▪ I. † byse Obs.
Also 3 bise, 5 bys, besshe, 6 bice.
[Origin unknown: possibly F. bis dark brown. The suggestion that it is the same as bisse, OF. bisse, bisce, biche ‘female deer’, hardly suits the sense, and the forms do not agree.]
Some kind of (? brown) fur, much used in the 15th c. for trimming gowns, etc.
| c 1280 A Sarmun 11 in E.E.P. (1862) 2 Silk no sendale nis þer none no bise no no meniuer. 1407 Will of Escryk (Somerset Ho.), Furrata cum Bys. 1422 E.E. Wills (1882) 50 A gown furred with Besshe. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 50/3 A double stole furryd with byse. 1513 Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 57 Byand byssely..beuir and bice. |
▪ II. byse(e, bysege
obs. ff. besee, besiege.