Complexion. Humour, disposition. Composition. To bring to composition to bring to terms. Consort. A band of musicians, choir. Contrivitions, i.e. contrivances. Cordelier. A Franciscan friar. Cornelis of Chelmsford. I can find nothing about this gentleman. Corn-trees, i.e. cornel tree or cornelian cherry. Cosset. Pet lamb. Cot-house. Shelter, shed. Counter. Debtors' prison. One of these stood in the Poultry, Cheapside. Counterfeit crank. A rogue who board. Cozen. Substantive a dupe. Verb = to cheat. Crank. One suffering from a disease. Crayer. Small vessel. Creak. "To cry creak." p. 20. =to yield. Cross. A coin. Misfortune. Cup-shotten. Intoxicated. Cut and long-tail, i.e. all sorts of dogs. Dagswain. Coarse coverlet of rough shaggy cloth. Dawcock. Jackdaw, silly fellow. Decoy. A card game. Derrick. A hangman of the period. Descant. Musical variations. Desperate. p. 10. Reckless. Difference. p. 270. Heraldic term: an alteration in a coat of arms to distinguish a junior branch from the main line of the family. Dismal day. p. 29. i.e. one of the Eleoselinum. Mountain parsley. Engines. Instruments of torture. Erra Pater. A famous almanac of Even and odd. A dicing game. Exemplify, i.e. correct the proof by the copy. Factors. Agents, assistants. Falling-sickness. Epilepsy. False dice. Barred cater-treys= dice which never turn up the 3 or the 4. Barred cinque-deuces= dice which never turn up the 5 or the 2. Barred six-aces= dice which never turn up the 6 or the 1. Flat catertreys dice which always turn up the 3 or the 4. Flat cinque-deuces= dice which always turn up the 5 or the 2. Flat six-aces= dice which num a low always turn up the 6 or the I. Bristle dice, i.e. dice in which bristles were fixed to influence the throw. Contraries: some form of loaded dice. Demies: nature or purpose not clear. Fullam or fulham a die loaded at the corner. A "high fullam" cast a high ber and a "low fullam number. Gourd (from O. French =a swindle): nature not clear. High men or low men: dice so loaded as to cast high or low numbers. Light graviers: possibly dice which were light on one side and heavy on the other. Long dice: i.e. with two sides smaller than the others. Quarters: possibly dice loaded so as to throw 4. Farthingale. Hooped petticoat. Fatist. Fatalist. Ferula. Ruler. Fetch over. Fire-drake. Fiery dragon, or ? will o' the wisp. p. 87. To deceive. First-man. p. 87. ?i.e. claims a prior right to his fellow waterman to take a fare on board. Five and five. p. 255. i.e. five make a meal off one rat. Flankard. ?Wound in the side. Flat-cap. These caps were once fashionable but now ridiculous. Flawn. A kind of custard. Fleer. Grin, mock. Flews. Large hanging chaps. Foins. Furtrimmings made of beechmarten's skin. Foist. "A sleight to carry dice easily in the hand" in order to introduce them into the game when the cheater desired. Forgetive. Inventive. Fray. Frighten. Frets. The stops of a musical instrument which regulate the vibration of the strings. Lines on the face. Friends. p. 247. Relatives, an cestors. Frounced. Curled, frizzed. Histories, i.e. plays. p. 255. "No ho with him"= no stopping him. Hobby-horses. p. 120. Toys, trash. Hockey. Seedcake distributed at harvest home. Hooker. See p. 241. Hopharlot or hapharlot. Coarse coverlet made of shreds. Horn thimble. A thimble used by cut-purses. Horse-lock. Padlock. Huke. Cape, hooded cloak. Hull. To drift before a storm. Humour. Moistures of the body of any kind. Oddities of mind and disposition. Imposition. Command. Indentures. Deeds, contracts. The scrivener drew up such contracts in duplicate on a single sheet of paper, the two copies being then severed (on the same principle as a tally) along a zigzag line. Hence "pair of indentures," and the origin of the word "indenture" itself. Infants. Boy actors. Ingle. p. 66. "An ingle to gold hat-bands" a catamite to young bloods at the university. Interprets to the puppets, i.e. does the talking in a puppet show. Irish. A game like backgammon. Jack of Lent. A figure of a man set up to be pelted, like Aunt Sally, during the Lenten season. Jagging. An indented border or fringe. Jerk. Stroke, blow. Verb to beat. Jeronimo and Isabella. The prin cipal characters in Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, a very popular play. Jet. Walk pompously. Jew's trump. Jew's harp. Joined bed, i.e. bedstead, considered a luxury at this period. Jollop. The wattle of a cock. Jolly Robins. A favourite expression with Lodge, but the meaning and origin are unknown to me. (Not found in N.E.D.) Washerman. Latitat. A writ which assumed the defendant to be lying concealed and summoned him to the King's Bench. Launder. Law-day. Sheriff's court session. Laystow or laystall. A place where refuse is put. Leasings. Lies. Lecture. Sermon by perambulating Liberties. The boundaries of the city. Lipsius. Justus Lipsius (1547 1606), a Belgian writer on politics. Lockram. Coarse linen stuff. Looking-glasses in the pavement. Polished oak floors. Louvain. The celebrated Catholic university founded in 1426. Luff. To turn the ship towards the wind. Luneburg table. Lüneburg, a town in Hanover. In one of its churches there was a table of gold from which, according to legend, a queen of England had had her crown made. Marchpane. Marzipan. tilled, Mean. Middle voice part in music, alto or tenor. Merchants by the great. p. 8. More and no more, i.e. talks A dicing game resembling hazard, apparently played in silence. Mure. Wright: Dialect Dict. gives "husks of fruit from which the juice has been squeezed." Perhaps an old spelling of myrrh. Muse. Hole in the hedge. Musk melon. The common melon. Nappy, i.e. drinks strong enough to cause sleep. Naturals. Fools. Neck. p. 117. ?Nick. Perhaps a reference to nicking or marking cards. Nest, i.e. set (as we say "nest of drawers"). New-spade. See Spade. A dice game played by five or six persons, the two principal throws being nine and five. Noverint-maker. Scrivener. Nunchion. Snack taken between meals, generally at noon. Nuncius. Nuntius, messenger. Obligation. Contract, bond. Ofter offensive. p. 227. i.e. more often dangerous than the knife. Packs. Evil confederacies. Pacolet's horse. Pacolet was a magician in an old romance who made an enchanted horse which could transport him through the air. Paetum. A corruption of the Brazilian petum tobacco. Painted cloths. p. 144. Hangings often found on the walls of ale- Painted sheath. ?Gallant exterior. writer. Pass. p. 143. "Better to pass," i.e. better off. Passage. A dicing game played by two persons using three dice. Peise. To poise, weigh. Penner. A case to hold pens. Penniless-bench. Roadside seat. Pentaphyllon. Cinquefoil. Perpetuana. A durable wool fabric. Persian lock. p. 168. ?Misprint for "Parisian." Pettifoggers. Petty legal practitioners. Pick. To knock down. To pierce. Piecing. Patch. Pilch. A leather coat. Pilcher. Scabbard. Pilliwinks. An instrument of tor ture for pinching the fingers. Pinch. A pleat in a skirt. Pique de vant. ? A braggart's beard. Pitch. p. 82. Aim (an expression derived from falconry). Plant. To colonize. Point. "To the point," i.e. exactly. Pottle. Tankard containing two quarts. Pounce. To powder. Preeches. "You must be preeches" =you must be breeched (flogged). Prick. A dot or mark. Prick in. Implant, embroider. Primero. Very popular card game in the 16th century, generally played by four persons. Print. "In print" p. 174. i.e. to a nicety. Proclamations, i.e. waste paper. Proctor. One who held a licence to collect alms for "spital-houses." Proof. Result. Prunes. p. 100. "House where they set stewed prunes before you" =a brothel. Pudding-prick. Skewer. Pullin. Poultry. Punk. Harlot. Purl. An embroidered border. name for a swaggering bully. Rochet. A bishop's vestment. Rock Monday. The Monday following Twelfth Day. Rock-distaff. Rodulphus Agricola (1442-1485). A learned German scholar and scientist. Agricola, of course, means husbandman, hence the "mere scholar's" mistake. Rogues. Rufflers: see p. 239. Hookers: see p. 241. Wild rogues: those born rogues. Palliards: beggars in patched cloaks. Abrams: see p. 238. Dummerers: beggars pretending dumbness. Swadders: pedlars. Demanders for glimmer: female beggars pretending to have lost all that they had by fire. Morts: female beggars not legally married. Dells: female beggars who are still maidens. Uprightmen: the highest rank of rogues. Rogues: beggars pretending to seek kinsmen: see p. 242. Priggers of prancers: horse-stealers. Fraters: pretended proctors (q.v.) with false licences. Freshwater mariners: pretended shipwrecked sailors. Drunken tinkers: thieves posing as tinkers. Jarkmen: clerkly rogues who make false licences and unite their comrades in wedlock. Bawdy baskets: female pedlars. Autem morts: legally married female rogues. Doxies: mistresses to rogues. Kinching morts: young female rogues. Kinching coes: young male rogues. Roscius and Aesop. Two Roman actors fl. B.C. 70. Rousy. Riotous, noisy. Rumaging. At sixes and sevens. Sacring-bell. Bell used at the mass. |