Middle English Dictionary Entry
tǒur n.(2)
Entry Info
| Forms | tǒur n.(2) Also toure, (error) towne. |
| Etymology | OF tor, tour. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A turn of events; (b) a step in a sequence of events; (c) a turning motion; (d) ?a turning lathe; ?part of a turning lathe; (e) hawk. lofty flight; the act of soaring [this sense shows confusion with tour n.(1); cp. touren v. (b)].
Associated quotations
a
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)9597 : Henri is eldoste sone ibore was..Mold was after henry & suþþe þe gode kniȝt, King richard..Geffray þo & suþþe Ion & elianore last..Þis was lo a uair tour, ac newe [read: uewe] hadde god cas.
- a1500(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Stw 952(1))21605 : Towr [Vit: whan the tourn doth varye, The world they fynde to hem contrarye].
b
- c1390 Castle Love(1) (Vrn)1336 : To þe croys he con come And wolde habben his soule inome, Ac he faylede, þe traytour; He was abated of his tour.
c
- a1450(c1410) Lovel.Grail (Corp-C 80)27.194 : He Felte the yl Anon Tremblynge Aftyr the towr of the firmament.
d
- (1427) Let.Bk.Lond.K (Gldh LetBk K)66 : [A] whele, an arbe, and a tour.
e
- ?a1450 Poem Hawking (Yale 163)266 : The nexte wyke lere her come to the Fro a huge towne [read: towre] and geve here mete.
- ?a1450 Poem Hawking (Yale 163)461 : I shall the telle of the laneret and laner, The whiche I say ben haukys of the tour.
- c1450(?a1400) Parl.3 Ages (Add 31042)213 : With haukes full hawtayne that heghe willen flye..And than the hawteste in haste hyghes to the towre.
- a1475 in Hodgkin Proper Terms52 : A Caste of hawkys of the Towre.
- 1486 ?Berners Bk.St.Albans (Blades 1881)leaf d iv/a : Theys be hawkes of the towre, and ben both Ilurid to be calde and reclaymed.