anslaight, an onslaught. Fletcher, M. Thomas, ii. 2 or ii. 3 (Sebastian). Some read onslaught; see NED.
anthropophagi, pl. man-eaters, cannibals. Othello, i. 3. 144; Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 111 (Orlando, p. 90, col. 2). L. pl. of anthropophagus, Gk. ἀνθρωποφάγος, man-eating; from ἄνθρωπος, a man, φαγεῖν, to eat.
antick, a grotesque pageant or theatrical representation. Ford, Love’s Sacrifice, iii. 2 (Fernando); Love’s Lab. L., v. 1. 119.
antick, a burlesque performer, buffoon, merry-andrew. Richard II, iii. 2. 162; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 51. Ital. antico, grotesque. L. antiquus, antique. For the development of the meaning of the Ital. antico from ‘antique’ to ‘grotesque’, see the full account in NED.
antimasque, a burlesque interlude between the acts of a masque. The prefix is uncertain; perhaps for L. ante, before (NED.). But B. Jonson has the form antick-masque, Masque of Augurs (Noteh). Bacon has anti-masque, Essay 37; cf. Shirley, The Traitor, iii. 2 (Lorenzo).
antiperistasis, a contrast of circumstances; opposition. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 3 (2 Masque: Mercury). Gk. ἀντιπερίστασις, reciprocal replacement of two substances.
antlier, an antler, tine of a stag’s horn. ‘The first antlier, which Phoebus calleth and termeth antoiller’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 21, p. 53. The lowest tine was the burre, growing out of the pearles; the second tine, the antlier; the third, the surantlier; the next, royal and surroyal; and those at the top, croches (more correctly spelt troches at p. 137); see Turbervile (as above), p. 54. ‘The thing that beareth the antliers, royals, and tops [or troches] ought to be called the beame, and the little clyffes or streakes therein are called gutters’; id. p. 53. OF. antoillier (F. andouiller).
antre, a cave. Othello, i. 3. 140. F. antre, L. antrum, Gk. ἄντρον.
aourne, to adorn. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 223, back, 17; lf. 253, back, 15. Anglo-F. aourner (adourner), to adorn (Gower).
apaid, appaid, satisfied. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, p. 381 (Guenthian); Chapman, Iliad, v. 143; Milton, P. L. xii. 401; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 28; v. 11. 64; Shep. Kal., Aug., 6. ME. apayed, satisfied (Wyclif, Luke iii. 14); pp. of apayen. Norm. F. apaier (Moisy); deriv. of paier, L. pacare, to pacify.