ˈsay-well, n. Obs. exc. dial.
Also 4 seywel, seiwel.
[f. say v.1 + well adv.]
Approval expressed in words; verbal commendation. (Orig. as personification.)
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 19 Þe Cunstable of þe Castel..haþ fyue feire sones bi his furste wyf: Sire seowel and seywel [etc.]. 15.. Six Ballads (Percy Soc. 1844) 6 Say-well is good, but do-well is better. 1628 Gaule Pract. Theorists Panegyr. (1629) 9 He did not well to them, without their Say-well of him. 1876 Whitby Gloss. 52 ‘Say weel is good, but deea-weel is better’, explained by what the pious matron remarked, ‘I cannot talk my religion, but I can live it.’ |