The Works of John Skelton
Glossary
Of obsolete words, or words used in an obsolete sense
| To dominate absolutely |
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| Waited for |
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| Thrown down, cast off |
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| Deceit or shameful usage |
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| Quelled, knocked down |
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| |
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| Requite, reward |
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| To reduce to nothing, annihilate. |
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| Attention, consideration |
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| N) Trust, confidence |
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| To attempt |
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| An unexpected blow at an opponent who thought the fight was over. |
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| To be disgusted and frightened |
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| Sour-sweet |
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| Alchemy "gold", an alloy based on brass. |
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| Best of all, in the best manner possible |
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| A pole, or stake, set up before an ale-house as a sign |
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| Even if |
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| Alluring things |
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| Allegate |
To use in argument |
| Allege |
N) An argument |
| Roundabout, over-elaborate or deceitful talk. |
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| A fur-lined gown or cloak worn by members of religious orders |
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| If |
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| An anchorite, a hermit |
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| A, an |
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| A gold coin, worth in Skelton's time, 6s. 8d. (one-third of a pound) |
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| Bravery |
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| A text or saying said at the beginning of a sermon as its theme or subject |
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| Rewarded |
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| Appair, Appare |
To impair, damage or weaken |
| Appal |
To make pale, make to decay |
| Appareil |
Apparel, accoutrements |
| "A kind of apple said to keep two years, and to be in perfection when shrivelled and withered." (OED) |
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| A question or puzzle posed to be answered, or the posing of such a question. |
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| Appose |
To question, examine or audit |
| Assigned |
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| To pay back, requite |
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| The state of being in debt or in arrears of payment |
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| Arrect |
To raise, to subject to examination, to appoint |
| Arret |
To charge or impute the guilt of something |
| To declare publicly, to challenge |
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| To have aspect = to look carefully at |
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| Asperly |
Sharply |
| To attempt. In At all assays = in all sorts of trials or enterprises |
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| Absolve |
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| To burst out |
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| An astrolabe, a mediaeval astronomical instrument. |
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| To tame |
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| Moderation |
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| Attercop |
A spider, a venomous malignant person. |
| Golden |
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| To sail with the tide or current |
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| A boast |
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| Considered, observed |
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| i.e. accesses = fits or seizures |
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| Ever |
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| A baboon |
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| As a signal to combatants = start fighting! |
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| Bathed |
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| A rose-red ruby |
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| a) Evil (still found in the form baleful = full of evil) |
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| To curse |
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| An onomatopoeic rendering of the sound of a trumpet. |
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| A bout of drunkenness |
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| The yeasty froth on top of fermenting ale or beer |
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| Quarrelsome |
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| A kind of helmet |
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| Kiss |
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| N) Dissension, strife |
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| Post or crossbeam, roof-beam of a house |
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| To foul or dirty |
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| Bawdias |
Dirty people |
| A bay horse |
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| Bayard's bun |
A kind of bread used for feeding horses |
| A list of persons to be prayed for |
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| A messenger |
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| Bedene |
Together, accompanying. |
| Decorated, adorned |
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| Disfigured |
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| Gluttony |
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| Are |
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| To tie together |
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| A warrior or hero; a man generally. |
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| Having an appearance |
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| To curse |
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| Bested, overcome |
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| Ornamented |
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| To expose, reveal a secret of someone, betray. |
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| To tipple |
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| Endured |
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| A noose |
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| a) A Mediaeval weapon resembling a halberd. |
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| A blunt arrow used to kill birds. |
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| To pour out a drink |
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| A blister, sore or pustule |
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| To blazon, i.e. to describe the armorial bearings of a lord or knight; hence to describe fully. |
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| Colour, complexion |
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| To wound |
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| To cease or desist from something. |
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| Blinkard |
One who blinks dazedly because he is drunk |
| Wounded |
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| Blackish blue |
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| Uproar, confusion |
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| To blether, talk nonsense |
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| A drunkard |
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| Disturbance |
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| A blister |
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| To strike |
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| Bonny ie. pretty one |
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| Source of assistance, remedy |
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| Bootless |
Without remedy |
| A thicket or field of bushes |
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| A swelling or tumour |
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| Botchment |
An addition, something extra |
| Bit (= past tense of Bite) |
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| A parasitic disease of horses |
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| A bundle of hay or straw |
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| Bottom |
A ball of thread |
| The rations or rewards of Court |
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| A blow |
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| A joke |
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| Bourne |
Burnished |
| Boozy i.e. drunken |
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| a) To embrace |
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| At a braid = in an instant, very soon |
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| a) A cage or trap |
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| A stick burning at one end, a torch |
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| Burst, be destroyed |
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| Fiercely |
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| To burn |
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| Brent |
Burned |
| To cut short |
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| Corruptibility, venality |
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| Bribery |
Petty theft |
| A parting drink, "One for the road." |
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| Furious |
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| To burn |
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| A badger |
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| Endured |
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| A prostitute, or worthless person of either sex |
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| Rumour |
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| Bruited |
Spoken about, famous |
| Lambskin |
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| Budget |
A leather bag or pouch |
| A knob or stub |
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| Burgundians |
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| An ambush |
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| To prepare oneself |
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| Busked them |
Prepared themselves |
| Buskin |
A kind of boot |
| Unless |
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| A term of endearment |
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| Buttons |
Buds |
| A bees' nest or swarm |
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| According to the OED, a kind of fur used for trimming clothes; but see note 141 to The Garland of Laurel |
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| Of or relating to evil spirits or angels |
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| A wretch, miserable scoundrel |
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| To gambol, move irregularly |
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| The parts of a horseshoe which are turned up to prevent slipping |
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| A lewd woman, trull, drab |
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| Of or relating to good spirits or angels |
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| A cabbage-stalk |
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| A crooked stick |
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| A pug nose |
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| Camously |
Crookedly |
| To know |
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| A chunk or piece cut off a larger thing e.g. from a cheese, loaf of bread, pie etc. |
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| A cap and hat maker |
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| An attempt to get something by blandishments or artifice |
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| A magic charm or inscription |
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| Careful |
Full of cares or suffering |
| A coarse ruffian or country boor, a culchie |
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| Carling |
The now extinct gairfowl or great auk (Alca impennis) |
| Carlish |
Ruffianly, coarse |
| A pool of water in a bog or marshy ground |
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| a) Contrivance, stratagem |
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| Scottish freebooters or marauding soldiery |
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| A kind of gruel given to sick people, pregnant women, etc. |
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| A kind of coarse cloth |
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| Deceitful, crafty |
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| Caesar i.e. emperor |
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| To burn incense |
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| Merchandise |
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| A chariot |
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| Chaldea i.e. |
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| A canon, in the ecclesiastical sense. |
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| To drive away |
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| A place, spot |
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| N) A merry taunt |
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| Face, appearance |
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| Provisions, supplies, money. To make a chevisaunce = to borrow money |
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| To accomplish something, acquire wealth etc. |
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| A stingy or grasping person |
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| Perhaps, a generic name for a dog? |
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| To shiver with the cold |
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| Of the city, urban |
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| A trumpeter |
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| To prattle, talk nonsense |
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| |
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| To call by name e.g. Cleped was she Madame Eglantine = Her name was Madame Eglantine (Chaucer, Prologue to the Canterbury Tales) |
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| A wicket gate or gate with a latch. |
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| To embrace |
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| Claws |
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| N) A rag |
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| A Jackdaw |
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| Restricted |
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| In by Cock's wounds, by Cock's heart etc = God |
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| Cockly |
Wrinkled |
| Cockwat |
? A cuckold (see note 12 to The Bowge of Court) |
| To sully or defile |
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| Fried eggs with ham or bacon |
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| To become |
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| A writer of comedies |
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| Commons (in the sense of a community dining-hall) |
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| Bodily constitution or temperament |
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| Comprise |
To remember, bear in mind |
| To agree |
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| Condescending |
Agreeing, conformable with |
| Conditions |
Qualities |
| A rabbit |
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| Leagued together |
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| To imagine |
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| Knowledge, learning |
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| Request |
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| Contribute |
To force to pay tribute |
| Suitable, agreeable |
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| Convey |
To steal |
| Conveyance |
Theft |
| A kind of water-fowl (Fulica atra) |
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| A heavy cloak, often specially ornamented or coloured and worn as a badge of office by a provost, cardinal etc. |
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| Perhaps "wearing a cope?" |
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| A kind of tenure in |
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| A Franciscan friar |
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| A cloth laid on the altar on which the chalice and paten are placed during Mass |
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| Corporal |
Bodily |
| Costly |
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| To sing an accompaniment to the melody of a song |
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| Mind or spirit |
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| Courser |
A horse used for hunting |
| To know, or believe to be so. |
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| Shelter |
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| Covetise |
Greed, covetousness |
| Neck or throat |
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| To boast |
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| Craker |
Boaster, big talker |
| Crushed, enfeebled |
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| In cry creak = to give in, surrender |
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| Creancer |
A tutor |
| To complain, cry out |
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| A crosier |
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| A jug or tankard |
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| An instrument of punishment for scolds, whores, fraudulent tradespeople, etc., consisting of a chair, in which the offender was fastened and exposed to the jeers of the bystanders, or taken to the nearest water and ducked in it. |
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| Half a farthing i.e. one-eighth of a penny |
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| Rump, bottom |
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| Culerage |
The plant water-pepper (Polygonum hydropiper) which was used as a cure for diarrhoea. In large doses it causes severe irritation of the bowels, hence its alternative name arse-smart |
| A wood-pigeon (Columba palumbus) |
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| Knowledge and abilities |
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| Under his cure = under his care, authority |
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| A horse with a docked tail |
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| An attendant on a knight or man-at arms |
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| Custron |
A bastard |
| A horse with its tail cut short |
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| A robber |
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| Clogged with dirt |
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| A coverlet of coarse cloth |
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| To disdain |
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| Dainously |
Disdainfully |
| A title of honour for a knight, poet or scholar |
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| Arrogant, difficult to please |
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| A profligate woman |
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| To be frightened, to hide oneself |
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| Literally, a jackdaw (Corvus monedula); metaphorically, a fool. |
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| A fool |
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| Part, bit |
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| Valuable, costly |
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| Worn out, feeble |
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| Ten-stringed |
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| To recite the grammatical cases of a noun |
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| Beheading |
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| A Papal decree |
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| Disgraceful |
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| To judge |
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| Forbid |
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| Accused, brought to court |
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| To think, believe |
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| To manage |
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| Demeanance |
Demeanour, Behaviour |
| Demeaning |
Demeanour |
| Demency |
Madness, dementia |
| Wise, serious |
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| Demurrance |
Dwelling, living with |
| Vilify, insult |
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| Appointed, prescribed |
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| To contest |
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| Insults or outrageous behavious |
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| A throw of a one and a two with two dice -- a losing throw in various games; hence bad luck, misfortune |
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| Gift, legacy or a thing bestowed |
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| Sayings |
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| Difficult to understand, complex |
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| Knock |
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| A blow |
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| To disparage, speak ill of |
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| Disavail |
To damage, harm |
| Discomfited |
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| Discrive |
Normally, to describe, but in this context would seem to mean search for or discover |
| Discure |
To say openly |
| Discured |
Discovered, shown |
| Discuss |
To decide, determine |
| Misbehaved |
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| A jester |
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| Something or someone which dissipates |
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| To defile |
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| Distichon |
A couplet |
| A ditty, short poem |
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| A dabchick (Podiceps minor, a small water fowl) |
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| A fool, blockhead |
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| Doom, or judgement |
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| Struck |
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| Deaf or stupid |
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| Stupidities |
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| A kind of plover (Charadrius morinellus), noted for its stupidity in allowing itself to be easily caught, hence, a fool |
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| Dreaded |
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| Sweet |
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| Insufficiently baked |
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| A dove |
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| Originally one of the twelve chief knights or paladins (Douze peers) of the emperor Charlemagne, hence used for any very important person |
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| Spent brewing grains or pig-swill made from them |
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| Drones |
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| A move at chess |
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| To drip, dribble |
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| A menial kitchen servant |
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| Dwarf's |
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| Snoring |
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| A reverie or absent-minded state |
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| Dun-coloured, dark |
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| To build |
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| Again |
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| A Gypsy |
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| Vinegar |
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| Also |
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| Raised up |
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| Age |
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| An ointment consisting of some active ingredient mixed with honey or syrup |
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| Syllogistical arguments |
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| A diplomatic mission, or a member or members thereof |
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| a) Swollen |
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| Studded |
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| Importuned |
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| Fortified |
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| Soaked |
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| Puffed up |
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| Enbosed |
Covered in foam |
| Cause |
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| Cramped, distorted |
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| Moistened |
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| To digest food |
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| Physical |
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| Talent, intelligence |
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| Made glad |
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| a) Written out or engraved |
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| Curved, like a scimitar |
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| Enhatched |
Inlaid |
| Coloured, embellished |
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| Enough |
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| Improved |
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| To clean of grease |
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| Ensample |
Example |
| Defiled |
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| Decorated |
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| A rhetorical and impressive but perhaps dubious argument |
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| Treated |
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| Enliven |
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| An elegy or lament |
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| Final argument or summary |
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| Equality of power or influence |
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| At first, or before the next thing mentioned |
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| To cry out against |
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| Hope, expectation |
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| Luck |
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| The Gospels |
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| Every one |
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| A scholarship, or grant of money for studying |
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| Eyes |
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| Chatter, foolish talk |
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| A deed or action |
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| To make cowardly, to frighten |
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| Faitor, Faitour |
A vagabond, cheat or imposter |
| To cut with a falchion,(a kind of wide-bladed sword) |
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| Vigorously |
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| To catch , seize |
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| Something wonderful or strange |
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| An exclamation of disgust |
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| Deceitful flattery |
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| Faith |
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| Neat, pretty |
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| Featly |
Neatly, elegantly |
| Sing falsetto. See also note 11 to Against a Comely Custron |
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| At great length |
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| 1. The skin or hide of an animal |
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| Having many windows |
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| Wonderful |
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| 1. To fetch, fetched |
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| Thefts |
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| Handsome, well-formed |
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| Granted property as a feudal vassal |
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| A fart or other foul smell |
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| A young girl |
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| A dragon |
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| A flighty or thoughtless woman |
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| a) To laugh mockingly or sneer |
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| A side of bacon |
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| Flinging out the legs |
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| In on float = flowing, full. |
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| Floats |
Drops or gushes of liquid flowing from something |
| A loose garment with long sleeves |
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| Floor |
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| A flatfish |
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| Scold, insult |
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| (V) To deceive with false kindness or flattery, to encourage a foolish delusion |
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| To thrust |
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| Abundance |
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| Foisty |
Musty, mouldy-smelling |
| Folly |
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| A fool |
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| To get, take hold of |
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| Foolish |
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| And also |
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| To be of importance e.g. What force ye = what does it matter to you? No force, it forceth not = it does not matter |
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| To fear greatly |
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| A case or covering in which a book or manuscript is kept, or into which it is sewn (OED) |
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| Foretop |
Top of the head |
| To protect from |
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| Forgot |
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| First, highest |
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| Regarded |
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| Faith |
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| Ask, inquire |
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| A bout of gluttony |
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| A fellow |
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| Elegant, comely |
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| a) Richly adorned |
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| To rub, often sexually |
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| Bushy |
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| From |
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| a) A disease of hawks |
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| Folded or wrinkled |
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| To rumple |
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| Literally, the foresail of a ship; here, a fine head-dress |
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| A kind of coarse cloth |
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| a) a goad or cattle prod |
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| Go (Scots) |
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| A quart pot |
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| Spirit, ghost |
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| A sore or sensitive place |
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| Pranks, gambollings |
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| Gamboldes |
Gambols, acrobatic tricks |
| Began |
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| Yawn, open the mouth wide |
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| 1. A gannet (Sula bassana) |
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| To make or cause something to happen |
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| Having an ornamental border |
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| Gardeviance |
Originally a food cupboard or meat-safe; also, a chest or locker for valuables. |
| A goose |
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| Trickery |
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| Gaudy |
Full of trickery |
| To gaze upon, stare |
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| Guinevere |
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| Scarce, rare |
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| Giddy, capricious |
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| Rare |
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| Story |
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| Spiritual |
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| If |
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| Wanton, flighty |
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| A girl |
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| 1. Trick, contrivance |
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| To snarl and show one's teeth at someone |
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| A leather strap used to hold a saddle or pack on a horse |
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| A kind of gown |
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| Egg white, or any similar slimy substance |
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| a) A glowing coal |
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| To squint, look sideways |
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| Slimy |
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| (N1) A slip or fall |
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| Slippery |
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| Glose, Gloze |
(a) Gloss, in the sense "explanation" |
| A scowl or sullen look |
|
| Glumming |
Looking gloomy |
| To snarl |
|
| A privy |
|
| Excellence or beauty |
|
| Big-bellied |
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| The opening at the breast of a gown |
|
| The crop or gizzard of a bird |
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| The Gothic realm and people |
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| (of eyes) Bleared with rheum |
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| The hollow of the throat, just above the breastbone |
|
| The gradual, a psalm recited during Mass |
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| 1. To be angry |
|
| Grammatol |
A person with only a superficial knowledge of a subject |
| A barn |
|
| In take it in gree = take it in good part, with resignation |
|
| Greeth |
Agreeth |
| A grasshopper |
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| A badger |
|
| Dreadful, horrible, fearsome |
|
| Vultures, gryphons |
|
| A fourpenny coin |
|
| Rooting up with the snout |
|
| Reward, just deserts |
|
| Fashion |
|
| Begun |
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| A bullet |
|
| Get up! ? said to a horse |
|
| Small articles of little value (not confined to its modern meaning of dressmakers' sundries) |
|
| Habergeon |
A sleeveless jerkin of chain mail |
| To cheat, trick |
|
| Hafter |
A trickster |
| Hafting |
Deceit, trickery, dishonest dealing |
| A female peregrine falcon taken from the wild as an adult. |
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| Health |
|
| To drag |
|
| A saint |
|
| To embrace round the neck |
|
| Home (Scots) |
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| Have |
|
| (V) To cover |
|
| Firmly, assuredly |
|
| Armour |
|
| A hinge; In out of harre = out of order |
|
| |
Or Haro, a cry of despair. |
| A man of low degree, a base or vulgar fellow |
|
| Hasty |
|
| Haut, Haute, Haught |
High, Haughty, proud |
| A low fellow |
|
| The barely edible fruit of the whitethorn bush ? used as the type of something almost worthless. |
|
| "A country dance having a winding or serpentine movement, or being of the nature of a reel"? OED |
|
| A low wretch |
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| Hayne |
A low wretch |
| Health |
|
| One who encourages or abets someone to an action |
|
| A door |
|
| Heckle |
A tool for preparing flax for spinning |
| Alas! |
|
| Them |
|
| To seize, seized |
|
| Their |
|
| A heretic |
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| To knock the feet together when walking |
|
| A) To be called |
|
| To harm, injure |
|
| Wine sweetened and flavoured with spices |
|
| Their |
|
| An historian |
|
| A kind of hawk (Falco subbuteo) |
|
| A fool |
|
| Hoddypole |
A fool |
| Head |
|
| To whine or murmur |
|
| Helped |
|
| A vassal, one who owes homage. |
|
| A dishonest person |
|
| A garfish (Belone belone) |
|
| To haggle |
|
| Huckles |
Hips |
| A hectoring bully |
|
| A hooded cloak |
|
| Humaniores literae i.e. polite literature |
|
| A cap |
|
| Of Christ: his essential substance |
|
| I |
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| A writer about agriculture, husbandry, etc. |
|
| Each, every |
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| The same |
|
| Ill rewarded, dissatisfied |
|
| Deceptive, mocking |
|
| Draw up ink |
|
| Literally, "In my uncle's pea-field"; metaphorically, not knowing what is going on. See English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases by W.C. Hazlitt, no. 6369 |
|
| To introduce |
|
| Immediately |
|
| Inconveniently |
Unsuitably, unbecomingly |
| Declare, utter |
|
| To lead forth, give as an example |
|
| To hate intensely |
|
| Portrayed |
|
| To poison |
|
| Intruder |
|
| a) Conscience |
|
| An exclamation used in driving horses, "Go on!" |
|
| Angry irascible |
|
| Introductory |
|
| The jacinth or hyacinth-stone |
|
| To indulge one's desires or emotions |
|
| To a horse—stand still! |
|
| A scoundrel, worthless person |
|
| A small horse |
|
| V) To prance or swagger |
|
| A swaggerer |
|
| Jetty |
The overhanging upper storey of a building |
| A dear friend, beloved one |
|
| A large earthenware pot with handles |
|
| You do it to me, and I'll do it to you |
|
| Heed, care |
|
| To teach |
|
| A sore on the foot |
|
| Made known shown |
|
| A trifle or frippery |
|
| Knacking earnest |
Downright earnest |
| Rude, presumptuous |
|
| A clown |
|
| Kiss |
|
| In no kyns = no kind of |
|
| Reproach, blame |
|
| Provoking tears |
|
| Argued his case |
|
| To conceal |
|
| By our Lakin = By Our Lady. Lakin is a contraction of ladykin—little lady |
|
| To wrap up |
|
| Range |
|
| A laurel tree |
|
| The laity |
|
| A diseased beggar |
|
| Bow down |
|
| A doctor, healer |
|
| Complexion |
|
| Papal legate |
|
| A lover |
|
| Lend |
|
| Linen |
|
| Learn, learnt |
|
| Lose |
|
| Falsehoods |
|
| Hinder, prevent |
|
| Ignorant, contemptible |
|
| Lewdness |
Vileness, ignorance |
| |
|
| A rascal or blackguard |
|
| Rather |
|
| Someone with sticky fingers, i.e. a thief. |
|
| A friar licensed to beg in a specified place |
|
| The linden or lime tree |
|
| Strings of sausages |
|
| a) To want, desire to do something |
|
| To pay attention |
|
| Lithe |
Gentle or humble |
| Lither |
Spiteful, evil |
| Litherness |
a) Spite, wickedness |
| A prison cell in the |
|
| The Pole star |
|
| Belong |
|
| In take him to thy lore = teach him a lesson |
|
| Lorel |
A good-for-nothing rogue |
| A scoundrel, worthless person |
|
| Loselry |
Villainy |
| To count or rely on |
|
| To look sullen or unhappy |
|
| To bow down, make obeisance before someone |
|
| A lamp |
|
| An ear |
|
| Lodge, abode |
|
| A heavy fellow, sluggard, |
|
| Lurdan, lurdain |
An idle ruffian or vagabond |
| A lazy fellow |
|
| Powerful desire ? not necessarily sexual |
|
| Lusty |
Gaily dressed, attractive |
| Learned |
|
| An army |
|
| Mate; husband or wife |
|
| Make, to |
To compose music or poetry |
| Maker |
A poet or composer |
| Adj: Impertinent, Noun: an impertinent person |
|
| a) A bag, pouch or pocket |
|
| Maleured |
Ill-fortuned (fr. Fr. Malheur) |
| A scrap |
|
| Fine white bread |
|
| A fabulous monster having a lion's body, a man's head, porcupine's quills, and the tail of a scorpion |
|
| A witch |
|
| Marees |
Marsh |
| A unit of weight (8 ozs.) or of money (13s. 4d. i.e. the value of 8 ozs of silver) |
|
| A sore or varicose ulcer on the leg |
|
| Marmoset |
A monkey of any kind, or a grotesque painting or statue resembling one. |
| Virgil |
|
| A companion |
|
| Bound to a master |
|
| Mastery |
a) A great feat or achievement |
| Enrolled in a university |
|
| Despite |
|
| A false god or idol |
|
| A song-thrush (Turdus musicus) |
|
| A doll or puppet |
|
| To mingle |
|
| a) Reward, just deserts |
|
| Appropriate, suitable |
|
| A troop of servants or followers |
|
| 1. To meddle |
|
| A monk's tunic made of sheepskin or badger fur |
|
| Compensation or reward |
|
| Meritorious |
|
| It seems to me |
|
| A lapdog |
|
| (N) A cage |
|
| Towards me |
|
| The opening in a fence or thicket, through which a hare, or other beast of sport, is accustomed to pass |
|
| Great, greatly, a great quantity, |
|
| a) A term of endearment for a woman |
|
| More |
|
| A musical instrument with only one string |
|
| To argue or dispute |
|
| A dark coloured horse |
|
| Moor |
|
| Morrow |
Morning |
| May as subjunctive adverb ? e.g. So mote it be = may it be so |
|
| Should, could |
|
| Total quantity |
|
| (N) A grimace |
|
| A mule |
|
| A term of endearment for a woman |
|
| Murmuring |
|
| Physical, of this world |
|
| Teeth. See also note 24 to The Doughty Duke of Albany |
|
| Catarrh or sore throat causing hoarseness |
|
| A sparrow-hawk (Note: the word was not used for a gun until well after Skelton's time) |
|
| Mouth |
|
| a) To mew like a cat |
|
| An ale-house |
|
| A cobbler's awl |
|
| Heady, strong |
|
| Sweet balsam |
|
| |
|
| Naverne |
Some far-off place ? |
| (V) To deny |
|
| Ne |
Not, nor |
| Snout |
|
| To sneeze |
|
| Catmint (Nepeta) |
|
| To name |
|
| Foolish |
|
| A thing of no value, a trifle |
|
| Is not |
|
| A gold coin, worth 6s 8d. It had a depiction of a ship on one side. |
|
| A fool |
|
| 1) a head |
|
| The occasion |
|
| Ought not |
|
| To vex, annoy |
|
| A lazy, wanton girl |
|
| Obscured |
|
| Used (see note 8 to The Death of King Edward IV) |
|
| Occupy |
To engage in trade or business |
| Sweet-smelling |
|
| A mixture of various miscellaneous things. |
|
| Ere, before |
|
| Circular (i.e. its orbit) |
|
| Haughty, arrogant |
|
| Ornateness |
|
| A brooch |
|
| To vanquish, overcome |
|
| (A) Unfriendly, opposed to |
|
| A cheat or worthless person |
|
| Packing |
In False packing -- false dealing (packing is--iniquitous combination, collusion, for evil purposes, for deceiving, &c.). |
| A part in a play |
|
| Rich or fine cloth |
|
| Pallet |
Head |
| Palliard |
A beggar or vagabond |
| A kind of jacket |
|
| A parrot |
|
| To vomit |
|
| By God (fr. Par Dieu) |
|
| Fully equal |
|
| Perfection |
|
| A park-keeper or gamekeeper |
|
| A collar, scarf or neckerchief |
|
| Pastime, recreation |
|
| A dish on which the communion bread is placed |
|
| (a) A rascal |
|
| A shield |
|
| A kind of shield, big enough to cover the whole body |
|
| A small bas-relief of the crucifixion on a handle, kissed by the officiating priest and then the congregation at Mass |
|
| A armoured breastplate for a horse |
|
| A fool, simpleton |
|
| Peakish |
Foolish, contemptible |
| A pea pod |
|
| Peason |
Peas |
| A wine-cup |
|
| Money-loving |
|
| A penguin |
|
| Thorough carefulness or attention |
|
| Perhaps, by chance |
|
| Perce |
|
| Everlasting |
|
| Perfect |
|
| Relating to interpretation |
|
| |
|
| A Fart |
|
| Frenzy |
|
| Practical intelligence |
|
| Tuberculosis or other serious disease of the lungs |
|
| To steal |
|
| A magpie (Pica pica) |
|
| Darling |
|
| To go away |
|
| A coarse cloak or rug |
|
| a) To rob |
|
| Pilled |
Bald or skinned |
| Pillion |
A kind of hat or head-dress worn by a Doctor of Divinity |
| Piping |
|
| Whistling softly |
|
| To twist or spin thread. Pirled gold = lace of gold thread |
|
| = epistle, a letter |
|
| Articles made of (solid) silver or gold |
|
| A playmate |
|
| Pleasure |
|
| a) (Of the moon), full. |
|
| To plead |
|
| An attempt, a go in its slang sense, as in have a pluck = have a go |
|
| A crowd or tightly packed company of people |
|
| Suffering from the pox, i.e. syphilis |
|
| A toad |
|
| To stab |
|
| Point-device |
Perfectly correct |
| Pointed |
Appointed |
| Points |
Laces for fastening clothes |
| Literally, a pole-axe; also "an opprobrious appellation" (OED) |
|
| To rob |
|
| Poll by poll |
One by one |
| Pollers and Pillers |
Robbers and extortionists |
| Pampered |
|
| Pretending to be very pious |
|
| Squintingly, crookedly. |
|
| The way in which one shows oneself, carriage, mien |
|
| Portas |
A small portable breviary i.e. a book holding the prayers and readings appropriate for each day of the year |
| Portingale |
|
| Port-sale |
|
| A cold in the head, a running of the nose etc. |
|
| Something false or counterfeit |
|
| Postil |
A short note or commentary on scripture |
| Posty |
Power, strength |
| A powerful person |
|
| Potestolate |
A humorous diminutive of potestate i.e. a little person with a little power |
| Apothecary, pharmacist |
|
| A half-gallon |
|
| Of a garment, decorated with holes or slashes |
|
| Apulia, in |
|
| The crime of bringing a case in an ecclesiastical court instead of under the law of |
|
| To swagger |
|
| Relating to land or farming |
|
| Predicamentes |
The ten categories of Aristotle |
| "A word (probably the origin of the surname Prendergast) which I am unable to explain." (Dyce). It is not in the OED and no-one seems to know what Skelton meant by it |
|
| Planned in advanced |
|
| Prepositor |
A school prefect |
| 1) Prepared, in order |
|
| Claim |
|
| Pretend |
Attempt |
| Pretory |
Originally, the HQ of the Praetorian Guard in Imperial Rome; by extension, any court building or palace |
| An alternative spelling of prove |
|
| Prevented |
Forestalled, anticipated |
| To spur on a horse |
|
| Pricked |
Sticking up |
| Prick-me-dainty |
One who is affectedly nice, fussy or finicky. |
| Deprived, devoid |
|
| Proof |
|
| Story, account |
|
| A preface or introduction |
|
| Promoting |
|
| A prank |
|
| Pretty |
|
| The Chief clerk of a court |
|
| Incited, caused |
|
| A musical instrument resembling a zither |
|
| Stinking |
|
| A skewer used to fasten a pudding-bag |
|
| Powerful |
|
| The bilge of a ship |
|
| Sharp |
|
| A herald |
|
| A nonsense refrain (see note 8 to Against a Comely Custron) |
|
| i.e. quod = quoth, said. |
|
| A short book |
|
| A slut or whore |
|
| Evil |
|
| Of hounds = to bay while following a scent |
|
| Which |
|
| Quhilkis |
Which |
| Quhill |
While |
| Alive |
|
| A cushion |
|
| To avenge |
|
| Quite |
To requite, revenge |
| Said. Quod-a = he said (sarcastically) |
|
| Quaked, shook |
|
| A religious community |
|
| To cut or slash |
|
| A kind of cloth |
|
| To toy wantonly |
|
| A neckerchief |
|
| Of a hawk, not fully trained |
|
| To behave haughtily, as if one was of superior rank |
|
| A hound |
|
| To abuse |
|
| Reached |
|
| A robber |
|
| a) To deal with |
|
| Realm, kingdom |
|
| To vomit or belch |
|
| To blow a blast on a huntsman's horn to call together or encourage the dogs, or to show that the hunt is over (depending on the notes used) |
|
| Relapse into crime or heresy |
|
| a) To take care cf. modern reckless |
|
| To tame |
|
| Acknowledgement |
|
| Heretical, apostate |
|
| Recreant |
False, treacherous |
| A literary compilation |
|
| Recule |
To turn back, withdraw |
| (V) To advise |
|
| Redeless |
Usually means "badly advised" but often in Skelton seemingly "helpless, unavailing" |
| A steward of bailiff |
|
| Odour |
|
| Reflairing |
Pleasant smelling |
| To hold back, delay or detain |
|
| An official keeper of records |
|
| Thanks |
|
| To persecute |
|
| Repeatedly torn, very ragged |
|
| Shining |
|
| V) To shame or rebuke |
|
| Remorder |
Someone who condemns or abuses. |
| Fluently |
|
| Renaying |
Renouncing, abjuring |
| Refuse, deny |
|
| Recitation |
|
| To refer |
|
| In to make repugnance = to express disagreement |
|
| A place of safety or refuge |
|
| Of a planet, in that part of its orbit where it appears to be moving backward in relation to the fixed stars. |
|
| Return, reversion |
|
| Turned, revolved |
|
| An old hag |
|
| Ribible |
A kind of three stringed fiddle |
| A leather apron worn by women preparing flax for spinning |
|
| A distaff |
|
| Rocket |
An outer garment like a smock-frock |
| a) An inferior horse |
|
| A crucifix |
|
| Rood-loft |
A loft or gallery above the rood-screen of a church |
| Rood-screen |
A screen, usually of richly carved wood or stone and surmounted by a crucifix, crossing the nave of a church above the front of the altar enclosure |
| To uproot |
|
| A beautiful rose |
|
| Rosary |
A rose bush |
| Rose bushes |
|
| Gathered up roughly |
|
| A riding horse |
|
| Rouncevale |
Roncevalles, in the |
| Round |
To whisper, mutter low |
| To snore, mutter |
|
| To whisper |
|
| Rough |
|
| A gold coin, worth, in Skelton's time 11s 3d. |
|
| Complexion |
|
| Ruefully |
|
| Rural |
|
| Uncivil |
|
| Sorrow |
|
| A gallant |
|
| Ruttingly |
Dashingly, making a splendid show |
| To celebrate Mass, or specifically the Eucharistic elements thereof |
|
| Serious, hence Sadly = Seriously, Sadness = Gravity, seriousness |
|
| Blood |
|
| Satirical or satirist |
|
| A sudden assault |
|
| A branch of learning |
|
| a) A saint |
|
| Contemptible (literally, afflicted with a skin disease) |
|
| Harm |
|
| So to emit sparks |
|
| A reckoning, money owed for food, drink, accommodation, etc. |
|
| Scorched, burnt |
|
| Scratch |
|
| To write |
|
| A hare |
|
| Scute, Scutus |
A kind of gold coin. |
| A seagull (Larus spp.) |
|
| Put in possession of property |
|
| Certainty |
|
| Similarly |
|
| Semblant |
Pretence |
| A week (seven-night) |
|
| Meaning |
|
| Withered |
|
| A kind of cannon |
|
| 1. To stumble or walk awkwardly |
|
| To reap |
|
| Lost, ruined |
|
| A beam of timber |
|
| Shidered |
Shattered |
| To remove nuts, peas etc. from the shell or pod |
|
| The side of a ship, gunwale |
|
| Shoes |
|
| To curse |
|
| Shrewdly |
Badly |
| Speak confidentially |
|
| A Shovel |
|
| Scaly, scurfy |
|
| Such |
|
| Certain, hence sickerness = certainty, sickerly = certainly |
|
| Long or full |
|
| To make significance = to tell or make known |
|
| Innocent, simple |
|
| Simony, the sale of church offices or other sacred things. |
|
| Simoniac |
A venal or corrupt churchman |
| An affected, coquettish woman |
|
| A cesspool, or a pit for refuse or ordure |
|
| Since |
|
| Proper, becoming |
|
| To strike |
|
| Skewbald i.e. with coloured with patches of brown and white |
|
| To matter, be of importance |
|
| Skittish, impulsive, over-hasty |
|
| A spit for roasting meat |
|
| A wild or dissipated fellow |
|
| Slain |
|
| Clever |
|
| Slippery |
|
| To slay |
|
| To gobble noisily |
|
| An emerald |
|
| To talk ignorantly, to blather |
|
| Smeared with dirt |
|
| To stumble or trip (but see note 2 to Against a Comely Custron) |
|
| A snipe (Gallinago spp.) |
|
| Snort |
|
| Steeped |
|
| Sport, amusement, pleasure |
|
| Solacious |
Pleasant, amusing |
| Solation |
Consolation |
| Something that is sent |
|
| A shoemaker or cobbler |
|
| A pig, in the sense of a block of metal. A sow of lead = about 250 lbs. |
|
| To close and bar a door |
|
| Spare |
An opening or slit in a gown |
| Sparkle |
A spark, which can cause something to catch fire; hence, something small which has an important result. |
| Qualified or successful |
|
| Sped |
Versed in |
| Spending |
|
| A shoot or young plant |
|
| A chunk of fat bacon |
|
| A chaffinch (Fringilla cœlebs) |
|
| To display |
|
| Splay |
Display |
| Spirit |
|
| Sparkling |
|
| To kick |
|
| Bait or decoy |
|
| Stale |
Thievish |
| Stalworthy |
Sturdy, strongly built |
| To spring open |
|
| Starter |
One who abandons his principles |
| Starve |
To kill or destroy |
| A village, place |
|
| Brilliant |
|
| To make into a star |
|
| Excrement, filth |
|
| Voice |
|
| N) An allotted amount |
|
| An anvil |
|
| A stock-dove (Columba Œnas) |
|
| A bung or stopper |
|
| A period of time. (vide German Stunde = hour) |
|
| |
Obstinate |
| Strait, straitly |
Tight, tightly |
| Straught |
Distraught |
| A bailiff |
|
| Pray, implore, supplicate |
|
| Supprised |
Overcome with emotion |
| Arrogant |
|
| Having an embroidered hem. |
|
| To flap up and down |
|
| Sword |
|
| A dream |
|
| To work hard |
|
| Quickly, at once |
|
| A swoon |
|
| Decrees of a synod, i.e. a meeting of bishops & senior clergy |
|
| Contraction of So th? ich = So that I shall prosper |
|
| Tally |
|
| Taille |
A tax |
| a) Handsome, seemly |
|
| Firewood, cleft and cut into billets of a uniform length |
|
| A wooden stopper fitted in the muzzle of a gun to keep out water. |
|
| Transcribed or copied |
|
| a) A tapestry or wall-hanging |
|
| The male of any bird of prey. |
|
| A bobbin used in silk-weaving |
|
| A hangman's noose |
|
| 1. Harm, vexation |
|
| A sheep in its second year, or the fleece or wool of one |
|
| Of this earth |
|
| Harsh, severe |
|
| A skin rash |
|
| Tough |
|
| The others present |
|
| To flourish |
|
| Thighs |
|
| A) Then |
|
| The larynx or Adam's apple |
|
| A fringe of warp threads left at the side of a piece of woven cloth |
|
| Blessing with incense |
|
| In a little tine = Something very small |
|
| A strip of coloured silk cloth worn behind the neck and over the shoulders in front with the ends hanging down, nowadays called a stole |
|
| Seized and ate |
|
| Spinning |
|
| Name for a devil said to collect fragments of words dropped, skipped, or mumbled in the recitation of divine service, and to carry them to hell, to be registered against the offender; hence, a name for a demon or devil in the mystery plays; hence, a scoundrel or ruffian |
|
| As a prefix = completely |
|
| Before, heretofore |
|
| Altogether eaten up, consumed. |
|
| Overheated |
|
| Penman |
|
| To peer or look at something searchingly |
|
| Shaky or muddle-headed |
|
| A trick, cunning stratagem |
|
| A boy who turns the spit for roasting meat |
|
| A sequence of steps in dancing |
|
| Betrayed! (fr.) |
|
| Deceit |
|
| Prattlers, chatterers |
|
| Trattling |
Chattering, talking idly |
| A thwarting contrivance |
|
| Travis |
A wooden framework; a partition |
| To entreat, beseech |
|
| The holding of three benefices at the same time |
|
| To snatch away, to carry off. |
|
| In astrology: at an angle of 120 degrees |
|
| A song in the form of a? round or catch |
|
| Trolled |
Wheeled away |
| To believe or declare to be true |
|
| The Roman orator Cicero, whose middle name or nomen gentile was Tullius |
|
| Deep red |
|
| A funnel |
|
| Tunning |
Brewing |
| Tunnish |
Very fat |
| A two-headed axe |
|
| Howl, lament |
|
| Entrails, organ meats |
|
| Occasionally, sometimes |
|
| Unburned |
|
| Strange matters |
|
| To investigate |
|
| Underset |
To support or prop up |
| Not valid or in circulation |
|
| To displease |
|
| A misfortune |
|
| A) In poor health |
|
| Repulsiveness |
|
| Scarcely, with difficulty |
|
| Unpropitious |
|
| Torn to pieces |
|
| Encouragement |
|
| A hedgehog |
|
| a. Prayed |
|
| In stand utter = stand aside |
|
| A prank or trick |
|
| Vassals, low-born folk |
|
| An arrogantly boastful or self-promoting person |
|
| An old man |
|
| Something acting as a sail or fan |
|
| Spring-time |
|
| Sour grape or crab-apple juice |
|
| Changeableness |
|
| To vilify or treat with contempt |
|
| A mask |
|
| i.e. avoid |
|
| An astrological instrument. See note 225 to the Garland of Laurel for a full description. |
|
| To roll from side to side on the ground |
|
| To feel nausea |
|
| Won |
|
| Wanting, not to be had |
|
| Despair |
|
| To beat |
|
| Wardrobe |
|
| a) Work |
|
| To make war on someone, physically or verbally |
|
| Warre |
Worse |
| Worse |
|
| A wooden paddle used for beating clothes when washing them |
|
| A man who sells water from barrels on a cart |
|
| Welfare |
|
| Neck or throat |
|
| To wed =- in pawn |
|
| Well |
|
| To know or declare, to think |
|
| To know |
|
| Weeting |
Knowledge |
| An exclamation of distress or sorrow |
|
| To throw down, to ruin or destroy |
|
| To harry |
|
| A grooved pulley, part of a spinning-wheel |
|
| A rowing boat used for conveying goods and passengers, especially on the River Thames. |
|
| Appearance |
|
| Once, formerly |
|
| A short sword |
|
| A piping sound |
|
| Whip-sloven |
A careless, dirty fellow who deserves whipping |
| Whirling |
|
| Literally, cloth of speckled white and another colour; also used (as here) for the appearance of the whitethorn in flower. |
|
| Whittle |
To make drunk |
| A rope made of osiers |
|
| To flinch, jump back |
|
| Wiss, |
1) To know, |
| To know |
|
| To blame |
|
| To oppose or contradict |
|
| A man who tolerates his wife's adultery |
|
| Week |
|
| Would |
|
| To dwell |
|
| Savage or crazy |
|
| Woodhack |
A woodpecker |
| Week |
|
| a) To eat greedily, gobble |
|
| Cabbages |
|
| To know |
|
| Wrung |
|
| Wrote |
|
| Wrathful |
|
| A tuning peg or key of a string instrument, used to tighten the string to the correct pitch |
|
| The smallest (chick, puppy etc) in a clutch or litter |
|
| To wag from side to side |
|
| Twisted |
|
| Exercised, gratified |
|
| Will |
|
| Strike, lash |
|
| To move something out of its course |
|
| Burnt |
|
| Of hounds = to give tongue |
|
| Go, went |
|
| A little young gentleman |
|
| Towards you |
|
| I know; it is true |
