Middle English Dictionary Entry
sax n.
Entry Info
| Forms | sax n. Also sex(e, (early) sæxe; pl. saxes, etc. & sexses, soxes & (early) seaxes, sæxen, (infl.) seaxum. |
| Etymology | OE seax, sæx, sex. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A knife; also, a knife used as a weapon, a dagger; (b) in surname.
Associated quotations
a
- ?a1200(OE) Hrl.HApul.(Hrl 6258B:Berberich)95.54/2 : Forcearf hi þanne mid swyþe scea[r]pe sexe on dry dæles.
- c1175(?OE) HRood (Bod 343)28/5 : Hiræ licame wearð swa swiðlice iswungon swulce he mid seaxum tosnædod wære.
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)2510 : Ne do þu me neure þane scome þat ich for þine þinge mid sæxe me of-stinge.
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)7591 : He his gon learen þat ælc nome a long sax [Otho: sex] & læiden bi his sconke wið-inne his hose.
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)7610 : Nimeð eoure sexes [Otho: seaxes]..& ohtliche eou sturieð & nænne ne sparieð.
- c1275(?a1200) Lay.Brut (Clg A.9)8059 : Hengest..hafde..heore hæfd-men mid cniuen amurðerd, mid sæxen to snædðe snelle þe þeines.
- c1225(OE) Wor.Aelfric Gloss.(Wor F.174)548/7 : Cultellus: sex.
- c1300 Lay.Brut (Otho C.13)7678 : Hii mid sexes [Clg: cnifen] bi-refde ȝam of lifues.
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)2658 : Nimeþ ȝour soxes [vr. saxes] þat ȝe anon mid þe dede Drou is knif & slow anon al.
- (a1387) Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1)5.273 : Whan he cride an Englisch, 'Nemeþ ȝoure sexes [vr. sexses; Higd.(2): sexis],' þanne anon þey schulde slee..þe Bretouns with knyfes.
- (1407) Inquis.Miscel.(PRO)7.188 : [A tiler's] truwell [and] sexe [worth 2 s.].
- a1450(a1338) Mannyng Chron.Pt.1 (Lamb 131)7869 : Get ȝow knyues egged on boþe sydes..Nymeþ out ȝour sexes when y so say.
b
- (1275) in Sundby Dial.Wor.154 : Houtsex.
- (1321) Pat.R.Edw.II45 : Richard Handsex.