English a. and sb. World English Historical Dictionary

English a. and sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1897, rev. 2025. English a. and sb. Forms: 1 Ænglisc, Englisc, 2–4 Englisch(e, 3–6 Englis(s, -ys, (3 Ænglis, Engleis, -is(s)ce, 4–6 Englissh(e, -issch, -yss(h(e, -yssche, Inglis(s, -ish(e, -isshe, (4 Engliȝsch, -ijs, Engelis(sh, -ysch, Ingelis, Ynglisse, 6 Englush, Ynglyche), 4– English. [OE. ęnglisc, ænglisc:—OTeut. *anglisko-, f. *Angli- (OE. Engle) pl., the Angles, one of the Teutonic peoples who settled in Britain in 5th c.; see ANGLE3.]

1   A.  adj.

2   1.  In early uses now only Hist. Often with ellipsis of pl. sb. as in 2 d.

3   When the adj. first occurs in OE., it had already lost its etymological sense ‘of or belonging to the Angles’ (as distinguished from Saxons). The earliest recorded sense is: Of or belonging to the group of Teutonic peoples collectively known as the Angelcynn (‘Angle-kin’ = Bæda’s gens Anglorum), comprising the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who settled in Britain during the 5th c. With the incorporation of the Celtic and Scandinavian elements of the population into the ‘English’ people, the adj. came in the 11th c. to be applied to all natives of ‘England,’ whatever their ancestry. But for a generation or two after the Norman Conquest, the descendants of the invaders, though born in England, continued to be regarded as ‘French,’ so that the word English, as applied to persons, was for a time restricted to those whose ancestors were settled in England before the Conquest. In formal state documents the distinction between the ‘French’ and ‘English’ inhabitants of England survived after it had ceased practically to exist; cf. ENGLISHRY.

4 c. 880.  Ælfred & Guthrum’s Treaty (Thorpe), ii. Gif man ofslaʓen weorðe, ealle we læteð efen dyrne, Engliscne & Deniscne.

5 a. 1000.  Ordinance respecting Dûnsǽte (Thorpe), vi. Nah naðer to farenne ne Wylisc man on Ænglisc lond ne Ænglisc on Wylisc, butan [etc.].

6 a. 1016.  Laws of Æthelred (Thorpe). Gif Ænglisc man Deniscne ofslea.

7 a. 1087.  Charter Will. I., in Stubbs, Sel. Chart., 83. Will’m kyng gret … ealle þa burhwaru binnan Londone Frencisce and Englisce.

8 c. 1205.  Lay., 29404. Þat folc þæt was Ænglis. Ibid., 29457. Of Englisce leoden. Ibid., 31673. Penda king is Englisc.

9 1809.  Bawdwen, Domesday Bk., 345. The English have four ploughs in the demesne.

10 1860.  Hook, Lives Abps. (1869), I. iv. 174. Since the English came into Britain.

11 1872.  E. Robertson, Hist. Ess., 215. The gradual extension of the English name in the course of the 10th century is very perceptible.

12   2.  Of or belonging to England or its inhabitants.

13 c. 1290.  Lives Saints (1887), 73. Þe englische barones.

14 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 193. Schyrreffys and bailȝheys maid he [Edward I.] … of Inglis nation.

15 15[?].  Earl Surrey, Death Sir T. Wyat, Poems (Aldine ed.), 60. A worthy guide to bring Our English youth by travail into fame.

16 1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. i. 143. Would I had neuer trod this English Earth.

17 1645.  Fuller, Gd. Th. in Bad T. (1841), 37. The English ambassador.

18 1796.  H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 707. I embarked on board an English ship which had sailed round the world.

19 1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, IV. xvii. Now every English eye, intent, On Branksome’s armed towers was bent.

20 1842.  Bischoff, Woollen Manuf. (1862), II. 125. English wools rose in price.

21 1852.  Earp, Gold Col. Australia, 102. To give the English reader an idea of its present condition.

22   b.  In the names of various trees and plants; as English Elm, Ulmus campestris (see ELM); E. Galingale, Cyperus longus; E. Maidenhair, Asplenium Trichomanes; E. Myrtle, Ligustrum vulgare; E. Treacle, Teucrium Scordium.

23 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxiii. 346. The roote of Cyperus or *English Galangal, is hoate and dry in the third degree.

24 1861.  Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., VI. 12. Order. Cyperaceæ … Sweet or English Galingale.

25 1562.  Turner, Herbal, II. (1568), 157 b. Trichomanes (that is our *English Maydens heare) is supposed [etc.].

26 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxix. 410. (Heading), Of English or common Maydenheare.

27 1879.  in Prior, Plant-n.

28 1846.  Sowerby, Brit. Bot., *English Myrtle, the Common privet, Ligustrum vulgare.

29 1551.  Turner, Herbal, I. I iiij a. Germander, whyche is also called in Cambrige shyre *Englyshe triacle, is called in Greke Chamedrys.

30 1670.  Ray, Catal. Plant. Angliæ, 67 (Britten & Holl.). In agro Cantabrigiensi English Treacle dicitur.

31 1886.  In Britten & Holland.

32   c.  In the names of certain diseases: English Cholera, † English Sweat: see the sbs. † English Disease (Malady), English Melancholy: the ‘spleen.’

33 [1733.  Cheyne, Eng. Malady (1734), Pref. p. i. By Foreigners … Nervous Distempers, Spleen, Vapours, and Lowness of Spirits, are, in Derision, call’d the ENGLISH MALADY.

34 1834.  M. Good Study of Med. (ed. 4), III. 113. English Melancholy.]

35   d.  ellipt. = ‘English people, soldiers,’ etc.

36   (A 17th-c. Sc. writer has the pl. Englishes.)

37 1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 111. O Noble English, that could entertaine With halfe their Forces, the full pride of France.

38 1671.  [R. MacWard], True Non-conf., 221. The violences, wherewith the Englishes, during their Domination among us, can be charged.

39 1711.  Swift, Lett. (1767), III. 181. Pray observe the inhabitants about Wexford; they are old English.

40 1765.  T. Hutchinson, Hist. Col. Mass., i. 146. And they prayed, that civil liberty and freedom might be forthwith granted to all truly English.

41 1859.  Knight, Pop. Hist. Eng., V. 165. That terrible battle-field, which the French call Neerwinden and the English call Landen.

42   3.  transf. Marked by the characteristics of an Englishman. Often in laudatory sense: Possessed of the virtues claimed as peculiarly ‘English.’

43 1539.  Tonstall, Serm. Palm Sund., E ij b. Only take an englyshe hart vnto the.

44 1695.  Enq. Anc. Const. Eng., Pref. 6. He will find the design to be truly English, that is, sincere and honest.

45 1883.  Phelps, Eng. Style, 40. A mind compact with sturdy and solid English elements.

46   quasi-adv.  1784.  Cowper, Tiroc., 671. His address … Not English stiff, but frank and formed to please.

47   4.  As the designation of a language (see B. 1). Hence of words, idioms, grammar, etc.: Belonging to the English language. Of literary compositions, speeches, etc.: Written or spoken in the English language.

48 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom. (Thorpe), II. 358 (Bosw.). Ic [Ælfric Abbod] ʓesett hæbbe wel feowertiʓ larspella on Engliscum ʓereorde. Ibid. (c. 1000), in Sweet, Ags. Reader, 57. Ðu bæde me for oft Engliscra ʓewrita.

49 c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 5. And seið syon ase muchel on englische leodene ase heh sihðe.

50 a. 1240.  Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 199. Ich habbe i-sungen þe ðesne englissce lai.

51 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 14. Ut of latin ðis song is draȝen On Engleis speche.

52 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 24 (Cott.). Sanges … Inglis, frankys, and latine. Ibid., 233 (Gött.). Þis ilke boke es translate vnto engliss tung to rede.

53 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 140. Englysshe speche, Anglicum.

54 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 1 b. It was put into my mynde to drawe it in the englysshe tonge.

55 1580.  Bullokar, Orthogr., There be eight vowels of differing sounds in Inglish speech.

56 1611.  Bible, Dedic., There should be one more exact Translation of the holy Scriptures into the English tongue.

57 1840.  Macaulay, Ranke (1854), II. 541/2. We now see this book take its place among the English Classics.

58 1847.  Emerson, Repr. Men, Shaks., Wks. (Bohn), I. 357. Our English Bible is a wonderful specimen of the strength and music of the English language.

59   b.  with limiting words as in B. 1 b.

60 1579.  Fulke, Refut. Rastel, 763. Prayers remaine still in the Saxon or old English tongue.

61 Mod.  An Old English grammar. Middle-English literature. It is not a modern English word.

62   B.  sb.

63   1.  The English language. First in the adverbial phrase, † on (now in) English. Also in phrase, the king’s, the queen’s English, app. suggested by phrases like ‘to deface the king’s coin.’ Also attrib. as English scholar.

64   In 9th c., and prob. much earlier, Englisc was the name applied to all the Angle and Saxon dialects spoken in Britain. The name English for the language is thus older than the name England for the country. In its most comprehensive use, it includes all the dialects descended from the language of the early Teutonic conquerors of Britain; but it is sometimes popularly restricted to the language since the close of the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ or fully inflected stage; sometimes to the language and dialects of England proper, as distinguished from those of Scotland, Ireland, U.S., etc.; and sometimes to the literary or standard form of the language as distinct from illiterate or ungrammatical speech, etc.

65   [The use as sb. seems to have originated, not in the ellipsis of any particular word (e.g., ʓereord) meaning ‘language,’ but in a vague absol. use of the neuter adj. A similar use is found in the other Teut. langs. and in Romanic; cf. Ger. anf deutsch, Fr. en français, Sp. en castellano.]

66 c. 890.  K. Ælfred, Bæda, III. xix. On sumre ceastre þe is nemned on Englisc Cneoferisburh.

67 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvii. 46. Heli, Heli, lema zabdani? þæt ys on Englisc, Min God, min God, to hwi forlete þu me?

68 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 103. On [sin] is icweden, Gula, þet is ȝifernesse on englisc.

69 c. 1205.  Lay., 6317. Wrat þa laȝen on Englis.

70 a. 1300.  Cursor M., p. 988 Resurrection, 240 (Cott.). Raboni (þat is on englis maister). Ibid. (c. 1340), 26545 (Fairf.). Þat now in Ingelis [v.r. Cott. englis] wil I rede.

71 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 429. Þe same sentense in engliȝsch.

72 1447.  Bokenham, Seyntys, Introd. 4. Wych I purpose now to declare On ynglysh.

73 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 1 b. The mater is spirytuall, and requyreth moche declaracion in englysshe.

74 c. 1530.  Ld. Berners (title), The hystory of the moost noble and valyaunt knyght Arthur of lytell brytayne, translated out of frensshe in to englushe.

75 1598.  Shaks., Merry W., I. iv. 6. Abusing of Gods patience, and the Kings English.

76 1704.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4046/4. Maurice Roberts … a Shropshire Man, speaking very bad English.

77 1782.  Wesley, Wks. (1830), IV. 267. Why has he then bad English on every page?

78 1836.  E. Howard, R. Reefer, I. xxxv. 172. They … put the king’s English to death so charmingly.

79 1864.  Alford (title), A Plea for the Queen’s English.

80   b.  The ‘English’ of a special period or district, or that which appears in the writings of an individual author. Old English: in popular use applied vaguely to all obsolete forms of the language. According to the nomenclature now generally adopted in this country, the Old English period ends about 1100–50, the Middle English period about 1500, when the period of Modern English begins. The name Early English is often used vaguely for Early Middle English, or for Middle and Early Modern English.

81 a. 1225.  St. Marher., 23. I þe moneþ þat on ure ledene is old englisch efterlið inempnet, iulius o latin.

82 1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7672. Yn a prouerbe of olde englys.

83 1340.  Ayenb., Engliss of Kent.

84 1691.  Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 257. To these books of Euphues, ’tis said, that our Nation is indebted for a new English in them.

85 1887.  Ruskin, Præterita, II. x. 338. Hooker’s English was the perfectest existing model.

86   † 2.  The ‘English’ at an author’s command; means of expression in English. Obs.

87 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 66, Prol. Allas, that I ne had Englyssh, ryme, or prose, Suffisant this flour to preyse aryght! Ibid. (c. 1386), Sqr’s T., 29. Myn Englissh eek is insufficient.

88 1631.  Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 553. I will set downe in such English as I haue in the said Legend, or Agon.

89   3.  † a. An English sentence to be rendered into a foreign language. † b. An English equivalent for a foreign word. c. (School slang) An English translation; a ‘crib.’

90 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gram. (Z.), 259. Ealle ðas habbað an Englisc, þeah hi for faegernysse fela synd on Ledenspræce.

91 1552.  Huloet, Englyshe or vulgare geuen by a maister to scholers to be made in latine.

92 1612.  Brinsley, Pos. Parts (1669), 49. The Englishes of our [Latin] Prepositions. Ibid., 53. When an English is given to be made Latine, what must you do first?

93 1679.  W. Walker, Dict. Eng. Particles, Pref. The first column contains some Englishes.

94 1862.  H. C. Adams, First of June, 66. I sometimes have half suspected him of learning his lessons with Englishes!

95   4.  ellipt. for ‘The sense expressed in plain English,’ the plain sense; also, Plain, true English; † English out; and in phrase, In plain English: to speak plainly.

96 1645.  [G. Gillespie], Liberty of Conscience, Pref. A iij. The plain english of the question is this: whether the Christian Magistrate be keeper of both Tables.

97 1647.  Ward, Simp. Cobler (ed. 4), 12. The true English of all this their false Latine, is nothing but a generall Toleration of all Opinions.

98 1659.  Scott, in Burton, Diary (1828), IV. 377. That is English out.

99 1679.  Penn, Addr. Prot., II. § 5 (1692), 184. This is the English of their Doctrine.

100 1705.  Stanhope, Paraphr., III. 376. The plain English of what he thanks God for is in effect but Thus much.

101 1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. v. (1840), 86. The English of all which is … that I am in the wrong.

102 1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, vii. 121. When they unmask cant, they say, ‘The English of this is,’ &c.

103   † 5.  A Flemish coin (see quot.). Obs.

104 a. 1500[?].  Athenæum (1867), 7 Dec., 768/3. Viij mytis ys an englisshe, that is the iijde parte of jd.

105 1540.  Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 14. A piece of flemmishe mony called an Englyshe.

106   6.  Printing. a. The name of a size of type smaller than Great Primer and larger than Pica: English Type.

107 1598.  Ord. Stationers’ Co., in Hist. O. E. Lett. Foundries (1887), 129. Those in pica Roman and Italic and in English.

108 1676.  Moxon, Print Lett., 8. The Stem of English Capitals is 6 parts.

109 1824.  J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 78. English is called Mittel by the Germans.

110   b.  Old English: a form of ‘Black Letter’ resembling that used by early English printers; now occasionally employed for ornamental purposes.

111   C.  Comb. a. Prefixed to ppl. adjs., as English-born, -bred, -built, -managed, -manned, -rigged, -speaking. b. Forming parasynthetic derivatives, as English-hearted, -minded. c. Prefixed to other adjs., as † English-Indian, † -Irish, † -Popish; † English-Saxon, = ANGLO-SAXON; also English-French, -German, -Latin, etc., said of dictionaries in which English words are followed by their renderings into other languages.

112 1837.  Lytton, E. Maltravers, I. 15. But I am *English-born.

113 1880.  Earle, Philol. Eng. Tong., § 155. A large body of French words in our language … pronounced as English-born words.

114 1808.  Bentham, Sc. Reform, 80. Such ingenuity is not wanting to *English-bred technicalism.

115 c. 1677.  List Ships, in Marvell, Growth Popery, 61. The John and Sarah, of 120 Tun, *English Built.

116 1848.  Lytton, Harold, I. II. i. 84. Many of Godwin’s noblest foes sighed for the *English-hearted Earl.

117 1613.  Purchas, Pilgr., Descr. India (1864), 127. Our *English-Indian Societie.

118 1700.  Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 888. All the *English-Irish Knights … ran away.

119 1815.  Scott, Guy M., xlii. Three English-Irish peers.

120 1740.  J. Clarke, Educ. Youth (ed. 3), 37. Such sort of *English-Latin Dictionaries.

121 1888.  Ld. Hartington, in Daily News, 26 Nov., 2/5. This estate has always been what has been called an *English-managed estate.

122 1882.  J. H. Blunt, Ref. Ch. Eng., II. 162. Thoroughly *English-minded men such as Gardiner.

123 1799.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), IV. 97. An *English-manned Frigate.

124 1641.  Sanderson, Serm., II. 8. This clamouring against *English-Popish ceremonies.

125 1832.  Marryat, N. Forster, II. xvii. 279. She is English built, and *English rigged, sir, that I ’ll swear.

126 1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. To Rdr. The most ancient, British and *English-Saxon tongues.

127 1695.  Enq. Anc. Const. Eng., 33. As all his English-Saxon Predecessors had done before him.

128 1777.  Nicolson & Burn, Westmoreland, I. 309. Our English-Saxon word evil seems to spring from the same source.

129 1873.  F. Hall, Mod. English, 146. The *English-speaking people.

130 1883.  Lowell, in Daily News, 5 July, 6/2. We continually hear nowadays of the ‘English-speaking race,’ of the ‘English-speaking population.’

131 1887.  Spectator, 26 Feb., 300/1. Of this happy gift … Mr. Lowell has among English-speaking men almost a monopoly.

132   Hence English-hood (rare).

133 1863.  Spectator, 3 Oct., 2575/2. Without in any way impairing the Englishhood of those whom they affected.

134 1865.  G. R. Searson, in Leicester Chron., 16 Dec., 7/2. He [Governor Eyre] allowed his English-hood to be kidnapped by men-floggers.

135 1883.  Mrs. Lynn Linton, Ione, II. xxiii. 260. The Englishhood of long walks in the lanes and fields.

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