edify, to build; ‘There was an holy chappell edifyde’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 34; Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 660. F. edifier, to edifie, build (Cotgr.), L. aedificare.
effaut, for F fa ut, the full name of the musical note F, which was sung to fa or to ut according as it occurred in one or other of the hexachords (imperfect scales) to which it belonged (NED.). Buckingham, The Rehearsal, ii. 5 (Bayes). The first hexachord contained G (the lowest note), A, B, C, D, E (but not F); the second contained C, D, E, F, G, A, sung to ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, F being sung to fa; the third began with F, sung to ut; so that F was sung to fa or ut, and was called F fa ut.
efficace, effectiveness, efficacy. Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 602. F. efficace, efficacy (Cotgr.), L. efficacia (Pliny).
efficient, creative or productive cause. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. 1, § 14; id., Vulgar Errors, bk. vii, c. 4, § 2.
egal, equal. Merch. Ven. iii. 4. 13 (F.); egally, equally, Richard III, iii. 7. 213; egalness, equality, Ferrex and Porrex, i. 2 (Philander). F. égal.
eggs: phr. to have eggs on the spit, to be busy; with reference to the old mode of roasting eggs; ‘I have eggs on the spit’, B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum. iii. 6. 47; see Wheatley’s note.
eggs: phr. to take eggs for money, to accept an offer which one would rather refuse. Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 161. (Fully explained by me in Phil. Soc. Trans., 1903, p. 146). Farmers’ daughters would go to market, taking with them a basket of eggs. If one bought something worth (suppose) 3s. 4d., she would pay the 3s. and say—‘will you take eggs for money?’ If the shopman weakly consented, he received the value of the 4d. in eggs; usually (16th cent.) at the rate of 4 or 5 a penny. But the strong-minded shopman would refuse. Eggs were even used to pay interest for money. Thus Rowley has: ‘By Easter next you should have the principal, and eggs for the use [interest], indeed, sir. Bloodhound. Oh rogue, rogue, I shall have eggs for my money! I must hang myself’, A Match at Midnight, v. 1. See Nares (s.v. Eggs for Money).
eisel, vinegar; ‘I will drink potions of eisel’, Sh. Sonnets, cxi; spelt eysel. Skelton, Now Synge We, 40. ME. esyle, ‘acetum’ (Prompt. EETS. 147, see note no. 661); aysel (Hampole, Ps. lxviii. 26). OF. aisil, vinegar (Oxford Ps. lxviii. 26).
ejaculation, a darting forth. Bacon, Essay 9, § 1.
E-la, the highest note in the old musical scale, sung to the syllable la in the old gamut; which began with G (ut) on the lowest line of the base clef, and ended with E in the highest space of the treble clef. Whoever sang a higher note than this was said to sing ‘above E-la’. Hence anything extreme was said ‘to be above E-la’. ‘Why, this is above E-la!’ Beaumont and Fl., Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 4 (Leontius; near the end). N.B. The old gamut was really founded on hexachords or major sixths; each hexachord contained six notes and comprised four full tones and a semitone, the semitone being in the middle, between the third and fourth note. The hexachords began (in ascending succession) upon the lower G, C, F, G (above F), C (still higher), F (above the last C), and G (above the last F). There were twenty notes in all; viz. G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E; and each of the hexachords was sung to the same syllables, ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. The highest hexachord contained the G A B C D E at the top of the scale; and as E was thus sung to la, it was called E-la. It had no other name, because it only occurred in the highest hexachord. In hexachords beginning with F the B was flat.