† namecouth, a. Obs.
Forms: 1 namc{uacu}ð, 3–4 namecouth, (4 -coþ, -kouþ, 6 Sc. -kouth), 4–5 namecouthe, (4 -kowþe), 6 naamkouth, Sc. naimcouth; 1–3 nomecuðe, 4–5 -kowthe.
[OE. namc{uacu}ð, nomec{uacu}ð: see name n. and couth a.]
Known by name, well known, famous.
| a 1000 Laws Ethelred ix. 37 in Thorpe I. 348 On þam ᵹemotan, þeah rædlice wurðan on namcuðan stowan. c 1000 ælfric in Assmann Ags. Hom. (1889) 85 Ða beoð heahfæderas, nomecuðe wæras. Ibid. 92 Sum rice cyning namcuð on worulde. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 537 Wittiest..& mest nomecuðe icud of alle clergies. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 467/181 To Marcile þe wynd heom drof, a gret name-couth cite. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 823 Þe aþel king alexandre,..Þat noble is & name-kouþ. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 43 Al þe worlde aboute haþ name kowthe sees þritty. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. i. (1859) 70 One of the seuene name couthe planetes, that ben cleped of clerkes sterres erratiks. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. i. 59 The naimcouth hous, that Laborinthus hait. [1557 N. Grimalde in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 102 As in the famous woork, that Eneids hight The naamkouth Virgil hath set forth in sight.] |
Hence † namecouthhead. Obs. rare.
| 1340 Ayenb. 25 Huanne he wilneþ and zekþ and porchaceþ los and namecouþhede. |