Middle English Dictionary Entry
rigǒur n.
Entry Info
| Forms | rigǒur n. Also rigoure, rigor(e, rigur(e & (with indef. art.) arrigor & (error) rightwer. |
| Etymology | OF rigor, rigour, rig(u)eur & L rigor, -ōris. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Harshness, severity; also, force, violence; also, cruelty [last quot.]; bi (of) ~, by force, through violence; don ~, to act harshly; (b) of a law, legal instrument: stringency, severity; also, rigid application of law; bi ~, with strict justice; don ~, to execute stern justice; (c) hardness of heart, obduracy; also, fixity of purpose.
Associated quotations
a
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.Fkl.(Manly-Rickert)F.775 : Pacience is an heigh vertu certeyn, For it venquysseth..Thynges that rigour [vrr. Rigor, rigoure] sholde neuere atteyne.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)2.7428 : He daunted hem..by rigour of his scharp swerde.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)3.3192 : A-noþer day Grekis wil vs quyte, And of rigour make her malis byte.
- a1450(?c1421) Lydg.ST (Arun 119)3461 : He fond a tyme forto preye..Of this vnhappe and meschief that is falle By hasty Rigour nat to do vengeaunce.
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)2.687 : He dede gret rigour and oppressioun Vpon his peeple.
- c1460(a1449) Lydg.Mutability MN (Hrl 2255)95 : With pompe and boost hasty to do rigour, Been such men stable heer in ther livyng?
- ?a1450 Sel.Rosarium Theol.(Cai 354/581)64/25 : Lordes oweþ for to giffe to þair seruantis riȝtwisnes wiþout rigour.
- c1450(1410) Walton Boeth.(Lin-C 103)p.4 : Þenne gan thei for to vsen cruelte And regne by rigour and by tyrannye.
- (1451) Capgr.St.Gilb.(Add 36704)76/22 : Þere had þei his..noble exhortaciones..of þe rigour eke and þe hardnesse of þe ordir, who it schuld be kept.
- a1475(a1456) Shirley Death Jas.(Add 5467)26 : This that ye done to me is oonly by rigoure of ynmesurable tyrannye.
- (a1461) Paston2.226 : Rightwisnes may be don in the same withoute ony vnlawfull reddur or rygor.
- a1475 Asneth (Hnt EL 26.A.13)889 : Ha, cruell deeth..The myschief that to mankynde þu dost exercise, Thi rigour, þi rancour, who may devyse?
- ?a1475 Com.Proph.M.(PennSt-U PS V-3)79 : He þat schall doo this Rigour schall be come a man of brasse.
- c1475 Body Pol.(Cmb Kk.1.5)121/18 : A noble man of Rome..kepte a childe whiche he had in grete rigour [F rigeur] and withoute mesur in so moche that the childe..durste not well come in his presence.
- ?a1500 Rec.Norwich 1124 : All other thynges..profitable to þe Cite ȝe shall don..wiþ oute fauour or rygour.
- ?a1525(?a1475) Play Sacr.(Dub 652)824 : Thowgh we haue be vnryghfull, forgyf vs owr rygore.
b
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)1.1474 : Ben þe statutes..So sorebounde vnder my regalye Þat þe rigour I may nat modefye.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)5.1573 : He forȝete nauȝt a point Iustly to punyshe by rigour & bi riȝt Egistus eke.
- (1427) RParl.5.409a : Item, that for no soden reporte of eny persone, neither Prive Seal, ne Writte of Rigour, be not soon passed ayenst eny persone..without that he be furst herd.
- (1427) RParl.5.409b : That thenne the rygour of the Statut be executed in his persone that so hath offended.
- c1450(c1440) Scrope Othea (StJ-C H.5)13/28 : Ther was a kyng..of merueylous fersnes, and in him was grete rightwer [F rigueur] of iustice.
- c1450(a1449) Lydg.Prayer OA (Hat 73)14 : O lord, late pite thy rygore qveme Or that Iugement do execucioun.
- c1450 Alph.Tales (Add 25719)11/19 : A non þat was ane abbatiss..kepyd diligentlie emang hur susters þe rigur of disciplyne.
- c1450 Spec.Chr.(2) (Hrl 6580)236/10 : Iuges ben ordeyned to do rygour and veniaunce on wyckede men and to praysynge and defens of gude men.
- (a1475) Fortescue Gov.E.(LdMisc 593)119 : He shal bi necessite..shew rigoure þer as fauour awght to be shewid, and fauour þer as rigour shuld be shewid, to perversion of Justice.
- c1490(1471) LRed Bk.Bristol2.130 : We inclined..to entrete suche persones as humbly wol sue vn to vs, not by waie of rigoure but with resonable moderacion.
- a1500(?c1425) Spec.Sacer.(Add 36791)75/19 : It oweþ thus to be vnderstonde after rigour of the institucion of holy fadres þat penaunces of yche a yere conteneþ the Quadragesimes and fastynge of thre or two dayes in the weke..and othur obseruaunces.
- a1500(a1450) Ashmole SSecr.(Ashm 396)35/20 : Reproff..ledeth hym to prison and captiuite and to execucion of the lawe-is rigour.
c
- c1425 Found.St.Barth.25/12 : He myght not tempyr the hardnes of that yndurat herte from his rygoure.
- a1500 ?Ros Belle Dame (Cmb Ff.1.6)720 : O marbre hert and yet mor hard..What vayleth you to schew so gret rygour?
- c1540(?a1400) Destr.Troy (Htrn 388)9863 : All the grekes with grem gedret þere herttes..And þus in Rigour þos Renkes Restyn tyll efte.
2.
Med. Numbness accompanied by a prickly sensation; also, stiffness, rigidity; ~ pungitif, prickinge ~.
Associated quotations
- a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396)120/8-10 : Arrigor [vr. a rigoor; L rigor], þat is to seie, a cold schurgynge, goiþ tofore. Arrigor is no þing ellis but as it were a prickynge of nedelis, or ellis of netlis, in þe fleisch, & if þis rigor come wiþ a feuere, or ellis without feuere, it is þe worste signe tokene of deeþ.
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)53a/b : In vlcerez a bityng colde indureþ..It induceþ rigorez [Ch.(2): rygoure; L rigores], i. starknez, & spasmez.
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)75b/a : Signez of þe diafragmate, i. mydryf, y-wounded ar þik and grete brething, cogh sownyng & aking..rigor pungityue [Ch.(2): prikkynge rigoure; L rigor pungitiuus] & place biside þe false costez or ribbez.
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)3.95 : Whan thei ha doon gret part off ther passages, Off werynesse tasswagen ther rigour..Looke offte ageyn..To seen how moch ther iourne is a-cheued.
- c1475(1392) *MS Wel.564 (Wel 564)127a/b : Þei siken greuously, & a scharp feuere falliþ, þe which a rigour goiþ bifore.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. rigor.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. pricking rigor.