▪ I. pavis, pavise, n. Now Hist.
(ˈpævɪs)
Forms: 4–6 paueys, (4 erron. -ews), 5–6 pauis, (pauys, -es, -yes, 5–6 -eis, 6 -iss, -yss, -eiss, -ois, -oys, -ash, Sc. pawes, 6–7 pauish, palueise), 5–7 pauise, -ice, (5 -yce, -yse, -ysse, payuese, 5–6 pauisse, -esse, -eice), 7 pavyse, -ese, 7–8 pavice, 7– pavis, -ise, (8 pavois, -ache, -ashe, 8–9 -ais, 9 -isse, -esse, -oise, -as). pl. orig. (a 1500) same as sing. paveys, -is, etc. (hence new sing. 6 pavie); but in 5 pauys(s)es, 5–6 -esses, 6 -oises, 6–7 pavishes, 8 pauashes; 7– pavises, etc.
[ME. paveys, -eis, a. OF. pavais (1337 in Hatz.-Darm.), now pavois, ad. It. pavese, in Sp. paves, med.L. pavensis or pavense (1299 in Du Cange), also (from It., etc.) pavēsis, pavēsius, pavēsium, pavēsus, -um, pavexius, pavissis; app. f. the name of Pavia in Italy, where these bucklers were originally made (Hatz.-Darm.). Obs. in actual use since 17th c., and without any fixed current spelling. A final e is not etymological, but taken over from the pl. pavises, or the obs. pavice for pavis (cf. mice, twice).]
1. A convex shield, large enough to cover the whole body, used in mediæval times as a defence against archery, and esp. in sieges; the term has also been extended to denote any large shield.
The pavis of a knight or archer was usually carried by his valet, page, or attendant, and was deep enough to shelter him in front of his master.
| 1390 [see β]. ? c 1400 Trevisa Vegecius ii. xxiv. (Roy. MS. 18. A. XII) lf. 47 Foot man with paves and shelde. ? c 1400 Lydg. æsop's Fab. iii. 141 Agayne sharpe quarels helpith a pavice. 1412–20 ― Chr. Troy iii. xxii. (1513) N ij b, Some wyll haue a target or a spere And some a pauys his body for to were. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 784/10 Hec sestus, a pavis. 1483 Cath. Angl. 271/2 A Pavysse, castrum. c 1500 Melusine 362 Thenne they retourned to Lusynen where geffray dide doo hang the paueys, that he had wonne. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. xiii. 67 A ballen pavis coueris thair left sydis, Maid of hart skynnis and thik oxin hydis. 1530 Palsgr. 252/2 Paves to defend one with, pauais. 1598 Florio, Pauese, Pauesce, a kinde of target or shield called a palueise. a 1600 Floddan F. ix. (1664) 83 No shield nor pavish could prevaile. 1658 Phillips, A Pavese, or Pavice, a large shield which covereth the whole body. 1786 Grose Anc. Armour 27 The Pavais, Pavache, or Tallevas, was a large shield, or rather a portable mantlet, capable of covering a man from head to foot. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc viii. 345 The knights below, Each by his pavais bulwark'd. 1860 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. I. 312 In battle they carry the Pavoise, or large hide shield, affected by the Kafirs of the Cape. 1874 Boutell Arms & Arm. viii. 137 The knight had his pavise carried before him by a page or valet. Square in outline, and convex in form, this pavise was sufficiently large to shelter both the page and his master. |
| β Plural. 1390 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 23 Johanni Peyntour pro pictura lxviij paueys domini de Willeby. ? c 1400 Trevisa Vegecius iv. vi. (Roy. MS. 18. A. XII) lf. 101 Good plentie of targes, pauysses, and sheldes. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 7264 Pavys also that wer stronge. 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 95 Trestelles for hakbusses..iiijxx, Pavesses for the same..iiijxx. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 42 The shotte..they defended with Pauishes. 1617 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 432 Payde for the paynting and guylding of three pavyses colloured in oyle. 1808 Southey Chron. Cid 15 King Don Ferrando..ordered mantles to be made, and also pavaises to protect his people. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxix, Preparing to cover themselves by large shields, called pavesses. |
| γ Curtailed sing. pavie. c 1575 Balfour's Practicks, Sea Lawis c. 91 (1754) 631 The Admiral..may alswa put pulderis, paveis, and speiris.., to wit..ane pavie and a fyre speir for three tunnis. |
† b. As used on board a ship (being ranged along the sides as a defence against archery). Cf. sense 2 and pavisade. Obs.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3626 Ledys one leburde, lordys & oþer, Pyghte payvese one porte, payntede scheldes. 14.. Lydg. Siege Harfleur in Arb. Garner VIII. 16 These goodly ships lay there at road..On every pavis a cross red. 1512–13 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 473 Item, for vj dusan of slottis and bandis for the pavesis of the James. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 41 Paueis veil the top vitht pauesis and mantillis. 1562 Leigh Armorie 35. |
† c. A soldier bearing a pavis. Obs. rare.
| c 1500 Melusine 142 Thanne had the sawdan..ordeyned his bataylles, and his Crosbowes & paueys [F. pavilliers]. |
2. A screen of pavises; a pavisade; any screen or shelter used in fighting.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxlix. T vj/2 Of thornes men makith hegges and pauyses [Bodl. MS. friþþes]: wyth whyche men defende and socoure themselfe and theyr owne. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. lxiv. 130 b, Carrieng his boats with him well armed and fenced, with certeine paueises made of Boordes, and sette with Flagges. Ibid. 135 b, With the paueices of our boates, the which were made of boards of two fingers thicke..we did..defend them of[f]. |
† 3. fig. A defence, protection. Obs.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 233 Jhesus..Ageyn al enmyes sheeld, pavys, and diffence. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxvii. 36 He wes our mychte paviss, and our scheild. a 1529 Skelton Death Earl Northumb. 48 He was their bulwark, their paues, and their wall. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. Wks. 1180 Clipped in on euery syde wyth the shielde or pauice of God. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as pavis-shield.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3460 And one he henttis a hode of scharlette fulle riche, A pauys pillione hatt. 1894 C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 210 Sheltering behind their leather⁓covered wooden pavis shields. |
▪ II. pavis, pavise, v. Obs. or Hist.
(ˈpævɪs)
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To cover, shelter, or defend with a pavis. Hence ˈpavised ppl. a.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. xxiv. 76 One syde of them shelded or paueysed with hylles. c 1500 Melusine 167 There was the Captaynne of the place & his peple wel paueysed. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. lxi. 125 If so be y{supt} our boates had not ben paueiced or fenced with their shields. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. ii. Prose Add. 156 The Troians laboured in trimming, pauashing [1612 -ishing] and furnishing theyr Nauie. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. xxv. 90 And shower'd, like rain, upon the pavaised barks, The rattling shafts. |
† 2. To act as a shelter against. Obs. rare—1.
| 1567 G. Fenton Trag. Disc. 134 b, The shade and shadowe of the trees pauisinge the vyolence of the sun. |