Middle English Dictionary Entry
wimble n.
Entry Info
Forms | wimble n. Also wimbel, wimbil(le, wimbul, wem(b)il, wombel, wom(b)il, vombil; pl. wimbles, etc. & (error) wymbes. |
Etymology | Prob. from AF/ONF (cp. ONF wimbelkin, wembelkin, OF guimbelet); also cp. MDu. wimmel, MLG wemel, wimel. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) An auger used in woodworking, a gimlet, wimble; also person.; axel-man ~, a wheelwright’s wimble; frensh ~, ?a specially adapted variety of wimble associated with French designs or techniques; reste (restinge) ~, ?a wimble equipped with a hand-rest, an armrest, or other appendage;
(b) surg. a pointed instrument for piercing or boring holes in bone or for penetrating tissue, a trepan; ~ reversate (turned ayen-ward), a surgical wimble inserted in a wound to extract foreign objects; forth-right (right) ~, a kind of surgical wimble used to wedge open and enlarge a hole in a bone.
Associated quotations
a
- (1255) Cart.Ramsey in RS 79.1464 : Cum autem super sanguinis effusione, raptu puellarum, et captione querc’, quæ apertionem de restyng wymbes [?read: wymbles] possit sustinere, fuerit convictus ratione delicti, prout melius possit, gratiam petit domini.
- (1295) *Acc.Exch.K.R.5/8.m.4 [OD col.] : In iiij d. ob. in Wymbles emptis.
- a1325 Gloss.Bibbesw.(Arun 220)p.170 : Le ferm estera sur la mesere, Par kyvyl et par terere [glossed:] pyn and wymble [vr. nauger].
- c1350 Cmb.Ee.4.20.Nominale (Cmb Ee.4.20)517 : Coyne, cune, et terrere: Bolax, wegge, wymbul.
- (?1362) Acc.R.Dur.in Sur.Soc.100565 : Will’o Couper ad reparacionem duorum Wymbles quia fracta in opere Prioris, 12 d.
- c1400 Sln.468 Cook.Recipes (Sln 468)154.18/10 : Whan it is cold, tak a pyn of tre or of an hertes horn & stike in an hole of tre þat is bored with a wymbel.
- (1408) Invent.Jarrow in Sur.Soc.2981 : In custodia prepositi…iiij wymbillis.
- c1410 Chaucer CT.Kn.(Hrl 7334)A.1979 : On þe wal was peynyted a foreste…wiþ knotty, knarry, bareyn trees olde…In which þer ran as wymbul [vrr. as wombel, a swymbyl, a vombil; Heng: a rombul] in a swough, As it were a storme schuld berst euery bough.
- a1425 Daniel *Treat.Uroscopy (Wel 225)271/3477 : It…causys syk payn & angwys þat þe pacient thynkys as an thrystyd hym with a wymbyll or with a persour.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)528 : Wymbyl: Terebrum; Wymbyl, or persowre: Terebellum.
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)11.85 : Vnto the pith a frensh wymbul inbore; Threste in a braunche of roggy wilde olyue.
- (1446) Invent.Lytham in Chet.n.s.6080 : In primis in the haghous ij axes, v wymbuls, iij fotespades.
- (1454) Acc.R.Dur.in Sur.Soc.99150 : ij wymbillez, j kar, et j capstane…ij mukforkez.
- (1465) Doc.Finchale in Sur.Soc.6p.ccxcix : j rest womyll, ij plewys…j restwemyll, ij wodaxis.
- (1471) Will York in Sur.Soc.45188 : Lego…Meo apprenticio j wodax…a wombyll, an axilman womyll, and j thyxill.
- c1475(1392) *MS Wel.564 (Wel 564)76a/b : Saryzenes worchen on þis maner: þei taken an instrument þat is schapen lijk a wembil, [etc.].
- ?a1500 Lndsb.Nominale (Lndsb)807/23 : Terebrum: a wymbylle.
- c1500 The shype ax (Ashm 61)17 : ‘Ȝis, ȝis,’ seyd þe wymbyll, ‘I ame als rounde as a thymbyll…I schall crepe fast into þe tymbyr.’
b
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)188/25,26 : The fourþe beþ wymbles [L terebella] turned aȝeynewarde, to take þe holownesse or pype of yren; The fifte instrument ben…riȝte wymbles to make þe bones large.
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)189/13,16 : If þe tree goo oute of þe sokette, drawe it oute wiþ a wymbel reuersate, i. turned aȝeyne, putte yn þe sokette; And if þai may nouȝt be drawen oute in oþer wise, make þe hole of þe flesche large with a rasoure…and þe bones, wiþ forþriȝt wymbles [L terebellis directis] or wiþ crapanes.
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)415/5 : If þe wombe were bolnede, þe cautel is þat the wombe be prykkede or persede with a wymble or wiþ a grete alle, þat þe watryhede and þe wyndyhede may go oute.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. wimble.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc. (sense (b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. forthright wimble.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc. (sense (b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. right wimble.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc. (sense (b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. wimble reversate.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc. (sense (b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. wimble turned againward.