Middle English Dictionary Entry
fǒurchen v.
Entry Info
| Forms | fǒurchen v. Ppl. fǒurched. |
| Etymology | OF fourcher. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
Of a tree: to branch, fork.
Associated quotations
- c1330(?a1300) Tristrem (Auch)503 : Þe rauen he ȝaue his ȝiftes, Sat on þe fourched tre.
2.
Anat. Bifurcate; bon fourched, the collar bones and breast bone regarded as a unit.
Associated quotations
- c1400 Femina (Trin-C B.14.40)17 : Oos furche en fraunce lem apele..Boon furcheþ [read: furched] in fraunce me clepeþ.
3.
Hunt. Of the fourth or uppermost branch of a deer's horn: fourched, divided into two prongs.
Associated quotations
- (c1410) York MGame (Vsp B.12)78 : He may say if he be but fourched þat he is an hert of x, and if he be troched of iii he is an hert of xii.
- c1425 Twiti Venery(1) (Vsp B.12)151 : Whan an hert hath fourched, and then auntelere, ryall, and surryall, and forched one the one syde, and troched on that other syde, than is he an hert of x and of the more.
4.
Law Of a group of litigants: to act separately; ~ be essoin, to ask for postponements individually rather than as a group.
Associated quotations
- a1325 Rwl.Statutes (Rwl B.520)1:26/6 : Tuuei parciners, oþer þre þat holdez in commun, ne mowen noȝt furchen þoru assoine fram þe time þat a habbez enes appered in curt.
- c1436 Ipswich Domesday(2) (Add 25011)25 : In caas where many executorys ben enpleted..that everyche of hem have oon tyme his turne with owte more. And ȝif other maner they fourchyne be essoyne, thanne ben not the essoynes allowed, &c.