▪ I. † verdour1 Obs.
Forms: α. 5 verdeur, 5–7 verdour (6 Sc. wer-), 6 veerdour, Sc. verdeour; 5 Sc. wardur, 6 vardour, Sc. wardour(e. β. 5 Sc. wardor, 6–7 verdor, 7 verdore.
[a. OF. verdour, verdor (13th c.; = Prov., Sp., Pg. verdor, It. verdore), later verdeur (mod.F. dial. vardeur), f. verd green: see -or 1 and cf. verder1 and verdure.]
1. Fresh greenness (of vegetation); fig. fresh or flourishing condition.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 213 The verdour or grennesse & the redolence Of good fame. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 156 b/2 The blessyd George was hygh in despysyng lowe thynges and therfore he had verdeur in hym self. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. vii. (1611) 106 He beareth Argent, three sterued branches,..this being mortified and vnuested of the verdour which sometime it had. 1646 Quarles Judgem. & Mercy Wks. (Grosart) I. 87/1 (heading), The worldly man's Verdour. Contrasting the prosperous condition of the worldly..man [etc.]. |
b. Taste, esp. fresh or pleasant taste; = verdure 4. Also fig.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 154 And the vyne answered sayenge, I may not leaue my swetnes and pleasaunt verdour, whiche so delyteth..bothe god & man. 1549 Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Jas. II. 35 But every frute is lyke unto hys owne tree, and hathe the verdour of the juyce of hys owne rote. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 223 Those plantes which our auncestors had brought hither out of Normandie had lost their native verdour, whether you did eate their substance, or drink their iuice, which we call Cyder. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. viii. §5 We see in all other pleasures [than learning] there is sacietie; and after they bee used, their verdour departeth. |
2. = verdure 3.
| 1480 Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 118 Oon other [counterpoint] of greene verdours with trees; oon other of white verdour with a scripture. 1493 Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 10 A cuvaryng of wardur, cost 12s. 1531–2 Rutland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) IV. 271 For iiij peces of verdours for hanginges, vjli. xiijs. iiijd. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 165 b, The newe banket chamber..was hanged with a costly verdor all new, the ground therof was all gold and the flowers were all of Sattyn silver. 1574 Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876) I. 32 Ane lettgant bed furneist witht Flandreis werdour, blancattis, scheittis, and coddis. |
| attrib. 1488 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 157 A verdour bed to the Duk. 1501 Ibid. II. 31, vj elne cammas deliverit to Jame Dog to mend the verdeour clathis in Strivelin. 1532 N. Country Wills (Surtees) 133 A covering of a bedde of verdour werke lyned with canvas. |
3. = verdure 2.
| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 30 As new spynist rose, Arrayit ryallie about with mony rich wardour. 1587 Holinshed Chron. (ed. 2) III. 857/1 Vnder it antike images of gold inuironed with verdor of olifs cast in compasse. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vi. §11. 30 Salomon became inabled..to compile a naturall Historie of all Verdor, from the Cedar upon the Mountaine, to the mosse vppon the wall. |
4. = verdure 1 b. rare—1.
| 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 266 There appeareth to the eye a certeyne verdour shynynge lyke the beames of the soonne. |
▪ II. † verdour2 Obs. rare.
Also 6 vierdour, 6–7 verdor.
[a. AF. verdour (1327), var. of verder verder2.]
= verderer2 1.
| 1502 Arnolde Chron. p. lxxx/1 And to this Swanmot..shall com to gedurs foresturs and vierdours and non other be distraint. 1594 Crompton Jurisd. 169 If a man be indited of Trespasse done in the forrest before verdors, regardors, agistors, and other Ministers of the Forrest [etc.]. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Verdour,..a Iudiciall Officer of the Kings forest, chosen by the King, in the full county of the same shire, within the forest, where he doth dwell. Ibid., The verdour is made by the Kings writ,..which is directed to the shyreeue for the choice of him in a full Countie. 1656 Blount Glossogr. (after Cowell), Verderer or Verdor, a Judicial Officer of the Kings Forrest. 1812 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXXIV. 210 A forest has laws and officers of its own, as foresters, verdours, rangers, and agisters. |