▪ I. parchment, n.
(ˈpɑːtʃmənt)
Forms: α. 3–4 parchemin, 4 -men, 4–6 -myn(e, -mine; 4 parchymene; 5 perchymyn, perchemyn(e, -men, 6 -meyne, -mine; 4 parchmen, 5–6 perchmyne, 6–7 parchmine. β. 5–6 perchement, 5–7 parche-, (7 partch-), 6– parchment.
[ME. a. F. parchemin, in 11th c. north. F. parcamin: cf. Pr. pergamen, -mi, Cat. pergami, Sp. pergamino, Pg. pergaminho; It. pergaˈmena, pergaˈmina (Florio), ad. L. pergamēna, in Isidore pergamīna, abs. use (sc. charta) of Pergamēna, fem. of Pergamēnus adj., of or belonging to Pergamum, a city of Mysia in Asia Minor. The Romanic forms (exc. It.) point to a L. neuter form pergamēnum, -mīnum (both in med.L.); OFr. shows a further change, evidenced in med.L. percamīnum, and in Du., of original g to c, which before a became ch- in Fr. and thence in Eng. The later Eng. form in -ment corresponds to a med.L. by-form pergamentum (11th c. in Wright-Wülcker) with falsified suffix, seen also in OHG. pergement, perment, Ger. pergament, MDu. parca-, parkement, Du. perka-, perkement.]
1. a. The skin of the sheep or goat, and sometimes that of other animals, dressed and prepared for writing, painting, engraving, etc.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 8503 Als written es in parchemin. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1134 Polysed als playn as parchmen schauen. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxiv. (Alexis) 337 Sone askyt he..pene, Ink, and parchemyne. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 113 [Þei] peyntyd his ffigure in perchemyn. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 316/1 Brynge to me perchymyn & ynke. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19 §10 The seid Commissioners shall delyver by one parte of theyr wrytyng in parchemyn triplicate..the hole some. 1594 R. Ashley tr. Loys le Roy 21 Thicker then double parchmine. |
| β a 1400–50 Alexander 5305 Þar in perchement depayntid his person scho schewid. ? 1456 Paston Lett. I. 405, I sende yow the copie of your patentes, in parchement. 1560 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 279 The drum is covered with parchment. 1578 in Maitl. Cl. Misc. I. (1833) 4 Foure volumes..coverit with quhite perchement. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 123 Ham. Is not Parchment made of Sheep-skinnes? Hor. I my Lord, and of Calue-skinnes too. a 1634 Chapman Alphonsus Plays 1873 III. 257 Mine Entrals shrink together like a scrowl Of burning parchment. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Text N.T. 17 [The vellum] is often no better than coarse parchment made from sheep's skins. |
b. With defining word, applied to substances resembling parchment, as
cotton parchment, a parchment-like material made by soaking cotton fibre in a solution of sulphuric acid, glycerin, and water, and then rolling it into sheets;
vegetable parchment = parchment-paper (see 5 b).
| 1838 Mech. Mag. XXX. 192 M. Pelouze states that if..paper be plunged into nitric acid..and immediately washed..a species of parchment is produced. 1860 Edin. Phil. Jrnl. XII. 324 Vegetable parchment.—Papyrine. 1860 Hofmann in Ure's Dict. Arts III. 406 In its appearance, vegetable parchment greatly resembles animal parchment. |
2. a. A skin, piece, scroll, or roll of parchment; a manuscript or document on parchment.
| 13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 3011 The knight toke vp the parchemyne, And red the Franche, ful fayre and fyne. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. met. iv. 129 (Camb. MS.) Thilke stoyciens wenden þat the sowle hadde ben naked of it self as a myroure or a cleene parchemyn. 1483 Cath. Angl. 269/1 A Parchement, membrana, pergamenum. 1557 N.T. (Genev.) 2 Tim. iv. 13 Bryng with thee..the bokes, but specially the parchements [so 1611; Wyclif parchemyn, Tindale partchement]. 1595 Shakes. John v. vii. 33, I am a scribled forme drawne with a pen Vpon a Parchment. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek 29 Carathis was privately drawing from a filigreen urn, a parchment that seemed to be endless. 1865 Kingsley Herew. x, He glanced with awe at the books, parchments [etc.]. |
b. A certificate;
spec. (see
quot. 1962).
| 1888 C. M. Yonge Our New Mistress ii. 14 She had been two years from her training college, and had an excellent parchment and report from the place she had left. 1914 ‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions xxii. 206 The sailor him⁓self..describes his Certificate as his ‘Discharge’. In Accountant circles in which the thing circulates it is known as a ‘Parchment’. A Service Certificate..is a double sheet of parchment with printed headings, foolscap size. 1962 Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 86/1 Parchment, naval rating's service certificate on which his character and abilities are assessed by the commanding officer of each ship in which he has served. |
3. A skin or membrane resembling parchment;
spec. the husk of the coffee-bean; in
quot. 1879 short for
parchment-beaver; in 1883 for
parchment-coffee.
| 1677 Grew Anat. Fruits v. §13 The Case is lined with a dry and thin Parchment, as smooth as Glass. 1791 Trans. Soc. Arts IX. p. xiii, Coffee brought over in the inner skin or parchment only. 1879 D'Anvers tr. J. Verne's Fur Country i. xvi, The beavers' skins were..labelled as ‘parchments’ or ‘young beavers’ according to their value. 1883 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Aug. 528/1 The ‘parchment’, as it is called, is sewn up in stout bags and dispatched by bullock carts to the nearest railway station. 1893 Kew Bulletin No. 78. 129 The husk or parchment protects the [coffee] bean from atmospheric influences which affect the colour. |
4. A colour resembling that of parchment.
| 1934 Dict. Colour Standards (Brit. Colour Council) 58 Parchment. B.C.C. 165. General representation of samples submitted by Textile and other Colour Using Industries. 1947 J. H. Bustanoby Princ. Color & Color Mixing iv. 68 Parchment. A pale tint of brown, resembling the prepared and polished skin of sheep, goats, lambs, young calves, and other animals, used for writing, painting, engraving, etc. 1970 P. West Words for Deaf Daughter vi. 117 Old golds, and parchments (the tone, not the stuff). 1974 Simpson (Piccadilly) Catal. Christmas 15 Cable cardigan... Parchment, vicuna colour or light green. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib. or as adj. Made of, pertaining to, or of the nature of parchment; existing only on parchment,
i.e. in writing; parchment-coloured.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 64 England..is now bound in with shame, With Inky blottes, and rotten Parchment bonds. 1679 E. Pyckering in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 331 The parchment deed I delivered to Mr. Pack. 1821 J. Marshall Const. Opin. (1839) 231 Its effects cannot be restrained by parchment stipulations. 1886 G. R. Sims Ring o' Bells, etc. i. i. 14 A look of pity overspread his parchment features. 1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 637/2 Satin, marocain, etc...in Oyster, Pearl and Parchment shades. 1959 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring/Summer 1224/1 Vitrous china Bathroom Fixtures..Frosty pink, Parchment beige, Sage green. Ibid. 618/3 Rayon Fortisan [curtains]..Frosty pink, Parchment ivory. 1977 Times 29 Dec. 17/7 (Advt.), Mercedes-Benz..Magnetic blue/parchment velour. |
b. Comb. Instrumental, parasynthetic, etc., as
parchment-coloured,
parchment-covered,
parchment-faced,
parchment-like,
parchment-skinned,
parchment-spread adjs.;
parchment-beaver, name for beaver skins taken in summer after the hair has been shed; ‘dry beaver’ or ‘dry castor’;
parchment-coffee, the coffee-bean while still enclosed in its husk:
cf. sense 3;
parchment-glue, a glue made from parchment cuttings;
parchment-maker, a maker of parchment;
parchment-paper, a tough, translucent, glossy kind of paper resembling parchment, made by soaking ordinary unsized paper in dilute sulphuric acid;
parchment size = parchment-glue;
parchment-skin, a piece of parchment; also
fig.; also, a disease of the skin in which it becomes dry and rough so as to resemble parchment;
parchment window Obs. Canad., a window-pane made of parchment. Also
parchment-lace.
| 1781 Pennant Hist. Quad. II. 386 *Parchment Beaver, because the lower side resembles it. 1819 Rees Cycl. s.v. Castor, Beaver skins are distinguished by the name of coat beaver and parchment beaver, by traders. 1864 in Webster. |
| 1894 J. M. Walsh Coffee 62 The best seed being what is known as ‘*parchment’ coffee. |
| 1932 W. Faulkner Light in August vi. 115 Always against her eyelids was that..*parchmentcolored face watching her. 1936 ― Absalom, Absalom! viii. 335 The slight dowdy woman..with parchment-colored skin. 1979 Country Life 9 Aug. 431/3, I have included photographs..of two intarsia sweaters... I particularly like the parchment-coloured one. |
| 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 209 Then, with *parchment-glue, mix it into a mass. |
| 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 231 The remarkable white ‘*parchment-like’ skin of the Orchids. 1899 J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. X. Descr. Plate xvii, It was quite impossible to pinch the skin up anywhere, as it was tight and parchment-like. |
| c 1483 Caxton Dialogues 47/9 Iosse the *parchemyn maker solde me a skyn of parchemyn. 1609 D. Rogers Harl. MS. 1944 lf. 25 b in Digby Myst. (1882) p. xxii, Glouers and Parchment makers. 1851 in Illustr. Lond. News (1854) 5 Aug. 119/2 (Occup. of People) Parchment maker. |
| 1860 Hofmann in Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 5) III. 406, I have carefully examined the new material, called vegetable parchment, or *parchment paper. 1899 J. Cagney tr. Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. i. (ed. 4) 84 Spread in a thin layer on a parchment-paper dialyser. |
| 1758 [R. Dossie] Handmaid to Arts 411 It is better to employ the glover's or the *parchment size. |
| 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 501/308 He wrot se faste til þat he want, Ffor his *parchemyn-skin was so scant. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn (1900) 65/2 Good-night, old bat, old parchment skin, old sixty per cent. 1893 Syd. Soc. Lex., Parchment skin, see Xeroderma. |
| 1859 Cornwallis New World I. 295 A dried-up looking, *parchment-skinned attorney, styled Eldon. |
| a 1847 Eliza Cook Room of a Household iii, The *parchment-spread battledore. |
| 1775 Hearne & Turnor Jrnls. (1934) 182 The Carpenter Employed nailing on a set of new *Parchment windows. 1882 Royal Readers (Canada) v. 435 He [sc. Robert Campbell] and his companions were forced to use for food the parchment windows of their hut. |
▪ II. parchment, v. [f. prec. n.] = parchmentize v. So
ˈparchmented ppl. a.: see
quot., and
cf. parchment-skin (
parchment n. 5 b).
| 1893 Syd. Soc. Lex., Parchmented,..applied to a hard, tough condition of the skin in certain diseases. 1899 Ibid. s.v. Xeroderma, The skin is parchmented, and the epidermis is wrinkled and thinned out. |