Middle English Dictionary Entry
eccō n.
Entry Info
| Forms | eccō n. Also echo, ekko. |
| Etymology | L ēchō, OF echo. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Of sound: echo; (b) fig. indiscriminate obsequious approval of another's words or actions, a servilely assenting answer; also, a servile assenter; (c) echo (in either sense) personified.
Associated quotations
a
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)60 : Ecko, þet is þe rearde þet ine þe heȝe helles comþ ayen and acordeþ to al þet me him zayþ, by hit guod, by hit kuead.
- (a1387) Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1)1.189 : Ecco is þe reboundynge of noyse.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)4.2504 : Lyke as it wer a word spoke of two, Þat men ar wont to callen an Ecko.
- a1425(c1395) WBible(2) (Roy 1.C.8)Wisd.17.18 : Ether a wynd hissynge..ethir ecco sownynge aȝen fro hiȝeste hillis, maden hem failynge for drede.
- c1450 Jacob's W.(Sal 103)150/13 : Eccho is a voys þat reboundyth aȝen, whan a man spekyth aȝen a wode.
b
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)60 : Þeruore hy [the fourth sub-division of flattery] byeþ ycleped ine þe writinge ecko.
- c1450 Jacob's W.(Sal 103)150/13 : Þe iiij part is of hem þat seyn: 'Syre, ȝe seyn sooth' or ellys, 'ȝe do wel,' be it neuere so euyll..þerfore in holy wrytt þei are clepyd Eccho.
- c1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Tbr A.7)22460 : They [lords] be disseyued by Eccho; And ther sogetes..Ben by fflaterye lost.
- c1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Tbr A.7)22418 : Flateryng Is engendred off lesyng: Somme callen hir Placebo, ffor sche kan maken an Eccho.
c
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.Cl.(Manly-Rickert)E.1189 : O noble wyues..Folweth Ekko, that holdeth no silence But euere answereth at the countretaille.
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)14756 : [Flattery:] I am Echcho..I answere the same ageyn, In ryght and wrong.