Middle English Dictionary Entry

gāme n.
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Entry Info

Forms gāme n. Also gam, gamme, gome, gaume, geme & gamen, gammen, gomen, gemene.
Etymology OE gamen, gomen.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) Joy, happiness; pleasure, delight; gaiety, mirth; ertheli ~, worldly pleasure; fleshli ~, bodily pleasure; gastli ~, soule ~, spiritual joy; (b) in (with) ~, with pleasure, for (one's) pleasure.
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2a.
(a) Festivity, revelry; a pastime, amusement; music; a play; haven ~, to amuse oneself; maken ~, make sport, be entertaining; make fun (of sb.); (b) ~ and gle (jolite, pleie, solas), joie (mirthe) and ~, amusement and merrymaking; (c) no ~, no laughing matter; (d) in proverbs, etc.
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2b.
A polite accomplishment; ?also, skill in entertainment or amusement.
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2c.
Any of the sports of hunting, fishing, hawking, or fowling; maister of the ~, royal officer in charge of hunting; also, the book of that name; unto the ~, trained for hunting.
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2d.
Amorous play, love-making; esp. sexual intercourse.
Show 16 Quotations
3.
(a) An athletic contest; also, a game of chess, backgammon, dice, etc.; a tournament or jousting; also, a battle; a debate; also fig.; (b) behavior or success in a contest; (c) the prize of victory.
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4.
(a) A joke, jest; also, a ridiculous circumstance; maken ~ of, to turn (sth.) into a joke; (b) in (on, with) ~, in fun, jokingly, playfully; bitwixen ~ and ernest, half in earnest, half in fun; maken ernest of ~, to take a joke seriously; in (for) ernest or in (for) ~, either in earnest or in jest; also, under any circumstances, in any case, at all; for ernest ne for ~, more for ernest than for ~, etc.; (c) a pleasant tale; (d) a humorous spectacle or illusion.
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5.
(a) An action, proceeding; happening, occurrence; course of events; don ~, to perform an act; hou the ~ goth, etc., how matters are going, how events are shaping up; (b) haven (ibiden) hard ~, to be dealt with severely, receive rough treatment; pleien hard ~, behave cruelly; (c) a plan, project; a scheme, trick, plot; pleien ~, to pursue a course of action; (d) a way of acting, policy.
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6.
(a) Coll. Game animals, birds, or fish; also, game killed or caught, the kill, the catch; -- rarely pl.; (b) finden ~ in hod [cp. Chaucer CT.Pri. B.1630-1], to find an animal in (someone's) hood, make a jest (of sb.); (c) fig. any object of pursuit; (d) ?a game preserve, fish pond.
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7.
(a) In cpds. and combs.: ~ gobelin, a devil that plays tricks on people, ?an incubus or a succubus; ~ man, a minstrel, a jester, an entertainer; ~ word, a jesting word; (b) in surnames and place names [see also Smith PNElem. 1.193].
Show 10 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • a1475 Against Lollards (Vsp B.16)76 : I trowe þer be no kniȝt alyue þat wold haue don so open a shame, for þat crafte to studi or striue, hit is no gentel mannes game.
    • Note: Additional quote(s) for 5.(d)
    Note: Only one quot. given for this sense, and this is earlier.
  • a1500(?a1325) Otuel & R (Fil)1345 : He..lew me to skorne & game.
    • Note: New sense
    Note: None of the senses in our entry has quite the edge which laughen to ~, "laugh (sb) to scorn" implies. Closest is 2a.(a) maken ~, make fun of (sb) [quot. ?c1250], but other than this one ex. game seems to be a fairly benign term. Here it has pejorative connotations ?'scorn, ridicule, contempt'

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