GERMANE-GIBBETS. 185 germane, or german, related, akin: those that are germane to him, iii. 488; more germane to the matter, vii. 428. Germans desire to have three of your horses: the duke himself will be, &c.—The, i. 432; there is three cozen-germans that has cozened, &c., i. 438: see duke de Jarmany—A. Germany, can dearly witness—The upper, v. 563: "Alluding to the heresy of Thomas Muntzer, which sprung up in Saxony in the years 1521 and 1522. See an account of his tenets in Alexander Ross's View of all Religions in the World, 6th edit. p. 398, &c." (GREY). germens, germs, seeds, vii. 262; viii. 62. gest prefix'd for's parting-To let him there a month behind the, To detain him there a month beyond the time prescribed for his departure, iii. 406: In a royal "progress" the lodgings and stages for rest were called gests (from the Fr. giste); and, as Nares (in Gloss.) remarks, the table of the gests limited not only the places, but the time of staying at each. gests, exploits, viii, 344. get within him, get within his guard, close with him, ii. 55. ghost, a dead body: see timely-parted ghost. ghosted, haunted as a ghost, viii. 293. giant-Some mollification for your, iii. 328: "Ladies, in romance, are guarded by giants, who repell all improper or troublesome advances. Viola, seeing the waiting-maid so eager to oppose her message, entreats Olivia to pacify her giant" (JOHNSON): “Viola likewise alludes to the diminutive size of Maria" (STEEVENS). gib—A, vii. 386; as melancholy as a gib-cat, iv. 207 : A gib or a gibcat is an old male cat,-gib being the contraction of Gilbert (“A gibbe (or old male cat). Macou." Cotgrave's Fr. and Engl. Dict. : "A Gib-cat, Catus felis mas." Coles's Lat. and Engl. Dict.): Ray gives "As melancholy as a gibb'd [a corruption of gib] cat.” Proverbs, p. 224, ed. 1768. gibbets on the brewer's bucket—He that, iv. 360: "This alludes to the manner of carrying a barrel, by putting it on a sling, which is thus described by R. Holme: The slings are a strong, thick, yet short pole, not above a yard and an half long: to the middle is fixed a strong plate with a hole, in which is put a hook ... on this hook is [are] fastened two other short chains, with broad-pointed hooks, with them clasping the ends of the barrels above the heads, the barrel is lifted up, and borne by two men to any place, as is shewed Chap. V. No 146.' Acad. of Armory, B. iii. chap. vii. § 121. Most people who live in London have seen the operation, in taking a barrel from the dray, which is exactly represented by Holme's figure. It is evident, that to hang or gibbet a barrel on the pole, in 186 GIG-GILLYVORS. this manner, must be done by a quick movement, so as to attach both hooks at once." Nares's Gloss. gig, a kind of top ("Moscolo... a top, or gigge or twirl that children play with." Florio's Ital. and Engl. Dict.: "Toupie. A gig, or casting-top." Cotgrave's Fr. and Engl. Dict.), ii. 210, 220 (twice). giglet (or giglot), wanton, giddy: a giglet wench, v. 77; O giglet Fortune, viii. 433. ... giglets (or giglots), wantons, jades: Away with those giglets, i. 550 ("A Giggle, or Gigglet. Gadrouillette." "Gadrouillette : A minx, gigle, flirt, callet, Gixie; (a fained word, applyable to any such cattell)." Cotgrave's Fr. and Engl. Dict.: "A Giglet, fæmina petulans." Coles's Lat. and Engl. Dict.). gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt—I'll (with a quibble on gild and guilt), vii. 231; gilt with Frenchmen's blood, iv. 25: “To gild any thing with blood is a very common phrase in the old plays" (STEEVENS): "At this we shall not be surprised, if we recollect that gold was popularly and very generally styled red." Nares's Gloss.: and see golden blood, &c. gilded 'em-This grand liquor that hath, i. 274: Gilded is a cant expression for "drunk;" and in grand liquor there is an allusion to the grand elixir of the alchemists: compare medicine hath With his tinct gilded thee-That great. gilded puddle, viii. 268: "On all puddles where there is much mixture of urine, as in stable-yards, &c. there is formed a film, which reflects all the prismatic colours, and very principally yellow, and other tinges of a golden hue." Nares's Gloss. gillyvors-Carnations and streak'd, iii. 464; gillyvors, iii. 465. "Gillofer or Gelofer. The old name for the whole class of carnations, pinks, and sweet-williams; from the French girofle, which is itself corrupted from the Latin cariophyllum. See an ample account of them in Lyte's Dodoens, pp. 172–175. In Langham's Garden of Health they are called galofers. See p. 281. Our modern word gillyflower is corrupted from this. See Stocke Gillofer in Lyte's Dodoens, p. 168. They were called stock from being kept both summer and winter." Nares's Gloss.: "Carnations and Gillovors, or gilloflowers, belong to the genus Dianthus, and were well known in the time of Shakspere. Parkinson, in his 'Garden of all sorts of Pleasant Flowers,' dedicated to the Queen of Charles I., and published in 1629, says that 'carnations and gilloflowers be the chiefest flowers of account in all our English gardens;' and he calls them the pride of our English gardens, and the queen of delight and of flowers, and adds: 'They flower not until the heat of the year, which is in July, and continue flowering until the colds of the autumn check them, or until they have wholly outspent themselves; and these fair flowers are usually increased by slips.' He GILT-GIMMERS. 187 also distinguishes them from the gilloflower called stock gillovor. Gerarde, in his 'Herball,' describing the carnation-gillofloure, says: 'On the top of the stalks do grow very fair flowers, of an excellent sweet smell, and pleasant carnation colour, whereof it took his name.' Tusser, in 'Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,' notices gilloflowers red, white, and carnation, as distinct from wall gilloflowers and stock gilloflowers, and adds; 'The gilloflower also, the skilful doe know, Doth look to be covered in frost and in snow.' Spenser, in 'Hobbinol's Dittie' [The Shepheards Calender, April] 'Bring hither the pink and purple cullumbine, Bring sweet carnations [Bring coronations], and sops in wine, Sir W. J. Hooker's 'British Flora,' vol. i. p. 177, under Dianthus 'The curious choice clove July flower,' or carnation of our gardens, with its endless diversity of colour and form; yet such it is always considered to be.' The streaked gillovors, noticed by Perdita, are produced by the flowers of one kind being impregnated by the pollen of another kind, and this art (or law) in nature Shakspere alludes to in the delicate language used by Perdita, as well as to the practice of increasing the plants by slips." Beisly's Shakspere's Garden, &c., p. 82. gilt, gilding, golden show, display of gold: the double gilt of this op portunity, iii. 359; Our gayness and our gilt, iv. 491; Than gilt his trophy, vi. 146; Iron of Naples hid with English gilt, v. 258; when thou wast in thy gilt, vii. 75. gilt, money for the gilt of France—O guilt indeed! (with a quibble on gilt and guilt), iv. 429. gimmal-bit, iv. 485: This was a sort of double bit, in which the parts were united as in a gimmal-ring (derived by most from the Latin gemellus): "There came into fashion, towards the sixteenth century, a class of rings which were called gimmal rings or gimmals, and which, as the name implies, consisted at first of two rings united in one, but which were afterwards formed of three, and sometimes even of four separate rings. When the rings were closed together, the place at which they fastened was covered externally with the representation of two hands clasped, and hence the term gimmal is often applied to a single ring when it bears this particular device" (WRIGHT): Compare joint-ring. gimmers, a gimcrack, a quaint contrivance (akin to, if not a corruption of, gimmal: see the preceding article), v. 13. gin, to begin, vii. 289; gins, i. 251; vii, 205, 328; viii. 418; ix. 57. ging, a gang, i. 429. In all our ginge wee are but sixty five.” Heywood's Fair Maid of the West, Part First, 1631, pp. 40, 48. "Who still led the Rusticke Ging." Drayton's Shepheards Sirena, p. 146; appended to But the word is of great antiquity.) gingerly, nicely, carefully, i. 289. gipsy's lust—To cool a, viii. 253; Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose, &c., viii. 350: In the first of these passages "gipsy is used both in the original meaning for an Egyptian, and in its accidental sense for a bad woman" (JOHNSON): in the second passage "There is a kind of pun arising from the corruption of the word Egyptian into gipsy. The old law-books term such persons as ramble about the country, and pretend skill in palmistry and fortune-telling, Egyptians" (SIR J. HAWKINS); and see fast and loose. gird, a sarcasm, a gibe, iii. 186; v. 48 (see kindly). gird, to gibe, to taunt, iv. 313; vi. 143. girdle break-I pray God my, iv. 266: "Alluding to the old adage, ‘ungirt, unblest'” (STEEVENS). girdle-He knows how to turn his, ii. 139: “Large belts were worn with the buckle before; but for wrestling the buckle was turned behind, to give the adversary a fairer grasp at the girdle. To turn the buckle behind, therefore, was a challenge" (HOLT WHITE): "A proverbial phrase, given in this form by Ray-'If you be angry, you may turn the buckle of your girdle behind you,' ed. 1678, p. 226 [p. 175, ed. 1768]; in other words, you may change your temper or humour, alter it to the opposite side. It seems to have no connexion with either challenging or wrestling, as some have supposed; and it not unfrequently occurs in the form-'you may turn your buckle,' without any mention of the girdle" (HALLIWELL). Gis, a corruption of Jesus, vii. 397. give, to give, to show, as armorial bearings: give sheep in lions' stead, v. 26; the hearts of old gave hands; But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts (with a quibble on the word gave, and certainly without any allusion, as Warburton supposed, to the new order of baronets created by King James), viii. 201. ("An Eagle argent in a field of blew Sir J. Harington's Orlando Furioso, GIVE GLOBE. "It spites him that Rogero dare aspire Id. B. xxx. st. 17: "Rose of the Queene of Loue belou'd ; 189 Sir J. Davies's Seventh Hymn of Astræa; appended to Nosce Teipsum, &c., ed. 1622. With the second of the above passages of Shakespeare may be "My hand shall neur giue my heart, my heart shall giue give aim: see aim—Give. Warner's Albions England, p. 282, ed. 1596.) give me your hands, give me your applause, clap your hands, ii. 332. give thee the bucklers-1: see bucklers, &c. given out these arms, resigned these arms, v. 199: see note 170, v. 199. glad—To give him, ix. 25: Here glad would seem to be a substantive,-gladness. gleek, a joke, a jeer, a scoff: First Mus. What will you give us? Pet. No money, on my faith; but the gleek,—I will give you the minstrel, vi. 467; gleeks, v. 55: “In some of the notes on this word it has been supposed to be connected with the card-game of gleek; but it was not recollected that the Saxon language supplied the term Glig, ludibrium, and doubtless a corresponding verb. Thus glee signifies mirth and jocularity; and gleeman or gligman, a minstrel or joculator. Gleek was therefore used to express a stronger sort of joke, a scoffing. It does not appear that the phrase to give the gleek was ever introduced in the above game, which was borrowed by us from the French, and derived from an original of very different import from the word in question. . . . To give the minstrel is no more than a punning phrase for giving the gleek. Minstrels and jesters were anciently called gleekmen or gligmen" (DOUCE): “To give the gleek meant to pass a jest upon, to make a person appear ridiculous. To give the minstrel, which follows, has no such meaning. Peter only means, 'I will call you minstrel, and so treat you ;' to which the musician replies, 'Then I will give you the serving creature,' as a personal retort in kind." Nares's Gloss. in "A Gleek." gleek, to joke, to jeer, to scoff, ii. 289; gleeking, iv. 510. Glendower is dead-A certain instance that, iv. 352: "Glendower ... did not die till after King Henry IV. Shakespeare was led into this error by Holinshed, who places Owen Glendower's death in the tenth year of Henry's reign" (MALONE). glib, to geld, iii. 428. globe-This distracted, "This head confused with thought" (STEEVENS), vii. 328. |
