recheles, reckless, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, 7. 8. OE. reccelēas. See [retchless].
rechlessness, carelessness, recklessness, B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iv. 1; Article of Religion, 17 (in modern Prayer Books misspelt wretchlessness). ME. recchelesnesse (Chaucer, C. T. I. 611).
reclaim, to call back; reclayme, Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 9; a term in falconry, ‘I reclayme a hauke of her wyldnesse’, Palsgrave; to tame, Romeo, iv. 2. 47. Cp. F. ‘reclame, a Sohoe or Heylaw; a loud calling, whooting or whooping, to make a Hawk stoop unto the Lure’ (Cotgr.).
record, to sing, to warble; applied esp. to the singing of birds. Two Gent. v. 4. 6; Pericles, iv, Gower; Beaumont and Fl., Valentinian, ii. 1; Browne, Brit. Past. ii. 4. As sb. = [recorder] (see below), Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber, p. 79); Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 142.
recorder, a kind of flageolet or small flute, so named because birds were taught to ‘record’ by it. Hamlet, iii. 2. 303. See Nares.
recoure, to regain, win again. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 25; ‘I recure, I get agayne’, Palsgrave.
recoyle; see [recule].
recrayed, recreant; ‘He was a recrayd knyght’, Skelton, Against the Scottes, Epilogue, 26; A Replicacion, 45. Norm. F. recreire, ‘se dédire’ (Moisy); O. Prov. se recreire, ‘s’avouer vaincu’ (Levy); Med. L. recredere, to surrender oneself, as being defeated (Ducange).
recreance, Letters of Recreance, Letter from the Earl of Sunderland to Robert Harley, Dec. 31, 1705, see N. and Q. 11 S. vii. 505. F. ‘Lettres de récréance, qui se dit, soit des lettres qu’un Prince envoie à son Ambassadeur, pour les présenter au Prince d’auprès duquel il le rappelle; soit des lettres que ce Prince donne à un Ambassadeur, afin qu’il les rende à son retour au Prince qui le rappelle’, Dict. de l’Acad., 1762; ‘Recreance, a restoral, restitution; also, a delivery of possession’ (Cotgr.). Cp. O. Prov. recrezensa, ‘désistement’ (Levy).
recule, to retire, go back. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 68; ‘I recule, I go back, je recule’, Palsgrave; Spenser, F. Q. v. 11. 47; Gascoigne, Fruites of Warre, st. 108; recoyle, to retreat. Spenser, F. Q. i. 10. 17; recuile, id., vi. 1. 20. See Dict. (s.v. Recoil).