Middle English Dictionary Entry
spōk(e n.
Entry Info
| Forms | spōk(e n. Also (chiefly N) spak(e & (error) spokoke; pl. spokes, etc. & (chiefly early) spoken(e, (early SWM) spaken. |
| Etymology | OE spāca |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. spek(e n.
1.
(a) The spoke of a wheel, usu. a cart wheel; (b) a projecting spoke on a wheel of torture; (c) a spoke on Fortune's wheel; also, one of the stages in man's life or in the cyclical progression of worldly affairs; (d) ?a projecting piece of wood, a beam.
Associated quotations
a
- a1325 Gloss.Bibbesw.(Cmb Gg.1.1)833 : E les iauntes entrent les rais [glossed:] spokes.
- (1334-5) Acc.R.Dur.in Sur.Soc.100525 : In 2 felys, 2 spakes positis in rotis longe carecte.
- c1350 Cmb.Ee.4.20.Nominale (Cmb Ee.4.20)324 : Homme en moale met rais: M. in the nathe doth spokes.
- (1370) Invent.Jarrow in Sur.Soc.2953 : j gang de spakes.
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.Sum.(Manly-Rickert)D.2256-7 : Lat brynge a cartwheel heere into this halle, But looke that it haue his spokes alle; Twelue spokes hath a cartwheel comunly.
- (1396-7) Acc.R.Dur.in Sur.Soc.99214 : j gange del spaks.
- a1425 Roy.17.C.17 Nominale (Roy 17.C.17)665/26 : Radius: spake.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)469 : Spokoke [Win: Spoke; KC: spok], of a whele: Radius.
- c1450 Ryl.Prov.& R.(Ryl Lat 394)106 : Euer þe worst spoke of þe cart krakes.
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)12232 : In thys whel Ther ys wyth-inne..A-nother..And off tymber..Hath iiij spookys yt to sustene.
- a1500 Mayer Nominale (Mayer)727/27 : Radius: a spak.
b
- c1225(?c1200) St.Juliana (Bod 34)51/546 : Lette..a swiðe wunderlich hweol meten & makien ant þurh spitien hit al wið spaken & felien.
- c1225(?c1200) St.Kath.(1) (Roy 17.A.27)101/889 : Ant [Tit: & let] þurh-driuen þrefter þe spaken [Tit: speaken] ant te uelien mid irnene gadien.
- ?a1300 11 Pains(1) (Dgb 86)403/65 : A wel of stel is forþer-mo..A þousent spoken þer beþ on, And pikes oueral idon.
- c1300 SLeg.Patr.(LdMisc 108)278 : He i-saiȝ a grislich ȝweol with spokene [Corp-C: spoken] longe i-nowe Þat on ende hangede toward þe grounde.
- 1447 Bokenham Sts.(Arun 327)7105 : Foure greth whelys ordeynyd be..& yche spook þer-to Ful of yirnene sawys shul be set also.
- a1450 St.Kath.(3) (Richardson 44)54 : Ordeyne þerfore þat foure gret wheles be maad..bothe þe vtter and þe ynner cercles of yche wheel be mad full of scharp hoked nayles, and alle þe spokes be sette fulle of thyk and scharp bytyng sawes.
c
- a1400 Waich & wreschede (Hrl 7322)p.267 head. : Vita hominis decurrit in 10 radiis..ten spokes þat tornen ay.
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)4.1757 : Ȝoure hiȝe renoun Atteyned hath the..hiȝest prikke of Fortunys whele..Hir spokes meue vn-to ȝoure plesaunce.
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)4.1040 : Fortune..of hir wheel the spokes she hath so guyed, Wheron he sat most richeli magnefied, That he vnwarli doun from his hih noblesse Was brouht ful lowe.
- c1460(?c1400) Beryn (Nthld 55)945 : The whele of ffortune..ther-on he is gond: O spoke she turnyd Bakward..All a-geyn Berinus.
- a1500(?c1440) Lydg.HGS (Lnsd 699)454 : Pees is grond of all debat, For on five spookis lik as on a wheel Turnyth al the world.
d
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)12645 : Thys spokys iiij off most vertu Ben in the croos off cryst ihesu.