Middle English Dictionary Entry
z n.
Entry Info
| Forms | z n. |
| Etymology |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) The letter z of the alphabet;
(b) in z.s.v., an obscure abbreviation used as the title of a recipe.
Associated quotations
a
- ?c1400 Sloane SSecr.(Sln 213)16/8 : Here sues anoþer Abece, wher-by if þou acounte wel þou may also wite of a man and his wife wheþer sale soner dye; Take þe names of þem bothe, and acounte þe letteres of þo names by þe noumbre of þis suyng Abece, and…if al þe hole noumbre be euene, with-outen doute þe man sale dye, and if it be odde, þan es it þe womman: A:1. B:4…T:2. V:2. X:3. Z:4.
- ?c1400 Sloane SSecr.(Sln 213)17/1 : Here sues anoþer Abece to knowe by of what signe in þe Zodiak ilk man es…X:20. Y:10. Z:7.
- (c1450-54) Paston (EETS)1.151 : Þere byn many wordis wretyn at the last ynd with an z, and oder with j s.
- (c1450-54) Paston (EETS)1.151 : ‘Il’ seruit fore þe singlere now[m]ber and ‘ilz’ for the plure noumbre, and þe ‘z’ sownit neuer, neithere the ‘l’, but be-fore j vowell; example…of ‘jlz’: ‘ilz mayment bien la leur bonne mercy.’
b
- ?a1475 Noble Bk.Cook.(Hlk 674)108 : To mak Z.S.V.: To mak Z.S.V. tak thik almond mylke and boile it and in the boilinge castein wyne or venygar and put it in a canvas and let it ren on a hepe, then honge it in a clothe and lay it in cold water and serue it.