vol. i. p. 104.