Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 115 results in 115 entries
1. address, v. View full entry a1325
...trans. (chiefly in pass.). To direct (a written communication) to a specific person or destination; spec. (in early use) to write and send (a writ, a petition,...
2. anil, n. View full entry 1581
...The Indigo shrub; the native name of the E. Indian species (Indigofera tinctoria); but in Bot. the trivial name of the W. Indian Indigo (I. anil)....
3. bandy, adj. View full entry 1552
...Of legs: Curved laterally with the concavity inward. perhaps attrib. use of bandy ‘hockey-stick.’ Also used briefly for bandy-legged....
4. bank, n.2 View full entry 1275
...A long seat for several to sit on, a bench, or form; a platform or stage to speak from. Obs. (Cf. mountebank)...
5. barb, v. View full entry 1483
...To shave or trim the beard of (a person). Obs. in general use....
6. barbery, n. View full entry 1540
...A barber's shop. Obs....
7. barbing, n.1 View full entry 1485
...Shaving, hairdressing; clipping. Obs....
8. † bay, n.7 View full entry 1581
...Baize; originally a fabric of a finer lighter texture than now, the manufacture of which was introduced into England in the 16th c. by fugitives from France and the Netherlands. Usually in...
9. ˈbearding, n. View full entry 1483
...The action of cutting off the beard, e.g. the inferior parts of a fleece. Cf. beard2. Obs....
10. † ˈblockwood, n. View full entry 1581
...Obs. name of logwood...
11. bone, v.1 View full entry 1494
...intr. ? To throw out spicules of bone. Obs....
12. breadth, n. View full entry 1523
...Measure or distance from side to side of a surface; width, extent across. Also fig....
13. bullion, n.2 View full entry 1336
...? Melting-house or mint; but the 16th c. legal antiquaries understood it as ‘place of exchange’. (App. only in the Anglo-French Statutes, or the translations of them.)...
14. burlap, n. View full entry 1695-6
...Originally perhaps a sort of holland; now a coarse canvas made of jute or hemp, used for bagging; also, a finer material used for curtains....
15. butt, n.2 View full entry 1423
...A cask for wine or ale, of capacity varying from 108 to 140 gallons. (Earlier the size was app. much smaller; see quot. 1443; cf. also 1462 in...
16. butt, n.11 View full entry 1661
...The thicker or hinder part of a hide or skin, as horse-butts, calf-butts, kip-butts, shoe-butts; esp. the hide of the back and...
17. butt, n.12 View full entry 1533-4
...? A kind of basket-net for catching fish. Also, a kind of basket. Cf. putt...
18. calender, n.1 View full entry 1513
...One who calenders cloth; a calenderer. Obs....
19. ˈcalender, v. View full entry 1513
...trans. To pass through a calender; to press (cloth, paper, etc.) between rollers, for the purpose of smoothing, glazing, etc....
20. calenderer, n. View full entry 1495
...One whose business it is to calender cloth, etc....
