Middle English Dictionary Entry
mast n.(2)
Entry Info
| Forms | mast n.(2) Also (early) mæste. |
| Etymology | OE mæst |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Acorns, beechnuts, etc., often used as food for swine; mast; (b) a feeding ground for hogs.
Associated quotations
a
- (1396) Inquis.Miscel.(PRO)6.80 : [Fruit of trees called] mast..[The said herbage is worth 10 marks yearly..the] mast [12 d.].
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)125b/a : A cherle..fedinge his swyne wiþ mast & ackornus [L glandibus].
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)194a/b : In þat londe is moche fruyte, maste, acterus, apples, and notes.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)225a/a : The mast of beche [L fagi glans] is cornered, y-closed in a smeþe skyn, and is like to a note kernel; but the rynde is more neisshe.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)243a/b : The Oke..is a tree þat bereth maste [L arbor glandifera].
- ?c1425(c1380) Chaucer Form.A.(Benson-Robinson)7 : They eten mast, hawes, and swich pounage.
- ?c1425(c1380) Chaucer Form.A.(Benson-Robinson)37 : Ther as vitaile is eek so skars and thinne, That noght but mast or apples is therinne.
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)3.1079 : Yef hem meete, Mast [L pabula glandis], chasteyn; yef hem pugges of thi corn.
- c1450 Pilgr.LM (Cmb Ff.5.30)26 : Ye be lich the wylde swyn that eteth the mast in his busch.
- 1532-1897(c1385) Usk TL (Thynne:Skeat)15/42 : Smale pathes that swyn and hogges hadden made, as lanes with ladels their maste to seche.
b
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)21263 : Al wæs þe king abolȝen, swa bið þe wilde bar þenne he i þan mæste [Otho: maste] monie [swyn] imeteþ.