▪ I. hoarse, a.
(hɔəs)
Forms: α. 1 hás, 3–4 hos, 4–5 hose, hoos, hoose, (4 hois), 5 hooce, hoce, (hoost), 8–9 dial. hoast; north. and Sc. 4–5 haase, hase, 5 hayse, 5–6 Sc. hace, 6 hays, hais, (hess). β. 4–5 hors, -e, hoors, 5–6 hoorse, 6 horce, (hourse), 6–7 hoarce, (7 hoars), 6– hoarse; Sc. 8 hers, 8– hearse, 9 herse, hairce, hairse, dial. hairsh, hearsh.
[A word of which the stem varies, not only in Eng., but in the other Teut. langs. The recorded OE. type was hás (ME. hôs, Sc. hāse), corresp. to OHG., MHG., OLG. heis, OS. hês, MDu. hees, LG. hês:—OTeut. *haiso-. But beside this ME. had hôrs, hoors, now hoarse, Sc. hairse, hairsh, hearsh. Although written evidence for the r forms goes back only to c 1400, the correspondence of mod.Eng. hoarse and Sc. hairse implies the existence of an unrecorded OE. *hárs beside hás.
The ON. normal repr. of OTeut. *haiso-z would be *heiss, instead of which ON. had háss, app. to be explained as for *hárs:—*hairso- (orig. ai before r gave á in ON.). The OFl. heersch, recorded by Kilian beside heesch, appears to go back similarly to an OLG. *heirs. For these and other reasons it is now generally held that *hairso- was the orig. OTeut. type, and that the r subseq. disappeared at different times in most of the dialects. The southern Scotch hairsh, hearsh, appears to exemplify a frequent Sc. interchange of rs and rsh, seen e.g. in farce, farsch, scarce, scairsh, Erse, Ersch, etc.]
1. Rough and deep-sounding, as the voice when affected with a cold, or the voice of a raven or frog; harsh and low in pitch; not clear and smooth like a pure musical note; husky, croaking, raucous. a. Of the voice (of persons or animals).
| α c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxx. (Z.) 190 Raucus and rauca, has. a 1250 Owl & Night. 504 Þu..pipest al so doþ a mose Mid cokeringe mid stefne hose. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1119 (1147) With brokyn vois, al hois [Campsall MS., hoors; MS. Gg. 4. 27, hors] for shright. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 248/1 Hoos (K. hors, P. hoorse), raucus. c 1450 Henryson Test. Cres. 338 Thy voice..unplesand, hoir, and hace. 1468 Medulla in Promp. Parv. 248 note, Raucus, hoost. 1483 Cath. Angl. 177/1 Hase (A. Hayse), raucus. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss., Hôast,..hoarse. |
| β c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 59 A wood hound..if þat he..berke, his vois is ful hors. c 1450 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xii. xviii. (MS. Bodl.), An henne..clokkinge wiþ an horse [ed. 1495 hoars] voice. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. i. ii. (1886) 5 His voice was hoarse and lowe. 1625 Donne Anat. World, Progr. Soul (Song of Sorcerers), She feigns hoarse barkings, but she biteth not! 1762 Beattie Bat. Pigmies & Cranes 70 He [a frog]..mourns in hoarsest croaks his destiny. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. iii, His voice was hoarse and coarse. |
b. Of other sounds. (Chiefly poetic.)
| 1513 Douglas æneis ix. iii. 109 The ryver brayt with hais [ed. 1710 hers] sovnd. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. ix. 52 The Tides with their hoarse Murmurs. 1699 Garth Dispens. vi. 72 Where with hoars dinn imprison'd tempests rave. 1728 Pope Dunc. ii. 233 This Drum, whose hoarse heroic bass Drowns the loud clarion of the braying Ass. 1883 Ouida Wanda II. 40 The hoarse sound of the sea surging amongst the rocks. |
2. transf. Having a hoarse voice or sound. a. Of persons and animals, or of the vocal organs.
| α a 1000 ælfric Colloq. in Wr.-Wülcker 90/40 Ic hæbbe sumne cnapan..þe eac swilce nu has ys for cylde and hreame. c 1330 King of Tars 599 Ofte he criyede, and ofte he ros, So longe that he wox al hos. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxviii. 4 Thai vndirstode me noght na mare than man may do a hase man. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 3620 So was he hase and spak ful law. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. Prol. 21 Chyde quhill thair heidis rife, and hals worth hais [v.r. hace, rimes place, face]. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 315 How⁓beit that I am hais [v.r. hess] I am content to beir a bais. |
| β 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 324 Til he be blere-nyed or blynde and hors [v. rr. hoos, hos] in þe throte. 1538 Bale Brefe Com. John Baptist in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 207, I oft haue bene horce Cryenge for custome. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. ii. 7 Warwicke is hoarse with calling thee to armes. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. i. 25 The hoarse Raven..croaking. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 330 The hoarse nation croak'd, ‘God save King Log!’ 1786 Burns Earnest Cry 7 Alas! my roupet Muse is hearse! 1826 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life II. x. 231 Charles Kemble is at present as hoarse as a crow. 1887 J. Service Dr. Duguid vii. 41 He..was now as hairse and roopit as a craw. |
b. Of inanimate things. (Chiefly poetic.)
| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 347 Tassay hys horne, and for to knowe Whether hyt were clere, or horse of sovne. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iv. (1880) 56 With Bagpipe hoarce he hath begon his Musicke fine. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 661 The hoarce Trinacrian shore. 1765 Beattie Judgem. Paris cxxxiii, Raves the hoarse storm along the bellowing main. 1870 Dickens E. Drood iii, Cloisterham, with its hoarse cathedral bell. |
3. quasi-adv. = hoarsely.
| 1709 Tatler No. 121 ¶1 He catched Cold, and..began to bark very hoarse. 1808 Scott Marm. i. Introd i, Now, murmuring hoarse..An angry brook, it sweeps the glade. |
4. Comb. a. parasynthetic, as hoarse-throated, hoarse-voiced; b. adverbial, as hoarse-resounding, etc.
| 1598 Florio Ital. Dict. To Rdr. A vj b, An vnluckie, hoarce-voist..night-rauen. a 1729 Congreve Hymn to Harmony vi. (Jod.), Loud trumpets..And hoarse-resounding drums. a 1743 Savage Wks. (1775) II. 75 (Jod.) Hoarse-echoing walls. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 888 The hoarse-throated war. 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Clouds i. iv, The hoarse-roaring Ocean's fountains. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid vi. 327 The hoarse-voiced torrents of doom. |
Hence † ˈhoarsehead, hoarseness.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 248/2 Hooshede, or hoosnesse (K. hoshed, P. hoorshede), raucitas. |
▪ II. hoarse, v.
[f. prec.]
a. intr. To be or become hoarse. b. trans. To make hoarse. Obs. exc. with up (dial. and U.S.).
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxx. (Z.) 190 Raucio, ic hasiᵹe, rausi, rausum. 1483 Cath. Angl. 177/2 Hase, ravcio. 1629 T. Adams Sinner's Passing Bell Wks. 1861–2 I. 355 When his voice is hoarsed. 1877 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 4) s.v., He's got a bad cold and is all hoarsed up. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., I'm hoarst on my chest—hoarst up, a'most. 1897 Voice (N.Y.) 23 Dec. 5/1 My voice seems good when I begin, but I very soon ‘hoarse up’. |