voley: phr. on the voley, o’ the volèe, inconsiderately. Massinger, Picture, iii. 6. 1; B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1 (Prudence). F. à la volée, ‘rashly, inconsiderately, at random, at rovers’; volée, flight, voler, to fly (Cotgr.). See Nares (s.v. Volée).
voluptie, sensual pleasure. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 11, § 16; bk. iii, c. 20, § 1. F. volupté.
volvell, an instrument consisting of graduated and figured circles drawn on the leaf of a book, to the centre of which is attached one movable circle or more; ‘He turnyd his tirikkis, his volvell ran fast’, Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 1517. Fully described by Dyce, ii. 336. Med. L. volvella, volvellum; from L. volvere, to revolve.
vor, vore; see [che vor].
vorloffe, ‘furlough’. B. Jonson, Staple of News, v. 1 (Picklock). Du. ‘verlof, leave, consent or permission’ (Hexham); Dan. forlov, leave, furlough, cp. G. verlaub, leave, permission.
votaress, a woman that is under a vow. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 123, 163; votress, Dryden, Palamon, iii. 225.
vote, an ardent wish, a prayer. Beaumont and Fl., Lover’s Progress, iv. 2 (Alcidon); Massinger, Guardian, v. 1 (Severino). L. votum, a desire, an ardent longing (Horace).
voward, for vaward, vanward, vanguard, North’s Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 29 (in Shak. Plut., p. 142); id., § 31, p. 147. F. avant-garde, vanguard. See [vaunt].
vowess, a widow who made a vow to observe chastity in honour of her deceased husband; ‘In that church (Oseneie) lieth this ladie (Editha, wife of Robert d’Oyly) buried with hir image . . . in the habit of a vowesse’, Harrison, Desc. England, bk. ii, ch. 3 (ed. Furnivall, p. 74); Leland’s Itinerary (ed. Toulmin Smith, Pt. I, 83, 112, 124). In the church of Shalstone in Bucks. there is a monumental brass to the memory of Susan Kingstone, step-sister of Sir T. Elyot, on which she is described as a ‘vowess’; she died in the year 1540. For the widow’s vow of chastity, see Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, 70, footnote); Fosbrooke, British Monachism, 510.