lycanthropi, persons suffering from lycanthropia, or wolf-madness. Middleton, The Changeling, iii. 3 (Franciscus); Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, iii. 3 (Corax). Gk. λυκάνθρωπος, a wer-wolf, a man who thought he was changed into a wolf, or who was thought by others to be so changed.
lyers; see [leare].
lylse-wulse, linsey-woolsey. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Courte, 128. Lylsey is an older form of Linsey (Suffolk), where cloth was once made. Wulse furnishes a pun on the name of Wolsey.
lym, a lyam-hound, or one held by a leash. King Lear, iii. 6. 72. Short for lyam-hound. See [liam].
lymiter; see [limiter].
lythe; see [lithe].
M
M, abbreviation for Master as a conventional title. Phr. to have (or carry) an M under one’s girdle, to use a respectful prefix (Mr. or Mrs.) when addressing or mentioning a person; ‘You might carry an M under your girdle to Mr. Deputy’s worship’, B. Jonson, &c., Eastward Ho, iv. 1 (Constable); ‘Have you nere an M under your girdle’, Great Britons Honycombe (Nares); ‘You might have an M under your Girdle, Miss’, Swift, Polite Conversation; Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3. 133. [‘Ye might hae had an M under your belt for Mistress Wilson of Milnwood’, Scott, Old Mortality, xxix.]
mace-proof, proof against fear of bailiffs or mace-carrying serjeants. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Bonamico); Gamester, iii. 1 (Lord F.).
mackrel gale, a fresh gale, when mackerel are more easily caught. Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 456.