'Say, Essay. Fr. Essai.

To Scan, to canvass, to examine, to weigh and consider well any business.

Scarfed, pieced or joined close together; a term used by the ship

builders.

Scath, barm, mischief. Scathful, mischievous.

A Sconce, a fort, a fortress; also a man's head.

To Scotch, to hack, to bruise, to crush. Ital. Schiacciare.

Scroyles, the disease call'd the king's evil. Fr. Escroüelles; here given as a name of contempt and abuse to the men of Angiers; as we sometimes scurrilously call men Scabs.

To Scutch, to switch, to whip, to scourge. Ital Scuticare.
Seam, talow, fat.

· A Sec-mall, a kind of gull, a bird haunting the sea-coasts.

To Seel, a terin in falconry, to run a silk though the eye-lids of a young hawk, and to draw them near together, in order to make the hawk bear a hood.

Sessa or Sessey, peace, be quiet.

Lat. Cessa.

A Shard, a tile or broken piece of a tile: thence figuratively a scale or shell upon the back of any creature. The Shard-borne beetle means the beetle that is borne up by wings hard and glazed like a pot-sheard.

Sharded, scaled.

To Shark up, to pick up in a thievish manner. Fr. Chercher.

Sheen, clear, bright; also brightness, lustre: used in both senses by Spenser.

To Shend, to blame, to reprove, to disgrace, to evil-intreat.

A Shive, a slice.

A Showghe, a rough-coated dog, a shock.

Shrift, confession. To Shrive, to confess.

A Siege, a seat: also the fundament of a man, in which sense the

French often use it; Mal au siege: une fistule au siege.

Sizes, certain portions of bread, beer, or other victuals, which in public societies are set down to the account of particular persons: a word still used in the Colleges of the Universities. Sized, bedaubed as with size, which is a gluish composition used by painters. Ital. Sisa.

To Skirr, to scour about a country.

Sleaded or Sleded, carried on a sled or sledge.

Slop, wide-knee'd breeches.

Slough, an husk, an outward skin.

Smirch'd, smeared, daubed, dirtied.

To Sneap, to check, to snub, to rebuke.

Sooth, true or truth: also, adulation, in the sense of the verb to

soothe.

To Sowle, to lug or pull.

A Sowter, a cobler. Lat. Sutor. In this passage it is intended as the name of a dog.

To Sperr (Prol. to Tr. and Cress.), to bolt, to barricado, or any way fasten.

Spleen is often used for a sudden start, a hasty motion, a mo mentary quickness.

A Spray, a young tender shoot, or branch of a tree.

Spurs, the fibres of a root.

To Square, to jar, to wrangle or quarrel. For the derivation see the next word.

A Squarer, a swaggering blade. This word is taken from the French phrase, se quarrer, which signifies to strut with arms akembo (ansatus incedere), an action which denotes a character of an hectoring braggadocio. The French say, Les jeuns fan◄ farons se quarrent en marchant.

A Squier, the same as a square.

A Stanyel, otherwise called a ring-tail, a kind of buzzard or kite.

Station, attitude, presence, person.
A Statist, a statesman. Ital. Statista.
A Stay, a let, a stop, an impediment.
To Stead, or Sted, to serve, to help.

Stickler-like; Sticklers were seconds appointed in a duel to see

fair play, who parted the combatants when they thought fit: and this being done by interposing with a stick, from thence came the name.

Stigmatical, branded with marks of disgrace. Lat. Stigmaticus.
A Stithy, an anvil. To Stithy, to beat upon an anvil.

Stoccata, a thrust in fencing; an Italian word.

A Stole, a robe, a long garment, a mantle, a woman's gown: used also by Spenser. Lat. Stola.

To Suggest, to prompt or egg on.

Sumpter, a beast which carries necessaries on a journey.

Surcease, this generally signifies the suspension of any act, but in

this passage it stands for the total ceasing after the final execution of it. Fr. Surseoir.

A Swabber, an inferior officer in a ship, whose business it is to keep the ship clean.

T.

A Tabourine, a drum. Fr. Tabourin.

To Take, to blast, to strike with infection. Fr. Attaquer.
Tall is very frequently used for eminent, notable, considerable.
To Tarr on, to provoke, to urge, as they set on dogs to fight.
A Tassel-gentle, a particular kind of hawk, the male of the faulcon.
In strictness it should be spelt Tiercel-gentle. Fr. Tiercelet.
Teen, trouble, grief.

Tested, tried, put to the test.

A Tether, a long rope with which horses are tied to confine their feeding to a certain compass, and prevent their trespassing further.

Thewes, sinews, muscles, bodily strength.

Thirdborough, the same as headborough or constable.

Thrift, thrift, thriving, success.

Tiny, small, slender. Lat. Tenuis.

To Toze, to break in pieces, to draw out, or pull asunder, as they do wool, by carding it to make it soft. Ital. Tozzare: thence figuratively, by artful insinuations to draw out the secrets of a man's thoughts.

To Tramell up, to stop; a metaphor taken from a tramel-net

which is used to be put cross a river from bank to bank, and catches all the fish that come, suffering none to pass. Fr. Tramail.

Trick is a word frequently used for the air, or that peculiarity in a face, voice or gesture, which distinguishes it from others. Tricksey, dainty, curious, sleight.

Trigon, a term in astrology, when three signs of the same nature and quality meet in a trine aspect.

Troll-madam, a game commonly call'd Pigeon-holes.

Troussers, a kind of breeches wide and tucked up high, such as are still worn in the robes of the order of the Garter. Fr. Trousse: but "strait troussers" in this passage has a jesting sense, and means the natural skin without any breeches.

To Truss, is a term in falconry, when a hawk near the ground raiseth a fowl, and soaring upward with it seizeth it in the air.

To Try, a term in sailing: a ship is said to try when she hath no more sail abroad but her main-sail, when her tacks are close aboard, the bowlings set up and the sheets haled close aft; when also the helm is tied close down to the board, and so she is let lie in the sea.

Tub-fast, the ancient discipline of the sweating-tub and fasting for the cure of the French disease,

Tucket, a prelude or voluntary in musick, a flourish of instruments, Ital. Toccata.

Turlurù, a crack-brain, a fool, a Tom of Bedlam: an Italian word. V. U.

To Vail, to let down, to drop, to stoop.

Vanthrace, defensive armour for the arm. Fr. Avant-bras.

Vary, variation, change.

Vant-couriers, fore-runners. Fr. Avant-coureurs.

Vaward, the same as van-guard, the first line of an army and

from thence the forward or leading part of any thing.

Velure, velvet. Fr. Velours.

Venew, a rest or bout in fencing.

A Ventige, a vent or passage for air. Fr. Ventouse.

Via! away! an Italian word.

Vice, "Vice's dagger," and "Like the old Vice." This was the name given to a droll figure heretofore much shown upon our stage, and brought in to play the fool and make sport for the populace. His dress was always a long jerkin, a fool's cap with asses-ears, and a thin wooden dagger, such as is still retained în modern figures of Harlequin and Scaramouche. Minshew and others of our more modern criticks strain hard to find out the etymology of this word, and fetch it from the Greek: probably we need look no farther for it than the old French word Vis, which signified the same as Visage does now: from this in part came Visdase, a word common among them for a fool, which Menage says is but a corruption from Vis d'asne, the face or head of an ass. It may be imagin'd therefore that Visdase or Vis d'ame was the name first given to this foolish theatrical figure, and that by vulgar use it was shorten'd down to plain Vis or Vice.

To Vice, to hold fast as with an instrument call'd a vice.
Umber, a colour used by painters, a dark yellow.