Welshman
(ˈwɛlʃmən)
Forms: see Welsh (also 4 Welss-, Weliss-, 6 Wealch, Welsch; 4 Walss-, Walis-, Walesch, 5 Wallissh-, 6 Walls-), and man n.
[f. Welsh a. + man n.]
1. † a. A native Briton. Obs. b. A native of Wales.
In the early examples the adj. and noun are still separate words.
| α 688–95 Laws Ine §32 Ᵹif Wilisc mon hæbbe hide londes, his wer bið cxx scill. c 1000 Ags. Laws, Dunsetas §6 Nah naðer to farenne ne Wilisc man on ænglisc land ne ænglisc on Wylisc ðe ma, butan gesettan landmen. c 1100 O.E. Chron. (MS. C) an. 1053 Eac Wylsce menn ᵹeslogan mycelne dæl Englisces folces. |
| β c 1205 Lay. 2120 Þat Cambrie wes ihaten þat is þat wilde lond þat Welsce [c 1275 Walse] men luuieð. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5140 Here we englisse men mowe yse some, Mid woche riȝte we beþ to þis lond ycome; Ac þe wrecche welissemen beþ of þe olde more. 1513 Life Hen. V (1911) 9 Manie Welshmen, and..the greater parte of all Wales, were confederate w{supt}{suph} these rebbells. 1579 Fulke Refut. Rastel 764 The Welshmen that vnderstand not english, haue their common praier in their Welshe tongue. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 477 You cannot guesse wherefore the Welchman comes. 1598 T. Bastard Chrestol. iii. xxxiii. 72 A Wealch and English man meete on the way. 1607 Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe i. B 4, The Northerne man loues white-meates,..the Welshman Leekes and Cheese. 1663–4 Pepys Diary 22 Feb., The Duke of Monmouth's mother's brother..being a Welchman. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxviii. (1787) III. 625 note, The malicious Welshman [= Giraldus Cambrensis] insinuates, that [etc.]. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 250/2 The men..are about three-fifths Irishmen, a fifth Welchmen,..and the remainder Englishmen. 1882 Rhys Celtic Britain 145 The northern portion..is spoken of in the Saxon Chronicle as that of the Strathclyde Welshmen. |
| γ c 1205 Lay. 2124 For þan duke Gualun Wælsce [c 1275 Walse] men me heom hateð. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 35 Edgar..went to Kerlion, þe Walsch men he band With homage & feaute. 1387 Trevisa Higden II. 35 In Seint Edward his tyme Walsche men schulde not passe þat diche wiþ wepoun vppon a grete payne. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 93 He commandede..alle þe Britones..To ben y-cleped Wallisshemen. Ibid. 96 Saxsones clepud hom..Walshemen. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 6 Ther was the Erle of Pembroke takene..and two M{supl}. Walschmenne slayne. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 510 Whiche kynge expulsed..All brutes and walshemen clere out of his londe. 1565 Stapleton Fortr. Faith 132 b, Inhabited by the olde Britons and walsh men. |
2. U.S. A name applied locally to the black bass (
Micropterus) and other fishes.
| 1714 J. Lawson Hist. Carolina 159 The brown Pearch, which some call Welch-men, are the largest sort of Pearches that we have. 1884 Century Mag. Apr. 908/1 A black bass..becomes..a ‘welshman’ in North Carolina. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 55 On the Tar River of North Carolina, it [the Black Bass] is called ‘Chubb’, and on the Neuse, ‘Welshman’. |
3. Possessive combinations.
Welshman's button = hazel-fly hazel1 4 c.
† Welshman's hose, in phrases like
to make a Welshman's hose of,
to make like a Welshman's hose, to stretch or wrest the meaning of (a word, sentence, etc.);
cf. shipman's hose shipman 3 b.
Welshman's hug (see
quot.)
| 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 117 The *Welchman's Button or Hasle comes on about the latter end of July. 1880 F. Francis Angling vi. (ed. 5) 230 The Welshman's Button; where it is found, it is a capital fly. |
| 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 1239 And after conueyauns as the world goos, It is no foly to vse the *Walshemannys hoos. a 1529 ― Col. Cloute 780 A thousand thousande other, That.. make a Walshmans hose Of the texte and of the glose. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Robt. Tresilian xi, And wurds that wer most plaine whan thei by vs wer skande, We turned by construction lyke a welch⁓mans hose. 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis 737 Of omnigatherine now his glose: He maid it lyk a Wealchman hose: Tempora mutantur was his text. |
| 1886 W. Somerset Word-bk., Scotch-Fiddle. 2. The itch, more commonly called the *Welshman's hug. |