Middle English Dictionary Entry
offal n.
Entry Info
| Forms | offal n. Also offail, orfail. |
| Etymology | From of pref. & fal n.; also cp. MDu. afval. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Waste material left after a process of some kind; also fig. [quot.: ?a1425]; (b) those entrails of a bird or animal used as food.
Associated quotations
a
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)195b/b : Þe poudre of þe offalle of golde comforteþ venomes of eiȝene if it is y-doo þere ynne.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)243b/a : Hvlkis and offall and outcast [L purgamenta] of corne hatte quisquilie.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)249b/b : Hvrden hatte Stupa and is clensyng offall [L purgamentum] of hempe oþer of fflex.
- ?a1425 Orch.Syon (Hrl 3432)170/25 : We ben blasphemyd, and we biseche and preye, for we ben maad as orfayle of al þis world, þe which is icast out þerof.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)362 : Offal, that ys bleuit of a thynge, as chyppys, or oþer lyke: Caducum.
- (1444-5) in Salzman Building in Engl.519 : Al so the tymbre to be fillid..at the cost of the said John and Richard, and thei to have the offel of the said tymbre.
b
- (a1399) Form Cury (Add 5016)p.34 : Take the offal of Capons oþer of oþere briddes, make hem clene and parboile hem.
- (a1399) Form Cury (Add 5016)p.66 : Take þe lyuer and þe offall of the Swannes & do it to seeþ in gode broth.
- ?c1425 Arun.Cook.Recipes (Arun 334)431 : Take the offall of capons and of hennes and of other foules, and make hom clene and sethe hom and cut hom smal.
- (1447) Let.Coldingham in Sur.Soc.12160 : For whilke payment he lefte at Coldingham..to pay the forsaide soeme of ccc ma iiij xx yowez and xij ky with the offal.
- (1464) Acc.Howard in RC 57543 : Receyved..for the fete and the offaile of a boloke, iiij d.
- a1475 Liber Cocorum (Sln 1986)p.29 : Take þo offal and þo lyver of þo swan, In gode brothe þou sethe hom þan.
- a1525(?1474) Cov.Leet Bk.398 : Þe hede, the gadir, the offall, and the fete..shall goo with the karkeyse of all such Catell as fedeth, and of all such Catell as ffedeth not he schall haue but the hed, the offall, and the skynne.