Middle English Dictionary Entry
māse n.
Entry Info
| Forms | māse n. Also maze, masse. |
| Etymology | Cp. amāsed ppl. & māsen v. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A source of confusion or deception; vision, fantasy, delusion; deceit; -- often preceded by the; (b) the ~, confusion, bewilderment, disorder; (on) a ~, in a state of amazement or confusion; (c) the ~, ?confused or useless activity; ?idle diversion; (d) a labyrinth or maze; (e) her. a Greek key design forming a maze-like pattern.
Associated quotations
a
- c1300 SLeg.Judas (Hrl 2277)14 : Ȝe..hit is þe mase, and also hit wole gon.
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)6585 : Wite..alle men..Þat it nis bote þe pure mase [vr. masse] eni kinges poer.
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)10236 : Ac vor it nas bote al þe mase, þe erchebissop sone Wende aȝen ouer se.
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.NP.(Manly-Rickert)B.4283 : For sweuenes ben but vanytees and iapes; Men dreme alday of owles and of apes And of many a maze.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)4.4986 : Whanne it brenneþ briȝtest in his blase, Sodeinly it wasteþ as a mase.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)5.2559 : And al was doon for an ydel maze.
- a1425(c1385) Chaucer TC (Benson-Robinson)5.468 : But, weylaway, al this nas but a maze.
- c1450 Trin-C.LEDict.(Trin-C O.5.4)562/12 : Adtrica: the mase.
- c1450 ?C.d'Orl.Poems (Hrl 682)170/5072 : I trowe that ye haue spide a mase, Or ye haue tane sum sodeyne sweuene.
- a1475(?1445) ?Lydg.Cal.(Rwl B.408)35 : Teche vs to lyue wel..For þis wrecchid lyfe is but as a mase.
- c1475(c1445) Pecock Donet (Bod 916)10/26 : A beest..made of an horsis heed and of a kowys body and..of oþire masis whiche bifallen in dreemys whilis a man slepiþ.
- c1500 King & H.(Ashm 61:Hazlitt)417 : Hopys thou, I wold for a mase Stond in the myre there and dase Nye hand halve a dey?
b
- c1390 PPl.A(1) (Vrn)3.155 : Heo ledeþ þe lawe as hire luste and loue-dayes makeþ, Þe Mase [vr. mayse] for a Mene mon, þauȝ he mote euere.
- c1400(c1378) PPl.B (LdMisc 581)prol.196 : Better is a litel losse þan a longe sorwe, Þe mase amonge vs alle.
- c1400(?c1380) Cleanness (Nero A.10)395 : Alle cryed for care to þe Kyng of heven..Þat amounted þe mase -- his mercy watz passed, And alle his pyte departed.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)1.1338 : To gape & to loke, as it wer on a mase, Þis townysche folk do..On euery þing þat falleth sodeinly.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)1.3504 : Þe peple cam to staren and to gase Vp-on þe Ram, as it were a mase.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)2.3734 : Whan þe peple was most occupied In þe temple for to stare & gase, Now her, now þer, as it wer a mase.
- c1450(c1353) Winner & W.(Add 31042)166 : In the someris tyde, When it hase moste of þe maye [?read: maze] one Missomer Euen.
c
- c1350 How GWife(1) (Em 106)160/47 : Go þou noȝt to toune, as it were a gase, Fram house to house to seken þe mase.
- c1400(a1376) PPl.A(1) (Trin-C R.3.14)1.6 : Sest þou þis peple, How besy þei ben about þe mase?
d
- c1430(c1386) Chaucer LGW (Benson-Robinson)2014 : And for the hous is krynkeled to and fro, And hath so queynte weyes for to go -- For it is shapen as the mase is wrought.
- (a1460) Vegetius(2) (Pmb-C 243)1350 : The Mynotaurys mase Doctryned hem to sey: 'Whidir thou gooste, Kepe it secret.'
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)1.9 : The intricacion inextricable of this labor..as of the mase of Dedalinus [Trev.: laborintus, Dedalus hous].
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)1.311 : In that yle [Crete] is also oon of the iiij mases [Trev.: laborintus], as hit schalle be expressede afterwarde.
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)2.385 : Dedalus..made a mase..A turnenge, other elles a mase [Trev.: Laborinthus], is a thynge made with mony turnenges, and a man entrenge in..can not comme furthe from hit..liȝhtely, and also a thundre dothe appere to men openenge the durres of hit.
e
- (c1460) Bk.Arms in Anc.7 (Hrl 2169)199 : [Gules two bars sable each with a] mase [of gules].
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- c1460 My fayr lady (Hrl 2255)p.203 : I can not armys blase, Nor to the fulle rynge hire belle, That is so wrymplyd as a mase.
Note: Additional quote(s) for (d).