159. as fyrst, 'as at the first encounter', i.e. when he rode into Arthur's hall. His outfit of green is minutely described at ll. 151 ff. of the full text.
162. Sette þe stele to þe stone: i.e. he used the handle of the axe as a support when crossing rough ground. stele = 'handle', not 'steel'.
164. hypped... strydeȝ: note the frequent alternation of past tense and historic present. So ll. 3-4 passed... prayses; 107-8 kacheȝ... com... liȝteȝ; 280-1 haldeȝ... gef, &c.
169 f. 'Now, sweet sir, one can trust you to keep an appointment.'
175. þat þe falled, 'what fell to your lot', i.e. the right to deal the first blow.
177. oure one, 'by ourselves'. To one 'alone' in early ME. the dative pronoun was added for emphasis, him one, us one, &c. Later and more rarely the possessive pronoun is found, as here. Al(l) was also used to strengthen one; so that there are six possible ME. types: (1) one, e.g. ll. 6, 50; (2) him one; (3) his one; (4) al one = alone l. 87; (5) al him one, or him al one; (6) al his one, or his al one.
181. at a wap one, 'at a single blow'.
183. 'I shall grudge you no good-will because of any harm that befalls me.'
189-90. 'And acted as if he feared nothing: he would not tremble (dare) with terror.'
196. 'He (Gawayn) who was ever valiant would have been dead from his blow there.'