ANENST, opposite to or over against.

Between Ireland and Bretany

Is wycht anens Normawndy,

WYNTOUN'S CHRON.

Four times the brazen horse, entering, stuck fast
Anenst the ruin'd girdle of the towne.

HEYWOOD'S TROJA BRITANNICA.

ANENT, of, about, or concerning, used chiefly in the Scottish dialect. Chaucer spells the word anenst.

Therefore, anenst their estates I wol in no manere deeme ne determine

ANERTY, hardy, stout.

CHAUCER'S PARDONER'S TALE.

A knight ful anerty gaf tham this answere.

P. LANGTOFT'S CHRON.

ANGELOT (F.) a small cheese, made in Normandy, supposed to be originally so called from the

maker's name.

Your angelots of Brie,

Your marsolini and parmesan of Lodi.

O. P. THE WITS.

ANGERLICHE, appertaining to anger or displeasure.

The king's last will no man deeme

Angerlich without answere.

CHAUCER'S PLOWMAN'S TALE.

But that he for anger wrought,

His anger angerliche he brought.

GOWER'S CON. AM.

ANHANG, to hang or suspend by the neck.

That they beknew her wickednesse anon,
And they were anhanged by the neck bone.

CHAUCER'S NONNES PRIEST'S TALE.

By him that this world hath wrought,
I had liever thou were anhang.

OLD BALLAD OF GUY OF WARWICE.

ANIENT (F. aneanter), to annihilate, to reduce to

nothing.

That wikked liche and willfulliche wold mercy anyente.

P. PLOWMAN'S VISION.

ANKER (G. anachoret), an hermit or anchorite, of

which last word it is an abbreviation; a recluse.

Sometimes I am religious,

Now like an anker in a house.

CHAUCER'S ROM. OF THE ROSE.

And ankers and hermits that eat but at nones.

P. PLOWMAN'S VIS.

The word has also a feminine termination, ancresse, to denote a female anchorite.

Ancresses that dwell

Mew'd up in walls, and mumble o'er their beads.

FAIRFAX.

ANLACE, a sort of knife or dagger, usually worn suspended by the girdle.,

An anlace, and a gipsire all of silk,
Heng at his girdle.

CHAUCER'S PRO, to Cant. Tales.

ANNUELLERE, a secular priest, so called from an yearly salary allowed to him for keeping an anniversary, or otherwise saying continued masses for the soul of a deceased person.

In London was a priest annuellere,

That therein had dwelt many a year.

CHAUCER'S CHANONS YEOMAN'S TALE.

ANON, quickly, soon, by and by. This word, twice repeated, was formerly the usual answer of waiters at taverns, &c. when called to attend customers; the fact is fully illustrated in the first part of Shakspeare's K. Hen. IV.

No money! Can taverns stand without anon, anon?

O. P. THE SPANISH GYPSEY,

AN-ONDYR, under, beneath.

Ten schypmen to londe yede,

To see the yle in length and brede,
And fet water as hem was nede,
The roche an-ondyr.

ROM. OF OCTAVIAN IMP.

ANOTHERGATES, a different kind, another sort.

When Hudibras, about to enter
Upon anothergates adventure.

HUDIBRAS.

And his bringing up anothergates marriage with such a minion.

O. P. LILY'S MOTHER BOMBIE.

ANTHROPOPHAGI (Gr.), men eaters.

The Cannibals that each other eat,

ANTICK (F. antique), a juggler, buffoon, or merry andrew; probably so called from their habits being in an old fashioned or grotesque stile.

Fear not, my lord; we can contain ourselves

Were he the veriest antick.

INDUCTION TO THE TAMING OF A SHREW. Within the hollow crown,

That rounds the mortal temples of a king,

Death keeps his court, and there the antic sits,

Scoffing his state.

K. RICHARD II.

ANTICKES, strange figures and devices, whether of

men, women, beasts, or birds, &c.

A fountaine of embowed worke, guilte with fyne golde, and

bice engrayled with anticke worke.

GRAFTON'S CHRON.

All barr'd with golden bends, which were entayl'd
With curious anticks.

SPENSER'S F. QUEEN.

ANTIPHONERE (Gr.), the alternate singing of sacred

music; an anthem book used in the service of the Roman Catholic Church.

He alma redemptoris herde singe,
As children lerid her antiphonere.

CHAUCER'S PRIORESSES Tale.

ANTRE (F. antre), a grotto, cave, or den.

Wherein of antres vast and desarts idle,

Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads reach heav'n.
OTHELLO..

APAIDE, satisfied, requited, paid.

Ye shuld have warned, or had I gon
That he you had an hundred frankes paid
By ready token: and helde him evil apaide.

CHAUCER'S SHIPMAN'S TALE.

Wilt thou see? but I will make the well apaide,

O. P. THE NEW CUSTOM,

For ill it were to hearken to her cry,
For she is inly nothing ill apayde.

SPENSER'S F. QUEEN.,

So only can high justice rest appaid.

PARADISE LOST.

APALID (F. appalir), depressed, discouraged; also, frightened or struck with sudden fear.

Then when his name apaled is for age,

For all forgotten in her vassalage.

CHAUCER'S KNIGHT'S TALE.

STUBBS'S ANAT. OF ABUSES.

These golden swords and daggers almost appale a man.

APAYRE, to detract, impair, calumniate.

When thou sentest to Tanker the king,

To apayre me with thy lesyng.

ROM. OF RICHARD CŒUR DE LION.

To apairen any man, or him defame.

CHAUCER'S PRO. TO THE MILLER'S TALE.

APE (S. eppa), a fool or silly person; therefore the old saying of putting an ape in a person's hood, was to play the fool with or outwit him.

Thus was the ape,

By their fair handling, put into Malbecco's cape.

SPENSER'S F. QUEEN.

And thus she maketh Absolon her ape,
And all his ernist turneth into jape.

CHAUCER'S WIFE OF BATH.

The common expression, to lead apes in hell, said of women dying old maids, seems to have puzzled all preceding writers as to its origin; but all agree that it owes its rise to the Reformation, no mention being made of it prior to 1600 in any old author. Mr. Boucher suggests that it may have been invented by the reformers, as an inducement to women to marry. In the dissolution of the monasteries, a disinclination to marriage manifested itself, and many women of a contemplative turn of mind sighed for the seclusion of the cloister; to counteract this propensity, some pious reformer hit upon the device in question; but whether true, in fact, or whether it had the desired effect, it is difficult to determine. It is still in use in a jocular

sense.

But 'tis an old proverb, and you know it well,
That women dying maids lead apes in hell.

O. P. THE LONDON PRODIGAL.

Fear not, in hell you'll never lead apes,
A mortify'd maiden of five escapes.

B. JONSON.

Well, if I quit him not, I here pray God
I may lead apes in hell, and die a maid.

O. P. ENGLISHMEN FOR MY MONEY.

APERNER, a drawer or waiter at a tavern, was so

called from the circumstance of their wearing aprons; an apron man.

S'foot we have no wine here methinks;
Where's the aperner? !

O. P. MAY DAY,