▪ I. roe1
(rəʊ)
Forms: α. 1 raha, 1, 5–6 raa, 1, 4–6 ra, 6 ray, 7 rey, 6– rae, 6 re. β. 3 roa, 4–6 ro, roo, 6 rhoo, row(e, 6– roe.
[Common Teut.: OE. ráha, ráa, rá, = MDu. rē, ree (Du. ree), OS. rêho (LG. rê), OHG. rêho (also rêh neut., G. reh), ON. rá (Da. raa, Sw. rå), of uncertain etym. OE. had also a fem. rǽᵹe corresponding to OHG. reia. After 1300 the α-forms are only northern and Sc.]
1. A small species of deer (Capreolus capræa, formerly Cervus capreolus) inhabiting various parts of Europe and Asia; a deer belonging to this species.
| α c 725 Corpus Gloss. 403 Capria, raha. c 875 Erfurt Gloss. 1161 Capriolus, raa. c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. i. i. (1890) 30 Hit is fiscwylle & fuᵹolwylle, & mære on huntunge heorta & rana. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 166 Ᵹyf man on huntuþe ran oððe ræᵹean mid flane..ᵹewæceþ. a 1300 Cursor M. 19080 Þe propheci was þan fild sua Þat said þat halt suld scep as ra. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 4097, I is ful wight, god waat, as is a raa. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 143 In þat cuntree also er many cameliouns, þe whilk es a lytill beste of þe mykilnes of a raa. c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fables (Wolf & Wether) 2511 Went neuer Hound mair haistelie fra the hand, Quhen he wes rynnand maist raklie at the ra. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. iv. 55 Lo! ther the rais, rynning swyft as fyre. Ibid. xii. Prol. 182 Kyddis skippand throw ronnis eftir rayis. a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 21 The hart, the hynd, the dae, the rae,..War skowping all frae brae to brae. 1612 Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 28 H. Geldart's son bringing a rey. 17.. Ramsay To Starrat 32 Blythly wald I..stend o'er burns as light as ony rae. 1881 Berwick Nat. Club Proc. IX. 454 ‘As wild as the rae’ is a well-known Border phrase. |
| β a 1200 in Fragm. ælfric's Gram. etc. (1838) 3 Caprea, roa. a 1225 St. Marher. 3 As fisch ahon on hoke, as þe roa inumen iþe net. c 1275 Serving Christ 71 in O.E. Misc. 92 Ne geyneþ vs..þe ronke racches þat ruskit þe ron. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15750 Fond þey neuere..bukke ne do,..cony, fowen, no ro. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 311 In þat londe beeþ many scheep..and fewe roos and hertes. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 3728 Hert, and hynde, buk, and doo,..reyndere and the dredful roo. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 99 Moche mete of hertes and hyndes, roes,..and moche other venyson. 1535 Coverdale 1 Chron. xiii. 8 Men of armes, which..were as swifte as the Roes vpon y⊇ mountaynes. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 241 The tayle of Harte, Bucke, Rowe, or any other Deare, is to be called the Syngle. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iv. 216 Here are great store of roes, deere, and ostriches. 1735 Somerville Chase ii. 160 Their Coursers, than the Mountain Roe More fleet. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 329 The roes travel in single families, seldom more than four together. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) I. 446 The height of the Roe at the shoulders is about two feet and a half. 1865 Kingsley Herew. i, The yellow roes stood and stared at him. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
roe-doe,
roe-drive (
cf. drive n. 1 c and 2 b),
roe-head,
roe-hunt,
roe-kid,
roe-leather, etc.;
roe-hunter,
roe-hunting,
roe-shooting;
roe-footed adj.;
roe ring, a track worn by roe deer running in circles prior to mating;
roe-stalking, the hunting of roe-deer on foot; so
roe-stalker.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 154/13 A *Roe doe, capræa. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 142 They neuer part vntil the Row-doe haue fawned. |
| 1897 Daily News 17 Nov. 9/6 There are *roe-drives in the woods. |
| 1631 Chettle Hoffman C ij, I, my good Lord, being *roefooted, outstript him in running. |
| 1577 in H. Hall Eliz. Soc. (1886) 154, 18 *roeheads, {pstlg}4. |
| 1840 Colquhoun Moor & Loch 34 The generality of *roe-hunts are nothing but blunders from beginning to end. |
| Ibid. 35 One or two experienced *roe-hunters had the whole sport to themselves. |
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Hunting, *Roe Hunting. 1840 Colquhoun Moor & Loch 39, I had not then much knowledge of roe-hunting. |
| 1618 in Macpherson Fauna Lakeland (1892) 73 Making a pannell..for carrying iij *rey kidds to London, xx{supd}. 1634 Ibid. 72 Goinge with a roe kidd to Judge Cawlye, xij{supd}. |
| 1347 in Riley Mem. Lond. (1868) 234 The hundred of *rolether, 16s. 1398 Ibid. 547 That no manner of shepeslether or calveslether..be dyed after the manner of rolether. |
| 1354–5 Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 555 Pro *Ranettes et cordulis pro eisdem. 1383–4 Ibid. 593 In cordis emp. pro le Raanet. |
| 1840 Colquhoun Moor & Loch 35 Their love of a *roe-pasty prevailing over their love of the chase. |
| 1620 in Macpherson Fauna Lakeland (1892) 72 For careing *roe pyes to my Lord Chancler's, xviij{supd}. |
| 1951 H. Tegner Roe Deer iii. 27 (caption) Shape of *roe rings: small circles denote small trees or bushes as axes around which roe form these runs. 1960 M. Burton Wild Animals 128 A feature of the rutting season [of roe deer] which has attracted a good deal of attention in recent years has to do with the use of ‘roe rings’, in which a form of courtship takes place. 1974 F. Holmes Following Roe i. 10 Roe rings, well-trodden runs in the shape of a circle or a figure-of-eight, are evidence of roe residence if they have been recently used. |
| 1840 Colquhoun Moor & Loch 38 Recommending the above manner of *roe-shooting. |
| 1571 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees, 1835) 352 Item I gyue to Edward Archibald iij *Roye [? read raye] skinnes. |
| 1927 Edwards & Wallace Hunting & Stalking Deer xlii. 237, I have never yet met a *roe-stalker who did not love the roe. |
| 1906 J. G. Millais Mammals Gt. Brit. & Ireland III. 178 There are of course hundreds of estates in the North where *Roe-stalking is not possible. 1973 Country Life 26 July 254/3 A week's roe-stalking in Britain is..one of the most sought-after privileges among European devotees. |
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 7048 *Roo⁓venisoun y-bake in paste. 1814 Scott Wav. xii. note, The learned in cookery..hold the roe-venison dry and indifferent food, unless [etc.]. |
▪ II. roe2 (
rəʊ)
Forms: α. 5–6
roughe, 6–7
rough; 5
roof, 7
roff(e; 6–7
rowe, 7–8
row. β. 7–
roe.
[ME. type *roȝ(e, row(e, = MDu. roch, roge (Kilian roghe), Flem. rog, MLG. roge, rogge, MHG. roge, OHG. rogo. It is not clear whether the word is native in English or of later adoption. For forms with final n see rown.] 1. The mass of eggs contained in the ovarian membrane of a fish.
hard roe, the spawn of a female fish;
soft roe, the milt or sperm of a male fish. Also
in roe.
| α 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 591 Lactes, roof of fyshe, or mylke of fyshe. c 1430 Two Cookery Bks. 114 Tak ye rowys of fissh & ye liuere. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 161 White herynge in a dische,..looke he be white by þe boon, þe roughe white & nesche. 1530 Palsgr. 177 Oeue, the roughe of a fysshe. Ibid. 264/1 Rowe in a fysshes belly, oevue. 1617 Minsheu Ductor 422 Roffes or Roughes of fish that spawne. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. x. 31 He got his Merchandise aboard, which..was nothing but the rows of shads. 1696 Phil. Trans. XIX. 256 Composed of Globules, so like the Rowes or Spawn of Fishes. 1773 P. Lindsay Interest Scotl. 201 The..Herrings that have little or no Milt or Row. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 340 That small kind of mackarel that have neither melts nor rows. 1832 [see salmon n.1 4]. |
| β 1595 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 39 Here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his Roe, like a dryed Hering. 1606 ― Troil. & Cr. v. i. 68 To be..a Herring without a Roe, I would not care. 1653 Walton Angler viii. 162 You shall scarce..take a Male Carp without a Melt, or a Female without a Roe or Spawn. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) II. 287 You mean the prodigious quantity of roe they spawn. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 141 [Cod] begin to spawn in January... Some continue in roe till the beginning of April. 1800 Phil. Trans. XC. 169 It is remarkable that the hard roe, in general, does not emit so much light as the soft-roe. 1848 Lytton Harold vi. i, A Moorish compound, made of eggs and roes of carp. 1875 Nicholson Man. Zool. (ed. 4) 412 Fishes are, for the most part, truly oviparous, the ovaries being familiarly known as the ‘roe’. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
roe-fish,
roe-laden,
roe-like,
roe mullet,
roe sauce,
roe-shad,
roe-sick;
roe corn, a single egg from a roe.
| 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 321 These boxes contain each two thousand *roe ‘corns’. |
| 1894 Outing XXIV. 54/2 The killing of a *roe-laden fish on her way to spawn. |
| 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xxxvii. 573 A white or yellowish *roe-like substance. |
| 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 368 Between the seasons of ‘Fat Mullet’ and ‘*Roe Mullet’ there is an intermission of two or three weeks in the fishing. |
| 1883 Cent. Mag. Aug. 549/2 Another cook will prepare the *roe sauce to accompany the shad. |
| 1884 Harper's Mag. June 88/2 There was a great *roe-shad hanging by his gills. |
| 1641 S. Smith Herring Buss Trade 24 For what sort he will sell them [sc. herrings]..*roe-sicke, cleere or pure ware. |
▪ III. roe3 (
rəʊ)
[Perh. a transf. use of roe2.] (See
quots.)
| 1850 Chaloner & Fleming Mahogany Tree 57 Roe is that alternate streak or flake of light and shade running in the grain. 1920 A. L. Howard Man. Timbers of World 144 Mahogany, Cuba... Many of the logs are beautifully figured or marked with wavy and curly grain, which is variously termed splash mottle, roe and mottle, fiddle⁓back, plum, snail, blister and cross-bar. 1938 B. J. Rendle Commerc. Mahoganies 5 Mahogany is remarkably stable and does not shrink and swell so much as most woods. Irregularities of the grain produce a variety of figure—fiddleback, blister, stripe or roe, curl, mottle, etc. 1952 J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 396 Roe, a name given to the regular appearance of dark figures and spots in figured mahogany, which give a mottled effect, like a fish roe. A form of roe figure occurs in flowered, or East Indian, satinwood. 1968 Canad. Antiques Coll. Aug. 24/2 Roe figure, this is alternate bands of twisted grain which produce stripes parallel to the length of the tree. When viewed in certain lights from either end the light and dark stripes are reversed. |