orphrey, orfray
(ˈɔːfreɪ, -frɪ)
Forms: α. 4–5 orfreis, -eys, -ais, -ays, 4–6 orfraies, -ayes, -eyes, 5 orpharas, -is, 6 orefrayes, orferaus, orfris, -ys, (orpheis, orphis, offreis). β. 5 orferay, orpheray, orpharé, orffrey, 5–6 (9) orfrey, 6 orphery, (orfer), 9 orfray, orphrey.
[ME. orfreis, a. OF. orfreis = Pr. aurfres, OSp. aurofres:—aurifrisium (med.L. aurifrisum, aurifrisia, aurifresus, aurifrixium, aurifrigium, -ia) for L. auriphrygium gold embroidery, f. aurum gold + Phrygius Phrygian: cf. Phrygiæ vestēs Phrygian (gold-embroidered) garments. The final -s, belonging etymologically to the singular, is now treated as the plural suffix; so mod.F. orfroi, formerly orfrois. The Eng. historical spelling is orfrey or orfray; orphrey combines Fr. or with the ph of L. phrygium.]
1. Gold embroidery, or any rich embroidery; with an and pl., a piece of richly embroidered stuff. Now only Hist. or arch.
| [1222 Ornam. Eccl. Sarum in Osmund Reg. (Rolls) II. 132 Stola una de aurifris. cum manipulis tribus.] 13.. K. Alis. 179 With mony bellis, of selver schene, Y-fastened on orfreys of mounde. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 117 A hede þat was of smyten..in an orfreis [he] it wond. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 562 Of fyn orfrays hadde she eke A chapelet. c 1425 Thomas of Erceld. 62 Hir payetrelle was of jrale fyne, Hir cropoure was of Orphare. c 1483 Caxton Dialogues 36/9 Ther was therin many orfrayes and rybans of silke. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 35 Yo{supu}..see that ‘orefryes’ was ‘a weued clothe of golde’, and not ‘goldsmythe woorke’. 1706 Phillips s.v., The Coat-Armours of the King's Guards were also termed Orfraies, upon account of their being adorned with Gold-smith's Work. 1851 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. I. 158 [Charlemagne] clad in his silken robes, ponderous with broidery, pearls, and orfray. 1890 W. Morris in Eng. Illustr. Mag. July 767 The King's pavilion..wrought all over..with orphreys of gold and pearl and gems. |
2. An ornamental border or band, esp. on an ecclesiastical vestment, sometimes richly embroidered.
| c 1400 Mandeville xxii. 233 Clothes dyapred of red selk all wrought with gold, and the orfrayes sett full of gret perl and precious stones. 1440 in Eng. Ch. Furniture (ed. Peacock 1866) 182 One vestment of white silke with a read orferay. 1485 Churchw. Acc., St. Mary Hill, London (Nichols 1797) 99 A childe's cope of clothe of golde and the orpharis of blue veluet. 1503 in Kerry St. Lawrence, Reading (1883) 113 The orfrey on the bak a narrow crose with warks. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 73 b, All the Coopes and Vestementes so riche..the Orfrys sette with pearles and precious stones. 1844 F. A. Paley Ch. Restorers 21 The orphrey or border of the chasuble. 1877 J. D. Chambers Div. Worship 66 The orfrays..are broad and elaborately chased. 1882 Contemp. Rev. Nov. 679 The rochets and the orfreys, worn in the second year of King Edward the Sixth. 1894 Athenæum 3 Mar. 282/1 A splendid cope of green bawdekyn, with orphreys embroidered with six scenes from the life of St. John Baptist, of late fifteenth century Flemish work. |
3. Comb., as orphrey-web, orphrey-work.
| 1876 Rock Text. Fabr. iii. 21 On a piece of German orphrey-web. 1890 Stocks & Bragg Market Harborough Parish Rec. 53 note, In the fifteenth century Cologne became famous for the manufacture of orphrey-web. |