Volume 1

A glossary, or, Collection of words, phrases, names, and allusions to customs, proverbs, etc., which have been thought to require illustration, in the works of English authors, particularly Shakespeare, and his contemporaries / [Robert Nares].

  • Robert Nares
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A glossary, or, Collection of words, phrases, names, and allusions to customs, proverbs, etc., which have been thought to require illustration, in the works of English authors, particularly Shakespeare, and his contemporaries / [Robert Nares]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    doubt about these wprds, as he used them so often. IMPORTLESS, adj. Not important, of no serious import. An unusual word. We less expect That matter needless, of importless burden, Divide thy lips. Tro. and Cress., i, 3. IMPORTUNACY, s. Importunity. It is odd enough, that it was accented on the antepenultima, though impor- tune, both verb and adjective, had the accent on the penultima. Art thou not ashamed To wrong him with thy importunacy ? Two Gent., iv, 2. Your importunacy cease ’till after dinner. Timon of A., ii, 2. The confluence Of suitors, then tlieir hnportunacies. B. Jons. Sejanus, act iii, p. 200. To IMP'ORTUNE, v. In the sense of to import, or imply. But the sage wisard telles (as he has redd) That it importunes death, and dolefull drerylied. Spens. F. Q., Ill, i, 16. IMPOSE, s. Imposition, command. . Peculiar to this passage. According to your ladyship’s impose, I am thus early come, to know what service It is your pleasure to CQjnmand me in. Two Gent., iv, 3. flMPOSTUROUS. Having the nature of an imposture. She in the mean time fains the passions Of a great bellyed woman, counterfets Their passions and their qualms, and verily All Rome held this for no imposterous stuff. Webster’s A. and V., 1654. 1MPRESE, IMPRESA, or IMPRESS. A device on a shield, &c. In this sense the latter word is accented on the first syllable ; but imprese, which is more common in old writers, on the last. In Camden’s Remains is a chapter on impreses, which begins with the following definition : An imprese (as the Italians call it) is a device in picture, with his motto, or word, borne by noble and learned personages, to notifie some particular conceit of their owne; as emblemes — do propound some general instruction to all. P. 181. Raz’d out my impress, leaving me no sign. Save men’s opinions and my living blood. Rich. II, iii, 1. It is imprese in the early editions. The fit impresa’s for inflam’d desire. Brovme, Brit. Past., II, iii, p. 80. Whose smoky plain a chalk’d imprese fill’d, A bag fast seal’d; his word, “ Much better sav’d than spill’d.” Fletch. Purple Is., viii, 29. In the above passage the final e of imprese must be pronounced, to make the verse complete. Rome, the lady citty, with her imprese, “ Orbis in urbe.” Clitus’s Whmzies, p. 150. In the sense of pressure, Shakespeare had accented it differently : This weak impress of love is as a figure Trenched in ice. Two Gent., iii, 2. I My former fruites were lovely ladies three, Now of three lords to talke is Londons glee. Their shields ymprez’d with gilt copertiments, That for his ympreze gives queene Junoes bird. Three Lords of London, 1590. To IMPROVE, v. To reprove or refute ; as from improbo, Latin. None of the phisitions, that have any judgement, improveth [these medicines], but they approve them to be good. Paynel’s Hutton. Though the prophet Jeremy was unjustly accused, yet doth not that improve any thing that I have said. Whitgift, cited by Johnson. tGood father, said the king, sometimes you know I have desir’d You would improve his negligence, too oft to ease retir’d. Chapm. II., x, 108. flMPUNELY. With impunity. Thou sinns’t impunely, but thy fore-man paid Thy pennance with his head; ’twas burn’d, ’tis said. Owen’s Epigrams Englished, 1677. IN-AND-IN. A gambling game, played by three persons with four dice, each person having a box. It was the usual diversion at ordinaries, and places of inferior resort. It is de- scribed in the Compleat Gamester (ed. 1680, p. 117), too much at length to be here copied; but it appears that in was, when there was a doublet, or two dice alike out of the four; in and in when there were either two doublets, or all four dice alike, which swept all the stake. The same book gives ingenious directions for cheating at it, with false dice or boxes. How favorable it was to the players, after the fees claimed for the box, may be seen by the following account: I have seen three persons sit down at twelve-penny in and in, and each draw forty shillings a piece; and in little more than two hours, the box has bad three Sounds of the money, and all the three gamesters ave been losers, and laughed at for tlieir indiscre- tion. Nicker Nicked, Earl. Misc., ii, 110, Park’s edit. Thus the house made the chief, and, in this instance, the whole profit. He is a merchant still, adventurer At in and in. B. Jons. New Inn, iii, 1. In and Inn Medlay is made the name of a character in the Tale of a Tub, by the same author, who is a cooper and a headborough, probably to im- ply that he encouraged such games, though in office. He, however, gives another account of it himself, which appears to be meant only as a bur- lesque exposure of his vanity: