Glossary (words starting with L)
la
an exclamation used ‘to call attention to an emphatic statement’ (OED int.)
la you
an exclamation formerly used to introduce or accompany a conventional phrase or an address, or to call attention to an emphatic statement (in recent use, a mere expression of surprise, but generally considered vulgar)
labour
struggle (with overtones of childbirth)
labouring
working hard (OED labour v, 11a); (figuratively) travailing in childbirth (OED labour v, 16)
labouring
struggling (fighting)
labours
exersions; puns on labour: childbirth
labours
exersions
lacerate
tear to pieces
lackey
footman, man-servant (usually liveried) (OED)
lacks
needs, is in need of, requires, wants
ladified
i.e. made into a lady (usually by marriage)
ladify
make a lady of
lading
freight, cargo with which a ship is loaded (laded)
lady-bawd
a female procuress
lady-bird
(1) female sweetheart, with derogatory sense as `kept mistress'; (2) butterfly. For a third, now more familiar sense -- small, brightly coloured and spotted beetle of the family Coccinellidae -- the earliest usage given by the OED is 1674.
lady-feast
love-making (with a woman)
ladyship
i.e. status of a lady (achieved through marrying a knight)
lage
water (cant) (OED)
laid
cause to subside
laid
bet
laid
turned; that is, the covers turned down
laid for
set on the look-out, lying in wait for
laid out
exposed; schemed, planned to effect some purpose (OED, lay, v1. 56a and f)
laid up
imprisoned
landed
possessing land
Landsgrave
In Germany, a count having jurisdiction over a territory, and having under him several inferior counts (later it became the title of certain German princes). The current spelling is "landgrave" but in the seventeenth century it was often spelt "lantsgrave" or "landsgrave" as here.
laneret
the lanner, a Mediterranean species of hawk, is lengthier than a peregrine falcon but less compact and powerful; the lanneret is the male of the species (so called because it is smaller than the female)
languish
grow faint, pine (with love)
lap
drink, such as buttermilk or whey; liquor in general, anything that can be lapped up (thieves' cant)
Laplands
witches (Lapland was thought to be the home of witches, according to a theory that the north was the region of evil, possibly the location of hell; cf OED 1a , citation for 1621, Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy: ‘And nothing so familiar... as for Witches and Sorcerers, in Lapland, Lituania, and all ouer Scandia, to sell winds to Marriners, and cause tempests’)
large
serious
large
copious
largely
at length, fully
lascivious
lewd, wanton
last
very latest, most recent
lasting
enduring, permanent (OED adj. 1): used here either to refer to strength of affection or heath
late
in the adverbial phrase, "of late": recently
late
recently
late
recent; former; perhaps puns on ‘recently deceased’
late
former
late
recently, formerly; ‘late’ also means ‘deceased’, which is the sense that Brookall picks up
late
recent, former
late
recent
lately
recently
latest
last
lath
"a thin, narrow, flat piece of wood, used [...] as the material of a counterfeit weapon" (OED n. 2a)
Laura
The name of the lady who is the spiritual centre of Petrarch's love lyrics, collectively titled in brief as Canzoniere (Book of Songs) and in full as Rime in Vita e Morte di Madonna Laura (Poems on the Life and Death of Milady Laura)
lavish
unrestrained, effusive
lavoltas
lively dances for two people, with lots of high, bounding action which included sexually charged lifting of the woman by the man, who had to hold the woman by the waist and the upper thigh
law-strife
disputes over matters of law (not in OED; this is the earliest example I can find)
lawful
legally qualified or entitled (OED 2a)
lawful
permitted by law (OED adj. 1); justifiable (OED adj. 1b); faithful, loyal (OED adj. 3)
lay
put
lay
depended (can be blamed)
lay
(v) prescribe (OED v1. 51h); expound, demonstrate (OED lay, v1, 56g)
lay
belay; waylay, lie in wait for (a person); beset or line (a way or passage) with armed men so as to intercept an enemy (OED belay v, 2c and 2b)
lay
paint (in the context of make-up)
lay
allay, put down
lay
wager (OED v1. 12a)
lay
(v) search (OED v1. 18c)
lay ... open
reveal the truth (about)
lay-gospeller
lay person who reads the Gospel during the Anglican Communion service.
layman
a man who is not a cleric
lays
lay by: put aside
lays
plots to indict; (literally) sets a trap, waylays
lays on
deals blows with vigour; makes a vigorous attack, assails (OED v1. 55b)
leakage
allowance made for the waste, damage or loss of cargo by the leaking of seawater into the hold of a ship or the seeping of its contents into the ocean
leash
three
leave
permission to depart
leave
(v) cease (leave off)
leave
permission
leave
depart from, quit (someone's presence)
leaves
ceases
leavings
sexual left-overs (Williams)
leavings
left-overs
lecture
lesson, or a moral talk less formal than a sermon, delivered outside a regular church service; also refers to a sermon delivered by a ‘lecturer’ (OED n. 4b); there is again a sexual pun, as ‘lecture’ is often used in the context of sexual misdemeanours (Williams, 2: 794-5)
lecturer
instructor
leech
(v) draw blood by application of blood-sucking leeches to the skin
lees
sediment left at the bottom of wine, dregs
leese
lose
left
stopped, left off (saying)
left
left off
left to be
stopped being
lenitive
lenient, gentle
leprosy
‘An infectious bacterial disease (Elephantiasis Græcorum), which slowly eats away the body, and forms shining white scales on the skin; common in mediaeval Europe’ (OED)
less
unless
less
lesser, less important
lessen
unless
lesson
"A piece [of music] to be performed" (OED n. 5a)
lest
for fear that
let
(n) hindrance
let blood
to make an incision in a vein to allow blood to flow; this was thought to be helpful in a wide variety of medical situations, including a build up of humours which could produce aberrant behaviour
Let me alone.
Let me deal with this by myself.
let out
OED to lend (money) at interest(?obs); to put out to hire; to distribute among several tenants or hirers
let pass
allowed to go (unpunished)
let's
let us
lethargy
torpor, apathy (OED n. 2)
lets
obstacles, hindrances
level-coil
rough noisy game in which players supplant one another in their seats (from the French 'lever le cul'), akin to the modern game, Musical Chairs
levity
frivolity, "light" or undignified behaviour
levy
muster, enlist
lewd
vile, evil; worthless; lascivious
lewdly
foolishly (OED 1), wickedly (OED 2), lasciviously (OED 4)
lewdness
lustful or lascivious behaviour
Liatico
a red wine from Tuscany (it is the first in Coryat's list of fine wines to be found in Venice (see Coryat's Crudities Vol 1, pp.424-425) which he describes as "singular good" and "a very cordiall and generose liquor"
libbing
castration
liberal
originally used to describe the ‘arts’ or ‘sciences’ that were considered to be ‘worthy of a free (liber) man’ as opposed to knowledge or education that was directed towards mechanical or vocational work (OED adj. 1)
liberal
free, without restraint
liberally
without restraint
liberty
district
liberty
unrestricted use (OED n1. 4b)
licence
liberty
licentious
unrestrained, overstepping limits
licentiousness
moral laxity, lewdness
lie
sleep with, have sex with
lie
(a) lodge, reside; or (b) prevaricate, tell untruths
liege
lord, sovereign
lien
lain
life
lifetime
lift
an act of helping (as in "to give a lift", meaning "to give a helping hand"); but also with the sense of lifting as stealing, a trick (OED n2. 2a and 3)
lig-by
a bedfellow, mistress or concubine (Northern dialect form = lie-by)
light
(v) enlighten, illumine spiritually or intellectually (also with the punning sense of "to lighten in weight", thus allowing Victoria to rise above mercenary considerations)
light
fall
light
explanation (often used figuratively to refer to mental illumination or elucidation) (OED n. 6)
light
below standard weight (OED adj. 1b) -- and thus probably counterfeit or clipped coinage
light
wanton, unchaste (OED a1. 14b)
light
met with, especially unexpectedly or by accident (OED v1. 10d)
light
lightweight, and 'merry', meaning light-hearted, but punning on unchaste
light
(n) source of illumination or enlightenment (OED n. 6); a beacon-light (as in a lighthouse, etc.) that could be followed (OED n. 5d)
light on
fallen or stumbled upon unexpectedly, by chance (Florio 1598, LEME); possibly ironic, as in ‘relieved [someone] of his property by plundering’ (OED 2a)
lighter
merrier
lightly
Whetstone is punning on light, used earlier in this same line (LLW 1.1.speech237)
lightly
easily, readily (OED adv. 4)
lights
the lungs (OED n. 1a)
like
(a) likely
like
the same, similar
like
similar
like
same, similar
like
(adv) likely
like
verb - in the interrogative, used with how, 'like' can mean ‘How well or how ill do you like....?’ (OED v1. 6f); here this means something close to 'How do you like the look of her from the medical point of view?'; that is, 'Is she likely to survive?'
like enough
probably
likings
approval, consent (OED vbl n1, 4b)
lily-pot
an ornamental vase imitating the ‘lily-pot’ of sacred art; in the early seventeenth applied specifically to a tobacco-jar (OED 2 quotes this line of Brome's play)
limbo
often refers to a region just outside Hell, to which the unbaptised and those born before Christ’s birth were relegated, but also (as here) refers to Hell in general; ‘limbo’ can also mean ‘prison’ or ‘confinement’, so the pun takes Dryground into his statement about the compter in the rest of this line
limbs
members
limebush
bush on which the twigs have been spread with a glutinous substance, derived from the bark of holly, by which birds may be caught and held fast; hence, a means of entanglement (OED bird-lime n, 1a; and `lime' n1, 5a)
limited
appointed, designated
limner
painter, especially of portraits
limners
painters, especially of portraits
lineally
directly, in a direct line
lineament
contour, outline (OED 2)
linings
inner linings of clothing; underwear
lip-labour
empty talk
lipped
leaped (with a sexual connotation)
liquored
drunk
list
listen
list
wish, please
listed
liked, desired
litany
an ecclesiastical term: a form of public prayer, usually of a penitential character, consisting of a series of supplications, deprecations, or intercessions in which the clergy lead and the people respond, the same formula of response being repeated for several successive clauses (OED 1); generally, it may be any form of repetitive supplication or complaint
literature
book-learning, letters: in this context, the ability to read; 'literature' does not take on its modern meaning until the eighteenth century
lither
slothful, sluggish
litter
vehicle containing a couch shut in by curtains and carried on men's shoulders; hence also called a hand-litter and sometimes a sedan chair
litter-mules
sedan-chair carriers
little-ease
a place in which there is little ease for him who occupies it; a narrow place of confinement; specifically, the name of a dungeon in the Tower of London, and of an ancient place of punishment for unruly apprentices at the Guildhall, London; also, the pillory or stocks
little-left
diminished
livelier
more vivedly (than the truth)
lively
lifelike, bringing the subject to life
lively
lifelike, faithfully representing the original (OED adj. 4a)
lively
vivacious
livery
allowance of food or clothing (MCWM).
livery
suit of clothes or badge indicating the master or company to which the person belongs.
lives more
more lives
living
means of support, livelihood
lo
look, see, behold (OED int1, 1b)
load
burden, weight
loaden
weighed down, laden
loath
reluctant, averse to, displeased
loath
reluctant, unwilling (OED adj. 4a)
lobby
passage, corridor, waiting-room
lock
a tress of hair (in this instance, a good handful)
lockram
linen fabric used for apparel and household material
loden
16/17th-century form of past participle `loaded'
lodestone
magnet, something which attracts
lodge
reside (but also with intimations in the context of being intimate with someone)
lodge
harbour
lodging
accommodation, lodging-house
lodgings
rooms for temporary occupancy; guestsuite
lofty
proud, exalted, sublime
loggerhead
blockhead
loggerheads
to be contending about differences of opinion (OED 8)
loins
the parts of the human body between the lower ribs and the hip-bones; also used to refer to the genital area and the parts of the body immediately above and below it, as in ‘loin-cloth’
long-kept
kept for a long time
look
look for (colloquial)
look
look after (OED look v, 12f)
look
expect (OED v. 5g)
look
take care, ensure
look for
expect
look to
look after
look to our necks
be careful not to break our necks
look you
mind this, pay attention to this (OED, look, v. 4a)
look you
pay attention; listen to me
look you
mind this (OED look v. 4a)
looks
appearances, expressions
loop-hole
a small opening (with obvious double entendre)
loose
lustful, lewd
loose
lax, negligent
loose
free from moral restraint, wanton (OED adj. 7)
loose
(v) release
loose livers
people who live a dissolute life
lop-heavy
heavy with a weight which causes lopping, hanging down, or drooping (OED)
Lord o’th’ Soil
‘the owner of an estate or domain’ (OED soil n, 1 5)
lordships
the status and material goods of lords (by implication the goods gained from lords)
lost
ruined
lost our journey
achieved no return or result for our efforts; or perhaps simply lost our way
lot
what falls to a person by lot or fate (OED n. 2)
lots
specially marked object, one for each participant, to decide a dispute, presided over by a disinterested party
loud
manifest, palpable
lousing
(literally) removing lice from (a person); (more loosely, in clowning) pinching or tickling as if removing lice
lousy
infested by lice
Love
Cupid: the personification of love
love-knot
literally, complex, ornamental knots used as love-tokens; figuratively, ties or bonds of love (OED)
love-qualm
sudden feeling of faintness or sickness attributed to love
love-struck
overwhelmed by love; this is OED’s earliest citation, but earlier examples can be found in James Mabbes’ 1623 translation of The Rogue, and in Abraham Cowley’s collection of poems, Poetical Blossoms (London, 1633):
as fire,
Though but a spark, soon into flames is brought,
So mine grew great, and quickly mounted higher;
Which so have scorched my love-struck soul, that I
Still live in torment, though each minute die. (sig. B4v)
love-toy
amorous trifle, at this time usually a printed narrative
lovely
'lovable or attractive on account of beauty' (OED 3)
loving
friendly
low
lower-class, of mean or rustic condition
low
allow (OED v3. 1)
lozel
good-for nothing individual; profligate; rake; scoundrel (OED)
lubber
a big clumsy, stupid fellow
Lucifer
Satan, the Devil (OED 2)
lucky
well-omened (OED adj. 3); acquired through good fortune; occurring by chance and producing happy results (OED adj. 2)
lucky
well-omened (OED adj. 3); acquired through good fortune
lugs
ears (OED n2. 2a)
lumpishly
clumsily
Luna
the moon
lurch
to remain in or about a place furtively or secretly (lurk, loiter) with evil intent
luring
attacking; hunting down with loud noises and cries to start the game, especially the falconer's alerting his hawk to prepare to stoop on the prey
lurk
hide, live concealed, be secret, furtive
lurks
hides, is concealed
lustick
merry, as from drinking (obsolete, from Dutch)
lustre
bright light; radiant beauty or splendour (OED n1 , 3 and 4)
lusty
healthy, strong, vigorous, valiant
lusty
(a) pleasing in appearance, beautiful; (OED 2a) (b) full of lust or sexual desire; lustful (OED 4); both usages are now obsolete
luxury
lust, lasciviousness