▪ I. jade, n.1
(dʒeɪd)
Also Sc. 8 jad, 9 jaud.
[Of unknown origin; often assumed to be a doublet of yaud (Icel. jalda mare), but app. without reason.]
1. A contemptuous name for a horse; a horse of inferior breed, e.g. a cart- or draught-horse as opposed to a riding horse; a roadster, a hack; a sorry, ill-conditioned, wearied, or worn-out horse; a vicious, worthless, ill-tempered horse; rarely applied to a donkey.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. Prol. 46 Be blithe though thou ryde vp-on a Iade, What thogh thyn hors be bothe foule and lene. 1530 Palsgr. 233/2 Iade a dull horse, galier. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 79 When horsecorsers beguile no friends with Iades. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 35 If like a restie Iade thou wilt take the bitt in thy mouth, and then runne ouer hedge and ditch, thou shalt be broken. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 309 You are much deceived..that thinke mine asse to be dead: for the hungrie iade knowing his masters necessity hath wrought this sleight. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. vii. (1628) 205 Not fit for Gentlemens horses, but for Carters iades. 1666 Chas. II in Julia Cartwright Henrietta of Orleans (1894) 237, I shall have much ado to mounte my selfe with so much as jades for this summer's hunting. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 495 The swiftest Race-horse will not perform a long Journey so well as a sturdy dull Jade. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 604 False steps but help them to renew the race, As, after stumbling, Jades will mend their pace. 1816 Scott Antiq. i, The expected vehicle, pressing forward with all the despatch to which the broken-winded jades that drew it could possibly be urged. 1819 L. Hunt Indicator No. 11 (1822) I. 82 He palmed upon the owners a sorry jade of an ass. |
b. Sometimes used without depreciatory sense, playfully, or in generalized sense: = Horse.
| 1553 Bale Vocacyon in Harl. Misc. (Malb.) I. 362 The Kearnes, the Galloglasses, and the other brechelesse souldiers, with horses and their horse gromes, sum time iij waitinge vpon one jade. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xvi. viii. (1886) 408 You shall not heare a butcher or a horsse-courser cheapen a bullocke or a jade. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iii. i. Wks. 1856 I. 104 The black jades of swart night trot foggy rings Bout heavens browe. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. ix. (1712) 118 Cantius his Horse..(which was a lusty-bodied Jade). a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Jade, a horse. We do not always use it in a contemptuous sense, as it is in general use... A clown will somtimes call a fine hunter ‘a brave jade’. Cart horses are very commonly called so, though they be by no means despicable. Nay, even fine teams of Suffolk punches. |
c. In figurative applications.
| a 1577 Gascoigne Weedes ii. Compl. Green Knt., And bad Repentance holds the reines, to rule the brainsicke iade. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. iii. 17 They play the ouer⁓pampered Iades which fall to kicking against their maisters. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 145 You alwaies end with a Iades tricke. 1657 H. Crowch Welsh Trav. 8 Fortune often plaies the Jade. 1768 Goldsm. Good-n. Man i. i, That same Philosophy is a good horse in the stable, but an errant jade on a journey. |
2. A term of reprobation applied to a woman. Also used playfully, like hussy or minx.
| 1560 Nice Wanton in Hazl. Dodsley II. 179 Such a jade she is, and so curst a quean, She would out-scold the devil's dame I ween. 1584 R. W[arde] Three Ladies Lond. i. Ibid. VI. 257 When I could not thrive by all other trades, I became a squire to wait upon jades. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xi. 31 The Squyre..Snatcht first the one, and then the other Iade [the hags Impotence and Impatience]. 1668 Pepys Diary 14 Jan., [M{supr}{sups}] Pierce says she [Miss Davis] is a most homely jade as ever she saw. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 130 ¶1 You see now and then some handsome young Jades among them [the Gipsies]. 1712 Ibid. No. 343 ¶7 Being marry'd to an expensive Jade of a Wife. 1780 S. Crisp Let. in Mad. D'Arblay's Diary 27 Apr., Sarah Marlborough,..though much of the jade, had undoubtedly very strong parts. 1786 Burns Ordination iv, How..Zipporah, the scauldin jad, Was like a bluidy tiger. 1790 ― Tam o' Shanter 182 A souple jade she was, and strang. 1812 Crabbe Tales xiii. 246 A lying, prying, jilting, thievish jade. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Let. x, Are ye at it again wi' the siller, ye jaud? 1849 Saxe Poems, Times 73 A laughing jade, of not ungentle mold. 1883 Times 1 Jan. 4/2 A procession of scamps and jades, who marched through Paris wearing in mockery vestments robbed from the churches. |
b. Applied to Fortune, Nature, etc. personified.
| 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xiii. (1596) 218 These crie out vpon fortune, and call her blind buzzard, and iade. 1791 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Loyal Odes vi. ii, But error, what a meretricious jade. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 123 Confound the Jade,..what a pity nature had not been of the masculine instead of the feminine gender. 1812 H. & J. Smith Horace in Lond. 119 When Fortune, fickle jade's unkind. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold xiii, Poverty is a stern jade to fight. |
c. Rarely applied to a man: usually in some figure drawn from sense 1.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 249 Gre. What, this Gentleman will out-talke vs all. Luc. Sir giue him head, I know hee'l proue a Iade. 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iv. Decay 893 A iolly Prater, but a Iade to doe. 1616 S. Ward Coal from Altar (1627) 49. |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie ii. Proem. 193 Though roguie thoughts do force some iade-like moile. 1752 Fielding Amelia i. v, Had not Fortune played one of her jade tricks. |
Hence ˈjadeship, the personality of a jade; ˈjadery, behaviour characteristic of a jade.
| 1612 Two Noble K. v. iv. [vi.], The hot horse..seekes all foule meanes Of boystrous and rough Iadrie to dis-seate His Lord. 1621 J. Taylor (Water P.) Taylors Motto Wks. (1630) ii. 44/1 Marry gep With a horse night-cap doth your Iadeship skip? Although you kicke..and spurn, Yet all your Colts-tricks will not serue your turn. |
▪ II. jade, n.2
(dʒeɪd)
Also 8 jadde, 9 jad.
[= F. le jade (1667 in Hatz.-Darm.), for l'ejade (Voiture, 1633) = It. iada (Florio, 1598), ad. Sp. ijada in piedra de ijada or yjada (Monardes, 1569), lit. ‘colic stone’, f. ijada, yjada, ‘the small ribs, the collike, the flanke’ (Minsheu); cf. the synonym nephrite, f. Gr. νεϕροί kidneys, reins.
The transformation of F. l'ejade fem. into le jade masc. was an error made when the word was as yet unfamiliar: see Athenæum, 20 Oct. 1900.]
1. A name given to two distinct minerals which from their hardness have been used for implements and ornaments. a. nephrite, a silicate of lime and magnesia, a hard, translucent stone, in colour light green, bluish, or whitish; b. jadeite, a silicate of sodium and aluminium, closely resembling nephrite in appearance. Sometimes also applied to saussurite. oceanic jade, oriental jade (see quot. 1881).
| [1569 Monardes Cosas de las Indias, (heading) De la Piedra de la Yjada. Ibid., Tiene esta piedra por propriedad oculta,..de preservar que no caygan en el dolor de la Yjada.] 1595 Raleigh Discov. Guiana 24 A kinde of greene stones, which the Spaniards call Piedras Hijadas, and we vse for spleene stones. 1598 Florio, Iada, a kinde of precious stone like an emerauld. 1633 Voiture Wks., Let. to Mdle. Paulet (1665) 47 Ainsi pour ce coup, l'Ejade a eu pour vous vn effet que vous n'attendiez pas d'elle.] 1657 J. D[avies] tr. Voiture's Lett. xxiv. 37 So that for this time, L'Ejade hath had for you an effect which you expected not from it. Ibid. xlii. 79, I perceive there must be found out for me some more substantial remedies than the Ejade [mispr. Ejacle]. |
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Jade, a greenish stone, bordering on olive colour, much esteemed for its hardness... This stone applied to the reins is said to be a preservative from the nephritic colic. 1751 Sir J. Hill Materia Med. (J.), The jade is a species of the jasper, and of extreme hardness..it takes a very elegant polish. It is used by the Turks for handles of sabres. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 161 A piece of green nephritic stone, or jadde. 1823 Rutter Fonthill 51 A sceptre of jad, brought from China. 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man 20 Here, also..hatchets and wedges of jade have been observed. 1868 Dana Min. (ed. 5) 293 Jadeite is one of the kinds of pale stones used in China for making ornaments, and passing under the general name of jade or nephrite. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 6 A third mineral, originally described by H. B. de Saussure as a jade, was termed Saussurite by T. de Saussure: this was the jade tenace of Haüy and the early French mineralogists. 1881 F. W. Rudler in Encycl. Brit. XIII. 540/1 Under the name of ‘oceanic jade’, M. Damour has described a fibrous variety found in New Caledonia and in the Marquesas Islands..differing from ordinary nephrite in the proportion of lime and magnesia which it contains. Ibid. 540/2 If this oceanic jade be recognized as a distinct variety, the ordinary nephrite may be distinguished as ‘oriental jade’. |
c. A colour resembling that of jade; jade-green. Also attrib.
| 1921 H. Walpole Young Enchanted iv. iv. 391 The faint jade of the fading light. 1926 M. Leinster Dew on Leaf iii. 42 The jade rabbit (moon) nibbles the clouds. 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 31 Aug. 175/3 A faint breeze blowing in from a North Sea of misty jade. 1972 Guardian 5 Dec. 11/2 Toga dress..in..midnight blue, jade, red, sapphire. |
2. a. attrib. (as a material of ornaments and implements, especially of prehistoric times).
| 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times (1869) 155 A square chamber, in which were eleven beautiful jade celts. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 7 The so-called jade pebbles of Iona are nothing more than serpentinous marble. 1880 Ouida Moths II. 92 She sent a malachite cabinet and some grand jade vases. 1881 Nature 20 Oct. 599/1 This is the first find of jade implements in graves in Russia. 1881 F. W. Rudler in Encycl. Brit. XIII. 540/2 Jade celts have been found by Dr. Schliemann among the relics of the oldest of the cities at Hissarlik. |
b. Comb., as jade-carver, jade-quarry; jade-coloured, jade-green adjs. Also jade-stone.
| 1868 G. M. Hopkins Jrnl. 19 July (1959) 178 The Aar sallow and jade-coloured. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 7 The jade-quarries on the Kara-kash River have been visited and described by Dr. Cayley. 1880 Daily Tel. 18 Sept., The rarest handicraft of the jeweller, the jade-carver. 1892 R. Kipling in Pall Mall G. 24 Mar. 3/2 The jade-green rivers with the oily swirls in them that run through the bush. 1926 A. Huxley Essays New & Old 17 The brown or jade-coloured water. |
▪ III. jade, v.
(dʒeɪd)
[f. jade n.1]
1. trans. To make a jade of (a horse); to exhaust or wear out by driving or working hard; to fatigue, weary, tire.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. i. 34 The nere-yet beaten Horse of Parthia, We haue iaded out o' th' Field. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 64 Horses, which are beautifull to the eye,..but quickly iaded if held to a good round trot. 1798 Miller in Nicolas Nelson's Disp. (1846) VII. p. clvii, My people were so extremely jaded, that, as soon as they had hove our sheet anchor up they dropped under the capstan-bars, and were asleep in a moment. 1837 J. E. Murray Summer in Pyrenees I. 306 Our horses were jaded—perfectly ‘done up’. 1857 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 43 Contemplation of works of art without understanding them jades the faculties and enslaves the intelligence. |
2. intr. To become tired or worn out; to grow dull or languid; to flag.
| 1620 Sanderson Serm. (1637) 261 As an horse that is good at hand, but naught at length, so is the Hypocrite; free and fiery for a spurt, but he jadeth and tyreth in a journey. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 27 He [a horse] will be apt to jade and tire in any Exercise. 1794 Burns in Shairp Burns vii. (1879) 159 When I feel my Muse beginning to jade, I retire to the solitary fireside of my study. 1856 E. Capern Poems (ed. 2) 154 We sit and pass the chilly night, The interest never jading. |
† 3. trans. To befool; to jape. Obs.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 178, I do not now foole my selfe, to let imagination iade mee. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 280 If we liue thus tamely To be thus Iaded by a peece of Scarlet, Farewell Nobilitie. a 1626 Fletcher Woman's Prize i. iii, On my wedding-night, am I thus jaded? 1679 Poor Robin's Intelligence in Sporting Mag. 61 Whosoever takes a horse upon his word is sure to be jaded. |
† 4. intr. To play the jade: see jade n.1 2. Obs.
| 1641, 1766 [see jading below]. |
Hence ˈjading vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1641 Pol. Ballads (Wilkins) I. 8 You grow poor, As any common whore That long hath been without her jading. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. i. 11 They..feel his goad at their sides, which keeps them both from tripping and jading. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. ii. 65 Lament too late the jading course thou hast run. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xxi. (1873) 501 The jading feeling of constant hurry. |