abiliments, ‘abiliments of war’, warlike accoutrements, things which made ‘able’ for war. More, Richard III (ed. 1641, 414). OF. (h)abillement, ‘tout ce qui est propre à quelque chose, machines de guerre’ (Didot).
able, to warrant, vouch for. Middleton, The Changeling, i. 2 (Lollio); King Lear, iv. 6. 173.
ablesse, ability. Only in Chapman, Iliad, v. 248.
abode, to forebode, Hen. VIII, i. 1. 93. An announcement, Chapman, Iliad, xiii. 146, 226. Cp. OE. ābēodan, to announce (pp. āboden).
abodement, a foreboding, presage, omen. 3 Hen. VI, iv. 7. 13.
abord, used by Spenser for abroad, adrift. Ruins of Rome, xiv; Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 324.
aborde, to approach. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 99, back, l. 8; lf. 103. 6; ‘I aborde, as one shyppe dothe an-other’, Palsgrave. F. aborder, to come to the side of; from à, to, bord, side.
abraid, abray, in Spenser, to start out of sleep, a swoon, to awake; ‘I did out of sleepe abray’, F. Q. iv. 6. 36; ‘Sir Satyrane abraid Out of the swowne’, F. Q. iv. 4. 22; to arouse, startle, ‘For feare lest her unwares she should abrayd’, F. Q. iii. 1. 61; ‘The brave maid would not for courtesie, Out of his quiet slumber him abrade’, F. Q. iii. 11. 8. ME. abreyde, to start up, start from sleep, awake (Chaucer); OE. ābregdan.
abraid, to upbraid. Greene, Alphonsus, ii (Belinus), ed. Dyce, 231; ‘I abrayde one, I caste one in the tethe’, Palsgrave. A n. Yorks. form (EDD.).
Abram-colour’d, auburn. Said of a beard. Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 2 (Curvetto); Coriolanus, ii. 3. 21. See Nares.