hab, to have; nab, not to have; hence, phr. by habs and by nabs, at random; Middleton, Span. Gipsy, iii. 2 (Soto). In Somerset and Devon hab or nab, by hook or by crook: ‘I’ll ab’m—hab or nab’, I’ll have them anyhow (EDD.). See [hab-nab].
haberdash, small wares. Spelt haburdashe, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1295. ‘Ther haberdashe, Ther pylde pedlarye’, Papist. Exhort. (Nares). Still in use in Aberdeen (EDD.). Anglo-F. hapertas, the name of a fabric (Rough List). See Dict. (s.v. Haberdasher).
habiliment, outfit, accoutrement, attire. Spenser, F. Q. i. 6. 30; Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, iii. 1 (Rosalura). See [abiliments].
habilitate, legally qualified. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 15). Med. Lat. habilitare, ‘idoneum, habilem reddere; informare, instituere’ (Ducange).
habilitation, endowment with ability or fitness; qualification, training. Bacon, Essay 29, § 8.
habilitie, ability. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 8, § 2.
hable, habile, ‘able’. Spenser, F. Q. i. 11. 19. See Dict. (s.v. Able).
hab-nab, have or not have, hit or miss; a phrase signifying the taking one’s chance; ‘Hab-nab’s good’, I take my chance, Ford, Lady’s Trial, ii. 1 (Fulgoso); at random, Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 990. See EDD. (s.v. Hab, adv., 1). See [hab].
hache, axe, hatchet. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 18, § 2. F. hache, an axe, O. Prov. apcha (Levy); of Germ. origin, cp. OHG. heppa (for *happi̯a), a sickle; see Schade (s.v. Happâ).
hackle, to hack about, to mangle. Hackled, pp.; North, tr. of Plutarch, J. Caesar, § 44 (in Shak. Plut., p. 101, n. 1).