Middle English Dictionary Entry
vī̆sū̆ā̆l adj.
Entry Info
| Forms | vī̆sū̆ā̆l adj. |
| Etymology | L vīsuālis; cp. F (16th cent.) visuel, visual. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. visible adj.
1.
(a) Pertaining to the faculty of sight, visual; ~ vertu, the substance embodying the faculty of sight; stremes ~, the beams of this substance thought to emanate from the eyes;
(b) perceptible by the sense of sight, visible.
Associated quotations
a
- c1425(a1420) Lydg.TB (Aug A.4)1.1697 : Þe mone hath made deuisioun…Þat of oure siȝt þe stremys visual May nat be-holde…How Appollo is in his chare schynende.
- c1484(a1475) Caritate SSecr.(Tak 38)159/9 : Thei þat may se fer and noȝt ner, þei haue a myghti and myche of þe spyrite of syghte and of vysual vertu, þe qwych is grose, moyst, and perturbate.
b
- c1484(a1475) Caritate SSecr.(Tak 38)144/3 : The secunde parte is of þe qwalyte and þe maner of knowyng þe meuyng of þe fyrmament, þe rysyng or þe spryngyng of þe sygnys, vppon thyngis neghyng þe celestyal speris or euir þei come to knowlech be vysual appeirryng.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- a1484 Treat.Quadrant(2) (Trin-C R.14.52)652/906 : What so is the proporcioun of pointes of scala recta to xij (the angle of the quadraunt turned vp as bifore and the beame visuale passyng bi the side of the pitte to the terme of depnes of the side opposite whiche) is the dyametre of the pitte to al his depnesse.
Note: Ed.: "beame visuale a ray believed to pass fromt he eye to an object seen."
Note: Additional quot., sense (a).