agnize, to recognize, acknowledge. Othello, i. 3. 232; agnise, Udall, Erasmus Apophth. (ed. 1877, 271). Formed on the analogy of recognize, cp. L. agnoscere, to acknowledge.
a-good, in good earnest, heartily. Two Gent. of Verona, iv. 3; Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 4 (near the end); Marlowe, Jew of Malta, ii. 2 (Ithamar). See Nares.
agreve, to aggravate, make more grievous. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i. c. 6 (end); Sir T. More, Rich. III (ed. Lumby, p. 68, l. 13). ME. agrevyn, ‘aggravare’ (Prompt. EETS. 200). Anglo-F. agrever (Moisy).
agrim, agrum, a common 16th-cent. form of ‘algorism’, a name for the Arabic or decimal system of numeration, hence arithmetic; ‘I reken, I counte by cyfers of agrym’, Palsgrave; ‘As a Cypher in Agrime’, Foxe, A. & M. iii. 265 (NED.); ‘A poor cypher in agrum’, Peele, Edw. I (ed. Dyce, p. 379, col. 1). ME. awgrym: ‘As siphre . . . in awgrym that noteth a place and no thing availith’ (Richard Redeles. iv. 53); algorisme (Gower, C. A. vii. 155). OF. augorisme, Med. L. algorismus, ‘numerandi ars’ (Ducange), cp. Span. alguarismo (guarismo), arithmetic (Stevens), from al-Khowârezmi, the surname of a famous Arab mathematician who lived in the 9th cent. See Dozy, Glossaire, 131.
agrise, agryse, to terrify, horrify. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 46; iii. 2. 24; agrysed, afraid, W. Browne, Shepherd’s Pipe, i. 501. OE. agrīsan, to shudder.
agrum; see [agrim].
aguise, aguize, to dress, array, deck. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 21. 31; ii. 6. 7. Cp. guize, fashion, appearance, ii. 2. 14; ii. 6. 25; ii. 12. 21.
aim, in phr. to cry aim, to encourage an archer by crying out aim! King John, ii. 1. 196; to give aim, to direct; see Webster, Vittoria (ed. Dyce, p. 20). The giver of aim stood near the butts, and reported the success of the shot. Hence aim-giving, Ascham, Toxophilus, 160.
A-la-mi-re, a name given to the octave of A-re; the latter being the second lowest note in the scale, which was denoted by the letter A, and sung to the syllable re. Middleton, More Dissemblers, v. 1 (Crotchet); Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 107. N.B. Wrongly defined in the NED.; but the right definition, with a full explanation, is given in NED. under the heading A-re. The octave of A was, in fact, sung to the syllable la when occurring in the second hexachord, which began with C; to mi, in the third hexachord, which began with F; and to re, in the fourth, which began with the octave of G.
alate, of late, lately. King Lear, i. 4. 208; Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 3. Still in use in Yorks. and Lancashire (EDD.). ME. a-late (Dest. Troy, 4176).