A glossary of Tudor and Stuart words, especially from the dramatists

by Walter W. Skeat

hugger-mugger, secretly. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 392; in hugger-mugger, Hamlet, iv. 5. 84; Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 123; Spenser, Mother Hub. 139. Etymology unknown. It has been suggested that hugger-mugger may be connected with the Anglo-Irish cugger-mugger, which means whispering, gossiping in a low voice, see Joyce, English as we speak it in Ireland, p. 243, and Modern Language Review, July, 1912 (On some Etymologies).

hugy, huge, vast. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 503; Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid v, 113.

huisher, an ‘usher’, door-keeper of a court, servant of an official, B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, ii. 3. 11; ‘His sergeants or huishers (lictores)’, Holland, Livy, xxiv. 44; husher, Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 13; hushier, Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Induction. F. huissier, deriv. of (h)uis, door. See Dict. (s.v. Usher).

huke, a cape or cloak, with a hood. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 56; Bacon, New Atlantis, 1639, p. 24. OF. huque. Med. L. huca, ‘ricinium quo scilicet mulieres olim caput operiebant et velabant’ (Ducange).

hulched up, cramped up; ‘I hate to be hulched up in a coach’, Etherege, Man of Mode, iii. 3 (Belinda).

hulder, the name of a kind of wood for arrows; ‘Hulder, black thorne . . . make holow, starting, studding, gaddynge shaftes’, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 124. The MHG. holder (G. holunder) means ‘elder’; it is objected that Ascham mentions ‘elder’ in the same sentence, and this suggests some difference. The difference may be only in name, according as the wood is foreign or native. Some say hulver (= holly) is meant; but I think holly would be praised.

hulk, to disembowel; ‘Hulke hir (which is to open hir and take out hyr garbage)’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 62; p. 175; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4. 36. In prov. use in E. Anglia for taking out the entrails of a rabbit, see EDD. (s.v. Hulk, vb.³ 1).

hull, to float, to drift, or move on the sea as a ship with the sails furled, by the action of winds and waves upon the hull. Richard III, iv. 4. 488; Twelfth Night, i. 5. 217; Milton, P. L. xi. 840; Sir T. Browne, Christian Morals, i. 1 (ed. Greenhill, 161).

hum, a kind of liquor; strong or double ale. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 1 (Satan); Beaumont and Fl., Wildgoose Chase, ii. 3 (Belleur). Hence, Hum-glass, a glass for ‘hum’. Shirley, The Wedding, ii. 3 (Lodam). See Nares.

humblesse, humility. Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 26; i. 12. 8. Anglo-F. humblesse (Gower).