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cabage, to cut off the head of a deer close behind his horns. Turbervile, Hunting, xliii. 134; ‘I wyll cabage my dere, je cabacheray ma beste’, Palsgrave. ME. caboche (Book on Hunting; NED.). F. (Picard) caboche, the head, see H. Estienne, Précellence, 175. 397.

cabbish, a cabbage. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Sir O. Twi.). A Yorksh. pronunc. (EDD.).

cabinet, a cabin, hut, lodging. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 83; ‘(the lark’s) moist cabinet’, Venus and Adonis, 854.

cabrito, a kid. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3 (B. Knight). Span. cabrito.

cacafugo, a spitfire, a braggart, blustering fellow. Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 1. 8. Span. cacafuego.

cackler, the domestic fowl. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman).

cackling-cheat; see cheat. (Cant.)

cacokenny, a purposely perverted form of cacochymy, an unhealthy state of the humours or fluids of the body. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, iii. 2 (Sweetball). Gk. κακοχυμία.

caddess, the jackdaw. Chapman, tr. Iliad, xvi. 541; ‘A cadesse or a dawe, Monedula’, Baret, Alvearie. An old Yorksh. word (EDD.).

caddow, the jackdaw. Huloet, Dict. (1552); spelt cadowe, Golding, Metam., vii. 468; Tusser, Husbandry, § 46. 28. ME. cadow(e, ‘monedula’ (Prompt. EETS., see note no. 313).

cade, a young animal brought up by hand; usually, a pet-lamb; rarely, a foal. ‘The Cade which cheweth the Cudde’ (here, apparently, a calf), Gascoigne, Glasse of Governement, iii. 4 (Ambidexter). In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Cade, sb.³ 1). ME. a cade, ‘ovis domestica’ (Cath. Angl.).

cade, oil of, oil from the prickly cedar. Oyle of Cade, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 66; p. 187. F. cade, the prickly cedar (Cotgr).

caitif, a captive. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 794; caitifes, unhappy men, Surrey, tr. of Aeneid ii. 253. Also, mean, niggardly, Sir T. Browne, Rel. Medici, pt. 2, § 3. Norm. F. ‘caitif, malheureux, misérable, captif’ (Moisy); cp. Prov. caitiu, ‘captif, chétif, misérable, mauvais, méchant’ (Levy). Celto-L. type *cactivum, L. captivum.

calambac, an Eastern name of aloes-wood or eagle-wood. A Knack to know a Knave, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 571. Malay kalambak. See NED.

caldesed, chaldesed, cheated. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 3. 1010; Elephant in the Moon, 494. Coined from Chaldees, pl. of Chaldee, a Chaldean, an astrologer.

Calipolis, the wife of the Moor in Peele’s play, Battle of Alcazar, ii. 3: ‘Feed, then, and faint not, fair Calipolis.’ Hence Pistol has: ‘Feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 193; and Heywood has: ‘To feed, and be fat, my fine Cullapolis’, Royal King (Captain), vol. vi, p. 30. Those who consult Peele’s play will find the quotation to be extremely humorous. Pistol’s words occur again in Marston, What you Will, v. 1. 1.

calke, to calculate. Mirror for Mag., Cobham, st. 15; kalked, pp.; id. Clarence, st. 26. Short for calcule, F. calculer, L. calculare.

calker, calcar, a calculator, an astrologer; ‘Calkers of mens byrthes’, Coverdale, Isaiah ii. 6; calcars, Sir T. Wyatt, Song of Jopas, 60; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 95.

calkins, the turned-up ends of the horse-shoe which raise the heels from the ground. Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 4. 68; ‘Rampone, a calkin in a horses shoon to keepe him from sliding’, Florio. This word, with various pronunciations, is in prov. use in many parts of England from Lancash. to Shropsh. and Lincolnsh., see EDD. (s.v. Calkin). OF. calcain, heel (Godefrey). L. calcaneum, heel (Vulg., John xiii. 18).

callet, a lewd woman, a tramp’s concubine. Othello, iv. 2. 122. B. Jonson, Volpono, iv. 1 (Lady P.); ‘Paillarde, a strumpet, callet’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Scotland, Yorksh., and Lancash., see EDD. (s.v. Callet, sb.¹ 1). A Gipsy word, see Englische Studien, XXII (ann. 1895).

callot, calotte, a coif worn on the wig of a serjeant-at-law, a skull-cap. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Bias); Etheredge, She Would if she Could, iii. 3 (Sir Joslin). F. calotte, dimin. of cale, a caul.

†callymoocher, a term of abuse. Only occurs in Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, iii. 3 (Oliver).

calophantic, making a show of excellence; hypocritical. ‘Calophantic Puritaines’, Warner, Albion’s England, bk. ix, ch. 53, st. 21. Gk. καλό-ς, fair + -φαντης, one who shows, from φαίνειν, to show.

calvered salmon, fresh salmon prepared in a particular way; sometimes, apparently, pickled salmon. Massinger, Maid of Honour, iii. 1 (Gasparo). ME. calvar, ‘as samone or oder fysch’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 320).

cambrel, a crooked stick with notches on it, on which butchers hang their meat. Also cambren, see Phillips (1706). Wel. cambren; cam crooked, and pren wood, stick. In prov. use in Scotland, and in England, from the Border as far south as Warwick, see EDD. (s.v. Cambrel, sb.¹). See gambrel.

cambrel, the hock of an animal; spelt camborell. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 107. 3; ‘His crooked cambrils’, Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymphal, x. 20; ‘Chapelet du jarret, the cambrel hogh of a horse’, Cotgrave. See EDD.

camisado, a night attack by soldiers; orig. one in which the attacking soldiers wore shirts over their armour, that they might recognize one another. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 297; Gascoigne, Jocasta, Act ii, sc. 2, l. 56. Span. camiçada, ‘a camisado, assault’ (Minsheu). Camiça, camisa, ‘a shirt’, id. Late L. camisia, a shirt (Jerome). See NED. (s.v. Chemise).

cammock, camocke, a crooked tree; esp. one that is artificially bent. Lyly, Euphues, pp. 46, 408; Peele, Works, ed. Dyce, p. 579, col. 2. ME. cambok, ‘pedum’ (Voc. 666. 27); Med. L. cambuca, ‘baculus incurvatus’ (Ducange).

camois(e. Of the nose: low and concave; ‘a Camoise nose, crooked upwarde as the Morians’, Baret, Alvearie; ‘Camously croked’, Skelton, El. Rummyng, 28; camused, B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 1 (Lorel). F. camus, having a short and flat nose (Cotgr.).

camomile; said to grow the more, when the more trodden upon. 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 441; Shirley, Hyde Park, iii. 2 (Mis. Carol).

camouccio, a term of reproach. B. Jonson. Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 3 (Sogliardo); spelt camooch, Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable (Lazarillo). Perhaps Ital. camoscio, the chamois.

can, a wooden measure for liquor. Phr. burning of cans, branding measures, to show that they were of legal capacity; B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, i. 1 (Amorphus).

Can, a lord, prince; ‘A great Emperor in Tartary whom they call Can’, Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, bk. ii, c. 11; p. 106. See Dict. (s.v. Khan).

can, pres. indic., know; ‘Unlearned men that can no letters’, Foxe, Martyrs (ed. 1684, ii. 325); ‘Can you a remedy for the tysyke?’ Skelton, Magnyf. 561; B. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, i. 1 (Compass). ME. ‘I can a noble tale’ (Chaucer, C. T. A. 3126). See NED. (s.v. Can, vb.¹ 1).

can, used as an auxiliary of the past tense; ‘Tho can she weepe’, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 50; ‘He can her fairely greet’, id. i. 4. 46. ME. very common in Cursor M.; e.g. ‘Moses fourti dais can (v.r. gan) þer-on duell’, 6462. See NED. (s.v. Can, vb.² 2).

canaglia, canaille, rabble. B. Jonson, Volpone, ii. 1 (Vol.). Ital. canaglia, ‘base and rascally-people, only fit for dogs company’ (Florio).

canary, a quick and lively dance. All’s Well, ii. 1. 77; pl. canaries, Middleton, Women beware, iii. 2 (Ward); to dance, L. L. L. iii. 12.

canceleer, cancelier, a hawking term. A hawk canceleers when, in stooping, she turns two or three times upon the wing, to recover herself before she seizes the prey. Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo); a turn or two in the air, Drayton, Pol. xx. 229. OF. (Picard) canceler (F. chanceler), to swerve, waver.

candle: phr. to hold a candle to the devil, to assist an evil person, to persevere in evil courses. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 316 (Orgalio, p. 93, col. 1). Cp. the Gloucestersh. saying, ‘To offer a candle to the devil’, see EDD. (s.v. Candle, 2 (5)).

candles’ ends, bits of lighted candle swallowed as flapdragons; see flapdragon. Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, ii. 2. 24; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 267.

candle-waster, one who sits up late, and so wastes candles; a student, or a rake. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, iii. 2 (Hedon); Much Ado, v. 1. A Somerset expression, see EDD. (s.v. Candle, 1 (22)).

cane, a ‘khan’, an Eastern inn. G. Sandys, Trav. p. 57. See Stanford (s.v. Khan). Arab, khān, a building (unfurnished) for the accommodation of travellers (Dozy, Glossaire, 83). See hane.

canicular, due to the dog-star. Canicular aspect, influence of the dog-star, excessive heat, Greene, Looking Glasse, iv. 3 (2083); p. 144, col. 1. ‘Of the canicular or dog-days’, Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors; bk. iv, ch. 13. L. canicula, dog-star (Horace).

canion, an ornamental roll laid in a set like sausages round the ends of the legs of breeches; ‘French hose ... with Canions annexed reaching down beneath their knees’, Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses (see Furnivall, 56). ‘Chausses à queue de merlus, round breeches with strait cannions’, Cotgrave. Span. cañon, a tube, pipe, gun-barrel.

canker, a caterpillar, a canker-worm. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 2. 3; Milton, Lycidas, 45. An E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Canker, sb.² 6). ME. cankyr, ‘teredo’ (Prompt.).

canker, the dog-rose. 1 Hen. IV, i. 3. 176. Cp. the prov. words canker-ball, the mossy excrescence on a wild rose-bush, canker-bell, the bud of a wild rose, canker-berry, the ‘hip’ of a wild rose, canker-rose, ‘Rosa canina’, the wild rose (EDD).).

cankered, ill-tempered. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 3; King John, ii. 1. 194. In prov. use in Scotland and various parts of England (EDD.).

cannakin, a small can; ‘Let me the cannakin clinke’, Othello, ii. 3. 71.

cannel: Cannel bone; ‘The neck-bone or windpipe’, Phillips, Dict.; Golding, tr. Metam. 284; the collar-bone, Holland, Plutarch’s Mor. 409; spelt canell: canell of the necke (?), the nape of the neck, Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 348. 10. Cp. cannell-bone (Lancash.), and channel-bone (Somerset) in prov. use for the collar-bone (EDD.). OF. (Picard) canel, a channel; F. canneau du col, ‘the nape of the neck’ (Cotgr.).

canon-bitt, a smooth round bit for horses. Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 37; ‘Canon, a canon-bitt for a horse’, Cotgrave. O. Prov. canon, a tube (Levy).

canstick, a candlestick. 1 Hen. IV, iii. 1. 131. Still in use in Berks. (EDD.).

cant, a corner, a niche; ‘Irene or Peace, she was placed aloft in a cant’, B. Jonson, James I’s Entertainment (1603); Warner, Monuments of Honour (ed. Dyce, 369) See EDD. (s.v. Cant, sb.³ 1). Norm. F. cant, ‘angle’ (Moisy).

cant, a piece, portion. Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. iii. 45. A Kentish term, see EDD. (s.v. Cant, sb⁴ 2). Cp. M. Du. kant (Verdam).

canted, tilted up, thrown up. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil, Aeneid, iii. 211. See EDD. (s.v. Cant, vb.³ 9 (1)). E. Fris. kanten, ‘etwas auf die Seite legen’ (Koolman).

canter, one who cants, a vagrant. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (P. Can.).

cantharides, a kind of flies; Spanish flies; sometimes Aphides. Drayton, Muses’ Elysium, Nymph, viii. 54. Used as a stimulant, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 1 (Cleremont). L. cantharides, pl. of cantharis; Gk. κανθαρίς, blister-fly.

canting out, singing out, in a beggar’s whine; ‘ ’Tis easier canting out, “A piece of broken bread for a poor man”, than singing “Brooms, maids, brooms: come, buy my brooms”,’ The London Chanticleers, scene 1 (Heath).

cantle, a part, portion; ‘Liron de pain, a cantle of bread’, Cotgrave; ‘A cantel pars, portio’, Levins. Manipulus. ME. cantel, ‘minutal’ (Prompt. EETS., see note, no. 324). OF. (Picard) cantel = F. chanteau, ‘a corner-piece or piece broken off from the corner, hence, a cantel of bread’ (Cotgr.).

cantle, to portion out, Dekker, Whore of Babylon, i. 1. 9; Dryden, Juvenal’s Satire, vii.

cantore, counting-house, office; ‘A Dutchman’s money i’ th’ Cantore’, Butler, Abuse of human learning (Remains i. 211). Du. kantoor, F. comptoir, a counter.

cantred, a hundred; a district containing 100 townships. Spenser, View of Ireland, Globe ed., p. 676, col. 1. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, 398. Wel. cantref, a cantred; cant, a hundred + tref, a town. See Ducange (s.v. Cantredus).

canvas: phr. to receive the canvas, to get the sack; i.e. to be dismissed. Shirley, The Brothers, ii. 1 (Luys); give the canvas, to dismiss, Hyde Park, i. 1 (end).

canvasado, a night attack by soldiers. Merry Devil, i. 1. 44. App. a perverted form of camisado, q.v.; due to confusion with canvass, vb., to knock about, to assault (NED.).

cap, to arrest. Beaumont and Fl., Knight of the B. Pestle, iii. 2 (Host). From. L. capias, the name of a writ; writ of capias, a writ of arrest.

cap a-huff, to set, to cock one’s cap or hat, to put on a swaggering appearance. Greene, James IV, iv. 4. 13. See huff-cap.

cap of maintenance, a kind of hat or cap worn as a symbol of official dignity, or carried before a sovereign or a high dignitary in processions. In the 17th cent. and later it is mentioned chiefly as borne, together with the sword, before the Lord Mayor, and before the Sovereign at his coronation. Massinger, City Madam, iv. 1; A Woman never vext, i. 1 (Stephen). See NED. (s.v. Maintenance).

capadochio, a prison. Puritan Widow, i. 3. 56; ‘in Caperdochy, i’ tha gaol’, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 72; spelt Capperdochy, id. p. 86. App. for Cappadocia (a bit of university slang).

cap-case, a bandbox, cover, basket. Middleton, The Changeling, iii. 4 (De F.); a small travelling-bag, Gascoigne, Supposes, iv. 3 (Philogano).

caper, a privateer, cruiser. Otway, Cheats of Scapin, ii. 1 (Scapin). Du. kaper, a privateer (Sewel, ed. 1766).

capilotade, a kind of hash, or mixed dish; hence, a hash, a made-up story. ‘What a capilotade of a story’s here!’ Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, iii. 2 (Flippanta). F. capilotade, ‘a capilotadoe, or stued meat’, &c. (Cotgr.).

capnomanster, one who divines from the way in which smoke rises from an altar. For capnomancer, Birth of Merlin, iv. 1. 62. From capnomancy, divination by smoke. Gk. καπνομαντεία.

capocchia, a simpleton. In Tr. and Cr. iv. 2. 33. Fem. of Ital. capocchio, ‘a doult, a noddie’ (Florio).

capot, in the game of piquet, the winning of all the tricks by one player, which scores 40. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, ii. 2 (Wildair); to win all the tricks at the game of piquet against another; ‘I have capotted her’, id. i. 1 (Fireball). F. faire capot (Dict. de l’Acad., ed. 1762).

cappadocian. In Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, v. 1, Eyre, who had come to be Lord Mayor of London, says that he had promised ‘the mad Cappadocians’, who had been his fellow-apprentices, that he would feast them if he ever attained to that dignity. I think it is evidently a jocose expression for mad-caps, with a punning reference to the cap, i.e. the flat-cap, which was the special headgear of the London apprentice, and to which frequent references are made. Just below he varies it to ‘my fine dapper Assyrian lads’.

caprich, a freak, a whim, fancy, sudden giddy thought. Butler, Hadibras, ii. 1. 18; printed capruch, Shirley, Example, ii. 1 (Vainman). Ital. capriccio, ‘a sudden fear apprehended, making one’s hair to stand on end’ (Florio); lit. the bristling of the head (capo + riccio); see note on ‘Caprice’, by A. L. Mayhew, in Mod. Lang. Rev., July, 1912.

capricious, witty. As You Like It, iii. 3. 8; Heywood, The Fair Maid, iii. 2 (Roughman).

capte, capacity. Only in Udall: tr. of Apoph., Preface, p. vi (1877); fol. 23, back (1542); id. Cicero, § 45.

capuccio, a hood. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 10. Ital. capuccio, a cowl.

carabin(e, carbine, a mounted musketeer. Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, v. 1 (Merchant). F. carabin, ‘cavalier qui porte une carabine’ (Dict. de l’Acad.).

caract, worth, value. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., iii. 3. 23 (Kitely); Volpone, i. 1 (Corvino); Magnetic Lady, i. 1 (Compass).

caract, carect, a mark, sign, character. Meas. for M. v. 1. 56; holy Carects, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Golding, De Mornay, iii. 37. ME. carect (Wyclif, Apoc. xx. 4). Prov. caracta, ‘marque, caractère’ (Levy). Norm. F. caractes, pl. caractères magiques (Moisy). L. caracter (Vulg., Apoc. xx. 4), Gk. χαρακτήρ.

caravan (Cant), an object inviting plunder; hence, a dupe, one easily cheated. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1; iv. 1 (Belfond Senior).

caravel, carvel, a kind of light ship. Eden, Three Books on America (ed. Arber, p. 45). Spelt carvel, Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, i. 2. 15. F. caravelle, Ital. caravella, Port. caravéla.

carbonado, a piece of flesh scored across and grilled upon coals. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 4. 47; Coriolanus, iv. 5. 199; Lyly, Sapho, ii. 3. 175; to make a ‘carbonado’ of, King Lear, ii. 2. 42. Span. carbonada, ‘a carbonado on the coles’ (Minsheu).

carcanet, a collar or necklace of jewels. Com. Errors, iii. 1. 4; ‘Captain jewels in the carcanet’, Sonnet 52. 8. Cp. F. carcan, ‘une espèce de chaîne ou de collier de pierreries’ (Dict. de l’Acad., 1762).

card, a chart; esp. the circular card on which the points of the compass were marked. Macbeth, i. 3. 17; Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iii. 2 (Archas). To speak by the card, i.e. with the precision shown by such a card, Hamlet, v. 1. 149. ‘Climes that took up the greatest part o’ th’ card’, i.e. of the map, Heywood, If you know not me (Medina), vol. i. p. 334.

card, to play at cards. Latimer, Sermon on the Ploughers, ed. Arber, p. 25. To card a rest, to set up a rest, at the game of primero (see rest), Heywood, The Royal King, vol. vi, p. 32.

cardecu, an old silver coin, a quarter of a crown. All’s Well, iv. 3. 314; v. 2. 35. F. quart d’écu.

carduus benedictus, the Blessed Thistle, noted for its medicinal properties. Much Ado, iii. 4. 72; Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2 (Galatea). See Sin. Barth. 14.

care: phr. to take care for, to give attention to. Bible, 2 Kings xxii, and Esther vi (contents).

carect, carrect, a carrack, a ship of burden. ‘Carects or hulks’, North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 36 (in Shak. Plut., p. 213, n. 3); carrects, pl., Com. Errors, iii. 2. 140. Med. L. carraca, see Ducange, and Dozy, Glossaire (s.v. Caraca).

careful, anxious, solicitous. Titus And. iv. 4. 84; Milton, P. L. iv. 983; Bible, Dan. iii. 16. ME. careful, full of care, sorrowful (Chaucer, C. T. A. 1565).

carfe, an incision, cut. Golding, Metam. viii. 762; fol. 104, bk. (1603) ‘Carf’ is in prov. use for the incision or notch made by a saw or axe in felling timber (EDD.).

cargazon, a cargo; ‘A cargazon of complements’, Howell, Foreign Travell, sect. xv, p. 67. Also, a list of goods shipped; Hakluyt, vol. ii, pt. 1, p. 217. Span. cargazon, cargo.

cargo, used as an exclamation. Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, iv (Butler); Tomkis, Epil. to Albumazar. In both cases the context refers to great riches.

cark(e, anxiety, grief. Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 44; Massinger, Roman Actor, ii. 1 (Paris); ‘Esmoy, cark, care, thought, sorrow, heaviness’, Cotgrave; Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use in the north country; gen. in phr. cark and care (EDD.). ME. cark(e, anxiety (Gamelyn, 760). Anglo-F. cark (kark), charge, load (Rough List). The Norman and Picard form of Central F. charge. See Dict. Cark(e, to be anxious; ‘I carke, I care, I take thought’, Palsgrave; Tusser, Husbandry, § 113. 15; Robinson, tr. More’s Utopia, 107.

carl, a countryman, a churl. Cymb. v. 2. 4; Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 54. Icel. karl, a man, also, one of the common folk; opposed to jarl, as OE. ceorl to eorl.

carl, to act as a carl or churl, to snarl. Return from Parnassus, last scene (Furor). The verb is given as a north Yorksh. word in EDD. (s.v. Carl, sb.¹ 3).

carlot, a peasant. As You Like It, iii. 5. 108.

carnadine, a carnation-coloured stuff. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 2. 4. Ital. carnadino, a flesh-colour (Florio); carne, flesh.

carnifex, a hangman; hence, a scoundrel. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 4 (Capt. Albo). L. carnifex, an executioner.

caroche, a luxurious kind of carriage. Webster, White Devil (ed. Dyce, p. 6); Duchess of Malfi, iv. 2; Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Leonora). F. carroche (Cotgr.). Ital. carroccio, a carriage, a ‘caroche’.

carosse, a carriage. Chapman, Byron’s Tragedy, v. i (D’Escures). F. carosse (Cotgr.); Med. F. carrosse.

†carpell. Peele, Edw. I, ed. Dyce, p. 401, col. 1. Sense unknown.

carpet, a table-cloth, a table-cover. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, iv. 2 (Truewit); Staple of News, i. 2. 2; ‘a carpet to cover the table’, Heywood, A Woman killed, iii. 2 (Jenkin); ‘carpets for their tables’, Heylin, Hist. of the Reformation, To the Reader. It was in this sense that a matter was said to be ‘on the carpet’ (i.e. of the council-table). See Trench, Select Glossary.

carpet-knight, a contemptuous term for a knight whose achievements belong rather to the carpet (the lady’s boudoir) than to the field of battle; ‘Mignon de couchette, a Carpet-knight, one that ever loves to be in women’s chambers’, Cotgrave; Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, i. 1 (Alberto). There was once an order of Knights of the Carpet, so called to distinguish them from knights that are dubbed for service in the field. See NED.

carriage, that which is carried, baggage. Bible, 1 Sam. xvii. 22; Acts xxi. 15; ‘Carriages of an army are termed impedimenta’, Fuller, Worthies of England, Norfolk; manner of carrying one’s body, bodily deportment, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 472; demeanour, behaviour, Com. Errors, iii. 2. 14; moral conduct, Timon, iii. 2. 89; Fletcher, Love’s Pilgrimage, i. 1 (Sanchio); Island Princess, ii. 6. 12.

carricado, a movement in fencing. Nabbes, Microcosmus, ii. 1 (Choler); Marston, Scourge of Villainy, Sat. xi. 57. See NED. (s.v. Caricado).

carvel; see caravel.

carwitchet, carwhitchet, a pun, quibble, conundrum. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, v. 1 (Leath.); Shirley, Bird in a Cage, ii. 1 (Morello). See NED. (s.v. Carriwitchet), and Nares (s.v. Carwhichet).

case, a pair; ‘This case of rapiers’, Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, ii. 2 (description of Wrath); ‘A case (pair) of matrons’, B. Jonson, Case is altered, ii. 3. 1; ‘a case of pistols’, Shirley, The Traitor, iii. 1 (Rogers); ‘two case of jewels’, Webster, White Devil (ed. Dyce, p. 46).

case, to skin. All’s Well, iii. 6. 111; ‘A cased rabbit’, Dryden, Span. Friar, v. 2 (Gomez); Vanbrugh, Provok’d Wife, iv. 1 (Taylor). Still in use in the north and the W. Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Case, sb.¹ 6).

casible, a chasuble. Middleton, A Game at Chess, i. 1 (Blk. Knt.’s Pawn). Med. Lat. casibula (Ducange, s.v. Casula).

caskanet, a word common in the 17th cent., used sometimes in the sense of a necklace set with jewels (or carcanet), sometimes in the sense of a casket. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Jolenta); Lingua, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, ix. 426. See NED.

cass, to cashier, dismiss; ‘Malandrin, a cassed soldier’, Cotgrave. The pp. was confused with cast, and so spelt. ‘Pontius, you are cast’, Beaumont and Fl., Valentinian, ii. 3 (Aëcius). F. casser, ‘to break, to casse, casseere, discharge, turn out of service’ (Cotgr.). Prov. casar, ‘casser, briser’ (Levy).

cassan, casson, cheese. (Cant.) Harman, Caveat, p. 83. Casson, Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Song). Cp. Du. kaas, a cheese.

cassock, a soldier’s cloak or long coat. All’s Well, iv. 3. 191; B. Jonson, Every Man, ii (near the end). The military use is the original; so F. casaque, Span. and Port. casaca, and Ital. casacca. Cp. MHG. casagân, a horseman’s coat (Schade). Probably of Persian origin (through the Arabic), see NED.

cast, for cassed; see cass.

caster, one who casts dice, in gaming. The setter is one who sets, or proposes, the amount of the stake against him. If the setter wants to propose a very high stake, he says—ware the caster! i.e. let him beware. The caster usually says at all! i.e. I cast against all setters; but he may limit the amount of the stake. Massinger, City Madam, iv. 2 (Tradewell).

caster, a cant term for a cloak. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); Harman, Caveat, p. 82.

casting, anything given to a hawk to cleanse and purge her gorge. Massinger, Picture, iv. 1 (Ubaldo).

casting-bottle, a bottle for sprinkling perfumes. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, i. 1 (Cupid); Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, v. 1 (Livia). So also casting-glass, B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iv. 4 (Macilente).

castrel, a kestrel, a base kind of hawk. Fletcher, The Pilgrim, i. 1 (Alphonso); Ford, Lady’s Trial, iv. 2 (Futelli). F. cercerelle, a kestrel (Cotgr.).

cat, in military phrase; a lofty work used in fortifications and sieges. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P. Canter); Shirley, Honoria, i. 2. This military work was also called a cavalier, q.v. See NED. (s.v. Cat, sb.¹ 6 b).

Cataian, a Cathaian, an inhabitant of Cathay; hence a thief, a scoundrel; because the Chinese were thought to be clever thieves, Merry Wives, ii. 1. 148; Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iv. 1 (Matheo). See Nares.

cataphract, a horse-soldier, protected (as well as his horse) with a coat-of-mail. Milton, Samson, 1619. Gk. κατάφρακτος, one completely protected.

catasta, a jocose term for the stocks. Butler, Hudibras, ii. 1. 259. L. catasta, a stage on which slaves were exposed for sale; Med. L. catasta, an engine of torture (Ducange).

catastrophe, conclusion; (humorously) the posteriors. L. L. L. iv. 1. 77; (2) 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 66; Merry Devil, ii. 1. 10.

†Catazaner, only in Shirley, Ball, v. 1 (Freshwater). Perhaps a misprint for Catayaner = Cataian, q.v.

cater, a caterer, purveyor, buyer of provisions. Massinger, City Madam, ii. 1 (Luke); Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 26. ME. catour (Gamelyn, 321), for Anglo-F. acatour, a buyer. See Dict.

cater-tray, lit. ‘four-three’; alluding to the four and three on opposite faces of a die. Hence stop-cater-tray, the name of a false or loaded die. Chapman, Mons. d’Olive, iv. 1 (Dique). See quatre.

Catherine pear, a small and early variety of pear. Suckling, Ballad on Wedding. Catherine-pear-coloured, of a light red colour, used of a lady’s complexion, Westward Ho, ii. 3 (Birdlime). [Cp. Crabbe, Tales of the Hall, ‘ ’Twas not the lighter red, that partly streaks The Catherine pear that brighten’d o’er her cheeks’ (x. 599).]

catlings, catgut strings for a violin. Tr. and Cr. iii. 3. 306.

catso, a rogue, a scamp. B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, ii. 1 (Carlo); also as interj., ‘Cat-so! let us drink’, Motteux, Rabelais, v. 8 (NED.). Ital. cazzo, an interjection of admiration, as some women cry suddenly (Florio); cazzo, ‘membrum virile’.

catstick, a stick or bat used in playing tip-cat or trap-ball. Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 2 (Page); Middleton, Women beware Women, i. 2 (Ward).

catzerie, roguery. Only in Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 5. 12.

cauled, having or adorned with a caul or close-fitting cap; ‘My cauled countenance’, Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 327. ME., P. Plowman, C. xvii. 351.

causen, to give reasons. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 9. 26. Med. L. causare. (Ducange).

cautel(e, wariness, caution. Elyot, Governour, i. 4; a crafty device, trickery, Hamlet, i. 3. 15. OF. cautele, L. cautela (in Roman Law) precaution. Anglo-F. cautele, deceit (Rough List).

cautelous, cautious, wary. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, i. 3 (Wit.); Spenser, View of Ireland (Globe ed. 619); crafty, wily, Coriolanus, iv. 1. 33.

cavalier(o. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, ii. 4. 83; iii. 2. 81. Span. cavalléro, ‘in Fortification, a Cavalier, or Mount, which is an Elevation of Earth with a platform for Canon on it, to overlook other Works’ (Stevens, 1706); cp. Ital. cavagliére a cavállo (Florio). F. cavalier, ‘se dit d’une pièce de fortification de terre fort élevée, & où l’on met du canon’ (Dict. de l’Acad., ed. 1762).

cavallerie, an order of chivalry; ‘The knighthood and cavallerie of Rome’, Holland, Pliny, ii. 460; the collective name for horse-soldiers, Bacon, Hen. VII, 74; Massinger, Maid of Honour, ii. 3 (Gonzaga). F. cavallerie, ‘horsemanship; horsemen’ (Cotgr.).

cavell, a mean fellow. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2217; Lyndesay, Satyre, 2863. See Jamieson.

caveson, a strong nose-piece for a horse, a kind of curb; ‘The Lithuanians, sir, ... must Be rid with cavesons’, Sir J. Suckling, Brennoralt, iii. 1; ed. Hazlitt, vol. ii, p. 104. F. caveçon, ‘a cavechine or cavasson for a horse’s nose’ (Cotgr.). Ital. cavezzone, augmentative of cavezza a halter; Med. L. capitia, capitium, a head-covering (Ducange). See NED. (s.v. cavesson).

cazimi, cazini: in phr. in cazimi, ‘a Planet is in the heart of the Sunne, or in Cazimi, when he is not removed from him 17 minutes’, Lilly, Astrology, xix. 113; ‘In cazini of the sun’, Massinger, City Madam, ii. 2 (Stargaze); Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 5. 6; Selden’s notes to Drayton, Pol. xiv (near the end).

cecchin, a sequin, gold coin. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2. Ital. zecchino, ‘a coin of gold current in Venice’ (Florio). See chequin.

cedule, a slip or scroll of parchment or paper containing writing. Caxton, Golden Legend, 114; spelt cedle, Morte Arthur, leaf 421, back, 5, bk. xxi, ch. 2; spelt sedyl (same page). OF. cedule; Med. Lat. cedula, scedula (Ducange), dimin. of sceda, scheda. See NED. (s.v. Schedule).

cee, a small portion of beer; marked in the buttery-book of a college with the letter c, which denoted one-sixteenth of a penny, or half a cue, as being its price. ‘Eate cues, drunk cees’, 1 Part of Jeronimo, ii. 3. 9; see Hazlitt’s Dodsley, iv. 367. ‘Cues and cees’, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 16, ed. Arber, p. 38. See cue.

cellar, a case or stand for holding bottles. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, iii. 1 (last line).

cemitare, a ‘scimitar’. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 3. F. cimeterre (Cotgr.), Span. cimitarra.

censure, judgement, opinion, Richard III, ii. 2. 144; to form or give an opinion, to estimate, ‘How you are censured here in the city’, Coriolanus, ii. 1. 25.

cent, a game at cards; also spelt saint, sant; it seems to have resembled piquet. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One; Triumph of Death, sc. 5 (Gentille); Shirley, Example, iii. 1 (Confident). So called, because 100 was ‘game’. See Nares.

centener, a centurion. North, tr. of Plutarch, Octavius, § 4 (Shak. Plut., p. 237, n. 2); centiner, id. § 3 (p. 235, n. 2). F. centenier (Cotgr.), L. centenarius, consisting of a hundred; = centurio (Vegetius, fl. A.D. 385).